Auto Assault
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| Developer(s) | NetDevil |
| Publisher(s) | NCsoft |
| Designer(s) | Scott Brown, Peter Grundy, Ryan Seabury, Adam Maxwell, Chris Holtorf, Chris Zirpoli, Hal Hanlin |
| Engine | Havok 2 |
| Release date(s) | April 11, 2006 |
| Genre(s) | Action MMOG |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen |
| Platform(s) | Windows |
| Media | DVD |
| System requirements | Minimum System Requirements:
• Windows® 2000/XP • 1.6 GHz+ processor • 512 MB RAM • DVD-ROM drive • 10 GB free hard disk space • ATI Radeon 8500 or NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti 4200 series video card • DirectX 9.0c • DirectSound compatible audio hardware • 56K Internet Connection Recommended System Requirements: • Windows® 2000/XP • 2.5 GHz+ processor • 1 GB RAM • DVD-ROM drive • 10 GB free hard disk space • ATI Radeon 8500 or NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti 4200 series video card • DirectX 9.0c • DirectSound compatible audio hardware • Broadband Internet Connection |
| Input | Keyboard / Mouse / Joystick |
Auto Assault is a massively multiplayer online game, developed by NetDevil and published by NCsoft. It combines vehicular combat with role-playing elements, allowing the player to explore a post-apocalyptic future in customizable cars, motorcycles, semis, and tanks.
The player may choose one of three factions — Humans, Mutants, and Biomeks — and a class to determine the type of character he will play. The majority of the gameplay takes place in the vehicle, but the player leaves the vehicle when entering towns.
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[edit] Storyline
Auto Assault is centered on the story of an alien terraforming attempt that contaminates the Earth in the year 2030. People who came into contact with the contaminant spores were mutated and developed unhuman powers. These people's children, when and if they had them, developed more from their parents initial mutations. This people were shunned from societies and came to be called "Mutants" by "pure" Humans and "The Changed" by their peers. Civil unrest followed which lead to people preaching against the Mutants. The World Council, which was formed after the mutations were acknowledged by the world's governments, started to employ the TemperNet Police System (TPS). The TPS were deployed mostly in 3rd world countries where the contamination was more rampant than in developed countries, although they were also deployed in urban centers eventually leading to a global deployment of TPS units. TPS units could act without Human intervention to stop civil unrest in most cases with deadly effectiveness.
The Mutants were interned in camps and completely segregated from the general population. The Mutants, however, couldn't be completely contained and formed gangs, identified by the internment camp they were held in, which terrorized the general population of the world. This lead to the Mutants forming their own country and sovereignty based in The Citidel which was surrounded by harsh desert conditions and outside the control of all countries. The Citidel was the only country which recognized Mutants as equal members of their population. Most mutants managed to reach The Citidel before military forces surrounded it and stopped all entry and exit from the new republic. However the military units were not going to be able to win a lightning war, as soon as the units were shipped into the desert they suffered from the extreme climate and once weakened were attacked by gangs of Mutants. This caused appalling losses in the Military units.
The TPS units were found to be unreliable but a group called the Hestia Company funded research into combining the Human Central Nervous System with mechanical augmentations. These units were more reliable than the TPS units but could still combat civil unrest as well as the TPS units, these half-human, half-machine units became known as the 1st Biomechanical Raider Battalion.
When the BioMeks were introduced they had great success driving the Mutants back into The Citidel. The military in most cases couldn't keep up with the pace of the BioMek advance and so ether pulled out of the area completely or watched the BioMek advance.
The World Council and the Hestia Company now felt that the world was not worth saving. The rate of contamination had overtaken the rate of reclamation and with more of the population ether dying or being Mutated by the alien contaminant the Earth's workforce was severely depleted. The Hestia Company constructed several massive underground "Arks" to contain thousands of people for an unknown amount of time and took the cream of the Human Race into those Arks. Almost overnight the very best of the Human Race vanished in preparation for the Final Solution. On one weekend in the year 2075 the code phrase GENESIS SOLUTION was given to thousands of families across the world and the entire worlds stock of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) weapons were deployed on the Earth in an attempt at complete sterilization of the Earth's surface.
After over a century in the Arks the Human race was suffering from over crowding, mental health problems and numerous other problems. The Hestia Board of Directors decided to start the Emergence Program and come "Upside" to reclaim the Earth. However they found that the Mutants and the BioMeks were not destroyed as their fore fathers had attempted to do. Hestia also found the International Negotiables Consulting (INC) still operating as they had when they had been formed even before the Hestia Company had been. The 3 races settled in for a drawn out war of attrition, probing each others weaknesses and attempting to exploit them. The INC was strained to breaking point with the heavy losses all sides and suggested a cease fire to all three races who all accepted. After the discovery of the Ground Zero (GZ) site by the INC all the factions have settled into an war of attrition over the GZ site and the alien space craft which crashed there.
The three factions are not the only race which can be found in Auto Assault, although the others are not playable. The Tempernet Police System's AI has concluded that to stop civil unrest the entire world's population must be destroyed. There also exists Scavengers whose sole aim is to survive the hardships of the Post Apocalyptic Earth. There are many more Non Player Characters which have survived.
[edit] Gameplay
The game takes place in the 29th century, after the sterilization attempt that left the Earth in ruins. Players play as either one of a new generation of Mutants, a BioMek or one of the newly emerging Humans. Players fight in their races area of control against Non Player Characters and eventually reach Ground Zero and can ether fight against NPCs or Players in 2 "layers". The game centers on 3rd person vehicular combat using state of the art weapons to combat foes.
Auto Assault takes place in two settings; towns and the outside world. The town is experienced by moving the player's customized character around, interacting with NPCs, other players, and environmental objects. Upgrades and vehicles can be bought here. When the player chooses to exit the city he/she is in, they are taken to the outside world, where they traverse the terrain in heavily armed vehicles. Combat is reminiscent of a third person shooter game, with movement, aiming and firing being done in real time with the keyboard and mouse. There are also character skills, which activate special abilities.
Auto Assault differs from other Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games as it doesn't have a Death Penalty and the player can die without consequence.
[edit] Factions
The three playable factions each have distinct racial advantages and are separated into four classes unique to each faction.
| Tank | Healer | Pet Master | Stealth | |
| Human | Commando | Engineer | Lieutenant | Bounty Hunter |
| Mutant | Champion | Shaman | Archon | Avenger |
| Biomek | Terminator | Constructor | Master Mind | Agent |
[edit] Humans
Descendants of modern humans are meticulous in fending off mutation. Through the use of genetic engineering and subverted alien technology, they have staved off contamination while enhancing their strength, eyesight, agility, and mental powers. They view Mutants and Biomeks as vile perverts to the pure Human race and seek to eliminate them.
- Racial Advantages
- Shield Technology - all vehicles and personnel enhance their hit points through the equipping of shields which automatically recharge. Although they do not absorb all damage!
- Holographic Technology - many skills are based on projection of holographic images.
- Energy & Magnetics Knowledge - Humans have an advantage over other factions when wielding weapons or other items where energy and/or magnetism is the primary feature.
- Shield Inversion - through shield inversion, Human players can devastate enemies. Shield Inversion works by redirecting satellite strikes towards nearby enemy units.
- Offensive Specialty - Energy
- Defensive Specialty - Energy
- Classes
- Commando - The tank class of the Human faction uses a heavily armored vehicle with powerful weapons and armor.
- Engineer - A class of mechanics who can fix and enhance vehicles.
- Lieutenant - Psychically aware Lieutenants are able to stimulate allies and harm enemies. They can summon several forms of support, including air and ground support.
- Bounty Hunter - Stealthy and dangerous, Bounty Hunters work as assassins or scouts as well as battlefield support.
[edit] Mutants
Mutants are those descended from the first people affected by the alien contamination. They see their mutation as divine intervention, and revere the change with religious reverence. They consider Humans in utter contempt for their past oppression of the Mutants and hold Biomeks to be inherently evil.
- Racial Advantages
- Natural Regeneration - through the infusion of contaminated materials in their vehicles, Mutants have developed a regenerative capability that allows their vehicles to automatically repair damage.
- Contamination Friendly - Mutants use the contaminated atmosphere to gain supernatural powers.
- Wraithphase - A wraith-like presence during hazard mode which damages nearby enemies.
- Offensive Specialty - Contamination
- Defensive Specialty - Contamination
- Contamination Friendly
- Classes
- Champion - Tough warriors with hardened armor and powerful weapons, Champions fight on the front lines of any Mutant battle.
- Shaman - A class of spiritual warriors who have a particular talent for healing and defense.
- Archon - Archons manipulate the environment, calling forth phaseformed creatures for support and using the environment against enemies.
- Avenger - With the ability to call swarms of insects to do their bidding, Avengers may disable opponents or assist allies while blending into the background.
[edit] Biomeks
Biomeks are biological beings who have utilized technology to enhance their abilities, including cybernetic prosthetic body parts. They hate Humans for their betrayal during the apocalyptic strike and see Mutants as dangerous religious fanatics.
- Racial Advantages
- Environmentally Oblivious - Biomeks do not revel in the contamination like Mutants, but they have a natural resistance to it and do not consider it the threat that Humans do.
- Tough - Biomek vehicles are tougher and have more hit points than those of the other races.
- Synchronized - in groups, Biomeks can utilize chain or network attacks that affect multiple members of the convoy.
- Hazard Meks - in hazard mode, the Biomek vehicle becomes a hulking Mek. Mek models differ by class.
- Offensive Specialties - Corrosives and Fire
- Defensive Specialty - Versatile
- Classes
- Terminator - Strong, tough and fearless, the Terminator is the main assault class of the Biomeks.
- Constructor - Scavengers who utilies the Biomek nanotechnology to create new items and repair other Biomek vehicles.
- MasterMind - With the ability to summon an army from the rubble and scrap left behind, MasterMinds are formidable opponents.
- Agent - Utilizing stealth and recon drones, Agents make good inflitrators and are excellent scouts.
[edit] Lore
In 2030, alien craft drop strange terraforming pods onto Earth's surface. They spread strange contaminations across the world. Although the elite learn to harness the strange forces associated with these pods, those less fortunate are left to suffer exposure to the contaminations released by them. Many die from the strange mutations that result... but a few are altered, changed. They gain strange new powers, green skin and glowing eyes. The children of the previous generation begin to be born with these mutations. Some view these as gifts from some higher power.
However, a vast majority, including the world governments, think this is some kind of plague and that the mutants are to be cured, or failing that, controlled. The mutant population continues to expand as they are herded into internment camps. Soon entire cities are quarantined as those who have escaped the mutations flee to safer areas. The government establishes an artificialy intelligent computer called TemperNet, designed to keep watch over the mutant populace, even as the military battles the omnipresent rioting.
Soon, a stronghold for the mutants arises, called the Citadel, and forth from the Citadel comes The Voice, a unifying persona that speaks for the mutants and says that they must rise up and overthrow the unchanged. Open war between those who have changed and those who have not breaks out. In an effort to combat the seemingly unstoppable united mutant force, the governments of the world (now united under the guise of a powerful international corporation called Hestia) create the biomechanical raiders, soldiers who have had their limbs replaced by cybernetic ones and have received mental and physical enhencements.
At first the Biomeks, as they come to be called, experience great success against the mutant forces. Their immunity to the contaminiation and their existing military skill combined with their enhencements proves a match for the stalwart mutants and their strange powers. However, the relatively small numbers of the Biomeks are unable to defeat the vastly superior numbers of the mutants.
In desperation, the Hestia corporation intiate a total purge program. Humanity's elite, the scientists, philosophers, craftsmen and so forth are to go underground in a number of massive Arks, while the planet's surface would be totally cleansed by a barrage of nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) warheads. However, the elite who were going underground represented a very small percentage of humanity. The mutants, other peoples, and even the biomeks were left on the surface to be obliterated by the cleansing, or the "Night that was Day" as it was called by the mutants.
The humans live underground for a period of nearly eight hundred years, continuing to advance their harnessed alien technology, developing powerful energy shielding, among other advancements. All the while, they never know that the cleansing almost totally failed. On the surface, small numbers of mutants, biomeks, as well as groups of scavengers and gangs, and even mutated forms of plant and animal life; grew and thrived on the remains of the old world.
Eventually, the Hestia board voted for re-emergence, thinking they would find an empty world to reshape as they saw fit. What they found was entirely unexpected- a strange new world that was teeming with life. Though much of the surface was irradiated and uninhabitable, a sizeable region around Ark I was, as the Hestia board saw it, "salvageable". However, it would require either assimilation or elimination of all other people on the surface. The humans were chagrined to discover that their mortal enemies, the mutants, had survived the cleansing, as well as the biomeks, who were none too happy about being abandoned and left to die.
Thus, open war broke out between the three factions and the entire remaining world was almost wiped out. The three sides, depleted and exhausted, soon establish an uneasy truce under the auspices of a mysterious trade organization called International Negotibles Consulting, or INC for short. INC agreed to provide transportation and repairs to the vehicular operatives of the three factions.
Conflict between the three is reduced to small scale battles involving armored cars, trucks, motorcycles, semis and even tanks, armed to the teeth with advanced weaponry. This is where the player's experience begins.
