Convoys

Convoys are a special kind of mission where multiple players coordinate to take down an especially large enemy. The enemy unit has an extremely large number of HP (typically several million), so you (probably) won't be able to defeat it in a single battle. However, you and your teammates can make multiple attacks, with the damage from each attack accumulating until you can finally do enough damage to finish off the target.

In addition to the convoy unit itself, normal enemy troops will also appear to defend it. You can't capture the enemy spawn point like in a regular battle, so these will keep appearing through the course of the battle.

Starting an attack
From time to time, a convoy icon will appear on the map. When you click on it, you first choose what difficulty you would like to face. Naturally, the higher difficulty levels are more challenging but give you larger rewards. Then, you have the choice of joining an existing fireteam or starting a new one. Once you've done this, you move into the lobby. From here you can see the other members of the fireteam and can chat with them. Once everyone has joined, the leader can start the actual battle. (The leader can start with fewer than 5 people, but this is not recommended, both because you want everyone to help out, and to maximize the rewards that people can get.)

Combat


Once the leader has started battle, then everyone can launch attacks. There is both a fuel cost and a number of artillery bombardments to start an attack. As described above, it usually requires many attacks to take down a convoy, so the first several will generally end in defeat. However, all the damage you do to the boss will be added to the total.

In general, you can launch as many attacks as you want, limited only by your troops and fuel. However, the "Charon" armored train convoy has a cooldown of 8 hours between attacks. You have a total of 7 days to defeat the convoy.

The battle itself is mostly similar to a regular battle. The convoy unit is your main target, and has its own weaponry that it will fire at your troops. However, the convoy will also send out regular enemy troops which will fight normally.

Tactics
One important thing to realize is that once your troops acquire a target, they won't switch targets until that enemy is killed, which means that once your troops start firing at the convoy unit they will continue to do so even when attacked by enemy troops. As a result, it's a good idea to hold some troops in reserve so that you can periodically take out the enemy troops and keep your own alive longer. In some maps, it's possible to place turrets to do this, since they can stay behind your own troops and protect them from enemy attackers. This also means that heavily armored units are useful to soak up attacks from enemy troops. (here 1 way to run convoys: https://youtu.be/MbReehbe1GY, https://youtu.be/kh0xcYrRPxc. This tactic can work in most convoys in-game)

Rewards
The possible rewards depend on difficulty and can be seen in the difficulty selection screen; lower levels usually have rewards such as resonators, city plans, or keys, while higher levels can get repair kits, greater amounts of the previous, or even heroes. The possible rewards are listed in the table below the convoy information.

In addition, everyone gets "cargo" chests specific to the convoy. These are mostly similar to regular chests, but each also contains 5 convoy marks, which can then be traded at the quartermaster on the world map for hero tokens.

If you are the one who finally destroys the convoy, then you receive an additional reward.

Basic convoys
There are five basic convoys that may appear on the world map. They are:
 * "Black Widow" mech. brigade (20-35): Consists of three large mechs (each with 70 ) which attack with cannons and deploy Dominion troops. The reward chests are "Black Widow" cargo, which include 5 "Arachnophobia" convoy marks, one hero token, and regular chest contents.
 * Captured "Destroyer" (20-35): A four-legged walking machine with a large cannon and 75, escorted by Dominion troops. The reward chests are "Destroyer" Black box chests, which include 5 "Goliath Slayer" convoy marks, one hero token, and regular chest contents.
 * "Charon" armored train (20-35): A large, very heavily armored (80 ) train which uses a large cannon as well as machine guns, and is escorted by Old Reich troops. This can only be attacked every 8 hours. The reward chests are Cargo "Charon", which include 5 "Liberator" convoy marks, some Old Reich defector troops, incriminating documents, and regular chest contents.
 * "Menno Doomerville" tank: A giant tank resembling a British Mark V tank with two main cannons, accompanied by Dominion troops. The reward chests are Cache of "Doomerville" chests, which include 5 "Armour breaker" convoy marks, some Old Reich defector troops, one hero token, and regular chest contents.
 * "Spider" Mech. Brigade (20-35): Consists of three spider mechs, which have machine guns with a very high rate of fire, accompanied by Dominion troops. Each individual mech has 1/3 of the total HP, 70, and can be destroyed individually. The reward chests are "Spider" cargo, which include 5 "Spider Exterminator" convoy marks, one hero token, and regular chest contents.

In all cases, the cost per attack is 100 fuel and 3 artillery bombardments.

The stats of these are as follows:

The additional rewards from the convoys are as follows. For the "Black Widow" mech. brigade, the captured "Destroyer", and the "Spider" mech. brigade, the rewards are almost the same, with a few differences noted below, indicated by (BW), (D), and (S), respectively. The rewards for the "Menno Doomerville" tank and "Charon" armored train are somewhat different and are listed separately below.

The possible rewards for delivering the killshot are as follows. As with the regular rewards, the Charon train has a different set of rewards than the other four.

Faction convoys
Once you join a faction, you will also periodically see faction convoys on the map. These work like regular convoys, except they are only open to people from that faction. In addition, the cost per attack is 200 fuel plus 3 artillery bombardments. As far as I can tell, the three different faction convoys are the same in battle, consisting of a large, heavily armored tank (80 ) which fires on you with a gun, accompanied by various marauder troops (outcasts, psychopaths, and goliaths). The rewards are also similar; you get faction cargo chests, which contain some faction troops, 5 emblems of the faction convoy, and regular chest items. You also receive 10 faction spheres for landing the killing blow. See Red Monarchy cargo, New Order cargo, and Forgotten Legion cargo for details on the reward chests.

The rewards for the faction convoys are the same, except for the heroes and the faction equipment, which of course varies from faction to faction.

The killshot rewards for faction convoys are always a certain number of faction spheres:

Clan convoys
If you are in a clan which has built a Communication Tower, you can also fight clan convoys. This work similarly to regular convoys, although they do not appear on the world map; they are accessed from your clan building. At the first level of the Communication Tower, you can fight the "Doom Hammer" convoy, and the second level adds four more convoys. Each convoy has five difficulty levels, each of which can be attacked once per week. The rewards include clan influence and rating points, as well as cargo chests, which contain regular troops and resources (including some rare troops). Unlike regular convoys, the number of chests stays the same with increasing difficulty, but the quality level of the chests gets higher.

It is possible to start multiple clan convoys at once. To do so, five different clan members must start each rank of the clan convoy at the same time (e.g., member 1 starts Recruit difficulty, member 2 starts Fighter difficulty, etc.). Before starting the convoys, all five members should have the list of difficulties open for one of the convoys (e.g., Doom Hammer, "Warrington" frigate or "Genofrost" armored truck) from the "List of convoys" at the Communication Tower.


 * The Doom Hammer walking machine is a large, four-legged tank with a main cannon, 80, and is defended by Dominion troops.
 * The "Warrington" frigate is a ship that fires a cannon and has 75 . It features two secondary turrets, each with their own separate HP pool (the number in the table below is the additional HP per turret) and must be destroyed before the main frigate can be attacked. It is defended by Dominion troops. In addition to the regular rewards, it also gives construction molds, which are required for higher-level clan mechanics research.
 * The "Genofrost" armored truck is a large truck with a powerful main cannon. It has an additional front gun and two side guns which have their own HP pool and can be destroyed separately. (The additional HP number in the table below is the total HP of the additional guns -- the front gun has twice as many HP as the two side guns.) It is accompanied by marauder troops. It also awards chemical tablets, which are needed for higher-level clan genetics research.
 * The "Warrior" walking machine is a very large walking machine which attacks using a cannon that produces a discharge effect. It is accompanied by robot troops from the Machines faction, which are very dangerous at high levels. It also awards blueprints (not to be confused with building blueprints), which are used for higher-level clan tesla research.
 * The "Wrath of God" bunker features an array of guns, two front flamethrowers and three large cannons. (In this case, the HP shown in the table is the total HP of all five guns, which is divided roughly equally among the guns, although the cannons have slightly higher HP.) It is defended by possessed troops (as in the Hidden Threat event). It awards Ritual Instructions, which are used for higher-level clan occult research.

The loot from the clan convoys is as follows. The Doom Hammer and Warrington convoys have the same loot, with some small differences for the Genofrost, Warrior, and Wrath of God convoys as listed below.

For the contents of the reward chests (which are the same for all five convoys), see the individual pages:
 * Clan convoy regular cargo
 * Clan convoy rare cargo
 * Clan convoy special cargo
 * Clan convoy elite cargo
 * Clan convoy legendary cargo

The killshot rewards for the five clan convoys are the same for each convoy, and are as follows:

Your journal has this to say about Charon: ''"Charon" armored train was built in the Crimson Dominion during the reign of the Old Reich. The Supreme Chancellor used this mobile fortress for his personal movement from one part of the country to another. Also a lot of valuable occult artifacts were transported and stored in this armored train.''

''When the Supreme Hierarch of the Dark Gods staged a coup d'etat, the ruling elite of the Old Reich attempted to flee the country on the Charon. Wagons loaded with occult artifacts were welcome prey for cultists who pulled their troops to the railroads, so there was little time to leave. Among those who didn't manage to get to the armored train before its departure was the Supreme Chancellor.''

''The Charon left with the survivors to the Western Sector and took refuge in Fjords at the abandoned military base of the Old Monarchy. For many years, the pre-war government of the Old Reich was hiding there. With help of civilians from the nearby sectors, they equipped their new home and built a railway to the Iron Empire, in order to be able to travel, in case of emergency, to the west, and not just to the east by the Charon.''

''When the Old Reich heard about the alchemical tower found in the Valley at the Richard's pass, they began the excavations. Charon was used to transport all found occult artifacts to the base. The excavations were interrupted by Captain Walker, with Operation Overthrow he surrounded the valley. The Old Reich troops were forced to evacuate by the Charon, they blow up the escape routes and the railway tunnel after them.''

''A few months later, Resistance scouts accidentally stumbled upon an armored train during its loading at Fjords. General Koenig planned to deliver occult artifacts and captives to the Old Reich unit under the command of Fisher. By order of Commander Grant, Charon was successfully destroyed, the prisoners were released and the cargo delivered to Osterberg.''

Your journal has this to say about the Warrington frigate: ''The "Warrington" frigate belonged to the Iron Armada. The Crimson Dominion concluded a contract with it for the supply of weapons and military equipment. So that other factions would not know about it, the Armada and the Dominion decided to conduct operations under the guise of joint military exercises. According to legend, the Iron Armada allocated a frigate to it, and the Supreme Hierarch of its soldiers. In fact, containers and boxes of supplies were unloaded from Armada's ships on board the Warrington, and then the frigate headed south towards the Citadel.''

''For a long time, these maneuvers remained unnoticed until a small gang of looters led by Rusty Jaws raided one of the Crimson Dominion trans-shipment points where Warrington unloaded some of the containers and sailed onward. Successfully capturing the point and disrupting local workers and security, the raiders began to study the trophies, but played with new unfamiliar technologies. As a result, an explosion occurred in the newly-established marauder settlement, and fireworks attracted the attention of both the Dominion and one of the Resistance commanders. To repel the supplies and prevent them from falling into the hands of Grant's subordinates, the Warrington crew decided to seize the communications station, using the frigate as a striking force. After shelling the coast with the ship's guns, naval paratroopers landed on shore and began assaulting the trans-shipment point. The "Rusty Jaws" gang managed to break without any problems, although the marauder leader himself managed to escape.''

''After that, the frigate was anchored. Soldiers of the Crimson Dominion began to restore fortifications and expect reinforcements from neighboring sectors. At that time, the scouts sent by the commander of the local Resistance unit transmitted all available information about what had happened to their commander. The latter, in turn, realizing that he could not cope with the frigate alone, decided to merge with the other Resistance unit and seize the ship together with the communications station until the Crimson Dominion troops had established themselves on the coast to then investigate the contents of the cargoes marked with the Iron Armada coat of arms.''

During the storm, most of the Warrington crew were killed in battle, and the rest, unwilling to see the frigate and cargo fall into the hands of the emperors, blew up and sank their ship.