Real PvP: The Battle of Purr

Greetings, cannon fodders.

Today we will take a look at a real battle from a real war: the Battle of Purr on 29 May 2017.
 

The final hours of battle at Pure [vCrow], legendary city Purr.

The Target: Purr

The besieged city was Pure [vCrow] Purr, formerly located at [665|-2748]. The target had a building north and a small hill southwest, and was 22 squares from the allied city of Bulani [fCrow] Flagstaff. Starting population was 25663, a legendary city. Very large cities are ideal to target because their population is top-heavy, contained in levels 19 and 20 of their high-population buildings.

Purr was also favorable to target because buildings are correctly cleared by infantry, and the city is relatively far from vCrow's primary infantry reserves.

The Plan

 

Most proper military operations begin with a plan.

Spoiler Alert: our planning cycle involves spreadsheets, not holograms.

I authored the siege plan in consultation with Tinkinator and Bulani.

The plan was a trap siege. Trap sieges are essential when the targeted player has a high likelihood of running from the siege via exodus. Bulani would pin Purr from the building with a very fast 100 sentinel army. The precision reinforcement landing would be supplied by Eldrathin (200000 sentinels), Bulani (20000 sentinels), and myself: Ten Kulch [300] (400000 kobolds). For those unfamiliar with siege warfare, 100 troops might seem terribly small for a blockade, but all battle losses are proportional among all occupiers. As long as the camp holds, the blockade will also hold, preventing exodus for the trapped town.

Once the city was pinned, a primary siege supplied by OleBlackLord [fCrow] would engage the city by swapping positions with the pin blockade. The siege launch took about 45 hours to move into position. Our main blockade force was predominantly heavy spears supplied by Salgerluk [300], Plathus [300], Tinkinator [300] and myself, Ten Kulch [300]. The main blockade arrived a day behind the trap and a day ahead of the siege. Bulani [fCrow] supplied the actual blockade troops from her town of Lurker's Lair.

The Battle Begins

 

A trap siege begins with the element of surprise. Failing that, a trap siege ends immediately with an enemy exodus and a lot of grumpy warriors.

Why hello there, muggles!

The precision landing was accomplished perfectly. Bulani launched the trap blockade at 27 May 03:06:31 server time, and it touched down 44 minutes later at approximately 27 May 03:50:00 server time. My kobolds were there to meet them, with Eldrathin's main bow force joining shortly after landing. The plan was in motion. All main blockade troop launches had also been dispatched according to the launch schedule. So far, so good.

Or not.

Moon or Battle Station?

Have you ever gotten a bad feeling about something? That's how the Battle of Purr began.

That's not a building, it's a small forest.

Our first indication of a problem was three hours later, at 27 May 07:09. Pure [vCrow] launched a tiny elite cavalry force from Purr, probing our defense. To my very unpleasant surprise, the batte report revealed a dangerous map bug.

See the Weeping Willow [Building] at [665|-2747]? The map says building. The battle report showed a terrain of small forest. Analysis of subsequent battle reports confirmed that the battle terrain type was indeed a small forest.

So why is that bad? Forests are moderate siege terrain, right? Well, yes. Assuming you've constructed the correct army for that kind of terrain. My plan treated it like a building, vulnerable to infantry attacks. We were relying on a 2:1 mix of kobolds and sentinels to repel enemy stalwarts and other infantry. The difference is the cavalry modifiers. A building is a cavalry death trap, giving defending spears a 2.5x modifier vs. attacking cavalry. Small forest is much, much closer to neutral with a modifier of 1.2x.

This Is Not the Terrain You Are Looking For

Well, the building looked promising at the time. When you've launched an 8-day operation, there's really no turning back. And so we began a fierce battle in a weeping willow "building" that was actually a small forest.

That Obi-Wan guy was a liar.

The first little cavalry elite armies began rolling in immediately. No big deal, that's standard for any siege these days. In total, there would be about 125 small cavalry attacks ranging in size from 60-240 troops.

Within a day of the pin blockade, the larger cavalry strikes began. vCrow seems to favor 3000 knights per attack. The first such army arrived at 28 May 06:36 from Rupe [vCrow] Callixtus. The main blockade arrived soon after, and a steady barrage of 3000 knight armies began banging into both camps every hour. This was reminiscent of Kodabear's tournament, where Adelio [vCrow] employed that tactic on the Jurgor square, coincidentally also a small forest. Adelio abandoned after the start of the present war, apparently passing the 3k Knight torch to Ryklaw [vCrow].

Date	Time	Sq	Player	City	Troops	Troop Type
28 May
	06:36	N	Rupe	Callixtus	3000	knights
	14:36	N	Rupe	Jeepers	1000	knights
	14:59	SW	Ryklaw	Antigoglin ca	3000	knights
	15:59	SW	Ryklaw	Askew ca	3000	knights
	16:19	N	Rupe	Juryman	1000	knights
	17:20	SW	Torshavn	Udinshavn	5000	charioteers
	17:36	SW	Ryklaw	Recycle ica	3000	knights
	19:54	N	Rupe	Just Inn	6000	knights
	23:21	SW	Ryklaw	Waif ic	3000	knights
29 May
	00:20	SW	Ryklaw	Arresting ca	3000	knights
	00:55	N	Ryklaw	Awry c	3000	knights
	00:57	SW	Ryklaw	Wail ic	3000	knights
	01:08	SW	Ryklaw	Wicked ci	3000	knights
	01:18	SW	Ryklaw	Worn c	3000	knights
	01:41	N	Ryklaw	Affluence ic	3000	knights
	02:08	SW	Ryklaw	Wretched ic	3000	knights
	02:24	N	Ryklaw	Recompense c	3000	knights
	02:36	SW	Ryklaw	Wastrel ci	3000	knights
	02:47	SW	Ryklaw	Warmonger icv	3000	knights
	03:59	SW	Ryklaw	Repatriate ic	3000	knights
	04:23	SW	Ryklaw	Relax ica	3000	knights
	04:39	N	Ryklaw	Rewind c	3000	knights
	04:43	N	Ryklaw	Rely c	3000	knights
	05:22	N	Ryklaw	Repay c	3000	knights
	05:36	SW	Ryklaw	Restructure ic	3000	knights
	08:58	SW	Ryklaw	Amiss c	3000	knights
	09:20	N	Ryklaw	Askew ca	3000	knights
	12:51	SW	Ryklaw	Refer	3000	knights
	13:59	N	Ryklaw	Restore ic	3000	knights
	16:31	N	Ryklaw	Abstention icb	3000	knights

In total, about 90000 knights would arrive this way from 28 May 06:26 until 29 May 16:31. As you can see in the chart below, the attacks were spread between both blockades and came almost exclusively from Ryklaw, a vCrow Rook.

Realizing that the original siege plan was not designed for a small forest, I requested that Snakha [300] bring in a 200000 kobold reserve. I separately launched another 75000 reserve kobolds from Ten Kulch [300]. The siege from OleBlackLord was locked into place at 29 May 05:22 server time. Bombardment commenced at 29 May 17:22 server time, shortly after the stream of 3000 knight armies had stopped.

Rocks Fly, Pigs Die

The siege hammered away for 23 volleys, lowering the population of Purr from 25663 to 9915 at the lowest. The city never came near the raze population of 6400. As the siege wore on, Pure [vCrow] began prestige building using the city wreckage, beginning a delay tactic to keep the city above raze population. It was clear that major armies were in motion.

30 May
	02:04	N	Ryklaw	Arresting ca	30000	knights
	02:22	N	Ryklaw	Askew ca	25000	knights
	02:37	N	Ryklaw	Awry c	30000	knights
	02:49	N	Hotman	Bram	5000	stalwarts
	06:09	N	Ryklaw	Relax ica	24000	knights
	12:35	N	Ryklaw	Wasted c	25000	knights
	13:02	N	Ryklaw	Wanton ic	25000	knights
	13:05	N	Ryklaw	Wastrel ci	25000	knights
	15:09	N	Pure	Epru	7400	death packs

 

On 30 May 02:04, the first cavalry strike from Ryklaw [vCrow] arrived with 30000 knights. By 30 May 13:05, a total of seven such attacks would arrive, for a sum of 184000 knights. At this point the siege was mostly disabled. The final blow came from Pure [vCrow] Epru at 30 May 15:09, breaking the siege and destroying all surviving armies on the north square.

At this point, we withdrew the southwest blockade forces with moderate losses. The city of Purr remained in position for another day, and then moved via exodus to a Farshards location that is completely surrounded by plains.

The final casualty totals from the north "building" small forest were: 

• Ten Kulch [300]: 485000 kobolds
• Snakha [300]: 220000 kobolds
• Eldrathin [fCrow]: 200000 sentinels
• Bulani [fCrow]: 20000 sentinels

The vast majority of the vCrow casualties were borne by Ryklaw [vCrow], who lost 275000 knights in the overall engagement, mostly on the north square. Ryklaw's kill ratio was approximately 3.5:1, fairly standard for knights fighting kobolds in a small forest. The 125 elite cavalry attacks distort this number by a minor amount.

The Maffs of War

So there you have it, cannon fodders. The Battle of Purr is a typical example of a major siege fight between two powerful opponents. It is a little unusual in that the building-forest map bug played such a central role, transforming a ground troop battle into a kobolds-vs-cavalry grinder in the trees. There was plenty of glory for both sides of the clash, and I know my team is eager for the next fight against a juicy enemy.

Until next time, my fellow cannon fodders:

Misbehave. Kill lots of stuff.

<^^^^^^^^||==O    Skint Jagblade

Appendix: The Full Battle Logs

 

27 May
	07:09	N	Pure	Purr	120	death packs
	07:16	N	Pure	Purr	400	clan guardsmen
	07:21	N	Pure	Flawless	120	death packs
	07:26	N	Pure	Purr	120	death packs
	07:43	N	Pure	Purr	120	death packs
	07:51	N	Pure	Purr	120	death packs
	07:59	N	Pure	Purr	120	death packs
	08:01	N	Pure	Flawless	180	death packs
	08:13	N	Pure	Purr	120	death packs
	08:21	N	Pure	Purr	62	death packs
	08:32	N	Pure	Flawless	180	death packs
	08:46	N	Pure	Purr	120	death packs
	09:29	N	Pure	Epru	180	death packs
	10:34	N	Pure	Purr	240	death packs
	10:59	N	Pure	Shush Now	180	death packs
	11:02	N	Pure	-X-	180	death packs
	11:07	N	Pure	Flawless	120	death packs
	13:18	N	Pure	Purr	300	death packs
	13:26	N	Pure	-X-	180	death packs
	13:30	N	Pure	Flawless	240	death packs
	14:34	N	Pure	Purr	300	death packs
	14:52	N	Pure	Flawless	240	death packs
	17:09	N	Pure	Flawless	240	death packs
	17:16	N	Pure	Purr	300	death packs
	19:47	N	Pure	Flawless	240	death packs
	20:23	N	Pure	Flawless	180	death packs
28 May
	00:26	N	Rupe	Bling	180	knights
	02:28	N	Rupe	Bloody Game	60	knights
	03:11	N	Rupe	Blights	180	knights
	03:13	N	Rupe	blush	180	knights
	03:24	N	Rupe	Blue	180	knights
	03:42	N	Rupe	Blag	120	knights
	04:10	N	Rupe	Calafwich	120	knights
	04:22	N	Pure	Watching You OO	240	death packs
	04:49	N	Rupe	Black Bush	240	death packs
	06:36	N	Rupe	Callixtus	3000	knights
	07:33	N	Rupe	Callixtus	60	knights
	08:18	N	AnnMarie	.Cal	180	knights
	11:16	N	Rupe	Calaboose	60	knights
	11:57	N	Rupe	Calm	120	knights
	12:38	N	Rupe	Calaboose	60	knights
	14:36	N	Rupe	Jeepers	1000	knights
	14:59	SW	Ryklaw	Antigoglin ca	3000	knights
	15:59	SW	Ryklaw	Askew ca	3000	knights
	16:19	N	Rupe	Juryman	1000	knights
	16:39	N	Pure	Valentine	180	death packs
	17:04	N	Rupe	Jeeze	180	knights
	17:20	SW	Torshavn	Udinshavn	5000	charioteers
	17:36	SW	Ryklaw	Recycle ica	3000	knights
	19:54	N	Rupe	Just Inn	6000	knights
	20:17	N	Ryklaw	Afflicted ica	60	charioteers
	21:15	N	Pure	Purr	300	death packs
	21:34	N	Pure	Flawless	240	death packs
	22:57	N	Rupe	Just Ginge	60	knights
	23:21	SW	Ryklaw	Waif ic	3000	knights
	23:33	N	Rupe	Jammie Dodger	60	knights
29 May
	00:20	SW	Ryklaw	Arresting ca	3000	knights
	00:48	SW	Ryklaw	Antigoglin ca	60	charioteers
	00:52	N	Ryklaw	Antigoglin ca	60	charioteers
	00:55	N	Ryklaw	Awry c	3000	knights
	00:57	SW	Ryklaw	Wail ic	3000	knights
	01:08	SW	Ryklaw	Wicked ci	3000	knights
	01:18	SW	Ryklaw	Worn c	3000	knights
	01:31	SW	Ryklaw	Arresting ca	60	charioteers
	01:35	N	Ryklaw	Arresting ca	60	charioteers
	01:41	N	Ryklaw	Affluence ic	3000	knights
	01:49	SW	Ryklaw	Askew ca	60	charioteers
	01:52	N	Ryklaw	Askew ca	60	charioteers
	02:08	SW	Ryklaw	Wretched ic	3000	knights
	02:24	N	Ryklaw	Recompense c	3000	knights
	02:36	SW	Ryklaw	Wastrel ci	3000	knights
	02:47	SW	Ryklaw	Warmonger icv	3000	knights
	02:51	N	Ryklaw	Affluence ic	60	charioteers
	03:20	SW	Ryklaw	Recompense c	60	charioteers
	03:22	N	Ryklaw	Recompense c	60	charioteers
	03:35	N	Ryklaw	Recompense c	60	charioteers
	03:59	SW	Ryklaw	Repatriate ic	3000	knights
	04:23	SW	Ryklaw	Relax ica	3000	knights
	04:39	N	Ryklaw	Rewind c	3000	knights
	04:43	N	Ryklaw	Rely c	3000	knights
	05:03	N	Rupe	Calling	180	knights
	05:10	SW	Ryklaw	Repatriate ic	60	charioteers
	05:13	N	Ryklaw	Repatriate ic	60	charioteers
	05:22	N	Ryklaw	Repay c	3000	knights
	05:36	SW	Ryklaw	Restructure ic	3000	knights
	06:32	N	Pure	Purr	300	death packs
	07:48	N	Rupe	Juno	120	knights
	08:33	N	Pure	Epru	60	death packs
	08:58	SW	Ryklaw	Amiss c	3000	knights
	09:00	SW	Ryklaw	Waif ic	60	charioteers
	09:05	N	Ryklaw	Waif ic	60	charioteers
	09:17	SW	Ryklaw	Askew ca	60	charioteers
	09:20	N	Ryklaw	Askew ca	3000	knights
	09:30	SW	Ryklaw	Awry c	60	charioteers
	09:35	N	Ryklaw	Awry c	60	charioteers
	09:37	N	Ryklaw	Awry c	60	charioteers
	10:22	N	Pure	Shush Now	180	death packs
	10:36	SW	Ryklaw	Wail ic	60	charioteers
	10:39	N	Ryklaw	Wail ic	60	charioteers
	10:47	SW	Ryklaw	Wicked ci	60	charioteers
	10:51	N	Ryklaw	Wicked ci	60	charioteers
	11:46	SW	Ryklaw	Wretched ic	60	charioteers
	11:50	N	Ryklaw	Wretched ic	60	charioteers
	11:51	N	Ryklaw	Wasted c	60	charioteers
	12:26	SW	Ryklaw	Warmonger icv	60	charioteers
	12:30	N	Ryklaw	Warmonger icv	60	charioteers
	12:45	N	Ryklaw	Repatriate ic	60	charioteers
	12:51	SW	Ryklaw	Refer	3000	knights
	13:24	SW	Ryklaw	Rewind c	60	charioteers
	13:25	SW	Ryklaw	Rely c	60	charioteers
	13:27	N	Ryklaw	Rewind c	60	charioteers
	13:28	N	Ryklaw	Rely c	60	charioteers
	13:56	SW	Ryklaw	Restore ic	60	charioteers
	13:59	N	Ryklaw	Restore ic	3000	knights
	14:05	SW	Ryklaw	Repay c	60	charioteers
	14:08	N	Ryklaw	Repay c	60	charioteers
	14:23	SW	Ryklaw	Restructure ic	60	charioteers
	14:26	N	Ryklaw	Restructure ic	60	charioteers
	16:31	N	Ryklaw	Abstention icb	3000	knights
	16:38	SW	Mooaka	Weomi Talaofo	300	death packs
	17:09	N	FRANKNSTINE	HAMMER TIME	540	stalwarts
	18:50	N	Pure	Pures Proudest	60	death packs
	19:05	SW	AnnMarie	.Cal	60	knights
	21:26	N	Pure	Purr	1000	clan guardsmen
	22:14	N	Pure	Flawless	240	death packs
	22:40	N	Pure	Purr	300	death packs
	22:55	N	AZADICAN	124 Mahmur BL!	60	swiftsteeds
	23:34	N	AZADICAN	111 Kobane BL!	60	marshals
	23:34	N	AZADICAN	111 Kobane BL!	60	marshals
	23:34	N	AZADICAN	111 Kobane BL!	60	marshals
30 May
	00:07	N	Pure	Watching You OO	180	death packs
	00:18	N	AZADICAN	124 Mahmur BL!	60	marshals
	01:45	N	AZADICAN	112 Sengal BL!	60	marshals
	01:45	N	AZADICAN	112 Sengal BL!	60	marshals
	01:52	SW	Ukkonen	G. Igelkottsvagen	60	charioteers
	02:04	N	Ryklaw	Arresting ca	30000	knights
	02:22	N	Ryklaw	Askew ca	25000	knights
	02:37	N	Ryklaw	Awry c	30000	knights
	02:49	N	Hotman	Bram	5000	stalwarts
	02:57	N	AZADICAN	112 Sengal BL!	60	marshals
	03:08	N	ilias97	wake up and live	60	charioteers
	03:12	N	AZADICAN	111 Kobane BL!	60	marshals
	04:55	N	AZADICAN	124 Mahmur BL!	60	marshals
	04:55	N	AZADICAN	124 Mahmur BL!	60	marshals
	05:08	N	Pure	Purr	1000	clan guardsmen
	06:09	N	Ryklaw	Relax ica	24000	knights
	06:17	N	Ukkonen	H. Sornas	60	charioteers
	06:24	SW	Ukkonen	H. Sornas	60	charioteers
	07:06	N	AZADICAN	112 Sengal BL!	60	marshals
	07:57	N	Pure	Flawless	60	death packs
	11:16	N	Bonemash	Kraal	60	marshals
	11:48	N	Bonemash	Kraal	60	swiftsteeds
	12:35	N	Ryklaw	Wasted c	25000	knights
	13:02	N	Ryklaw	Wanton ic	25000	knights
	13:05	N	Ryklaw	Wastrel ci	25000	knights
	13:10	N	Pure	Flawless	60	death packs
	14:24	N	Bonemash	Navan	60	swiftsteeds
	14:29	N	Bonemash	Navan	60	swiftsteeds
	14:33	N	Bonemash	Navan	60	swiftsteeds
	14:33	N	Bonemash	Navan	60	swiftsteeds
	14:33	SW	Ukkonen	F. Brando	303	knights
	14:47	N	ilias97	wake up and live	60	knights
	14:57	SW	Mooaka	Withlacoochee	300	death packs
	15:09	N	Pure	Epru	7400	death packs
	15:37	SW	Ukkonen	E. Hagnas	60	knights
	16:07	SW	Mooaka	Withlacoochee	300	death packs
	16:18	SW	Ukkonen	A. Grasviken	60	knights
	18:36	SW	Pure	Flawless	60	death packs
	18:38	SW	Pure	Flawless	180	death packs