War Zones – HQ Movement

Jan.04.2018 BY KIXEYE_Chris

Moving your Mobile HQ through War Zones is undergoing several major changes. Currently, there isn’t a true concept of distance while in a War Zone, and the existing ability to “warp” HQs anywhere on the map undermines the authenticity of true logistic strategies. Movement should feel meaningful, and every decision should have repercussions, similar to wartime strategy.

MOVEMENT COOLDOWN

Following the War Zones Update, moving your HQ will trigger a “HQ Cooldown”. The farther you move your HQ, the longer your HQ Cooldown will last. You will not be able to move your HQ or deploy to a different Zone until your HQ Cooldown expires. Therefore, it’s important that your movements are deliberate and strategic. If you are going to insert yourself into a dangerous position, understand that you won’t be able to make a quick escape.

(Displayed cooldown times not final)

You can finish your Cooldown immediately if you spend “Cooldown Tokens”, which can be earned through Daily Crates. 

Don’t worry about getting yourself in a position you can’t eventually get away from. HQs can no longer be blocked by FOBs and other HQs, and can move anywhere on the map that has an open hex.

ATTACK FROM ANYWHERE

Directly tied to this introduction of movement strategy comes another change – the ability to attack a player from anywhere in the War Zone, without needing to move directly next to their HQ! The consideration for this is that there is now an oil cost for attacking on the World Map. The farther away you are from your target, the larger the oil cost.

Players that choose to move in closer to their target will have lower oil costs to attack. So while you can snipe players from very far away, it’s going to be a costly undertaking, and exposing yourself to greater risk of retribution is a cheaper approach.

GET THAT OIL BACK

Once a battle is complete against another player in the War Zones, you will get an Oil Kickback that accounts for a percentage of the repairs for damage taken in that battle. You will receive the same Oil Kickback percentage whether you win or lose. 

Note that this is not Oil that’s stolen from the defending player – as it is still not possible to have your Oil stolen – and you cannot earn an Oil Kickback from PvE. 

This means that it can be costly to launch a battle from a great distance, but your up-front costs won’t be the total Oil amount that you lose, and you will still have some returned to you at the end of battle to use on repairs.

Additionally, if your HQ is located in a Contestable Zone Area (detailed in the next article), your Oil Pumps will receive a % boost to oil production. This boost increases as you move into higher level range Zone Areas. Stay in those Contestable Zones as long as you can, and get as close as you can to your enemy! Your attacks will be dramatically cheaper and the resources will flow.

Remember, you can only get the Oil Kickback from PvP combat in the War Zones.

Tune in tomorrow for the next in our series of articles on the upcoming War Zones features!