Anarchy Online

Q: Tell us more about these orbital strikes, isn't this a very powerful weapon?

A: It truly is, but we're confident about the design of this system and that it's going to fit quite well into the structure of the game. These things are truly amazing to look at, so they are best appreciated from a distance as getting too close will surely blow you to bits, even if you ordered it!

The way it works is that a player place a special beacon on the ground in a land controlled area (which are areas players fight over), a beacon the enemy players won't be able to see. A remote teammate in your organisations headquarters will then be able to call a strike down on that location from a command interface.

Then back on the battlefield a gigantic, glowing beam will shoot down from space and hit that spot on the ground. It will destroy anything within a good radius of the point where it hit, and even you will have to run to safety once the beacon is placed.

Q: How will player-versus-player combat on these orbital space stations work?

A: Going around in orbit outside Rubi-ka, are massive space stations that can be – called battlestations – that players can fight for the ownership of. By visiting the Unicorn landing-pad in Andromeda, players can sign up for battle on a terminal. Immediately they will be teleported to the battlestation where the battle takes place.

Actually, up to one hundred and fifty players can populate one single battlestation! This creates the opportunity for some epic struggles between the opposing sides (The Clans and Omni-Tek, of course) – struggles where players will run around the battlestation capturing specific control points that in turn will lead to victory over their opponent.

Being on the winning team gives you great rewards, more specifically victory points that you can use to purchase specific weapons and armor.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about what mechs are and how players will use them?

A: Mechs are gigantic "walking robots" that the players can jump into and ride. There are several different ones, from those that look like a walking open weapons platforms to those that could almost be a tank on legs! Our artists have done a wonderful job and these mechs truly are amazing to behold, and when a player steps into a crowded area using one of these, I can promise you heads will turn.

Everyone who buys the Lost Eden expansion will get access to an exclusive mech design that won't be available through any other means!

In terms of mechanics the Mechs are used for player-versus-player combat. I'll leave you to imagine how awesome it looks when a group of mechs invades a player-owned land area!

When in a mech the player effectively becomes the mech and takes on all the strengths and abilities of the vehicle. So even players who aren't quite equipped as well as the hardened PVP veterans can jump in a mech and take part in the combat!

There are also vehicles available that won't immediately look like a mech to you. For instance, stationary turrets that players can control and use to fire upon the enemy players or vehicles.

There are also several different levels of upgrades for the mechs that can be gained by taking part in the new global research part of the game, which is a new feature we're introducing with Lost Eden.

Q: What is personal and global research and how will this tie into Anarchy Online?

A: One of the new features in Lost Eden is research, which can be done on either a personal level or a global level. Accessible through a menu system, you will be able to observe a magnitude of different perks, skills and abilities that can be unlocked through research.

Players can allocate a certain percentage of their normal XP to go towards research instead of their normal advancement.

You can choose to research certain things, like for instance an ability that will enable you to use a new weapon. It is also possible to research much grander things, like unlocking the ability to operate new types of mech, or even "inventing" the mech itself so that everyone on your server can use that mech.

This is where global versus personal research come in. You can choose to research things that only affect you personally, but you can also invest in a global research pool that will enable technology and abilities for the whole planet.

This can, for instance, be the invention of a new mech that will enable everyone to use it, or perhaps a certain upgrade to an already existing mech. There is plenty of stuff to research!

Q: In Alien Invasion, your last expansion, you introduced aliens. In Lost Eden you are allowing people to board alien motherships. Why and how will it work?

A: Yes, in Alien Invasion – which was a massive expansion for us – aliens started invading Rubi-ka. Players became able to construct their own cities, and aliens would suddenly start appearing over their cities – just like you saw in that Hollywood movie "Independence Day" – and strike without remorse or mercy.

This resulted in massive battles on ground, and players were also able to board the smaller alien landing ships and fight them there. But the massive motherships, the gigantic spaceships that were seen hovering over the cities, were always inaccessible.

In Lost Eden you have the opportunity to actually go up into these motherships and explore them at your own will. You can bring a group with you, and explore the mysterious hallways of these motherships. Players will be able to visit the Outlands Unicorn Staging area and obtain a mission to board an alien mothership. A Unicorn shuttle will then transport them up to the mothership.