First Capture of Aden Castle

Noods, leader of the clan Forbidden, became the first ruler of Aden on Saturday, February 5th. The Lord of Aden was good enough to share some thoughts with us about this astonishing achievement.

1. You seized the castle with 13 registered attacking clans in one hour and twenty-three minutes. What made it possible?

Hard work, dedication, planning, politics and communication.

Without going too in-depth, we made sure the opposition from other clans was minimal, then we planned for many hours and used a superior way of communication between the clans and the groups participating in the siege. Having a rather large part of the attacking clans at a decent level and in suitable equipment helped a lot as well, naturally.

Groups formed and carefully planned before the siege, with special tasks and special missions during the siege was a main key of the whole plan, and it worked flawlessly - to our great joy.

2. How did you prepare for the siege?

We made a draft of a plan that we presented on Friday and from early morning Saturday the plan was worked on, finalized and then presented to the section leaders. Pretty much the 16 hours prior to the siege were spent planning and making sure everyone knew their tasks. Oxyurana, co-leader of Inquisition was the one who made the draft and moderated our meetings.

3. Could you estimate how much adena you spent in preparation for, and during the siege (on golems, for example)?

If we do not count Greater Healing Potions, Soul/Spiritshots and just the "siege costs" we get: 900 Crystal C Grade at 2800 adena a piece, 4390 Gemstone C at 3450 adena a piece, giving a grand total of flag and golem cost to 17,665,500 adena.

4. How did you manage communication during the siege?

All participants of the siege were on the same Teamspeak server, using voice communication.

5. What was the most challenging aspect of the siege?

The bridge that leads into the Throne Room took the longest time to conquer, by the simple reason it had a lot of guards and it was narrow. We felt a little like the Persians when they fought the Spartans at Thermopylae, but after a while we managed to move all our people through. From there it was a rather smooth ride to the holy artifact.

6. What was the most fun aspect of the siege?

Casting the Seal of the Ruler in the Artifact room, and then listening to the massive cheering of all siege participants when the spell was successfully cast.

7. Is there anything you would have liked to have done better?

Nothing, it went pretty much as perfect as it could have.

8. What advice could you give to other clans looking to make a successful siege against Aden's NPC army?

One of the most important aspects must be to keep the opposition forces to a minimum, be it either by using sly politics or brute force, but make sure your flags and your attacking forces are safe from attacks by other clans.

Planning and communication between the attacking clans would be another really important issue to address - Without being able to give orders "on the fly" the whole operation will be a lot harder.

9. Which character classes, if any, did you find particularly useful during the siege?

Warsmiths for the wall were definitely important, as well as Bishops for clan resurrection and to have fast and big enough heals to keep the tin buckets alive (the tanks).

10. Many clans participated in the siege. How did you decide which clan would take formal control of the castle?

Aden was taken by two alliances and we share the ownership, the formal control was decided by a dice roll between the alliance leaders

11. How do you plan to rule Aden?

Aden was taken by military force and will be held by military force. Being a good king trying to please the players with cheap seeds and low taxes will only get you so far. Sooner or later there will be another contestant for the throne, and then you need military power.

12. As a spokesperson for every clan that sieged Aden, is there anything else you’d like to add on their behalf?

It was an amazing siege. Everyone had an absolute blast and we are all proud of being the first to conquer Aden Castle. I would say sieging Aden should be everyone's goal in this game, with perhaps the exception of Antharas, but that will not happen until the "No item drop during boss raids" is implemented.

A big thanks to everyone who was at the siege, you all know who you are, you all have my uttermost respect and admiration.

The following alliances participated in the siege of Aden castle: ChaosTheory, Dominus and Evincio.