Keeps and Sieges in Warhammer Online
Keeps
Keeps are a focal point of pride for your Realm and worth the battle to defend or capture them.
Keep Basics
There is at least one keep per realm, per zone in all Tier pairings except for Tier One. Tier Two zones have one keep each (two per pairing). Tier Four zones have two keeps each for a total of six keeps. Keeps are the most important objectives in open field RvR, and can swing the tide of Zone Control in an instant if you don’t defend them!
Capturing Keeps is quite simple: kill the Keep Lord. After you have successfully captured the Keep, you are granted Renown.
Tier 2 Keeps grant 700 Renown per capture
Tier 3 Keeps grant 900 Renown per capture
Tier 4 Keeps grant 1100 Renown per capture
Capturing Keeps also grant Items from the Lord similar to Public Quests.
Defending a Keep will also grant Renown. A Keep is considered defended when there are no more enemy player kills within the area of a Keep after 60 seconds. You will earn at least 50 Renown from defending a Keep if you’ve killed at least one player in its defense.
Siege Weapons
Siege weapons are being introduced in this phase of beta on a limited basis. The following weapons will be available for use in Tier 3 and Tier 4:
Dark Elf Ballista
High Elf Ballista
Empire Hell Cannon
Greenskin Orcapult
Empire Boiling Oil – will be available to Destruction players as placeholder weapons
Empire Ram – will be available to Destruction players as placeholder weapons
Keeps and surrounding areas will have several locations where Siege weapons can be deployed and used by players. Some siege weapons will simply work by interacting with them for a period of time to damage pre-determined targets (such as a door).
There are three types of Siege Weapons:
Rams are used against Keep Doors or other pre-selected targets.
Ballistae are used against individual players or other Siege Weapons doing single target damage.
Cannons/Trebuchets are aimed to fire at a selected location, doing splash damage to players or other Siege Weapons.
Players who have a high armor rating will be able to withstand Siege weapon attacks better than players with little to no armor.
Siege Weapons must be built on Siege Pads found in the world or on Keeps. These are the only locations players can create/deploy Siege Weapons. Furthermore, Siege Weapons cannot be moved once placed, although they can rotate.
Siege weapons do not require a Trade-skill to build and can be deployed by anyone. They are purchased from the War Camps or from an NPC inside the Keeps. Once purchased, a siege weapon will take up a single inventory space. These items have no weight, and can be carried and traded by anyone. Players can carry as many siege weapons as they want, as long as they have space in their inventory. When a player deploys a siege weapon, the item will disappear from the player’s inventory.
A siege weapon purchased in a higher Tier cannot be placed on a lower tier Siege Pad. Only one Siege Weapon can be on a Siege Pad. Siege Weapons decay to 0 hitpoints after 10 minutes if not repaired, or until destroyed once they are deployed.
Siege “Pads”
Siege Pads are pre-set location on which Siege Weapons can be deployed. They are physically represented in the world as large slabs of concrete, slate, or otherwise engraved pads. Keeps will have one Siege pad per destructible door for placing Rams (for the attackers) and several pads for Ballistae and Cannons/Trebuchets on the Bastions (for the defenders). The surrounding area of a keep will have several locations to place ranged weapons. The amount of Siege Pads placed will depend upon Game-play testing and terrain. To place a Siege Weapon on a Siege Pad, players simply right click on the pad to open an interface window. The window will display the siege weapons available to the player to be placed on the pad. Only one person can interact with the Siege Pad at a time.
Only tier appropriate Siege Weapons can be deployed on Siege Pads. Tier One Siege Pads cannot house Tier Two, Three, or Four Siege Weapons.
Players have the ability to destroy and repair Siege Pads. Siege Pads can only be destroyed by Ballista, Cannon/Catapult fire, or by beating on them with weapons and spells. Siege Pads have very few hit points but respawn after five minutes.
Siege Weapon Control
Gaining control of a Siege Weapon is done by right clicking on the Siege Weapon once it is built. Interacting with the Siege Weapon will give one player control of the Weapon. Releasing control of a Siege Weapon is done by moving away from the weapon, or simply closing the UI.
Rams
Rams are large siege engines used to batter down doors. Up to four players can be seated on a Ram. When players control a Ram, they are seated on the Ram itself and no longer have control of walking movement. To release control of the Ram a player may right click on it or click the Release button on the UI. If a player right clicks on the Ram and it has less than four players on it, the player will be put on the Ram. If the Ram already has four people on it, the player will receive the message “This Ram is full and cannot be operated by any more players”.
The number of players on the Ram determines the damage dealt by the Ram. It is broken into 25% increments. If the Ram has one person, it does 25% of its maximum potential damage. If it has three people, it will do 75% of its maximum potential damage.
Ballistae (Direct Fire)
Ballistae are large bolt throwers used to skewer an enemy player or destroy Siege Weapons. They are mounted on rotating platforms on the Siege Pads to allow for precise aiming and inflict massive amounts of damage to a single target.
When using the Ballista, players will go into a “sniper mode” screen that functions similar to a riflescope. Moving the mouse controls where the reticule aims (note that camera controls on the Y axis are inverted). When a legitimate target is available, the reticule will turn read and begin to draw inward. The closer the crosshairs are to the center, the more accurate (and more damage) the ballista shot will do. Moving the aiming reticule will cause the crosshairs to snap outward, reducing accuracy.
Catapults and Cannons (Indirect fire)
Catapults and Cannons are Siege Weapons use a very simple User Interface at this time for firing and aiming. One player controls the Siege Weapon and it is placed on a rotating platform so it can turn to face its relative target. Right clicking on a Catapult or Cannon will give the player control and bring up the User Interface to repair, fire, and aim. Clicking on the Fire button will bring up the AE fire mode which takes into account Wind (changes each time you fire) and velocity. Velocity is controlled by scrolling the mouse-wheel up or down. Yaw is handled by moving the mouse left or right. When you’re ready to fire, simply click the left mouse button.
Tier 4 Campaign
When a zone is captured, the contested zone will shift from one zone to another, all the way up to the Fortress zones that defend the Cities of Altdorf and the Inevitable City. When the campaign shifts to another zone in Tier 4, all Scenarios, Battlefield Objectives and Keeps in the zone that was captured will be locked and unavailable. Players that complete Scenarios in the zone that was captured will have their points contribute to the now contested zone. If players continue to Skirmish fight in uncontested zones, the points from these kills will not contribute to the Campaign.
Fortress Zones
Fortress Zones are last zones before a City. They have three gates that protect the inner Fortress. Siege Pads are available for the attackers and defenders to place Siege Weapons. Any gate can be broken down to gain entry into the Fortress walls.
Once inside the Fortress walls, a single structure must be broken into. The front door as well as two rear entryways into the Fortress can be broken down.
A Public Quest runs the zone and the campaign. Players must kill the Fortress Lord within 60 minutes in order to enter the city. The battle moves to the City if the players succeed in killing the Fortress Lord.
To deny the attackers’ entry to the City, players must defend the Fortress Lord for 60 minutes. The Campaign will reset back to Praag if the Fortress Lord is successfully defended.
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