Obsidian Plains
1. Overview
The Astral Portal constructed led the pioneers from your stronghold to discover the Obsidian Plains.
As you pass to the other side of the portal you are faced with an unending struggle of survival and conquest. The area is presented on a grid as a number of sectors.
Players that belong to alliances with an active Portal may send forces to the new area. Every player commands one army, which can move around the sectors.
Alliances can build Arcane Bases, powerful outposts with strong defenses.
Hidden around the Obsidian Plains are powerful artifacts, the Elemental Nexi and Skelethor, a vicious undead overlord.
The players in the Obsidian Plains must defeat Skelethor, by building enough Arcane Bases and securing enough Elemental Nexi.
2. Basics
To gain access to the Obsidian Plains content you must be a member of an alliance and complete the necessary missions. You will have to go through the "Eastern Liberation" part of the game to gain access to "Obsidian Plains".
Every player gets a single army in the Obsidian Plains. You can send troops from any of your strongholds, but the trip is one-way.
3. Exploring
The Obsidian Plains contain a number of sectors, initially marked with a question mark, which indicates their contents are unknown (not explored).
When an army arrives at an unexplored sector, that sector becomes automatically explored for all members of the player's alliance. However, due to the chaotic nature of the region, it is impossible to create a complete and accurate map of the system. As a result, sectors in the Obsidian Plains return to their unexplored state every day.
Every army has a maximum number of movement points equal to the sum of the player's Influence levels in Research, Espionage, Allies and Air Forces.
Players move their armies around by clicking on the small arrows (up, down, left, right) around the army icon. Moving to an unknown sector costs 2 movement points, while moving to an explored sector costs only 1 movement point. armies regain 2 movement points per hour, up to the player's maximum.
An Arcane Base is a deceptively mundane citadel which combines the magical might of your warlocks and dragons. A magically fortified base, it can withstand the scourge of the elements in the inhospitable region of the Obsidian Plains and protect your troops stationed there. It also augments your abilities to detect magical interference in the Obsidian Plains and possibly locate an Elemental Nexus - the artifacts you desperately need to defeat Skelethor, the Skeleton King!
Upkeep
The maximum upkeep of military forces you can sustain in the Obsidian Plains, is based on three different factors:
- Everyone starts with 20.000 upkeep
- You gain 10.000 per level of the Obsidian Logistics alliance talent (max level = 25)
- You gain 10.000 for every Arcane Base in the system (to a maximum of 100K)
This means that the maximum upkeep you can have in the system is 370K. Beyond that threshold your troopers will starve to death.
Hints
* Alliance members should coordinate the exploration of the Obsidian Plains.
* Arcane Bases in key positions will greatly enhance the speed of your travels.
* Astral Traveler units are more resilient to the environment of the Obsidian Plains. If you encounter enemies while you are exploring, units without the Astral Traveler attribute suffer four times more damage than those who possess it.
4. Rules of Engagement
The Obsidian Plains is a PvP expansion. As such you should expect many battles to happen while you make your way through this sector.
Attacking an enemy's army costs 5 movement points.
Scouting an enemy's army costs 10 movement points.
The battle system is the same as the normal PvP battles with the following adjustments:
* Battles end after 3 rounds instead of 10.
* The winner is the one that will earn the most XP.
* If the attacker wins, then he gets to loot a percentage of the defender's resources equal to the percentage of the units the defender lost in the battle.
Note: You can use movement points to scout an opponent before attacking. Keep in mind that there is always a chance that this action will be intercepted by your opponent...
5. An Elemental Nexus
Players gain the ability to detect the location of Elemental Nexi as soon as their alliance builds its first Arcane Base in the Obsidian Plains.
Every Elemental Crystal is initially in the possession of a guardian army. When a player explores that sector (by moving through it), all members of that player's alliance are able to see the Elemental Nexus on the map.
A player can take possession of the Elemental Nexus by successfully attacking the guardian army. As soon as any player retrieves the Elemental Nexus, then all players from all alliances with at least one completed Arcane Base are able to see its location. (All your Cloak effects will be removed)
Elemental Crystal Relocation
Players who acquire an Elemental Nexus can move it with their army anywhere in the Obsidian Plans. If they bring it to a sector with an allied Arcane Base, they can unload the Elemental Nexus to that Arcane Base at no cost.
Players can steal the Elemental Nexus stored in an Arcane Base but in order to do so they must kill all defending armies in that Arcane Base.
PvE Elemental Crystal Loss
If an army carrying an Elemental Nexus is completely destroyed by NPCs (e.g. raiders), then the Elemental Nexus goes again to the possession of a guardian army and reappears the next day at a random map location.
PvP Elemental Crystal Loss
If an army carrying an Elemental Nexus is defeated in a battle with another player's army, the Elemental Nexus goes to the possession of the victor. Warning: The winner of a battle in the Obsidian Plains is the army earning the most XP from the battle.
6. Arcane Bases
This deceptively mundane citadel combines the magical might of your warlocks and dragons. A magically fortified base, it can withstand the scourge of the elements in the inhospitable region of the Obsidian Plains and protect your troops stationed there. It also augments your abilities to detect magical interference in the Obsidian Plains and possibly locate an Elemental Nexus - the artifacts you desperately need to defeat Skelethor, the Skeleton King!
The construction of an Arcane Base is a group effort, requiring the contribution of huge amounts of resources from all members of the alliance.
To start the construction the members need to decide on the building tile. Once the spot has been decided then, one member needs to have 1,000,00 of Food, Water, Lumber, Stone and Crystalium in his/her army. Clicking on "Build Arcane Base" begins the construction.
You cannot move the Arcane Base once it has been placed!
From then on, all alliance members may contribute resources in the construction, by moving their army to the Arcane Base and clicking the "Construct" button.
The Arcane Base becomes operational when the alliance has spent a total of 100,000,000 resources and offers the following benefits:
* The 8 sectors around the Arcane Base remain permanently explored.
* Reveals enemy armies once they step on your Arcane Base. This action does not remove the Cloak from the enemy , it simply makes them visible to your alliance (and only your Alliance) for as long as they stay in the same sector as your Arcane Base.
* The Arcane Base provides a 20% attack and defense bonus on all allied armies in its sector.
* If an Alliance has an Arcane Base that has acquired a Nexus Crystal , then all Cloaked members of the Alliance will be visible while staying on top of their Arcane Base. The moment they step out they will become invisible again.
* You can locate the hidden Elemental Crystals around the Obsidian Plains! As long as the XPM has not been retrieved by any player then to see it you have to be in the same sector as it. As soon as any player retrieves an XPM from its guardians then it becomes visible to all alliances that have an operational Arcane Base.
WARNING
Arcane Bases are vulnerable to the Skelethor attacks. Do NOT construct them at the edge of the Obsidian Plains where Skelethor roams. There is always the chance that he will find your base and... destroy it!
7. Bosses
Among the Obsidian Plains you may occasionally see a few special targets, the Bosses. Each boss is unique and has a high amount of attack and defense.
These opponents can be attacked once you have reached their location. By clicking "View" you get to see information about the boss, as well as their loot table and the option to attack them.
Attacking a boss costs a number of movement points.
The location of the bosses changes daily, although they normally spawn rather far from the Portal.
Note: Your army may safely pass through the boss location. You only risk by attacking them!
8. Skelethor, the Skeleton King
There is a big bad guy hidden in the Obsidian Plains, the Skeleton King!
The Skeleton King moves randomly around the map and is immediately visible to anyone who explores its sector. You cannot face him until you either have 5 Arcane Bases fully operational and an Elemental Nexus Ultimate Weapon completely charged. As soon as you accomplish those goals, you have to find and destroy him! If Skeleton King lands on a sector with Arcane Bases, then these are destroyed.
By entering the Skeleton King sector, if your alliance does not have 5 fully operational Arcane Bases and the ultimate weapon fully charged both you and ALL your Arcane Bases will sustain huge amount of damage.
To destroy the Skeleton King you must:
* Transfer 3 Elemental Nexus to your Arcane Base and guard them while your alchemists attempt to fuse them into the ultimate weapon to kill the Skeleton King.
* Build 5 Arcane Bases to counter the Skeleton King's regeneration ability
* gather your forces and kill it.
Caution: When Skeleton King dies it inflicts a 30% of the maximum hit points as damage to each Arcane Base you have. The Elemental Nexus are also destroyed in the process.