The Siege of Ragnarok 25 was the last major virtual battle to take place on the old official (legacy) servers in the action adventure survival game Ark: Survival Evolved and was possibly the longest battle to ever take place in a video game. ^[1]

The siege was approximately 45 days of continuous struggle between the Spartans/Legacy Alliance as defenders and the temporary coalition between RAMBO and BLDX alliances alongside various other entities on the attacking side. The siege was the culmination of The Great War on the old legacy servers that was already raging on for 10 months. 70 players out of 70 available slots battled with over 750 characters. ^[2]

The fight was a result of a chain of battles on the Spartan/Legacy servers 402 ^[2] and 682 by BLDX as a response to the Spartan's attack on one of the BLDX allied tribes "Smurfs".

Before the fall of servers 402 ^[3] and 686, the Spartans/Legacy alliance managed to evacuate most of their assets such as dinosaurs, sniper rifles, a huge amount of ammunition, armor and other supplies to their main server Ragnarok 25. Within days of the evacuation on July 16th 2017, the BLDX Alliance sent a small logistics squad to build an initial Forward Operating Base (FOB) and prepare defenses to repel any counter-attacks from the Spartans/Legacy Alliance until the main BLDX forces start pouring into the server. Within hours of the initial FOB deployment, the server was already full sitting at 70/70 player slots. Small skirmishes and raids occurred throughout the server as BLDX squads were taking down every vulnerable base they saw. At the last days of the battle on the 29-31st of August, the developers of Ark: Survival Evolved, Studio Wildcard announced that they will stop any further customer service to the old legacy servers and start shutting down low population servers as a preparation for official launch of the game from early access and releasing new servers. The siege ended with BLDX/RAMBO establishing control over the rest of the map and Spartans/Legacy successfully withstanding the 45 days long siege even though they were already running low on supplies. The losses in dinosaurs totalled at approximately 882 Brontosaurus', Tyrannosaurus' and Paracers along with hundreds of other smaller dinosaurs.^[4]

Background Ark: Survival Evolved is an action-adventure survival dinosaur game in which the players have the freedom to do whatever they want. Gameplay involves raids, mining, crafting, large-scale warfare, breeding, taming, brewing and a lot more. Players can form tribes (the equivalent of guilds, clans or alliances in other video games) which can formally band together into Alliances. Most of the time these alliances will group together and create informal coalitions to ensure their survival, achieve a common goal or wipe out their enemies. ^[1]

Despite a complex network of alliances and coalitions, there is no in-game mechanic that supports cross-server alliances or coalitions. The game mechanics allow only for an alliance to be made on the server two tribes are currently residing on. With the release of the Scorched Earth DLC a new game mechanic was introduced—cross-ark transfers which allowed the players to transfer resources between servers which led to the beginning of ''The Great War''. ^[2]

The first large-scale conflict to ever take place in the game started in the middle of September 2016 after the invasion on server 131 by VDD and their ally CG against the Vanguard Coalition. The conflict saw the fall of three alliances and ultimately ended with the Siege of Ragnarok 25. The conflict was reignited on the new servers after the game's official launch in August 29, 2017. A few weeks before the siege, Spartans and some of their allies from AOP (Alliance of Power) waged a 2 weeks long siege on the recently removed tribe Carebears from the Alliance of Power which was a response to drama between the leaders of the alliance members Blood Knights and Carebears. The siege ended with a peace treaty due to the never changing stalemate and both sides wanting to build up on the recently released map "Ragnarok" which has one of the most impenetrable locations for a base giving the defenders a huge advantage over the attackers. ^[15]

With the successful invasions of by BLDX on 402 ^[4] and 686, the Spartans/Legacy alliance were losing more and more territory.

After falling, they had already evacuated most of their assets to their last remaining stronghold ^[5] on server Ragnarok 25. Within days of the loss of their servers, BLDX had already assembled an initial Forward Operating Base (FOB) at coordinates 28 latitude and 45 longitude on Ragnarok 25 but barely had any defenses. In the next few days more and more BLDX forces poured into the server bringing turrets (Auto-Turrets are the main defense for a base as they shoot everything in their range including projectiles like rockets and grenades) and metal structures to fortify the vulnerable forward operating base and prepare for the onslaught. ^[6]

With their main FOB now secured, BLDX realized they wouldn't be able to transport dinosaurs from their FOB to the Spartans/Legacy stronghold which was located on the "Great Plateaus" due to the sheer distance and difficult terrain. So they decided to deploy a second forward operating base right at the doorstep of the stronghold and use the main FOB for backup and storage. The Spartans/Legacy forces quickly mobilized to prevent the attackers from deploying the 2nd FOB. With the huge advantage of being on a plateau while the BLDX forces were at the bottom, they were able to successfully stop any attempt of building a fob by putting BLDX and their allies under constant heavy sniper fire from the plateau. ^[2]

After approximately two days of fierce fighting and constant losses for BLDX and their allies, they retreated back to their main FOB to replenish supplies and come up with a new plan. Meanwhile the defenders chased the BLDX forces back to their main forward operating base and harrased them with kamikazes dropped by Pteranotodons from a high altitude, the kamikaze would be equipped with a rocket launcher and cheap piece of armor and small amount of rockets. The goal was to destroy as many turrets as possible before dying from them. ^[4]

On the next day, BLDX will manage to deploy their second forward operating base right at the doorstep of the plateaus. With their 2nd forward operating base now secured, they started downloading dinosaurs like Brontosauruses, Tyrannosaurus Rexes and Paracers which were uploaded by their logistics team on their breeding servers. Dinosaurs like Brontos and Paracers have a large HP pool which makes them excellent for soaking auto-turret bullets. It takes months to get a good large dinosaur since they require at leasst 72 hours of constant feeding to raise.^[4]

BLDX/RAMBO spent several days stockpiling enough Brontos and Paracers so they could continuously soak auto-turrets without having to transfer more dinosaurs. Meanwhile, skirmishes and small scale raids were happening all across the server as BLDX and their allies were taking down any base they saw, quickly transporting any loot to their main staging forward operating base. In a matter of days the Spartans/Legacy had lost all of their smaller bases pushing them back to their main base on the great plateaus region. Soon after BLDX/RAMBO forces started using Paracers and Brontos to push towards the Spartans/Legacy stronghold and begin soaking the turrets of a small outpost that was right at the doorstep of the stronghold. Destroying the small outpost was their top priority as it would allow them to deploy a third forward operating base to be used as a middle point between the 2nd FOB and the stronghold. After days of fierce fighting and heavy losses for the BLDX/RAMBO side they finally breached into the small outpost and quickly demolished it by using C4 explosives. ^[4]

This is when the stalemate became apparent as the BLDX/RAMBO forces couldn't push any further due to the defenders using Therizinosaurs to kill any unprotected player that was outside the 3rd forward operating base. Meanwhile, the attackers started orchestrating small "pushes" of 5-10 Paracers ridden by other players and within a couple of days they had finally pushed up the ramp that leads to the entrance of the Spartans/Legacy stronghold. After pushing a little bit further, the stalemate quickly returned as BLDX/RAMBO's progression was halted due to the lack of cover against snipers. ^[8]

BLDX/RAMBO then deployed their 4th forward operating base deployed. But a major problem during the entire siege for the attackers was that they were always under constant sniper fire from above as they were below the plateau. In order to gain equal footing in that area, they built a tall tower that would be on the same level as the plateau, allowing BLDX/RAMBO snipers to give cover fire for their fellow mates on the ground. With the sniper tower in place, the two sides started fortifying their side of the field by using gates and foundations to prevent the enemy from building there and stop dinosaurs like Brontos and Paracers. While all of that was happening, spies from the Spartans/Legacy alliance successfully conducted two sabotages against their 2nd and 3rd FOB by shutting down the generators which keep the turrets online and also stealing weapons and supplies. In the middle of August, due to the already almost month long stalemate, BLDX/RAMBO forces pushed on the left side of the ramp to build a final 5th forward operating base which was right under the plateau. They began using Rock Golems put on a Quetzal (the bigger version of pteranotodon) to soak the turrets on that side of the plateau and eventually gain a foothold there by deploying a 6th FOB directly in their stronghold. After numerous failed attempts during the month long stalemate, the main BLDX forces would start to give up and pack up their gear to leave the server. As the BLDX leadership lost players and resources, they began inviting everyone to the battle without closely vetting and wound up with enemy spies who siphoned weapons and dinosaurs. ^[4]

BLDX had already given up when the final strike came by the Spartan's spy "CFR" who had gotten into the tribe and given administrator roles allowing him to kick everyone from the attacker's tribe and demolish the 4th and 5th FOBs. With new servers coming after the official launch of the game, BLDX/RAMBO alliances and other tribes involved with the siege had some of their members leaving the server out of boredom. On August 30th Studio Wildcard released their new servers and the siege officially ended.^[16]

Over 756 characters had participated in the battle which included over 27 unique tribes.

The siege took around 45 days from start to end and is most likely the longest PvP battle in any video game. The 45 days long siege resulted in the loss of ~154 Brontosaurs ~148 Tyranosaurus Rexes~70 Paracers ~132 Pteranodon dons and 322 other dinosaurs for the Spartans/Legacy alliance while on the attacker's side the losses included ~273 Brontosaurs, ~162 Tyranosaurus Rexes, ~75 Paracers, ~140 Pteranodons and ~ 452 other dinosaurs. The total amount of weapons and supplies that were lost during the siege tallied well over 1,000,000. There were 150,818 C4 explosives, 22,128 Element, 477,888 Metal Arrows, 248,614 Flame Arrows, 771,880 Sniper Ammunition, 1,227 Sniper Rifles and 319 Compound Bows. The siege set the stage for the next chapter of The Great War that would continue on the new servers with 3 unique alliances coming on the stage—BLDX, RAMBO and N3. Most of the tribes that fought in the siege kept their allegiance to the one side or another. ^[4]

Note that all the estimates are based on eye witness accounts reported by the leaders on both sides of the siege.