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| Space Cowboy Online | |
|---|---|
| Gameplay screenshot | |
| Developer(s) | MasangSoft |
| Publisher(s) | Gala-Net, Inc. |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Release | May 26, 2006 (International) |
| Genre(s) | MMO 3D Space Shooter |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
Space Cowboy Online (SCO) is a free-to-play, client-based MMORPG with the characteristics of both Third-person shooters and flight simulators. In Space Cowboy Online, players pilot their own individual starfighters (called "Gears") throughout a number of maps, including terrestrial, lunar, and space maps. It has typical MMOG elements such as leveling, currency, and a skills system. Space Cowboy Online is a largely Player vs. Player (PvP)-oriented game, with character leveling and item acquiring achieved through combat against Non-Player Characters (NPCs) and the completion of missions. As a player gains in character levels, more and more maps become accessible to that 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 Space Cowboy Online is aerial, from the third-person view. Players have the option to use the in-cockpit, first-person view by pressing on the "Delete" key once.
Space Cowboy Online's client (1.06 GB) 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 (12:00PM 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 are currently three game servers available: "Joymus," "Hovernmus," and "Trimus," Trimus being the newest of the three, added on August 9, 2006.
Game Versions
- Masang Soft - Masang Soft created Space Cowboy Online and reserves the Korean license for themselves.
- Gala-Net Inc. - Gala-Net Inc. is licensed to serve Space Cowboy Online to North America, South America, Europe, Oceania, as well as Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.
- VTC Game - VTC Game holds the license for Vietnam.
Gears
There are currently four playable Gears for players to choose from, the Anima Mortar (A-Gear), Brandy Burg (B-Gear), Idle Sniper (I-Gear), and Meadow Bugle (M-Gear). Each Gear has its own particular play-style and unique abilities (in game skills), as well as weaknesses and strengths. Each Gear has its own primary statistics, which are raised as the player progresses through the game, gaining levels. These attributes increase the abilities of the gear and also allow access to the Gears' higher level engines. Each gear is equipped with both standard and advanced weapons.
Anima Mortar
The A-gear, also called the "Assault Gear", is the "heavy weapons" Gear of Space Cowboy Online. A-gears have the ability to land and travel anywhere on the ground and the water, in addition to flying in the air. This gear is extremely useful in Nation Wars because it can camp a warp portal due to its ability to remain stationary on the ground. Because A-Gears can land on the ground, they can often position themselves so that they can fire on opponents with partial impunity due to obstructive terrain. A-Gears, unlike the other Gears, use the standard weapon as their main weapon. Instead of a homing missile, their advanced weapon fires a burst of small rockets in straight trajectory. Standard weapons are large cannon-like weapons which inflict greater damage than other standard weapons, as well as being aimed separately to the movement of the gear, at least while landed. A-Gears require certain Attack, Defense, and Shield statistics to use their higher level engines. A-Gears using "Siege Mode" can do more damage and attack more quickly, while those using "Siege Defense" receive less damage. Both of the siege skills can only be performed on the ground. They al-so have the Snare Shot skill, which causes their next shot to slow an opponent to 75% of the speed they were traveling at, which is particularly effective against fast-moving I-gears. A recent update also add a few skills, most notably the Air siege (siege mode in air), barrier (defend missile attacks), camouflage (invisibility), and Hyper shot (charge attack that deals splash damage).
Brandy Burg
The B-Gear, also known as the "Bomber Gear", specializes in air-to-ground combat with their 'Ground Bombing Mode' (GBM) skill. This skill makes B-Gears the natural enemy of A-Gears. When activated, Bombing Mode causes a hexagonal target to appear on the ground. Any missiles the player fires will head toward that target, in addition to causing more missiles to be fired than normal, with each missile having enhanced damage and explosive radius. This greatly increases the damage done by each salvo of missiles, making it one of the more powerful skills in the game in the hands of a skilled player. The number of additional missiles varies depending on the type of missile equipped. Because of the power of ground bombing mode, there are often calls on the official forum or in game to weaken (or nerf in game terms) the skill. Another B-Gear skill is Charge Shot, which charges a single shot from the standard weapon and fires it at an enemy, dealing several times normal damage depending on the skill level along with a somewhat increased range, with the occasional side effect of temporarily blinding player opponents due to the large explosion graphic for the skill. B-Gears stat points are completely balanced between the attributes, gaining 3 points per bonus point put into that statistic. Their engines require Attack, Agility, and Defence. A recent update also included air bombing mode (ABM), Big Boom (self destruction with large radius of explosion), Chaffs, and invisibility.
Idle Sniper
The I-Gear, also known as the "Interceptor Gear", is the primary air-to-air fighter of the game. It can go the fastest, with 500 m/s booster speed (560 m/s booster with the endgame engines), and has relatively moderate armor compared to the other classes. Many I-Gear players build up their evasion ability using high agility attributes to make up for this weakness. The I-Gear gets a skill called Overboost, allowing it to travel at 600 m/s for a short period. Its primary attributes are Attack and Agility, being required for the higher level engines in the game. Its skill named "Frenzy" allows the gear to shoot an extra round of missiles per shot at level 3, allowing it to inflict considerably more damage with advanced weapons in normal combat. I-Gear's Attribute Skill is Hyper Moving, which allows the I-Gear to turn extremely quickly. I-Gears excel at air-to-air fighting, making them extremely dangerous in dogfights. A recent update also included Berseker (extremely short duration, large attack buff), chain rolling (allow continuous barrel rolling), and silence (disables an enemy's missile lock warning when you lock on to them).
Meadow Bugle
The M-Gear, also known as the "Medic Gear", is the support fighter of the game. Its primary attributes are Defence and Spirit. It has skills which can repair the shields and energy of other gears in its formation, as well as its own energy and shields. It also has skills which improve (buff) the defensive and offensive capabilities of the entire formation. M-Gear engines in general are relatively slow compared to other gears, but allow for better turning. M-Gears are often in high demand for formations as formations rely on the M-Gear's healing and buffing abilities, as well as their ability to hover. Hovering allows them to more easily guard warp portals, especially during Nation Wars. M-Gears also have the ability to use the "Reverse Engine" skill which causes them to instantaneously begin travelling backwards at whatever speed they were moving. This allows them to out-maneuver opponents at close range, as well as fire at enemies while simultaneously running away from them. M-Gears generally have less offensive capability than other gears, but make up for it with their buffs and high defensive stat. A recent update also included elevations (damage output/accuracy buff), Full recovery (of HP and Shields), Invicibility (forbid attacks coming in AND going out), Purify (purge buff from target), and scanning (reveal hidden enemy)
Skills
All gears have skills that can be purchase from "Skill shop" which can be used on improving their gear performance. There are different skill levels and the time of skill effects your gear you can brought depending on the level of your gear. There are healing skills (M-Gears only), weapon enhancing skills (all Gears) and gear performance skills (all gears). You can increase the skill points (SP) available for use by adding stat points to spirit. Higher level skills will use many skills points to perform the skills.
The way a skill is used puts it into one of two main categories. Buff skills have a flat SP cost for a fixed duration. Toggle skills can be turned on and off at will, but cost a certain amount of SP per second they are active. If a player dies, all skills are deactivated, and any additional duration on buff skills is lost without the cost being returned.
Equipments
Armour
There are armours available for your gear that can help to increases the Gear's "energy points" (health) and "shield points". From the start of the game your gear has an armour already and you can buy new armours from the "Gear shop," but the armour can be only used by the gear depending the required level being reached. The gear cannot take off if no armour is equipped. You can enhance the armour using various recipes of materials gathered from monster drops which increases the "energy points" and "shield points". Furthermore, certain enhancements have an additional boost to the "defence" or "evasion" percentage score of your gear.
Weapons
There are two types of weapons: Standard and Advance weapons
Standard Weapon
Standard weapons are basically guns, aimed with the movement of the mouse for the crosshair. There is one set of standard weapons shared by B, I and M gears, and a different set for A-gears. Different types of standard weapons have different stats and probability. Examples are "Twintail," an automatic-type weapon for B, I or M-gears, and "Jackhammer," a mass drive weapon for A-gears. A-gear standard weapons are considerably stronger than those of the other gears, as they are the primary weapon of those gears in most situations.
Advance Weapon
Advance weapons are missiles (B, I and M-gears) and rockets (A-gears). These weapons generally cause more damage than standard weapons of similar levels, with the exception of A-gears. In terms of missiles, these require locking on to the target by bringing them within the "valid angle" of your crosshairs, defined by the missiles statistics. Once locked on and launched, it will travel towards the target with the specific speed of the missiles, following after them, and detonate on impact or after having travelled a set distanced (defined by the missiles range). Induction angle is the angle at which the missiles can turn once launched towards the locked target. The larger the induction angle, the tighter angles it can turn. Rockets for A-gears simply travel in a straight line very fast speed. Missiles can be avoided by "barrel rolling", performed with a double tap of one of the direction keys. If executed with the proper timing the missiles will fly past and disengage lock on. Rockets launched from an A-gear can be easily avoided as they only travel in straight trajectory and do not home into the target.
Radars
All gears require a radar to inflict physical damage to another gear/NPC, with the exception of B-Gears (They can use bombing mode). A Radar is required for an advanced weapon lock and standard weapon lock.
Adhesives
Adhesives are non-critical items that boosts the player in some way.
Permanent Adhesives
These adhesives stay on the gear until un-equipped. They add either extra shield, energy, or fuel to a gear.
Temporary Adhesives
Temporary adhesives are also called charms in the game. They're items that gives a gear extra attributes for a certain amount of time. These can varie from 30 minutes to 5 hours. Some give extra attack capabilities, some increases the recover rate of certain field, and others range from experience to drop rates of rare items.
Marks
Marks are an item purchased using Gpotatoes. When equipped, a two dimensional (sometimes animated) apear above a player's gear when flying, and above the character of a player in the city. The mark will face the direction the player equipped to it is facing.
President Adhesive
As a bonus for being the leader of a nation. The president recieves a president adhesive. It displays an animated symbol of their nation above the president's gear/character, same as a mark, and it adds 10k of shield to that gear, often making leaders near invincible in combat.
CPU's
CPU's are accessories in the game that adds extra stat to a gear. There are three types. Regular, unique, and Killmark (KM).
Regular CPU's start at level 1, and a new CPU exists every 5 levels until level 20, at which point CPU's will exists every 10 levels, at 30, 40, 50, and etc.
Unique CPU's are a "drop" from killing boss and certain characters in the game. They all have a requirement of level 1, which means anyone can equip them. They give a lot more stat than any regular CPU's would give until level 60.
Killmark CPU's are made from combining 150 or 300 killmarks with a corresponding cube depending on the level of the killmarks. Killmark CPU's exists as level 12, 22, 42, 62, and 82. Killmark CPU's give an considerable amount of stat bonus considering its level requirements.
Enchantments
Weapons and armours in the game can be enchanted to add additional benefits to the equipment. They are enchanted by combining them with "cards".
Weapon Gamble
Weapons can be "gambled" and enchanted. A gamble adds a Prefix and Suffix to a weapon. Each "fix" adds extra attributes to the weapon. For example, a "sniper" prefix/suffix subtracts -15% reattack time, allowing for faster fire rate. No one can pick the specific fixes you want to see on a weapon. They can only "gamble" for one. Regular weapon gamble cards allow you to gamble for every fix in the game. Super Gambles gives an improved chance of getting better fixes from each card.
Weapon Enchantments
There are specific cards for "enchanting" a missile. A player can pick the enchantments on a missile. The cards available include:
-Attack Cards: adds attack power to a weapon. -Quick fire Card: faster firing/reloading of a weapon. -Probability Card: increase the weapon's chance of damaging the target. -Range Card: increases the range of the weapon. -Weight Card: decreases the weight of a weapon.
There are more cards, including some specific to certain weapon types.
Armour Enchantments
Armour can also be enchanted, but not gambled. Enchantment for armor are called "Shield Cards". Like its name, Shield Cards increase the shield bonus of the armour (+150 shield per card).
Enchantment Limits
To limit the power of weapons and armour, only five enchantments can be applied safely to a piece of equipment. For the 6th enchant and onward there is a chance of failure. In the event of failure, your equipment "breaks" and is lost. You can purchase "Enchantment Destruction Prevention" cards with Gpotatoes, but that only prevents the destruction of an equipment. In the event that the weapon fails in an enchant with an Enchantment Destruction Prevention card, the equipment is not destroyed but is downgraded to the 5th enchantment, losing any additional enchantments and the card used to attempt the additional one.
PvP (Player vs Player)
Nation Wars
Space Cowboys Online offers a PvP system of "Nation Wars", which revolves around a point system: "National Contribution Points" (NCP). Every time an enemy gear is shot down, the shooter's nation gains 1 NCP. NCP are also gained for other events.
Raids
Two factions (BCU and ANI) are seperated by a series of airspaces(maps), Nation Wars involve a constant battle between the two factions to raid and defend these airspaces. A sucessful 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 recieve its rare drops if "Pathos" should spawn. Battling over these airspace often results from tens to thousands of NCP gained for neither one, or both nations, speeding up the spawning of motherships (see below for motherships). Map being held by a large enemy force means restricted access for lower level players, which means they can not access those maps and level up in that specific map.
New updates provided a safe "Channel" (an exact replica) for every basic map/air space, creating areas where the enemy players can not access. Higher level maps and major war zones (Bark City, DenA, and DenB) are excluded.
Mothership Battles
As another part of Nation Wars, every time a nation gains an interval of 100,000 NPC (100,000;200,000; and etc.), a mothership is spawned deep in the homelands of the opposing nation. Two hours after a mothership is spawned, if it is not completely destroyed in two hours, it will despawn. Sucessfully destroying the enemy mothership grants the attacking nation a 5% increase in recovery rate of enegy, shield, and skill points; also allowing access to the "violatile zone". Sucesffully defending a mothership does not grant the defender any bonuses, instead, it keeps the enemy from getting the reward for destroying the mothership.
The BCU mothership, Anubis, spawns in Tylent Jungle; while the ANI mothership Horos spawns in Reynard Beach.
Strategic Points
Strategic Points are spawned in a random map at random times, and it will despawn two hours 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 gains a "SPI Capsule", which will give a random amount of monetary reward, ranging from 100,000 up to 300,000; and his/her nation gains 500 NCP. When a Strategic Point is sucesfully defended until despawn, the defender gains 500 NCP and the "SPI Capsule".
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 accpeting the challenge, and vice versa. In a 1 on 1 duel, the two participants recieves a 5 second warning, and after which there is an unlimited amount of time to kill the other player; should one of the player dies under any circumstance (crashing into terrain objects, being killed by a member of the opposing nation, etc etc) results in a loss; being disconnected also results in a loss; and same if a player uses "Express city return portal" to teleport back to the city.
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).
A formation battle is won when all members of the opposing formation has 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.
History
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.
Episode 1 story
From International site: (http://sco.gpotato.com/)
Half a century has passed since the humans arrived on the Phillon planet. The Deca and Vatallus, racial factions which were at an uneasy peace during the colonization of Phillon, parted ways, moving their settlements to opposing hemispheres of the planet.
As a result, the Artum project, the original mission which involved acquiring energy from the planet, had stalled. Both factions were forced to find convenient nearby energy sources, wreaking havoc on the environment in the process. The continually degenerating relations between Deca and Vatallus has put both sides into a cold war for resources.
A small handful of citizens made a huge fortune by monopolizing these resources before anyone else. To protect their empires, they ultimately pumped a large amount of their wealth into national defense. Munitions companies, too, made massive profits from all this funding coming in, they in turn funded their smaller business with this enormous capital. The resulting government was heavily influenced by the desire and greed of the tycoons of this massive industry. This brought about an arms race which even managed to split the Decans of the Eastern continent into a smaller group of sub-factions. The munitions monopoly eventually settled into their own city, Bark City.
This upset many of Deca's other influential leaders who, along with many of the pilots who were part of the first settlement project, did not want their blood to be spilled for the sake of this industry.
A number of Decans staged uprisings, and they began to create quite a following. The munitions bigwigs stepped in behind the shadows, damaging the reputations of the leaders of this resistance, labeling them as traitors. These Decans escaped the city's sphere of influence. Their words of peace and environmental moderation were forgotten, and eventually ignored, and as a result, Bark City abruptly fell into ruin, with 80% of its population being decimated by an unidentified disaster. The people assumed that this was caused by the native Phillon race, or the Shrines who have also settled here. This led them to concentrate more of their resources on national defense.
A few people presumed that the destruction of Bark City was caused by the competition amongst the munitions companies. Many of them were considering to unite with Deca once more, while others were considering uniting with Vatallus. Perhaps these others were looking to expand their markets.
Following this, there was much speculation, protesting, and bloodshed among the Decans. Many of these people moved to the Redline district to expand their own influence. They built bases along both Redline and Starlite Valley, and located their main city in Redline. It became a New Bark City of sorts, although not in name. Bygeniou was humiliated by this, with its citizens worried that this new power could strike against them with its skilled pilots and wide array of munitions resources at any time.
Bygeniou City staged a preemptive attack against the new "rebel" (as they were called) forces, but too many Decans had strong feelings for their kin, many whom they feel to be the great heroes of Deca. Ultimately, this war went tediously back and forth without any gains.
Episode 2 story
From International site: (http://sco.gpotato.com/)
Those who resided in Redline and Starlite were considered rebels because they wanted to improve relations between Deca and Vatallus. Their goals were not to be, however, as their one fatal flaw was that they were working with resources left over from Bark City, and those resources were running out. The Artum project had long been frozen by the constant infighting amongst the Decans, so both the rebels and those in Union City, on the east side of Eastern Continent, were suffering. Efforts to resume this project had failed. Years passed, and eventually the original reason for the colonization of this planet was lost. Fragments of information about the Artum project remains only in the minds of Deca's elders and their computer equipment which has not yet been recycled into devices of war.
A few of those with knowledge of the Artum project crossed over to the rebel side, and together they secretly formed the city of Arlington, in the barren desert. Rebel forces gradually moved from Redline and Starlite, but the conflict between Bygeniou and the newfound Arlington remained. Union City on the other hand, which is close to where Arlington was founded, was destroyed, allegedly by the Phillons and the Shrines. In the meantime, Arlington was resuming the Artum project on its own. What will become of Bygeniou as a result?
Maintenance
Space Cowboy Online's servers was scheduled a two-hour maintenance every week, from 11:00 PM (PDT) to 1:00 AM (PDT) every Monday night to Tuesday. Beginning on January 3rd, 2007, maintenance will be done from every Wednesday night to Thursday. However, this period is subject to unannounced extension. Serious bugs in the game due to new updates can also call for short un-scheduled patches/fixes.
Music
While the game does have a basic soundtrack, you can play your own music in the in-game music player by moving mp3 music files into the "Music" directory wherever you installed SCO (Default: C\Program Files\Gpotato\Space Cowboy Online\Music). Only mp3 files are supported. The playlist will be arranged into alphabetical order of the file names.
Item shop
Space Cowboy 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" from bottom right corner of the screen or the shop. In the International Space Cowboy Online version, you can only purchase the items from the "Item shop" using GPotato coins that has been brought through GPotato website via your Space Cowboy Online account.There are many items available to purchase that affect your gear'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.