Guide to Warcamps
If you're a new member of the Guardians of Sunfist, you've probably encountered the frustration of trying to find Grimswarm Warcamps. They are absolutely necessary for any player who wants to master the society in a timely fashion, and they provide a decent hunting option for players of all levels. The goal of this guide is to provide players with easy-to-understand maps of each game location where Warcamps my spawn, knowledge of how to narrow down a warcamp's position within one of the game's locations, boundaries of each known location, and Lich room numbers for easy travel. It will also cover the game mechanics and commands needed to pin down a camp for destruction.
Once you understand how to use the maps in this guide, locating a Warcamp can typically be done in just a few minutes.
How Warcamps Work
Warcamps can seemingly spawn in most outdoor areas of the game. However, some are much more likely to spawn a warcamp (those with Sunfist "hated enemies," in particulary), while other areas have never generated a warcamp in the several months I have observed them (the Coastal Cliffs in Wehnimer's Landing, for instance).
Areas in Gemstone are lumped into broad locations that share geographic traits, mobs, realm borders, etc. At any time, you may use the LOCATION verb to determine which of these areas you are in. For instance:
You carefully survey your surroundings and guess that your current location is Upper Trollfang or somewhere close to it.
These are the areas that the chalkboard at the Sunfist outposts refers to in its listings. Today on the chalkboard there are several listed, including this one:
Orc warcamp spotted in the Vipershroud near Wehnimer's Landing! (Vipershroud, Murky Valley)
When you actually go to the Vipershroud and use the LOCATION verb, however, you are only given the general location area, the Vipershroud, and not the specific area, the Murky Valley. This can be minorly frustrating in some parts of the game with large sub-areas. The Upper Trollfang, for instance, has at least four sub-areas that can contain warcamps, all of which register simply as 'Upper Trollfang' when using the LOCATION verb. This is more of a problem when attempting to find an unreported warcamp, as the boundaries between sub-areas are not always apparent.
Although rare, more than one warcamp may spawn within a single area at the same time.
What Tools Do I Need?
To find warcamps, you really only need two tools: the LOCATION verb, and of course the SIGIL OF LOCATION, awarded at the second rank of Guardians of Sunfist. They can be combined into a single macro and bound to a function key or a script. The macro I personally use is:
\xlocat\r sigil location\r
Which will determine your area's location name and use the Sigil of Location simultaneously.
How the Maps Work
The maps are a graphic representation of the area and sub-area borders of each location where a warcamp may spawn. They greatly reduce the amount of time needed to identify an area with a warcamp by making it possible to simply go to the first room of any area, check it for a warcamp (using the macro above), and if a warcamp is detected, searching within the boundaries of the area until you find it. Otherwise, simply move to the next area and check there, repeating as necessary. By knowing these areas and their boundaries, what was previously a long slog of searching becomes extremely simple.
To demonstrate, we will use the project's annotated Tsoran Mine Road map:
Each of the colored areas on this map is a potential warcamp spawning area. The red stars are the first room in the area, and also show the Lich room ID number.
We can start our search by going to the first room in the yellow, and running our macro.
[Mine Road] As you top the ridge of the bank of the Locksmehr River you see the remains of the northern mining road that leads northeastward into the hills near Darkstone Bay. It is obvious that the road is in little use now. You also see a tall bank. Obvious paths: northeast >locat > sigil location You carefully survey your surroundings and guess that your current location is the old Mine Road or somewhere close to it. You focus intently on your sigil as its power begins to reach out into your immediate surroundings and beyond... You sense the presence of 3 hated enemies nearby. Roundtime: 3 sec.
No warcamp found, so we move to the red area and try again.
[Hillside, Trail] This small trail snakes up a verdant hillside. A copse of pine trees lies below, barring your view of the rest of the valley. Hiking this trail is quite invigorating, and you can hardly wait to get started again. You also see a footpath. Obvious paths: up >locat > sigil location You carefully survey your surroundings and guess that your current location is Liath Bheinn and Aillidh Brae or somewhere close to it. You focus intently on your sigil as its power begins to reach out into your immediate surroundings and beyond... You sense the presence of 1 hated enemy nearby. You sense some faint interference with your sigil coming from somewhere nearby, though you cannot seem to locate it. Roundtime: 3 sec.
Aha! We have detected a warcamp. We know it exists somewhere within the red area. With this knowledge we can begin moving from room to room, careful to stay within the area's boundaries. We can skip nodes and indoor areas in our search, as warcamps never spawn in them. And about a minute and 20 rooms later, we find this:
[Liath Bheinn, Mountain] The mountain rises steeply on three sides, hemming in the narrow path. Perpetual darkness drapes the westernmost part of this dead end. Obvious paths: east >locat > sigil location You carefully survey your surroundings and guess that your current location is Liath Bheinn and Aillidh Brae or somewhere close to it. You focus intently on your sigil as its power begins to reach out into your immediate surroundings and beyond... You sense the presence of 1 hated enemy nearby. You sense some interference with your sigil coming from close by, however. As you continue to concentrate upon your sigil, a shimmering patch of air begins to form nearby! Roundtime: 3 sec.
And that's all there is to it! With these maps, you'll be able to locate warcamps faster than ever.
