Fantasy Friday X - Lay Siege Skirmish

[Alex Walz]

FANTASY FRIDAY X
Lay Siege Skirmish

As we move ever closer to the beta (beta key recipients, check your inboxes early next week for an update!), we thought we'd take some time to show you the mechanics of one of the skirmish modes you'll be trying out: Lay Siege. This mode provides a contrast for the MMORTS, as it allows the same large-scale action, but at a much quicker pace by reducing the need to build up your army first. Instead, you get a set number of units and resources and the strategy comes down to micromanaging what you are given to penetrate enemy defenses. This mode is ideal for quick and balanced matches when you just want to get in some fighting without having to build anything or transport your army vast distances.

From the menu, you can choose to lay siege against any of the main NPC strongholds (of which there are currently twelve). You can also choose your race, the season, and the difficulty.

On load-up, you will be presented with a merchant screen, and you will be given some gold to spend on mercenaries. I sold two battalions of golbin raiders and purchased another siege ram and two siege towers.

Next up, you will be shown a short cinematic of the enemy stronghold - in this case, Illas Tortra. Pay attention as you may notice enemy weakspots to best plan your attack.

The cinematic will end with a close-up of the enemy king. The king is located deep within the stronghold and surrounded by some of his best men. It is your objective to find and kill him.

Returning to the game, you will be given another choice to customize your battle. You will be presented with two locations from which you can attack from. I chose to move my troops eastward.

A great, and varied, army awaits you in your army camp, allowing for instant action. In your army camp, you can heal your units, and construct new siege engines or research upgrades from the Armory building. Using siege engines is essential to penetrating enemy defenses - use siege towers to get your units onto the enemy walls, catapults to take out enemy archers, and siege rams to break down the gates.

There are two ways to open enemy gates to get to the king - by using siege rams to destroy them, or by using siege towers and ladders to get your infantry units inside the walls to destroy the large Gate Crank object on the other side of the gate.

To start the battle, I command several catapults to clear the enemy walls, lead by a few battalions of common infantry as fodder so I can get my heavier units and siege mechanisms in.

Once the battle is underway, I send in my siege rams to make easy work of the gate. It crashes down as rain begins to trickle down.

Once I have breached the first gate, my infantry scatter and wreak havoc among the stronghold as the rain picks up. My rams proceed to the second gate, quickly bringing it down while I work on clearing another group of archers slaughtering my oncoming infantry one-by-one.

The stronghold is in my hands! Now all that remains is the enemy king, located on the coast. While there are still some troops to deal within inside the main stronghold, I send most of my units to deal with the king and his guards.

Killing the king is no easy feat, as my ogres come crashing to the ground by his blade.

But, alas, I put an end to him as my remaining units cheer and a victory cinematic plays.

[Darvin]

Siege mode is one of my most highly anticipated game modes. I loved creating and sieging castles in Stronghold, and this is heavily reminiscent of those wonderful siege battles.

[GPS51]

A terrific preview of siege warfare in DOF. Really looking forward to the fight for the outward walls. I presume it is possible to protect things like gate cranks as the defender?

[Darathor]

DoF looks like it has a highly unique and interesting siege system that I'm really looking forward to. I like how you can just attack a castle as a game mode, looks really fun! I also like the dynamic weather like the rain.

[u_have_krabs]

This looks great. Can't wait to play this. Storming a stronghold is always fun.

[Kire]

It looks like the attacker have too easy/fast way to bring down castles =). Since this is an attack on elvish castle..... what counter siege ways have they ?=)

[Darathor]

Well, he was just attacking a computer, right? It didn't look like he defended his walls much at all, giving him a free ticket in if he sacrifices some fodder.

If you want some defenses for the elves, I saw some elven bolt throwers (ballista) mounted on the walls.

[Generation]

This is kind of the same concept as of Rome total war with the custom battles but still looks good

[Noxeros]

How did the Elven Grandmasters max health go upp to 2975 from 2250?
Either way, it looks great! I would still like to see two massive armies fightning on an open field tho...

[Jack]

looks really great
if you have no internet, you can do lay-siege