Posted 13 December 2012 - 04:55 PM

You've heard rumors, you've made speculations... here is Conquest.With rumors of hostile activity on the Periphery of the InnerSphere, all of the Great Factions have been purchasing large quantities of Germanium. Germanium is a very rare element used in Jump Ships that travel through the InnerSphere.In Conquest, players will vie over Germanium resource collectors. These mobile mining units refine Germanium for the team that controls them. The more units under a team’s control, the faster that team will be gathering resources.There is a new button beside the “LAUNCH” button that has a gear on it. Click it and the following will appear:Choose the game mode you want to play and click LAUNCH. Voila!Choosing ANY will randomly select between ASSAULT and CONQUEST.When in a group, only the group leader can choose the game mode.There are 5 resource collectors spread throughout each map. Each team will begin the match with the nearest resource collector to their start location already under their control.Additionally, when playing Conquest Mode, you will notice new operational HUD elements. At the top of the screen, you will see the team ownership of all 5 resource collectors (see indicator 1 on above screenshot). Two of the resource collectors will already be under their respective team’s control, while the other 3 are neutral. Each resource collector location is named for ease of communication to your teammates.Just above the team ownership bars, on either side of the mission timer, are the number of resources that have been collected by each team.The first team to collect 750 resources will win the match.The direction of each resource collector is also marked on the HUD compass (see indicator 2 on above screenshot).To capture a neutral or enemy controlled resource collector (that is empty of enemy ‘Mechs), simply enter the capture zone of that resource collector (indicator 3 on above screenshot). When capturing a resource collector, the appropriate bar will begin to flash the color of the capturing team (see indicator 4 on above screenshot. Note: Blue is always friendly, red is always enemy). You and your teammates will also receive a notification that there is a “Friendly Cap in Progress”.

As with Assault Mode, each additional ‘Mech within the capture zone will increase the speed of capture. It will be important to know when your time is best spent helping your team secure a single resource collector, or if you should begin the capture of an additional resource collector.

Your team has taken ownership of a resource collector when the name of that collector on your HUD has turned blue. If you remain in the capture zone, you will see a colored blue bar begin to fill on the left side of the HUD element (see indicator 5 on above screenshot). You dohave to completely fill the bar to gain ownership, but since all resource collectors can be re-captured by the enemy team, the more time you devote to filling your capture bar the longer it will take for the enemy to drain and capture it for themselves.Additionally, the resource collector location on the mini-map/Battle Grid will also turn blue if your team controls it (see indicator 6 on above screenshot).

It will be an important strategy for you and your team to know when your time would be best spent securing your capture zone fully, or moving on to capture another zone. The extra effort you put in to capturing a resource collector to 100% could buy you the time to destroy or chase off enemy ‘Mech(s) that are trying to re-capture it, but owning two capture points at 1% will earn you twice as many resources as one at 100%.

The first team to 750 resources collected wins.



A team can also win by destroying all enemy Mechs.



Win or Lose, any resources collected by a team are multiplied by 25 and players are rewarded that amount in C-Bills. (Germanium is paid for no matter if you win or lose).

For example, if two teams play out via resource collection, and one team has 750 resources and the other has 480 resources, the first team earns 18,750 C-Bills and the second earns 12,000 C-Bills.



If an enemy starts to capture a resource collector (see indicator 7 on above screenshot), the HUD bar associated with the appropriate location will begin to flash red (see indicator 8 on above screenshot). As with Assault Mode, to stop an enemy from capturing a zone, you can either simply enter the capture zone yourself (neutralizing the capture), or destroy the enemy ‘Mech.If your team approaches the maximum amount of resources (750) (see indicator 9 on above screenshot), you will be notified that your team is about to win (see indicator 10 on above screenshot). You will also get a warning notification is the enemy team is about to win as they approach the 750 max score.Plan your strategies now and see how much you can earn while playing Conquest!

Try to get to one of the outlier resource collectors as fast as your team can. Once captured, try to hold both it and the one at your spawn location for the duration of the mission. Assault Mechs are prime candidates for protecting the defensive line between the two controlled points while the scouts/brawlers try to gain ground on the rest of the locations.