How to Run Convoys on Immortal Realm

This is the practical step-by-step for escorting convoys on Immortal Realm. For the underlying system, Immortal Realm Convoys.

Quick Answer

1. Watch for "A convoy departs from…" broadcasts in major cities.
2. Walk to the convoy's gather point during the brief gather window.
3. Travel alongside it; stay within ~12 tiles of any living convoy NPC.
4. Engage ambushes; defend the caravan.
5. On arrival, get paid in gold (if over the 70% threshold) and Daily Ledger progress — and earn Time Tokens at 3× rate the entire time you stood in the zone.

Quick Facts

Step-by-Step

Step 1: Find a Convoy

Convoys are scheduler-driven. They spawn on a recurring interval (real routes use 60, 85, 100, 110, 120, or 130-minute cycles) and announce departure with a town-scope broadcast that reaches roughly 40 tiles from the spawn point.

How to catch one:

1. Hang out near a major city's docks or trade square.
2. Watch chat for "A convoy departs from..." broadcasts.
3. Walk over to the spawn point during the gather window.

If you're in town when a convoy spawns, you will see the broadcast.

Step 2: Reach the Spawn Point

The convoy gathers at the route's first waypoint. The gather window is set per route (real defs run 20, 60, 75, or 90 seconds). Plan to be there as soon as you see the broadcast — short routes give you only 20 seconds.

Step 3: Join the Escort

You don't formally "join." The system continuously checks who's within 12 tiles of any living convoy NPC. If you're inside that zone when a tick fires, you accumulate participation credit and your Time Token tick rate is multiplied by 3.

The first time you cross into the zone:

• You see "You have joined the <name> escort. Stay close to the caravan to earn Time Tokens at triple rate."
• The credit clock starts.

If you leave the zone you'll see "You have left the escort zone. Your in-zone time is still counted toward the arrival reward." — your accumulated time isn't wiped, just paused.

The zone is centered on any living convoy NPC, not just the master. Defenders that peeled off to fight raiders are also valid zone anchors, so following a defender into the brawl still earns you credit.

To check your participation fraction at any time during the run, type [EscortStatus in-game (registered as AccessLevel.Player).

Step 4: Stay In Range

The default reward threshold is 70% time-in-zone of the reckoned travel duration (a per-tick clamped count, so server lag can't push a legit escort below threshold). Practical zone-staying rules:

Don't sweat 70% — most escorts who stay near the master comfortably hit 90%+.

Step 5: Engage Ambushes

Most convoys have a chance to spawn an ambush at some point on the route. Common pacing:

• One ambush in the 40-70% range of the route.
• Possible second ambush in the 75-90% range on long routes.

When an ambush fires:

1. Hostile NPCs spawn ahead of the caravan.
2. About half the convoy followers peel off as defenders.
3. The master keeps walking forward at walk speed.
4. Engage as a player.

Defense rules:

Step 6: Tribute Chest (After Ambush Resolution)

If every spawned raider is killed within 5 minutes of the ambush firing, a tribute chest drops at the ambush site. The 3-second poll watches for all raiders dead; the moment the last one falls, the chest spawns.

Don't loot at the cost of falling out of zone; the bigger reward is the arrival payout.

Step 7: Arrival

When the convoy reaches the destination:

1. Arriving NPCs speak final lines.
2. System computes participation. Each player's reckoned in-zone seconds are divided by total reckoned travel seconds.
3. Players above 70% get the gold payout. ≥1000g is delivered as a BankCheck; smaller amounts arrive as raw gold (auto-deposited to your bank box if you're offline at arrival).
4. Mission-typed convoys (civic-supplier, guild-contract) fire their handler-specific reward on top.
5. Daily Ledger progress updates if you have an active escort task.

Time Tokens you earned at the 3× rate during the run are already in your account — they accrued tick by tick while you were in the zone, not at arrival.

Common Mistakes

• Joining late and missing the gather window. Wait near the spawn for the broadcast; don't travel too far away.
• Going to fetch something mid-run. Falling out of zone for 5+ minutes drops your fraction below threshold.
• Attacking convoy NPCs. This flags you criminal through Civic Justice. Don't.
• Engaging the ambush from too far away. Get into the zone fast; stay there.
• Trying to solo a strong ambush. Bring help. A 4-player escort handles most encounters easily.
• Forgetting Felucca rules apply on Felucca convoys. Fel convoys are full PvP — other players can attack you.

What If the Master Dies?

The cargo doesn't disappear. It lands on the master's corpse (or on the ground if no corpse). The cargo watcher considers the cargo "still present" as long as it's anywhere inside the convoy zone — on a corpse, on the ground, in another member's pack, or in a player's pack carrying it forward. Loss only fires after the cargo drifts outside the zone or is deleted, plus a 3-second grace.

The recovery loop:

1. Pick up the cargo quickly (or have any surviving member do so).
2. Stay in the zone with the surviving NPCs while you carry it.
3. Travel toward the destination with the rest of the caravan.
4. The cargo's presence at the destination zone resolves the run. Mission-typed convoys may add a handler-specific hand-off step.

A good cargo-runner salvages a lot of master-death scenarios.

What If the Convoy Fails?

Failure modes:

On failure, an emergency payout still runs: any player already over the 70% threshold gets the gold payout, but mission-handler bonuses are suppressed. So a long, mostly-successful escort that wipes near the destination usually still pays the gold — only the mission-specific extras are forfeit.

Tribute chests from active encounters do NOT drop on failure; the chest reward is contractually tied to clean encounter resolution while the convoy is alive.

Strategic Tips

Where to Read Next

• For the underlying convoy system, Immortal Realm Convoys.
• For the civic-justice flow that polices attacks on convoys, Civic Justice.
• For the broader economy convoys feed, Immortal Realm Economy.
• For the daily ledger that tracks convoy completions, Daily Ledger.
• The download page is the on-ramp when you're ready.

Visual reference

Click to enlarge.