Siege

Ruleset basics

 * There are two types of world PvP islands, Hardcore and Casual. We use the terms cPvP and hPvP for short.
 * This system does not cover custom claim rule sets for people that want to set up battlegrounds, special PvP game types, or arenas. Those systems are not serverwide, limited to only your claims, and thus can be implemented on any type of server.
 * Travel to a PvP island type implies consent to PvP. You will be prompted is moving from a PvE island to a PvP one to make sure you give this consent. This system has been designed specifically with the goal of not forcing PvE players to ever venture in to these spaces, and is not intended to interfere with their play.
 * hPvP islands are economically and functionally isolated from all other islands. When you go to an hPvP island, you use an hPvP inventory and bank space.
 * cPvP islands use the same gear and resources as PvE islands, and the same marketplace.
 * Death in cPvP incurs the same penalty as death in PvE. Death in hPvP leaves a lootable corpse.
 * Tools, trinkets, and armor are not dropped on death in hPvP, but all other items and resources remain on your corpse. This corpse may be looted by any player. In addtion, the items and tools you retain through death suffer heavy damage and must be repaired with currency or gathered resources.
 * <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);">The following mechanics assume the hPvP ruleset. The last heading details to rule alterations for the cPvP ruleset.

Claim Mechanics

 * All claims function identically to PvE claims under peacetime mechanics. This means custom rulesets, turning off PvP, user banning, etc. is all functional.
 * Each upkeep cycle, all claims in PvP islands generate a single Siege Crystal (come up with a cooler name for this)
 * Siege Crystals can be traded and moved around, but to function must be used to either craft siege weapons, or placed on the claim to power defenses and logistical devices.
 * Claims are immune to siege during their first upkeep cycle, but only if no siege crystals are installed.
 * Claims without any siege crystals installed past the first upkeep cycle are cleared from the map as if they were abandoned.

Siege Crystal Mechanics

 * Siege Crystals, once anchored to a claim, can not be retrieved in any way.
 * Siege Crystals are used to power all logistical structures, including combat NPC spawners, teleport/respawn bays, traps, attacker restriction reactors, and any other structure with a mechanical impact on siege warfare.
 * Siege crystals can be moved and rotated freely, but may only be resized larger than their default size.
 * Siege crystals must be free-standing. The hitbox of a siege crystal can not intersect with any voxels or other props (this ensures that finding crystals means being able to actually hit them)
 * Siege Crystals may be individually anchored, or applied to an existing crystal to combine the power output and HP of both.
 * Crystal power is tracked as a pool of all crystals on the claim. Power usage is configured at the devices, not the crystals.
 * Powered devices, in addition to their basic configuration, have a "priority" property. In the event crystals are lost or destroyed, causing a power drop, devices are deactivated in order from lowest to highest.
 * Certain powered devices can be "powered up" by choosing to spend more power. These devices can set priority values for each individual level (for instance, a respawner operating at L3 may be set for L3 to have low priority, being deactivated early in a battle, but levels 2 and 1 to have very high priority.)
 * Siege crystals used to craft offensive siege weaponry are not anchored, but are consumed during the crafting process.
 * Siege crystals can only be destroyed during an active siege by the use of melee weaponry, or as a result of the owner choosing to do so. Siege crystals are also destroyed when the claim or siege zone containing them is dissolved.

Siege Banner/Hostile takeover mechanics

 * Players may use three siege crystals together with resources to craft a Siege banner.
 * Siege banners may be placed with a similar UI to claim banners, but may only be placed within the zone of exclusion of a claim. When placed within overlapping exclusion zones, the user is prompted to select which claim he would like to target.
 * When placed, Siege banners create a temporary area with similar properties to a claim, called a siege zone. This siege zone and the targeted claim are placed in the "preparation" state.
 * Siege zones allow the user to specify permissions, but users may not customize the ruleset. Siege zones are always PvP active, always protect voxels and props inside (including weapons) and can support the anchoring of crystals as if they were claims.
 * When the preparation state begins, the defending claim holder is notified that they have one week to set a time for battle to start. If they do not set a time, battle begins automatically after exactly one week.
 * The defender also has the option to surrender, automatically transferring ownership of the claim and its contents, or to offer a bribe in currency and items to end the siege.
 * If the attacker chooses to accept the bribe, the siege zone is immediately dismantled, and the siege is over. Otherwise, the defending claim and siege zone become active at the scheduled start time.
 * One hour before the battle becomes active, the involved siege zone and claim lose the ability to use voxel tools, or alter props. This persists until the battle is over.
 * Once active, all rule-based protection of assets and players is disabled. Any additional protection is provided by defensive and offensive devices, and voxel structures.
 * If the attacker manages to destroy all Siege crystals in he defending claim, the takeover is successful, and the claim is immediately dissolved, and it's contents become free to the public. For one hour, the zone of exclusion remains in effect for everyone but the attacker, allowing first dibs on claiming the conquered territory. During this time, the siege zone returns to protected mode to allow the evacuation of assets. At the end of this hour the siege zone is destroyed, and any installed crystals shatter, and the banner vanishes. Any deployed siege in the zone is immediately undeployed, and any other assets become public property.
 * If the defender manages to destroy the opposing siege banner, the siege is broken and the defending claim immediately returns to peacetime rules. Siege banners, like crystals, must be destroyed at close range with melee weaponry.

Siege Weapon Mechanics

 * Siege weapons remain in item form until activated. Once activated, Siege weapons become physical world objects which players may board as (slow) vehicles and drive.
 * Siege weapons may only be activated on claims in which you have permission to do so. Siege weapons can not be activated in siege zones, they must be driven there from a claim and then deployed.
 * Siege weapons can not be repackaged once activated. Storing active siege weapons requires physical space.
 * Siege weapons can not function until deployed. While it is possible to drive siege weapons anywhere, they can only be deployed in claims or siege zones in which you have permission to do so.
 * Once deployed, siege weapons are immobile, and boarding them allows control of the weapon for the driver.
 * Siege weapons can be undeployed at will, but require 30 seconds to fully deploy.
 * Siege weapons can be assaulted and destroyed by anyone, at any time, unless they are within a safe claim or siege zone.
 * Siege weapons are automatically repaired at a slow rate if they are deployed, and have not taken damage for an hour. Players can choose to pay currency in to the siege weapon through the rightclick menu to speed this process up.
 * Siege weapons can not be repaired during battle, or when not deployed.

<h2 style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;list-style:discoutside;">Voxel damage and healing mechanics.


 * Players may use crystal power to activate one or more storehouses. These storehouses will automatically heal voxels within their area of effect, selected at random at a rate of 30 per second, provided they have enough resources remaining to do so. This range is limited, and so it will typically take several such structures to cover an entire claim.
 * Different materials have different levels of hardness, with dirt and sand being extremely fragile, and materials like diamond being the strongest. The lower a material's hardness level, the more units of
 * Players may use a crystal and a stack of 100 of any buildable resource to craft a Philosopher's stone When placed in a storehouse, this item causes all voxels within the storehouse's domain to inherit the properties of that resource, an that resource is used to repair them.
 * Players may use a crystal to craft a Stability Charm. This item, when placed within a storehouse, adds to the hardness of all voxels within its range, and prevents enemies from damaging these voxels with normal tools.
 * A second stability charm prevents players from damaging these voxels with handheld explosives. This means any voxels in the domain of a 2-charm storehouse can only be damaged with siege weaponry.
 * Philosopher's stones and stability charms can not be removed from storehouses, and storehouses containing them can not be packed up, only destroyed or moved.

<h2 style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;list-style:discoutside;">Wards


 * Players may use crystals to power a special defensive structure, the Ward. Wards prevent or hinder certain enemy actions within their area of effect.
 * Wards are powered by crystals, but do not require crystals to be crafted. Often, Wards require several examples of whatever items they are meant to counter in their crafting recipies.
 * Wards may be placed in claims as well as siege zones.
 * The area of effect of wards varies based upon their purpose. For example, and anti-grapple ward is large enough to cover most of a claim on the horizontal plane, but not nearly as deep, while a speed ward might cover a square area that is much smaller.
 * Wards can be damaged by all types of weapons, including ranged siege weapons, and as such it is a good idea to protect them with voxel structures.
 * Wards exist to provide options for claim design. For instance, open air castles would be a laughable defense if players could simply grapple or fly over the walls, but wards allow for this type of design. In addition they may be useful in limiting enemy damage types, creating choke points, or otherwise altering the flow of combat.

<h2 style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;list-style:discoutside;">Variations for the Casual PvP (cPvP) island type


 * When claims are surrendered or conquered, all non-crystal items, including the claim flag, are returned to the owner. Siege weapons remain vulnerable and in the world.
 * If a siege is broken, all non-crystal items in the siege zone are returned to the owner, though siege weapons remain in-world and vulnerable.
 * Storehouses do not use resources, and in stead fill an internal source of "supply" that is automatically generated over time. This "supply" can be picked up and moved around, but only during an active siege 0r preparatory siege.
 * Philosopher's stones can not be crafted or used in cPvP
 * All voxels are considered to have the same hardness, though this hardness can still be augmented by adding stability charms.

Credits
The first iteration of this page was based on PopeUrban's summary on the EQNL forums:

https://forums.station.sony.com/eqnlandmark/index.php?threads/thoughts-on-pvp-come-and-discuss.20348/page-37#post-260820