Age of Conan Hyborian Adventures offers several options for players to engage in as they enter the elder game, but few of those choices are as exciting and fun as the massive Player vs Player (PvP) siege battles. However, not knowing the basics of how sieging works when you walk onto the battle field can be a fatal mistake for your army. Learning on the fly doesn't always cut it and can cost your guild a victory as you learn how the mechanics work. Let Ten Ton Hammer prepare you for war.

Step 1: Declaring an Attack



The first thing you must do in order to lay siege to an enemy keep is enter the Border Kingdom in which the target keep resides. There are three possible choices.

• Border Kingdom Cimmerian End: The Cimmerian Border Kingdom entrance is located in the northern section of
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  The first step in sieging an enemy is to declare an attack.

  the Lachesh Plains at coordinates (1224, 1941).
  

• Border Kingdom Aquilonian End: The Aquilonian Border Kingdom entrance is located in the northern region of Poitain at coordinates (746, 1720)
  
• Border to Kush: The Stygian Border Kingdom being the oddball had both a different name and location. The entrance can be found in the northwest of the Lotus Swamp at coordinates (166, 985).

Upon entering the Border Kingdom your intended target is located in you will be able to open the Massive PvP window that is located in your player search window. The very same window you would use to look for a group or find a PvP mini game, but once you enter the Border Kingdom you will be given a new window with a calendar. This will list the current keeps in the area and when they are vulnerable to attack. From here you will click on your intended target to bid for the rights to attack. I say bid because if someone else wants to attack the same keep during the same window you will bid against them and the guild with the most PvP points will win the rights to attack.
PvP points can determine who wins the rights, but it will also remove all the points of that guild. It is my understanding that this was done to ensure more guilds are given the chance to attack rather than a small number monopolizing the rights to invasion. So no hoarding those points folks. Unless you really have someone you want to hit.

If your guild wins the rights you will be given a notification message. All you do from there is ready yourselves for war. As it stands currently a guild can declare as close to one minute before the vulnerability window starts. This is not exactly liked by any of the people I have talked to. Most of the people I know would like to see an attacking guild have to declare at least one hour in advance rather than the one minute. Thus giving the guild time to rally and know if they are being attacked instead of heading to the keep and waiting around an hour to see if anyone shows up. If no one declares by that time the defending guild will get a pass until their next window.

Step 2: Buy Lots of Siege Equipment

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You can buy siege engine plans from your city keep.

Let's say you win the rights to an attack. You will of course need the proper equipment. After all, what good is a siege if you can't blow some stuff up? In order to invade an enemy keep or construct a battle keep for that matter you will need to possess a tier 3 city keep. Inside that keep you will find a siege merchant that can sell you an assortment of fun little toys that make a lot of noise. The merchant sells items such as trebuchets, superior trebuchets, catapults and so on. You will want to make sure your members buy plenty of these. Without them you are not getting into any enemy stronghold. As it stands in the game currently you have 2 options for acquiring siegery. You can use the merchant in your battle keep to stock up or you can use the Architect tradeskill. I highly advise the merchant because as it stands at the moment the architect tradeskill is way too expensive to make siege weaponry. As of the writing of this guide you can buy a superior trebuchet for 20s from the siege merchant as to where it would cost you well over a gold to craft one. And as it stands I have not noticed much of a difference between the two when my guild actually tried it in a siege. Never enter a siege without a enough siege equipment. Doing so will doom you to failure.

Make sure your groups have their own equipment as well. Some keeps have multiple siege spots outside the walls while others have more inside. So you will want to have several camps blasting the keep at once if possible. Siege mounts can also be useful for pushing back the enemy or protecting siege equipent, but as of the writing of this guide they are only very mildly effective against structures.

Step 3: Assemble Your Army

Now that you have the rights to attack and a nice assortment of siegery you need the most important element to a proper invasion. You need an army. Gather as many people as you can to lay siege to the enemy keep. The current intended amount of battle for siege keeps are 48 vs 48. You never know how many the enemy is going to have so gather your guild and allies if possible and form up early. You should have a clear line of communication established. Many guilds use a Ventrilo voice chat server, but some may still use the text. Either way, make sure your communication method is clear and your battle plan understood. Otherwise you're in for a legendary butt kicking.

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Siege modules can be used to create siege tents.

Step 4: Establishing Your Siege Tent



Upon arriving at your enemy's keep you will need to establish your siege tent as soon as the attack window begins. You

will want to be in position and ready to raise the tent at the one or several siege modules depending on what keep you are attacking. From the keeps I have experienced the outer walls can have as few as one module and as many as three. However, once you breach the main gate there are several modules inside the keep that you can establish siege tents at to lay waste to your enemy's stronghold. To raise your siege tent all you need to do is click on the siege module. The tent will be raised and then you can set up your siege weapon and start blasting.

 

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