Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures Q&A, Part Two

RPG Vault has published the second installment to their Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures interview with Funcom game director Gaute Godager. Here's a snip:
Q: Will you have large-scale encounters reflecting the epic battles and wars that occur within the Conan property?

A: The first system is indeed massive battles. This technology was used for building player-made cities in Anarchy Online - Alien Invasion, and is simply reused and improved in Age of Conan.

King Conan has opened Aquilonia up for expansion into the bothersome Border Kingdoms. Several individuals in his court will thus sponsor settlements in this region. This means that the players can choose a side and set up their own castles in these instantiated areas. The castles must be defended against other guilds that want these highly lucrative areas.

This form of PvP will provide large-scale battles where a set number of defenders and attackers can clash together at predefined, regulated, intervals. To aid in these battles, the players can use hirelings, siege engines and all the tricks in the books to fight their way to the glory of King Conan's court.