Lineage II/Castle Sieges

TODO: what are castle sieges, why siege a castle, when do sieges happen, rules of sieges, tactics, NPC castle vs PC castle

Castle sieges are schedule events that occur every 2 weeks. All the odd numbered servers go one week, then all the even numbered servers go the next. Not all castles are sieged on the same day as well, some castles are sieged on Saturday, while others are sieged on Sunday. The time a castle siege starts can be altered as well. However, all castle sieges last two hours, and that is the only time a castle can exchange hands.

There are 7 castles in the lands of Aden, and they are Gludio, Dion, Giran, Oren, Innadril, Goddard and Aden castle. The first 6 castles are similar while Aden castle is a special case. Each castle controls the tax rate in one or more nearby areas and as such can collect taxes from people who buy items from NPC stores. The castle also controls the local manor system. Aden is special because not only does it tax Aden town, it also taxes all other castles as well.

Castles can be acquired by pledges/clans and have to be fought over in a 2 hour long (And somewhat inappropriately named) siege period, during which participating clans are divided in two sides. The two sides involved in a siege are the attackers, indicated by a sword icon near the name and the defenders, indicated by a shield icon near their name. The colour of the sword or shield icon changes depending on the alliance relationship; the icon will have a blue background if the character is in the same alliance and a red background if not.

Castle benefits
There are a few reasons to siege a castle, starting with in-game financial gains. Each castle is linked to one or more areas with NPC shops. These NPC shops will sell their items with taxes that can be set at the castle that controls the area. All the profits from taxes are added to the castle vault and area freely available to the clan leader, who has the ability to empty the clan vault.

The clan leader who owns the castle can also change the value of seeds used in the Manor System.

Lastly, because castles are rare, limited in number and hard to acquire, there is a certain prestige to owning a castle in game.

Siege registration
In order to register for a Castle siege, you need to be part of a Level 4 Clan or higher. After a Clan has reached   4th or higher level, all that is needed is for the clan leader to speak with a NPC messenger standing nearby the castle they wish to siege.

Note that you can only register for 1 siege per day. So for example, a clan can siege Gludio on Saturday, and Aden on Sunday if they signed up at both locations. Also note, in order to change the castle you wish to siege, you must cancel any previous registrations before signing up again.

Siege timeline
All castles follow a strict timeline in which clans can register to participate, set the siege times on their castles and accept defenders.

Attackers
Attackers of a castle begin by gathering their armies in a safe place, such as another town, to prepare for battle. After buffing up and forming parties, they rush to the castle and onto the siege field, keeping in mind that until they do reach the siege field, their deaths will result in a full experience penalty, whereas on the field, their XP loss will be approximately 1/4 of normal.

Their goal on the field? To raise their clan's flag. Each clan can put up their own flag, even if they are in an alliance. These flags have HP (health points) and can be taken down if attacked by the defenders of the castle. These flags serve as a resurrection point following the deaths of the attackers. If these flags are defeated, then the attackers will then resurrect 2 towns away. For example, if you were attacking Dion and your flag has been taken down, you will resurrect in Gludin - that is, Dion >1> Gludio >2> Gludin.

The attackers will now focus on attacking the castle itself. There are 2 places that they can attack: the front gate or a side wall. Usually, a siege golem is summoned (by a drawf), and is controlled to attack the wall. A Wild Hog Cannon can also be summoned as an effective way to knock down the gate. Players can attack the walls/gate themselves, but risk being killed by defenders on the walls above.

Once the gate is down, the attackers need to fight their way inside the castle. Their first goal inside the castle walls is to attack the front Life Crystal. Once this is down, they must fight their way to the rear of the castle and take down the rear Life Crystal. The designated leader then must Scribe at the statue in the rear of the castle. If this 5 minute process is successful, he will have become the new owner of the castle and all of his armies will become the defenders instead of attackers.

Defenders
The defenders of the castle have several options in order to properly defend a castle. If the force of the defenders is strong enough to overtake the attackers, a much more offensive action can take place, in which the attackers exit out of the rear of the castle (there is a opening where defenders can exit but atackers cannot get in). Defenders' priorities, if taking an offensive stance, is to disrupt the spawn of the attackers, at flag locations. If the defenders can successfully take out the flags, it will allow a much easier defence of the castle because the attackers will now spawn two towns away (or to a hideout/castle/clan hall) and have to run/port back to the castle. If the defenders are not superior in force to the attackers, then a defensive stance must be taken, in which archers and long range mages are placed on the walls of the castle to stop gate or wall rushes. The defenders melee should be running raids on flags and key players(ie. dwarfs, who can raise siege golems and other powerful weapons, and clan leaders). A successful defensive of the castle is one in which the defenders run the 2 hour siege period out without the scribing of their castle.