[Answer below.]
No one in Cervantes could complain about today's Colony Wars server being a dull one, no way! Lots of exciting action today, lots of war declarations, and most importantly - a boss met 6 factions, and much fun was had by all!
But serious stuff first: although a mass of different factions launched attacks against each member of the WrathOfGod-Vradical-Halcyon alliance, the three factions prevail once again in Granado Espada [Cervantes]:
This map seems familiar, doesn't it? At least I can report on behalf of WrathOfGod that we have reclaimed all seven of our January colonies. I think the same goes for both Vradical and Halcyon as well.
And now for the very surprising list of war declarations, featuring names both familiar and new, in various combinations of aggression and peace:
ForeverVN v HolyOrder [declared shortly before Colony War session]
DCArebirth™ v WrathOfGod
Halcyon v CARNAGE*
WrathOfGod v GuardsOfHonour
Vradical v GuardsOfHonour
WrathOfGod v CARNAGE
Vradical v CARNAGE [truced]
Halcyon v GuardsOfHonour
Cupid v FallenAngels [truced]
ForeverVN v Vradical
Cupid v Insomnia
BlackSociety v Halcyon
Vradical v FallenAngels
Discipline v Insomnia
WrathOfGod v ForeverVN
Halcyon v ForeverVN
FallenAngels v Halcyon
FallenAngels v WrathOfGod
ReBirth v CARNAGE** [truced]
Vradical v Insomnia
CARNAGE v Insomnia
* - Yes, here begins the long-awaited return of CARNAGE faction into the Colony Wars. They are still recruiting as of the moment.
** - I put a star on this one because it was pretty surprising, given that ReBirth were initially formed by ex-CARNAGE members.
As usual, if I've missed any declarations or truces due to lag / warping, please comment here and I will update the entry, with credits to you. [Remember that only declarations and truces taking effect DURING the session will be entertained.]
***
Notes from WrathOfGod:
There were worries that there might not be enough people online tonight due to holidays, exams, and other obligations for many of the critical personnel of the faction, so plans were made cautiously to begin with - until everyone tumbled back in just in time and the strategy was out: get all seven colonies back! It was going to be a tall order and accordingly, we had to follow a battle plan, and do it with dispatch, timing and pizazz into the bargain.
I joined the squad that was to attack Topolo Durga first, while two other squads went after Via Fluvial and Scorching Plateau at the same time.
Getting ready to claim Topolo Durga.
It took a while to do it, and we had to fend off the harassment from members of DCArebirth™ while we were at it. We eventually managed to take the first three colonies.
We retook the colony at El Canon de Diabolica from GuardsOfHonour, bounced back to Topolo as DCArebirth™ kept up their hit-and-run tactics, and then hoofed it to Porto Bello Deserted Quay to engage CARNAGE.
In the meantime, other squads had taken the Ferruccio Junction colony from its ForeverVN attackers, and staked our claim on Bonavista River.
The defenders at Ferruccio Junction.
Finally, there was a general call to the three-faction alliance: Halcyon was requesting for assistance at the colony at the Old Port of Coimbra. Accordingly, many families streamed in to bolster the defense. Both BlackSociety and ForeverVN were besieging the colony, and more of them were coming in with each moment. Even other factions such as ReBirth had showed up to fight.
In the midst of this chaos, someone offered to lure Dekaravia to the colony - to help defend, perhaps, and to take out the enemy, most certainly.
The answer to the question in the subtitle is, NONE!
Dekaravia: I can has colony nao?
Vrad-WOG-Halc / Black-Forever / ReB: OMGWTFBBQpwned. *collective face-fault*
Yup, Dekaravia and his minions got the drop on ALL SIX factions represented at the Old Port, Cursed the lot of us, and left us all taking nice long dirt naps.
[The subtitle to this entry, as you can see, is based on CCB™'s joke in the screenshot.]
Good lord that was certainly a Colony Wars session to remember! And next week it's defense, as the many new factions [not to mention the returning CARNAGE] attempt to wrest colonies of their own!
And one might be forgiven for thinking I mean that title more literally than figuratively.
Anyway, the map is the same as those of the last two weeks, with the three allied factions of Halcyon-Vradical-WrathOfGod holding on to their colonies.
With maintenance moved to tomorrow so people can play through the Chinese New Year, the map above will be wiped clean once again, and all colonies will be up for grabs for February and the Year of the Earth Rat.
There was one war declared tonight during the session:
rEbOrN v Halcyon
All other war declarations had been in place for some time now, without any truces being taking place.
Shocking news in Cervantes as word has come to this blog of two major movements with regards to the factions:
Illuminati faction has disbanded.
That is, the faction only has one member left, its leader BaoBao. According to a source, over the week all the members found themselves removed from the faction roster, leaving just the one member. Speculation abounds as to where the former stalwarts will move to now, and the BlackSociety faction seems to be the leading candidate to absorb the former Illuminati.
CARNAGE faction has returned.
I first got wind of this through a heads-up from the Ogasawara family - Overseer had returned to take back his faction, and they are now in the process of calling back the original members. This means that they may actually return to Colony Wars session next week - stay tuned!
***
Notes from WrathOfGod:
By the time we all began to assemble for tonight's Colony Wars session, we all knew that tomorrow the monthly colony reset would take place - meaning whatever we did tonight would be pretty much mooted, and we'd have to start over again next week to fight for new colonies.
That didn't stop us from making preparations, though.
This week I went back to Bonavista River and volunteered to put the squad together. I wasn't planning to lead the group though because I knew I had pretty much nil experience in CW tactics, even if we were expecting to just hold on as in previous last-one-before-the-reset sessions.
An icy buff, and it makes my levitating wizard look damn nice.
Most of the squad is represented in this long shot. There were at least two Tarys running around for most of the session, helping the other scouts detect for possible attackers.
A surprise appearance for the big guns, although they weren't really needed for this session: Steel Ararat, and Treasure Golem.
We killed the two hours at Bonavista by making jokes about animal cruelty and calling in the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals [SPCA], spurred in part by Tary's falling over dead whenever his time had expired, and by the many birds we killed on the map. There was even an instance when the Steel Ararat stomped on a mass of the hapless feathered mobs.
I also spent the time chatting with allied friends.
During the second half of the session, our colony at Via Fluvial was visited twice by attackers, but they were repelled each time by the faction members streaming in to bolster the squad already there.
Next week, the colonies are once again the subject of the Colony Wars' free-for-all struggle, and that promises to be quite an entertaining session. Until then, though, Kong Hei Fat Choi in advance.
The results of tonight's Colony Wars session in Cervantes.
If this map looks familiar to you, that's because it's the same as last week's. The triple alliance of Halcyon, Vradical and WrathOfGod turned all their efforts to defense this week - and were all successful in their shared endeavors.
I call this report "Triple X Triple" because the Halc-Vrad-WoG alliance came under serious fire this week from a new group of factions that have banded together; this group consists of BlackSociety, Illuminati, and Cupid factions.
As Halc-Vrad-WoG had already been at war with one or the other of the challenging factions over the past two weeks, there were no declarations of war made against either BlackSociety or Illuminati. There were only two declarations made during tonight's session:
Cupid v WrathOfGod - truced. This war was declared shortly before the session started.
Vradical v Cupid - truced.
***
Notes from WrathOfGod:
With seven colonies to defend, it was no wonder the Faction Message [seen upon logging in and changing maps] for tonight ran along the lines of "full defense tonight" or something like that. We formed four squads that would share defense duties among all seven of our colonies, with the usual arrangement that should one defending squad find itself overwhelmed, the other squads would, within reason, warp over to assist.
We'd had that arrangement already up during defense times, and today I had a slightly niggling feeling that we were seriously going to need it.
I signed up to help defend at the Bonavista River colony, the same as last week, and warped in to find several friends already in position. Two of our players who owned veteran Vikis also joined the group, and some of the faction heads dropped in from time to time to check in on us.
Colony Wars time approached and I groaned out loud when Cupid declared war on us, as they had also been harassing us at Bonavista during the previous week's session. By the time the declaration was in effect, about five minutes before game time, a whole squad full of Cupid attackers were hovering around our colony. One scout even booby-trapped the surrounding area of the colony tower with various traps! [Luckily the traps were dispelled in time.]
At the immediate start of the session, the invaders from Cupid fell upon our defending squad, and this time they brought a LOT of backup - squads from Illuminati and BlackSociety, including some of their leaders!
Chaos reigns at the Bonavista River colony.
Viki once again proved his worth - the above picture features a Level 10x Steel Ararat assisting the defense. It momentarily fought the Treasure Golem in the background as well. [And it goes without saying that Viki kept up his "reputation" for lagging, affecting friends and foes alike XD]
However, you might have noticed all the fallen allies and defenders in the same picture. We had to call for backup from not only the other defending squads but also the allied factions of Halcyon and Vradical.
At one point my squad leader commented that roughly a fourth of the server's online players at the time had converged on our colony. And that, folks, is a LOT of people.
With reinforcements helping bolster the defense, the colony was kept safely in our possession. [Thanks to everyone who showed up!]
More Steel Ararat action, but with allies up this time ^^
This was a pretty interesting session, with lots of action in the first half and sporadic skirmishes in the second. We had actually braced ourselves for last-minute surges but encountered none.
Next week will see the colonies wiped of their previous owners and all up for grabs again. With a new group of three factions coming up against the established partnership of Halc-Vrad-WoG, expect fierce fighting and lots of interesting news coming your way then.
Okay. Your Colony Wars reporter for Granado Espada's Cervantes server is back in the saddle and ready to dish out this week's results from a wild and woolly session!
Here are the results from tonight's struggles:
One faction that used to hold colonies has been wiped off the map, leaving the allied factions of Halcyon, Vradical, and WrathOfGod to own all the colonies this week.
A wipeout like this did not come easily, though, and a whole bunch of factions both old and new joined the fray. Before the session proper began, the following factions declared war on each other:
CutieGardeN v Illuminati
Cupid v WrathOfGod
Insomnia v WrathOfGod
CutieGardeN v Nostalgia
MyGE v WrathOfGod - truced
CuteiGardeN v WrathOfGod
Vradical v MyGE - truced
Halcyon v MyGE - truced
Once the war announcement went out over the server, the following declarations were made:
Ëxpendable•Ýouth v Halcyon - truced
Cupid v Vradical - truced
DeAthNoTe™ v BlackGranados
Illuminati v GuardsOfHonour - truced
BlackSociety v GuardsOfHonour - truced
GuardsOfHonour v Vradical
Halcyon v GuardsOfHonour
WrathOfGod v GuardsOfHonour
GrandLodge v GuardsOfHonour
CutieGardeN v Vradical
Like I said above: this was one session where everybody mixed it up. Both GuardsOfHonour and WrathOfGod found themselves facing lots of attackers, but there were very different results for the two factions.
IMPORTANT NOTE This list may not be complete; I may have missed some war declarations. If I have, please correct me in the comments and I will update the list, with credits to you. Thanks.
***
Notes from WrathOfGod:
We had been informed, over the past week, that this session would be important as the leaders had received intelligence that several factions would try to wrest away our six colonies. Therefore, we were required to show up for this session - first time for me since joining last year.
After bouncing between a couple of defender squads, I joined squad leader Inazuki and his team at the Bonavista River colony. Here's a picture of the group as we slowly all got ourselves organized:
Buffs, cannons, and veterans aplenty, oh my.
Within the first minute of the session starting, our squad at Bonavista was hit by a handful of high-powered members of Cupid faction. My team got wiped in the very first skirmish! But our defenders managed to beat them off. The Cupid attackers would return regularly to the colony, managing to hit the pillar a couple of times but mainly there to try and kill us all.
Our Ferruccio Junction and Via Fluvial colonies also received more than their share of attackers - at one point the FJ defenders reported that ALL of Illuminati faction had congregated there, and the Via colony got hit intermittently throughout the session. The FJ defenders suffered under the onslaught of several Vikis summoning their pets [and causing lots of lag], but were able to beat them back with valiant efforts.
As you can see from the list above, we faced foes both old and new this week, and nearly all of us who were online during the session got to fight.
One of the main points of this week's Colony Wars was the erasure of GuardsOfHonour faction from the colony owners' list. Apparently the faction had bolted the alliance it had previously shared with Halcyon, Vradical, and WrathOfGod. They fell short of their goal of snatching the allied factions' colonies away - far short enough that the alliance took all of their colonies instead.
Our share of that came to the colony in Porto Bello Deserted Quay; while Vradical and Halcyon divided the majority of the former GuardsOfHonour colonies between themselves.
The result? A Granado Espada whose colonies are divided equally between three factions.
...Or at least that's going to be the case until the first week of February and the usual colony reset.
Until next week, then, when we find out what happens as the alliance hunkers down to defend the colonies.
Granado Espada events in the Philippines this week
12 January - IP e-Games Evolution goes to SM Megamall. Stay tuned for more details on this one - I just got the heads-up from Ms. Ivee the other day. It's not yet on the IP e-Games main site either, but I'm guessing it will soon be.
UPDATE Oops, this Saturday gig is off. Got official word from Ms. Ivee. Please update your calendars appropriately.
13 January - Philippine Online Gaming Summit at TriNoMa, hosted by Game! Magazine. IP e-Games will be hosting special Granado Espada-themed events at this one. Get a chance to win a Nintendo Wii or a complete gaming PC rig. Your copy of either the November 2007 or the December 2007-January 2008 issues of Game! Magazine serves as your ticket to enter this gaming event.
...I'll be at both, LOL. See you there.
A quick training session for two of my Cervantes alts
While continuing the many item-gathering quests for Viki, I decided to take two of my favorite RNPCs out for a spin with my scout: Shahnti, my Grace Bernelli; and Ichigiku, my Adelina Esperanza. After a few hours of grinding, the picture above is the result.
Family information:
Team - NineMoons in Cervantes
Levels - 77 / 36 / 37
Members - Aurana, full support scout / Shahnti, double-pistol Grace Bernelli / Ichigiku, double-sabre Adelina Esperanza
I blew a lot of money on those weapons XD - they're all uniques!
Props from RCM Hrin
Read RCM Hrin's thoughts on her stay in WrathOfGod faction here.
We were all so happy for her on Boxing Day when she finally made vet ^^
In the next post:
How to make some of the needlessly expensive metal-based forging items!
No results were released for last night's Beta elections, natch, but isn't it exciting to think that the imminent elections, the colony reset, and the New Year have combined to bring Colony Wars in Cervantes server back to life?
Here's the map of Granado Espada in said server, after tonight's action-packed Colony Wars session:
Congratulations to WrathOfGod, GuardsOfHonour, Vradical, and Halcyon factions for acquiring and defending their colonies!
Special mention should also be made for, among others, new factions such as Ragnarok, LeGend™ph, and EclipseosUmbra; and Illuminati faction, who have made a comeback!
Here's the list of factions which declared war on each other; lines marked "truced" mean the truce was declared during the actual CW period.
Vradical v DCArebirth™ - truced, then re-declared war
LeGend™ph v Vradical - truced
EclipseosUmbra v Vradical - truced
EclipseosUmbra v Fukkatsu
EclipseosUmbra v Cupid
GrandLodge v Ragnarok
FallenAngels v Ragnarok
MyGE v WrathOfGod
WrathOfGod v Ragnarok
Illuminati v GuardsOfHonour - truced
GuardsOfHonour v Ragnarok - truced
EclipseosUmbra v Ragnarok - truced
GuardsOfHonour v DCArebirth™ - truced
LeGend™ph v GuardsOfHonour - truced
Requiem v Vradical - truced
Requiem v GuardsOfHonour - truced
WrathOfGod v GuardsOfHonour - truced
GuardsOfHonour v Illuminati
KauBaBiJue v Vradical
[This list may be incomplete - I might have missed some declarations and/or truces because I was warping between colonies. If I have missed anything, please comment and I'll update, with full credit to you. Thanks~ ^^]
***
Notes from WrathOfGod:
As this session followed the first colony reset of the year, the faction were all ordered to get ready to attack the following target colonies: Scorching Plateau, El Canon de Diabolica, Via Fluvial, Topolo Durga, Bonavista River, and Ferruccio Junction. The first five colonies were of higher priority.
The veterans assembled into two squads for both attack and defense; while the non-veterans were grouped into one squad. As my main team is Level 77, I had to join the latter team, which was first instructed to take the colony at El Canon de Diabolica.
And who said this one would be easy, when scouts from Illuminati faction were spotted on that map even as the Colony Wars began?
WrathOfGod holding at El Canon, just before the Colony Wars.
WrathOfGod v Illuminati, and the opponents brought a Takion to the party! [It's the big shape next to the colony spire.]
The Takion brings its backup, a Steel Ararat. Both summons were Level 101 or so, controlled by a vet Viki.
Speaking of which, that kid is going to be a major factor in CW, I can feel it. His "pets" bring tremendous damage and hella lag - sure things to tick off one's opponents!
Our squad got wiped and Illuminati took possession of the colony; we were then ordered to regroup at Bonavista River, and help the attacking team already there to take out the colony.
Assault on the Bonavista colony.
Success!
In the meantime, the vet squads had already taken over the colonies at Scorching Plateau, Topolo Durga, and Via Fluvial. With the initial colonies taken, we all returned to El Canon en masse, and went after the Illuminati defenders with a vengeance.
I can't remember whose side that Treasure Golem was on, but it sure helps make an impressive screenshot.
UPDATE Commenter DarkSurferio [a fellow WrathOfGod member] confirms that the Treasure Golem was on our side. Thanks~!
We finally managed to retake El Canon from Illuminati. In the meantime, the veterans' squads had also managed to grab the Ferruccio Junction colony from Ragnarok faction, its initial owners - and that meant WrathOfGod had regained possession of the six colonies we'd had before the reset~
UPDATE I neglected to mention that previous to WrathOfGod taking over the Ferruccio Junction colony, it had been under the aegis of GuardsOfHonour faction. Thanks to commenter Eclipsing for pointing this out.
Over the course of the session, we all had to warp back from one occupied colony to another to help defend from would-be usurpers; in my case, I bopped back and forth between El Canon and Bonavista as the colonies were attacked again and again by Illuminati and MyGE factions, respectively.
If the elections had been "real" and not a beta test, our faction leader aLKayeL would now be the Chancellor of Granado Espada in Cervantes, as we have the most colonies right now ^^ It's a fun dream, and a goal to work towards come February [and the official start of the elections].
Job well done to all, and let's all meet up again next week for defense!
There were Beta Elections slated tonight.
And half the population of Cervantes server had no clue of what was supposed to be going on.
Anyway, for those of you who were interested in the set of mechanics implemented for this Beta elections, read on.
The process of selecting the Republican President and the Royalist Duke can be broken down into two major steps: one for the faction leaders who can become candidates for those political positions; and one for the citizens of Granado Espada who can vote for their preferred candidates.
Step One: Declaring Candidacy
The only people who can declare candidacies are those who meet the following requirements: are faction leaders, lead Lv.52 factions, and have chosen a political party [Royalists or Republicans].
To declare his or her candidacy, the faction leader needs to wait for the announcement in purple in the chatbox below:
[Notice] The registration for elections has started! You can now register each party leader before the time period ends.
Next, the faction leader can file his or her papers for candidacy at his or her political party's headquarters: either the Reception Hall in Cite de Reboldoeux for the Royalists, or Villa de Libertad in Auch for the Republicans. The leader must buy the Candidate Registration Form item from the party's Election Manager. This item costs 5M Vis and allows the leader to register as a candidate for his or her party's leadership.
In this picture, the Royalist Election Manager is on the right of Princess Gabriella.
The faction leader/candidate-to-be need merely follow the instructions given by the Election Manager in order to declare his or her candidacy.
Step Two: To the Polls!
To actually be able to vote, a family must be of at least Family Level 10 [press Alt+R to check], and have the Vote Paper / Ballot item. A family can vote even if they do not belong to a faction.
The item can only be obtained from the red-haired Election Support Guides, at least two of which can always be found in the towns, standing next to the Ballot Boxes.
The Ballot can only be obtained after the time period for registration of candidacies is finished, and it can only be used once per election.
Wait for the server announcement to begin voting, then speak with the Election Support Guide to pick up your Ballot. Then click on the ballot box of your choice, select your candidate, and click on the button marked "Vote for preferred..." [literally!] to drop your vote in.
After voting, families are encouraged to return to the Election Support Guide. As a reward for participating in the elections, the Guides will hand out 3 x Election Compensation Potion to each family that voted.
Level 15 buffs OMGWTFBBQ~!
Now, after this beta test in Cervantes server, a few comments and suggestions:
- The registration period for candidacies was too long in the server, maybe because only three faction leaders signed up: aLKayeL of WrathOfGod and Kazel of Halcyon for the Royalists, and That of Vradical for the Republicans. I wonder if the time period for declaring candidacies might be shortened, perhaps to 45 minutes?
- If everyone in one server were to vote, one hour at the polls might not be long enough. I suggest extending voting time to an hour and, say, 15 minutes.
- Some of us in WrathOfGod faction thought it might be nifty to be able to see the votes as they come in, rather as they do during live coverage of actual elections in the real world.
- A good suggestion that came by way of the server broadcasts was, give the candidates a chance to tell the voters why they should vote for them!
As the results in Cervantes have not yet been announced, I will try to update this post with the "winners" later.
Actual elections will be held on a regular basis beginning 2 February 2008.
May I join my esteemed colleague DeSanggria in saying: squeeZOMGWTFBBQsquee!
Beta elections to nominate the Royalist Duke and Republican President are slated for this Saturday, 5 January, at 2000-2200 Singapore time! You may vote for faction leaders.
[Vote for aLKayeL of WrathOfGod in Cervantes server! XD]
Original implementing rules for the elections here, and my scoop of updates here.
Official beta elections announcement here, which also includes updates to the Christmas events and other developments.
New updates to the Item Mall include Eyewear Boxes. [Wow, what I'd give for some of those.]
And, My Bellem's Box items for January are two Plate Mail Costumes, 1 Blue Female Samurai Costume, and RNPC Idge the Battlesmith!
Wow! So is this how the special cash shop RNPC cards will be released from now on? And it's Idge the Battlesmith to start off with, no less! It might just be time to make a very special request of my brother in Singapore...hee~!
Cervantes server's colony ownership, in the last Colony Wars session of 2007:
If you think that the results of this week's Colony Wars look a lot like last week's - well, you'd be right. No changes occurred in colony ownership this week. I think people were mentally bracing themselves instead for the free-for-all that will be next Sunday's session - because, after all, there will be a reset of the colonies this coming first Thursday of January and 2008.
The brief list of factions that battled it out in this last session for the year:
Cupid V GuardsOfHonour
FallenAngels v GuardsOfHonour
MyGE v GuardsOfHonour
†Megalomaniacos† v Vradical
All of these conflicts ended in honorable truce during the session.
In the closing minutes of the session, several representative from Cupid, FallenAngels, and MyGE made server broadcasts thanking GuardsOfHonour for the good Colony Wars session. Maybe it was just a series of practice wars, I'm not sure. But there was a notable lack of ill-will among the four factions, and GuardsOfHonour were being thanked for a good session at its close.
***
Notes from WrathOfGod:
Preparing to defend Ferruccio Junction.
Having captured no less than six colonies last week, the faction shifted to full defense in this session. Since only about half the faction could make it, we were spread out pretty thin, so the defenders agreed to assist each other should any attacks come up, by warping to the afflicted colony/ies via the Colony Warp managers.
I volunteered to lead the defense of the Ferruccio Junction Colony, and wound up leading a small group of people: DelBaltuzar, DeAxelle, Nitesuki, givo, GraEspada, Lordvandor, HGSFROG, and warpig. We were an assorted mix of levels and teams, and as we were defending the colony that usually gets attacked first in normal CW sessions, had to brace ourselves for the craziest things that could happen.
And it turned out we actually didn't have anything to do for the entire session; some of us soon began to devote their time to other things such as leveling new characters. We we not remiss in our defense - we scouted Channel 2, we laid on the buffs - but we turned out to have attended a most lackluster session, and so there was nothing for it but to wait it out.
Next week, if the reset goes through as announced, WrathOfGod will lose its Colony's Protection buffs, all the colonies will once again be scrubbed and up for grabs, and we may even see the beginning of political and economic changes in the game's landscape.
But until then, this is NineMoons of Cervantes closing out the 2007 CW coverage. Next report will be dated January 2008. Happy grinding and happy new year to all.
And after the very first monthly reset of colonies comes the first Colony-Wars-from-scratch we've seen in a while; here are the results in Cervantes server of Granado Espada.
Congratulations to GuardsOfHonour, Halcyon, Vradical, and WrathOfGod for obtaining colonies!
And other factions were in the thick of the renewed conflict as well; here are the factions that declared war on each other:
Halcyon v Illuminati
GuardsOfHonour v Illuminati
Cupid v GrandLodge - truced, then re-declared war
ReBirth v FallenAngels
GuardsOfHonour v FallenAngels
Cupid v FallenAngels
DCArebirth™ v Halcyon - truced
Halcyon v GuardsOfHonour - truced
DCArebirth™ v GuardsOfHonour - truced
If I've missed any war declarations, please comment and I'll update the post - thanks! ^^
One of the factions that had been active in Colony Wars prior to the reset - MaFiaCLuB™ faction - did not attend this week, so they lost the chance to snag a colony for themselves. Heard it through the grapevine that they might be disbanding. If anyone wants to confirm or deny the story, likewise please comment and I'll update the post.
***
News from WrathOfGod:
With the colonies a blank slate following the first monthly reset, WrathOfGod made plans to try and get several colonies, and accordingly formed several attacking teams. We set our sights on the following locations:
Scorching Plateau
Via Fluvial
El Canon Diabolica
Topolo Durga
Bonavista River
Vet squads attacked Scorching, Via, and Topolo and emerged victorious - the attackers at Scorching succeeded in taking the colony a mere fifteen minutes into the war, making it the first colony captured.
A squad with non-vet members was sent to El Canon Diabolica, and I joined the squad even though I was slightly under-leveled for the map. This is what we looked like as we attacked:
Just before the Colony Wars session started, here we are, massed around the colony and poised for attack.
One of the buffs provided in this screenshot came from the Snowman Ward summon item that's the first of the rewards from the Christmas trees hide-and-seek holiday-themed quest. Upon tagging six trees, pioneer families can redeem the 6 tags for 25 Snowman Wards. Each item summons a Snowman critter, which generates a buff are that bestows a +10% ASPD bonus on everyone inside the area of effect.
That was my Snowman Ward, by the way. ^^
The assault on the El Canon colony, featuring Hrin's blenders of death! [That's the Great Rotating Blades skill/structure for you, courtesy of multiple Diegos and a few Angies.]
That's my Albaes-clad wizard on the left side of the screenshot.
The colony also fell into our hands, and flush with victory, we were ordered to the colony at Bonavista river, which was already being attacked by other factions.
Luckily we managed to take the colony through sheer force of numbers, making it colony number 5 for the faction.
We thought it was going to end there, and then suddenly the world announcement popped up: the Ferruccio Junction colony was ours! All the squads looked at each other curiously until we all pieced it together: one of our members took his triple-Diego team and commenced a solo assault on the colony, finally breaking it - all by himself!
And that's how we came to have six colonies. Next week we might face some tough opposition for them - and we might not, but best to make plans for defense on a massive scale now.
Here's one of the celebratory shots taken after the session was finished. Where else could we have gone to celebrate our six colonies but to Ferruccio Junction, our surprise colony?!
Gratz to WrathOfGod and glory!
Till next week~ happy holidays to all~
[The title of this post comes from a slogan I thought of while - you guessed it - slogging through lag.]
First things first: the current map of Granado Espada in Cervantes server.
Congratulations to GuardsOfHonour, Vradical, WrathOfGod, MaFiaCLuB™, Halcyon, and Apathy factions for acquiring / defending their colonies!
***
If one glance at that map above makes you say "Hmm, something seems to have changed" - well, you'd be right. Two factions bowed out of contention for colonies tonight: Fenrir, which apparently disbanded recently; and Fukkatsu, whose last CW tonight was, and whose name has been wiped from the map.
Little wonder, then, that Fukkatsu got warred by everyone else, their colonies attacked by the contender factions as soon as the session began.
Two factions declared war on Fukkatsu just prior to the start of tonight's Colony Wars: WrathOfGod and Vradical. The latter declaration ended in a truce.
The other declarations below:
Apathy v Fukkatsu
GuardsOfHonour v Fukkatsu
MaFiaCLuB™ v Fukkatsu - truced
FallenAngels v Fukkatsu - truced
MaFiaCLuB™ v FallenAngels - truced
Apathy v FallenAngels - truced
Halcyon v Fukkatsu - truced
Vradical v FallenAngels - truced
Both Fenrir's and Fukkatsu's members have since been absorbed into other factions, including [but not limited to] Vradical, Illuminati, et cetera.
[Speaking of Illuminati, a member of that faction dropped in at one of the WrathOfGod colonies and confirmed that they were not joining this session either. That makes about 3 sessions missed, and the rumblings of a comeback continue throughout the server, especially with the absorption of some ex-Fenrir members.]
***
Notes from WrathOfGod:
With many of the senior members absorbed in multiple boss raids prior to the Colony Wars session, we squadded up late, but soon enough an attack team was formed to target the colony at the Old Port of Coimbra; and the defense squad was asked to assemble at Pradera de Ceniza.
Two defense teams showed up at that colony and were told to prepare for anything and everything that could possibly happen, and to get ready to warp to the other colonies [Ferruccio Junction and El Lago de Tres Hermanas] should they get attacked.
So we waited, and waited, and waited....
And we actually all went after faction vice-leader Callisto at some point when he checked in on our defense squads, and his characters' names were burning a bright red.
Aside from that and visits from other random factions [Halcyon, the aforementioned Illuminati, and even one female fighter from ValhallaKnights], there was nothing much to do again.
So we went back to the old standbys of leveling off the dogs in the map, and summoning random big monsters. This week we got a Thoracotomy, a Vladimir, a Sabel Tiger, a Grim Reaper, and a Jungle Velociraptor.
Tuon helps to tank a Thoracotomy. [Got a crap drop XD]
During the first hour our attack squad succeeded at their attack on the colony at the Old Port of Coimbra; here's the world announcement of the takeover:
Hurray for a fourth colony!
With less than ten minutes left in the session, we were all called to that new colony by Callisto and the other squad leaders. At first it was going to be for a celebratory photoshoot, but then we got word that the area boss Dekaravia was in the area - and we decided to go after him!
[Warning: Dekaravia has a nasty debuff that hurts vets more than it does lower-levels - ironic since vets ought to stand a better chance against him. For reference, read this funny post in the Vradical blog.]
Lots of Spartans jokes ensue from the mixed crowd [mostly vets plus a healthy sprinkling of lower levels], and we find ourselves up against THIS ugly guy:
And, less than ten minutes later [shortly after the Colony Wars session ended], we'd all been wiped out.
OMGWTFBBQ pwned. *facepalm*
And I logged out, chuckling, to write up my report. Will ETA once I find out whether the faction killed that boss or not.
ETA: Revenge is sweet - Dekarabia went down in the second run, and apparently said "I need somebody to help me" as he died. [So big bosses talk!]
Till next week.
The current world map of Granado Espada in Cervantes server. Except perhaps for a slight ruckus in the Rio Albi area [the colony changed hands several times], not much has changed this week.
Maybe people are still trying to absorb the news about GE going F2P? I don't know, but today's Colony Wars session was extremely quiet and actually uneventful.
With those descriptors in mind, here is the understandably short list of factions that declared war on each other.
MaFiaCLuB™ v GuardsOfHonour - truced. This war was declared shortly before the start of the Colony Wars session.
Illuminati v Halcyon
MaFiaCLuB™ v Apathy - truced
Halcyon v Fenrir
GuardsOfHonour v Apathy - truced
Kanak²Riang v MaFiaCLuB™
Vradical v Halcyon - truced. This was a practice war only as the two factions are allied.
GuardsOfHonour V Fukkatsu
***
Notes from WrathOfGod:
Since we already had three colonies, the faction turned to all-out defense mode for this week's session. Defending squads were dispatched to the Ferruccio Junction, El Lago de Tres Hermanas, and Pradera de Ceniza, with one more squad as the mobile backup and allies' assist team.
I was sent to help defend the colony at the Ferruccio Junction, in normal CW sessions usually the first colony to be hit by attackers. As I was not yet at Veteran level, my primary task was to buff and to revive fallen allies.
CW time came and we all hunkered down, thinking we might get attacked at any moment....
Except the enemy never actually materialized.
With nothing to do for the entire CW session, my squad at the Ferruccio Junction decided to have some fun with all of our ambers and spinelles - by using them all up!
Kickin' it with the Phobitan Chieftains [sounds like a sports team!]:
T-Rex [x2]! We fought at least four of these:
This was the second or third Grim Reaper that got summoned:
Some other WrathOfGod members killed the time by getting in some PvP practice, doing missions, and even Baroning each other. [I saw at least two of those latter duels in my own squad.]
This week was uneventful and we still don't know why. Here's hoping next week will bring some real action.
***
Shout-out to the FallenAngels faction, some of whose members I met yesterday at Hataw Hanep Hero 2007.
***
And, because I haven't posted any new pics of my main team lately:
Because I picked up some lovely recipes for VERY high-level polearms, I decided to have Tuon level her Blandir Cruz stance. Since the only relevant weapon I've got for her current level is a Broom, she and Chimal wind up looking like a partly-matched set, especially with those dresses. Those two are pretty amusing.
Next costume change by Christmas with the advent of Bahia Island [yeesh, I have to buy FOUR swimsuits!]; and next armor change soon, I hope, when all three make Level 72.
And by "take the week off", I mean they skipped Colony Wars in Cervantes server this week, for the most part. Neither Fenrir nor Illuminati currently hold any colonies; most of Granado Espada's territories currently fall under the sway of an assortment of factions.
Congratulations to GuardsOfHonour, Fukkatsu, Vradical, Halcyon, and WrathOfGod for successfully acquiring/defending their colonies!
Owing to Fenrir and Illuminati's collective hiatus, the list of factions declaring war on each other seems slightly shorter, but it is much more varied this week, as many different factions vied for new colonies to conquer.
[If I've missed any declarations, please feel free to add them in the comments. I'll update the list and credit you ^^]
Halcyon v Fenrir
Vradical v Fenrir
Apathy v Fenrir - truced
WrathOfGod v Fenrir
Apathy v MaFiaCLuB™ - truced
GuardsOfHonour v Fenrir - truced
WrathOfGod v Apathy - truced, re-declared war, truced
GuardsOfHonour v Apathy - truced
FallenAngels v MaFiaCLuB™ - truced
†BuRaOt†aLlStaR† v MaFiaCLuB™
FallenAngels v Fukkatsu
GuardsOfHonour v MaFiaCLuB™ - truced
GrandLodge v MaFiaCLuB™ - truced
FallenAngels v GuardsOfHonour - truced
GrandLodge v GuardsOfHonour - truced
FallenAngels v Apathy - truced
In addition, the following truces were declared to resolve war declarations from last week:
BaRoN™ v MaFiaCLuB™
BaRoN™ v WrathOfGod
***
Notes from WrathOfGod:
The word in Granado Espada Cervantes was that Fenrir faction had been planning to skip this Colony Wars session since last week, as some of its members were going on vacation. With this in mind, WrathOfGod and our allies decided to take the Fenrir colonies, and see if they would have to deal with any Illuminati planning a comeback.
As it turned out, neither of the two strong factions wound up participating; the world map was then open to occupation by new factions.
I went back to defense duty at Pradera de Ceniza, and met up with several other WrathOfGod defenders. Some were participating for the first time in Colony Wars, and some were seasoned veterans. There were Jack RNPCs at the ready to construct defenses and buffs, and a host of Levitation wizards, M'Bomas, and Emilia the Sages.
We had a fairly quiet time of it during most of the Colony Wars session, and we once again killed time by leveling off the dogs in the map:
There were some attempts at fighting from members of Fenrir and BaRoN™ factions, but overall, us defenders at Pradera de Ceniza simply went for the "Constant vigilance!" path.
Some Illuminati families actually did a Diablo raid during the Colony Wars session, so we could see some of them crossing on the map. Once the raid was done, a few of the raiders dropped in on us to simply watch the action unfold at the colony.
One of the defenders also brought along a collection of high-level spinelles, so we also got in some target practice at big mobs such as the Fallen Champion, the Sabel Tiger, Vladimir, and the Phobitan Chieftain.
The faction's attack teams were kept busy assisting allied factions in claiming colonies, and we even gained one more during the session: the colony at El Lago de Tres Hermanas. There was quite a celebration when that announcement flashed up on the UI. ^^
At around 9:30pm Singapore time I went looking at the other colonies to see how they were holding up.
This week's prize, the El Lago de Tres Hermanas colony.
Our "surprise" colony from last week, the Ferruccio Junction colony.
And at the close of the Colony Wars session, everyone hied over to the El Lago de Tres Hermanas colony for a celebratory photoshoot:
[Will post more photos from the forums after I obtain permission ^^]
Is this the downfall of Fenrir and/or Illuminati? Or are they hiding a diabolical plan to retake their colonies up their sleeves? What happens next to Cervantes server? Stay tuned for next week's session!
Before my report on the momentous events happening in today's Colony Wars session, I give you: the new world map of Granado Espada [Cervantes server].
First note of interest: Illuminati faction seem to have taken the week off. The first hint of this came in this blog post by Arcleaumont. You can see in that cropped screenshot of the faction chat where miyake makes a statement to that effect.
Later on, during tonight's war, a source confirmed for me that Illuminati were absenting themselves from this week's Colony Wars.
As they had been allied with Illuminati, Fenrir faction also took a hard hit in this week's Colony Wars. Many factions declared war on them, hoping to take a colony or two for themselves.
Taking advantage of such a leave of absence and the ensuing imbalance in that alliance, several factions both old and new stormed in to stamp their names all over the world map: Vradical, Halcyon, Apathy, WrathOfGod, Fukkatsu, GuardsOfHonour, and MaFiaCLuB™ factions.
And that's the reason why the map above looks like it's been through a hell of a revolution. ^^
Here's a list of the factions that declared war on each other. Those lines marked "truced" mean that the truce was declared during the Colony Wars session; other truces were declared after, and are not noted here.
[If you feel this list is incomplete, please leave a comment and I'll update the list accordingly, with credit.]
Vradical v Illuminati
Vradical v Fenrir [added by Kumbee]
WrathOfGod v Illuminati
Fukkatsu v Illuminati
Fenrir v Fukkatsu
FallenAngels v Illuminati
MaFiaCLuB™ v Illuminati
GrandLodge v Illuminati
Eurynomous v Illuminati
FallenAngels V Fenrir - truced
Halcyon v Fenrir
ReBirth v Illuminati
GrandLodge v Fenrir - truced
WrathOfGod v Fenrir
GuardsOfHonour v Fenrir
BLackHoPE v Fenrir - truced
MaFiaCLuB™ v Fenrir - truced
ReBirth v FallenAngels - truced
MonoChrome v Illuminati
Eurynomous v Fenrir
MonoChrome v Fenrir - truced
TEriYaki v FallenAngels - truced
TEriYaki v Fenrir - truced
Apathy v Fenrir
DolceVita v Fenrir
TEriYaki v Vradical - truced
ReBirth v Fenrir
TEriYaki v WrathOfGod - truced
FallenAngels v Vradical - truced
Included in this list is one declaration of war that had been made during the previous week, and was resolved in honorable truce during the Colony Wars session:
BaRoN™ v FallenAngels - truced
Of particular note are the new / younger factions that have captured colonies and / or were active during the struggle for those colonies. Apathy faction is the present owner of the colony at Rio Albi; Eurynomous, TEriYaki, and MaFiaCLuB™ were active during the battles for the colonies.
***
Notes from WrathOfGod:
Last week WrathOfGod faction, of which I'm currently a member, managed to grab the Pradera de Ceniza colony and keep it to the end. With that in mind, and wanting to help the faction, I signed up to help defend the colony.
Many of the faction's members converged on our lone outpost to help defend it. In the screenshot below, I think I still missed a few people who were on the other edges of my monitor:
[I'm...somewhere in there XD]
As our squad hunkered down to defend the colony, the news was broadcast all over the server at frequent intervals. Within the first 30 minutes of the Colony Wars session, all of Illuminati's colonies were gone.
One enemy down, then. Fenrir, on the other hand, seemed to be fairly busy with many of its colonies being attacked, so we had nothing to do, really, for a very long time. Some of us actually passed the time by leveling off the assorted dogs in the map ^^
There was a brief debate in the faction over whether or not to go look for another colony to take; but the back-and-forth was rendered moot when this came up on the screen:
And then there were two: Pradera de Ceniza, and the Ferruccio Junction.
With the war down to its final hour, the messages began to come in - Illuminati faction, which we were at war with, was in Pradera - but it turned out that some of its members had simply decided to hunt Diablo, and were busy trying to summon him. That done, some of them actually attempted to attack us, but with the numbers that we had been able to amass for defense, we managed to repel them with some effort.
Next week promises to be even more action-packed. Diversity has been restored to the map, Illuminati may yet attempt a comeback, and WrathOfGod now has two colonies to defend!
***
Faction notes:
Halcyon faction includes several former Yakisoba members, while TEriYaki is rumored to be populated by former ASA members.
It seems that someone has formed a new CARNAGE faction; I'll try to get details on that during the week.
After this night's Colony Wars session, Fenrir faction leader forian, as well as leading member Mew, announced that they were leaving the game. Fenrir is now led by Utopian.
