Guide to Notum Wars & Land Control OverviewLand Control Areas (LCA's) appear as green patches, marked on the mini-map and also maps like CSPmap, scattered throughout various RK zones. These areas are designated by the ICC for notum mining operations. LCA's might be vacant if a battle has occurred at the LCA but most LCA's are usually occupied by organizations and acquiring them involves players destroying the structures on the site and Player versus Player (PvP) combat.
Land Control Area Structures Control TowersOrganizations can take control of a site by having a member of higher ranking plant a Control Tower (CT) on them. All LCA's have a set level range that governs the QL of any CT or tower that can be placed on it. This information appears on the mini-map after entering an LCA and also on maps like CSPmap. A level 75-100 LCA will only hold towers of QL 75-100. CT placement requires 4x QL of the CT in Computer Literacy and 3x QL of the CT in Psychology. A QL 200 CT requires 800 CL and 600 Psychology.
The main control tower has about 10 times the amount of hitpoints as that of a regular tower. Each tower placed on the LCA provides the CT with extra hitpoints, increased health regeneration and a 5 point cumulative damage shield per tower. CT's can be bought in the Towers shop from QL 10-250.
Organizations can have a maximum of 5 CT's placed, and each CT must be of a different Tower Type level, listed on the CT. Here are the different Tower Types and their corresponding levels:
1 QL 10-33 Type I
2 QL 34-81 Type II
3 QL 82-128 Type III
4 QL 129-176 Type IV
5 QL 177-200 Type V
6 QL 201-225 Type VI
7 QL 226-250 Type VII
An organization could have a QL40 and QL100 CT, but not a QL40 and QL75 CT, as they would be of the same Tower Type level.
Other TowersLCA's can host a maximum of 60 structures or less depending on the amount of space. These consist of turrets, guardian conductors and SAM batteries. These towers will attack enemy units that are in PvP level range of the tower. Each has an equivalent amount of hitpoints, but turrets have a much more powerful attack. SAM Batteries reportedly have a half chance to shoot down an enemy airstrike.
Towers provide stat boosts to the players that build them, wherever the player goes. Guardian conductors also have friendly vicinity modifiers for friendly units or hostile vicinity modifiers for enemies that only effect players when they are in proximity to the conductor. A list of all available towers is at the end of this guide.
Tower PlacementTower placement is initiated through the mini-map using the Build button. If the button is not there, click the information icon button in the upper left corner of the mini-map and check the Show Buttons option. Drag and drop towers onto the Build menu, press Check and a myriad of conditions are tested to allow for placement. If all conditions check positive, then the Build button will become available and pressing it will raise the tower!
Players can only build towers that are 'unique' to them, meaning, if multiple towers are built, a player cannot build the same type of tower on that LCA or any other, e.g., controlling two Simple Missle Turrets is not allowed. There are also limits to how many total towers a player can build, based on their level:
Under 15 No Towers
15+ 1 Tower
75+ 2 Towers
150+ 3 Towers
200+ 4 Towers
Players can destroy their own towers by first targeting the tower, then sending
/tower terminate through the chatbar. If a player leaves the org, all towers they placed are immediately destroyed, except for the main control tower.
Attacking and Defending Tower Sites Suppression Gas and Level LimitsLCA's are open to attack for a block of 6 hours everyday based on the original time the site was taken. This open time cannot be reset unless the CT is destroyed. Upon destruction of a CT, the winning faction has an opportunity to place a CT on the site. If no CT is planted, soon after, all organizations are allowed to take control of the LCA. Whenever a CT is erected it can immediately be attacked and the entire LCA remains open to attack for an hour, after which the LCA begins a 'suppression gas' cycle, starting at 75%:
During 75% the LCA cannot be attacked by players, this level lasts for 18 hours then changes to 25%..
During 25% the LCA can be attacked by all players from enemy factions, this level lasts for 5 hours then changes to 5%..
During 5% the LCA can be attacked by all players except members of the org that control the LCA, this level lasts for 1 hour and then the site returns to 75%.
Friendly units should team with members from the controllers org to prevent towers from firing on them during 5% suppression as towers will attack players even of the same alignment unless teamed!
For PvP, there are upper and lower level limits placed on players governing the level of players and towers they can engage in combat and this has unique applications regarding LCA's. Players cannot buff other players in political zones or areas of 25% or 5% suppression if they are out of leveling range. If a player is out of PvP range other players won't be able to cast any heal or heal-over-time programs on them and heal pets will disregard any order to actually heal the player.
If the suppression gas varies between two players, the lesser level suppression will be applied when trying to cast buffs on each other. When moving between areas of different suppression there is a 60 second grace or 'disgrace' period before the change takes effect. When moving into an area of lesser suppression, making any hostile actions, including attacking monsters, will negate the grace period immediately. In 25% and 5% suppression gas, players are not allowed to cast friendly buffs on enemy targets.
Initiating an AttackFor organizations that control a tower site already, attacking another LCA is as simple as firing at the towers. For players not in an org and orgs without a site an
Emergency Defense Shield Neutralizer (shield disabler) is required to be used on one of the structures first. Shield disablers require an amount of Quantum Field Theory equal to their QL and can be bought in the Towers shop. To use a shield disabler, a player must be in PvP range of the main control tower and use disabler that is the same QL or higher as that of the CT. A disabler can be used on other towers also, but the conditions check is still made against the main CT.
A single shield disabler will lower the shields so that all other players, with regards to suppression gas level, can attack the site and players and orgs do not need to individually use the disablers to attack. Shield disablers also prevent the defending org from planting towers for awhile, and can be used by organizations even if they control a tower site.
When players that are not in an org or members of an org that control no LCA's attack tower structures, a PvP enabled flag is placed on the player for 4 hours. This effect survives death and is otherwise unremovable until it expires. The flag does not renew itself as the player attacks towers but a new flag will be enabled if the player continues to attack towers after the previous flag has expired.
When players from orgs that control an LCA attack towers, that org's LCA's all change to 5% suppression, opening them to attack, as part of a 'state of war', regardless of their suppression level before the attack occurred. The sites return to their previously scheduled suppression after a period of time.
Because of the drawbacks, it's best to avoid attacking LCA's unintentionally. Listed below are conditions that can trigger a response from towers:
- Auto-attack enabled
- Damage/Reflect shields
- Area of Effect Nano Programs (nukes, hostile vicinity modifiers, mongo)
- Pets set to Guard status (default after summoning)
- Basically anything that damages or casts a negative effect on a tower
Communication and AccessWhen an attack is initiated on a tower site, a global alert is broadcast to all players that are in organizations and subscribed to the Tower Message Channel (All Towers). The progress of tower destruction is also relayed to the defending organization's members.
The grid can provide quick access for defenders that are in the org being attacked by entering the point labeled
Notum Controller & Organization City Exit on the ground level of the grid. By selecting the appropriate LCA and clicking OK, players are teleported to their LCA's Control Tower. Targeting the CT and clicking on a
Personal Grid Converter allows for quick teleportation back into the grid. Converters are available for purchase in the Towers shop and must be at least the same QL or higher of the CT they are used on to work.
Tower Wars MechanicsIn PvP, damage done against players and their pets is half the amount normally done against monsters. Critical hit chance is also halved in PvP. The maximum amount of damage a singular attack can do is 30% of a players total hitpoints. Damage performed against towers is normal; it is not halved. Control towers and turrets have 100% resistance to critical attacks (virtually complete resistance). Control Towers have a 50% resistance against Trader debuffs.
Tower TechnologyA typical tower battlefield often encompasses various players attacking and defending towers within PvP range of the towers and scouts monitoring the battle along with players that provide buffs to others from areas of relative safety.
Players with the Lost Eden expansion can command robotic vehicles (mechs) and player-controlled turrets.
Mechs are most effective against Anti-Personnel Turrets and SAM Batteries, but can also kill other towers, other mechs and monsters while offering a weak attack against players. The
Anti-Personnel Turrets, or APT's, are stationary units for defenders, often placed near CT's, that are effective against players and local wildlife and generally players without mechs should keep their distance from them.
Anti-Vehicular Batteries are another stationary unit for defenders and excel at destroying mechs. Players do little damage to these types of vehicles and turrets with regular weapons but rocket launchers are available from weapon terminals that will severely damage a mech.
Emerging from the advent of battlestation technology, powerful Area of Effect attacks known as
orbital strikes and
air strikes became available to organizations that own a city. The precursor to these aerial attacks is very short, such that slow-moving players and assault mechs will have a hard time escaping the blast radius of these strikes designed to snare enemy units and disrupt their formation. The attacks will also injure friendly units or anyone caught in their wake and while the attacks can only be targeted in the binding LCA territory, the effect can carry over some distance into safe zones.
Mantas are another type of vehicle designed for use in notum wars but can also be used against monsters in outdoor areas. These rarely seen ground vehicles are sold in the Towers shop and allow players to attack while inside the vehicle, with a penalty to all initiatives except ranged initiative. In addition to a players normal weapons, players can gain access to a special attack requiring heavy weapons skill. Mantas come in three varieties each with different capabilities. Because of the expense, requirements, size and penalties, the Manta can be a hard sell.
Benefits of Land Control Universal AdvantagesOrganizations that control an LCA gain a set dividend of points that can be used towards the application of Universal Advantages (sold in the Towers shops) which raise various selected abilities and skills for all members of the org (effectuality determined by QL of the contract + player level; a weak contract will not give any bonus for some lower level players).
The quantity and quality of contracts able to be utilized is determined by the amount and QL of CT's an org controls. Orgs receive 2x the QL of the CT worth of points, for each individual CT, to spend on contracts. Orgs can place up to 3 unique contracts per CT. If an org has a QL20 CT.. that is 40 max points that can be spent towards 3 contracts. If an org has a QL20 CT and QL70 CT that is 180 max points towards 6 contracts.
Only the org president can makes changes to universal advantages using the command
/org contract and which members can type to view the contracts in play. Contracts will become disabled if the amount of max points is exceeded or the max points decrease (after destruction of a CT). The most important contracts can be added to the window first, as the last contracts added will be the first ones disabled.
Other BonusesIndividual towers also provide different buffs to players, depending on the type of tower, until its destruction. Each faction recieves a trackable Side XP Bonus (experience modifier) corresponding to their faction's land control status. Organizations that control a tower site can also participate more freely in attacking other LCA's because of penalties placed on players in orgs without tower sites.
