Category:Campaign Battles



"Campaign Battles" is the collective term given to the series of battles and border skirmishes waged in the Quon and Mindartian theaters during the Crystal War. These regions contain areas that are continually being plagued by sporadic outbursts of hostility along contested borders. Should the incessantly encroaching beasthordes be unequivocally repelled, the lands in dispute will be claimed as territories under Altana.

There are several benefits to be reaped once claim is laid to an area, such as an increase in the number of available.

By having "Allied Tags" issued to you by an area's Campaign Arbiter (C.A.), you may choose to have your campaign battle performance assessed. By doing so you may receive rewards for your service, such as Campaign-specific points, known as "Allied Notes", and experience points.
 * Experience points will not be lost in the event that a player should die while participating in a Campaign Battle.

Campaign Map
The Campaign Map shows the current Campaign Battles and how the nations are faring against the Beastmen. This can be accessed by typing /campaignmap (or /cmap for short).

The Controlled Areas box shows how many areas each nation currently controls. When a nation controls an area, their field Campaign officer will be standing at the fortifications. When the beastmen are controlling an area, the C.A. (Campaign Arbiter) will be standing some distance away from the fortifications.

The Campaign Map shows the status of Campaign Battles and zone resources. A sword icon indicates that a Campaign Battle is in progress. Blue, red or yellow icons indicate Bastok, San d'Oria or Windurst as the currently controlling nation, respectively; a purple icon indicates beatmen control.

Under each icon is the Heroism Gauge which indicates the intensity of campaign battles in the area. As the gauge fills in the region, the number of attacking forces and defending forces will increase and the frequency of battles will increase. This also means that generals and freelances participating in the area will more likely use their own unique abilities more frequently (for example, Dalzakk will be more inclinded to summon Oggbi for help). At the beginning of each week (Earth time), the gauge will be reset and will fill over the week.

The Campaign Map also indicates the Fortifications and Resources levels (current vs. maximum) in each area, as well as the dominance of each force in the area.

The Fortifications rating indicates how well the defenders have control over the area. This rating will decrease as the stronghold is attacked in campaign battles, and can be lowered by saboteurs dropping bombs. The lower this value is, the more likely defenders will retreat and the easier for attackers to gain influence.

Buying temporary items deducts the resource count by one. Resources are also spent to increase the current fortification amount every time a defending force is dispatched. If resources hits 0, no more temporary items can be purchased. But more importantly, the defending forces can no longer repair fortifications when they are initially dispatched, which means they may retreat more often until fortifications are repaired by a engineering unit or through.

Campaign Ops supply transport missions including Crimson Domino I and II can be completed to replenish an area's resources by 1 point each time for Crimson Domino I, 2 for Crimson Domino II, etc.; a concentrated effort by several players is needed to add a meaningful amount to the supply.

Enlisting in Campaign Battles
All those wishing to participate in Campaign Battles must enlist with one of the allied army's three main forces--the Kingdom of San d'Oria, the Republic of Bastok, or the Federation of Windurst. These forces combat the ever-advancing Beastmen Confederate comprising the Quon Host of the Orcish Empire, the Quadav Shieldwarriors, the Yagudo Theomilitary, and the Shadowlord's Dark Kindred.

To enlist, the appropriate enlistment quest must be completed: either Steamed Rams (San d'Oria), The Fighting Fourth (Bastok), or Snake on the Plains (Windurst). Once you have enlisted in a military force you are able to partake in Campaign and Campaign Battles.

Transportation to Campaign Battles
Speak to a Campaign Arbiter in your Allied nation ("Town Campaign Arbiters"). They will offer you teleportation to some of the Campaign Battle area; however, in order to qualify for teleportation, you must have previously visted in the area at some point.

The C.A will transport you to a Campaign Battle area for a number of Allied Notes depending on where you are traveling and who is controlling it.

If the area is controlled by the Beastmen forces, you will be teleported near the location of the Campaign Arbiter. If the nation is controlled by a nation, you will be teleported to the same location, but the Campaign Arbiter will be located by the fortifications (depending on the area, this may be some distance).

You can also teleport back from any campaign area to your allied nation by speaking to the field officer or C.A. in any zone.

There are some areas where you can't teleport into but you can teleport out of, these are: Crawlers' Nest (S), The Eldieme Necropolis (S), Garlaige Citadel (S), and all enemy strongholds. These areas are relatively close to places where Campaign Arbiters teleport you in adjacent areas, which should ease this added difficulty:
 * Directions to Crawler's Nest (S): Teleport to Pashhow Marshlands (S) (K-5). Head north to zone into Rolanberry Fields (S). From there, the entrance to Crawlers' Nest (S) is to the west of your position at (F/G-13) so just keep along the western wall until you can climb up the hill. Keep your distance from Quadav and Ochu or simply bring Sneak.
 * Directions to Garlaige Citadel (S): Teleport to Sauromugue Champaign (S) (H-8). Pass through the Rampart Gate and head directly south. Climb up the hill around the fortress structures until you see a door at (G-10/11) in the mountain side.
 * Directions to Eldieme Necropolis (S): Teleport to Batallia Downs (S) (I-7) on top of the fortified wall. Enter the side closest to Jeuno and head directly south to (I/J-10) towards the sea, keeping an eye on Goblin patrols. There will be a door guarded by a Bastokan soldier in a large mound which is the entrance.

Participation in a Campaign Battle
When you have arrived in a Campaign Battle area, you must sign up with the Campaign Arbiter in the area to receive Allied Tags for participation in the battle. The battle may sprawl out across the area, but it is generally focused upon the fortifications.

Once you receive tags a sword icon will appear in front of your name. Under these tags, you will be able to earn Experience Points or Limit Points for participating in the battle, and you will not lose experience if K.O.'d. However, you forfeit any experience points and item drops from all other monsters in the zone, and cannot gain any skill-ups.
 * However, you can gain skill-ups by attacking campaign mobs without allied tags. Fortifications will raise skills to the level 50 cap, regular campaign mobs will raise skills to a 65-70 cap, and 75 cap for campaign bosses.

Campaign Battle opponents will only be aggressive to players with Allied Tags. Players not participating will not be affected by their attacks, unless they have accrued enmity with Campaign Battle enemies. However non-Campaign Battle mobs can and will aggro players involved in Campaign battles.

Temporary Items
The Campaign Arbiters and item distributors provide the players with temporary items in exchange for Allied Notes. These items vanish after you exit the battle. The availability of items depends on the area fortification's Resources: if they reach zero, players will be unable to obtain temporary items until resources are replenished.
 * Only players allied to the respective nation can receive items from these NPCs.

Campaign Battle Rewards
During the battle, most actions you do will earn you Experience Points and Allied Notes.
 * The calculations and limits on EXP and AN gained during a battle can be estimated using this guide.''
 * Any actions performed before 1 minute (Earth time) has elapsed after getting the Allied Tags will not count toward your experience and Allied Notes reward.

You can ask for an assessment at any point during the campaign battle by speaking to the Campaign Arbiter in the area; this will remove your tags and provide you with the rewards you have accumulated so far.
 * This assessment is not automatic if you teleport out of the area or change areas (including use of Tractor). These actions will forfeit any possible rewards.
 * If you disconnect during a campaign battle with your Allied Tags on, you lose your tags and any possible rewards.

Elements of Campaign Battles
Campaign Battles are centered on the Fortifications in the outdoor zones, and are spread throughout dungeons and strongholds.

In addition to adventurers, there will be friendly NPCs and hostile mobs involved in Campaign Battles. Each nation has 10 military units (attackers and defenders), a maintenance unit, physicians, and siege equipment. Five military units are deployed to specific zones, while the other five military units can be deployed anywhere in their nation's cordon. The Dark Kindred are an exception, as they currently have only four active units at this time, and only participate in attacks on Allied fortifications.

Finally, Freelances may assist any of these forces (multiple freelances can accompany a single unit to battle). All freelances are scouted and recruited by players, though the Dark Kindred recruit their own freelances as well. They will usually leave when their associated unit returns victorious.

Fortifications
Players can attack the targets named "Fortification", which appear around the outpost after a unit has been dispatched to the area. After 50% of their "HP" has been depleted, one "fortifications" point will be deducted and the HP will be returned to full.
 * Each member of the unit defending a fortification killed also reduces the Fortifications by 1 point.

Whenever the unit from the defending force of an area is dispatched, that force uses 1 point from Resources in the area to repair the fortification. A campaign message indicating that a force has undertaken the "stalwrt defense" indicates that a unit is guarding and began repairs to the fortifications.
 * Each point used from the Resources repairs that area's fortification by 10 points.
 * Each unit dispatched to defend a fortification uses at least 1 point from the area's resources to repair fortifications. So if 3 units are dispatched to defend a fortification, the fortifications will be repaired by 30 points.

Each army also has an maintenance unit that is capable of repairing the fortifications by a small number of points with each unit member that reaches the fortifications.

For each battle there is a winner and a loser. The winning army will gain influence in the region, the losing side will lose influence and (depending on whether they are attacking or defending), will either be completely wiped out or will flee out of sight.

In order for the attacking force to win the battle and gain influence, the fortifications need to be reduced below the number they were at before the battle began. This can be done either by defeating a majority of the defending force or attacking the fortifications directly.
 * For example, if the fortifications start at 115/150 before a battle starts and is increased to 135/150 when 2 units are dispatched to defend, the fortifications must be brought to a number below 115/150 in order to force the defending force to retreat.

One of the fortification points is considered the "rear" of the fort, and Sneak Attack will activate without Hide. For example, the west side of the Rolanberry Fields (S) fortification near the flag will always be hit by Sneak Attack.

Fortification Locations:
 * West Sarutabaruta (S) (H-6)
 * Garlaige Citadel (S) (H-8) (Map #2)
 * Meriphataud Mountains (S) (E-5)
 * Sauromugue Champaign (S) (H-7)
 * Fort Karugo-Narugo (S) (H-9)/(I-8), continue west behind the Phosphorous Ward onto the Fivespires map.
 * North Gustaberg (S) (D-10)
 * Pashhow Marshlands (S) (K-6)
 * Rolanberry Fields (S) (J-7)
 * Grauberg (S) (I-8)
 * East Ronfaure (S) (H-8)
 * Jugner Forest (S) (I-8)
 * Batallia Downs (S) (J-7)
 * Vunkerl Inlet (S) (G-10)
 * Eldieme Necropolis (S) (I-8)

Fortification Flags

Control of the fortification is indicated by a nation or beastman flag. The fortifications controlled by a nation also have their field officer present. This flag also serves as a drop-off point for resupply missions carried out by maintenance units.

Strongholds
Each of the seven major forces have a stronghold from where they organize their troops: Bastok Markets (Republican Army of Bastok), Southern San d'Oria (Royal Army of San d'Oria), Windurst Waters (Federation Forces of Windurst), Beadeaux (Quadav Shieldwarriors), Castle Oztroja (Yagudo Theomilitary), La Vaule (Orcish Host), and Castle Zvahl (Dark Kindred).

In order for campaign battles to take place in the stronghold areas mentioned above, the stronghold must be the only remaining zone under control. For example, for a battle to take place in Southern San d'Oria (S), the Orcish Hosts must control every other area in the Ronfaure and Norvallen Fronts. When campaign battles occur in allied nation cities, Campaign Ops NPC, and certain other NPCs will vanish for the duration of the battle.

In beastmen strongholds, any of the nearby beastmen mobs will link with campaign defenders, making assaults on these areas exceptionally difficult as the fortification areas are often crowded.

Attackers
The attackers are the forces on the offensive, and it is their deployment that triggers campaign battles, exactly 10 minutes after the "dispatched" message which is broadcast in the towns. They begin their assault by spawning in waves at set locations a distance away from the fortifications, and will charge to the fort. A message will inform when they begin the attack (and if reconnaissance permits, will also indicate the direction of the assault). Their objective is to deal damage to the fortifications. Upon dealing enough they will "return victorious" to their stronghold by warping out. If the entire attacking force has been slain, the attacking force retreats and the campaign battle ends.

The behavior of the advancing forces will usually pause every so often as they march to the fortress. This allows players a chance to ambush incoming beastmen raiders before they reach the defending forces' fortifications. Upon getting in range of the fort, the attackers will aggro the first defenders or fortification they see/hear. They will engage a defender until it is slain, and will attack any fortification continuously unless attacked by a defending troop. If an attacker's AI fails to detect either, they will wander around the premises until they detect an opponent.

The Allied Forces and Beastmen Confederate will only be attacking zones within their territory (for example, the Federal Forces of Windurst will not assault the Quadav Shieldwarriors). The Dark Kindred are an exception; they will attack any area under control of the Allied Forces. Players are also not restricted in this way, and can join the assault on any beastmen area regardless of their Campaign allegiance. But players themselves are not considered an attacking force; their participation is only valid while the Allied Forces have troops assaulting a beastmen fortification, so it is important for players to help keep Allied attackers alive through magic support or creating a diversion by engaging the defenders and thus taking their attention away from the attacking force.

Defenders
The defenders are sent to undertake the stalwart defense of fortresses. Their objective is to simply destroy attacking waves, and if all (or most) offensive troops are defeated, they'll return victorious to their stronghold when the battle ends. They will also return victorious after a certain period of time even if no battle has occurred. Defenders almost always are deployed with physicians.

The defenders always spawn at the fortifications and patrol the premises, and unlike attackers, they will respawn periodically. However, if enough of the defending forces are slain (usually between 10-15 or by reducing the fortifications below pre-battle conditions), they may call a retreat and abandon the defense leaving any players and physicians behind. This does not prevent new defenders from appearing later to resume defense in the same battle, however.

The Allied Forces and Beastmen Confederate will only be defending zones that they control, and each beastmen force only dispatches forces in their territory. The Dark Kindred do not directly try to defend beastmen zones (but they do send physicians in the form of Leechkeeper imps). Players, however, are free to participate in any Allied defense regardless of their Campaign allegiance, and have greater mobility than defending forces (who only patrol the vicinity of the fort), and as such can either try to pick off advancing beastmen troops one by one or they can divert their attention to allow the defending forces to pick them off.

Generals
All units have a commanding general. This general is named, and is a considerably powerful NPC/mob in campaign battles (far exceeding regular troops or any player). If the general is defeated, the unit will not automatically retreat, however a message relayed in the cities will inform players that he or she was "grievously wounded" in battle, and thus the unit will take a longer rest period before being deployed again.

Allied generals are well-known individuals in their nation's military, and players may chat with them outside campaign battles. During campaign battles, they all have a distinctive battle cry (usually when performing a weaponskill or special ability) that heralds their presence. Several generals possess relic weapons or another rare artifacts, and many have their own unique weaponskill.

Beastmen generals are a named Notorious Monster, and all have unique characteristics and deadly tricks up their sleeve (like many other NMs in Vana'diel). They do not have any spoken battle cry, but they usually have a very distinctive appearance (at least compared to their own troops). Great caution is needed when battling them, for unlike their regular troops, they have more than enough firepower to defeat several players from a single area attack or single-handedly defeat entire Allied units over the course of a battle. As a result, players tend to save them for last or allow for Allied units awaiting battle to deal with them while they fight the general's troops.

Physicians
The physicians join defenders, serving dutifully to heal and tend to their battle-wounded allies. They patrol the field of battle, seeing to the needs of combatants by bestowing upon them various spells of healing and enhancement. The physicians will not engage in open combat directly; they will resort to fighting only as a means of self-defense when attacked directly. If the defenders flee from battle, they will remain on the battlefield until either the campaign battle ends or they die. They are not very durable and will quickly perish if they are attacked directly. They also seem to lose hate over time, and often return to healing duty if they are not directly engaged in attack.

It can be noticed that physician units will cast tiers of spells in accordance to how many areas a nation controls. For instance, if Windurst controls Windurst Waters and West Sarutabaruta (S), the Combat Salvemixers would be able to cast up to Cure II, Protect II, Shell II and Raise. They can even cast normally self-target only spells such as Blink on defenders. The efficiency of physician units can be improved by undertaking Cut and Cauterize campaign ops.

Since physicians never accompany an attacking wave, it is up to players to keep offensive Allied forces healed during an assault on beastmen forts.

Maintenance units
Each of the armies (except for the Dark Kindred currently) have an auxiliary maintenance unit. This unit is non-combative, as they perform other tasks when deployed, and have no commander. They will bring supplies to the forts, perform bombing runs on enemy bases, and can assemble siege weapons (see below) if their nation's conditions support it.

These troops will only attack in self-defense, and until a recent update, beastmen utility forces completely ignored any attack as they carried out their missions. Upon reaching their objective, they will warp out when finished. If they are setting up siege machines, there will be an ominous summoning animation as they move into position. They are considered victorious if most of them manage to succeed in their mission.

If they are deployed on an offensive campaign operation, they are still considered an attacking wave and must be dealt with by defending forces.

Siege weapons
Upon reaching certain technological levels, both the Allied Forces and the Beastman will be able to deploy siege weapons in campaign battles:

Belfry
Available to both the Allied Forces of Altana as well as the Beastman Confederate, the belfry will become available to armies attacking regions not under their influence once their technological means have reached a predetermined level.

Since they house a "war bell" capable of calling forth reinforcements, it is imperative that players not only protect the belfries of the Allied Forces tooth and nail, but also demolish those of the Beastman Confederate as quickly as possible.

The reinforcements will attempt to assault the fortifications, but will defend the belfry if it is being attacked. The beastmen reinforcements have a unique appearance and have a special weaponskill. Unlike normal attacking waves, these reinforcements will continue to respawn until the belfry is destroyed.

Mantelet
The mantelet is also available to both sides, and will be placed at a location that an army is defending once their technological means have reached a predetermined level.

The mantelet's benefit derives from its ability to restore the HP of friendly players within its vicinity. As such, much like the belfry, they must be defended or destroyed accordingly.

To be specific, a mantelet will restore the HP, MP, and TP of any defenders within range. The mantelet has a limited use however; it will gradually weaken as it heals defenders and will despawn upon depletion. In strongholds, multiple mantelets may be installed in various locations.

Siege Turret
Available only to the Beastman Confederate are siege turrets, which will appear when an army's technological means reach an incredibly high level while attacking an area not under their influence.

Capable of repeated long-range attacks, in addition to spawning ferocious enemies, the siege turret is widely considered to be the Beastman Confederate's most powerful and deadly weapon.

Although they appear to have wheels, they usually never move as they are installed very close to the fort. Their main attack is a ranged attack and a large radius blast attack, aimed to hit the fortifications and any defenders nearby. They will also deploy some war beasts to attack the fortifications.

The Allied Forces of Altana
Allied NPCs of the each nation participate in combat. They come in large squads of roughly 10-15 NPCs to protect or attack fortifications. Also, Freelance NPCs will come to the aid of any nation who gains influence over them by doing certain tasks.

Unlike typical NPCs, the strength and defenses of these NPCs are constantly fluctuating based on their conditioning and participation in battle. If Allied forces are defeated several times, they will gradually become weaker in future battles and be less capable of fighting on their own. Likewise, if the NPCs are victorious, they will gradually become stronger and it will be harder for Beastmen forces to defeat them. Players can help improve the condition of their nation's forces through Military training Campaign Ops.

Allied Forces Freelances
Players may run into free-spirit NPCs without ties to any nation. Such NPCs are known as "freelances." On such encounters you may be able to recruit these characters, enlisting them to temporarily serve the efforts of the Allied Forces. Freelances recruited in such a manner will not only participate directly in combat, but will also come to have an influence on the armies and countries which they serve under, and may even form their own ranks to lead in battle.

The Beastman Confederate
The monsters appear in squadrons of 10-12 with a named leader. They all check as Impossible to Gauge. These will not aggro players without the sword icon for Campaign; only players with Allied Tags will be attacked.

There is one exception: you can be attacked by beastmen defending a zone without Allied Tags if you are attacking the fortifications (either by magic ranged or melee attacks) and are seen, they will aggro to you. The beastmen forces have a small sight aggro range to any other beastmen or the fortifications, but you can walk past a mob or wait for it to move away before continuing your attack. If you do draw aggro, it would be best to get some NPC's or other's players to help you; only the slighest provocation will make you lose hate.


 * Unconfirmed, but in order to cause their retreat in regional campaign battles, at least 10 of the dispatched force must be killed.
 * This seems to be different in Strongholds and may require more to be killed depending on the numbers of the attacking force. It may have something to do with whether they are attacking or defending that determines their limit in battle.
 * This does NOT include the generals and it has been proven that their forces do not retreat if the general is killed first.
 * Being defeated by these mobs without Allied Tags will cause you to lose experience points as normal.
 * It is possible to gain hate without Allied Tags if you assist other player characters with Allied Tags on.
 * Since the 3/10/08 update, the attack power of these mobs against NPCs and (possibly) Fortifications has been dramatically increased (possibly NPC defense has been lowered instead). As well, NPCs will now earn and keep enmity rather than being ignored at the slightest provocation.  Combined, this means that while it is easier for lower-level players to operate in Campaign without being slaughtered, many more players will likely be needed to maintain control over hotly contested regions as the NPCs can no longer be expected to do all the work.

Dark Kindred
These uncommon forces sometimes show up during campaign battles, and are often more difficult than the other three forces. They only operate offensively and will sometimes bring freelances with them into campaign battles.

Orcish Hosts
The Orcish Host employs "Orcish Counterstance," granting them a counterstance effect. To avoid being countered, stand behind the enemy. Some NM's use "Berserker Dance" to grant a self-Haste effect. Neither effect can be Dispeled. Any Orc force can defend La Vaule (S).

Quadav Shieldwarriors
Quadav Shieldwarriors have a TP move called "Diamond Shell" that makes any attacks from behind hit for 0 damage while the effect is active, including Ninjutsu and other spells. Take note of when it's used and move to the front to cause damage. Diamond Shell sometimes has no effect. Ore Lob is also usable by all Quadav forces, and Wrath of Gu'Dha (absorbed by 3 shadows, potent AOE knockback and Weight) is usable only by Quadav generals.

Yagudo Theomilitary
The Yagudo Theomilitary have an ability called "Feathered Furore" that will remove one random piece of equipment in a cone blast. Several campaign leaders also use "Dark Invocation" to inflict poison/death.

Beastman Confederate
The Allied Forces of Altana are not the only ones to recruit allies. The Beastmen Confederate also have their own swords for hire. These freelances usually appear in battles to assist units of the Dark Kindred and other units of the Beastman Confederate.