21.26 Fortifications, construction and siege.
Fortifications are the primary defences of a city or guild, built and manned by legions or as part of an initial construction (see HELP CONSTRUCTION). Fortifications can be left unmanned, too, but their potency is reduced if placed under siege. Locations are divided into nine locale-points (see HELP LOCALE) and fortifications are ideally built into locale-points, facing certain directions - generally away from whatever they're protecting, so they face down potential invaders. Fortifications have two states: raised or lowered. When lowered they are deemed inactive and although successful sieging of locations they're in will require their destruction, they will not perform their primary function: blocking enemy army passage and/or attacking enemies when within range. Raising fortifications, therefore, sets them as an inviolate blockage to passing legions and ensures the forts will respond violently when besieged.
Fortifications can be made more effective by having them manned by legions. When manned their offensive capabilities is much enhanced - the damage done to any armies laying siege is exponentially increased. When manned they can also be raised and lowered according to need. Since fortifications are built at locale-points, and facing certain directions, a complex pattern of fortified locations can be put together at all access points to important areas (like at a city gate or a guild entrance). These fortification patterns are then manned and raised whenever danger threatens, ensuring maximum defensive potency. Invaders will tend to seek out weak points in fortification defenses and target their siege at those points so it is wise to consider carefully where resources are devoted when erecting forts and where manpower is directed when manning them.
TO BUILD FORTIFICATIONS:
Syntax: COM DEPLOY BUILDFORTS <percentage of legion>.
COM DEPLOY FIELDEQUIPMENT <percentage of legion>.
COM ACTIVITY <percentage of legion total for active deployment>
then use the CONSTRUCT FORTS command as detailed below.
Syntax: ... CONSTRUCT FORTS HERE/<environs> <percentage of legion involved>
Constructions are built in the localepoint faced by the legion doing the constructing, the new forts facing back towards the legion and potentially blocking/guarding progress from the legion's localepoint to the construction localepoint in the facing direction. Thus: legion is in WEST localepoint, facing EAST, forts will be built at CENTRE blocking passage from WEST localepoint to CENTRE localepoint (heading east). Thus: legion is in WEST localepoint, facing NORTHEAST, forts will be built at NORTH blocking passage from WEST localepoint to NORTHEAST localepoint (heading northeast).
The construction of forts utilises the specialist-skills "buildforts" and a weight of numbers deployed at "fieldequipment" as listed anove. Since a legion facing south builds fortifications blocking enemy movement south to north, full blockage of a northward route requires, therefore, three fortifications erected alongside (east-centre-west) of one another. The larger the numbers employed, and the higher the skill, the greater the fortification numbers created. If there exist fortifications already then the existing fortifications will be bolstered. Fortification building, every ten rounds require three iron ore, one rope and one marble commodity.
TO RAISE OR LOWER FORTIFICATIONS:
Syntax: COM FORTIFY RAISE/LOWER.
Fortifications must be manned to be raised or lowered and the speed of the raising/lowering depends on the numbers available for the task - the legionnaires manning and unoccupied with some other task or combat or other distraction. Raised fortifications block all legions attempting to move against the direction they face (see FORTS HERE). Lowered fortifications can retard progress/actions of foreign legions declared 'enemy status, whether city or guild but need to be raised to be fully effective.
TO MAN FORTIFICATIONS:
Syntax: COM ACTIVITY <percentage legion total for active deployment>
COM QUICKSTEP <direction> to be adjacent to forts.
COM FACE <direction of forts to be manned>.
COM DEPLOY FORTS <percentage of legion>.
You will need to have sufficient of your legion allocated to "forts" skill, and ACTIVITY covering a high enough percentage to include those you allocate to "forts". This will determine the speed and volume of legionnaires moved per round into the fortifications. To unman you simply need remove the forts percentage (set it to zero) and then wait while the legionnaires disengage themselves from the forts.
Laying siege to fortifications and indeed besieging generally, in addition to further information about fortification defensive-work can be found in HELP BATTLEFIELD, while construction is further documented in HELP EQUIPMENT. Legions manning fortifications, once they are 100% engaged in the manning (i.e. no stragglers left behind betraying the legion's positions!) the fortifications will afford protection against ranged attacks. The forts will also restrict the legion occupied in manning from launching ranged attacks against an enemy, save through the fortifications themselves.
Fortifications are often used as 'blockers' to safeguard large specialist or potentially vulnerable legions within a city or guild against long-range attacks (such as archery or projectiles). To use a fortification as a blocker you will need to cover the direction from which the attack is likely to come, ensure the forts are raised and position the legion in the localepoint immediately behind the fortification. For example, fortifications facing westward in the north localepoint would block attacks coming from the west (heading east, therefore) against legions positioned in the northeast localepoint. What a mouthful!
It is very important to take care of your fortifications and with every passing Avalon day new challenges may face the city's frontline defences. To polish up your fortifications, to ensure they are as resistant as possible to attack, you use wax. Stand by the fortifications and type WAX ON, then WAX OFF. This is all one requires, each Avalon day, to keep the fort facade ship-shape and well maintained. You may specify a certain fortification in a localepoint by typing WAX ON/OFF followed by the localepoint, e.g. WAX ON NORTH to direct your waxing at forts in only the north localepoint. Type LOCALE to review the spread of a location's fortifications, and examine fortifications individually to review the state of their facade.
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