The Great Australian War

On the 7th of October 2024, the nations of NA and Pilbara formed a coalition and declared war on Australia. The ongoing conflict has been named “The Great Australian War”, as well as being called “The 4rd Pilbaro-Australian war”. Either way, it has proven to be the greatest and most bloody conflict the continent has ever seen.

Both sides in this war have employed various tactics in attempts to defeat or weaken the opposing faction. In this article I will be exploring said tactics, and their impacts on the war.

An undeniably important aspect of the Great Australian War, as well as most other wars, has been PvP. As soon as the war began, Australia and the NA-Pilbara Coalition (NPC) started to engage in skirmishes as well as large battles across the continent. Since October 7th, at least 65 deaths have been counted among Australia and its allies, and over 294 on the side of the Coalition.

It is estimated that over 100g of potions have been used by both sides during the war, often by soldiers to give themselves an advantage over the opposing side.

These potions comprise Strength, Swiftness, Absorption, Fire Resistance, Health, Invisibility and more. Debuff effects, such as poison, have not seen battle as often, but examples of their use do exist, such as Australia's use of harming arrows in the first and second battles of Emberstone. 

A notable defence strategy during the war has been the use of PvP bases called “ganks”. These are square bases, usually the size of a chunk, and have fence gates for walls. They are usually in claims, and are surrounded by a fall trap or lava moat.

Ganks are used for quick retreats from PvP battles, such that if you are low on health, you may jump across the moat/trap  and open the fence gates to enter the base. Subsequently, you can close the gates or hit your pursuers into the moat/trap if they try to jump.

Because your enemies will likely not have “switch” permissions for the town in which the gank is located, they will not be able to open/close the fence gates, or disable the trap into which they fall.

It is noteworthy that Ganks contributed heavily to Australia’s victories in the Second Battle of Emberstone and the Battle of the Black Plains, proving their significance during the war. 

Another crucial aspect of the war has been the use of siegetowns. These are towns created near enemy towns in order to either facilitate PvP attacks, Obstruct the enemy town from claiming that area, or overclaim the enemy town.

The NA-Pilbara Coalition Created about 15 siege towns near important Australian cities during the war, costing 2500-3000g, although three have fallen into ruin. After the surrender of NA on the 28th of October, its siegetowns either joined Pilbara, or stayed in NA, which became part of Australia.

Currently, Pilbara only retains 6 of the towns originally created by the coalition.

Australia, on the other hand, only created one obvious siegetown, the town of “Hohoho”, near emberstone. Indeed, this town facilitated many PvP skirmishes including the Second Battle of Emberstone, which has been the largest battle of the war so far.

Another important town which can be considered a siegetown is Freepanthr, a Pilbaran town created after the Australian town of Sunshine_Coast fell, which bordered Australia’s Capital, CooberPedy. The Mayor of CooberPedy is SCOBlade, King of Australia.

Once Freepanthr was created, an old Australian building that used to be part of CooberPedy’s territory was claimed by Pilbara and blown up. Subsequently, Pilbara built four large statues facing the Australian Capital, of Kobikraft, GabeTheSavior, Panth_r and Wolftree47.

A large flag of Pilbara was then built in Freepanthr, and three withers were summoned on the border with the Australian Capital. Soon after being summoned, the withers were killed, presumably by Australian forces. 

There is no denying that a fundamental aim of both sides in this war has been to take each other's gold, and pillaging enemy towns is an effective way to do this.

However, opportunities to do so are rare, and few examples exist. One of these examples was a small Australian raid on UK, NA’s Capital, on the 21st of October. Led by a former member of NA, this raid resulted in over 100g of materials being stolen from NA’s national storage. 

A more striking raid was the battle of Akpatok, occurring on the 1st of November. The Island of Akpatok had previously been owned by Vermont, and supported a town called FISHISM, in which a large fishing and military fortress for Vermont existed.

A day before the battle, the town of FISHISM fell, and Vermonters had travelled to the island to collect its resources and bring them to the capital.

However, the Vermonters in question were not in use of invisibility potions, meaning that they were visible on EarthMC’s map. This led to the discovery of the fortress by Australia, and the battle for Vermont’s items that followed.

Sixteen players took part in the battle, and it resulted in over twenty deaths. Australia ended up taking over 1000g worth of items from the fortress, and destroyed the rest, which was said to have been worth between 10,000g and 15,000g. However, these figures were stated by the former mayor of fishism and some others, and are not verified.

Among the stolen items were player heads, pieces of netherite armour, mob products and more.

In conclusion, the Great Australian war has seen various strategies used by Australia and the Coalition to weaken each other, including PvP, siegetowns, looting items and more. This ongoing conflict is expected to see a shift in the power balance of the Australian Continent, and indeed the world, for better or for worse. 

1  Sunshine Coast was Originally a Pilbaran overclaim into CooberPedy made during the 2nd Pilbaro-Australian war, and then bought by Australia. It remained Australian until it fell.

2  Kobikraft is the king of Pilbara

3 GabeTheSavior and Panth_r are Pilbaran players, although Panth_r is banned. Both defected from Australia during the 1st Pilbaro-Australian war, and are seen by Australia as traitors.

4  Wolftree47 is the mayor of Freepanthr