Mobilising Armies

Pre-release info
Over a course of nine months (ever since Jagex announced the development of the game), Jagex has released information on the game, explaining what they were doing with the game.



Mobilising Armies is a members-only real-time strategy minigame in RuneScape released on 8 July 2009. It is a members only miningame. During the minigame, players will use "hand made bows, swords, etc. to equip [their] own armies in 4-player battles", as announced in Future PVP Updates, the Behind the Scenes update of August 2008. .

Jagex originally announced in the November 2008 update that they would release it in December. However, in the December 2008 update, Jagex announced that the release of the minigame would be postponed until 2009. Its current status is that it will be released "in the next few weeks", as of the Mobilising Armies Developers' Blog of 26 June 2009.

It was eventually released on 8 July 2009 along with a new teleport spell, and the Runescape website received a Mobilising Armies themed makeover.

Getting There
The Mobilising Armies command centre is located just west of Oo’glog and can be reached via the Mobilising Armies teleport spell teleport (1x Law rune, 1x Air rune, 1x Water rune required), Spirit Trees, or a Ring of Dueling.

Means of getting there include:


 * Charter Ship to Oo'glog (after As a first resort)


 * Gnome Glider to Feldip Hills (after One Small Favour)


 * Fairy Ring to Feldip Hunter Area (after part of Fairytale II - Cure a Queen)
 * Spirit Tree to Mobilising Armies area (after Tree Gnome Village)
 * Mobilising Army Teleport (level 10 magic required)

Introduction
To start this game, players need to talk to Junior Cadet Mal who is located near the entrance of the game. Players will then be taken through a tutorial where they will have to attack and defeat the enemy. Upon completing the tutorial, a player can begin the mini-game.

How to Play
Firstly, players will need to recruit mercenary squads. This can be done in the North-Eastern building. You can only have a maximum of 10 squads. Then, players will need to buy Special Units. This is located in the South-Eastern building. Players can buy up to five special units, so choose wisely. Now you are ready to start. You need to pay them with gold that you either win playing the game or trading in supplies from training skills to count as gold.



Playing the game
To win the game, the player must defeat the squads of the other 3 players. The winning player will be the player who defeats all the squads or has the most squads at the end of the time limit. If you win, you will increase your ranking by two and if you lose by one. However, there are other ways to win depending on the scenario. For example, in the "Hoard" scenario you can win by being the first to gather 100,000 gold or by defeating the other squads.

Investments
To buy troops and Special Units, you have to first invest commodities. The best way to get lots of investments credits is to trade in useless junk from your skilling, such as unstrung bows, Summoning Scrolls, Tables and Chairs from Construction, etc. Junior Cadet Mal can give you a full list of what are accepted as commodities. The maximum Investment Credits is 500,000.

If you're not having enough junk left over, you can instead buy bronze arrows at the G.E. They sell there for 2 coins each, but Junior Cadet Mal will give you 3 coins each.

Conflict
This is the standard scenario for the game, being the first to be played by all, and the "lowest leveled" scenario. Four teams are placed on a battlefield and must kill each other off, one by one. This version is a "free-for-all".

Siege
As defined by Jagex "In this scenario, victory is gained by defeating your opponents or by breaking into the castle that sits at the centre of the map. To break into the castle, you'll need to breach the walls with a squad or with a catapult. To attack the walls with a squad, use the ‘Attack wall/catapult’ command in your Squad Commands tab and then click on the offending wall (you may also attack an opponent's catapult in this way) or simply left-click the wall. To build a catapult, use the ‘Collect’ command in your Squad Commands tab to gather wheels, wood, rope and limbs from the shipwrecks that are strewn across the shore, or simply left-click the shipwreck. Once all of the catapult parts are collected, a catapult will automatically appear. Use the 'Collect' command to gather 4 rocks from the rockpiles around the map and the catapult will fire at the castle automatically, bringing you closer to victory."

Hoard
As defined by Jagex "This scenario is set at a dragon’s volcano, where you must collect 100,000 gold or defeat your opponents to become the victor. Gold can be collected by using the ‘Cave Collect’ command in your Squad Commands tab or by just left-clicking the cave. In order to collect gold from the dragon, you need at least two squads, one collecting at the cave and another to carry the gold from the cave to the boat. You can also steal gold by killing opponents' squads, and it is worth noting that squads collecting gold are more susceptible to damage."

Rescue
As defined by Jagex "This scenario requires you to be the first to save 28 TzHaar from their steaming fissures. This comes with a new command, 'Rescue'. Click this command and then click on a flailing TzHaar to save them from certain doom, or simply left-click on the TzHaar. You may also steal TzHaar from your opposition by clicking on the 'Steal' command and then an enemy's stock, which is by their command tent and lander on the outskirts of the map."

Rewards
Reward comes in the form of ‘reward credits' and increased Ranks. The number of reward credits you receive after a battle is based on the amount you invested before the battle, and how successful you were. These reward credits can be spent or saved up – they do not disappear when you leave the encampment.

To exchange reward credits, visit the Officer’s Tower in the north-west of the encampment. To begin with, you’ll only be able to access the basement floor, but, as your Rank increases, you’ll be able to access higher levels and the better rewards they contain. After each game, you will also gain two Rank Points for a victory, or one Rank Point for a defeat. These cannot be spent, but, as you gain Ranks, you will be able to unlock more formations, scenarios and squad levels.

Within the tower there are several ways to spend your hard-earned reward credits.

Spoils of War: You may get your mitts on spoils of war - a selection of resources, gold and items that have been plundered from the scenario. The spoils of war improve as you rise up the officers' tower.

Special items: Special items can be bought to help your skills and adventuring outside of the Mobilising Armies encampment. Locators will teleport you to a resource type of your choice, from Mining spots to Woodcutting trees, choosing a specific spot at random. Quest kits are a one-slot container for items you often need in quests, such as rope, chisels, lamps and tinderboxes. According to your Rank, you can also buy various uniforms to show off your Mobilising Armies prowess.

Imbue rings: Certain rings can be imbued, adding combat boosts to them.

Basement(Rank &lt;100)

 * Quest kit (basic)
 * Holds things like tinderboxes, etc.


 * Serjeant's Set (hat, shirt, legs/skirt, gloves, boots)
 * This set gives no stat bonuses.
 * An option to enchant a gold ring to become a gold ring (i). (This gives a stat bonus)


 * Resource Locator (Teleport to resources eg: mining spot, trees, etc...)
 * Has 50 charges before needing to recharge
 * Allows you to teleport to a Copper, Tin, Iron mine. Fish spot #1 (basic fish), Herblore supplies 1 and an oak/willow forest!
 * Higher level Resource Locaters allow you to teleport to higher level things.



Glitches
When talking to sergeant Cole and another player talks at the same time it caused the text to overlay.

A 2 line message will also overlay itself when you try to promote your squads without the required rank.



Trivia

 * One of the cadets is an undercover H.A.M. member if you talk to him with a Ring of Charos.
 * The Elven Cadet Finda is onto a conspiracy and believes she has found "the source". Of what no one is sure.
 * When a player commands one of their squads to move, they ocasionally say, "We like to move it!" This may be a reference to the DreamWorks movie Madagascar, in which a group of lemurs sing repeatedly, "We like to move it, move it!"
 * A Quick Chat phrase; "All your squads are belong to me!" is a reference to a popular Internet meme.

Unintentional leaks


. There was a picture of a spellbook with a teleport below the Home Teleport spell that looks like a castle. This WAS an unintentional leak to Mobilising Armies, but is no longer there.

Shortly after the release, a second update occurred. This caused the clan chat system not to work for a short while. It also made each player's friends list display the message: "Loading... Please Wait", and the ignore list was completely blank.