‘Sovereign’ T5 – Empire T3

Today I begin my journey of the project I’ve dubbed ‘T5 Parasite’ – the name because T5 is being a parasite on existing T1-3. If you recall from yesterday, T3 will now be the Sovereign bracket tier – so killing heroes/lords and locking it will yield Royal crests. Additionally, the bracket is open to RR71+ players, though players over RR81 will see diminishing returns. To reiterate some points from past posts – PQs will operate as BOs (stg 1 will be eliminated with the stage 2 mobs acting as champs and stage 3/4 mobs as the BO hero); Chapter hubs within the T5 RvR lake will operate as ‘keeps’ with the Rally Master acting as the lord; players of the ‘home tier’ will not be flagged for RvR while moving around the region flagged as the T5 RvR lake. Additionally, resources from BOs will operate to ease the assault on chapter hubs and generate siege weapons there. Because there are no walls or doors to break down, there are no rams; however, recall that the chapter hubs are ringed with 55 Champions – these resources could help weaken them. If I was to implement this system, I would require 4/5 BOs from that storyline to assault that faction’s Chapter Hub (with perhaps 3/5 of your own).

Without further ado let us enter the realm of the Sovereign Empire Tier –

First up I have Talabecland with 5 BOs taken from the Destro storyline, and 5 from the Order storyline. Also the hubs of concern are the Chaos Chapter 12 town and the Empire Chapter 14 town, respectively points (1) and (2). So lets jump into the BO locations and see what they have to offer.

A. First up I have the Chaos PQ ‘Bitterspring’ located in Volgen, Talabecland, just south of the Chaos Chapter 12 town. The location offers a very tight urban environment with the mountains of the T3 lake to the left, and the cliff to the River Talabec to the right – certainly potential for some messy fights.

B. The second BO on the Destruction side is the Chaos PQ ‘Army of Faith’, which is a large Sigmarite temple. I am fond of these locations because they are so rare in the game and fighting inside them can offer some fun fights.

C. This BO is located at the Chaos PQ ‘Kruegerhaus’ which is a giant keep overlooking Talabecland. A structure of this size should without a doubt be foremost in the campaign over Talabecland, especially due to its strategic location overlooking the Talabec River.

D. Next up Destruction side is the Chaos PQ ‘Village Vermine’ which is a fun little village of twisting roads and buildings. The tower would offer the fights many will recall in Verentanes and the site itself offers plenty of different tactical defensive positions.

E. The last PQ Destruction-side is ‘Mudflats’ which is where all the residents of Talabecland flee to thinking the end of times is near so they can get drunk and die. While their tale is grim, the location offers prime fighting as it is an island with plenty of trees and rocks to offer line of sight issues. Additionally I have chosen this point in the river for the crossing between the Order and Destruction storylines so holding this island can mean more than just capturing the BO.

F. Crossing over into the Order storyline I’ve placed the first BO at the town of Unterbaum which is only a major landmark. I’ve included the views from the west, from within, and from the Order Chapter 14 hub overlooking the cemetary (respectively). The town is wonderfully designed in my opinion and its grand scale plus the proximity of the Order Chapter hub can cause many great battles to take place here. While Order may have the advantage in this fight, I see no reason why it shouldn’t, after all this is Order home turf. Capturing the town of Unterbaum will be but one step towards the assault on the Chapter Hub

G. Next up Order-side I have the Empire PQ ‘Unterbaum Castle’ which is in my opinion what keeps should have always been. Artistically this is probably among my favorite locations in the Empire storyline. While I always felt Order keeps were the same bland thing over and over again, this castle takes the prize. Strategically it overlooks the town of Unterbaum and the southern reaches of the River Talabec.

H. Next up is the major landmark of the settlement/farm of Dortwald which has succumbed to the forces of the plague. The site is small and full of plenty obstacles in the form of graves of the fallen and structures. Additionally the site sits on the edge of the mountain causing careless play to lead to knock-backs into the river below.

I. Forth on Order-side is the Empire PQ ‘Bitterschaum Swamp’ which is a greenskin infestation in Talabecland. I love this location because it is a mini greenskin fort situated in a swamp. Assaulting the fort would require trudging through the waters and beyond the palisades- offering a boon to the defenders.

J. Last up Order-side is a location that is neither a PQ nor a landmark of any sort. In fact I have no idea why this place exists because no quests lead here (as I recall…its been a while). The site is a devastated village south of Unterbaum Castle with burnt out hovels and lanes crawling with the Raven Host. I like this location because it is situated along the southern border of the map and is only accessibly via a ramp up the hill (since the bridge to the Castle is destroyed) and the whole way is surrounded by burnt-out houses and trees – fantastic zerg-breakers.

Turning north we enter the realm of High Pass, the difficulty in this map lay in the vast distances between locations. Unfortunately I didn’t see an easy way around so hopefully it wouldn’t pose to great of an issue – especially if forces were willing to split up. PQs within the T5 RvR lake not flagged as BOs are safe zones (I didn’t want to draw more lines to confuse anyone).

K. First up Destro-side is the Chaos PQ ‘Temple of Heimkel’ which is a Khorne temple. The location is actually doubly difficult in the temple itself being surrounded by layers of walls while the central keep is heavily defended. While I do not know where the end bosses for this PQ are located (and ergo the heroes for the BO) I feel that this site could become a heavily contested location.

L. Next up is the Chaos PQ ‘Beacon of Firengrom’ which is a tribute to the Lord of Change which has recently fallen under the assault of the ogres. The site is located atop a large mountain and reaching it could prove a challenge, let alone fighting atop it. Additionally the site proves central between the Temple of Heimkel and the valley below.

M. Briefly jumping over to the Order side we have the Empire PQ ‘Foetid Plains’ (which is seen best from the Destruction side). This plain offers some of the great art of High Pass present in the jutting rocks. This site also links the Order storyline to the Destruction storyline via a ramp up the hill (to complete the loop). It has plenty of obstacles and trash in the way to offer complexities to any fight.

N. Returning to the Destruction storyline I’ve located a BO at the Chaos PQ ‘Keep of Asavar Kul’ named after its current inhabitant, a necromancer. However, the site was formerly the Warden’s Keep of the Knights Panther of the Empire, hence the architecture. The first screenshot is of the site from the cliffs by the Temple of Heimkel, and the second is from within. As you can see the site is rather cluttered which would lead to some hectic fights.

O. Next up I have a site that is neither PQ nor landmark, it is instead a tunnel leading to the Chapter hub Jaggedspine Ridge. The screenshot doesn’t do this site much justice but it is an amazing location as the rocks jutting out of the ice form a tunnel leading to the Chapter hub. While a compact site, it serves as a vital chokepoint in the defense of the Chaos Chapter hub, again justified as this is the Chaos home turf.

P. Last on the Destruction storyline is the Chaos PQ ‘Tempest Horn’ which is a key artifact of Tzeentch. The site is only reachable via a winding path through the mountains which creates a difficulty in and of itself and to add to this the top is rather open leading to plenty of opportunities to punt wary invaders to the depths below.

Q. Going to the Order-side we have the Empire PQ ‘Lake of the Damned’ which goes against some of my instincts because the site is neither strategically important nor does it offer much in terms of zerg-busting. However the site does sit by a cliff which could lead to sending enemies down into the Chaos storyline and most importantly, the boss of it is a lord. You fight a lord and the enemy, have fun =).

R. The third BO I have on the Order-side is the Empire PQ ‘Temple of Change’ which is a massive structure dedicated to Tzeentch. The site itself is pretty amazing and is seldom seen in the world of Warhammer – for some reason not even in the IC. Not much exists here to split up the attackers, but the site is still symbolically important to Destruction, and its fall would be a blow indeed.

S. My forth BO is actually an Empire chapter hub ‘Raven’s End’ which is centered around a Chaos tower from which it gains its name. For the purpose of this BO I would relocate the chapter hub further to the northwest and leave the site focusing around the tower. The assault to the tower is up a winding path and naturally as is with all things High-Pass, it has a cliff dropping to the road below (and for some chicken-fun-time you can punt enemies into the T3 lake – bawk at that, punk).

T. Last up Order-side is a site that is again neither landmark nor PQ (unfortunately the Order-side is rather bland). This site is a fortress torn apart by a chaos rift and mages of the Celestial Order are vainly trying to contain the site in a magic bubble to defend the wounded. The bubble could be used in interesting ways to open and close access to the BO, potentially splitting apart the invaders. Additionally the location straddles the road between the Order Chapter hub Bitter Woods I’ve chosen as the key location for Order in this zone and the road to the Destruction storyline.

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