12.1.1.1 Gateways Contention
A Gateway Contention is one of the possible contention types for a Major Focus, and will only ever spawn in the second contention. The following message indicates a Gateway Contention is beginning:
The silence is broken abruptly as three great geysers of light erupt from the ground, throwing wave after wave of ley energy into the air. This burst lasts for several moments before it grows silent once again, the geysers receding and leaving behind distinct sinkholes in the fabric of the ley.
During the gateway phase, several sinkholes leading into the ley will be brought into existence by the sheer amount of unstable energy flowing through the area. These sinkholes will form in specific rooms, and can be seen if utilizing the AB VISION DETECTION ability, but will not show up on LEYLINES. The following message in bright cyan (colour 14) indicates if a sinkhole is in the room:
The unstable existence of a ley sinkhole occupies this space.
When standing in a room with a ylem sinkhole, you can attempt to stabilize its existence into a gateway, allowing you and your allies to pass through. During stabilization of the gateway, eld will be drawn to the location, attacking all present. Any eld present in the room will cause the stabilization process to be slower than normal.
Throughout the duration of the gateways contention, numerous small tears in reality will open up around the area, impeding the progress of any stabilization attempts. You can use the LEYLINES ability to list the locations of all tears. The closer a tear is to a sinkhole, the greater effect it has. Closing a tear will imbue you with a stacking defence that will greatly boost your next stabilization attempt. The more stacks you have at once, the stronger the effect (e.g. having 5x stacks is greater than doing five of 1x stacks). This defence will be lost if you get killed, so be careful!
When the sinkhole is at 100% stabilization, the gateway can be opened by the city it is tethered to. They can choose to either open it only for their citizens, or for anybody from their faction tether, which will allow only those people to enter it. After passing through the gateway, you'll encounter a colossal eld which will require teamwork to defeat, and doing so will reap you and your city great rewards.
Once a gateway is open, all other sinkholes in the area will dissipate and any other gateways will be impossible to complete. The gateway will last 15 minutes once opened before destabilizing and killing all who remain trapped inside.
Command overview:
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REFINING GATEWAY TETHER
Tether the sinkhole to your city's pylon, allowing your citymates to begin stabilizing it. This is instant on an unclaimed sinkhole, but 30 seconds on an already-tethered sinkhole.
REFINING GATEWAY STABILIZE
This is a channeled activity that will stabilize a sinkhole tethered to your city's pylon by a little bit every 10 seconds.
REFINING GATEWAY CLOSE
Close a tear and charge yourself with energy.
REFINING GATEWAY OPEN CITY
Once the gateway is at 100% stabilization, anybody from the city it 'belongs' to can choose to open it, allowing only those from their city to go inside.
REFINING GATEWAY STATUS
See what percentage of stabilization your gateway is at.
ENTER GATEWAY
Once opened, enter the gateway and challenge what lies within.
Eld Cores:
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Defeating the colossal eld in a Gateway contention can produce an eldcore, which your city can manipulate at its pylon for short-term boons.
For more information, read [0;1;37mAB RESEARCH REFINEMENT[0m
