For those who want to regain control of a zone this weekend here are some VERY good strategies I've found.
First: There is almost a guaranteed way to make the beastmen retreat. It takes a little coordination, but it works very well, and I saw it pulled off in Grauberg yesterday.
You need a killing party and a dedicated puller.
1. Select a camp that is far from the fortress-the Campaign Arbiter is a good place to start.
2. This is the most important step, have the puller stationed immediately in front of the place where the friendly NPCs warp in. When they do, drag a group of mobs directly in front of them and pull the mobs (and the friendly NPCs) all the way to the camp. Do everything you can to get the leader (Maximillian, Invincible Shield, etc) to follow.
3. Allied NPCs are stupid, they'll attack whatever is directly in front of them. So long as there is a mob in camp, they will attack it. The key is to always have a mob in camp for them to fight. Sleep whatever mobs they aren't attacking and assist the Allied NPCs. Since the Allied Forces of Altana won't be blindly rushing in to the fortress to get killed, the campaign will continue for as long as they're still alive. The Grauberg campaign I took party in yesterday where this strategy was utilized went on for nearly an hour and a half.
4. When there is one mob left in camp, the puller needs to go out and get another set. IMPORTANT: DO NOT PULL THE BOSS UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY. While killing the boss usually makes them retreat faster, it is not a requirement. If you kill enough of the normal mobs, enemy morale will go down until they eventually retreat, leaving the fortress open for attack. Pulling the boss will make them retreat faster, but as you've seen the bosses usually have some VERY cheap moves that can wipe everyone in a short amount of time. They go down easily when fighting against multiple friendly forces (say, the 2nd Division and the Field Musicians at the same time), but when you're on the offensive, you usually only get one friendly unit. It's much easier to pull the normal mobs until they retreat.
And that's it... long campaigns with lots of points and Allied victories. It takes some teamwork and some planning, but it works like a charm. Now, there's a second element to retaking zones:
- Gain your mission from Hieronymus.
- He will send you to the Quartermaster (Bastok) located at (H-9).
- The Quartermaster (Bastok) will tell you to go to "Beastman influenced" area and attack any Beastmen Supply Divisions & Seize their cargo.
- Go to a Beastmen-controlled zone and seek out a Beastmen transporter (Yagudo, Orc, Quadav) and two Guards. This can be any Beastmen controlled zone. It doesn't necessarily have to be one in your allied nation's area. The Transporter and Guards will be making a supply run.
- Surprise the Transporter with a successful Sneak Attack from behind, any critical hit from behind, or any hit from behind while under the effect of Sneak and Invisible, the Transporter will die.
- It is possible to kill the Transporter without getting aggro from the Guards, as long as they have enough distance between each other so they don't link by sound.
- Defeat the Transporter (has about 1500 HP
) and the Guards will warp shortly after.
- If you did not manage to avoid aggro, the Guards will keep hitting you up until they warp.
- Click the ??? where the Transporter died to get the Beastmen supplies.
- Disappears after a couple minutes.
- Even if you didn't take part in defeating the Transporter, clicking the ??? still gives you the Beastmen supplies.
- Return with the item(s) and speak with the Quartermaster (Bastok) at (H-9).
- Report back to Hieronymus to complete the Mission.
This is the walkthrough to Search and Seizure, the Campaign Op where you take beastmen supplies. The good news about this is that you don't actually have to do the Op to disrupt the Beastmen supply line. I did two of these the other day and watched the North Gustaberg resources drop from 150 to 125 as they repaired their fort without any supply reinforcements. Drop resources to 0 and they can't repair their Fortress. When the Fortress drops to 0, I think that's when we can almost assuredly get max influence. I've never seen it happen, but what else could it be?
I, personally, will be sitting out in front of North Gustaberg killing the transporters all Sunday morning. I just hope we can do the damage that we need to the Fortress.
- EASILY SOLOED by a 75 THF/NIN. no other supplies needed other than acid bolts and shihi. Agryas 22:57, 28 June 2008 (UTC)
- Soloed as a 75 SAM/THF and as 75 NIN/WAR. Killed as a SAM by sneaking and did a one-shot kill with Sneak Attack. Also killed him with one shot by landing a critical hit from behind as NIN. The guards never noticed cause there was a decent-sized gap between them and the Transporter. --Jaxen 21:31, 9 July 2008 (UTC)
- Easily completed in North Gustaberg as PLD75/BLM17. Pulled Transporter cleanly away from Guards. I was hit for only 20-30 damage unblocked and it had 1900-2000 HP. Aldoris 09:28, 10 July 2008 (UTC)
- Easily completed in West Sarutabaruta as THF75/NIN37. Used sneak and invisible ninjitsu, walked up directly behind the transporter, and attacked - he fell to the ground instantly even though I did not use sneak attack and did not land a critical hit. Ayrlie 06:35, 14 July 2008 (UTC)