Player versus Player

General Information



 * Once you reach Level 5 and build the Battle Flag, you can now participate in Player-versus-Player combat. There are three general facets to this side of the game:


 * Attacking Nations: This version involves attacking Outposts owned by people on your Friends list, either with a quick Raid strike or to Occupy parts of their land and leech off Resources and Gold.
 * Random Matches: Random matches prompt you to enter a battle against someone randomly matched up to you, though in theory they should be within the same power range.
 * Fight a Friend: Challenge your Friends to a battle with similar rules to Random Matches, with prizes for both players.
 * For more information about the Friends Icons, read that article.

Random Matches
Random matches are the primary way in which PvP is conducted in Battle Nations.

To start, you select the Random Match button and click 'Let's go!'. This will bring you to the army composition screen. This screen has the standard 13 square grid used to place units in Battle Nations. You will be able to place up to 7 units.

The game then assigns a value to each of those units based on the unit's relative power and adds up the values across all of the 7 units you have placed. For instance Rank 1 Riot Troopers have a value of 7 assigned to them, whereas a Rank 1 Light Tank has a value of 14. In the logic of the game, two Riot Troopers are as powerful as a single tank. These values increase as a unit gains in rank to reflect the increase in power.

So if you place 6 Riot Troopers and a single Light Tank, your army value would be 98. Once you hit start, the game will attempt to match you with players of a similar power value. However, as time goes on it will widen its search in an attempt to find a match, so it is possible for a player to be matched against someone with a higher or lower army value.

Once a match is found the battle commences. Each player will have 20 seconds( as of 2.0 patch) to make their move. Failing to make a move within the alloted time forfeits that player's turn. The loser is the player who either disconnects or who loses all their available units.

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, like some tanks in the front row used as shields, 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 victory point allotments, the system rounds up to the nearest victory point.

To put this into perspective, lets use the example above and have it defeat an army worth 100 points. If the victorious army had 1 Riot Trooper and 1 Light Tank remaining and both unit types dealt damage during the match, they would both earn 50 points towards rank promotion. If all the Riot Troopers had been wiped out, the Light Tank unit type would received 80 points and the Riot Trooper only 20.

In addition, the winner gains 4 victory points and the loser gains 1. Victory points can be used to earn various prizes, but each prize can only be claimed once every 24 hours.

Fight a Friend
Using the Fight a Friend feature added in the 2.8 Patch, players can challenge members of their Friends list to battle. The challenged player must be online, and can accept or decline the challenge.

Once the challenged player has accepted, combat begins with similar rules and mechanics to Random Match battles. Both players will have 90 seconds to place 7 units, no more and no less. When both players have finalized their formations, combat begins, with a 20-second turn timer.

Units do not gain  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, all Tier 3 Resources, and Chem Vials. 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 per friend, meaning that fighting many different friends will yield more resources than fighting one over and over.

Lost Units
Units lost in a PvP battle may or may not be sent to the Hospital/Repair Bay, depending on the battle type.

Units lost in Raid or Occupy missions, whether defending or attacking, will be sent to their owner's repair facilities. Win or lose, all units sent on Random Battle or Fight a Friend will return, alive, after 2 hours.

Raid Missions
You'll be familiar with these as you proceed through quests, as this is how you knock out enemy defenses and claim spoils. Raids are quick attacks which seize Resources or Gold, and more often than not you'll be fighting Militia unless you target something protected by defensive structures, such as Pillboxes, Cannon Towers, or Bunkers. Raids do not harm the one being attacked, though units stationed in a Bunker or similar structure can be hospitalized. After a Raid, your target has 30 minutes to counter-attack while your forces withdraw. Currently, you need to visit your target's nation when the timer has expended to be allowed to collect your forces from the Army management tab.

Occupy Missions


Occupy missions are different, as your forces now will occupy wherever you target and start a 4 hour timer until you can collect the spoils. Every 4 hours you can pull Resources or Gold from where you occupy, but you can be kicked out if your target or one of his friends feels you need to be booted out of your occupation. You must wait 2 hours to withdraw an Occupation force as opposed to the 30 minutes for a raid. The amount of land used in occupation is much greater than raiding (4x as big, to capture more buildings and decorations in its radius). Occupation forces who are not driven out or withdrawn manually will automatically withdraw about 48 hours after being stationed in enemy lands. Their 2-hour withdrawal timer will not begin until a player actually loads and views the land they're in, however, so it's not uncommon to check up on "active" occupation squads only to find them just beginning to retreat.

Occupations can harm the occupied's producing items. The gathering rate is slowed 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 Spec Ops.

"Water attacks" are a special occupation used to give back 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. For lower level players, the optimal formation is 3 r6 Troopers, 2 r6 Sandbags, and 3 r6 Wimps to yield ~900 SP unboosted; the Wimps are held on the second line by edge-placed Sandbags, 2 Troopers placed on the third line, and one Trooper in front lined up with a Wimp and Trooper. (See pix right, note militia attacks sandbags not the Trooper.)  These formations offer the max SP gain, least attack strength, and least heal cost.

Maximum Raids/Occupations
There is a maximum number of raids or occupations allowed within any player's outpost. The maximum for an outpost is determined by the owner's level.

Strategy

 * Generally, you'll want to target spots for Occupation which aren't defended by any emplacements such as Pillboxes or Bunkers. Of course, if you feel like being persistent, you can Raid those defenses and remove them if you really want what's being guarded. It's worthwhile to seize an active structure rather than raw Resources, due to the massive difference in value. Furthermore, rare Resources may be earned by targeting specific structures (Gears can be earned at the Vehicle Factory, for instance. 1 for a Raid but 4 for an Occupation.)


 * It's beneficial to make friends with people who don't mind you parking a couple Troopers off to one unexplored and untapped part of their region to leech some resources. Or even those who can drop you a note essentially ceding the right to an Iron Mine ("I'm full up on Iron currently so go ahead and Occupy it until I need it again.").


 * Failing that, you can always park a force which can't easily be tossed out and just make it work for you. It all depends on whether your friends will put up with that kind of behavior.


 * Alternatively, you can hide an occupying force where it simply might not be seen, and leech invisibly off your unsuspecting host.

Placing 3 riot troopers with 1 space in between them in the very front line along with sharpshooters right behind them at the left and right wing, and placing a vehicle behind the middle with a sharpshoot behind it is also a excellent formation.

Maximizing Community Gain
''"Can't we all just get along?" '' We all need to raid/occupy to move ahead, especially with regard to, , and. Everyone can maximize their gains if you:

1. Raise your Battle Flag and leave it up. Ask your friends to do the same.

'''2.  Sell all your defenses. '''Or better, concentrate one of each in one spot (so others can play, you achieve quests, etc.). Defenses don't stop Raiders. Defenses consume workers and make it tougher for friends to gain (and you to boot friends out). Defenses are a pain for raiding and cannot stop a determined attacker. (One, advanced exception is a concentration of many garrisons in a corner filled with unjuiced, high-level Wimps. Others can occupy these and gain huge SP fast.)

'''3.  Be obvious. ''' Arrange your land to make it easier for to visitors to help you produce. Place steel, lumber, and block plants, main Vehicle Factories, hospitals, and Vehicle Bays in the area that people see when they first visit a Nation.... center-right. Place your main Vehicle Factories here so visitors may quickly raid them; thus when you visit others you can easily get 20-30 gears in an hour. Place no defenses. Almost all who do this have seen a significant increase in daily production. All of this makes it faster for visitors too (meaning you when you visit others).

4. Promote "mutual raids and no-harm occupations". Raids do no harm ,so allow all. Raids return troops faster. Occupations can slow new-starts in productive buildings (Vehicle Factories, Mines, Shops, etc.). Allow anyone no-harm occupations (e.g. Armor Plant, Permits Office, Spec Ops, Resources in unoccupied areas, etc.). Occupations can be bumped by other visitors and the outpost owner cannot always stop them, so use at your own risk. Owners need not warn when bumping occupiers. Only rarely and with prior permission, occupy productive items. For those who don't have a clue, place 'do not occupy' signs near productive items.

5. Attack with minimal forces - Machine Gun + Trooper, Trooper + Hunter + Grenadier, Wimp + Machine Turrent, etc. Attackers must accept being killed off; the owner might need that item for something and need not ask permission to boot you off. Attacking with minimal forces is least costly for all. BN can be quirky; expect your guys to be killed for unexplainable reasons.

6. Don't Counter-Attack - its results in actual losses to all. Don't bump people off other's Occupied items - the owner probably allowed them. (You're not helping.). Nation owners should Reject these attempts. (One exception is the owner sandbagging.... a raid/occupy can be returned home quickly by counter-attacking with a single sandbag.

7.  Be a Pal. Arrange your land so no-harm occupation buildings/plants are all together and obvious (so its easier for occupy). Group them tight so one Occupy can cover many items. Place them to the far left, out of the way. Optionally, place an Assist sign near these items. Optionally, build and leave 'on' one or two extra, Level 1 Vehicle Factory so all may raid and good Friends may occupy but seperate from your 'main' plants. (Always leave on your main VFs on for raids.)

8.  Be a Good Visitor. Tap VF, Barracks, and vehicle bays to aid others production and recovery. Tap items with an Assist next to them. Tap the items obviously placed for you to see when you visit.

9. For Good Friends. With a few close Friends (or a Nation?), allow each other to occupy any VF and steel, block, and lumber mills at any time with the understanding that they'll be killed off when a new vehicle/batch starts. These productive items are slowed only when a new thing is started while its occupied, but not after it started. Limit this to a few pals to reduce confusion.

12. Prisoners Dilemma All of this is an example of the optimal, practical solution to the Prisoners Dilemma. In other words, you and everyone benefits the most when you are always nice first, respond mostly tic-for-tat (i.e. an eye for an eye), and occasionally forgive transgressions (which are often unintentional mistakes given we're all new at this game).

12. Problems? Rarely will you find someone violating these guidelines. Usually it's an honest mistake so send them a message. Still a problem? Don't seek revenge, just de-friend them and let others know of the player. You don't even need to kill the occupiers and risk your men, just wait a few days.

Rewards Tables

 * These tables hold the information about Raid and Occupy rewards from various structures or terrain. Please note, defensive strucutres (Bunkers, turrets, et cetera) will not provide any bonus for Raid or Occupaction; instead they must be defeated or otherwise neutralized.