Welcome to the next round of the Hidden War. After this we will have one more round.

In this round, the Fleet will be launching an all out attack on Skytopia. This time, they will be attempting to invade the core of Skytopia. These will include the 17 central skylands from Earthbreach to Alpha 8. The Fleet wins if they manage to conquer 7 of them. Success will be based on the state of the flags at 11:00 AM Central, Sunday July 18th.

Because the Fleet was not able to win last round, and did not take Valvia, they have an influence penalty to their earning.

At the same time, the Fleet will be attempting to conquer any other skylands they find. Any Skylands they do conquer will NOT be evacuated at the end of the round.

If the Fleet manages to take Valvia, they will receive a large influence boost. If the Fleet manages to take any faction's capital, that faction will receive a severe influence penalty.

~ NEW ~

Additionally, this round will feature a new gameplay mechanic. The Five Winds.

The Fleet will be deploying five very special fleets to assault Skytopia. When at a Skyland, they will erode any Skytopian influence that exists there. Fortunately, Skytopia has managed to figure out a frequency that can lure the Winds away, but the construction of the specialized radio broadcaster is expensive, and tends to burn out the equipment after being used.

To put it in more clear terms, each faction will be given a new ability called "Lure the Wind." When that ability is active on a Skyland, the Fleet will be there decaying Skytopian influence. For an expensive cost, the Faction can 'Lure the Wind' from a skyland where the ability is currently active, to any other Skyland that faction controls. While the Wind is in transit, it will not be decaying influence. Once the Wind lands, it will immediately decay influence by an amount.

The Winds will go into effect July 9th at noon, central. They will initially be placed on each Faction capital.

~ CHANGES ~

We've tweaked the command skyland pages to better show the diminishing return.

~ BUG FIXES ~

Last round, it turns out that some of the effects with diminishing returns were not decrementing properly when they expired. This has been fixed.

~ INCOMING ~

The Five Winds
Addressing the weirdness associated with Purge.
A bonus for the Independents.

We've organized the faction power list to be a bit more sane.

Corrected end date of the round.

Note:

The winds are a bit of a wacky new mechanic. Rather than completely springing it on to you just as we head to a weekend, the first day of active use will be the coming Monday. The Fleet will still be attacking, but you won't have to worry about the Wind...for now.

Enjoy your weekend.