Cyrodiil for the Newcomer

I was talking to my Aussie mate Flex about a strategy for winning in Cyrodiil. He told me that he had hidden in the hills and watched wave after wave of the opposition mowing down all who got in their way. “They were unstoppable,” he said. I agreed, I had been a victim of the conquering horde myself, but we felt that it was not just large numbers, but superior tactics that won wars. So what tactics could have our Savage Hearts brothers and sisters dominating in Cyrodiil?

At the beginning of a campaign that is about to enter Cyrodiil each person must know what they are required to do and they must be happy to take that role. If the tactics change during play, then everyone needs to know instantly about the change. This is where strong leadership and the use of GameVox can direct our forces. Pre Cyrodiil meetings can get everyone on the same page and ingame GameVox communication can keep them there.

If a player or group of players is assigned a role or a particular job, then that is what they must do. For example, I have seen a resource taken and then the winning group splits up and chases the enemy all over the countryside, meanwhile the resource is taken back because of depleted numbers to defend it. The routing players find themselves isolated from the group and outnumbered by the enemy who had been lying in ambush for them. The rule is, “There is strength in numbers.” So discipline to remain with the group and to follow only the group’s objectives is vital. Individualists and heroes get themselves killed and can get others killed too. It is a hard job trying to kerb player over enthusiasm, but by making them aware of the plan can help direct energy towards your objective.

This is the easiest and the most powerful tactic to follow. It is the nature of the PVP player to want to fight you and they will often rush forward in an effort to draw you out. If you remain with the group and don’t succumb to the challenge and temptation to do your own thing you have a much better chance of survival. Prior to entering into a battle your leader will assign certain players certain roles. For example, they will need Tanks, Healers and Damage givers. As a healer you might be told to remain at the back and watch out for players who are running low on health. A tank may be asked to be the pointy end of a spear head formation and DPS may be asked to make a pincer movement or flanking attack. Whilst the damaging role DPS, can be the most exciting, without back up your warrior may find himself waging a solitary war. Without the rest of the team this has only one conclusion.

Your leader may appoint certain people to do all the resurrecting leaving the others to do their various other jobs. If you stay with the group it is much easier and less risky to get healing and resurrection. There may be times however when the enemy moves forward so fast that you are knocked down and find yourself left behind enemy lines. You can turn this scar into a star! Don’t be so eager to go back to the castle. You may be down, but that doesn’t mean you are out, in fact you can provide valuable intelligence on enemy numbers and movement through GameVox to your group leader. So while you are lying on the ground take a look around you. Your warning could be the very thing that saves the day. The first thing in strategy is communication, so don’t be afraid to communicate. If you don’t get an instant answer, don’t worry your leader will be busy and may not have a chance to answer you. When the enemy finally stops squatting on your head or jumping up and down on your seemingly lifeless body, it may be time to make a move, but listen to the GameVox talk to see if your guys are coming back for you. Remember that a dead spy has value and your sacrifice can be valuable if you provide feedback on enemy troop movements. It may be impossible to come get you so the decision to revive may be up to you. In real life you would probably be awarded a medal.

Plan your work, and then work your plan. This means finding out what the objective is. You may have a short term goal, like capturing a farm, or mine or mill. A midterm goal might be to capture a certain Castle or Keep and claim it in the name of Savage Hearts. The ultimate goal is to capture the Elder Scrolls and your leader will outline the strategy for bringing those babies home. For example, who is to cover your flanks, your rear and forward positions as you rush on foot through enemy territory with the scrolls in hand. This part is very exciting and demonstrates your loyalty and devotion to the team.

I will now give you an idea of the types of strategies that can be used against your enemy.

Attrition is a strategy in which a belligerent (that is you,) attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and resources. The war will usually be won by the side with the greatest number of players. This is the most common type of tactic used in the game and it requires very little discipline and coordination and just brute force. However, I am reminded of the saying, “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” After a few of these mindless conflicts you may start to wonder if there can ever be an outright winner.

Bait and bleed means to induce the other two enemies to engage in a protracted war of attrition with each other “so that they bleed each other white”. This is done with a series of lightning raids that has the enemy gathering up their troops to fight you, but you have already left the scene and are heading for another target. If you are able to get the enemy to concentrate on each other for a while you can gather strength to do a major push on one of them. If they are too strong, you simply make a strategical retreat and resume your raids. Eventually they will tire. Victory goes to the one who has the greatest stamina. The best tactic is to assign at least two bait and bleed raiding parties to each enemy. Even if you get caught in the middle of a raid you have achieved the objective and that is to cause your enemy’s attention to be diverted.

Blockade is an attempt to cut off lines of communications between enemy forts by launching a sudden assault on a Castle or Keep deep behind enemy lines. The broken communication line forces the enemy to travel on foot to the main battle zone. They often arrive in dribs and drabs and can be picked off before they have a chance to regroup. The time this takes can be crucial and it allows your main force to take the Castles closer to home. It also divides the enemy forces making them weak and confused as to where to fight. Your team needs to be highly mobile, and feel no shame in running away and deserting a castle just taken after a raid. The idea is to bamboozle the enemy and keep them guessing.

Usually used in the field, but it has another purpose. This is an attack that penetrates the enemy’s flank, and then curls into its rear to cut it off from home. It requires a force to feint an attack from the front causing the enemy to concentrate their efforts in that direction. It can also be very effective in repelling a sieging force. The last thing your enemy expects is a large resistance force from outside the fort that they are attacking. After you wipe them out and if your troops are well disciplined you can melt into the countryside and hide only to repeat the maneuver, preferably from the other side. Remember a field full of dead bodies can be a field full of spies, so it is important to make a show of leaving the scene. The turning maneuver becomes less effective if the enemy anticipates your attack and will often send out scouts to find you. This is when you change your turning maneuver into a full frontal attack. You see, most of your troops are expected to seek refuge in the castle and repel the attack from there. It is a common method in this game. When they think it safe to do so your team will come over the walls or outside doors to drive off the enemy. Imagine the terror when your large force emerges from behind the castle and from out of the trees also and shows no mercy by cutting them to ribbons and destroying their siege weapons. It would take a huge force and a lot of discipline to mount a strong resistance to you. Remember the spies on the ground. Make a show of leaving in one direction and when you are out of sight wheel around and go to another location. Also, when defending a fort do not place everyone on the walls, sometimes it is far more effective to let the enemy in and attack them from behind. Your turning maneuver team can then be used to cut off their line of retreat making the route of the enemy complete. You can see that a plan, and discipline is vital.

Because human nature is what it is, the battlefield at Cyrodiil usually is a shambles. The two forces meet head on the front line in a cacophony of explosions and flashing lights. As the front line troops are killed, they are replaced by reinforcements who rush forward in dribs and drabs from Keeps Castles and Tents. They arrive at the battle front and charge headlong back into battle only to be wiped out again or if they are lucky to join the push forward. This maneuver is random and piecemeal with no coordination and no method to take advantage of fresh troops. In many cases the victory goes to the strong side in terms of numbers and affective PVP (Player verse player.) You’re player build for Cyrodiil is a subject for another time.

We have GameVox, and if used to its fullest extent can be a game breaker. Communication is everything when using coordinated tactics to engage the enemy. The leaders will have their plans, and the troops need to know them instantly to execute the changes as they occur. You don’t have to talk on GameVox but listening is crucial. Rather than a piecemeal approach the tactics can be far more effective if a standard procedure is followed. For example. There is strength in numbers, so when someone is returning to the battlefield, they should wait so that they can be joined by others and go enforce rather than be susceptible to being picked off as they gallop back to rescue their comrades. With GameVox reporting the progress of all your teams your troops can swing around and be diverted to the area of need. This anticipation of movement is deadly compared to the usual knee jerk reaction to changing circumstances.

Now each change to the plan should be a deliberate and rehearsed move and to this end the player should be ready to change and obey the new orders as well as have a basic understanding of what is being required of them. This is where the veterans need to guide all new players, by example. A buddy system can be used to help beginners become orientated to the exciting rush on the battlefield. I know Savage Hearts have a pool of Vets that are capable of such a task from my experiences with them in PVE Dungeons, some of our guys are truly brilliant and they don’t even know how good they are.

Like all plans they need to start somewhere, and so a definite beginning time and place needs to be established. The plan needs to establish WHO is doing WHAT, WHEN they are doing it and WHERE. The WHEN could be dependent on a certain time by the clock or a certain set of unique circumstances.

The middle of the plan is the execution of the strategy. This could be a significant battle or a simple little raid.

The end. It is important to know how to end a strategy. Victory is the ideal way to end a strategy, but not all war plans are intended to see the enemy instantly vanquished. A raid for instance, could be designed to preoccupy the enemy while the main force is gathering somewhere else for an attack. It is important that your troops know what to do after the war is won and where they go to do their celebrating. There are many Inns throughout the game, and dancing, drinking and music emotes that add to the fun. Make sure you are part of the celebration, your leaders will tell you where to go.

There is no shame in retreating. The retreat is an important tactic that can be used to marshal your troops for another push or it can be used to trick your enemy into following you headlong into a trap. For example. When taking a gate. A small force makes a show of rushing forward against the well fortified ramparts of a gate. A few ballisters and trebuchets are temporarily set up, fired and then dismantled. The enemy thinks they are winning and rush forward to attack your retreating force. The bait has been taken. Some of them will remain on the wall, but most will come out to chase us off believing that the distant castle will soon be their next target. Our retreating guys make a second stand still in sight of the gate. The temptation is so great for those left defending the gate to come forward to assist their comrades clean us up. When they leave the gate our main force, who have been hiding in the hills sweep down like a flood and take the gate. The enemy is cut off from the rear with no where to go. Now this is important, our casualties from the small party regroup at the castle and come forward as one solid mob to mop up and join the main force who are holding the gate. The main force and the phoney raiding party are ready to move on to the next objective. The enemy are already regrouping in their castle so your movement must be swift and decisive as you make plans for the siege. You do not want to get stuck defending a gate. Our leaders will tell you what to do next. Oh, and by the way, if you have the numbers a raiding party can use the turning maneuver to help destroy the enemy that followed our guys into the trap.

This tactic is often known as the, “Confuse a cat.” tactic. This is effective in field battles. The idea is that you have three small, highly mobile forces that take it in turns attacking and retreating. The enemy divides it’s forces to chase your teams. You can use this tactic to wear the enemy down in preparation for a main force to wipe them out or just charge through. It is important that your teams know the plan for resurrecting themselves. That is the place where you revive and a rally point to gather at before making another attack. Your team members must be nimble at rushing forward and then disappearing into the countryside.

A bridge is a double funnel. This can work to your advantage as the enemy try to all squeeze through the doorway to attack you. With the strategic placement of your siege weapons you can provide an impenetrable barrier that just exhausts the enemy as they try to get through. There are many ways you can tackle the bridge, but to successfully hold it to allow your own troops through you need to all work together. Team work on this and all other strategic points in the game is essential to sustained victory. Your leader will direct operations by telling you what is happening on GameVox.

I have had a very quick look online to see if anyone is offering these type of tactics. So far I have found none, and the reason probably is that the nature of the PVP player is impetuous, energetic and brash. This can be used to our advantage, as long as we can be disciplined enough to wait for the right time to attack. I know the vets amongst us are probably better at this than the new players because of their ability to see a big picture. However, it does require self discipline to resist taking an easy target, that does not comply with the overall plan. It takes a person who realises that to take unscheduled targets may give away your position and alert the enemy of your presence.

It won’t be too long before a defector to another guild reveals the Savage Hearts strategy. It won’t matter as long as we demonstrate superior teamwork and the ability to quickly change tactics on the hop and therefore always keep the enemy guessing. However, it is a good idea not to reveal everything to new players until they prove their loyalty.

People get tired and eventually need to go to bed. It is because of this that you can conduct an effective campaign only to find that all your hard work has been undone while you slept. It occurs to me that if you had a team that has people on different sides of the globe working in a shift, then Cyrodiil would remain in our hands all the time. This is probably a bit too serious and it wouldn’t be long before ESO reset the game. I mentioned this because it is a possibility for a huge guild of about five hundred players, but I wonder if it would be as much fun. In reality it is a game that no one really wins and the fun is in the little victories. A global strategy would be a whole different ball game with a War Council of Generals conducting the campaign. As I said earlier, the campaign needs a definite beginning, a definite middle and a definite end.

Communication is everything. GameVox allows us to have a whole lot of different channels on the Savage Hearts Server under Cyrodiil. What this means is that your different leaders can have their own channel for their particular Cyrodiil raiding team or mission. Each player agrees to remain on the particular channel under their leader during the mission. The advantage is that communication is about their particular mission and does not have a lot of people all talking at once. The leader of the group swaps to the main mission channel to get updates and report this information back to his/her team. So all of this needs to be organized prior to the battle. Raiding teams, however, are able to enter Cyrodiil prior to the entry of the main mission and start raiding early. A raiding team can be as small as just two players or as large as ten or twelve depending on the mission.

For the brave and more independent types, the role of scout can be very useful and provide important information for the good of the main mission. A scout can enter Cyrodiil ahead of the main mission using a GameVox Scouting Channel created for this role. To be a scout you will need to be capable of stealth and patience. Not everyone has the nature to become a scout, but they are a very important part of the plan.

I mentioned under the fourth rule about no one being left behind and that a fallen comrade can supply valuable information to your leader and the rest of the group using GameVox. The Trebuchet also has a surprising use. When you set it up on the walls of your fort you are able to see a lot further than the naked eye. The operator is able to report on the approaching enemy and your leader is able to assign troops to whatever side of the fort that they are coming from.

No siege weapons? That’s ok! The battering ram has space for up to four people. All you do is stand next to it and your strength adds to its power to batter down doors. However, make sure you have a healer or two nearby because the enemy love to pour boiling oil down on you from over the door. Also note that you will be the first into the fort once the gate or door is down, so if you like excitement this is the place to be.

For beginners there are two personal goals to achieve. The first is to do the siege weapon training when you first enter Cyrodiil and the second is to get your mount speed up to maximum. Both of these goals happen fairly early in the game. For the more experienced player it is up to you to take care of new recruits during maneuver. That means when you engage your high speed maneuver make sure that everyone has picked up on your speed. Remember. ”No one is left behind.”

Always wait till your forces are there before erecting your weapons, they can create shields that protect you. Avoid hitting the doors as they have a little grate over the top for pouring oil on you. Choose a place on the wall and everyone hit it together. Have at least one trebuchet and ballister to take out enemy weapons on the wall. All this should be decided in your overall plan before going into battle.

Leaders must tell each person the plan when assigning them to a particular task. The leader should also assign a backup person for each task should the front line person falter.

The regulars. These guys and gals will be with you at the beginning and follow through right to the end of the campaign. One thing that Savage Hearts has is a close knit group of players who are unselfish, helpful and are stayers. These guys are assigned the important jobs. That is helping with communication and coordination.

The recruits. These guys will make up the bulk of the players. They are not cannon fodder, but a very important part of the push towards victory. They will be subject to attrition, but out of their ranks will come the guys who really nail the PVP side of this battle and it is up to us all to provide the backup they need. It is from our recruits that the leaders of tomorrow will bloom, so it is up to every member to make others feel welcome, as they show them the ropes.

The above is just some of the ideas and I am sure that there are many more plans that can work. The good thing is that you can practice a maneuver or tactic and iron out the bumps with your team before applying it to the main game. Whilst the turning maneuver can take a bit of coordination before you get it just right raiding parties are able to practice ambushes and spoof raids at random anywhere at any time before applying the tactic to the main campaign. You are able to try each tactic by being included on a team that is practicing. The beauty of practice is that you gain not only a lot of experience, but you get to know your fellow guild members. So even if you lose the skirmish you are working toward being on the side that wins the war. Some tactics will carry a large amount of new players who learn from others as they go and other tactics will require each player to face up to their duties immediately. Get used to talking on GameVox to each other. Remember, there is no shame in being a newbie in this game and our veterans just love to show off by helping you come up to speed. We were all new, once upon a time and there is no shame in that at all. The more the merrier is our slogan so welcome to the War.

Well Flex and I are not experts on war tactics, but offer this as an introduction to a war plan for Savage Hearts. Savage Hearts has the will and the Leadership to do this well. With practice our strategies will build better team cohesion and cement friendships. People will come, and people will go, but the guild will remain for a long time as long as our members find being one of our warriors interesting and fun. When we offer a strong PVP program with a difference, then we will attract more and more players. Yes, this is a game, so let’s have fun playing it. I know that most of us do not like losing and winners attract more winners so let’s get to it and start building our next Cyrodiil Assault team.