How to: Battleport

[Brom]

Good evening one and all. After some deliberation and a conference with Lord RavenBlack himself, I'd like to humbly introduce you all to the concept I semi-developed/noticed during the First War Games. Without further ado;


First and foremost, what even is a Battleport? I'll tell you! At Zelkova and 52nd is a handy dandy little place dubbed "Battle Arena." Once inside the Arena, you're welcome to select a format of battle and challenge any opponent in the city's limits. These formats range in types of weapons, to the length of rounds. But the important thing here is what happens to the Challenged. The Challenged can teleport to the Battle Arena once the challenge has been issued.

So what's the significance of this? The nifty part here is that, the Battle Arena is already connected to Omnibank. Which means that you do not have to have coins on you to issue a challenge, and therefor, port the Challenged. Next, the cheapest challenge that can be issued at the Battle Arena is only 60 Coins.. Third, so long as the challenge isn't cancelled by either party, the Challenged can hold that port in their pocket for an indeterminate amount of time (To be tested!).

What are the catches here? Surely there's not just some easy peasy way to get about the city that someone didn't discover for over a decade without repercussions. To that I say: There are a few! Let's go over them together, shall we? First and foremost, this is a cheap ride, and only a sprint away from Melpomene Station. So using this consecutively will absolutely save you coin, but yer gonna be awfully tired awfully quick. And just like any other kind of getting about town, don't use yer employees/thralls/zombiehorde to move yerself.

So let's go over some quick aspects as a break down real fast, and then we can start hitting some hypotheticals.

• 1) Challenger arrives at Battle Arena

• 2) Challenger chooses literally the cheapest fight they can, and names Challenged as opponent

• 3) Challenged is notified they have someone waiting for them at the Arena

• 4) Challenged accepts the invitation, and is transported to the Battle Arena

• 5) Once the Challenged appears, the coins will be withdrawn from the Challenger's bank account

Now how could we put this to use? It's worth mentioning here, that the Battle Arena is one of the few Neutral Zones inside the city. Which means, it can't be turned or UVG'd. You cannot displace or attack anyone whom is inside the Battle Arena. So. During a heated and wet debate, all a faction needs is a singular person to sit inside the Battle Arena to summon them again, and again, and again, and again, and there's nothing anyone can do other than, ya know, park one of their own butts there. (And even if they do? They won't be able to move the butt you parked there! Hahahaha!)

And now the nitty gritty. The legality of it all. During my conference with RavenBlack, his words were this:

Using one vampire to move multiple other people's vampires with no intention of battling is maybe not in the spirit of the battle arena but is fine.

Now that it's out there, what are your thoughts on the Battleport? How would you put it to use? Let me know!

The full transcript of our conversation is available upon request, but not included for purposes.

[Liander]

Do we know how many people can occupy the Battle Arena at once?

[Brom]

I don't have the payroll to test that myself, but it would be a fun thing to learn. Can people be ported into a full Battle Arena?

[Oberon]

How many times does it have to be explained to you that this is an easily exploitable mechanic in the City that shouldn't be used beyond its intended goal, and that there's a lot of nuances you're just shrugging off and putting people in jeopardy as a result. Just because you say 'don't use employees' doesn't mean people won't.

What part of 'this is not the advantage you think it is' and 'these are dangerous tactics' do you not understand.

Fuck you for this.

(Edited for accuracy.)

[Brom]

"Force" is a term I didn't use at all. Maybe the nuance is simply that? I don't have the intention of forcing anyone to do anything. I'm simply sharing a thing that I learned and opening it up for public debate and discourse.

It absolutely could be a terrible thing. But it's important to understand here, is that Challenges can be declined. If you, or anyone feels like they're in jeopardy for being issued a challenge at the arena, you do not have to be summoned. You can ignore the request and still be about your merry way.

I appreciate your concern, Oberon, truly. But I'd rather have this discussion here and now in the public eye, versus someone else discovering it on accident like I did and making it even more malicious.

[Vex]

Knowledge is great, however I will state here that the way this was used during the War Games was illegal and I hope to not see a repeat. Having a thrall summoning their master's allies to the arena is illegal. Don't do it.

Having a dedicated noncombatant sitting in the arena issuing challenges? Sure, go for it. I just don't really see the advantage in combat when you still have to route, and I don't see the advantage in non-combat when you'd be chaining a non-minion to the arena to summon you at your request.

[Seyda]

Now that it's out there, what are your thoughts on the Battleport? How would you put it to use? Let me know!

I wouldn't use it at all, because I would not put myself at a strategic disadvantage for low cost savings. How is this a strategic disadvantage, Seyda? Let me tell you.

1 - This is an energy sink and energy management during war is absolutely essential. Save some coin, sure, but be gassed after 2-3 targets. That's not winnable, unless you have 3 targets or less, which is rare in the real world.

2 - Utilizing this as a method is very easy to detect, which means you are setting yourself up for easier pattern recognition to your opponent. During War Games, your opponent figured out what was happening, quite literally, within 46 minutes of your initial deploy. If that was a full scale war, there would have been a blood bath at Melpomene.

3 - The absolute furthest anyone can be is 10 sprints from transit, and that's if they are on CL. Most people will be around 5 sprints from a transit. Having to deploy another person to go there to summon you takes time and energy that frankly, isn't worth the 316 coins you saved and the time gap where your routing targets could have moved.

4 - I think you are comparing the cost of this to the cost of a teleport, but you're not understanding that if someone is routing, they're not using teleports to begin with so the savings isn't all it's being cracked up to be.


I understand that you're out here trying to prove some point about being a lone wolf while simultaneously latching on to what others are doing and somehow making it your "solo" fight. However, as a former columnist and editor myself, one of the biggest rules when posting news and editorials is to know your topic. To not know your topic and post as if you understand is an absolute disservice to those in the city that have interest and are trying to learn about something. You do not have a grasp of the fundamentals of war and worse, you don't even know you don't KNOW it. This article is irresponsible.

[Roque]

I'll admit, I thought your article on "How to: Cowardice" was going to be a little more forward and obvious, but to those looking hard enough, I think we can all agree this is a tutorial on how to be a coward. Interesting way to deliver this, Brom. You never cease to surprise me.

[Kalika]

I imagine I will come under scrutiny for this. But, I'm interested in learning why there are really strong feelings opposed to using the Battle Arena as a method of travel. To clarify - despite having been here for more than a dozen years, I've never really been a fighter unless it came to my family. That means I don't know all the ins and outs of war. So, this is coming from a relatively inexperienced person who's just trying to understand.

It's one thing to just list the pros and cons, but the responses have, overall, been pretty spicy. From my interpretation, anyways. I could be absolutely reading into it.

Is it just because of the concern that somebody could use this illegally and endanger others? I can understand the stress of that. But, if that's the only fear, can't you just do what Brom said and just ignore the request? And why is this considered cowardice?

Vex and Seyda both brought up really good points as to why this wouldn't be an efficient method, especially in a large-scale war. Thank you for that, it makes sense to me.

Overall, I genuinely am curious to know if this method could be beneficial in any way. And, if not, why is it so frowned upon?