FREE FALL: SIN Breaks Unbow Siege on SIN/GATE Member, Caps Pehu’s Abandoned City; Another Unbow City Exos; King A To GATE, Fyzz Out

There are more indications that Unbow and its confederated allies appear to be in free fall, with continued losses on the battlefield, defections, and desertions among its most active ranks. SIN officials shared with the Times this morning several reports indicating that Unbow has become increasingly destabilized, with minimal resistance to continued SIN activity.

Early in the day, SIN reported a siege break on an Unbow/SHARK/VIC siege operation against GrrlyOrc’s city of Fierce Fashions Forge. This was the same city that SIN recently broke another siege on, however, SIN dropped GrrlyOrc from SIN to GATE after the first break, likely due to her poor city placement. For this reason, the Times did not report the new siege on her city, nor will SIN receive points on the NW2 War Score Card for the siege break:

Unbow Exoduses Away 3 Plains Cities From Oncoming SIN Catapults

Unbow appears to be falling back, seeking to avoid any battles in Newlands involving what may be siege operations. SIN officials shared notifications indicating that Unbow exodused three cities away from their oncoming catapults in the face of a major SIN offensive.

The first exodus purportedly came just after SIN launched a catapult assault at Unbow leader Baynights’ city of Cerberus:

From: System
Subject: FW: Target town Cerberus has exodused!
Received: 16 Apr 2016 19:11
Original Message:
Your army named sov a from Z2 Zarn 2 under orders to Attack target town Cerberus at location [87|-2266] in Newlands has discovered that the target town is exodusing!

Your army will continue onto [87|-2266] in Newlands where it’s orders to Attack are now to attack location [87|-2266] in Newlands. Combat will resolve normally and your army will begin returning immediately after combat resolution.

According to DillyTools, the city has yet to reappear, suggesting that the new location of the city may not be in the Newlands/High Hills region, but rather back in Elgea or another area of the Broken Lands.

The second exodus was Fyzz’s city of Ebony Spire:

From: System
Subject: FW: Target town Ebony Spire has exodused!
Received: 19 Apr 2016 06:47
Original Message:
Your army named 23:51:54 from 8. The Godfather aka Stuk under orders to Siege target town Ebony Spire at location [159|-2102] in Newlands has discovered that the target town is exodusing!

Your army will continue onto [159|-2102] in Newlands where it’s orders to Siege are now to attack location [159|-2102] in Newlands. Combat will resolve normally and your army will begin returning immediately after combat resolution.

SIN officials described this part of their operation as a “siege fake,” but intent to fake the siege could not be independently confirmed by the notification. Ebony Spire has also yet to reappear and remains to be seen where it is headed.

The third exodus came from Unbow leader Halcyon’s city of South Beach, which was also targeted in a SIN siege:

From: System
Subject: FW: Target town South Beach has exodused!
Received: 19 Apr 2016 08:12
Your army named Siege Force from Rollerblade Success Story under orders to Siege target town South Beach at location [261|-2258] in Newlands has discovered that the target town is exodusing!

Your army will continue onto [261|-2258] in Newlands where it’s orders to Siege are now to attack location [261|-2258] in Newlands. Combat will resolve normally and your army will begin returning immediately after combat resolution.

All three of these target cities were completely surrounded by plains — usually an optimal situation for a defending alliance, since cavalry units can be used effectively to break sieges.

Unbow Fends Off SIN Siege in North Newlands; CrAp Squeezes Out Raze of Darth Darius

Unbow has successfully defeated a legitimate SIN siege in the northern region of Newlands, with Unbow warrior Fyzz dealing the ostensible death blow to Tink XX’s siege force. Fyzz himself provided the Times with a battle report detailing the crippling blow to the siege via an elite cavalry hit, and revealing a city name change of 8 Colosseum to the more trollish “Taming of the Tink x:”

Failed attack against DML’s forces at [307|-2051] in Newlands by Fyzz’s forces from Taming of the Tink x
Sent By:	System
Received By:	Fyzz [Unbow]
Date:	21 Mar 2016 19:01
Two opposing forces clash against each other.Attacking up a small hill offers little advantage, or penalty, to the attacking force. Defences with a height advantage, however small, are better than nothing. Attackers: Unit: Quantity: Casualties: Survivors: Commander: Fyr Shanon FAC  Marshal 1 Damaged for 100, 0 health remains. Troops:  Marshals 60 60 0 Commander: Strike 2  Marshal 1 Damaged for 100, 0 health remains. Troops:  Marshals 60 60 0 Commander: Strike 3  Marshal 1 Damaged for 100, 0 health remains. Troops:  Marshals 60 60 0 Commander: Strike FEC  Marshal 1 Damaged for 100, 0 health remains. Troops:  Marshals 60 60 0

Later on, the siege force must have been comprehensively crushed. Currently, the city still stands at about half it’s original population.

SIN’s siege into northern Newlands was in the midst of arguably the most robust grouping of allied cities, with Unbow, SHARK, and VIC forming a tight cluster that spans both Newlands and High Hills. SIN is clearly outmatched in this region.

Meanwhile, in the southwest portion of Newlands, Ron Fay’s CrAp appears to have finally razed Darth Darius’ city of Rodinia after an ongoing parade of sieges that finally wore the city down. Fay’s first campaign to take down Rodinia on March 19 failed, but immediately followed up with fresh rounds of siege camps. The Times witnessed some fierce fighting in the early rounds of this battle that appeared to wane as time went on.

SIN Establishes New Siege on Unbow in Newlands; CrAp Bears Down Again on Rodinia

Early morning Sunday, server time, saw the landing of two new siege operations against Unbowed in the Newlands, with SIN initiating a new siege against Fyzz’s 8 Colosseum and Ron’s Fay once again engaging Darth Darius’ city of Rodinia after his alliance’s failed siege yesterday.

The Herald reported a single-square siege on Fyzz’s city, which is located in the northeastern corner of the Newlands peninsula:

Fyzz [Unbow]

8 Colosseum

[307|-2051] in Newlands

Tink XX [SIN]

Sun 20 Mar 06:59

With the exception of the loch that the siege army is using for its camp, due to its modifier as a small hill, the rest of the city is completely surrounded by plains. At present, there are no blockades on the city, and the Times witnessed firsthand several units hitting the siege camp at the time of this writing, suggesting that the siege will be a contentious one.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Newlands, Ron Fay’s CrAp alliance set down a reprise of its siege efforts on the city of Rodinia:

Darth Darius [Unbow]

Rodinia

[-14|-2233] in Newlands

Odoacer [CrAp]

Sun 20 Mar 02:35

Darth Darius [Unbow]

Rodinia

[-12|-2232] in Newlands

Odoacer [CrAp]

Sun 20 Mar 03:35

Darth Darius [Unbow]

Rodinia

[-13|-2231] in Newlands

Krasno Granitsky [CrAp]

Sun 20 Mar 05:21

Darth Darius [Unbow]

Rodinia

[-12|-2233] in Newlands

Krasno Granitsky [CrAp]

Sun 20 Mar 10:08

The city itself, which originally hovered around 18,000 in population at the start of CrAp’s first siege, is now only at 7,200 at the time of this writing. While the end of the first siege led to a population drop of about 5,000, it appears that Darth may have purposely dropped population in order to make reducing the city to raze population more difficult, since lower-level buildings lose less population as they are de-leveled by siege volleys.

 

UPDATE: [UPDATED] DSD Breaks Solar Eclipse Siege, Exos; Ron Fay Breaks Pawa Siege; SHARK Aindara Town On the Ropes

[UPDATED –12:09 ST] There were several key developments regarding DSD’s first three sieges in their Newlands War against SHARK. It should be noted that neither DSD or SHARK officials can confirmed any of the following reports:

SHARK Breaks Siege on Shardlands City of Solar Eclipse, City exos.

The first siege in the Newlands war appears to have ended in a SHARK siege break and exo, with Fyzz’ city of Solar Eclipse being razed by mjc2 of T-SC. As of this morning server time, the city is gone and harvesters have been seen scrounging up equipment. Initially, the Times reported that the siege had been a success. Later, SHARK leader Halcyon confirmed with the Times that the siege was in fact broken by Pico:

From: System
Subject: FW: Victorious battle against mjc2’s forces at [@l=368|-2845|72|14|5] by Pico’s forces from Morrocoy
Received: 27 Sep 2015 23:50
Original Message:
Two opposing forces clash against each other.

Cavalry comes into its own when able to strike hostile forces at will, and from unexpected directions – and nowhere is this more feasible than on open plains. Lightly armoured spear units, however, prefer terrain where there’s some cover available.

Fighting defensively on open plains, cavalry draws strength from the ability to form and reform their lines of engagement depending on the direction of battle, and it is here where cavalry excels.

Worker’s Aindara City Reduced; Could Fall at Any Moment

RE leader Yodadoku’s siege on Worker’s city of “yodadoku suck re suk” in Aindara also appears to be progressing, with the city appearing to have lost a considerable amount of population in round-the-clock bombardments and a blockade that is still in place. Equipment left at the scene of the siege suggests that the siege force has been hit, and there are no reports available on the current condition of its siege potency. The Times believes that this city could fall at any moment.

Ron Fay Appears To Break Siege in Pawanallpa

SHARK warrior Ron Fay may have broken a siege on his city of AFTK in Pawanallpa. As of this morning, there is no sign of siege activity there.

Thus far, the Newlands War Score Card shows SHARK winning the war thus far in a defensive effort, with two siege breaks marked for SHARK.

Corrections or clarifications? They must be sent directly to the Times in the Illyriad forums with supporting evidence. Thanks!

First DSD Siege Against SHARK in War Surprisingly in Shardlands

The first siege has set up camp in the so-called “Newlands War,” and yet the siege target is not in Newlands. The Herald recently reported the initiation of Fyzz’ city of Solar Eclipse in the Shardlands, which is being headed by T-SC junior officer mjc2:

Fyzz [SHARK]

Solar Eclipse

[368|-2845] in Shardlands

mjc2 [T-SC]

Sat 26 Sep 12:26

The siege is on plains, which gives cavalry a strong terrain bonus, as no other troop type defends well on plains, and alliances are typically reluctant to waste the attack power of cavalry in defensive roles. There is also currently no blockade on the city, meaning that Fyzz can send in resources and prestige build through the siege.

Considering that the Newlands is clearly the prize in this current war, DSD’s choice to engage a SHARK city in the Shardlands as its first siege target comes as a bit of a surprise. However, the gambit might simply be to force a target even farther away from the SHARK strongholds in Elgea and foothold in Newlands, gaining an early victory in the war. Cavalry are the fastest units in the game — it remains to be seen if mounted SHARK siege-breakers can reach Solar Eclipse in time.