Anarchy Online

Anarchy Online (AO) is a science fiction themed massive multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG). The first three expansion packs, Notum Wars, Shadowlands and Alien Invasion, have received high praise and won 20 international awards.

Released in the summer of 2001, the game was first in the genre to include a science-fiction setting, dynamic quests, free trials, and in-game advertising. The most ground breaking feature in Anarchy Online, however, was instancing. During its first month of release, many stability, registration, and billing issues hurt public perception of the game and most gaming reporters said it was the worst launch of an MMO in the history of the genre. Funcom decided to spend about 6 months fixing the game and based on user and reviewer feedback, they also completely remade the beginning experience of the game. The company then took the “fixed game” on a press tour to convince reporters to give it another try, even though reviews and scores had been printed months before. At the same time, the company needed to build subscribers which was very difficult, given the reputation of the game. So Funcom introduced the first “free trial” of the game and gave out returned boxed copies for free at the 2002 Game Developer’s Conference to spread the word. The “fixed” game was such an impressive effort that most gaming publications were happy to tell their readers about the improved game, although they did not change their original scores. By the end of that year, Anarchy Online had recovered from the launch woes and even won the MMO of the Year award from PC Gamer. The company went on to create expansions, including the Shadowlands expansion in 2003 that earned several Editor’s Choice awards.

The game’s ongoing story revolves around the fictional desert planet Rubi-Ka, the source of a valuable mineral known as “notum”. Fighting for military and political power on Rubi-Ka are the Omni-Tek corporation (owners of the planet’s thousand-year lease), the separatist Clans, terrorist groups, aliens, and ancient civilizations. The narrative was developed to be played out as a series of virtual role-play events over the course of four years, influenced by the actions of those playing the game. Players assume the roles of new colonists to Rubi-Ka, represented by a persistent 3D virtual world. With no specific objective to win the game, they improve their characters’ skill and status over time. This free-form progression leads to social networking, cooperation, and conflict with other players.

After ten years, Anarchy Online has become one of the oldest surviving games in the genre. Its “Free Play” program, started in 2004, allows new players indefinite access to the original game in return for viewing in-game advertisements. Vital to the game’s continued operation, the program created 400,000 new subscriptions in its first ten months, and had generated US$1 million in advertising revenue by 2006. Funcom is currently upgrading the game’s 3D rendering engine to a more modern version, the same engine used in their 2008 MMORPG Age of Conan, and the playerbase awaits its launch.

 

Factions:

1. Rubi-Ka

Rubi-Ka is the planet within and the main setting of Anarchy Online.Many mysteries surround the planet, but it is most noted for the presence of Notum–A substance that is used to stabilize and control nano-technology.

 

*Omni-Tek

Omni-Tek is the largest hyper-corporation in the universe and controls vast interests and planets in a variety of star systems.
Omni-Tek has the lease on Rubi-Ka and originally operated all the Notum mines on Rubi-Ka until the miners began to rebel because of disputes over working conditions in the Notum mines. It was about this time that the Clans began to form and countless Rubi-Ka Civil Wars began. Today Omni-Tek is in control of   the southern part of Rubi-Ka. Omni-Tek is a hyper-corporation, with affiliations all over the galaxy. It has a large presence on Rubi-Ka to mine for the rare mineral MTG-411-6, commonly known as Notum. Omni-Tek strives for profit and will let nothing stand in its way of progress. In the Omni-Tek family, you gain material benefits and power – but there are strict rules and regulations that all Omni-Tek employees must abide by. The primary goal for Omni-Tek is material gain.

 

* The Clan  

The Clan’s The primary goals of the clans are freedom and spiritual   prosperity. The clans are opposed to what Omni-Tek stands for and fight to   free Rubi-Ka from its oppressive rule. If you choose to fight for the clans, you will start in the rebel part of Rubi-Ka – on the dry side of the planet.

 

* The Neutrals

The Neutrals are the third faction in Anarchy Online, and represent people who have, for one reason or another, not made a committment to either Omni-   Tek or the Clans. Neutrality is the smallest group of players in the game and could be considered to be the most unique faction since the benefits and detriments of being neutral are not based on a mirror of the opposing side as Omni-Tek and the Clans are. Neutrals are also very deverse in motivations since there is no one unifying philosophy.

 

2. Shadowlands

 

* Redeemed

The Redeemed are a Shadowlands faction. The Redeemed stand for what is light, good (as opposed to evil) and saint. Redeemed representatives are majestuous creatures of light, slightly transparent, with thin and delicate features. To add to their angelic appearance, the Redeemed have well developped wings in their back.

 

* Unredeemed

The Unredeemed are a Shadowlands faction. The Unredeemed stand for what is Dark, evil (as opposed to good) and Demonic. Unredeemed representatives are majestuous creatures of Darkness.

 

Expansions:

1. The Notum Wars  

Notum Wars was the first expansion for Anarchy Online and brought many PvP oriented upgrades to the game, including the now familar fight for tower sites. When the expansion was released it was brought as a ‘Booster Pack’ that wasn’t quite an expansion but added upgrades to the game. Notum Wars is now part of the free game content, along with the classic game. Notum Wars was the game’s first major content update in 2002. It introduced the land control areas which are now a central gameplay feature. It also added a new character creation system, flying vehicles, aesthetic improvements to the game world, and improvements to the game’s rendering engine.

 

2. Shadowlands  

Shadowlands is the first expansion pack for the award-winning massively multiplayer online game Anarchy Online. Shadowlands has been the largest expansion to date. Seven themed areas, and dozens of other new locations significantly added to the game’s playable area. It raised the maximum character level from 200 to 220, and introduced the perk system. Also included were a new user interface, two new player professions, improvements to the game’s rendering engine, new dynamic missions, and a “flood” of new items.

The Cradle of Life- Thousands of years in the future, in the name of complete galactic colonisation, man has started a small mining community on a distant desert planet called Rubi-Ka. It’s a hostile planet, arid and red, scorched by the immense heat of the twin suns it circles, and torn from the gravitational pull of its large and mysterious moon.

Terraforming the planet to make it habitable was an enormous challenge, but funded by the world’s most powerful hyper-corporation, Omni-Tek, humans are slowly turning the tides of time, and with the help of nanotechnology, they are transforming the planet into a lush and fertile environment.

Rubi-Ka proved different from other planets; blessed with enormous quantities of notum, the mysterious fuel for advanced nanotechnology, and the building blocks of scientific progress.

Omni-Tek cunningly acquired the mining rights to Rubi-Ka, and has greedily exploited the planet’s supply of notum for over a thousand years. They rule the planet through a strict, corporate autocracy with limited allowance of personal freedom, and an affinity for swift and hard punishment for any resistance and dissent.

Humans, however, are rebellious by nature, and notoriously hard to control. Miners revolted, and established clans of freedom fighters to challenge Omni-Tek’s right to govern the planet. Civil war, and years of open conflict are approaching a climax, and all-out revolution seems inevitable. Omni-Tek is rapidly losing ground, and is delving deeper and deeper into the secrets of Rubi-Ka in a frantic search for the origin of notum. They believe “The Source” will secure unlimited powers for the one who controls it, and they have just made a breakthrough…

In the floating city of Jobe, a team of Omni-Tek’s most skilled scientists and powerful nano-technicians have opened a portal into a parallel world; a world more incredible and fantastic than even the wildest fantasies…or the darkest, most terrifying nightmares. It is the Shadowlands – a world of dense contrast, spiralling down through increasingly intense metaphysical worlds, separated from each other by portals guarded by the mysterious Guardians of Shadow – deformed and scalded by feral and horrendous beings ripping and tearing through it, in a timeless struggle for absolute domination.

There is intelligent life in the Shadowlands, unexpectedly mirroring the situation on the surface of Rubi-Ka. Beings who call themselves the Redeemed are aligned with the Clan and the Unredeemed are aligned with Omni-Tek, and an equally disturbing conflict is raging between them. There are wild creatures there as well, and they are more terrifying and powerful than the ones on the surface. They arbitrarily, seemingly mindlessly, tear at the edges of the Shadowlands, turning the very earth into dust, throwing it into the void.

And from the bowels of the Shadowlands the precious notum swirls and spirals into a gigantic vortex in the sky, sucking with it anything not solidly ground to the earth.

The Shadowlands bear evidence of an ancient civilisation of human-like creatures thriving there, clearly more advanced than mankind ever was. But the Shadowlands are scarred, and it seems something happened there, a terrible struggle of some kind, or some cataclysmic event, that ultimately constructed its demise. What happened? Who were those creatures? And why are the Shadowlands ever in our dreams?

As the journey through the Shadowlands progresses, it becomes clear to all who venture inside that more is at stake than the simple acquisition of wealth and power…

Life in the universe had to come from somewhere… and now it has come to a crossroads.

 

3. Alien Invasion

Most of Alien Invasion’s content centered around player organizations. “City plots” were placed throughout Rubi-Ka which organizations can buy to erect custom cities. These cities give skill bonuses, access to unique equipment, access to new dynamic missions, and venues for role-play events. It also included a new starter area—which serves as a training ground for new characters—and new user interface. The perk system was extended with the introduction of “alien experience points”. The ultimate sci-fi MMORPG is about to get even better as a hostile alien race invades Rubi-Ka. When a massive call to arms is sounded across the planet, tensions mount, allegiances are put to the test and the threat of all-out war looms. Join the rally against the aliens…for the galaxy, for Rubi-Ka, for humanity… prepare for the last stand.

 

4. Lost Eden

Lost Eden was the first expansion released after the original story had ended. It focused almost entirely on player versus player combat, although new dynamic missions were also included. The battle stations were introduced, and the pilotable vehicles for use on them and the land control areas. New weapons and armor affect skills useful against other players. It also introduced the research skill system. The players of Anarchy online have faced the greatest challenges, they have braved the Shadowlands, fought invading aliens and now they once again face their greatest foe…themselves!

 

5. Legacy of the Xan  

Legacy of the Xan focused on “end-game” content for existing players. It added new areas, equipment, and weapons for players whose characters have reached a high level.

 

Anarchy Online Breeds

1. Solitus

Solitus are a direct descendant of humanity and are balanced in all of their basic abilities, their health and nano pools recieve equal improvements per skill point. The Solitus is the breed most similar to an original human being having naturally evolved during the time of the Omega. They are the well rounded of Rubi-Ka, and their abilities allow them to perform well in most professions and skill sets. The drawback would be that they might not be as well suited for specialization as some of the other breeds. Balanced abilities allow the Solitus access to armors and implants requiring any of the abilities with greater ease than more specialised breeds, the balanced abilities also leads to a more even spread in trickle down, with no skills being favoured, this makes them good choices for classes which have access to several different lines of symbiants, classes that change weapon/armor lines in the lifetime and useful for balancing between survivability, weapon skills, and nano skills. Solitus also has access to some of the best defensive perk actions in Anarchy Online.

 

2. Opifex

Opifex have been bred for stealth and speed, as such they favor Agility and Sense but disfavor Strength and Stamina. They also recieve equal health and nano pool. The Opifex is agile and cunning. What they lack in strength they compensate for with their smartness and evasive nature. A lot of people seem to not trust the Opifex although they are normally jovial and likeable people.

 

3. Nanomages

Nanomages were created as Nanotech research assistants and as such they favor Intelligence, Psychic, and gain more nanopool per skill point because of their greater command of nanobots. They are more frail though, and do not favor abilities like Strength, Stamina, Agility, they also recieve less health per skill point. Nanomages are considered harder to play at high levels due to their lower health, but they are also able to cast their nano programs (equivalent to spells) at lower levels as, their nano abilities cost less and they possess more nanopool. The Nano Mage were constructed especially to control Nano-bots, and in that department they perform extremely well. They are more fragile than the other breeds as they are more geared towards intelligence and mental abilities than raw strength and physical prowess. The Nano Mage relies so much on nano-bots that they can’t live beyond the orbit around Rubi-ka.

 

4. Atrox

Atrox were specially created as mine workers and are sexless (though most identify as male). They are large hulking beings that favor Strength and Stamina over Intelligence, Psychic, and Sense. Also, Atrox are much heartier and recieve greater health per skill point, but less Nanopool. Atrox can be easier to play for beginners because of their high health but suffer as casting professions. The reason Omni-Tek ever colonized Rubi-Ka is the magnificent core of Notum on the planet. To extract the Notum, they obviously needed a workforce optimized for that sort of strenuous and excruciatingly demanding task. The Atrox was the perfect breed! Their enormous strength and stamina along with their dedicated and loyal nature, made them both extremely adept miners, and frighteningly effective fighters. The Atrox are androgynous (without gender) and are often considered to not be intelligent.