Stickypanda

DOWNLOAD THE CLIENT HERE
OnRPG Air Rivals Brigade
*note if you did not download the new client on 03.06.2008, you may need to download it again


[Click on image for Air Rivals Trailer, courtesy of Scruffyhawk]
Official Air Rivals Website
OnRPG Air Rivals Brigade

Welcome to Air Rivals, the reincarnation of the popular MMOFPS Space Cowboys Online (SCO), and was until recently named Flysis. A first person (technically third, as first person will just make you sick) space shooter which is basically massively multiplayer Starfox Online but is EXTREMELY PvP centric. Fight other players in a variety of maps such as mountain ranges, beaches, deserted space ships, moons, and outer-space. Battle for control of aircraft carriers over a destroyed city, or an advanced alien base in space. Take out the enemy nation's Mothership and Strategic Points, or defend your own. You begin as a freelance mercenary in the middle of a endless nation war on another world. FreeS.K.A. hires its pilots (you) out to two different warring factions: Bygeniou City United (B.C.U., or the government) and Arlington National Influence (A.N.I., the rebels). We are all on ANI.

A long and sordid history, Galanet (publisher for North America/Europe) lost the right to publish Space Cowboy online as their Korean masters simply transferred the publishing rights to another company. If you're wondering, this is also the reason the game wasn't patched anymore. But gameforge.de has picked up the rights and are coming out with the updated version, Air Rivals. The new publisher for Europe (anyone can still play) will be Gameforge.

Nation War - Open PvP System


When you switch between maps, you get a channel select screen. Channel 0 (Battle Zone) is free for all PvP, meaning enemy pilots can enter that map and open fire on you. You can do the same to them during group or solo raids into their maps. Whenever you kill an enemy gear, you gain 1 Fame Point, 1 killmark, and 1 point is added to the NCP (National Contribution Points, seen on a large board in town). NCP is the nations shared kill count.

• Motherships -- Every 100,000 NCP a Mothership is summoned for a nation, and it must be either destroyed or defended within 2 hours. These are usually the most fierce and largest wars the game offers; spanning multiple maps all at once.
• Strategic Points -- Randomly spawned targets in a nations map, must be either destroyed or defended within 1 hour. If destroyed, the enemy nation has no more map-back on death for 2 hours, giving the potential for massive wars that can go on for that entire duration.

Advanced Base War -- Brigade Controlled Outposts


These were not in Space Cowboy, and are new to Air Rivals. At the beginning of each month these Bases are neutral until specific targets are taken out. At that point, it is set to one nation and one brigade with control of it, and you must either defend, or try and take it back. Unlike Nation Wars, these have set times you can find in town, allowing the possibility of more people to be online and enjoy some large scale wars. Once the war phase is completed, the winning nation/brigade has a private warship/space base.

• Midair of Bark City/Akron -- A massive warship/aircraft carrier above Bark City. Access to Akron is a huge advantage in Nation War, as it gives free warps to Bark City (common conflict zone).
• Mesos Floor/Rakion -- A deserted alien base above the planet, also the largest map in the game, 3x the size of others. Free warps to Rocks Nest Top and Fantasy Flow, can allow backdoor entrance to enemy maps.

The Arena - Armageddon


Probably the most desired content update SCO did not get, but we have it now. Nation War can be brutal, and heavily unbalanced, however the Arena introduces a way for players to enjoy PvP within their level range and of equal numbers. There is only one mode currently available, and that's Deathmatch. Level brackets are: 11 - 31, 32 - 51, 52 - 71, and 72 - 100. You can create teams of 3v3, 6v6, or 12v12. The system automatically puts you against the other nation as soon as they get an equal level/team ready to go.

The PvP Arena introduced a new currency: War Points (WP), earned primarily through the Arena but also from SP/MS/Akron/Rakion. These are used to purchase very powerful items, only obtainable via War Points. These include unique radars, +2,000 Shield and Energy adhesives, powerful new armors, speed cards (+6% to missile speed), and even Skill Cards.

Rewards/Penalties for PvP
Fame. Fame is your e-penis and shows off how many enemy pilots you have killed. There are no penalties for dying in PvP. If you die, you won't lose months of hard work because a node crashed or you couldn't load grid. If you die, you can simply re-spawn and go back to the fight as if nothing ever happened.

Killmarks can be sold for some SPI, or used for EXP (you must meet or exceed the required level to use it for EXP, though).

Besides Nation Wars, there is PvP you can do against your own nation, such as 1 vs. 1 duels, formation fights (up to 6 vs 6), and Brigade battles (brigade vs brigade). None of these go towards fame, but pubbies love duel records and are absolutely fascinated with it showing "more skill" which is entirely untrue when it comes to the large scale wars.

FAQ
Q: OK, it's a PvP game, but it's Korean. How bad is the grinding in this game?
A: It takes just about as long to grind a gear from 1-75 as it takes you to grind a WoW character from 1-60, so all you people with three level 70 paladins should have no problem. It's just much more boring so it feels longer, though it's nothing an active and mentally insane vent crew can't fix. Within a couple hours you can be in your 30's, and a couple weeks into your 60's and 70's, the grinds pace depending on your gear slows down and picks up at varying times, so just stick with it. Just remember that PvE exists solely for the PvP - higher stats, slightly better weapons, better engines, better armors, and so on. However, no one, no matter what their level, is immune to other players. A level 38 I-Gear can kill a level 88 I-Gear, it all depends on player skill and weaponry. So don't expect levels to save you if you suck at flying your gear.

The highest levels people reached in SCO were the mid 80's, with one player being level 89. These are unnecessary levels, but are insanely funny for PvP because you become an unstoppable and annoying force if you know how to play the game.

Q: What level does the PvP start? When will I not be useless?
A: You are never useless. At the very least, you become a meatshield for others who can do more damage than you. PvP begins at level 11, after you chose ANI. After completing the level 22 mission you unlock all ANI and BCU maps, allowing you to take part in all of the wars. At level 50 you unlock all of the moon maps, and at 57 Islands Dream and higher. Then that's it. No more level requirements for any more maps. A good PvP level is in the 60's, which can be done within a couple of weeks, and is a good stopping point if you plan to never grind again.

Q: Can I use a joystick in this game? Can I remap/rebind my keys?
A: No. No no no no no, a thousand times no. We get asked this question all the time. But once you give it a shot you'll realize that a joystick is kind of retarded for this game. It is very much a first person shooter. Also, as much as we all want to remap/rebind our keys, we can’t do it.


Q: Alright, you've sold me. What are the Gears to chose from? What is most needed?
A: Play whatever you want. We do not want people playing a class to fill-in, because that is not fun. The recommended level for each gear is different: I-Gears, get 38 to experience +1 Frenzy, same for A-Gears who get +1 Siege Mode. M-Gears go for 40 and experience Reverse Engine. B-Gears are primarily the same until level 50, when they get Air Bombing Mode and Chaffs.




Q: Do I need to buy cash shop items to not suck? Will those that use it have a huge advantage?
A: You never have to spend a penny on it to be good. All the cash shop items have slightly weaker versions that drop in-game, the exception being Membership packages, which just make the game a bit more functional (ability to transfer items between characters on the same account, etc). However, people do sell cash shop items for SPI or certain drop items, so you can still get access to them. And no, people who spend their entire livings on the cash shop do not gain an advantage over you.

Q: Do you know you got this huge post from the Goon forum?
A: Yes, and I'm a lazy bastard who only wanted to change a few words instead of spending hours writing virtually the same thing, if not worse. ^_^

Starter Guide or How to Fly with Us

Head on over to http://www.airrivals.net/ , register an account and download the client. Note: During closed beta some people have had problems with AVG registering Flysis as a Trojan. This is NOT true, and for some reason it's ONLY AVG, and no other virus protection programs (that we know of). Either disable or uninstall AVG. Air Rivals does not seem to be giving people problems.

Q: What should I be doing now?
For now the MOST important part is:

• Click here to download. It's roughly 1.3GB, wait, install.
• Join the HELIX server, create a profile character along with what Gear you want to pilot.
• Grind up to level 11, go through the tutorials, do the missions, a bit of grinding, etc. Getting to 11 shouldn't take more than an hour at the most. You cannot be invited to a brigade until you do the following:
• VERY IMPORTANT At level 11 you will be asked to do a mission which is basically choosing which Nation you will join. We are on A.N.I., or Arlington National Influence. Repeat: A.N.I.. DO NOT JOIN BCU, WE ARE NOT ON BCU. I know this sounds like simple stuff, but we were quite surprised.
• The cut-scene at the end of this mission is very long and retarded, no your game did not crash! Just wait for the song to finish.
• Join our forums and make some posts, get yourself known!
• Once you're on, you need to PM one of our members in order to get into the OnRPG brigade. The PM system works exactly like this:
  "xxx hey please invite me to the brigade
  The " makes it a PM, replace xxx with person of your choice, and then space, message
  
  The member will redirect your request to someone who has access to our brigade accounts and should be able to add you.

So What do I do here?

Well right now, the Brigade is like a baby-actually a fetus, since it hasn't been created yet-however, to make an effective Brigade we're going to need the unity of a lot of people. Register at the forums and stay active, play on Air Rivals (Remember, this is about fun).

I have bigger plans for the future, but we need to get this thing rolling.

• Forums needs work
• We need some kind of voice communication software
• We need members, preferably active helpful ones

Post here if you have any questions, comments, concerns, or would like to join the Brigade. Join today and make history by contributing to what I hope will be, one of the more successful OnRPG guilds (though not OnRPG limited)

OnRPG Air Rivals Brigade

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