Ace Online
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| Ace Online/AirRivals | |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | MasangSoft |
| Publisher(s) | Yedang (Korea) GameForge4D (Europe) Wicked Interactive (North America) Winner Online (Thailand) VTC Online (Vietnam) Yetime (China) Gamon (Taiwan) Arario Corp. (Japan) Innova Inc. (Russia) |
| License | Freeware |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Release date(s) | May 26, 2006 (International) September 26, 2008 (North American Relaunch) [1] |
| Genre(s) | MMO 3D Space Shooter |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
| Media | Download |
| System requirements | Pentium III 1 GHz equiv. CPU, 256MB RAM, Internet access, DirectX 9.0, 32MB 3D accelerator VGA card, sound card, 2GB hard drive space |
| Input methods | Keyboard, mouse |
Ace Online is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), 3D shooter, developed by MasangSoft and owned by Yedang.
Contents |
[edit] History
In North America, it was also known as Space Cowboy Online. Space Cowboy Online's client was made available for download on May 22, 2006, with two initial download options available. The official server launch was to follow three days later on May 25, 2006 at 19:00 GMT (12:00 pm PDT), but this initial launch time was delayed, and the servers instead went live after a delay of a little over twenty-four hours. There were three game servers available: "Joymus," "Hovernmus," and "Trimus," (named after AI-controlled "mobs") Trimus being the last of the three, added on August 9, 2006.
The Gala-Net version of Space Cowboy Online, which services North America, was shut down on December 26, 2007 during normal weekly maintenance. Complete details listed below. Yedang, the owner of all Ace Online's license, decide to run its servers themselves, as "Ace Online International" is officially for International players, with a single server, "Quasar", while Wicked Interactive hosts the North American servers, with new servers named "Prelude" and "Artemis".
In North America, Space Cowboy Online (International) originally launched in September, 2005, in an alpha release. By this time, Korea already had a full release of Episode 1. There were approximately six maps, one boss, and no mandatory PvP system in place: only duels, formation and brigade fights were available. Players could only play as members of the nation of Bygeniou. In November, 2005, Space Cowboy Online transitioned to Beta, officially called Episode 2. A second nation, Arlington, was added and pitted against Bygeniou. Neither Bygeniou nor Arlington could see or fight the other. In January, 2006, the Nation Wars system was added. From then on, the two nations were locked in an ongoing nation war. Nation War (PvP) is mandatory for anyone who selects a nation, and those who do not choose a nation cannot travel past the second map, "Tylent Jungle", and cannot do higher level standard, sidestory or scenario missions. New updates have provided a safe "Channel" (an exact replica) for every basic map/air space, creating areas that enemy players can not access. Higher level maps and major war zones (Bark City, Den of site A, and Den of site B being some examples of major war zones) do not have "Safe" channels. When Gala-Net acquired the license to Space Cowboy Online there was no other version that was hosting Episode 2 of the game, so for a period of time the premier version of the game was Gala-net's version.
Ace Online is also known as AirRivals in the European versions. Originally, the European version was going to be called Flysis, but the name was not used due to copyright laws.[citation needed] In Vietnam the game is called Phi Doi.
On December 26, 2007, as a request of Yedang, Gala-Net shutdown the service to North America. This was announced to the public with a letter from Space Cowboy's last active GM, "Xarfox".[2][not in citation given]
In November 2008, Yedang also shut down the Global version which they hosted, presumably due to lack of players.
Gameforge GmbH and Wicked Interactive are currently hosting the European and North American versions of the game respectively, although both also cater to players worldwide and have an international playerbase.
Arario Corporation has just recently acquired the license to host ACE Online in Japan and is expected to launch sometime in the first quarter of 2009.[citation needed]
[edit] Gameplay
In Ace Online, players pilot their own individual starfighters (called "Gears") throughout a number of maps, including terrestrial, lunar, and space maps. It has typical MMORPG elements such as leveling, currency, a skills system and combat mostly based on player equipment and level. Ace Online is a largely player vs. player-oriented game (PvP), with character leveling and item acquisition achieved through combat against non-player characters and the completion of missions. After completion of certain missions, more maps will be accessible to the player. Although a high level character will have better character attributes than most other players, no one at any level is invincible against other players in PvP. As in other MMORPGs, players can trade items, customize their gears, form parties ("formations") and guilds ("brigades"), and fight with other players via PvP combat. Almost all of the combat in Ace Online is aerial, from the third-person view. Players have the option to use an in-cockpit, first-person view.
When players create their account, they can choose from one of four different gears, each with different play styles:
- A Gear (Anima Mortar): A heavy tank like air fighter that is strong in Shield and Attack attributes, it has the ability to stay on the ground and performing ground-to-ground and ground-to-air attacks(it can also fly of course).
- B Gear (Brandy Burg): An air fighter that is balanced in all attributes (Shield, Defense, Attack, Spirit, Fuel, and Evasion). It has no pros or cons, but it has a wide varieties of build. Specialized in air-to-air and air-to-ground combat.
- I Gear (Idle Sniper): An air fighter that is strong in Evasion and Attack attributes, it has the fastest speed and strongest air-to-air combat abilities (it can also do air-to-ground attacks). It is very weak in Defense and shield, it can't take too much damage(even though it's hard to be hit).
- M Gear (Meadow Bugle): A support air fighter that is strong in Spirit and Defence. It has air-to-air and air-to-ground combat abilities, yet it can't deal too much damage unless you're using the attack build. It is specialized in healing and buffing other friendly fighters during PvP or Leveling.
A gear's performance can be improved with purchases from the "Skill Shop". Skills range from healing skills, weapon enhancing skills and gear performance skills. The magnitude and the duration that the skill effects the gear depends on the level of the gear performing the skill.
New armor is also available at the "Gear Shop", but the armor can only be used if the requirements for that armor are met. The gear cannot take off if no armor is equipped. Armour can be enhanced using various recipes of materials gathered from monster drops which increases the "energy points" and "shield points". Certain enhancements have an additional boost to the "defense" or "evasion" percentage score of your gear.
Gears may use "Standard" or "Advance" weapons. The former are basic guns that use the crosshair for targeting, the latter are missiles which can lock-on to gears. Missiles are guided projectiles that require a lock-on to the target, but a Gear may avoid them by barrel-rolling. A specific type of gear can utilize a skill to cause his missiles to do splash damage, among other bonuses.
Other equipment includes radars, adhesives (non-critical items that boost the Gear in some way) and CPUs (accessories that improve a Gear's Stat Points.)
[edit] Item shop and enchantments
Ace Online is a free-to-play MMO, with the option of buying in-game items via an "Item shop" that can be only accessed whilst in the "City" or "Supply Shop" from bottom right corner of the screen or the shop. In the International Ace Online version, a player can only purchase the items from the "Item shop" using yecoins that has been bought through Yedang website via a Ace Online account. There are many items available to purchase that affect sgear's weapons (e.g. change the trail effect of the missiles), stats (e.g. resets or partial resets of stats), experience (e.g. increase experience rate) or others for a limited time. This item shop was made available to players on June 23, 2006.
The shop also includes "Weapon Gamble", "Enhancements", Enchant Protection" and "Legending" services. Weapon Gamble allows weapons to be "gambled" and enchanted. This card randomly gambles the weapon stats with prefix and suffix to add extra attributes to the weapon. "Enhacements" effect a player's weapons and armor, to boost performance such as having faster missiles, higher rate of fire or damage. To limit the power of weapons and armour, only five enchantments can be applied safely to a piece of equipment. For the sixth enchant and onward there is a chance to break the weapon. However, the Enchant Protection cards protect the item by only destroying enchants above five, not the whole item. Players are also able to upgrade their weapon or armour into a Legendary type. This would require the player to find either a Gematria Scripture or Seraphim Bible and then combining it with their weapon or armour at the factory. If successful the item would become a level 30 Legendary version of the item. Legendary items were then upgraded to higher tiers by Soul of Laplaces or Metamorphose Mixtures. Each upgrade tier had a lower chance of success each time. Also any item that had enchantments or gambles would keep those upgrades when converted into a Legendary. But Legendary items themselves cannot be given those upgrades, thus the items must be upgraded before it's turned into a Legendary.
[edit] PvP (Player vs Player)
There are various of different PvP systems in Ace Online:
[edit] Nation War
Ace Online offers a PvP system of "Nation Wars", which revolves around a point system: "National Contribution Points" (NCP). The two nations in question are Bygeniou City United (BCU) and Anti National Influence United (ANI). Every time an enemy gear is shot down, the shooter's nation gains 1 NCP. NCP are also gained for other events, such as Strategic Points, Mothership wars, and Arena battles. Arena battles usually give a small amount of NCP compared to Strategic Points and Mothership wars.
- Raids - Two factions (BCU and ANI) are separated by a series of airspaces (maps). Nation Wars involve a constant battle between the two factions to raid and defend these airspaces. A successful raid gaining airspace over the opposing force provides strategic and economical advantages. For example, the boss "Pathos" only spawns in the BCU map "Zaylope Beach"; whoever controls "Zaylope Beach" would have the chance to destroy it and receive its rare drops if "Pathos" should spawn. Battling over these airspaces often results in tens to thousands of NCPs gained for neither or both nations, speeding up the spawning of motherships (see below for motherships). A map being held by a large enemy force means restricted access for lower level players, meaning they can not access and level up in that specific map.
- Mothership Battles - This is another part of Nation Wars, the nation leader (elected every month) chooses when the offensive Mothership spawnes every week. At the time what the leader chooses the mothership is spawned deep in the homelands of the opposing nation. If the mothership is not completely destroyed in two hours, it will despawn. Successful destruction of the enemy mothership grants the attacking nation a 5% increase in recovery rate of energy, shield, and skill points, also allowing access to the "Hornian King Habitat" and "Eopi". Successfully defending a mothership does not grant the defender any bonuses; instead, it prevents the enemy from receiving the reward for destroying the mothership. The BCU mothership, Anubis, spawns in Tylent Jungle, while the ANI mothership Horus spawns in Reynard Beach. Bonuses obtained from destroying/defending motherships are reset at the end of every month, as are NCP's.
- Strategic Points - Strategic Points are spawned in a random map at random times, and it will despawn one hour after its spawn if not destroyed completely. An announcement is made to all players of both factions of the map the Point has spawned in. When a Strategic Point is destroyed, all participants in the assault force (anyone that was in the map or the map behind [dead or alive] upon destruction of the Strategic Point) gains a "SPI Capsule", which will give a random amount of monetary reward, ranging from 150,000 up to 300,000; and 300WP, besides his/her nation gaining 500 NCP. When a Strategic Point is successfully defended until despawn, the defender gains 500 NCP and the "SPI Capsule" along with the 300 WP. Any nation's player that still loses the Strategic Point while being one map before/after the location of the Strategic Point will still gain 100 WP.
- War Points- Players can gain War Points from attacking/defending Mother Ships, and Strategic Points. War Points are a new in-game currency that allows players to buy unique items from the recently added Point Shop. These points can be used to buy stronger adhesives, new armors, and other bonuses.
- Nation Leader- Every month players who are level 60 or higher, have 1000 fame (you get 1 fame for every time you kill an enemy player) and they own a brigade (a brigade is like a clan) with at least 15 people in it and the brigade has at least 1000 fame. When all the players who want to be leader sign up the rest of the nation can vote who they want to be leader, and winner will be the nation leader until the next election, in a month. There is nothing limiting the amount of times you can be leader. The nation leader of each side (ANI and BCU) gets a leader mark, this gives then an extra 10 000 shield, the leaders have a light green name for easy identification and they get war funds, what is money given to the leader to help the nations economy. The leader can also choose two sub-leaders, what can help them lead the nation.
[edit] Duels
Players can challenge other players in an 1 on 1 duel, or a formation battle (up to 6 players per formation).
- 1 on 1 - A 1 on 1 duel can be initiated by challenging another player and that player accepting the challenge, and vice versa. In a 1 on 1 duel, the two participants receive a 5 second warning, after which there is an unlimited amount of time to kill the other player; should one of the players die under any circumstance (being shot down by the other player in the duel, crashing into terrain objects, being killed by a member of the opposing nation, or being killed by a hostile NPC) then the surviving player is declared the winner; being disconnected results in a loss for the disconnected player, and moving to a different map will result in a loss, even if a player uses "Express city return portal" to teleport back to the city. Wins and losses are logged on a player's info for 1 on 1 duels.
It should be noted that healing yourself, or "kitting"(Using HP/Shield recovery kits), in a one-on-one duel is greatly frowned upon by the game's western audience as a whole, along with the use of special and elite skills(Skills that can only be acquired once one has found a Special Skill Opening Card, and Elite Skill Opening Card, respectively). This includes the skills: I-Gear: Chain-Rolling(Special), Berserk(Elite). B-Gear: Invisible(Special), Big Boom(Elite). M-Gear: Purify(Special), Invincible(Special), Full Recover(Elite). A-Gear: Shield Paralyze(Special), Camouflage(Special, nearly no one gets this skill as it is, but there are a few), Hypershot(Elite).
- Formation Battle - A formation battle can be initiated by the command /formfight [formation leader]. A formation battle can only start if all members of both formations are in the same map, logged on, and the formation leader accepting the challenge (it does not ask permission from formation members). Once a formation battle request is sent, no new players may be invited to the formation; existing formation members cannot be kicked; and the formation may not disband. A formation battle is won when all members of the opposing formation have been eliminated under any circumstance (same as above in 1 on 1). When one member of a formation dies while the rest are still alive, he/she cannot re-spawn until the formation battle ends in either win or loss. Wins and losses for formation battles are not logged on a player's info.
- Brigade War - To be filled at a later time
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ Wicked Interactive Official Launch of ACE Online
- ^ GM Xarfox. "Space Cowboy Online". http://sco.gpotato.com. Retrieved 2007-12-07.
