The border kingdoms of Hyboria are where the best of the best duke it out in an epic battle of wits and strength to find out who has the right to rule over one of the few battle keeps that are available on each server. Siege is the apex of PvP in Age of Conan in which there is a defending and attacking guild fighting during a set time frame (set by the defending guild) over a battle keep. These battle keeps offer up extreme PvP and PvE stat bonuses along with the bragging rights that come with owning one of the selective structures. This makes the battles to claim and defend those keeps extremely brutal, and sometimes even personal. Knowledge can always change the tide of battle, so I put up this little guide on the basics of how Sieges work in AoC so that rookie warriors won't be caught clueless on this merciless battlefield.
Getting a BK / applying for siege:
First off before you can even try and apply to siege your guild must:
- Have a T3 city keep (you do not need T3 buildings though)
- Have the minimum number of guild PvP points* to bid on the attacking siege spot
*Guild PvP points are gained every time someone in your guild completes a PvP mini game or kills a player of an enemy guild (that you have just declared siege on) your guild master can then use these points to bid against other guilds attempting to siege the same keep as you.
Once you have met all of the requirements, pull up the massive PvP tab and look for the battle keep you would like and make a bid. If you are the top bidding guild when the bid phase ends then congratulations, you will be participating in a siege at the time listed. If for some reason there is an unoccupied battle keep in a zone, you can acquire it just like you would a guild city. Now whether you are attacking or defending there is quite a bit of preparation to be had:
For Attackers:
For the defending guild to upgrade their battle keep (if it is not yet a T3 BK), they will need to collect special resources only found in the border kingdoms. However, these resources drop if the carrier is killed in PvP combat. Some of the more aggressive guilds will systematically attack and steal from the resource gatherers of the defending guild, which will effectively slow the upgrading of their BK, give you resources to more quickly build their BK if the siege is successful and also earn Guild PvP points in the process. Remember the higher the tier, the more hits it can take.
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It is also important for anyone participating in the siege to know the locations of the siege camps throughout the enemy BK. Though knowing the exact points within the walls of the keep are difficult to obtain without being creative, there is no reason that the outer wall siege camps are not known by everyone so that rally points can be clearly set.
Have a plan! Explaining a simple siege strategy to your comrades is the quickest way to victory. 48 players running around doing their own thing will only give the defenders an easy win while 48 players that know exactly where to go can topple the most tenacious of defenders.
For Defenders:
Know the locations of siege camps! Have as many people as possible mark on their maps where the enemy could put up trebuchets and catapults. This will help you communicate where to counter attack.
Keep the doors closed! At no point during the siege should the front or inner gates be open as this gives a huge time advantage to the attackers. Many guilds will even keep the doors shut days before the battle just to make sure no stealthy scouts or would be saboteurs gain entry.
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Know the tunnels. As of 1.05, there are now tunnels throughout the inner keep for the defense force to use. Make sure people know the locations of these secret passages and are using them instead of the gates or jumping from the walls.
