Territory wars and raids
What TornLife's research has established about Territory wars and raids, and the questions players asked about it.
What TornLife has verified
- Hitting an opponent during a Territorial, Competitive or Destructive war applies a 2x multiplier to respect earned; for a territory war specifically, the opponent must be on their wall for the bonus to apply. (documented; Chain › Gaining respect › Warring, )
- The wiki says factions can accumulate respect daily simply by owning Territory blocks, separate from attack/chain respect. (documented; Faction › Faction Warfare › Respect › Gaining Respect, )
- Raiding, released 08/01/19, is a purely destructive war form where respect is only taken from the opposition, not earned normally; attacks by either side during a raid cause 100% respect loss (versus 25% for ordinary attacks), and respect taken is added to the attacking faction's raid score. (documented; Faction › Faction Warfare › Faction Raiding, )
- Recruit-status members cannot cause respect damage to an enemy faction in a Raid, though they can receive damage from the opposing faction; recruits also cannot participate in Organized Crimes, cannot contribute to Faction Challenges, and cannot take part in Wars or Chains until promoted to full member. (documented; Recruit Status › Limitations › Factions / Companies, )
- A territory, while owned by a faction, provides a small amount of daily respect, plus any proceeds from a Territory Racket if one is present on that territory. (documented; Territory, )
- Factions can control up to 17 territories, with the actual cap determined by faction upgrades; daily respect from a held territory depends on the territory's stats, and a Territory Racket additionally supplies a daily resource to the faction. Rackets spawn at Level 1, fluctuate between Level 1 and Level 5, and despawn if they de-level below Level 1. (documented; Territory › Control / Trivia, )
- Each territory block has a base respect of 15, multiplied by factors for its sector (x1.00 to x2.50, central sectors highest), size (x1.00 to x2.00, larger = more), and density (x1.00 empty fields, x2.00 buildings, x3.00 landmark). (documented; City › Territories, )
- The city map shows territory details including Name, Sector, Size, Density, Slots (player slots available for territory war), and Daily respect generated if held; if a territory is being assaulted the interface also shows live war information. (documented; Territory › The City Map, )
- To claim territory, a faction must first establish presence in the outskirts (Sector 7), from which it can claim and assault adjacent blocks; a faction starting with no territories may begin only one assault on a Sector 7 block at a time. (documented; Territory › Claiming Territory, )
- Several cooldowns restrict re-assault: 72 hours after abandoning or losing a faction's last territory before claiming in Sector 7 again; 72 hours after losing a war on a specific territory before re-assaulting it; and if that territory was warred by anyone within 90 days, it cannot be warred within 72 hours of any other war on it. (documented; Territory › Claiming Territory › Cooldowns, )
- Patch list #78 (22/01/19) changed the territory war cooldown system to a new mechanism intended to prevent 'deadlocks'; an older 7-day cooldown was removed in patch #121 (10/12/19), ahead of the current 72-hour rules. (confirmed by Torn; Territory/Patch History (1/2), )
- When a territory is assaulted, a wall appears whose size (slots) depends on the territory type, ranging between 5 and 30; it automatically fills with the strongest available defenders from the defending faction. (documented; Territory › Territory Warfare, )
- To remove a defender you must hospitalize or jail them; if not already on the wall, a knockout makes you replace that slot. If already on the wall, knocking someone off reserves the slot for your faction for 60 seconds; outside interference likewise leaves the emptied slot reserved for 60 seconds. An empty slot can be joined directly for 5 energy. (documented; Territory › Territory Warfare, )
- Every second a player spends on the wall scores 1 point for their faction; for the assaulter this counts toward a victory goal of 50,000 per wall slot (250,000 to 1,500,000 depending on size), while for defenders the same scoring reduces the overall score back toward 0. (documented; Territory › Territory Warfare, )
- Patch list #151 (21/07/20) introduced the 5-energy cost for joining an empty slot on a territory wall; patch list #177 (26/01/21) added a display of the wall slot timer for the faction able to take it. (confirmed by Torn; Territory/Patch History (1/2), )
- If the assaulting faction's score goal is not reached within 72 hours, the territory assault fails (defenders win by default/timeout). (documented; Territory › Territory Warfare, )
- Territory wars have a maximum duration of three days, and the fastest recorded time to claim victory on a territory is 14 hours. (documented; Territory › Control / Trivia, )
- To forcibly end an assault before its score goal or timer is reached, a peace treaty can be used to settle the assault as a truce; this is arranged through a trade conducted between members of each faction who hold territory permissions. (documented; Territory › Territory Warfare, )
- A developer clarified, regarding Raids rather than Territory Wars, that surrender is a distinct action with no direct connection to 'ceasing' a raid: surrender is just a verbal submission to the aggressing faction. (confirmed by Torn; Co-leader can't cease raid, )
- A 2019 thread about raid surrender notifications prompted a developer to list faction-wide events that should fire, separating raid surrender events from territory-war start/win/loss events, with no territory-war 'surrender' event listed among them. (confirmed by Torn; Raiding Surrender?, )
- Joining an empty slot on a territory wall costs 5 energy. (documented; Territory › Territory Warfare, )
- Being removed from the wall requires being forced out of 'Okay' status, i.e. being hospitalized or jailed by an opponent, which is the direct personal cost of participating as a defender or assaulter. (documented; Territory › Territory Warfare, )
- Ranked Warring is a separate 1v1 war mode (distinct from territory wars) matched weekly by rank, size, and recent-opponent history; enlisting requires at least 10 full members (recruits included) active in the last 24 hours, after which rosters are locked. (documented; Ranked War › Enlisting, )
- In Ranked Wars there is typically no way to forfeit; it ends only when one faction meets the target score or is destroyed, except that if a faction loses 20% or more of its membership to federal jailings, the opponent may get admins to force a forfeit via bug report. (documented; Ranked War › Matchmaking / Ranks, )
- Ranked Warring was released separately via patch list #221 (07/12/21), distinct from the pre-existing Territory system, with later matchmaking revisions (patch #252, 16/08/22), roster-strength restrictions (patch #257, 20/09/22), and roster locking (patch #227, 01/02/22). (confirmed by Torn; Ranked War › Historical Notes (2/2), )
- Staff added 'assaulters' and 'defenders' arrays to the territory war API selections in 2023, in response to a developer request for bulk wall-state data instead of roughly 200 calls per update. (confirmed by Torn; Territory War Information Endpoint, )
- The wiki's Faction Upgrade overview groups 'Warring' activities into four distinct systems: Territory, Rackets, Raiding, Ranked Warring, and Outside Hits, treating Territory wars, Raiding and Ranked Warring as separate mechanics. (documented; Faction Upgrade, )
- Faction Raiding (distinct from Territory wars) allows the highest-scoring faction to 'Cease' the raid once 24 hours have elapsed; the losing faction may also cease if no attacks occur for 72 hours, or if the winning side drops below 10 members (recruits included). The lowest-scoring faction may surrender at any time, but this only notifies the opponent, who may accept and cease or ignore it. (documented; Faction › Faction Warfare › Faction Raiding › Ceasing a Raid, )
- Traded peace treaties cease and block raids for the agreed duration; in rare cases a faction's total respect may reach 0, destroying the faction outright during a raid. (documented; Faction › Faction Warfare › Faction Raiding › Ceasing a Raid, )
- Raiding's surrender mechanic (a notify-and-opponent-may-ignore action) is specific to Raids; no equivalent 'surrender' action exists for Territory Wars in the wiki's description - Territory Wars are instead ended early only via a traded peace treaty that settles the assault as a truce. (documented; Faction › Faction Warfare › Faction Raiding › Ceasing a Raid, )
Questions about Territory wars and raids
- Explain how territory wars work in Torn, including how they start, how they are won, and how a faction can surrender or end one early.
A territory war starts when a faction with at least 10 members assaults an occupied (or unclaimed Sector 7) block; both sides then fight for control …
- Is the faction BOW part of an alliance?
BoW (The Brotherhood of War) is not a full member of any formal faction alliance. As of March 2026, a forum officer replying as an apparent OBN repre…
- How long does disbanding a faction in Torn take, and what happens to its vault, members, name and territory afterward?
The one confirmed step in disbanding (deleting) a faction is that the vault must be completely emptied of money and items first, or the delete action…
- How does a faction earn respect in Torn, and what are the main sources of faction respect?
A faction's respect total grows mainly from members' successful attacks on outsiders — boosted by fair-fight, chaining and war bonuses — plus Organiz…