Space Cowboy Online
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Space Cowboy Online | |
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| Developer(s) | MasangSoft |
| Publisher(s) | Gala-Net, Inc. |
| Release date(s) | May 26, 2006 (International) |
| Genre(s) | MMO 3D Space Shooter |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
| Media | Download |
| System requirements | Pentium III 1 GHz equiv. CPU, 256MB RAM, Internet access, DirectX 9.0, 32MB 3D accelerator VGA card, sound card, 2GB hard drive space |
| Input | Keyboard, mouse |
Space Cowboy Online (SCO) is a free-to-play, client-based MMORPG with the characteristics of both first-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 (983MB) 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 was added on August 9, 2006.
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[edit] 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.
[edit] Gears
There are currently four playable Gears for players to choose from. The four gears are: A-Gear, B-Gear, I-Gear, and M-Gear. Each Gear has its own particular play-style and uniqueness, as well as weaknesses and strengths. Each Gear has its own primary statistics, which must be raised in order to use the Gears' higher level engines.
[edit] 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 travel on the ground and on 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 using "Siege Mode" can do more damage and attack more quickly, while those using "Siege Defense" receive less damage. Both skills can only be performed on the ground. A-Gears, unlike the other Gears, use the standard weapon as their main weapon; instead of a homing missile, they fire a burst of small rockets in straight trajectory. Standard weapons fire similar to the weapons reminiscent of World War I fighter plane machine guns, but for A-Gears they are large cannon-esque weapons. A-Gears require Attack, Defense, and Shield to use their higher level engines. They also 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.
[edit] Brandy Burg
The B-Gear, also known as the "Bomber Gear", specializes in air-to-ground combat with their 'Ground Bombing Mode' skill. This skill makes B-Gears the natural enemies 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, or will detonate if they come within 50 meters of a targeted opponent. In addition, bombing mode causes the player to fire more missiles than they would otherwise fire allowing for drastically increased damage. The number of additional missiles varies depending on the type of missile equipped. There is a growing debate between the players regarding the recent discovery of the potential of "Ground Bombing Mode". Many mid-leveled B-Gear players have recently succeeded in bombing the airborne objects and now, according to some players, is overpowering the B-Gear (Low-defense, air combat-based I-Gears are usually down in a single bombing), . Another B-Gear skill is Charge Shot, which charges a shot and fires it at an enemy, dealing 6-9 times normal damage depending on the skill level, 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, gaining 3 points per bonus point focused on that stat. Their engines require Attack, Agility, and Defense.
[edit] Idle Sniper
The I-Gear, also known as the "Interceptor Gear", is the 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), has relatively moderate armor compared to the other classes, but its evasion makes up for this. The I-Gear also gets a skill called Overboost, allowing it to travel at 600 m/s for a short period. Its primary attributes are Attack and Agility, and its best skill is named "Frenzy", which at level 3 lets you shoot an extra round of missiles per shot. I-Gear's Attribute Skill is Hyper Moving, which allows the I-Gear to turn extremely quickly. I-Gears excel at fighting B-Gears, making them natural enemies.
[edit] Meadow Bugle
The M-Gear, also known as the "Medic Gear", is the support fighter of the game. Its primary attributes are Defense 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.
[edit] 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 as later on higher level skills will use many skills points to perform the skills.
[edit] Armours and weapons
[edit] Armour
There are armours available for your gear that can help to increases the Gear's "health points" and "shield points". From the start of the game your gear has an armour already and you can buy an armour from the "Gear shop" but the armour can be only placed on the gear depending the required level by the armour. The gear cannot take off if no armour is equipped to the gear. You can refine the armour using recipe of materials gather from monster drop, which increases the "health points" and "shield points". Furthermore, by refining the refined armour to have an addition of a percentage for "defense" or "evasion" of your gear.
[edit] Weapons
There are two types of weapons: Standard and Advance weapons
[edit] Standard Weapon
Standard weapons are basically guns, aimmed with the movement of the mouse for the crosshair. There are standard weapons for B, I and M gears, and others 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.
[edit] 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 the use of locking on to the target. Once locked on and launched, it will travel towards the target with the specific speed of the missiles and detonate on impact. Valid angle is the maximum angle between the aim and the target position for a lock on. 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. Whereas in rockets for A-gears, they will just be fired at a straight line towards the position last locked on at very fast speed. However missiles can be avoided by "barrel rolling". 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 onto the target.
[edit] 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 mission, sidestory or scenario.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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?
[edit] Maintenance
Space Cowboy Online's servers undergo a scheduled two-hour maintenance every week, from 11:00 PM (PDT) to 1:00 AM (PDT) every Monday to Tuesday night. However, this period is subject to unannounced extension.
[edit] Music
While the game does have a basic soundtrack, you can switch in your own music at any time by moving music files into the "Music" directory wherever you installed SCO (Default: C\Program Files\Gpotato\Space Cowboy Online\Music). The music is activated using the music player in the bottom right corner of the screen. Mp3 files are supported, but MIDI and WAV files are not. The playlist will be arranged into alphabetical order of the file names.
[edit] 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.
