| Attack |
| Using the Attack Action Select the Attack action by pressing the "Attack" button under the game map. When the Attack action is selected, clicking the mouse on the game map in a land area contiguous with your own nation will cause your nation to attempt an invasion of that land area. If the area is unoccupied, your forces will pour in unimpeded and occupy the area. You may even click and drag out a bounding box to mark a large area of unoccupied land, and your nation will settle this land automatically. If however the land you click on is already occupied by another nation, your nation will have to attack the defensive forces of the opposing nation. Should you succeed in your attack, your nation will take over possession of the land area if it was not fortified. If it was fortified by the enemy nation, its fortifications will be weakened but further attacks will be required before the land can be taken. The Attack action button. The Battle Screen When your nation attacks another nation, the game map is shadowed and disabled for the duration of the battle. When the attack begins, the Battle Screen appears. You can move the battle screen around by dragging the widget in its upper left corner. This screen displays the progress and results of the battle. The Battle Screen. The Battle Screen pictured above shows a point midway through a battle that resulted from Mordonia's attack on Byhead. The black bar beneath each nation's name represents the strength of that nation's forces in the battle. As the black bar shrinks, being replaced by fiery yellows and reds, the nation's forces are being lost. Whichever nation's black bar first disappears altogether has lost the battle, and their enemy has triumphed. In the example above, Mordonia is faring much worse than its would-be victim, Byhead. But the twists of fate can never be foreseen, and it's still possible, though unlikely, that Mordonia will emerge victorious. The Battle Screen also contains information about the various strengths and weaknesses of the opposing nations. A number of icons may appear beside the names of the battling nations. An icon appearing beside a nation's name represents a category of technology or ability in which that nation exceeds its opponent in advancement or strength. In the example above, we see five categories in which Byhead in more powerful than Mordonia (and none in which unfortunate Mordonia exceeds its rival!). The icons are displayed in order from left to right as those that give the nation the least to the greatest advantage (those to the right are increasingly bright, corresponding to the increasing advantage that they offer). In the example above, Byhead is seen to excel in, from left to right, Personal Combat, Innovation, Economic Efficiency, Motivation, and General Ability. In fact, Byhead may excel beyond Mordonia in more categories than these, but at most the five that offer the greatest advantage are displayed. The category icons shown in the Battle Screen correspond to those displayed in the Summary panel. By observing which technology categories a particular enemy excels in, you can make informed choices about what weapon to attack the enemy nation with, and what technologies or abilities you could purchase or develop to give your nation a better advantage against this enemy. For example if your enemy has an advantage over you in the category of Personal Combat but you have an advantage over them in the category of Motivation, you would do well to press your advantage with a weapon that has a strong Motivation bonus, such as Guerilla Band (a terrifying troop of guerilla warriors who strike fear in the hearts of your enemies and rally the spirits of your own people). Not so good a choice would be Nerve Gas, a weapon that gives a Personal Combat advantage, but takes a Motivation penalty from your attack. Such an attack would be more balanced, but give your nation no clear advantage. In addition to choosing which weapon to use, you can also press your advantage by purchasing technologies or abilities that exploit your nation's strengths and your enemy's weaknesses. For instance, in the example above it would be useful to increase your nation's Motivation in order to maximize the advantage that you already have in this category. You can do this by purchasing an item or ability such as Artistic Expression, Grand Gardens or War Elephants, all of which would increase your nation's Motivation advantage in combat. Offline, Insurgent, and Total Defense Once all of a nation's players have been offline for two full hours, that nation enters a state of Offline Defense. This means that the nation's forces, no longer being deployed to attack, have dug in to defensive positions. A nation that enters Offline Defense mode increases its defensive strength, becoming a much more challenging target for its enemies. When attacking a nation in Offline Defense mode, you will see a blue shield to the left of that nation's name in the battle screen. A defender in Offline Defense mode. Nations can also research and purchase technologies to increase their defenses. The technology Insurgency increases a nation's defenses against would be invaders of their homelands. When Insurgency is applied in an attack a red shield appears next to the defender's name in the attack bar, indicating Insurgent Defense mode. A nation is considered to be in Total Defense mode when both Offline and Insurgency defenses are active and applied to a battle. A dual shield of both red and blue indicates Total Defense. A defender in Insurgent and Total Defense modes. Repeat Attacking Sometimes you may want to attack the same enemy land area repeatedly, to wear down their fortifications for example.You can do this automatically by checking the "Repeat" checkbox in the lower left corner of the Battle Screen. The Repeat checkbox, checked. While the Repeat checkbox is checked, your nation will continue attacking that same land area until it has either won the land, or can no longer attack it. You can stop automatic repeat attacking at any time by unchecking the Repeat checkbox. Battle Marker When a battle is taking place, a rotating red marker appears on the map marking the contested land area. The Battle Marker. Results of a Battle When all the smoke has cleared and a battle is over, either your nation has won or lost. If your attack has failed then your enemy has a chance to succeed in a counter attack against your nation. If they succeed, it is your nation that will lose a land area that you attacked from. Your success in staging and defending yourself against counter attacks is determined by the same factors as for a normal attack, as well as by your Counter Attack and Counter Attack Defense attributes and your nation's chosen Counter Attack Weapon. If however you succeed in your attack, and the land area that you attacked was not fortified by your enemy, then you will take over possession of that land area. If the area was fortified, you will have only weakened those fortifications and will have to continue attacking if you want to occupy the land. There are certain weapons that allow your nation to physically swap land areas with another nation. If you succeed in an attack with such a weapon and the land area that you attacked was not fortified, then it will switch places with one of your land areas that was adjacent to it. If the land area you attacked was fortified, then it will lose one fortification and an adjacent land area belonging to your nation will gain one fortification - the fortifications will have been physically moved. If you successfully attack a nation's only land area, and the nation has not been dormant for more than 2 weeks, then this final remnant of the nation's forces will attempt to retreat to an adjacent empty land area. If there is no adjacent empty land area then the nation will flee to the nearest suitable empty land area, even if it has to cross the territory of another nation to do so. Awarding Points Each time you attack a nation, both your nation and your enemy's nation are awarded a number of points, representing the experience gained. All things being equal, the winner of the battle will gain more points than the loser, and the attacker will gain more points than the defender. Also, the number of points awarded depends on the levels of the nations involved; a 10th level nation succeeding in its attack against a 15th level nation will receive far more points than if it had attacked a relatively weak 5th level nation. Your nation will therefore rise in level more quickly if it is effective in battle against more powerful foes. Levels are gained by earning points; to achieve each higher level requires that more points be earned than the previous level required. •To learn more about the game map, click here. •To learn more about playing War of Conquest, click here.