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Topics - Shangalar

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21
News & Announcements / Ashes of Phoenix is almost ready to roll!
« on: August 04, 2014, 09:05:25 AM »
Hello everyone,

We've been spending our time on polishing the game for the last couple of weeks, and we're now very close to the official launch!

It's time for us to come and talk about Ashes of Phoenix in more details, to show why we believe it has a huge potential and why you should try it out. We'll be releasing a series of videos in the next weeks remaining before the game goes live while we finish some more thingies on our side. We don't know yet about the exact release day, but we'll keep you informed at least several days before it comes.

We'll of course start with the main location of the game: Phoenix.


We now also have a moddb page you can follow:
http://www.moddb.com/games/fonline-ashes-of-phoenix
And if you like what you see, please like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FOnlineAOP

All support is warmly appreciated!

22
News & Announcements / About dialogues and quests
« on: June 05, 2014, 05:27:10 PM »
Hello folks!

It's been a while since we posted news, as usual we've been working in the shadows in order to get ready for the next beta phase. We still don't know when it's going to happen but it's definitely somewhere on the horizon. A lot of work has been done since the first test in march and we still have a number of different aspects to talk about.

One of the big tasks we've been tackling recently is dialogue writing. In Ashes of Phoenix, non player characters fulfill different roles. First, most of them are standing in faction headquarters, guarding it, selling equipment and providing various services to faction members. Naturally, a big part of the dialogues are directly related to those matters, but there are also quite a number of characters in all the headquarters who are looking for certain items to fulfill their needs, be it the long lost golden locket of their only daughter, a set of marked cards to tip the odds in the casino in their favor, or the good old rubber doll to indulge in more secretive activities. It is up to the player to find out how to get the most out of his regular trips to the core, rather than just dropping everything off at the designated merchant.

There are more elaborated quests as well: some characters have a lot to say about themselves, their factions and the world, and even more thanks to the Persuasion skill that will unlock new answers. We also plan some characters to play an active role in the war to come: through global quests available to the whole faction, you will have the opportunity to collaborate in order to bring your side closer to victory. That's the type of quests and dialogues we want to focus on in the future.

As for repeatable quests, we implemented the Random Assignment feature which enables you to complete many different and largely randomized missions, be it alone or with a group of friends. We'll talk more about the random assignments and our plans for the future in the next post so stay in touch!

23
Wiki creation / Wiki feedbacks
« on: April 26, 2014, 07:17:28 AM »
Hello guys!

It's been some days since the new skin was implemented, so I'd like to ask if you have any feedback concerning the wiki, both its edition menus and readability. Anything to report? Feeling comfortable?

I think everything is alright now, didn't experience any bug on my side, except the Recent Changes page which is unavailable on Safari for an unknown reason.

24
News & Announcements / New website and wiki skins
« on: April 12, 2014, 01:47:28 PM »
Hello everyone!

We've been taking a break recently, but preparation continues towards the next beta phase. Meanwhile, we made an update of the website skin and content, and same for the wiki. It is not completely finished visually, but it's close enough now to use it as main page. We hope you appreciate the effort, and on our side it will allow to communicate more easily and more frequently. The forum will follow later, as it requires significantly more work. Feel free to report any issue you might encounter.

About the game, we made some improvements to the crafting system and weaponry recently, and also deeply reworked Phoenix maps, with some visual changes, a lot of bug fixing and some other important things like containers amounts. We're also currently deploying a new feature there, where adventurers, thugs, merchants or even spore plants can appear randomly in multiple buildings and areas. A good example would be the scavenger, which runs here and there to loot stuff and flies from anyone attacking him. If you manage to kill him, his loot is yours!

We don't yet know when server will be back online, unfortunately. We're advancing with our tasks as we can and we'll try to get more people involved in the project in the near future. Meanwhile, the dev server remains opened for those who'd like to participate into the wiki creation.

25
Wiki creation / Information - Join the wiki team!
« on: March 26, 2014, 08:33:07 PM »
This board is dedicated to the management of AoP's wiki.
  • Wiki manager: S.T.A.L.K.E.R
  • Current Wiki editors: antohha, FrankenStoneMyakot, Perteks, and Shura. All of them have moderation rights on this board.
  • To apply to the Wiki Editor group, go to your forum account profile page (top menu), then select Modify profile > Group membership and select 'request membership'.
If anyone wanna give us a hand and get access to wiki edition, don't hesitate to ask here. All help is appreciated!

26
News & Announcements / Beta test progress
« on: February 14, 2014, 06:00:00 PM »
Hello everyone!

It’s been a week since we started our first beta test, and things are looking better with each daily update. While the build is getting ironed out and most of the critical bugs have been addressed thanks to your feedback, we’re still working hard with enabling the remaining features (Tiers 3 equipment, properly working dungeons, etc.) and improving general balancing, which is currently still much work in progress. We’ll need at least one or two weeks to get that done, and won’t probably wipe the server until then. Please brace yourselves while the most seasoned merchants and characters of your factions are getting prepared for your arrival. ;)

If you wish to try AoP, you’re welcome! Just have a look at this post to install your client.

Here is a little presentation video covering some of the main aspects of Ashes of Phoenix. It was made by SlamBliss, one of our testers. Well done mate!


27
News & Announcements / Beta Test finally incoming
« on: February 04, 2014, 06:00:00 PM »
After another pretty intense month of work, we’re now ready to roll.

February 8th, so saturday in the evening we’ll set up the online server and start a closed test that’ll last for a few days, until we have fixed the most critical bugs and stabilized the game as a whole. After that we’ll open the server to everybody. The game should be fully working with its basic set of features presented back in November. We still have some more surprises for you though, as we of course didn’t reveal every single feature so far. Certainly, some mechanics will require tweaks and we’ll make sure to do so as regularly as possible. There will be bugs too, and we’ll focus on solving them. We’re looking forward to reading your reports and we’ll also share our development board in the near future. That way, you’ll be able to follow our progress in real time and vote for the fixes and features you want to see implemented first.

To test the game, you just have to play it. There is a lot of information to provide about game mechanics but most of it should be available ingame through the tutorial, the interface and NPC’s. We’ll make sure to reveal more details as soon as the wiki will be ready. Meanwhile we’ll add information and answer your questions on the forum.

Get ready, Phoenix awakes!

28
News & Announcements / Open Beta delay
« on: January 04, 2014, 06:00:00 PM »
Hello everyone,

We’ve been pretty silent for some weeks and the reason is that we worked hard on the game and unfortunately could not spend enough time discussing it here. While the game is already playable, we’re facing delays on some parts of the development, which now force us to push back the beginning of the beta test a bit in order to polish the game and improve the experience. We also have to perform some tests yet on the online server to ensure that it is in good condition for your arrival. We’re a bit sad about this decision, but we believe it’s for the best. We won’t announce any new date for now as it depends on our progress and the availability of team members. That delay should hopefully be short, which means a few weeks.

Meanwhile, we’ll do our best to show you more about it, for example through some videos. Here is a first one we made some time ago. It shows one of the factions’ Headquarters and a little piece of Phoenix metropolis. There are a bunch of bugs visible on this video, bugs that we addressed already, but we think it’s still an interesting watch:


(If you’re wondering, the white line shows the effective range of your character, the distance at which you have a maximal chance to hit with your current weapon while the green line shows the line of sight. Both can of course be toggled off at any time and the same goes for the burst cone displayed on some occasions during combat.)

We’ll of course keep you informed of our progress as soon as we can, and we wish you a happy new year!

29
News & Announcements / Open Beta Announcement & Game Features
« on: November 10, 2013, 06:00:00 PM »
Hello everyone!

Time has finally come to release more concrete information about FOnline: Ashes of Phoenix’s content and future development steps.

So first, let it be known that the open beta test will start around January 10th, 2014. We’re working hard in order to meet that deadline and have a stable release and we’ll keep you informed of the progress.

What’s the goal of this beta test and how long is it going to last?

We’re cordially inviting all interested players to come and test the game in its first advanced state of development. There is no other goal for you other than having fun with your friends exploring Phoenix and giving us as much feedback as you can. There will be a lot of bugs to be found and fix so please don’t hesitate to report them.

As we developed the game, we realized that its gameplay and mechanics are different from everything we know and that we can’t always clearly foresee all potential consequences of all the mechanics working together as a whole. Every player will react to the game systems and challenges differently and it is very important for us to observe the game in progress in order to ensure that we’re going in the right direction. The first phase of this open test on our side will be bug fixing and tweaking the systems so that they fit to your taste and to our long term vision. Then, as soon as the game is stabilized properly, a second phase will start during which we’ll finalize and implement all the more advanced mechanics we have in store. All in all, this beta test should last around 6 months maximum, though this is of course subject to change.

What does Ashes of Phoenix have to offer?

For people who don’t yet know anything about AoP, we advise you to first have a look at the game description and FAQ.

Building a proper changelog based on FOnline servers or even on Fallout games wouldn’t be possible as too much has changed. Of course, it is still a FOnline game, with its cruel world in which anything can happen anytime. It also still is a Fallout game, inheriting many of the concepts that contributed to make Fallout a so famous franchise. Every single mechanic has been reviewed, reworked and enhanced to accomodate the multiplayer aspect of the game. In fact, we went further, building a new world with its own background and its protagonists, trying to deliver an experience that is brand new, yet inherits the spirit of Fallout. Here is a general list of some of the game’s features:

A new region of the Fallout world to explore

As the name says, the game takes place directly around the ruins of Phoenix, Arizona. This vast American city is the main location of the game, and the Wasteland’s local organizations have gathered and are prepared to conquer it. The headquarters of those factions constitute the second-biggest locations of the game. You can find more information about Phoenix over there.

An advanced system of factions and reputation

Four factions are ready to strike and can be joined by players. Two of them, the Jim & Jack & Joe Lawyer Agency and The Family, have been introduced already. They’re forming the Axis of Order and are each other’s arch enemy. The other axis is the Axis of Technology, composed of the V-Technologists, an organization led by scientists ruling over one of Arizona’s vaults, and the Brahminboys, a proud and powerful horde coming from Texas. Those factions will be introduced further in a future post; for now, let’s just say that they don’t exactly like each other.

As a member of one of those factions, you’ll have the responsibility to lead your people to victory, or at least to assist them the best you can according to your skills and desires. Attacking mates is not advised, as it would severely lower your reputation towards your faction, preventing you from accessing the most important parts of the headquarters. Actually, making friends even outside your own faction would be a smart move since Allies are always welcome in difficult times and trade or military partnerships between factions can be very profitable.

Your faction is able to offer you a lot, anything from weapons, armor and ammunition over to quests and assignments as well as personal spaces can be accessed in your faction’s headquarters. With sufficient reputation, it is possible to become an established arm of your faction by forming a Squad, representing the military strenght of a faction as you fight over territories in the Core and make a name for yourselves. As a rule of thumb, the more work you put in towards your faction, the more offers and rewards you will receive in return.

A completely reworked character system

We reworked the character system from the ground up, with 3 principles in mind; Firstly, every character should be able to become completely independent, preventing the need of creating secondary characters for the sole purpose of supplying the primary character. Secondly, the gap between a low-level and a high-level character has been reduced, putting more emphasis on the skill and choice of items rather than pure time spent grinding xp. Every character will be able to play his role and partake in every activity even with very low levels. Finally, our third goal was to ensure long term customization of each character, offering many different development possibilities without a frustrating maximum level cap. Basically, it will be very much possible to only concentrate on a single character without feeling like you’re missing out on half the game. The following changes, among others, were made to realize those principles:
  • The SPECIAL system has been preserved, though modified so that every characteristic impacts other stats way more than how it used to do. Dropping one stat to 1 has now more severe consequences to carefully consider, and optimizing your character now depends more on your taste than just applying a known recipe.
  • The Action points system has been modified. All characters now have 100 AP that they can spend on any action. AP regenerate faster if you stand still, slower if you’re moving, depending on your Agility. All the AP costs for performing actions have been modified.
  • Skills have been reworked and are now divided in three categories:
    1. Combat Skills: Small Guns, Big Guns, Energy Weapons and Hand-to-Hand Weapons. Raising those skills increases your chance to hit your enemies, allows you to shoot farther than what the weapon initially allows, and unlocks weapons perks, bonuses applied to weapons that illustrate your increasing ability to use them efficiently.
    2. Secondary Skills: Throwing, First Aid, Doctor, Sneak, Traps and Leadership. Traps also include the ability to pick locks. Leadership is a new skill allowing leaders to see their mates and provide them with passive bonuses. The strength of the effect depends on both their charisma’s. Raising those skills increases their efficiency, and unlocks perks on items associated to them. Healing kits, silent weapons, throwing weapons such as knives or grenades, bear traps or camera sentries and many more items will work better with a greater skill level.
    3. Non-combat Skills: Science, Engineering, Persuasion and Outdoorsman. Those skills are involved into crafting as requirements and constitute the general ability of your character to interact with his environment. They cannot be tagged and cannot be raised with skill points obtained through leveling your character. They’ll increase just as you’ll use them. Persuasion involves speech, barter and gambling.
  • In general, you’re now able to impact on more of your character’s stats. Stats that were hidden so far are now available to you for a better control and detailed view of your capacities. New stats also appeared, like the Action Point Regeneration and the Bleed Resistance, which protects you against damage-on-time abilities of many weapons.
  • All traits and perks have been reworked.

A vast equipment

In post-apocalyptic Phoenix, weapons are everywhere. Every weapon has its own purpose, pros and cons. All weapons from Fallout 1 and 2 are available, as well as most of Fallout Tactics’ weapons. We also included a lot of new realistic weapons with new ones being added in the future as the need arises. Armors have been reworked and now affect the players in different ways and not just in terms of damage protection, so that each armor will have its special role and remains useful for everyone. New models have been added, and all factions have their own set of combat armor. You can get more info about weapons over there.

Many new items have been added to the game and the goal was to give all of them a purpose. At least, those sunglasses you’ll find in an old residence will be worth some cash. Drug items have also be reworked, to make for a more flexible system that benefits every character and not just some.

Challenges

The main challenge the game has to offer is of course the conquest of Phoenix. 12 of its quarters can be taken by factions and controlled over time for rewards affecting the entire faction. Two dungeons will be available at the beginning of the beta: Phoenix Archives and Hell Hole. Both require nerves of steel and strategy to be completed. Then, players will also have assignments proposed to them, different types of PvE missions adapted to their level. More info about dungeons in that post.

And of course, there is more!

We definitely can’t review every feature of Ashes of Phoenix in one single post, so we’ll mention some more things briefly:
  • A tutorial will help you to get used to the gameplay and mechanics, explaining not only the new features of AoP, but also helping those people who have never played the original fallout or any other fonline game. You will also learn more about factions and the situation in the region as you’ll complete your journey to Arizona at the beginning of the game.
  • A crafting system will allow you to craft every weapon and armor as long as you have the know-how and the required resources. You’ll be able to obtain new crafting plans from your faction in exchange for relics found in the Wasteland.
  • A strong economy will guarantee that caps are worth a lot and are crucial to collect. Drugs and ammunition will have to be bought for caps to make sure that caps remain valuable as the game progresses. Selling tons of cheap crafting components to merchants to strip them from their wealth won’t be possible. Exchanging equipment with other players will be more important than ever.
  • The game features a completely new interface with a new Pipboy working as an intel provider as well as an encyclopedia.
  • The NPC’s have been reworked to make for a more natural and dynamic experience. Raiders will roam the ruins of phoenix, packs of wild animals will be out for blood in the wastes and friendly travelers might come to your aid.
  • The game features many new graphics and models.
  • And… yeah, more and more features that are awaiting for you to test them!

If you managed to read so far (and even if you skipped it all and just read the end :p), we thank you for your attention and hope to continue together on this big journey of Ashes of Phoenix. More information will be made available as we getting closer to the open beta so make sure you stick around.

To conclude, we’d like to remind you that our team still recruits motivated people to contribute to development. If you feel interested, have a look at the official thread, which is updated frequently.

30
News & Announcements / One year of development!
« on: September 29, 2013, 06:00:00 PM »
Tomorrow is going to be the first anniversary of the Ashes of Phoenix project. Looking back at what we have already achieved, we realized how long and challenging the development process of such a game is. Nevertheless, we have been making good progress recently as usual, and we get closer and closer to the beta test. We performed a first pvp testing session this month and we’ll do some more later on. Another feature that will be tested soon is the first Phoenix dungeon so now is a good time to talk a bit more about it.

Dungeons constitute both PvP and PvE challenges. Located in the darkest places of the city, you’ll need a certain amount of players, decent level and equipment to be able to enter. Once inside, there is no turning back. Prepare to face packs of enemies cooperating together, traps and deadly foes along the path to the exit. The fights will require strategy, reflexes and preparation. But the trip is worth it: rare artefacts and weapons are hidden underground.

However, you will not be alone in dungeons. Every single group of players will fight in the exact same location. As soon as you enter, the dungeon door is closed for a short time. After that, you’ll be on your own, feeling on your shoulders the pressure of seeing another group, faster than yours, backstab you before you reached the end. Watching your back will be really important, even in dungeons.

At the end of the dungeon, you’ll have the choice to either face the last boss, or leave and secure the loot you have picked up on your way until then. If you choose to enter his room, you’ll be safe from other players for a reasonable amount of time but you’ll then bet all your equipment on beating the final boss which will be a tough fight for each and every team. We believe that those fights will be particularly interesting to play as those fights will use special scripts to make sure each dungeon boss is a unique challenge.

The next news post will be the first major announcement concerning the beta and the game content. Don’t miss it! ;)

31
News & Announcements / Phoenix is still sleeping…
« on: August 30, 2013, 06:00:00 PM »
Yet another news from sunny post-apocalyptic Arizona. Development is going well as usual and we’re getting close to a first decently playable version of AoP. We need several more weeks in order to get most of the main features done. Then, we’ll be able to show you much more of Ashes of Phoenix’ content, concrete stuff that we used to overview in our previous blog posts but also a lot of new features that we didn’t reveal yet. There is really a lot to show and discuss, and time to do it approaches. But since we regularly raised our ambitions in the last months, you’ll unfortunately have to await a bit longer. That’s for the best though.

Expect big news around the beginning of November.

32
News & Announcements / Development status
« on: June 29, 2013, 06:00:00 PM »
Hello everyone,

Just a small update to mention that we added a little ‘development status’ on the blog, as you can obviously see if you’re reading this post. ;)

This addition will help you to make yourself a better idea of the development progress made on AoP. Remember that this represents only a global picture of the current situation. Reaching 100% doesn’t mean that we’ll open the server right away. We’ll have to perform tests before any release. We’re also constantly revising what we already made, and it is possible that we decide to add or modify some features and so, delay the Open Beta test, which is our next goal. In any case, we’ll update dev status when necessary, and continue of course to keep you informed of AoP’s content with more detailed posts in the future.

33
News & Announcements / Phoenix Core review
« on: May 30, 2013, 06:00:00 PM »
As development of Ashes of Phoenix continues steadily (yeah, we’re still there!), we would like to talk a bit more in details about the Core, the remaining center of Phoenix pre-war metropolis and the main location of the game. As said in previous news, Phoenix, which partially avoided destruction during the Great War, has become the place to go for a part of the population living near the West Coast in 2220. Untouched for a long period, its resources and facilities are now coveted by many.

The Core is a huge location, composed of a large amount of maps connected to each other at multiple spots. Different entrances or ‘gates’ are available for everyone, and you’ll find both dangers and treasures in its dark alleys. There are many reasons for you to explore Phoenix, and almost every notable ingame action will take place in its quarters. We hope that this city will constitute both a thrilling giant place to explore, alone or with friends, and a permanent battlefield in which cooperation between players of the same faction will be required to prevail over the enemy sides. Let’s have a closer look at Phoenix Core specifications:

First, you’ll have of course the possibility to scavenge and plunder the riches of Phoenix. Depending on the buildings you visit, you’ll find various item types, such as meds, weapons, crafting components or even collectible items that are worth some caps and which may also be exchanged for rewards with different people. In some places, you’ll also be able to find bigger amounts of certain types of components, useful to craft various sorts of items. These ‘hotspots’, as we call them, will often be found around or inside controllable areas.

So, coming to those controllable areas, we already explained how the Zone Control system basically works in a previous post, but now we would like to mention the rewards you’ll get from them. Controllable zones are key points of the city, facilities worth being guarded at all costs for the  essential and strategical benefits they offer. Aside from the rewards obtained via the Fame you get during combats, zone control also unlocks another kind of advantages affecting the whole faction. Having a zone under your control may for example impact merchants’ prices of certain items, or even unlock new ones that will be available to purchase as long as you own the zone. It will also allow you to interact with NPC’s directly located inside the zones. These people will propose you assignments or sell you rare items that you would not find easily elsewhere. Finally, by extending the grasp their faction has on the city, players will receive protection through patrols.

Patrols are an important feature of the game. As some testers have already experienced during the Alpha test we organized in February, NPC’s don’t simply stay idle. Especially in the Core, numerous bands of animals and humans travel, and you might well fall on them at any step of your journeys. We’ll continue to extend the panel of available opponents you’ll encounter, but we’ll also work on the neutral groups, such as merchants with who you could deal along your way. In zones you control, guards of your faction will patrol, bringing a relative safety to the place.

If those patrols were quite easy to avoid during the Alpha test thanks to the maps which were really open air, it won’t be the case anymore in the future. With the next version of the Core we’re working on, the city features various main roads on which ambushes may become common, and also secondary roads allowing you to take shortcuts towards your destination, or to surprise or avoid any threat encountered on the road. A lot of buildings and ruins will block the path and you’ll have to make your way deep into the unknown. Many interesting spots will be suitable for raids or sniping operations, and all in all, it’s gonna be up to you to discover the places you like to lure and kill your enemies.

Last but not least, we would like to mention that we’re working on a dungeon concept, that will be available into the Core and imply high level PvE as well as PvP. We’re also working on other features impacting your experience in Phoenix Core, and we’ll give you more details as soon as we’re able. Until then, see you around!

34
News & Announcements / Broadcast from Phoenix & Contributions
« on: April 04, 2013, 06:00:00 PM »
Hello Wastelanders!

The Alpha test ended a few weeks ago now, and we reorganized a bit in order to reach the next stage of the development: beta! During next months, we’ll focus on developing different aspects of the game. First, we’ll enlarge Phoenix city, add more controllable zones with more thrilling goals, rewards… and other surprises as well. Then, we’ll also work on extending the game’s content, add assignments (read quests, but we don’t like much the term nor its involvements in MMORPG’s; we’ll talk about that later), dialogues, develop factions backgrounds, internal stories and intrigues, and bring you interesting new skills that were not available to testers so far. Oh, and some more big features that you may find very interesting too, but that will be announced in the future weeks. We have also a bunch of mechanics that must be revised, like the crafting and scavenging concepts that didn’t work as well as expected during the test.

With all of that in mind, we carefully advance and improve the game’s basis. But if we recruited new programmers recently, we still lack artists inside the team. We know that developing a game requires free time that not everyone has at his disposal. That’s why we now also offer to recruit people as Contributors. If you have faith in our project and want to give us a hand from time to time without the need to stay informed of the whole evolution, that may be something to consider. You’ll get more information about the available roles at the recruitment thread. We count on you!

Now, here’s a little something. We recorded that video during an early PvP session during the Alpha test. It’s showing basically how our combat system feels, and you might discover some useful details.



See you around later!

35
News & Announcements / 16.03: PvP event & CAT’s conclusion
« on: March 11, 2013, 07:00:00 PM »
Hello Wastelanders!

This Saturday 16.03 at 20:00 GMT+1, we’ll organize a second PvP event. Most of our testers didn’t experience it yet, though fighting players is the part of the gameplay that received the most changes and evolutions on Ashes of Phoenix. So, in order to be sure that everyone will be equally served for the test, we’ll place NPC’s giving experience and stuff at this single occasion. We hope you’ll come numerous enough so that we can have a great experience, so don’t forget to tell your mates about it!

And then, probably at the end of the event, we’ll close the server and conclude the Alpha test. We made many fixes and gathered a lot of data during this session, we learned a lot from you people and that was really enjoyable. We noticed a lot of things that have to be modified, both in and around the game. We’ll pay attention to all details as we’ll be then heading towards the Beta stage of AoP. You’ll get more information about our plans as soon as the Alpha is finished.

More announcements will come during next weeks, as we’ve received proposals from players to contribute to the advancement of the project. We didn’t forget you guys, and we’ll prepare the necessary stuff for your arrival.

36
News & Announcements / Alpha Test Going on
« on: February 23, 2013, 06:00:00 PM »
Hello everyone!

As you can see, ‘Server Status’ are now visible on our blog and forum. That is related to a closed alpha test that we just started, in order to test several concepts and show people what we’ve done so far. We’re also accumulating experience and data concerning the handling of the online server. Updates and fixes will come regularly in order to constitute a fine basis for further development. We hope that in a few days, the gameplay experience will be really interesting already. So, if you pass by and wanna give a shot to Ashes of Phoenix, you can register on our forums and send a private message to Shangalar, including the single mention “Geckos are nasty”. We’ll certainly need some more motivated testers at some point, and in that case we’d gladly bring you in!

37
News & Announcements / Ashes of Phoenix Factions
« on: February 17, 2013, 06:00:00 PM »
Hello everyone!

In Phoenix, multiple organizations are preparing for an unavoidable incoming conflict. In our game, NPC factions are allocated in pairs to special ‘axes’ representing centers of interests and lifestyles of post-apocalyptic human groups. The different axes are Order, Technology, Religion and Economy for a total of 8 joinable factions. On every axis, factions are antagonist in their way of thinking, acting, and oppose each other. Though they share a lot of common interests and political goals, their response to any given situation is deeply different. Factions from the same axis consider each other as their intimate enemy, which must be eradicated at all costs. That could even mean allying with a faction from another axis, which could have nothing more in common than the actual target… Nevertheless, “job has to be done” remains one of the most used motto’s in the Wasteland. At the moment, the axis of Order is ready to engage.

Jim & Jack & Jo Lawyer Agency is the first faction which joined the city from the outside. Coming from the West a few years ago, this organization managed to break into a locked prewar high-tech facility. They settled down inside since then, calling the place the ‘Cradle of Justice’ and starting to increase their influence around the region. Lawyers, as their members are called, are organized around the Law, some ‘Codex of Behavior’ on which every new member swears allegiance and obedience. Relentless, often racist, against all form of debauchery, Lawyers are fanatics who believe they ARE the Law. No one can teach them any lesson as their arrogance is tremendously high. According to them, everyone who isn’t Lawyer is as worthy as common cattle. Nevertheless, hypocrisy is rampant among Lawyers. They are often the first to breach their own rules if it can bring them profit. They never recognize their mistakes, and look away on command. Only a few of them really believe in their own doctrine. For the others, it’s only a good way to dominate the weak and keep a noble face regardless of their actions. Leaded by Jim, Jack and Jo, the New Lords of Lawyers, this totally corrupted and unpredictable organization kills at will, and most of the time with the ‘Right’ to do so.

The Family was established in Phoenix way before the rumor was spread into the Wastes. More than 20 years ago, they occupied an hotel at the East of the city, where nature was more generous. There, they made a lot of profit for a long period, hiding the source of their wealth to the travelers. Based on something close to south Italian mafia family values, Family members constitute an united group who considers honor and business as pillars of its organization. They have no second thoughts about weakness and take any occasion to wipe someone if the conditions are fulfilled. They also take any occasion to get rich and thus, all traffics are always considered legal. The prevailing motto is the ‘rule of the Smartest’. They consider their headquarters as a sanctuary that must be protected at any cost, and violence is prohibited inside. They can offer help if they can earn something out of it, but mistakes are not tolerated. Honor is considered essential and any offense will be washed in blood. There is no place for useless emotions among them, at least when interacting with the Wasteland. The Family is leaded by the Godfather, a mysterious charismatic man. With his henchman, The Right Hand, he dictates the rules of the Family, for the greater interests of its members.

38
News & Announcements / Ashes of Phoenix Gameplay Mechanics
« on: February 08, 2013, 06:00:00 PM »
Hello Wastelanders!

This time we will check out the gameplay mechanics in more detail, including Zone Control and the combat system.

The Action Points System

As stated earlier, every character has a fixed maximum AP of 100 but two different AP regenerations. The first is the standard one but we felt that it updated too slowly, with too much time inbetween ticks so we introduced a second one. The first AP regen is fixed at 12,5AP per second. The second regen however is based on the player’s Agility and adds another 4-8AP per second.

This second AP regen, the one that is based on AG, is always active, even while running. It only stops for 1,5 seconds after shooting to match the animation time so you do not gain AP while firing a gun. It also is affected by certain debuffs like super stim effects or Doc/FA. On a related note, there are also certain weapons that can afflict an AP drain on the target.

The Combat System

There have been numerous changes to the general mechanics of the game, ranging from small fine tuning to complete overhauls of certain scripts. In the following section, some of the new changes are explained.

Reload Cost
Reload time has been introduced as an important property for each weapon. While most pistols have a very small reload cost of only 10-20 AP, certain Big Guns like the Minigun have AP costs of up to 250. In order to compensate for that, Miniguns have big magazine and there is a new weapon perk called Partial Reload where the reload cost corresponds to the amount of rounds that are reloaded. In contrast to most of the hardcoded AP costs, this reload cost does not require the player to wait with the reload until he has enough AP. Instead, weapons can be reloaded at any time, causing the player’s AP to become negative, making it impossible to move.

Other notable changes include:
  • AP costs for shooting depend on the weapon type you’re carrying. Some weapons fire faster or slower even in the same category. Concretely, it will be up to you to try them all and find your favorite.
  • A fixed AP cost of 50 for equipping and de-equipping weapons and armor. Picking up items doesn’t cost any AP.
  • Reversed firemodes for burst-fire guns, meaning that after reloading, the gun’s firemode defaults to burst instead of single shot.
  • Autoaim which is compatible with all burst modes, meaning that there is no need to remove the autoaim when switching to burst fire.
  • Detailed combat messages, meaning that the player knows who he was hit by and how many bullets hit the target. Partial armor bypasses also display the percentage of armor bypassed.
  • Flexible onehex-bursts, meaning that the number of bullets hitting in a 1-hex burst depend on a value set individually for each weapon. Only SMG’s have a true 100% 1hex. 66% for assault rifles, 33% for light machine guns and 20% for miniguns.

Critical Hits

Sniping and critical hits have seen a lot of changes. In short, the critical chance modifier for all bodyparts is the same now, using the 6*LK formula that only was used for the eyes in Fallout 2. The difference in hitchance still applies though. To compensate for the overall buffed critchance, the base damage of sniper rifles has been raised significantly while the maximum possible damage multiplier from a crit is 2 to make for more evenly distributed damage and less “instakill” lucky shots.

There are two new temporary critical effects, disoriented and winded. While the first one is a five second blindless, the latter is a temporary slow that forces you to walk. The crippling and CC’ing has been reworked in a way that almost all SPECIAL stats affects some kind of crit effect roll, making every stat important. In addition, every armor and weapon also affect certain crit rolls, e.g. a weapons weight affects weapon drop chance.

Zone Control

The structured PvP on AoP is a flexible system that can be matched for any scenario, utilizing a new score system, called “Fame”. Each character has his own Fame score which is a highscore raised by killing and damaging enemies as well as healing allies.

The most basic ZC system is a 15minute timer that can be started by any faction. However, it does not really matter who starts the timer since with 8 faction on the server at some point in the future, every faction should be able to take part in a fight, not just the attacker and the defender.

Practically, the timer will just signify the start of a fight that every faction is able to join by entering the map with a team of players big enough to fulfill that zone’s requirements. While the timer is running, the Fame system is used to gather points for each faction and after the timer is over, the team with the highest number of points will own the zone. If a team is eliminated or forced to flee the zone, their points are reset to 0 so the last team standing should always be the winner. Only if two or more teams are still in the game will the winner be chosen by points.

Our goal is to create a structured PvP system that makes it possible for big factions to control the wasteland with sheer numbers but still allows small and skilled teams to technically win battles by points. In order to achieve this, small teams gain more points for killing and damage their enemies than more numerous teams.

Finally, the Fame score is also used to reward players for participating in ZC. While active participants can potentially gain a lot of XP, reputation and caps, possible leechers like alts created in the enemy faction that don’t have any score and are just there to scout or to loot, can be shot without any drop in Fame or reputation to minimize griefing.

Stay tuned for the next post which will reveal more information about the first two factions.

39
News & Announcements / Ashes of Phoenix: The Arsenal
« on: January 28, 2013, 06:00:00 PM »
Hello wanderers!

Today we’ll take a a look at the weapons you will come across in Phoenix.

Our philosophy is to render every item useful in some way. As stated in the FAQ, there are three tiers of items:

Tier 1 is the category for the starting items with low value and low damage. As for firearms, only the most basic pistols and rifles fall into this category to preserve as many items as possible for the next tier. The only tier 1 armors are the brown robes.

Tier 2 makes up the bulk of the weapons with about 80 in total, counting melee weapons as well as individual upgrades (which play a big role). Everything from the Desert Eagle to the Avenger will be tier 2 and will be equally effective. Every weapon will have certain advantages and drawbacks and there are only few weapons that are strictly “better” than other guns. All armor except for the robes and the Power Armor are tier 2, meaning that a leather jacket might be just as effective as a combat armor if used correctly.

Tier 3 includes advanced weapons like Gauss, Vindicator, Bozar, G11e, Pulse Rifle as well as the Power Armor. While they will be quite expensive and rare, it is totally possible to obtain and use them.

Now, in order to achieve the equality we had in mind for all the tier 2 weapons, we rebuild the whole weapon system. Instead of using the same gun with different builds to achieve different playstyles, we made the build less important but introduced different weapon classes to cater to certain playstyles.

In general, there are 7 major weapon classes and most weapons fit into one of them. Melee weapons and Energy Weapons are exceptions, with their own special roles related to the way armor works. Finally, there are a bunch of other weapons that don't really fit in any category, like rocket launcher or flamers. Those have specific capabilities.
  • Assault Rifles
    The most common and most versatile class of all, assault rifles have a decent burst, a decent aimed-shot damage and a good range. While their burst is weaker than that of machine guns and their singleshot is weaker than that of sniper rifles, they are very good all around weapons.
  • Light Machine Guns
    The machine guns like the LSW or the M60 fall into the small gun category and are very similar to the assault rifles in terms of playstyle. While they do have higher damage and a higher a magazine size, they lack single shot capabilities and have a very long reload time.
  • Heavy Machine Guns
    This is the smallest class with only 4 entries: Minigun, Avenger, Vindicator and Gatling Laser, but they are quite expensive. Their high damage output is balanced with very high reload costs and the fact that you can not run with them makes it hard to find a proper position.
  • Sniper Rifles
    Sniper rifles have the highest range in the game and apply a special Bleed effect which makes the target lose HP over time. They do however lack dps and would most likely be inferior to any other weapon class in a direct standoff.
  • Sub-machine Guns
    SMG’s are devastating at very short ranges (1hex) but their ranged damage is far worse than that of any other burst weapon.
  • Shotguns
    Shotguns probably feature the best burst-damage capabilities but their effective range is easily surpassed by any other weapon class. Their reload time also is pretty long, rendering them vulnerable after their attack.
  • Pistols
    Pistols come in two different variants, single shot spammers and “sniper” pistols. While they seem to be best suited as a backup weapon, a Pistolero might be just as succesfull as a machine gunner.

Be sure to stick around for more information about the combat system and other game mechanics, next time.

40
News & Announcements / Ashes of Phoenix character revisions part 2
« on: January 20, 2013, 06:00:00 PM »
Hello everyone!

Let’s have a closer look at the leveling process, skills and perks.

Levelling

First, the soft level cap is fixed at level 24. For every level until this cap, you’ll gain more hit points, skill points, and you’ll receive a new perk every 3 levels. You can still gain more levels after 24, but you’ll gain less bonuses: a few hit points, skill points and some special perks. The required amount of experience to gain further levels will also grow faster once the cap is reached. Experience is gained through different processes: participating to Zone Control, crafting, killing creatures, performing skills such as First Aid, Doctor, etc. All along your adventures, you should gain levels continously, whatever you’re doing.

Skills

Skills are divided into 3 categories. Every time you gain skill points, you can spend them the way you want into the skills of the first and second category. Skills of the third category are increased through regular training sessions. At the creation of your character, you can tag 3 skills from the first or second category, gaining a 30 points’ bonus and doubling any point spent on each. All skills are capped to 250.

1. Primary Combat Skills (Small guns, Big guns, Energy weapons, Melee weapons): granting mastery of most weapons of the game, any Wastelander will certainly have one of those skills tagged. Gun skills require 150 points to be mastered, which means that their owner will be able to shoot at the weapon’s effective range (which roughly coresponds to the “classic” range from the base game). Then, spending more skill points will allow the gunner to shoot efficiently at greater distances, up to 150% of the effective range with proper Perception. Also, at 150, 175, 200, 225 and 250 skill points, weapon perks will be automatically unlocked. Every weapon has different perks, such as bonus damage, critical modifiers and many other bonuses which increase their efficiency and further specialize them. Finally, your primary combat skill levels affect each other. The “Bleed Over” feature, as we call it, shares skillpoints between certain skills to allow every character to make use of every item in the game. However, while things like hitchance and cooldowns are affected by the bleed over, weapon perks are not, meaning that your tagged skill will always be more efficient than another skill. As for the actual numbers, all four primary weapon skill completely share their progress up to the 150% mark, meaning after just gaining a few levels, your character has the effective range withe very weapon. After that, only 50% of the skillpoints are shared. The same thing applies  to the secondary skills, though at different rates.

2. Secondary Combat Skills (Unarmed, Throwing, Traps, Sneak, First Aid, Doctor, Leadership): these skills work well in combination with primary ones. Wastelanders may specialize in any of them and become powerful assets for their group. Secondary skills require items to increase their efficiency: first aid kits, doctor bags, stealthboys etc. At 125, 150, 175 and 200 skill points, those items receive perks that increase their power. Unarmed, Throwing, Traps, Sneak, First Aid and Doctor are being rebalanced and we’ll provide more detailed information in time. Leadership is a brand new skill, also in development, which will allow players to share the vision of their character with a leader through the use of radios.

3. Non-combat Skills (Barter, Science, Repair, Lockpick, Scavenging, Ourtdoorsman): those skills are increased through training sessions that you can regularly get at your faction’s headquarters. Bonuses can also be granted by carrying dedicated items, such as maps, repair books, lock pick sets etc. Any character can eventually reach good levels in every non-combat skill at some point and take profit out of them as well as he can. Special perks improving those skills can be unlocked by performing certain actions. More details about the mechanics related to these skills will come later.

Perks

Perks are bonuses you gain every 3 levels. They help orientating your character profile to fit better to your game style. Perks provide various combat advantages, offensive and defensive, to your secondary skills and the only requirement to get them is a defined character’s level. It will be only up to you to choose the ones you prefer.

Traits are also present, but nothing precise yet about their effects.

These changes have been decided to allow you to play different ways with the same character, without being totally useless at any other thing that your main weapon / skill. Also, our goal is to reduce the gap between a low and high level character. Hopefully, many builds and orientations will be efficient and you’ll have fun improving your unique character over time. You’ll also be able to defend yourself quite well, even at low level.

Next time we’ll have a look at Ashes of Phoenix’ arsenal. Stay tuned!

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