Territory & Sieges
Towns, castles and keeps change hands by force of arms.
Gloria Victis is built around non-instanced, full-loot open-world PvP fought over a feudal map of player-held holdings. Land is grabbed and kept by guilds acting on behalf of their nation, and the economy hangs off who owns what — so PvP and the economy are inseparable. Players slot into a living feudal society: serve as a vassal, rise to lord, lead a guild, and conquer territory under your own banner to redraw the political map.
Holding types
How a siege plays out
Conquest is hierarchical, not a timer. A town or castle can only be captured after every keep belonging to it has fallen — the attacker has to actually dismantle the holding's support structures first. To open a siege, the attacking side sets up one or more siege camps to field ballistas, trebuchets, rams and ladders. Victory is taking the defender's main flag inside the structure under attack.
Siege equipment
Personal skill wins duels, but siege equipment wins wars. Three engines carry a siege, each crafted from specific resources:
Trebuchet — the wall-breaker. Built from iron ingots (reinforcements and pivots), hardwood boards (the frame — high-tier wood, not green wood), and stones for ammo. Set it up far back; its job is to destroy walls and gatehouses. You cannot take a fortified keep without one.
Ballista — the anti-personnel sniper. Built from oil (the mechanism) and hardwood boards (the bow arms). Place it on high ground or a flank to snipe enemy engineers repairing walls and pick off archers on the battlements.
Supply Wagon — the logistics line. Siege engines are too heavy to carry alongside armor and food, so guilds bring a supply wagon: a mobile chest that hauls the iron ingots and timber needed to build multiple engines through a prolonged siege.
Can I siege anywhere? No. Starter towns and their forts are safe and can't be attacked; sieges happen over contested holdings in the central map.
Why can't I capture a castle directly? Conquest is hierarchical — you must take all of a holding's keeps before the town or castle itself can fall.
What do I need to break a fortified keep? A trebuchet. It's the only thing that reliably brings down walls and gatehouses, which is why it's called the ultimate wall-breaker.
How do guilds sustain a long siege? With a supply wagon hauling the heavy iron and timber, so they can keep building engines instead of running back for materials.
Who owns territory — players or guilds? Guilds, on behalf of their nation. Captured resource nodes then feed every countryman of that nation.