Albion Online’s Foundations update is coming April 15th and one of the central new features coming to shake up sieges is Fortifications. The team has a new deep dive into Fortifications, how they’ll work, the benefits, and more.
Fortifications shape battle dynamics on both sides. At its most basic level, Fortifications offer new elements to add upgradeable defenses, but there’s more at work to help smaller guilds have more of a chance, and to give options to control sieges.
When the update arrives, all territories are getting an updated layout, to one of five possible options. A territory’s Fortification points are generated at the beginning of each season and will not reset until the season ends. The amount of points that a territory generates depends on its energy level, so keep that in mind. Territory Activity Chests are another addition that will start filling up from Prime Time on through local PvE activity. Stay active in your territory to increase the loot. The end of Prime Time you can claim this chest or it can be looted if the raiders reach your tower.
The options include guards, walls, and gates. With enough silver, you can upgrade your guard groups immediately, once per day, with silver from your guild account. Walls and gates also get a UI that shows the costs and the effects of upgrading. The difference is, while guards get upgraded immediately, wall and gate upgrades only go into effect after the next Prime Time ends. This is so you can’t just wait around until you’re attacked to suddenly upgrade everything. Strategy is important.
When Prime Time happens, your walls and gates become attackable, but they give you more time the more you upgrade them and repair them. An attacker must raise a Siege Banner to declare an attack, and weaken the Territory Crystal, making the territory vulnerable. Siege banners can be dropped, so if you attack or kill the bearer, You have a chance to control the banner until it despawns or help your side to defend and run out the clock on prime time to win automatically.
Sieges are never going to be the same in Albion Online, and the new system is designed to push battles into regular occurrence with Prime Time, and to give both sides options, including the defenders potentially ending a raid by gaining control over the banner.
The full devblog goes into the finer details, including victory, strategies, and more to get ready. Sandbox Interactive promises this is just the beginning for the new feature.
