Chapter 381

It didn’t take long at all for James’s adventurers to fill up the 1,000 slots needed for the skirmish. In fact, he wasn’t sure they could have done it any quicker, given the fact they had to register at the Warmonger AI station. A station that, according to Steve, would consist of a counter, behind which Vinnie would be standing, to answer questions and such, and then 10 different kiosk type stands, that players could use to sign up, and handle additional Skirmish related tasks from.

The moment his 1,000 players had signed up, James received a notification indicating a Skirmish would begin in 1 hour, and that a search had begun for viable opponents, as well as a poll that the players had apparently started for their target. The first, was the dragon dungeon that had claimed it would bring James’s dungeon down in the next war. The second, was the Candy Dungeon that previously belonged to BLANK.

Along with the notification about the upcoming Skirmish, and a countdown timer, James received another prompt, which he agreed to instantly. The prompt took him to his side of the Fields of Battle which would be used for the Skirmish. The same, massive expanse that he’d fought BLANK on in that battle that seemed a lifetime ago.

However, a few things were immediately noticeable from his vantage point in the sky. First, it seemed smaller than he remembered. The size, he figured, had likely been adjusted in order to deal with a much smaller sized force on both sides. The terrain still included the forests, rolling plains, and such, but on a smaller, more manageable scale.

More noticeable though, was the fact all of his previous defensive structures, as well as his siege tools, and other various Dungeon Wars related items were missing.

Looking over at Rue, who’d teleported with him, he rose a questioning eyebrow and pulled up his skirmish tab.

Just like with Dungeon Wars, he had access to a variety of tabs for offensive and defensive structures. However, unlike with the Dungeon Wars, it seemed things had been modified, for the purpose of the skirmish. Had James had more time to actually read through everything, he figured this wouldn’t have caught him by surprise.

Instead, he had to just go with working on the fly. Opening a second screen, he pulled up the notes on Skirmishes, and mentally flipped to the section he needed. The section that detailed setting up his side of the fields of battle.

Skirmish Build Points: Unlike Dungeon Wars, Build Points have been simplified for skirmishes. Each side will start with a grand total of 1,000 build points and will gain an additional 1 build point for each minute of the battle. Every skirmish will start with an empty Field of Battle, with the ability to begin building enabled for Dungeon Cores 1 hour prior to the start of the Skirmish. Structures build at 1B per minute during the hour prior to a skirmish start, 5bp per minutes during the first two hours of the skirmish, and 10bp per minute during hours 3 and 4, and 20bp per minute the final 2 hours. Destroyed structures return ¼ of their BP to the originator, and reward ¼ of their BP to the side that destroyed them.*

*Some structures have had their costs adjusted for Skirmishes. Additional, some structures are not available during Skirmishes.

As in Dungeon Wars, James had both an offensive and defensive tab when it came to structures he could build. However, as the notes stated, he was split between the two with his cap of 1,000BP. Interestingly, unlike in Dungeon Wars, there wasn’t a cap for deployed BP. That, he figured, was a result of the hard cap on BP available in the skirmish.

He also noted the strategic value when it came to build times. The first two hours had a much slower build rate than the final two hours. A mechanic he was interested to see put into motion. Given the way such a battle could work, he figured the Skirmish would get much more hectic and deadly as it went on, and those final two hours would be pure and utter chaos.

On top of that, the slower build rate during this hour of planning James had meant he would have to be careful about how he used his BP. Sure, he could create a massive amount of low cost walls and traps and such, as well as simple cannons and defensive units, but size wise, if he wanted something ready at battle start, he was limited to 60BP cost structures.

Looking at the structures, he couldn’t help but grimace as well. Their costs, it seemed, had indeed been adjusted. His personal favorite, the 20 cost mech station from Dungeon Wars, now cost 200 points. He had a feeling it’s effectiveness in the Dungeon Wars had earned it a shadow nerf. Bastards.

Still, James had 1,000 BP to play with, and he was going to build one of those Mech Stations, even at its greater cost. The build time though, meant it wouldn’t be ready right when the battle started. Instead, as he selected it, and placed it on the battlefield just in front of the area where his summoning totems were, as well as the Warmonger Tent, he did quick math. The Mech station, at this rate, would be ready in roughly 90 minutes.

Now, with 800BP remaining, James was forced to look over the battlefield, and try to figure out what would work best. Depending on the players and their classes, as well as their personalities, levels, and many other factors, the tactics would be completely different. Additionally, there was the point of the enemy dungeon. Not knowing who he was facing, meant he couldn’t specially craft his defenses and weapons ahead of time. Sure, he could speculate, based on the poll, but that didn’t help.

Not yet at least. The more skirmishes he partook in, and the more dungeons he saw, the better he would be able to prepare for each foe. For now though, James figured a more balanced route would be ideal. Especially because, skimming through the roster of players signed up for his skirmish, he could tell his players weren’t pulling their punches. The list, which was descending in order based on player levels, revealed all of his top players had thrown themselves into this battle. Players James was quite confident in. Meaning he could count on them not to go full on Leroy Jenkins in the battle…mostly.

James wouldn’t put it past a few of them to do something stupid just for the lols. His players, after all, were fans of having fun. Which was why he loved them. Even if it made them as unpredictable as his dungeon mob types were.

Speaking of… a thought crossed his mind as he looked at the battlefield and skimmed more of the facts on the Skirmish. Particularly, the part about mob summoning. Similar to BP, players would gain one essence every ten minutes during the first two hours, five per ten minutes during the middle two hours, and ten per ten minutes during the final hours. In other words, a player that survived all six hours could gain a max of 192 essence over the entire fight.

James couldn’t yet see the essence costs of mobs and boss mobs on the totems, but he had a feeling essence would be quite valuable. That being said, his variety of mobs was, of course, his dungeon’s greatest strength. As such, James needed to make sure his players could best make use of all the mobs at their disposal. Meaning…James’s main order of business for now, was landscaping. It was a good thing this was a game, because if not, what James was about to do, would have made human actions on the planet seem like child’s play. First up, a little slash and burn.