Player versus Player

Overview
Player versus Player, in short PvP, is an extensive game feature which allows players to interact in battles against each other.

Once players reach Level 5 and build the Battle Flag and Arena, they can participate in Player-versus-Player combat. There are three general facets to this side of the game which can be accessed through the PvP button:
 * Anytime PvP (or Asynchronous PvP)
 * Real Time PvP (or Synchronous PvP)
 * Fight a Friend
 * Random Match

Another form of Player versus Player involves attacking other players' nations directly. This can be done in two ways:
 * Raid
 * Occupy

Anytime PvP
Anytime PvP (Asynchronous PvP) mode was introduced in the 4.5 Patch. In this mode, players can engage in battles against another player's defensive units without requiring a direct online connection. These battles allow players to field 5 units, with a maximum of 2 of the same type from the 4.6.2 Patch onwards.

The Arena, unlocked at Level 5, introduces Anytime PvP to your Outpost. Once built, tap the PvP icon in the HUD and select Edit Defense to set up your Defensive Formation (this option is found in the "Fight Now!" menu after the initial setup). This is the formation that other players will battle.

To initiate an Anytime PvP fight, select the PvP icon found in the Outpost's HUD and select Anytime PvP. Select an opponent from the list. Prior to battle you can see the Username, Guild, and current level for the other player. The user's defense formation cannot be seen before beginning the fight.

Entry into an Anytime PvP battle uses PvP Energy, even after a retreat. PvP Energy generates once per minute from the Arena, and there is a maximum of. Special invading encounters during specific events and/or missions can be defeated for a random chance of dropping PvP Energy. The icons of these encounters are marked with a PvP Energy symbol in the bottom right corner.

Winning an Anytime PvP match will earn Gold and valuable rare resources, like Teeth,  Gears, and  Bars.

Winning an Anytime PvP match will also increase the async PvP ranking, causing the next generated opponent list to be of higher async PvP ranking (up to the highest available for the level). Losing a battle (not retreating) will cause the async PvP ranking of the player to drop again, so the next generated opponent list will be of lower async PvP ranking.

Based on your level, there is a limit to how many times a defense formation can be attacked until the player's next log-in (valid for single attacks, if attacked after a won battle these restrictions are inoperative):


 * Level 4-10: 2 times
 * Level 11-20: 3 times
 * Level 21-30: 4 times
 * Level 31-40: 5 times
 * Level 41-50: 6 times
 * Level 51-60: 7 times
 * Level 61 and up: 8 times

If a defense wins against an incoming attack, it will not reward  SP or resources, but it will yield some gold for the defending player.

When attacking another player in Anytime PvP, the units used in battle require no return-time before they can be used again, however any units lost in the battle will need to be healed in a Hospital or Repair Bay. The Defensive Formation units require no healing from Anytime PvP battles or cool-down.

If you attack a player and kill 1 or more units, but lose, you still get the  SP for the units you killed.

4.6.2 Update
The release of the 4.6.2 Patch featured gameplay enhancements to Anytime PvP battles to improve the balancing. A maximum of two of the same unit in defensive and offensive battles are allowed. Also, further matchmaking improvements for level 70 players were made.

Real Time PvP
Real Time PvP (Synchronous PvP) can be divided into two types of PvP; Fight a Friend and Random Match. These battles allow players to field 7 units each. During the battles, there's a 20-second turn timer. If a player does not attack within the 20 seconds, the turn is lost and the opponent can attack. Units used in battle require a return-time of 2 hours before they can be used again. Any units lost in the battle do not need to be healed in a Hospital or Repair Bay.

Fight a Friend
Tapping on "Fight a Friend" will bring up a player's Friend List. From here players can look through their Game Center friends or their Z2 friends. The small circle in the top left corner of each friend indicates if they are currently online or not. If it's green, it means they're in the game and are online.

Players can select a friend they'd like to fight by tapping on the "Fight" button under their avatar. If the other player accepts, the battle will begin. If not, they will be notified that a Fight invite was sent.

Both players will have 90 seconds to place units on the battlefield, after which the battle starts.

Units do not gain  SP from Fight a Friend battles, but both participants do receive rewards. Gold is always a part of the reward, and other resources are included at random. Reward resources seen so far include all Tier 1 Resources and all Tier 3 Resources. Thus, Fight a Friend is an excellent way for lower-level players to acquire the rare resources needed to build advanced units and buildings.

Fight a Friend rewards can be collected once every 24 hours per friend, so fighting many different friends will yield more resources than fighting one over and over.

Random Match
Tapping on "Random Match" and selecting "Let's Go!" will bring up an empty battlefield. After fielding units on your side of the battlefield, the "Fight" button can be tapped to start the search for an opponent. Opponents are selected based on matchmaking. There are several factors to consider with matchmaking:

Who players are paired with is largely dependent on whoever else is searching for a game at the same time. The matchmaking system will try its best to pair players with someone of similar strength, but if an immediate pairing cannot be found, the system will cast a wider net.

Also, the units players use is taken into account. Each unit has its own value in PvP and the stronger the unit, the higher this value is. For instance, a Rank 1 Trooper is going to have a lower value in PvP than a Rank 3 Mini Tank. The system will try its best to pair players of similar army strength.

When the battle is over, the winner gains skill points equal to the total army value of the defeated player. These points are split up amongst all the unit types in the winning player's army. Each surviving unit type who dealt damage gets a full share of the victory points. Each surviving unit type that did no damage but did take damage, get a half share of the victory points. Each defeated unit type, or unit who did not deal damage gets a quarter share. In case of uneven skill point allotments, the system rounds up to the nearest skill point.

In addition, the winner gains Victory Points and the loser gains. In sufficient quantities, these can be used to gain random prizes, including Gold,  XP,  Bars,  Gears, and in rare cases even  Nanopods.

A 24 Hour countdown timer starts as soon as a player tries to find a match. After the counter expires, the player's VP total is reset to 0.

There are currently 4 Tiers of VP Rewards, requiring at least 10, 20, 30, and 40 VP (respectively). There are no benefits to obtaining more than 40 VP. There's a small chance of getting a reward when you win a PvP battle after obtaining 40 VP within one day. The chances displayed are the probability of getting a specific reward, subsequent to the chance of actually getting a reward.

These include:

Note: Gold and XP rewards excluded!

Attacking Outposts
When "enabled", the Battle Flag allows players to attack their friend's Outposts for resources, but in exchange, any of their friends may attack that player as well. Different decorations and buildings will yield different (amounts of) resource rewards.

Raid
When Raiding, attacking a space on a friend’s land will earn a set amount of rewards once. Once this battle is finished, used troops will immediately retreat with a return-time of 30 minutes.

Occupy
Occupation is very similar to Raiding, but instead of retreating, used troops will stay for a maximum of 48 hours, earning resources every 4 hours. Players will need to visit their occupation to collect the desired resources. While occupying, used forces are susceptible to being attacked by the owner of the base or by one of the owner’s friends. If defeated, the forces will retreat with a return-time of 2 hours.

Now there is one situation that has confused some players so here is an example by Z2 to try and explain:


 * Artichoki goes to Poring's land and occupies a square.
 * Poring is also friends with Wombatt and Wombatt sees Artichoki's army attacking his friend's land. Wombatt decides to fight off Artichoki's army from Poring’s land.
 * Wombatt wins the battle and now, Poring has the opportunity to Accept or Reject Wombatt's help in destroying Artichoki's army.
 * If Poring Rejects the help, that means that Poring MUST fight Artichoki's army without any assistance from any other friend’s army.

NOTE: if Poring Rejects the help, Artichoki's army will return to her land, BUT Poring must battle Artichoki's phantom army before anyone else can occupy that space.
 * If Poring Accepts the help, Artichoki's army will be returned to her land and the square immediately opens up for anyone else to occupy.

Occupations can harm the production items of the player being occupied. The gathering rate is lowered for resource-collecting buildings. The net output to the occupier plus the reduced production is the same as the normal production level. Buildings that produce units take ten times (10x) longer to make units and see drastically reduced returns, but only if occupied at time of payment: once started, the production time is locked-in and not extended by an occupation. Occupations do not harm buildings that you cannot choose to make/process things, like the SpecOps Center.

"SP Farms" are special, sacrificial occupations used to give SP to the occupied Nation. These are often used as trade for favors. A visitor places many occupations clustered tight together in an obvious place, typically on water but they can be anywhere on the perimeter. Other visitors can kill them for gain, then the landowner may reject the attack without consequence. The landowner kills the occupations for SP gain. The optimal formation is two R6 Troopers, three R6 Sandbag Piles, and three R6 Wimps to yield around  900 unboosted; the Wimps are held on the second row by edge-placed Sandbags, one Trooper is placed on the third line, and one Trooper in. This formation offers a high amount of SP gain, low amount of attack strength, and a very low healing cost.

Maximum Raids and Occupations
There is a maximum number of raids or occupations allowed within any player's outpost. The maximum number of occupations for an outpost is determined by the owner's level. Note that retreating armies also count as occupied spots until they've retreated completely.

Also note that players need to be Level 12 to be able to occupy another player's outpost. Additionally, they need to have a raised Battle Flag.