What they are for
Military Strongholds are not just intermediate rewards. They are the territory links that make city captures possible.
Maintained-current Season 1 map guidance says:
- territory expansion begins with a Lv1 Military Stronghold;
- future Strongholds must connect to currently controlled territory;
- a City requires a direct territorial connection through a controlled Military Stronghold.
Daily capture limit
High-confidence current Season 1 guidance:
- 2 Military Stronghold captures per day.
Current retained evidence also confirms that this limit is independent of the 2-city-declaration limit later in the season.
Player-facing rule:
Your alliance can capture up to 2 Military Strongholds per day. City declarations use a separate limit.
Holding limit
Maintained-current map guidance:
- base Stronghold holding limit: 3;
- each Lv1–Lv5 City adds +1 Stronghold slot;
- each Lv6 City adds +2 Stronghold slots.
This is strategically important because a City is not only a destination — it can expand the number of Strongholds the alliance is allowed to maintain.
Confidence: maintained-current / strong corroboration. Keep the live City List as final authority if the game displays a different current cap.
Neutral capture flow
Maintained-current structure:
- Identify the Stronghold required for the intended route.
- Clear the surrounding zombies/guards needed to begin the siege.
- Defeat the Polluter/defender.
- Complete the capture.
- Protection begins.
- Use the new Stronghold as the next link in the territory chain.
Virus Resistance matters heavily during this process. Stronghold defenders can punish low-Resistance squads even when displayed squad power looks sufficient.
Rally Resistance rule
The Season 1 evidence set supports the same decision-useful rally principle already used in BlackBar Gaming:
Use the highest useful Virus Resistance player as rally leader.
Lower-Resistance participants can benefit from the leader's Resistance floor under the current mechanic; a participant with higher Resistance keeps their higher value.
Protection
Protection is now an explicit rollout conflict:
- target modern Serum deployment, firsthand: 36 hours;
- newer retained S1 client wording: 60 hours.
Public rule: do not universalize either duration. Show the live Stronghold protection countdown as final authority and version-stamp any static reference.
Abandoning a Stronghold
Maintained-current map guidance:
- only R4/R5 can abandon controlled Stronghold territory;
- abandonment takes 1 hour.
This deserves an R4/R5 warning: abandoning a Stronghold can break the route needed for a City or later foreign expansion.
Stronghold common mistakes
- Capturing the easiest target rather than the target needed for the route.
- Using both daily captures before checking the next City unlock.
- Abandoning a Stronghold that is still the connection to a City.
- Sending the highest-power player as rally leader instead of the highest useful Resistance leader.
- Treating the Stronghold holding cap as fixed when Cities can expand it.
- Failing to track the live Stronghold protection window.
