So, there has been some extensive confusion due to unexplained game mechanics. I guess this means we need a FAQ. All content in this FAQ is subject to change.
Q: What is strategus?
A: Strategus is a gamemode within cRPG where players compete for virtual land, and can accumulate virtual armies and gold on a real time map.
Q: How do I get into strategus?
A:
http://strategus.c-rpg.net/Q: I joined strategus - how do I interact with the map?
A: To control your character, use the options on the left panel of the web page. To move to a location, use the "move character to..." button and then click on a location on the map. If you decide to move towards a specific target, you can also choose to take an action upon reaching that target, by clicking on the appropriate option in the left window. e.g: if you decide to move on top of a village, you can click on "enter village" on the left side panel to enter it as soon as you reach it. You can only interact with a target if you are within a very small distance of it.
Q: I told my character to move to a location but he is not going anywhere - why is this?
A: You cannot move your character if you are preparing for a battle or if you're inside a fief. Additionally, movement speed is currently set to 1/4 pixels per minute, so you may not notice if your character is moving or not in the short term.
Q: How does different terrain type affect my party?
A: Certain terrain types such as mountains or bridges will severely impede movement speed. Being inside terrain types such as forests will hide your character to a degree - other parties will have to get much closer before they can spot you. Being on a hill or mountain will increase your spotting range. Water and cliffs act as complete barriers - you will have to navigate around them.
Q: How do I gain strategus gold?
A: You gain strategus gold by playing cRPG - You gain 0 gold per server tick for x1 and x2 multipliers, 1 gold for x3 and x4, and 2 gold for x5. You can also gain gold by begging in a town - begging will negate the visiting fees in a village and will give you one gold per hour. However, this only works up until you have 35 gold.
Q: What can I do in towns, villages, and castles?
A: In towns, villages, and castles, you can buy and craft equipment for your army, recruit soldiers, and craft trading goods to sell for profit. Villages are best for crafting trade goods, (you want to find a low prosperity village to craft in, and a high prosperity village, town, or castle to sell in) and castles are best for recruiting troops. Towns can be used as trading hubs or storage places - you can put up items or trade goods for other players to buy in the town center, or just store them there, for a small fee.
Q: Can I be attacked while inside a settlement?
A: No. The only way you can be ejected from a settlement is if the owner kicks you out, or if you do not have enough money to pay the rent. Additionally, if you are inside a fief you are invisible on the overworld map, and can only be seen by others inside the fief.
Q: How does trading work?
A: Currently you can craft trade goods at a location on the map, and sell them in another area of the map. Sell and craft price is determined by how far away the selling location is, as well as the prosperity of the location. The farther you trade the goods, the higher distance bonus you get on the sell price.
Q: How much equipment and goods can I carry?
A: You can carry an unlimited amount of goods and equipment. However, goods will be carried as "crates" - each crate holds up to 30kg. Each unit of a trade good weighs 5 kg. All items inside crates will slow down your party. As far as equipment goes, your party will be able to carry what they can carry on their backs without penalty - extra gear will go inside crates. Having horses in your party will help alleviate the burden of carrying crates and will increase your party speed if you have enough horses for all soldiers in your party.
Q: How do battles work?
A: To initiate a battle, you must click on settlement or player and choose to attack them. When your party comes within a certain distance of your selected target, a battle will appear on the Battles list in your crpg page. This battle will take place 24 or more hours after your party reaches your selected target. Depending on where on the map your party is, the battle will take place either on EU_cRPG_3 or NA_cRPG_3. The line between EU and NA territory can be seen on this image:
http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/4029/u32p3p1d2.jpg The northeastern territories are NA, while the southwest is EU.
When your character is preparing for battle, you may hire players willing to fight for you in your strategus action page. These players will then show up on the strategus server at the scheduled time of battle, and use the equipment that your party is carrying. These players will also use the troops your character has accumulated - each troop is basically an extra life for one of your hired players. Battles are won once the enemy stops spawning - this can be achieved by eliminating all of their tickets or by capturing their spawnpoints.
Q: Why can't I join this battle?
A: To join a strategus battle you must be hired by one side beforehand. You can apply for a side in the 'battles' tab in the website. If you were already hired but later could not join, it is because you were dropped from the roster.
Q: What happens if nobody shows up for one side in a battle?
A: They lose.
Q: What happens when you lose all of your troops in a battle?
A: You are teleported to a random location on a map and lose all of your equipment.
Q: I have been attacked! What can I do? What can't I do?
A: You can buy equipment for your troops up until the time of the battle. You cannot move. You cannot transfer.
Q: I attacked an enemy and I automatically lost! Why is this?
A: In order to attack an enemy, you must have at least one third of their troop number.
Q: Why are my troops mysteriously disappearing?
A: Troops require wages. These wages are automatically paid and subtracted from your gold. If you don't have enough money to pay these wages, your troops will desert. This also applies to troops garrisoned inside fiefs. (doesn't apply to population)
Q: How do I transfer equipment, troops, and gold between players or settlements?
A: You must be within a certain distance of the target to transfer. You will then be able to see available transfer targets in your Strategus Action Menu.
Q: What is the time limit on the transfer window for a battle? Why does it say my transaction failed?
A: A party in a battle can be reinforced within a time period of the battle minus 19 hours. For example, if you attacked at 1:00 AM on Friday, and the battle is at 1:00 AM on Saturday, then you have up until Friday 6:00 AM to transfer troops and gold. If the battle is at 2:00 AM on Saturday, then you have until Friday, 7:00 AM. Additionally, the player receiving the transfers must allow incoming transfers to go through.
Q: How do I create a faction?
A: In the left side panel on the map page, you should see a link that says "My Stats." Click on this, and then click on the button that says "No Faction" in order to create a new faction.
Q: How do I join an existing faction?
A: Find a party member of the faction and get within distance of the party - you should be able to interact with their faction link and apply to join it.
Q: How do I accept people into my faction?
A: High ranking faction members can accept applicants in their strategus action page.
Q: How do I remove someone from my faction?
A: If you are high enough rank within your faction, you may set their rank to 0, which kicks them out of the faction.
Q: What do all of the faction ranks do?
A: Rank 5 can hire people for other member's battles and change the commander message. Rank 10 can change fief ownership and member ranks.
Q: What can fief owners do?
A: They can kick people out of their fiefs, raise taxes, and take gold and equipment out of their fiefs.
Q: What's the difference between troops and population?
A: troops can be removed from fiefs, population cannot. When a settlement is attacked, their force is equivalent to their population and their troops.
Q: How does AI settlement hiring work?
A: AI settlements refresh their list of applicants every hour and will select up to 90 people based on their level and hiring price. If there is a superior candidate and there are limited spaces, you may be replaced.
Q: What affects the equipment of an AI owned settlement?
A: Amount of gold and amount of troops/population.
Q: I sent some gear to an AI owned village but it didn't show up! Is this some sort of bug?
A: Every hour, neutral villages will recalculate the gear they will buy with the gold that they have. In the process, they sell all gear that they have on them for full price in order to buy new gear.
Q: Can I convert strategus gold into cRPG gold?
A: Yes, in large towns you will have to option to "send money to relatives" which converts your strat gold to cRPG gold at a 1 to 10 rate. That is, you will get 10 cRPG gold for every 1 strat gold that you convert. You can also try trading it to other players at a higher rate.
