The War Bond
Every pylon is invulnerable by default. To attack a settlement, someone must buy a war bond against it:
- It costs a large amount of gold, scaling with the target's tier — threatening a metropolis takes a metropolis-sized stake.
- It must be bought from outside the target's city limits.
- It names a single purchaser — who becomes the owner if the siege succeeds. The buyer recruits their army socially and rewards them afterward.
- Only one active bond per city at a time.
Win: the full bond lands in the captured city's coffers — and the defender's accumulated treasury transfers with the city. Lose: half the bond goes to the defender's treasury, half is burned.
Breaking the Pylon
Pylons are damageable only with a diamond pickaxe. Solo break times: Village 10 min, Town 30, City 60, Metropolis 120 — attackers stack. After 5 minutes without damage, the pylon regenerates at a fixed rate, so defense is really about clearing attackers off it for five minutes. Sieges are decided by PvP, not block-hitting.
Siege Rules
- Server-wide notification when war is declared.
- Owners set a 12-hours-per-day invulnerability window — no 3 a.m. raids.
- A siege lasts a minimum of 10 minutes. At the 10-minute mark, a full-health pylon ends the siege as failed; otherwise it runs until the pylon breaks or returns to full health.
- After conquest, a 48-hour freeze: no block changes, no title changes, vulnerability schedule locked. Tenants get time to move; the old owner gets a shot at retaking.
- After a failed siege, everyone who participated is locked out of buying a bond against that city for 7 days.
- Rent and tax keep flowing into the treasury during a siege — the longer the defense holds, the bigger the prize.
By Design
Sieges are meant to be rare, expensive, and decisive. The bond gives even a confident attacker real skin in the game — conquest is the most expensive promise on the server.
PvP Rules
PvP is opt-in by action — aggression propagates from what you do, never from where you stand:
- Residents and visitors of a settlement are protected unless they attack someone first.
- Owners and managers can designate PvP-enabled areas like arenas.
- Attacking the pylon makes you PvP-vulnerable. Attacking a PvP-vulnerable player makes you vulnerable too.
- Banned players who enter a settlement are enemy-flagged — attackable by everyone inside, with no consequence for the attacker.
- In the ring around spawn, PvP is free and consequence-free — death just returns you to spawn.