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[Deathlike]

The interface could be better... but for people who aren't familiar with it, it's a short rundown... and hopefully it will clarify some things.

There are only 3 things to worry about if you are dedicating yourself to any faction at any given time. Picking one of these 3 things will ensure you will get a match... under certain conditions and these are usually priorities of every faction.

1) Playing Defense on a planet your faction owns:
Obviously, you don't want to lose planets when noone is showing up to answer the "Attack" call from some other faction. It usually behooves a faction to try at all costs to defend a planet.

It is best to pick a planet that has more than half (6) attacker wins and defend that... ideally when the game gives you a popup about that particular planet.

Remember that the defenders must show up within 5 minutes... or they get to "fight against nobody".

If you don't care about the faction that is attacking it, then it is what it is. Plan on losing it.

Special notes:
A "Blue Shield" indicates a planet you are defending. This doesn't necessarily mean you will be strictly going on defense. A "counter attack" means that you will be attacking to get back the base. So, both possibilties can occur when defending (or attacking a planet).

It is guaranteed the majority of matches will be a defense of the same faction under these circumstances.

2) Attacking a planet of another faction:
You have "choices" of who to attack. You can attack IS or Clan... only when the game tells you they are available as you may not be able to attack other factions that are not within your borders. For instance, Clan Jade Falcon can never initiate an attack on Liao because they are not within their borders. Clan Jade Falcon will be mostly fighting Steiner, FRR, Clan Wolf, and Clan Ghost Bear based on their borders. So, you can pick and choose your enemy based on that criteria.

Ideally, it makes the most sense to commit to where the most action is at currently (or the best factions of opportunity)... the areas where it is to be decided (6 attack wins or more) instead of areas that don't have enough (0 tokens mean you are failing miserably there). Of course, an entire faction can decide to take over areas noone is able to respond to...

Special note:
A "Red Sword" indicates a planet you can attack. Again, you may not necessarily be attacking... you could be defending just as well since you may have gotten 9, 10, or even 11 "Attacker wins" tokens and are trying to fight back against the original faction's owner.

It is expected that the Attacking faction will always be of the same type... but the Defending faction does not have to be. Occasionally a mixture of factions will show up to play defense.. but of the same type. For instance, if one is attacking an Inner Sphere planet with a Clan faction, the players fielded could be a conglomerate of IS forces. Let's say Clan Wolf is attacking an FRR planet. The defense occasionally can be a mixture of all possible IS forces (Steiner, Davion, Liao, etc.) including the faction's players.

Usually, there is a concerted effort by the attacking faction to do whatever it takes the win the planet though.

3) Playing Defense on some other faction's planet (Clan players will defend Clan owned planets, IS players will defend IS owned planets):

Most of the people that should apply here are just wanting to drop into any CW match... usually solo. There's no particular reason to do so for your own faction (it benefits noone). These are usually the "conglomerate" of players that haven't joined a unit... the closest thing to "CW Pugging for casuals".

Usually these matches do not generally turn the outcome of a planet as it is the responsibility of the faction to defend their planets successfully... making sure that the "Attacker wins" stays at 0 as long as possible. However, it is the kind of thing where occasionally a token or 2 are added or removed, making it a "constant struggle" to keep the planet for that particular faction.

It is the best place to get the current "CW challenge" points to claim the prizes/bonuses, but doesn't necessarily house good players and/or guarantees anything. A dedicated defense by the faction will win things out... so "don't blame" the other factions (IS or Clan) if you can't properly mount a defense yourselves.

I would say that the difficulty is "lower" in the sense that the skill floor is a lot lower and you can gain valuable experience in how CW and the maps work. So, while it can produce kinda stressful games (like knowing that the defense or attack could be a failed effort), you can understand how CW works w/o breaking everything else. It is a low-commitment and high potential money making expenditure.. all on your other faction's planet.

So, I hope this clears things for people... those of whom which to find a game quickly. If you pay attention to the token numbers on the planets you have access to, you can determine how important you wish to commit to CW. Points #1 and #2 are important for the faction diehards... but point #3 is necessary for the newbies who want to participate in CW with minimal consequences.

Good luck to everyone.

[Kilo 40]

Good post.