¶ Overview
Warfare is a large part of Nations. On land, warfare is conducted through sieges. A siege involves a nation attacking an enemy Non-Peaceful town over two days.
Sieges begin when a siege banner is placed outside the Non-Peaceful town. They are divided into battle sessions. During a battle session, the objective of both sides is to control the siege banner. Siege points are earned by controlling the siege banner and killing enemies near it. The side that earns the most points will win the siege.
If attackers win the siege, they can choose to occupy the town and plunder money from its town bank. Occupied towns face several restrictions, while their occupiers enjoy benefits. Occupation can be lifted if the town wins a revolt siege, or their allies win a liberation siege on the town.
¶ Peaceful & Non-Peaceful Towns
Main article: Town Peacefulness and Occupation
Towns choose their ability to be sieged. All towns begin as peaceful towns that cannot be attacked, but suffer from some gameplay restrictions. Towns can choose to become non-peaceful towns that do not suffer from these restrictions, but open themselves to the risk of being attacked in a siege.
¶ Occupation
Main article: Town Peacefulness and Occupation
Occupying foreign towns and freeing friendly towns from occupation is one of the main motivations behind sieges. When a town is occupied, it suffers restrictions, while its occupying nation enjoys benefits. For example, the occupier gains money, extra claims and most of a town's resource production.
If a nation fully occupies another nation, they can force it to become their vassal through subjugation.
¶ Siege Types
Different types of sieges may be started depending on the defending towns' and the attacking nations' status, and they may have different outcomes.
¶ Conquest Siege
The most common siege type, a Conquest siege occurs when an unoccupied Non-Peaceful town is attacked by a foreign nation.
If the Conquest siege is won by the attacking nation, they can choose to occupy and plunder the town.
¶ Liberation Siege
This occurs when an occupied Non-Peaceful town is attacked by one of its allied nations. The occupied town and its allies fight against the occupying nation.
If the occupying nation loses the siege, the town is freed from occupation.
¶ Revolt Siege
This occurs when an occupied Non-Peaceful town rebels against its occupiers. The occupied town and its allies fight against the occupying nation.
If the occupying nation loses the siege, the town is freed from occupation.
¶ Suppression Siege
This occurs when an already-occupied Non-Peaceful town is sieged again by its occupying nation - for example, to stop an imminent revolt.
If the occupying nation wins the siege, the attacked town can be plundered again. If they lose the siege, the attacked town is freed from occupation.
¶ Starting a Siege
This section covers how the requirements for a siege and how to begin one.
¶ Requirements for a Siege
Nations can besiege any Non-Peaceful town that is within 10,000 blocks of their capital.
¶ Time Window
Sieges can only begin on Fridays, between 00:00–23:59 UTC.
¶ Cost
Starting a siege on a town costs $20 for each claim that the town owns. If the town is a nation capital, the cost is increased to $80 per claim.
The cost is taken from the nation bank if a nation is starting the siege (i.e. Conquest, Suppression or Liberation), and from the town bank if a town is starting the siege (i.e. Revolt).
The money paid to start the siege is called the war chest. The war chest is awarded to the winning side's nation bank (or town bank, if the town is not in a nation) when the siege ends.
¶ Siege Immunity
Siege immunity is given to new towns and towns that have recently been sieged. Towns with siege immunity cannot be sieged. When siege immunity runs out, the town can be sieged again. The siege immunity timer can be viewed in the town information screen.
¶ Starting the Siege
A siege begins when a coloured banner is placed in a Wilderness chunk right outside a Non-Peaceful town. This Wilderness chunk must be next to a claim of a town, either directly or diagonally.
Only players with a high-enough town or nation rank can begin a siege:
- If a nation wants to begin a siege (Conquest, Suppression or Liberation), the siege-starter must have Leader, Coleader, Chancellor or General.
- If a town wants to begin a siege (Revolt), the siege-starter must be town's Mayor.
If the siege begins successfully, the coloured banner will become the siege banner and its position will be marked by a beacon beam. Everywhere within a 400-block radius of the siege banner becomes the siege zone, where PvP is enabled and siege points can be earned.
The side that places the siege banner and their allies are the attackers in a siege. The other side and their allies are the defenders.
Full sieges can last for a maximum of 48 hours (2 days). After a siege begins, a countdown starts on the besieged town's town information screen (/t (name of town)) showing the time remaining for the siege to end (Victory Timer).
¶ Preparing Ranks
Only military-ranked players can participate in a siege and earn siege points. Anyone else will not earn siege points and will suffer from war sickness inside the siege zone, which gives them effects such as Weakness and Poison.
Military ranks are:
- Leader, Coleader, Chancellor, General, Commander, and Soldier for a nation. Assign these by using
/n rank add (name of player) (rank) - Mayor, Comayor, Militia and Police for the besieged town. Assign these by using
/t rank add (name of player) (rank)
¶ Fighting and Winning a Siege
Sieges are divided into battle sessions. Battle sessions last for 90 minutes, and there is a 90 minute break between them. Your objective during a battle session is to capture and control the siege banner and kill enemy players and vehicles within the siege zone. Performing these actions will award your side with battle points. No battle points can be earned outside of a battle session.
Attackers will earn a positive number of battle points, while defenders will earn a negative number of battle points. At the end of the battle session, their points are added together and added to the siege balance. If the attackers win more points, the siege balance will increase. If the defenders win more points, the siege balance will decrease. The defenders win the siege if the siege balance is negative at the end of the siege, while the attackers will win if the siege balance is positive at the end of the siege.
You can see the siege balance and the points earned in the current battle session by typing /sw hud <name of besieged town>.
¶ Controlling the Siege Banner
Controlling the siege banner (banner control) is one of the main ways to earn battle points. To achieve banner control, you must stand within 16 blocks of the siege banner, uninterrupted, for 7 minutes. After achieving banner control, you will be added to the banner control list and do not need to stand by the banner.
Every 20 seconds, a side will earn 5 points for each player they have on the banner control list.
¶ Reversals
If the enemy side takes banner control from your side, they will earn points at an increased rate. This is called a reversal. If you retake banner control, you will earn points at an even faster rate! The more reversals that take place during a battle session, the more points that the controlling side will gain. Therefore carrying out a reversal can be both a risky and rewarding endeavour.
¶ Killing Enemy Players and Vehicles
Killing an enemy military-ranked player in the siege zone will award your side with 150 points. This can be increased by the counter-attack bonus — the more enemies that are on the banner control list, the more points you will earn from killing them.
You can also earn points by destroying enemy-controlled vehicles that are inside the siege zone:
| Craft Type | Battle Points Earned for Destroying |
| Aircraft Carrier | 5000 |
| Dreadnought | 4000 |
| Cruiser | 3000 |
| Destroyer | 2000 |
| Corvette | 1000 |
| Zeppelin | 1000 |
| Submarine | 750 |
| Heavy Tank | 400 |
| Turret | 300 |
| Tank | 200 |
| Infantry Fighting Vehicle |
200 |
| Bomber | 200 |
| Fighter | 200 |
¶ Movecrafts Support Points Boost
Points from kills are multiplied for each friendly Movecraft craft you have piloted within the siege zone. The craft must be fully inside Wilderness for the multiplier to apply.
The multiplier is only given by the following craft types:
| Craft Type | Kill Points Multiplier |
| Aircraft Carrier | 4x |
| Dreadnought | 4x |
| Destroyer | 3x |
| Corvette | 2x |
| Infantry Fighting Vehicle | 1.25x |
¶ Explosions
Explosions are enabled inside the besieged town if at least one military-ranked player from the town's side is online and inside the siege zone. Cannons, tanks and naval ships can be used to bombard towns. Towns can defend against this by building their defences from blocks that have Block HP, as they can withstand multiple hits from explosions.
Most damage from explosions inside the besieged town will be automatically repaired both during and after the siege. See the page on Automatic Rollbacks for more information.
¶ Ending the Siege
Sieges can end in three ways:
- If the defenders surrender, by the besieged town's Mayor placing a white banner in the Siege Zone before the 2-day siege period is up. The attackers win the siege, after the Victory Timer ends.
- If the attackers abandon the siege, by the attacking nation's Leader, Coleader, or General placing a white banner before the 2-day siege period is up. The defenders win the siege, after the Victory Timer ends.
- Through victory. At the end of the full, 2-day siege period, the side with the most siege points is declared the winner of the siege. If the siege balance is positive, the attackers win the siege. If the siege balance is negative, the defenders win the siege.
¶ Attacker Options
Depending on the type of siege, the attacker can choose to plunder and occupy the besieged town if they win.
¶ Occupy
To occupy a defeated town, an attacker Leader, Coleader or General must place a colored banner in a Wilderness chunk next to the town's claims. The town will then become occupied by the attacking nation.
After being captured, a Revolt immunity timer starts for the defeated town, visible in the town information screen (/t (name of town)). While a town has Revolt immunity, it cannot start a Revolt siege.
¶ Plunder
To plunder a defeated town, an attacker Leader, Coleader or General must place a chest in a Wilderness chunk next to the town's claims. For every claim that the defeated town has, $40 will be taken from its bank. If the town does not have enough money in its bank to cover the cost of being plundered, it will either become bankrupt or fall into ruin.
¶ Siege Tips and Tactics
Below is a list of (mostly subjective) tips and tactics that you can use during a siege. Some of these may be useful for you, others less so!
¶ Common Mistakes: Towns
- Having an unprotected/open town spawn. This could allow enemies to camp your respawn point!
- Having uncovered walls or not claiming around your walls. Enemies will often try to jump onto your walls from towers in Wilderness.
- Not building defences from blocks that have Block HP. These blocks can withstand multiple hits from explosions.
- Freaking out and surrendering after being bombed. Most of the damage to your town will rollback both during and after the siege.
¶ Common Mistakes: Fighting
- Engaging enemies with superior PvP skill in melee. You'll want to keep your distance and attack them from a distance using vehicles, guns and cannons.
- Fighting with bad armor or without potions. Unfortunately, iron armor and steak won't cut it for fighting at sieges! Ideally, you'll want Prot IV Diamond Armor along with some health, strength and swiftness potions.
¶ Combat Tactics
- Horses in combat are best used when attacking from a range. Avoid gun users and entering melees - horses often momentarily stop moving when hurt.
- Combined arms: using a mixture of vehicles, cannons and people on foot. Tanks and heavy tanks can take out enemy vehicles and cannons, while protecting their passengers from being hurt. Fighters and bombers are fragile, but good for taking out enemy vehicles. People on foot are needed to take over enemy defensive positions and stop them from using their cannons.