Cyrodiil can be an overwhelming place to those unfamiliar with it all! The answers to your questions, equally overwhelming, as different people/guilds will have different goals. But, the simplest explanation I can give would be:

Cyrodiil is a points game. Owning Keeps, outposts, resources, and scrolls grant the owning alliance a set number of points at set intervals of time (often referred to as ticks). at the end of the approximately 30 day campaign, the alliance with the most points is declared the winner, and players of that alliance earn bonus rewards for the victory. Therefore owning as much of the map as you can near the campaign 'tick' will net your alliance more points. There are bonuses for low population and low score, and basic strategy regarding that is to take as much from that alliance as possible, so that they earn fewer points (these bonuses are /very/ significant and have gotten a dramatically losing team to victory before, though it is rare).

Towns provide no point value, but do provide an easy respawn location in key sections of the map.

Quests do nothing for the campaign overall- they are for you personally to earn rewards, and help facilitate action on the map (I have a quest for Dragonclaw farm, lets grab it... heck lets grab the keep!)

Scrolls behind an enemy gate can only be taken when the respective gate keep and central tri keep are owned (for example, if you want the Scroll of Ghartok, you need to own both Farragut- the gate keep, and Arrius, the central tri keep, for the Scroll Gate to open and the Scroll Barrier to drop). if either keep is reclaimed by the native alliance, the gate will shut, and a barrier around the scroll will pop up, killing any player near it. You want your alliance to own all scrolls, as not only to they provide points for the campaign, but they provide buffs to every member of the owning alliance, making that alliances players tankier and deal more damage.

When you are alone, the best things you can do are defend keeps that are 'lit' or take resources owned by the enemy, especially when they are near a keep you own (as if all resources near a keep are owned by the enemy, that keep is 'cut' from the wayshrines and cannot be swiftly teleported to until at least 1 resource is controlled by your alliance).

The term tick also has another meaning, generally regarding a 'Capture tick' - when you capture a resource or keeps flags and 10 seconds later it becomes owned by your alliance and Alliance Points are awarded to members of the alliance within range, or 'defense ticks' - when you successfully defend a keep or resource owned by your alliance, after 1 minute of no deaths at that location, Alliance points will be awarded to participants-anyone who earned Alliance points at that location within that defense.

Owning all 6 keeps around the Imperial City will award the highest AP score player the title of 'emperor' which grants them significant buffs, and allows them to do (its either 2x or 4x- I cant recall off the top of my head) damage to structures with siege, letting an emperor really push the offensive - assuming they are actually playing for the alliance and not just trolling. Having an emperor, or at least de-throning an opposing emperor, can sometimes be the optimal play.

That is about where the simple version of things ends.
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as far as strategy, there are a lot of variables that dictate what is an optimal course of action, and there isnt really a good way to summarize all the possibilities, as Cyrodiil is a very dynamic place, and what was a smart idea 4 seconds ago might be the dumbest move now. But generally, pushing for enemy keeps and scrolls, defending what is yours, and killing opposing faction players, is the right move.

Zama666 wrote: »

Hullo,

in a Cyrodiil Campaign, is the point to just knock off Keeps n Towns, and grab the scrolls? Basically?

Or a little more strategy, knock off the Keep near the Scroll, have a strong hold - go after the Scroll? That the basic strategy?

And I keep hearing the term 'tick' I assume that is when point are gather and giving to everyone? Or is it just for battles?

And, when I am running around by myself in my faction, what is the best way to help - run to Keeps that are being hit? Knock off enemy resources? Do the quests?

Tankz,

Z

hey Z...interesting discussion...

I'd say the point of cyrodiil is different for different people...there's a lot of different play/game styles...

for myself, at times I can get caught up in gaining AP...it's kind of a way to measure your performance...

that means reading the map and checking on zone text chat to get a feel for where the next defense is needed or attack may be made...

I also like the role playing aspect of the alliance war...

that means defending and attacking flags/objectives...

I don't blindly attack every different alliance player I come across, unless they're messing with an objective our alliance owns...

the tic thing is in reference to earning AP...either for killing players, defending or "taking" alliance objectives, and doing quests (except the conquest quest, that's just xp)...

basically whenever you arrive at a keep - try to repair a door/wall to get on the defensive tic list for that location...that's really the only thing you need to do to make sure you're gaining AP all the time...other than all the other fighting stuff...

that's a tough one for me...I've been through like 80 something 30 day campaigns...the motivation/need for us to win isn't always that strong...

there are though alliance war basic "rules": defend home keeps/scrolls, rez /heal allies, utilize siege...

fight against the other alliances...

one thing that really motivates me these days - revenge...

I'm a part of the DC alliance - and, for sooooooo many years it feels like EP is constantly kicking me off the map and gating me...

so yeah, I stay mostly around objectives, but, if the opportunity presents itself to camp in kingscrest or farragut - you betcha I will...

Jamie_Aubrey wrote: »

Whatever char you have, DELETE IT, make a Stam NB, grab a bow and stand on the walls and PEW PEW

Zama666 wrote: »

Jamie_Aubrey wrote: »

Whatever char you have, DELETE IT, make a Stam NB, grab a bow and stand on the walls and PEW PEW

this was AWESOME!

And succinctly and expertly answers the question, too.

The explosive coffee spray across the monitor while laughing, though...

Someone already did a great job of explaining at a high level about the point system - and there is much more to it than that but a great start. I'd add:

- Play the map - understand the point system in depth and think in terms of helping the faction win a campaign. Also greater buffs if you capture the right stuff. Benefit is greater rewards at end of campaign.
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- Play for AP - play to get the most AP you can each session you play so that you can use it to buy nice things at the golden vendor

- Balance of the above - play the map some but also for AP. If I'm on alone (not with guild) I might zerg serf and focus on AP gain while not getting too worried about the map since one person can't really influence it.

Last thing, if you're on alone, it can be very tough. Try asking in zone about groups. Lots of the time there are groups that will pick you up and you might even find some new friends...

One thing I would say, if you are playing solo and just going to Keeps as you see them being attacked, always carry some siege/forward camps/rams and place them if needed....

Often your own Alliance players can get quite triggered by solo players who they perceive to be "leeching" tics, basically if you turn up at a fight repair a wall and do no damage too often, to grab the ap, it will be noticed and you will likely be called out on it!!

PVP.... even your own team can hate on you!!

Marcus684 wrote: »

freespirit wrote: »

One thing I would say, if you are playing solo and just going to Keeps as you see them being attacked, always carry some siege/forward camps/rams and place them if needed....

Often your own Alliance players can get quite triggered by solo players who they perceive to be "leeching" tics, basically if you turn up at a fight repair a wall and do no damage too often, to grab the ap, it will be noticed and you will likely be called out on it!!

PVP.... even your own team can hate on you!!

I've been pvping since 2014 and I've seen people in chat complaining about "leeching ticks" maybe 4 times. Maybe your chosen faction/server is just extra toxic.

People repairing walls is always welcome in my book, but yes setting up and using siege is definitely much, much more helpful than running off to die to some tower farmer(s), although I think those deaths count towards the tick so maybe it's not completely useless.

if it was a resource tower, it would contribute to the tick of the resource

if it was a corner tower of a keep, then it would be part of the keep tick

the thing is, you get bigger ticks for outnumbered successful defense, than an overwhelming large defense compared to the number of attackers

for a successful defense, all of the "tick AP' that was accumulated during the fight is divided evenly amongst the defense, so your biggest ticks are for a small defending force

as an attacker, your guaranteed a minimum amount of AP for capping the location, but as a defender your only guaranteed as much AP as there are players that get killed then divided amongst the other defenders

a solo bomber could potentially easily get huge ticks blowing up a group on the ram, because its 6-12 players dying and potentially only 1 defender (you), and there are also other multipliers too such as if your keep has all the resources

Og say strategy too hard. Tactics easy. Do easy.

Number 1 most important.

1. Friend keep on fire? You go pour oil from up high.
2. Enemy keep on fire? You go front door. You see what do when get there.
3. Friendly resource on fire? Too late. Wait at keep front door.
4. Enemy resource on fire? Too late. Go to next but wait for friend before attack.