Conquest





Conquest is a members-only activity released on 25 August 2010 as an addition to the Void Knights quest series. Like Pest Control, the other activity which is playable from the Void Knights' Outpost, the only requirement for Conquest is 40 Combat. It is a safe activity and players themselves cannot die at all. It rewards commendation points the same as in Pest Control, though in higher quantities. There is an additional reward unique to Conquest called the Void knight deflector.

It is a turn-based strategy game which is similar to a combination of Blood Bowl and Chess (20x20 squares board) where the player challenges another player with a select few units. The goal is to kill all the opponent's units. Different units have different Damage, Range, LP, and Movement Rates.

The worlds usually used for this activity are the same as pest control's worlds, 53, 69, 115.

Location
This activity is located on the Void Knights' Outpost which can be reached from Port Sarim by talking to the squire.

Inside the building is the Conquest Training facility with Knight Dorian and his assistant Captain Ethar. Inside the building, players may exchange points and manage a team similar to Mobilising Armies.

You can also get there by buying a spinner, torcher, ravanger or shifter pouch and a scroll for one of the chosen and use the special move on the summoning familiar, you need a Summoning level of 34 to summon these creatures



Waiting Rooms
There are two waiting rooms located downstairs.

Auto Matching Room

 * Has a green door.
 * Will pair players at random based on rank (paired with the closest rank).
 * Games have a turn period of 1 minute.
 * No stakes can be made.

Invite Room

 * Has a red door.
 * Players manually choose who to challenge.
 * The challenged player chooses the duration from 30 seconds to 3 minutes in intervals of 30 seconds.
 * Stakes can be made similar to the Duel Arena.

Pre-Game setup
By default, everything is ready to play, though customizing your units and commands is a must for any successful player. Players have a set number of squad resources (1000), and as it starts by default, players cannot have any more units. If players want to make more units, they can remove other units. A good way to start is to remove all units and then create your own custom setup. You can also set your commands, up to four maximum.

In addition to choosing the units and commands you will use, you can also change your starting formation. You are limited to the first three rows on your side, but can use them anyway you'd like. For example, you might put your units with poor value blocking access to units with higher value.

Once ready to start, you can easily go to either the challenge or auto-match rooms to begin your game.

Gameplay
Conquest is a turn-based, player-vs-player, tactical war game. The initial premise is similar to the real-world game Chess, though it differs in many key areas. The player is put in command of a squad of Void Knights. Every person gets the same amount of resources to build his squad with, and can do so by talking to Knight Dorian. Players are able to choose their troops and their starting formation, and they can also pick a number of powerful special Commands. You can start this activity by speaking to Captain Ethar.

Each turn is split into four segments, or Phases: selection, movement, combat, and rally. In the selection phase, the player may choose a unit to use that turn, a display will come up showing movement range and possible attack targets. The movement phase allows movement until the unit's movement attribute has reached 0 or the player wishes to move no further. The combat phase allows the player to attack a unit with his selected unit or end his turn. The rally phase allows the player to assess the situation before ending the turn and assign any final commands for the turn.

Commands can be used in any phases during the player's turn. A player can call up the "details" on a unit anytime during a match. This will show the units attributes as well as any commands it may be under the effect of.

Units


There are several units available for deployment in Conquest, and the player begins with the ability to deploy all of them, though there are also hybrid-units available for purchase from Knight Dorian. Units are commanded in Conquest through the use of clicking on them and instructing them on where to go, in much the same way as the Mobilising Armies activity released in 2009.

Different units have different strengths and weaknesses, and strategies are needed in order to exploit both one's own units' strengths, and the enemy units' weaknesses. Each unit has stats which fall into five categories, viewed by selecting the unit one wishes to know the stats of and clicking "Details". Units have stats in each of the following categories; Movement, which represents how many squares a unit can travel across per turn, Damage, indicating how many life points' worth of damage to enemy soldiers, Health, the number of life points the unit has and can survive being hit for, Range, how many squares away from an enemy the unit can attack from, and Cost, indicating how many Points each unit is worth and can be recruited for.

Scout


"Scouts are fast, lightly-armoured troops, ideal for out-maneuvering enemy formations." With great speed and movement, scouts are often deployed first in Conquest battles. They are poor fighters, but can move great distances and are ideal for attacking enemy ranged units such as Archers. When battle cry is used on them they can take out all units except a champion making them the second most deadly unit behind a champion.

Foot Soldier


"Next, we have the Foot Soldier. These well-rounded troops form the backbone of your command force." Foot Soldiers are good all-round recruits and can hold their own in fights against the majority of enemy soldiers. Their damage, however, is not up to the same standards as Knights or Champions, and they can be easily overcome.

Halberdier


"Halberdiers are highly effective when deployed correctly; with their long reach, they can halt an enemy advance before they come in on your troops." The only melee troop with a range of more than one, Halberdiers can easily cut down enemy Foot Soldiers and Knights before they get close enough to do much damage.

Archer


"Archers have the longest range of your troops. Deploy them wisely, however: they can be overwhelmed in close combat." Archers are the primary ranged soldier in the Conquest activity, and can give the player the upper-hand if deployed on enemy units before they reach a player's ranks. They are, however, weak in close combat, and have few life points.

Mage


"Sacrificing range for increased devastation, the Mage can be a deadly addition to your forces - if you can protect them from incoming attacks." The Mage is a good fighter, though they cannot fire as far as the Archer. Their blasts are destructive and can fell most units, though again, their hand-to-hand prowess is lacking.

Knight


"Both stoic and powerful, the Knight can hold the line against hordes of lesser foes." Knights are a good defensive unit, and can hold the line against enemies. They also hit fairly high, and can fell most enemy soldiers before they have much of a chance to fight back. However they can be easily overwhelmed by all pieces if battle cry is used and if used against a good player you will not get to use them before they are lost.

Champion


"Finally, the Champion can decimate an opposing force single handed. Truly, they are a sight to behold in the midst of battle." Champions are, without a doubt, the strongest unit on the battlefield. Their movement is somewhat lacking, but they pack a punch, and few units can survive more than a hit from them. Though they must be wary of ranged units, if encountered toe-to-toe, it is likely the Champion will come out on top.

It can be beneficial to use a wider range of units to counter various units you may encounter.

In an update made on 12 October 2010, the lifepoints of a Champion were reduced from 600 to 500.

Post-Game
After each game, a player will gain or lose ranking depending upon the game's outcome. Much like in other ranked activities, the amount of rank won or lost depends upon the two player's rankings. In the event of a truce, if it was nearly a tie (as most truces would have, such as a stalemate between two units), generally both players lose a small amount of rank. If one player was winning, then that player will likely receive more ranking.

Ranking and commendation points are different things, and you cannot lose commendations. However, ranking starts at 1000 and can rise or fall based on wins. A rank of 1250 is needed to get the Void Knight Deflector and to be ranked on the hiscores; on top of that, having a rank of 1250 is one of the requirements needed to get a trimmed Completionist cape. Therefore, is undesirable to lose ranks.

There are currently 41,157 people ranked above 1250 on the hiscores as of 16 November 2011.

Rewards
Every time you play Conquest, both players are awarded Commendations (as earned from playing Pest Control) which can be exchanged to the void knights for a variety of options, such as Combat Exp, or Void Gear. The amount each player will earn from playing a game of Conquest works as follows...

When both players begin playing, the game starts counting the number of rounds between players. NOTE: If the game ends too early, either by early truce, resignation, or army elimination, then neither player will gain or lose rating, and both will gain no commendations.

Depending on the number of turns between players, both winner and loser are given the same number of commendations, which is a number between 1-10, and the more turns in the game, the higher number of commendations are awarded. This is their Commendation Ratio. Both players are given the same Commendation Ratio, as both played the same game of that length of time. This number is then multiplied...

...by 2, (as the Beginner Pest Control Boat) if the Player is between Combat Levels 40-69. All players within this range of combat levels gain 2,4,6,8,10... to 20 commendations in any game. 20 is their maximum.

...by 3 (as the Intermediate Pest Control Boat) if the player is between Combat Levels 70-99. All players within this range of combat levels gain 3,6,9,12,15.... to 30 commendations in any game. 30 is their maximum.

...or by 4 (as the Expert Pest Control Boat) if the player is Combat Level 100 or above. All players within this range of combat levels gain 4,8,12,16,20.... to 40 commendations in any game. 40 is their maximum.

This is established by all of the following...
 * When someone announces they have won a game and received only 16 commendations, where the loser states they have gained 24 commendations, then dividing both numbers by 8, gives you 2 and 3. As when someone wins and gains 30 commendations, and someone who loses gains 40 commendations, dividing both numbers by 10 gives 3 and 4. This also explains why a winner, who gains 40 commendations, can earn equal commendations to their loser, whom also gained 40. Players do not gain any bonus commendations for winning the game. Commendations only fluctuate when the two players have remarkably different combat levels.
 * Conquest is a minigame where Combat Skills can be trained by exchanging your commendations for experience. If a Combat Level 40 gained equal commendations, or even more, than a Combat Level 115, then if the lower level chose to, he or she can train any combat skill just as quickly (or quicker) than the level 115. Similar to barring lower levels from entering higher boats in Pest Control, Jagex had chosen to lower the multiplier of the lower combat levels to avoid unfair level advancements.
 * Commendations cannot be awarded beyond 10 before multiplied. This is why, that a level 69 never gains more than 20, a level 99 cannot gain more than 30, and a level 138 never gains more than 40 commendations.
 * 3:00 games have not awarded maximum commendations for fully running the clock for 30 minutes (therefore only allowing 5 turns each for both players).

Example: A level 85, with a rating of 2500, plays a level 112, with a rating of 1311. The controls were, a non-staked Conquest, with 1:00 per move each. After about 19 rounds, the level 85 wins the game by eliminating all enemy units. The 85 gains 11 rating, and the 112 lost the 11 rating. The Commendation Ratio is 7: so the level 85 (3 X 7) gains 21 commendations, and the 112 (4 X 7) gains 28 commendations. So, despite winning, the 85 gains less commendations than the 112, but they both originally had 7 to start with.

Therefore, contrary to all popular opinions, the clock itself is irrelevant, as is rating, and winning the game does not increase the commendations. Only Combat Level directly changes the number of commendations between the two players; which is the same commendation number the two initially started with before multiplied by the players modifier. NOTE: The ONLY exception where a player does not gain any commendations after a long enough game of Conquest, is after a certain player logs out during a game, or lags out and is kicked out of the server (and the other player accepts the victory request before the player is able to return to Runescape).

Trivia

 * The Commendations count as currency even at other Void Knights, so you can earn Commendations during the Pest Control activity as well.
 * Commendations are shown as Pest Points while on a lander.
 * On the day of release, a bug occurred where mid way, or at the end of the game it would freeze up and would tell the players the game is ending, some players who suffered from this bug received a rating bonus.
 * All units have the new texture facial features such as eyes, mouth and nose.
 * If a player says "power leveling" that means that you will be able to play against the player and he will let you win. In order to get ranking and Commendation Points from "power levelling", you need to perform at least 11 actions (you also need a variety of actions, i.e.: attacking, commands, moving, and killing something from both sides), otherwise neither player will receive commendatons points or a higher ranking within the game.
 * During a game of conquest, you cannot remove your Map Marker by right clicking the map symbol.
 * After release there was a bug where if you used stoicism and regenerate on the same unit at one time, the extra lifepoints that stoicism should only give temporarily, would stay permanently until an enemy unit damaged the bugged unit back down to its normal lifepoints. This bug was quickly fixed a couple of days after release.
 * Many players believe that 2+ champion set-up may be unbalanced, leading to Jagex reducing the champion's lp down to 500 from 600. As they may now be killed in two hits from most teams (or 1 if there is a knight or champion involved) they are now much less powerful than before, and less of a destabilising factor.
 * There is a glitch when using the command "shield wall" on a troop the icon will change from a shield with a void knight symbol on it to one that is almost identical to the Falador Shield 2 from the task system.
 * The Conquest Tutorial is one of the requirements for The Void Stares Back quest.
 * On 12 October 2010, Champions received a slight cut to their health, so as to better balance them against other units. Currently, this cut is not displayed in the game manual.
 * As for 29 October 2010, there is a glitch when entering the rooms, the barrier cuts the character's body, this has not been repaired, but only happens occasionally.
 * There used to be a glitch that allowed players below combat level 40 to play conquest and get commendations. You could ask to take the tutorial, and then click "end tutorial" on the first stage, and you would end up in the conquest waiting room, fully able to play and get rating. However it was fixed about a month after release. Now if you try to take the tutorial below 40 combat it just says you do not have enough combat experience, and to come back and take the tutorial when you do.
 * When disconnected (but successfully re-established connection), you were unable to use commands. This glitch has not yet been fixed.
 * When examining the Floor during a Conquest Battle, you receive a silly message like this "This is for standing on."
 * On the 5th of January 2012 players who had abused a bug to gain a massive amount of rank had their rank reset and are no longer able to gain rank. If you play them, no rank will be affected from anyone, however Commendations can still be obtained.

Conquest