Guild Wars 2

What do you think would happen when something big like the whole Flame Legion army attacked capital cities? Which one would survive?
Hoelbrak, The Grove and Divinity’s Reach seem to have no defence at all. Black Citadel has turrets and snipers everywhere, not to mention tanks (kitten I wish we could see their true power in action). Rata Sum probably has many tricks to deal with the enemy so the asura seems to be safe.

The Grove is filled with Wardens and Divinity’s Reach has the Seraph.

And of course, Hoelbrak has terrain advantage.

Sylvari’s live connection to the Pale Tree will also bring most of the entire race back home to defend it, so by pure manpower they’d probably win.

Divinity’s reach also has the elite Shining Blade at their disposal.

Hoelbrak is a city filled with warriors. Very few civilian-type people exist, so although I think they might struggle more than the others due to their lack of cohesion (“Norn don’t have armies”), they’d still come out victorious.

Divinity’s Reach is a walled city and full of guards and soldiers, they should do pretty well against an invasion, considering they are the last major human stronghold and all that.

The grove seems to be set in a pretty hard to reach location, surrounded by jungle and all that. As someone mentioned all sylvari are connected in some way and would know if the Pale Tree was in trouble. Plus I would imagine she has powers of her own, not the least of which is the ability to “give birth” to a massive number of fully grown soldiers…

Hoelbrak is full of norns. Any army stupid enough to invade will find out what that means.

Have you ever looked at Divinity’s Reach from the outside? It’s surrounded by an utterly massive wall, possibly even bigger than Ascalon’s Great Wall was back in the day, and that held back the entire charr nation for generations. The internal layout also has some potential for extra defence, with walls and gates between each section. They could rig up some barricades across the open roads relatively easily so an invading enemy would have to take the city one section at a time.

Same goes for the Black Citadel. If I remember correctly that doesn’t have one a solid wall so much as buildings all around the perimeter, and it also has more gates (which are traditionally weak points), but then it’s also got most of the Iron Legion and several of their allies inside it. And I can’t help thinking if anyone did attack we might find all those jokes about the Core looking like the Death Star weren’t so far off the mark after all.

Hoelbrak as someone already said has geography going for it. It doesn’t have walls but it does have mountains all around it which give it just two easily accessible entrances. Also whilst they might be able to get into the map I’d imagine any invading army would have an extremely hard time getting into the lodges themselves once the doors are closed and barricaded and the ramps leading up to the Great Lodge would also give the defenders an advantage. (“Fighting an uphill battle” is a metaphor for doing the virtually impossible for a reason.) As long as the norn have supplies to outlast the resulting siege they’d be fine, and being norn I doubt it’d be a matter of waiting for their enemies to give up and go home so much as making the siege so costly in lives and supplies that they can’t afford to keep it up.

Rata Sum…well, all they’d have to do is close off the gates and attacking the place would be frankly laughable. You’re trying to invade a cube, floating above the ground on one corner with all the entrances hundreds of feet up. Good luck. Oh, also golems.

The Grove seems like the weakest of the lot, it has no walls and is fairly accessible by land and probably by sea (we can’t approach it that way and can’t really see clearly but it does seem to be the case) but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if that was extremely deceptive. Remember a lot of the Grove is actually the Pale Tree herself, and everything which isn’t was grown and shaped by the sylvari. I suspect she can move a lot more and a lot faster than a typical tree, so any invaders may just find the ‘paths’ they’re on have suddenly sent them straight into their enemies, or back the way they came, or tipped up and dropped them hundreds of feet to the jungle floor. Not to mention other possible defences like thorns, poison, and the sylvari themselves.

And on top of all that all these cities are allied with each other and have asuran gates to Lion’s Arch and standing armies of one sort or another. Send a few messengers out and almost instantly you’ve got reinforcements on their way in.

I like to see a “dark” version of the cities a lot like what FF11 had. Some what the idea of what the cities would be like if the “worst” happen and the faction that is mainly fighting that race takes over the cities.

Well nobody will get through the Black Citadels defenses. See all those seemingly innocent cubs running around? Load them into cannons and watch the enemy run in fear while its raining kittens.

I think Divinity Reach defenses got a little problem: Do you remember the vista at the giant hole in one of the districts? At this part the wall got a huge gap there.

Danikat.8537:

~snip~

Nice thinking!

Dawdler.8521:

Well nobody will get through the Black Citadels defenses. See all those seemingly innocent cubs running around? Load them into cannons and watch the enemy run in fear while its raining kittens.

Lmao.

pessimist.7294:

I think Divinity Reach defenses got a little problem: Do you remember the vista at the giant hole in one of the districts? At this part the wall got a huge gap there.

Don’t be such a pessimist! Oh wait…

pessimist.7294:

I think Divinity Reach defenses got a little problem: Do you remember the vista at the giant hole in one of the districts? At this part the wall got a huge gap there.

That’s true, and I’m mildly surprised they’ve made no effort to fix it (although if I’ve understood the NPCs correctly the collapse had just happened when the game was released and the city has been kind of frozen ever since), but it’s still not a great place to invade.

If I remember right there’s quite a steep climb up to the base of the wall from the outside, since the whole city is built up on a peninsula over a lake. And on the other side you’ve got a bloody great hole with a very narrow and probably unstable path around it. At best you’d have one or two small columns of invaders coming in.

It could be great for a sneak attack though.

pessimist.7294:

I think Divinity Reach defenses got a little problem: Do you remember the vista at the giant hole in one of the districts? At this part the wall got a huge gap there.

Need to look at the glass half full.
That gap leads into the Great Collapse, it’s incredibly unstable. So an army going in that way will likely shake sections of it loose just from feet marching. Que army being dumped into Tyria’s largest oubliette.
Scouts on the other hand, or saboteurs might be an issue. Having archers on the rope bridge and regular patrols with Krytan Hounds would slow that down.

I havn’t logged into the forums in a while, but this topic certainly caught my attention. This is a pretty cool topic, Mathog.

It would be awesome to see some kind of invasion across each major city. It would really be interesting to watch how each race defend their home cities and what tactics would be used.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

pessimist.7294:

I think Divinity Reach defenses got a little problem: Do you remember the vista at the giant hole in one of the districts? At this part the wall got a huge gap there.

Yeah, someone should fix that someday.

I can hear everyone’s brains ticking over all around the world.

zenleto.6179:

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

pessimist.7294:

I think Divinity Reach defenses got a little problem: Do you remember the vista at the giant hole in one of the districts? At this part the wall got a huge gap there.

Yeah, someone should fix that someday.

I can hear everyone’s brains ticking over all around the world.

lol

zenleto.6179:

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

pessimist.7294:

I think Divinity Reach defenses got a little problem: Do you remember the vista at the giant hole in one of the districts? At this part the wall got a huge gap there.

Yeah, someone should fix that someday.

I can hear everyone’s brains ticking over all around the world.

One of the official announcements mentioned that future Living Story releases would include more permanent changes to the game world.

Ascalon was a well defended city with terrain of mountains assisting with the castle walls.

Unfortunately a siege is meant to barricade and cause attrition to those trapped inside. Thus winning the long fight. The Charr would have won the fight if it wasn’t for the searing.

That said, any of these cities are vulnerable to attack, it just depends on the tenacity and resources of the attacker.

Never assume you are unbeatable…that is when you become vulnerable to failure.

Mathog.3157:

What do you think would happen when something big like the whole Flame Legion army attacked capital cities? Which one would survive?
Hoelbrak, The Grove and Divinity’s Reach seem to have no defence at all. Black Citadel has turrets and snipers everywhere, not to mention tanks (kitten I wish we could see their true power in action). Rata Sum probably has many tricks to deal with the enemy so the asura seems to be safe.

Divinity’s Reach has no defense? Umm… you’ve seen those walls surrounding the city, right?

tolunart.2095:

zenleto.6179:

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

pessimist.7294:

I think Divinity Reach defenses got a little problem: Do you remember the vista at the giant hole in one of the districts? At this part the wall got a huge gap there.

Yeah, someone should fix that someday.

I can hear everyone’s brains ticking over all around the world.

One of the official announcements mentioned that future Living Story releases would include more permanent changes to the game world.

Yes, I know. Thanks. I was implying that people are going to go into a fun overdrive thinking about what sort things will go into “fixing” the hole.

(edit: see Siphaed’s post below)

Defense would be probably the hordes of ExP loot hungry scrubs.

darkace.8925:

Mathog.3157:

What do you think would happen when something big like the whole Flame Legion army attacked capital cities? Which one would survive?
Hoelbrak, The Grove and Divinity’s Reach seem to have no defence at all. Black Citadel has turrets and snipers everywhere, not to mention tanks (kitten I wish we could see their true power in action). Rata Sum probably has many tricks to deal with the enemy so the asura seems to be safe.

Divinity’s Reach has no defense? Umm… you’ve seen those walls surrounding the city, right?

I wouldn’t rely too much on walls! Prophecies clearly showed me that. First when a bandit used the fire storm aoe on me (sending me to the nearest res shrine free of charge, very nice of him) and then when the charr aoed the whole of Ascalon.

They do look nice, so I guess they have a certain decorative value..

x).

Humans are pretty much standard castle. but the two i think would be the hardest to invade would be Asura and Charr.

Asura are jungle on one side and the ocean on the other, not to mention the high tech Asuras have at their disposal..

The Charr would probably welcome a war on the black citedal, they’d be the only race that would actually enjoy the attempt on their city..

I don’t really understand where the charr got the black citadel from anyway.

I know they started out really tribal and basic, then the humans came in and took over. The charr then turned to war technology and developed fast enough to fight back and have been trying to reclaim their lands in ascalon.

The black citadel looks more early asuran in nature as it is so mechanical and looks like a space ship. Yet the asurans use a more glyphic rock/machine/magic look and come from below the ground.

It just feels like the Charr were bestowed machinery from a third party than something they developed purely on their own.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

pessimist.7294:

I think Divinity Reach defenses got a little problem: Do you remember the vista at the giant hole in one of the districts? At this part the wall got a huge gap there.

Yeah, someone should fix that someday.

Okay, time to way over stretch your meaning of what you’d said……

“Today, in a forum post, developer Anthony Ordon confirmed that GW2 will be seeing a major structural change to city Divinity’s Reach. In particular, the district that formerly was known as the ‘Canthan District’ -currently nothing more than a giant sink hole- will be fixed. The destroyed wall will be rebuilt and the sink hole area to be rebuilt in one of two ways: either a platform area built with structural supports above the hole, or just to rebuild the area around the hole and the wall around that.

Although the post made no mention of turning the sink hole into a dungeon related to the catacombs underneath the city (read Ghosts of Ascalon for source), there was no denying of it either. Speculation is still there that the players will see another ghost-based dungeon zone sometime in the future. The dungeon would also have water-based sections and fights because, as players already well know, the sink hole is partially flooded with water.

We’ll have more information as it comes. Attempts to contact developer Anthony Ordon for further clarification have not been answered at time of this post."

CMF.5461:

I don’t really understand where the charr got the black citadel from anyway.

I know they started out really tribal and basic, then the humans came in and took over. The charr then turned to war technology and developed fast enough to fight back and have been trying to reclaim their lands in ascalon.

The black citadel looks more early asuran in nature as it is so mechanical and looks like a space ship. Yet the asurans use a more glyphic rock/machine/magic look and come from below the ground.

It just feels like the Charr were bestowed machinery from a third party than something they developed purely on their own.

That’s because most (if not all) hostile charr you encounter in GW1 are flame legion. And those are the magical god worshiping/fearing sort who doesn’t use technology. The Iron Legion (who specialise in war machines) moved in after the Ascolonians fell, resulting in the Black Citadel.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

pessimist.7294:

I think Divinity Reach defenses got a little problem: Do you remember the vista at the giant hole in one of the districts? At this part the wall got a huge gap there.

Yeah, someone should fix that someday.

Yeah . That hole need some asiant-y buildings .

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Yeah, someone should fix that someday.

And rebuild canthan district?

Wishful thinking aside,

Each of the main cities is very well defended.

Divinity’s reach
giant walls and lots of soldiers. Unfortunately it seems they took the traditional castle style defense, when enemies come close the gate and hold out inside. Hence why centaurs can make such nearby incursions.

Hoelbrak
Natural defenses is the primary mode of defense. Only two entrances to this city from the southeast. Beyond this all of the greatest norn heroes live there. So essentially an army of legendaries.

The Grove
Wardens are the visible defense, however I do believe the grove has some natural defenders as well. Oakhearts, Grubs, and seed turrets, there is likely an army of plants and animals ready to spring into action at word of an approaching army.

Black Citadel
This is just one big military base. Turrets, snipers, tanks, and waves and waves of char soldiers.

Rata Sum
On the approach of a hostile army the asuran gates to the outside would likely be shut down. This means any army better have wings if they want to even attack the city. If they ever did get inside an army of golems and skilled asuran fighters await them.

I would love to see these cities defenses put to the test of an actual army. (dragon minions maybe?) Personally, I did really feel let down when it said the molten alliance where supposed to be invading charr and norn but we never saw a big battle to defend the cities.

Halcyon.3981:

CMF.5461:

I don’t really understand where the charr got the black citadel from anyway.

I know they started out really tribal and basic, then the humans came in and took over. The charr then turned to war technology and developed fast enough to fight back and have been trying to reclaim their lands in ascalon.

The black citadel looks more early asuran in nature as it is so mechanical and looks like a space ship. Yet the asurans use a more glyphic rock/machine/magic look and come from below the ground.

It just feels like the Charr were bestowed machinery from a third party than something they developed purely on their own.

That’s because most (if not all) hostile charr you encounter in GW1 are flame legion. And those are the magical god worshiping/fearing sort who doesn’t use technology. The Iron Legion (who specialise in war machines) moved in after the Ascolonians fell, resulting in the Black Citadel.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Charr#History
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Charr#History

I understand the difference between flame legion, blood legion, ash legion, and iron legion. Still the development from early stages to now is pretty significant in leaps and bounds.

Still, maybe it is me reading into it that I assume the charr did not have advanced technology earlier in development. It just seems through culture and history that they were less advanced and more tribal until now.

Ebonhawke has done pretty well so I think Divinity’s defense style would be pretty OK too.

CMF.5461:

Halcyon.3981:

CMF.5461:

I don’t really understand where the charr got the black citadel from anyway.

I know they started out really tribal and basic, then the humans came in and took over. The charr then turned to war technology and developed fast enough to fight back and have been trying to reclaim their lands in ascalon.

The black citadel looks more early asuran in nature as it is so mechanical and looks like a space ship. Yet the asurans use a more glyphic rock/machine/magic look and come from below the ground.

It just feels like the Charr were bestowed machinery from a third party than something they developed purely on their own.

That’s because most (if not all) hostile charr you encounter in GW1 are flame legion. And those are the magical god worshiping/fearing sort who doesn’t use technology. The Iron Legion (who specialise in war machines) moved in after the Ascolonians fell, resulting in the Black Citadel.

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Charr#History
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Charr#History

I understand the difference between flame legion, blood legion, ash legion, and iron legion. Still the development from early stages to now is pretty significant in leaps and bounds.

Still, maybe it is me reading into it that I assume the charr did not have advanced technology earlier in development. It just seems through culture and history that they were less advanced and more tribal until now.

Not only that – they were an ancient race (as old as the Forgotten), that was still primitive and tribal at the time of Guild Wars 1. It seems highly unlikely that their sudden technological tendencies and advancements, incredibly fast when compared to their previous history, were natural (and not an effect of some mysterious outside influence).

I’m still playing with the thought of an army siegeing DR with half of their army while the other half is making a shock attack on LA and rush through the asura gate there to backstab the defenders. Man what a slaughter it will be.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

pessimist.7294:

I think Divinity Reach defenses got a little problem: Do you remember the vista at the giant hole in one of the districts? At this part the wall got a huge gap there.

Yeah, someone should fix that someday.

Ahh tease…

On the charr – I’m not sure we can say they were as old as the Forgotten. They were contemporary to the Forgotten, but that was right after they’d stopped being an essentially tribal race and become an empire, and even then it seems to have been not long before humans arrived. So it’s not like they’ve had thousands of years of stagnation and then BAM – charr civilisation is probably not more than two, at most three millenia old, which is younger than human Earth civilisation..

More significantly, on the technology thing, we do have a couple of words from ArenaNet on the issue:

First, the charr did get a bit of a headstart by poking over dwarven ruins.

Second, the current charr focus on technology comes from turning their back on magic. Under the Shamans, it’s likely that pretty much any charr with talent got snapped up for magical training (if male) or not allowed to do much of anything at all (female). Post-revolution, the allied legions, while not abandoning magic entirely, have been focusing on doing as much as possible without magic – leading both to more impetus to develop non-magical solutions (increasing demand for technology) and to more talented charr that are choosing to use their minds to do other things, such as inventing, rather than studying magic (increasing supply).

With all these factors, the charr industrial revolution makes sense. Where humans, for instance, were content with still largely relying on magic, the charr as a culture have had a big push to go in a different direction.

CMF.5461:

Ascalon was a well defended city with terrain of mountains assisting with the castle walls.

Unfortunately a siege is meant to barricade and cause attrition to those trapped inside. Thus winning the long fight. The Charr would have won the fight if it wasn’t for the searing.

That said, any of these cities are vulnerable to attack, it just depends on the tenacity and resources of the attacker.

Never assume you are unbeatable…that is when you become vulnerable to failure.

The point of a siege is to starve the enemy out. When you’re talking about something like the Great Wall, it’s not just one city in there with whatever happens to be in its storehouses, but half of an entire nation complete with farmlands, fisheries, and good water supplies would have been able to hold out until and unless a significant charr force could get through the Wall.

zargnath.9524:

I’m still playing with the thought of an army siegeing DR with half of their army while the other half is making a shock attack on LA and rush through the asura gate there to backstab the defenders. Man what a slaughter it will be.

As far as I know, Asura don’t let military forces use their portals. And I imagine they’d just have to press a single button to shut down the connection from either side.

Saturn.6591:

zargnath.9524:

I’m still playing with the thought of an army siegeing DR with half of their army while the other half is making a shock attack on LA and rush through the asura gate there to backstab the defenders. Man what a slaughter it will be.

As far as I know, Asura don’t let military forces use their portals. And I imagine they’d just have to press a single button to shut down the connection from either side.

That is true. But if we simply make them unable to press the button, what then? Warfare is more than just rush straight into battle.

Lion’s Arch is hardly defenseless itself. Odds are that to get enough forces to the gate to severely compromise the defenses of Divinity’s Reach, you’re going to get enough opposition from the Lionguard and other interested parties to give the gate teams the opportunity to shut down the gates.

Furthermore, there may be a lore/mechanics disconnect when it comes to the gates. We’re shown each gate being on permanently connected to a specific other gate for player convenience, but in the books (Ghosts of Ascalon as one example) the gates are only activated for short periods when travelers wish to pass through. Presumably, our PCs are viewed as important enough to be able to get a gate going at their convenience, but the gates aren’t left running all the time, and are, in fact, actually supposed to be expensive to run. So it’s not a matter of quietly slipping in during dark of night when everyone is drowsy or asleep and simply running for the gate and/or neutralising the tenders before they shut it down – you would either need to directly subvert the gate operators (at both ends) or time your attack for a gate’s scheduled active time – when it’s probably akittens most heavily defended, doubly so if the gate leads to a city that’s already under attack.

It’s almost certainly possible to sneak in a few agents beforehand, at least if the attackers are of a race that isn’t going to attract undue attention in the target city. But I don’t think it’s practical to set up a scenario where half of your army besieges the target city, while the other half blitzkreigs through Lion’s Arch and rushes the gate.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

pessimist.7294:

I think Divinity Reach defenses got a little problem: Do you remember the vista at the giant hole in one of the districts? At this part the wall got a huge gap there.

Yeah, someone should fix that someday.

Cantha expansion confirmed! Woot!

VOLKON.1290:

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

pessimist.7294:

I think Divinity Reach defenses got a little problem: Do you remember the vista at the giant hole in one of the districts? At this part the wall got a huge gap there.

Yeah, someone should fix that someday.

Cantha expansion confirmed! Woot!

Aha! Ahaha…aha…ahh
You don’t know what you’re doing to me, Anthony. You just don’t

Don’t forget that Divinity’s Reach also has an Asura Gate to Ebonhold. So they can get some reinforcements from there too.

On the other hand, that could be a good tactic for the Charr. Attack DR, forcing them to draw on Ebonhold for reinforcements and supplies, thereby weakening EH. The Charr then launch their main attack on EH while their feint attack on DR keeps them busy. With EH the main focus, the Charr could topple it, close the gate, and take back the last vestige of Ascalon from the humans.

CMF.5461:

I don’t really understand where the charr got the black citadel from anyway.

They Stole it from Darth Vader. That or it’s Cybertron..

Kiayin.3427:

darkace.8925:

Divinity’s Reach has no defense? Umm… you’ve seen those walls surrounding the city, right?

I wouldn’t rely too much on walls! Prophecies clearly showed me that. First when a bandit used the fire storm aoe on me (sending me to the nearest res shrine free of charge, very nice of him) and then when the charr aoed the whole of Ascalon.

They do look nice, so I guess they have a certain decorative value..

x).

Exactly. We all know that the enemy will ALWAYS find a way to go through any mountain or wall (Claw Island lol). We should talk about how races can defend themselves inside their cities. That’s why I think only Black Citadel and Rata Sum have any chances.

Dante.1508:

CMF.5461:

I don’t really understand where the charr got the black citadel from anyway.

They Stole it from Darth Vader. That or it’s Cybertron..

Or maybe a prototype of an Utu-class planetoid.

I’d rank them in the following order. While the first two earned their spots by being quite a bit above the others, I think the last three spots are a tough call, and I don’t think any of the cities would be a pushover.

1.) Rata Sum – The terrain advantage is huge, yeah. They’d withdraw from the docks, close down any non-essential gates, and anyone climbing the side of the cube would be picked off by guns and bows long before they approached the top. The racial preoccupation with making mechanical war machines sure helps too.

2.) The Black Citadel – The population is Tyria’s largest known standing army. The whole place is packed full of artillery and war machines, and designed with significant thought towards defense. An enemy could actually reach them, unlike Rata Sum, but that enemy would regret it.

3.) Divinity’s Reach – That big outer wall is formidable, but that’s pretty much it. There’s no point control actually inside the city, with multiple paths between each outer district and the inner courtyard being totally indefensible. Also a huge densely packed civilian population who would be far more of a liability than an asset. Also, the feuding between the Ministry Guard vs. the Seraph and Shining Blade would not facilitate a coordinated response, even though those factions are all pretty formidable in their own rights.

4.) Hoelbrak has a couple key assets, but the Norn are too chaotic to use them effectively. Those narrow passes leading in, and the caves to the north, would be fantastic places to defend… if most of the combatants wouldn’t probably scatter and charge the biggest clump of enemies as solo units. Still, a charismatic leader can forge even a group of elderly or inexperienced Norn into a pretty formidable force, as demonstrated by Eir in the Edge of Destiny novel. My biggest concern is all that lumber. The Norn do not seem like the kind of people with a well-ordered Fire Brigade. At least the buildings are spread out enough that invaders would have to torch them one at a time.

5.) The Grove – I rank this one last, but it’s a “scrappy underdog” kind of last that could easily be written to overturn expectations. Basically, there are a lot of potential advantages and disadvantages that are hard to quantify, and most of them tie up in the identity of the Pale Tree, and the fact that their capital city is also their head of state. Just how much defensive mojo can the Pale Tree bring to bear on invaders? Just how messed up would she be if those invaders came at her with the torches and hatchets, or poisoned her roots? Can she detect things approaching, or would the dense unpopulated jungle to her west and the undefended shore to her east let enemies get right up on top of her? How many of her internal defenses, like battle grubs and pods and junk, could the Nightmare Court potentially subvert? How many Agents of the Nightmare already live among her? How many Agents of Nightmare would rally to her defense against another enemy? Invaders would probably underestimate the fierce response from the Sylvari, since the Grove is simultaneously their their home, their sovereign and their mother… but that fierceness would in part be because no one but the Pale Tree herself knows for sure how vulnerable she may be.

I think you are underestimating Divinity’s Reach there. In terms of natural defenses, Divinity’s Reach is actually probably better off than the Black Citadel – most of the outer walls are surrounded by water, so you’d need a navy to attack it on anything but the south side, and apart from the Plaza of Dwayna, the High Roads are all defensible, and while we don’t see it, they probably have ways to block off the Low Roads so that sectors of the city can be blocked off. Charr have superior weaponry, but there’s not much opportunity to use them within the Citadel itself – defensive siege emplacements placed strategically within Divinity’s Reach, on the other hand, can have fairly clear lines of fire into key areas.

The only thing that really leaves is the quality of the defenders, and whatever the charr might think, I don’t think they’re actually that much better than the defenders of Kryta. A significant threat to DR is also probably one thing that would get Ministry and Crown forces work together – personally, I have the feeling that most of the politicking is happening because Caudecus and his allies are confident that once they stop sabotaging the country, it will easily be able to take down its enemies (with them holding the reins, of course). If faced with the destruction of what they’ve been intriguing to get, they will almost certainly fight. Heck, you might even get some of the bandits working on behalf of Divinity’s Reach – especially those motivated by misguided ideals, those working for the Ministry, and some of those just looking to prey on citizens for profit (because depending on the attacker, their own survival prospects may be looking thin if DR falls).

Seras.5702:

Don’t forget that Divinity’s Reach also has an Asura Gate to Ebonhold. So they can get some reinforcements from there too.

On the other hand, that could be a good tactic for the Charr. Attack DR, forcing them to draw on Ebonhold for reinforcements and supplies, thereby weakening EH. The Charr then launch their main attack on EH while their feint attack on DR keeps them busy. With EH the main focus, the Charr could topple it, close the gate, and take back the last vestige of Ascalon from the humans.

Wouldn’t work, for two reasons:

First, because tkittenon Vanguard will probably still regard Ebonhawke as their primary focus, and wouldn’t send enough forces to leave themselves open. You’d draw out the Fallen Angels, but the direct Krytan military presence in Ebonhawke is only a recent development. At best, you’d cut off the supply line.

Second, and possibly more importantly…

Think about what an undertaking presenting a credible threat to Divinity’s Reach would be. They haven’t taken out Ebonhawke in two and a half centuries – I would suggest that sending an army over the Shiverpeaks that’s powerful enough to then cross Kryta and besiege Divinity’s Reach, without leaving their own territories vulnerable in the process, is beyond their capabilities.

I would expect that attempting such a strategy would be more likely to simply leave them without enough forces for both fronts. They’re either not going to present enough of a threat to Kryta, they’re not going to have enough forces to contain Ebonhawke, let alone take it, or they’re going to come back and find out that the Flame Legion are now in charge of whatever hasn’t already been conquered by ogres.

And that’s not even considering the possible reactions of third parties. The Order of Whispers would probably intervene, possibly the Priory as well, the Vigil would likely fracture under such a scenario, and the charr being viewed as the aggressors could easily draw in other races with sympathy for humanity… or looking to ensure the charr get stopped before they become the next target.

EDIT Wait, h.e.(space).E.b. gets censored now? That’s insane.