West Help - Forts

Fort battle
The only way to take over the fort owned by another town is by attacking it. For this a town's counselor of the attacking town goes to the fort and calls for a battle. Over the next 24 hours players from the attacking and defending towns should go to the fort to attack or defend the fort.

Calling a fort battle
Just a town's Counselor can call for a fort battle. He has to go to the fort to do so. An attack costs between $3000 and $10000, depending on the fort's size. The money is taken from the town's treasury of the attacking town. The battle takes place 24 hours after this.

Join a fort battle
To take part in the fort battle you have to go to the fort within 24 hours after the battle is called. Players from the attacking town can only take part as attacker, players of the defending town may only take part as defenders.

As soon as a fort is under attack a report is sent to all affected players. The fort starts to blink on the mini map and on the map you see how it is being attacked.

Positioning
As soon as you join a fort battle you may choose your starting position. As attacker you may only select a spot in the red area, as defender you may choose a spot in the blue area.
With a second click you select the desired target location. Your character will try to reach this spot. You can change the starting position and the target location with drag and drop at any time.
If more than one person has requested the same starting position, the person belonging to one of the participating towns gets placed first. If this doesn't solve it, the person who positioned himself first gets placed first.
If you haven't chosen a position you will be placed randomly in the are of the attacker or defender, depending on which group you belong to.

You can keep doing normal jobs and dueling other players after joining a fort. You can move around on the map, and do everything else as before. It is important though that you are close to the fort when a battle begins, so you can get there in time. Once you've joined a battle you cannot do any other jobs, you can also not leave your town or be kicked out. You may also not join any other fort battles. You have to wait until the battle is over to do those things again.

In the fort battle
In a battle defenders and attackers are standing across from each other. It's the attackers goal to capture the flag and to hold it for 10 rounds or to beat all defenders. The defenders try to hold the fort for 50 rounds or to beat all attackers.

Sectors and fields
On the map are sectors and fields. Each field can hold exactly one player. In each sector there may only be players from one battle side, either attackers or defenders. Per round each player can shoot once and move. He can move into an adjacent sector as long as there is no player from the other team and as long as there are still open fields in the sector. It is not possible to move into a diagonal sector.
Some sectors have special features or they improve or worsen the players values.

Shooting
Each player shoots automatically at the closest enemy that he can see. It is not possible to shoot at another target. If you have a neighboring sector as target sector you automatically shoot at the closest opponent in this sector. It is not possible not to shoot or to shoot at a player from your own team.

Visibility
The grey area shows which fields you can not shoot at. Your player can only shoot at the areas that are not grey. You can see players and movements in grey areas.

Distance
The closer your character is to the person he shoots at the better the chances are to land a hit. Distance is calculated by fields, sectors don't matter. The distance has no affect on the damage amount.

Damage
The damage done per hit depends just on the gun you carry. A weapon makes the shown damage, but not more than 1/3 of the persons maximum health points. A player with a maximum of 300 health points can not get more damage than 100 points per shot.
Just a gun causes damage. A dueling weapon has no influence at all in a fort battle.

Participation
You don't have to be online to take part in the battle. Having passed out in a duel does not keep you from joining a fort battle. However, you have to join the battle early enough to get to the fort on time. If you are not online the player acts like you told him to. He tries to reach his target position. If you haven't chosen a target, the player does not move. You can also take over your players movements during the battle, but you must have joined the fight before. You cannot join the battle when the 24 hours are over.

Exchange of fire
Lots of factors are important in the question if you hit or miss your target. Your abilities and those of your opponent are important, but also your positions, the distance and of course, a little bit of luck.
Skills

5 skills are important for fort battles.

* Leadership is used for shooting, but also for defending.
* Aim is only important when shooting.
* Dodging is only used when trying to dodge a shot.
* Hiding is used when a defender tries to shoot or dodge a shot.
* Stamina is used when an attacker tries to shoot or dodge a shot.

So, for each shot and for each dodging attempt exactly three skills are taken into consideration.

Special sectors
There are some sectors that give you advantages for your shooting and dodging skills. The bonuses that are given by the wall, towers and other buildings depend on their construction level.
The attackers and defender receive the same bonuses when positioned on buildings or other bonus giving fields.

The towers
Towers give the highest protection. On each one of the towers the players receive a bonus of 2 points per construction level for their attack and dodging values. Each character class has it's own tower. Just the players positioned on the right towers receive the bonus. The bonus is always depending on an attribute. This is strength for the worker, mobility for the adventurers, dexterity for duelers and Charisma for soldiers. Players of other classes only get the towers base bonus.

In the first version towers always give a bonus of +6.

The wall
The wall gives the same bonus everywhere. Per construction level each player on the wall gets 2 points on it's attack and dodging values.
Wall bonus

* +2 bonus at level 1
* +4 bonus at level 2
* +6 bonus at level 3
* +8 bonus at level 4
* +10 bonus at level 5

In the first version the wall always gives a bonus of +4.

The buildings
If you stand on a building you receive a bonus of +3.

Flag band
On the fields directly surrounding the flag every player receives a penalty. He is easier to shoot at and has a harder time aiming.
You lose your hiding or stamina skill and also receive a penalty of 4 points.

In the first version the wall always has a penalty of -5.

Flag
On the flag each player received the highest penalty of all.
You lose your hiding or stamina skill, your leadership skill, and you also receive a penalty of 8 points.

In the first version the wall always gives a penalty of -10.

Result of the fort battle - Not in version 1.20
If the attackers are able to hold the flag for 10 rounds or if the defenders outlast the battle for 100 rounds, the fort battle ends.

Consequences
Each player can now look at himself in a table that shows what happened during the battle, who caused the most damage and who made who pass out. Each player also gets a report with those details.

If you pass out during a fort battle, you are taken to your town's hotel to recover.

* You lose your cash.
* You lose your energy points.
* You can be dueled during the next 48 hours.
* You can duel other players during the next 48 hours.

If you survive the fort battle you are at the fort when the battle is over. You cannot be attacked here.

Rewards
You receive experience points for taking part in a fort battle. The amount depends on your level, the damage you caused, the duration you survived and if you won or lost the battle. You even receive points of you passed out.
If you survive the battle you also have a chance of finding items.

Consequences for the fort
If the attackers win the battle they now own the fort. The previous owners cannot enter it anymore.
The buildings also get damaged during a battle. If an attacker is standing on top of a building during the fight there is a chance that the building is downsized or destroyed during the battle.