The King of Spades is evolving! Check out the new Massively Multiplayer Role Playing game project: Rex Palarum, the rebooted storyline of The King of Spades.
What is The King of Spades: Dream Or Reality?
This is the book that gradually explains the origins of the tokens and their relationship to the king of spades universe.
Do I have to read the book before I play the game?
No. But as you delve deeper into the game, you will need to go through 22 levels of Ascension before you can wield any of the tokens. The book explains what the levels are. And also explains what the tokens are and who the Four Angelic Representers (Heralds) of the Alignments are.
What's a token?
A token represents an Element and an Army or Royal Ranking. They are all listed in the "Rankings" Page. A token is a special weapon or artifact based on a mythological, folk-tale, legendary or historical artifact and possesses great powers. All of them give you immortality (i.e. you don't age and it heals your wounds). You need a specific token to take over a specific seat in a Kingdom's Court.
What are the Elements?
The Elements are thus: Fire, Water, Earth and Air. Each element represents a realm, that is a world or a dimension separate from another with different laws of physics and a different principal of life.
What's a Royal Ranking?
The Royal Rankings are: King, Queen, Jack (Prince/Princess) plus the Ace (Champion/Admiral/Knight/Paladin).
What's the Royal Rankings got to do with the elements again?
The Royal Rankings are twelve; four representing each element. Each of those 12 rankings (Call them Court Seats if you will) is represented by a Symbol of Tokens. These "Symbols" are four, which people are familiar with as the Playing Card symbols (Spades, Clubs, Diamonds and Hearts). They actually have an ancient origin that you may discover, if you're good enough.
Ok, news flash: King, Queen, Jack, Ace * Four elements or symbols = 4 * 4 = 16, NOT 12!!
Wise guy. There's 12 ROYAL rankings. The Ace is not considered a royal, but nevertheless is part of the Ruling Court. So if you include the Ace, yes that's 16. Which is why you have 16 seats and tokens in the Rankings page. Get it straight. :p
Ok, give me an idea on what these four Symbols represent.
Dream Planes (Black):
The Spades symbol represents the element of air which is The Devic Kingdom, home of the Angels (Read Chapters 5 and 6 of Book 1).
The Clubs symbol represents the element of fire which is Hades, home of the Demons (Read Chapter 2 of Book 1).
Reality Planes (Red):
The Diamonds symbol represents the element of the earth, home of the humans (Read Chapter 6 of Book 1).
And finally, the Hearts symbol represents the element of water which is Atlantis, home of the Atlanteans (Read Chapter 4 of Book 1).
Ok, I've read the stories. Now you said there are four Degrees of Alignments. Who are what are they?
Aryel, Herald of the Devic Kingdom, represents the degree of the Idealists (Positive)
Tetra, also known as Tarot. Herald of Babylon, represents the Righteous/Karmic degrees (Neutral Left)
Raziel, also known as Rune. Herald of Atlantis, represents the Unprincipled/Anarchist degrees (Neutral Right)
Neria, Herald of Hades, represents the degree of the Malignants (Negative) .
So if I'm a good guy I go to Aryel for help, if I'm a bad guy I go to Neria for help?
Not exactly. The heralds are not supposed to interfere with humanity (although some break rules!), but they're there to make missions, quests and events for people that they represent in order to make them stronger and pass the tests of Ascension. But each of the four aligners have a different agenda for the Ascenders. Aryel wants those who pass the 22 levels to represent the Kingdom(s) that will ensure the earth leaves the Age of Tokens in light, Neria however wants those who pass the 22 levels to become Gods in this universe that will be placed in eternal darkness. The agenda for Tarot and Rune however, remains to be speculated.
Ok, I'm starting to get it now. So I need to pass the 22 levels to be a King?
No, passing the 22 levels only gives you the power to wield any of the 16 tokens. So if you're lucky enough to be a level 22 alongside an ally or team-member, if you both complete quests that will lead you to (let's say The King of Spades token (Sword of Eternal Wisdom) and the Ace of Spades token (The Excalibur), you will now be able to go undisputed into The Devic Kingdom. Which, as of the date of writing this is unthroned (the story explains why) The one who wields The Sword of Eternal Wisdom will sit on the King's throne and be able to give orders to The Devic Angels (Angels of the Seventh Heaven). Depending on your alignment you may choose to employ them for good or for bad, it won't be easy however, because if the angels find your rule going against the principals of their creation, they will rebel against you and may try to dethrone you (read Chapter 6: Hexagram, Part 3: A Glimpse of Heaven).
So a King, Queen, Jack and Ace have the same royal powers?
No. The King commands the Army, the Queen commands the Element, the Jack leads the army and the Ace protects each member of the royals and ensures the minions don't rebel. The three royals (King, Queen, Jack) have equal abilities to renovate and rebuild their kingdoms as they see fit.
Nice. So how do I know where the tokens are?
That's not a problem, the story is filled with clues that will point you to what quests you need to take to find a particular token. If a token has already been found and the Royal Position not yet claimed, that Token can be up for grabs and you can obtain it from whoever has it BY ANY MEANS NECCESSARY. But the real problem is passing the 22 levels of Ascension. Each level has four requirements, when you pass all requirements for a level you go onto the next and so on till you can prove yourself worthy to wield a Token.
Four Requirements?
One requirement for each symbol.
The Spades symbol represents Wisdom, so you need to increase your Wisdom Attribute and succeeding in Team Missions and Quests.
The Clubs symbol represents strength, so you need to increase your Strength Attribute and get a particular total for battles won (battles fought during a team or an epic war count as well).
The Hearts symbol represents bonds and relationships, so you need to increase your Charisma Attribute and meet a certain number of people who will be influential in your life (e.g. a lost brother or sister, a team leader, an orphan you adopt).
The Diamonds symbol represents money and hard work, so you need to increase your Determination Attribute and complete a certain number of successful business ventures (Build a Shop, Build your financial portfolio are a few examples) or succeed in what is called Cash Quests (Quests that reward you only with money).
Ok, I want to create a character. What do I need?
You need to think up a non-copyright name and alter-ego (e.g. you can't use Spiderman or Cyclops because they are copyright Marvel Comics), you need to make up your own. People who've used copyrighted names may be subject to deletion. You'll also need an e-mail address which we'll use to contact you on information and updates on the game. We won't sell your e-mail to third parties so other than mail from us you won't be getting any junk mail. When you're ready go sign up
I've signed up and it's taken me to this "Control Screen" where I have to pick Attributes, Skill, Superpowers, Alignment and Bio. What do I do?
Here, you can complete these in any order you like. But before you can play you will need to complete the steps 1-4. You don't have to write a Bio and make a portrait yet.
What are Attributes?
They are Fifteen. Five of them are dynamic and start at 100%. These are:
Body (How much more pain you can take before you go unconscious)
Health (How much you can take before you die, akin to blood supply)
Willpower (How much more actions, training and superpowers you can perform until you get exhausted)
Mental Stability (How much more you can take before you go mad)
Morale (How happy/sad you are. If this is really low you'll become depressed)
The other ten are fixed. They are:
Strength (How strong your hits are and how much you can carry)
Wisdom (How fast you can learn street and day-to-day skills (e.g. Culture, Blades) and how much you know)
Intelligence (How fast you can learn book skills (e.g. Anthropology, Mathematics) and how much you know)
Agility (Your upper body speed. e.g. for handling vehicles)
Quickness (Your lower body speed. e.g. for jumping)
Endurance (The more you have the more pain you can take)
Perception (Your ability to notice or hear things others may not)
Determination (The more you have the stronger your willpower is)
Charisma (How attractive you are, how easy it is for you to lure NPCs and players to do things for you)
Leadership (Your ability to lead others in teams and battles)
These can change if you practice skills related to those attributes. For example, reading philosophy will increase your intelligence, studying Espionage will increase your wisdom, Blades will increase your agility, etc.
How are my attributes selected?
There's a short questionnaire, according to your answers the attributes will be determined by it.
Ok, now what are skills? Why do they come before Superpowers?
Skills are more vital than superpowers even. Where superpowers are only limited to win battles, subdue your enemies and complete missions and quests; skills are your day to day experiences, abilities, strengths and knowledge. Your skills determine your weaponry specialization, your scientific knowledge, your artistry and unique skills that can let you tackle tough situations without the need to switch to superhero mode.
What's the significance of having superpowers in the game? Why the genre?
Superheroes and Superheroines have been misinterpreted by many people throughout time. Many think that superheroes are all nothing but cool fictional comic book characters that excited kids and made them dream into becoming things they'll never be. But in fact, many don't realize that the ideas behind most of the comical superbeings written in the 60's and 70's were serious issues in our world that we need to deal with and teach our generations with. Namely, the environment, peace and the potential threat of Nuclear energy, etc (recall Chernobyl). Moreover, people are realizing the intricacy of the human genome. They are finding out that by tweaking certain genes, diseases can be stopped and healthier people can be born. Some say this is playing God, some say this is nothing to do with playing God but is rather a gift of our ever-increasing knowledge and the discovery of the hidden secrets within us. In fact, apart from that, there's been tests to prove that many things we once thought was only in the legion of Marvel and DC comics are in fact, real. For example, Telekenisis (the ability to move objects with the power of the mind) and Psionics (manipulation of brain waves into certain frequencies) may in fact not be science fiction anymore, but scientific fact.
The reason why we weren't able to find out these things before now is because no one cared to cross the boundaries of the brain and ask what the majority of the human brain is used for (the chunk that humans today don't use but was supposedly used thousands of years ago for survival. Maybe superpowers?) This further proves that what we know about our real capabilities is very minimal, and if you think science today is very advanced, think again.
Err.. O..k... So how do I set superpowers?
You get to pick 4 superpowers of your own choosing and a random one. You have 4 levels of superpowers. From highest points to be given (primary superpower) to the lowest.
Now Alignment. How is that going to be selected?
Again, you have to fill a questionnaire that examines your (character's) behavior in certain situations that will determine if you are an Idealist, an Opportunist or Malignant.
Ok, I've completed the questionnaire. And now it's saying I'm Malignant-Diabolic. Does that mean I failed? Now I can't play?
No. Diabolics are within the degree of Negativity. So your character will be a Supervillain fighting against Superheroes (The Pacifists and the Neutrals leaning to the left/pacifist side). You are under Neria's league and the 22 levels you play will be reversed cards (evil instead of good).
Does that mean I'm gonna miss all the fun?
By all means no. You get as much fun as everyone else, only you'll have to think like a bad man/woman.
This means you get to break the law, steal from people, backstab and perform evil quests. You may find that it's more fun than playing a superhero!!!
Ok, I believe ya. But now everyone's gonna kick my ass coz I'm evil?
That's why you need to keep your intentions and Alter Ego secret. When a character looks at you in your normal mode they cannot tell whether you are good or evil unless they ask or use the clairvoyance skill. Also, in your normal mode as you go about daily work, money-making and experience-gaining they may not be able to know that you're in fact that evil sinister demon that kills people for fun at night.
So what if someone knows my alter ego?
Ok. Do you want someone to sneak up on you while your alter ego is quietly reading away or practicing Tai Chi and assassinate you? Because you realize that it's easier to get killed when you're off-guard and not in your superhero mode (plus even if your hyper-senses warn you, you'll still waste battle points changing into superhero mode and preparing your attack stance/weapons).
So I set up my alter ego's information in the Bio screen?
Yup. You don't have to do the biographies now, but you can anytime by clicking on Inventory in the control screen and clicking on Change Bio/Portrait. In this screen, you can set the Biographies for each of your two egos (Super and Alter) and set the portraits for them.
Portrait. I thought they were automatically generated?
Nope. You do them manually. Check here for more information on Portraits.
Umm.. I got an error while creating a character. What now?
As of V1, there are still some outstanding bugs in the character creation screen. For now, close your browser window and log back on with your credentials. You'll get the progress screen telling you how many more steps you haven't completed yet. Try again. If it still doesn't work, contact the developer: krome[at]thekingofspades.com and report the problem and description.
So what's a beta-test?
A beta-test means a product has not been completed yet and it's on the public domain for the purpose of finding and eliminating all bugs before the game is officially released.
So how long's the beta-test going to be for?
We're estimating till the Q2 of 2009 before the game goes live with all its features.
Wasn't the release date supposed to be the beginning of this year?
It was, but since we decided to implement several features suggested by players
that we thought were great ideas to add-onto the game, the finish date had been
pushed back a bit. That in addition to other small issues here and there. But in
general, the release date is not yet set in stone.
Are you going to charge players to play when the game is released?
No. But players who've donated during the beta test will get to keep some of their rewards, buildings and donation credits (but not their skills and cash). Without their assistance, this game would not be here today.
What's the current version and what does it support?
As of the last date this FAQ was updated, the game has the following features:
Control Menu: You can check your stats, ready or use your primary superpower and change your combat stance.
Chat Module: You can see other players in the same location as you, talk, approach, fight, examine, preach, trade and do other skill or superpower-specific actions with them.
Job Module: You can now apply for a job you're skilled in at any recruitment agency. You can also start and join an Organization for your Alter Ego.
Training Module: You can now train for the skills in any School or Institute. Click on the Skill in Data - Skills to figure out where to go to train it. Skill points can be raised till 50 only. Over 50 is implemented by practicing the skill (e.g. reading relevant books and equipment).
Inventory Module: You can see what you're carrying (you can use drugs and some devices) and equip armor and weapons. Some of the stuff, such as Weapons are graphically represented. You can also change Bio and Toggle Superhero mode.
Buildings Module: You can now enter buildings, chat in lounges and rooms assigned to you. You can also store items in rooms and use most types of furniture and equipment. Infiltrating buildings is enabled. You can now buy traps and environmental hazards for your room. Room-infiltration and room/building damage is in development
Shop Module: You can enter shops and buy stuff. You can also build stores and start your own business by leasing land from a land lord/lady.
Combat Module: You can now fight using all weapons, superpowers and martial arts.
Vehicles Module: You can now buy cars, planes and boats at any vehicle shop around the world and other realms or travel through time space. Space travel is in development.
Team Module: You can now start or join a team for your Super Ego. Team leaders can manage the charter, set a logo and sign up/promote/kick members. Teams can own assets (vehicles and buildings). Missions in development.
News Module: You can now read the newspaper (Click on Data, Newspaper). You can also read and write Pioneer Legends here (if you're a pioneer or premium member). Our official newspaper (The Straight Flush) includes News, Quest Gossip, an Obituary section, Classifieds, Sports and Personals sections.
Relationships Module: You can now set non-blood relationships (e.g. Love, Hate, Buddy, Nemesis) with people in your vicinity. These acquaintances will be used for the memo system to keep in touch with your friends and enemies.
Memo System: You can now send messages to your team members. And use your cellphone to call others. You can also use the post office to send and receive mail/money orders.
Superpower module: All primary, backup and legendary superpowers are now enabled. Assimilation is enabled. Magik is in development.
Research and Manufacturing: (After Live) You can now mine for specific minerals. This has been temporarily turned off until item decay is enabled. Research/Invention in development.
Note
If you would like detailed step-by-step instructions on how to play, read the sample starting-out tutorial Settling in New York City.
Ok, so I've finished creating my screen and I've logged into the game. Now what?
In the main screen you have access to three areas: The Status Bar. The Location Bar. And the Chat/Interaction Bar:
The Status Bar shows you your Health, Body, Mental Stability, Morale and Willpower.
It also allows you to access the Inventory, Attributes, Skills and Superpowers status displays.
I.e. if you click on Inventory, it will show you your portrait as you look like to people in the same location as you, the item you are carrying and the items you are wielding (holding) or wearing. The Inventory screen is very important because it's also where you can change your Bio and toggle your mode. (More details on inventory later).
The Location Bar shows you a photo of the location you are in within your current city. For example, if you've picked "American" for your ethnicity, you would start in Los Angeles (on Earth), if you pick Atlantean, you start in Catopsilia, the capital of Atlantis, etc.
Each location is a borough that is part of a city, you can move from one borough to another by a Transit Station (e.g. Bus Station/Subway Station) or by a vehicle that you or a friend/team-mate owns. Each borough is separate from the others and each one is a sort of "Chat Room". So if you chat in Brooklyn, New York whether you're shopping, walking or training everybody in that location will see you, but not of the other boroughs in the city. Also, some locations are "dangerous" areas, for example The Bronx is a combat-enabled area so don't go there unless it's brief or you'll be looking for trouble (Check your City Guide for information on which zones in your city are combat-enabled and which ones aren't).
The Location Bar thus shows you a drop down list to shops, agencies, schools and departments that you can go in a location. More details on the specific shop types are in the Shops Compendium (check the Tutorial).
The Chat Bar this is divided in two parts in the screen. A top part in your Control Screen (the upper frame), here you can specify what interaction you want to use on a person in the location. These include Talking (chat with them), Looking (See their profiles), Trading or Challenging (This will be enabled in the battle upgrade).
The bottom part of the chat bar serves two functions: Firstly, it shows you the progress of your prolonged actions that use up your units (i.e. game minutes). These include, but are not limited to: Training, Researching, Travelling, Reading, Resting, Healing, Therapy, etc.
The second purpose of the chat bar is to show what you and others are saying in your location. This also includes any welcome message for people who fell asleep in locations. (By the way, it is recommended you sleep in a room, because if you fall asleep (logoff) in the middle of a city location, you can get yourself attacked and looted. More on this in the Idle Fighting section).
How do I fight?
Read the Approach and Combat Tutorial (in the Tutorial section) to get the 101 on Approaching characters, learning combat skills, using weapons and martial arts.
So I've just started the game. What am I supposed to do first?
The first thing we advise newcomers is to go find a job. Most likely, you may not have picked a skills combination that's good enough for a specific occupation, but don't despair. Almost every major city in the game has a Recruitment Agency. It provides a free service where you can go in there and get a list of all possible jobs for your alignment (meaning that you can only be a police officer or detective if you're positive, and can only be a gangster or a prostitute if you're negative; a job agency that can provide you with illegal jobs, go figure). Also, more than that, the agency will examine your skills and their levels and see if you can qualify for a job, making your job hunting mission easy!!
Most likely, you won't be eligible for any job except maybe a janitor job. But keep in mind that for each job path there are at least 3 levels. You start from the bottom and make your way up the ladder. For example, if you're into economics and business, you can start off with a salesperson job then as you build your skills to a businessman then eventually you can become an enterpreneur.
I wanna be a Historian but the job description says I have to learn history, writing and research. How do I do that?
You'll need to go to a school to train in each particular skill (until you reach that level). For example, high schools train you on writing skills and history. On the other hand, if you want to learn something like photography or modelling, you need to go to an art school. If you want to learn Hand to hand combat techniques, you need to go to a Dojo and so on. Details of where a skill can be seen when you access the Skill information.
I tried to train but it tells me that I learnt 0 points! Am I stupid? Why can't I learn something?
Just because you failed to learn one time doesn't mean you'll fail every other time. Training takes some time and the way that it's currently set up it depends on the current factors:
1- Determination (The more you have, the more units you can learn at a time)
2- How skilled you are. The more you know about a skill the harder it is to learn new things about it. For example it's easier to increase your skill from 1 to 20 than it is to increase from 70 to 75.
3- How much wisdom or intelligence you have. The more wisdom you have the easier it is to learn practical skills (e.g. Tracking), in contrast, the more intelligence you have the easier it is to learn theoretical skills (e.g. Physics).
Therefore, if you are finding it hard to learn, you can do many things to improve your "learnability", you can increase your determination, wisdom and intelligence (the fastest way to do this is to engage in missions, quests and battles) and most importantly, you can set aside time to relax and train.
So you want me to spend hours just sitting around being useless and training my ass off till I'm good?
No. Just like cooking, building, working, reading, travelling, researching or any other activity that spends units (game minutes) you can also do other activities that aren't limited to movement. For example, you can chat, go read the King of Spades storybook, plan out missions with your team members and so on. But keep in mind that you are not allowed to move away from your activity spot unless you suspend it (do this only in emergencies because whatever units or money you've already spent to train they're already gone). Some activities you can resume if you suspend them. For example, you can use a treadmill (this periodically boosts your Endurance) for 30 Time Units at one point, then go to sleep and come back hours later to complete whatever amount you want before you reach your required amount. Also, if you're constructing a building, say an Airstrip for the team with the help of five team members, each Time Unit that you successfuly convert into Structure Units (SUs) will be saved and can be incremented with SUs that your team-mates have already placed in constructing that building.
You lost me with the units and game minutes thing. Explain
It's pretty simple. Every day that you log on, you earn 200 Units or game minutes to spend as you like. It is your own judgement on how to spend these units. Some put more units to fighting, some put more units to training, some use most of it for building or creating stuff. But whatever you want to do, keep in mind your limit. When you first sign up you get 1000 bonus units. Don't waste these since they'll be very important once you start fighting.
Here's an explanation of the Game Minutes/Units: Since we wanted to make The King of Spades as realistic as possible, we had to implement real-time into the game. And since NO ONE will actually physically let his character work for 9 hours a day and train 4 hours a day, we had to come up with a "scaled down" version of real-time. So we came up with a Game Minutes system that are not really equivelant to real-life minutes but offset the difference. So flying from NY to London if you use a plane will cost you a lot of game minutes but not as much as a cruise ship would! If there was no Units, I can pay $5000 for an air ticket to london while a guy could take a cruise for $1000 and reach the same destination at the same time, so that doesn't make sense.
What if I run out of units and there's an urgent mission that I have to go to that I estimate will cost me say 50 units to complete, including battle scenarios.
In that case, you can buy emergency units. You do this by going to a Time Management Agency and purchasing a time package. This is costly, but many players, especially those of levels 10 and up will find it very important to get extra units. You also "win" units if you succeed in a mission or quest.
I'm stuck! I spent all my money on useless stuff or skills and now I'm broke! What now?
No need to start over. You can get money back by selling back skills that you don't think you might need or finding people that are willing to lend you some training or travel money.
This sucks. I can't find any training institute for X skill in my city! Now I can't even get the entry level job that I want.
You don't have to go to training institutes to learn skills. You can also learn some skills by doing quests or finding expert players who are willing to give you access to buildings that have training equipment in them. There is one equipment that can boost almost any of the skills in the game, check your "skill information" screen to know what it is.
I can't find any players in my city! All I can find are NPCs, how CAN I get help?
Community is an important part of the KOS universe and you can hardly survive on your own if you are just starting out, especially if you tread into a hostile environment. To find people, try turning on your alignment chat (Click on [Info] - [Inventory], then scroll down to the alignment chat button. When the chat is on you can send or receive messages from anyone in the alignment no matter where they are, providing they have their alignment chat on as well) try asking people for help that way. Alternatively, you can go on the KOS forums and request help in the "Newbie help" section. Usually people respond to you in mere minutes and can offer to pick you up and take you to their homes or give you information on training facilities that newbies can go to in order to boost your attributes and skills.
Alright, I've learned all the skills that are needed for me to become a Historian. Now what?
Go to the nearest Job Agency, select "Jobs I'm skilled with". The Historian job should be highlighted, meaning you have skills that deal with that job, so click on the link. The agency will make sure you are qualified then you'll be able to see an application link, click on that and you become a Historian!
Cool I just got paid for my first day on the job. Where do I have to go to work?
In the King of Spades, your job is your title. If you are a Historian, you offer services to people as a Historian, you have no "shop" where you go to work at and wait on customers. As a professional in the world, you represent your profession wherever you may go, so make sure you keep the name of your profession prestigious and glorious.
Note that some jobs pay more with services that you perform than high-salaried jobs. It's your choice whether you want to pick high salary or high services. For example, a Historian can write history books for historical research and sell those at universities or for other players for a high price, therefore you can end up making double your salary with these services. In contrast, a Judge cannot offer out-of-court services, so you only rely on your salary for money.
After midnight of every day, you get paid your salary. So you get paid once every day that you are online. If you don't log on for say a week, you won't get fired, but you'll lose a week's worth of salary.
Some jobs allow you to do Actions for yourself or your team, for example, an Architect can make "Blueprints" of existing buildings which can in turn be sold for good (e.g. to a SWAT team that wants to infiltrate a drugs factory) or for evil (e.g. to a Mob that wants to rob a Philanthropist's Mansion); likewise a thief can "Pick" locks and pockets; a police offer can "Arrest" criminals and be awarded bonuses for catching Wanted criminals and so on. You'll never know what secrets and abilities your profession holds, explore!
I just clicked on "My Job" and it sez that my Job Proficiency Factor is 12.5% what the hell is that, and is it bad?
Proficiency is how experienced you are in your job. It is calculated by a very simple formula, it's the average of the amount multiplied by training value of the skills that you possess you have which are required for that job. Proficiency plays a role in getting bonuses on top of your salary. So if your proficiency is 12.5%, you will get 12.5% of your salary as bonus every day. To increase your proficiency, simply train your job skills more. Another important use of the proficiency factor is when performing services. For example, if you are a construction worker and are working on the blueprint of an Airstrip, you will need to complete twenty Construction Units (CU's). The chances of getting each CU completed depends on your Proficiency Factor. So if your construction skills are 12.5%, about 1 out of 10 of your attempts will be successful.
What's the difference between buildings and shops? Can't buildings have shops in them?
No. Picture it this way, if you want to buy something or buy a skill, go into a shop, otherwise, go into a building. Buildings are almost always PRIVATE and are welcome only to members of a particular Guild (such as thieves and gangsters with the Underground Guild), a Domain (such as The Tower of Spades if you are a positive character represented by Aryel), a Base or Headquarters (where ONLY team-members are allowed) and finally Homes (where a person, a couple or a family live in). The only types of buildings where everyone is usually welcome are Inns, Hotels, etc.
Aha! You said HOTEL! Isn't that considered a shop though?
Not really, because buildings have rooms, outdoors and indoors. Shops don't.
Rooms are used to sleep in. These are paid (in hotels) or are free (your own home or in a team base).
Indoors have "Indoor Amenities", these are special rooms that are basically free shops. For example, you can have a library in there where people can read books for free. The most that take advantage of indoors are team bases because in them teams can have surveillance rooms, research facilities, chemistry labs, relaxation and recreation rooms, martial art rooms and Combat-Training Rooms that have combatant team-owned NPCs (Non-Player-Characters). Indoor rooms such as these usually entail high equipment purchasing, maintenance and transportation costs. But are worth the work.
Other types of buildings are outdoor facilities such as Car Parks or Air Strips that can be used to safely park your vehicles.
You said family? Players have families?
This is a complicated aspect of the game that is still under concept design. But we are planning to have two types of relationships:
1- Chosen relationships. i.e. someone can choose to "fall in love" with another character or set another character as their "nemesis", adopt someone, etc.
2- Blood relationships. i.e. you may have a lost relative somewhere, this can be an NPC (Non-Player-Character, i.e. Computer) or PC (Player-Character, i.e. another player).
An entire list of relationships is as follows: Acquaintance, Friend, Lover, Spouse (maximum of one), Enemy, Arch-Enemy (maximum of one), Brother, Sister, Father, Mother, Son, Uncle, Aunt, Nephew, Niece, Daughter, Adopted Son, Adopted Daughter.
Blood relationships are assigned randomly by the game from time to time. But characters who don't want to have relatives may turn off the blood relationships feature when they first create their character.
What's a mission and how can I find one? (Not implemented)
A mission is an assignment that you apply for at The Tower of Spades in New York (if you're an idealist), The Sanctum of Diamonds in Turkey (if you're a neutral left), The Aquarian Palace in Atlantis (if you're neutral right) or The CityHub9 Nightclub in Germany (if you're a malignant).
You don't have to physically go to the city or location where the assignment building is, if you have a Commlink in your base you can use that to download mission assignments from your Herald (Alignment Angel).
Once you or your team has chosen to accept a mission, no one else gets access to it. And unless you fail or drop the mission, you are expected to complete it. Usually a mission entitles getting intel reports from enemy alignments, capturing or killing someone or as easy as patrolling the neighborhood for gangsters. If you pass, your team gets rewarded (each according to amount of work accomplished) with money and skill/attribute points, that in addition to a special Coin that you collect in order to increase your Ascension Level. If you fail, usually it's limited only to losing all the time units you spent and decreasing your morale.
What's a quest and how can I go on one?
A quest can be assigned to you by Quest NPCs (Non-Player-Character), these are people and creatures who will want you to find them or build them an item, artifact or device. This usually involves travelling to different locations (sometimes to other realms as well) in search of clues on the whereabouts of the quest objective. Both High-Level Quests and Missions award you with Coins that you can use to gain in Ascension Levels, however, as we've already highlighted, Missions are given to you by your Herald and are therefore Alignment-Specific where Quests do not usually involve Good vs Evil. In order to find Quest NPCs, walk around your city streets and see if you find any shady or mysterious characters who will probably ask you to do or find something for them. Alternatively, you can go on the Straight Flush or "Exploring KOS" to find clues and information on unique quests.
You mentioned teams? How can I join one? And do I have to be in a team to do missions?
You join a team by applying for one in the Teams screen. The team leader and vice have power to admit and kick out team-members. You don't have to be in a team to take part in missions, solo missions are scaled down to be do-able by one person instead of co-operative team-play. But in the end it all comes down to you whether you prefer fighting alone or with a Pet NPC, or as part of a large group of friends. You can also create your own team by signing up at your Degree's Domain (see the list of four listed in the previous answer). But to start your own team, you need a co-signer who will be your vice in case you're not around to manage the team's executive commands.
Now for the exciting part, how do I get to FIGHT???! I wanna show people not to mess with ME!
There are many occasions where you can fight, these are categorized thus:
1- Challenge/Duel. If you're in a safe mode where you can't just jump anyone, you can offer a challenge (Most people who are usually looking for a fight are at the Arena). This is usually done by offering a bet, where others who are watching can pool in the bet. If someone challenges you, you can choose to accept or decline. In a challenge fight, the rules can be set to be Knockout (fight till someone loses consciousness) or Fight to the Death (self explanatory). Usually Idealist and Neutral-left players may only KO their enemies/opponents while Neutral-Right and Malignant players prefer to kill their opponents. The players then proceed to a designated building or Arena and fight.
2- Danger Zones. These zones have NO law-enforcement and are thus rampant with crime. An example is The Bronx in NY City. Here people don't have to be corteous and "challenge" you to get into a fight, rather they can Attack you without warning, usually catching you off-guard to give them First Strike. So be careful when travelling in these areas. To know whether you are in a combat-enabled area or not, check to see if you have an "Attack" command in your character interaction Drop down list (i.e. with Say To, Approach, etc) or use the interactive City Guide.
3- Epic War. Here it's not just you that's caused trouble, but your entire team! A war has been declared against another team (usually of different alignments) in Epic Wars your winning fights are counted to BOTH your personal frags and your team frags (a frag is a counter of how many people you've killed), but this also means that you need to share your spoils with the team.
So if I die in a fight that's it? I have to start over?
Nope. When a player dies, they can get admitted to a hospital for treatment (after several hours of logging off so you can regain your lost Health Points) where they usually pay for Intensive Care until they fully recover.
What are pets for?
Depends on what pet it is. Some can be Guard pets (e.g. Dobermann), some you can use to ride (e.g. Horse, Giant Lizard, Baby Dragon), some are used to be a third eye for you (e.g. Eagle), some can be assassins (e.g. Silver Serpent) and some can be used only for carrying heavy stuff for you, just like cars (e.g. mule).
Cars?? I get to ride a car??
Not only cars, but planes, boats, bikes, the works! Vehicles help you run inter-city errands (e.g. delivery jobs), store heavy stuff for you (e.g. Rocket Launcher), give you higher chances of escaping a fight you don't want (this is where car chases can happen) and finally, which is the most obvious one, vehicles allow you to travel, and unlike the bus, train or plane where you only go a certain place, you can set the coordinates of your location, thereby granting you access to hidden locations that you can convert into safe-heavens for yourself or your team). And you'll never know, you may start a transportation or chauffering service!
I want to join a team. How can I?
You need to go to a Team Agency (in Brooklyn it's the Burns Team Agency). And access the list
of applicable teams, then choose the one that you want.
>There aren't any teams I am interested in joining, or I'm not applicable for any. What now?
You can create your own team then. You need a total of $18,000 (you and your co-signer) to found a new team.
What are the rules for founding a new team?
To start a team you need a Signer and a Co-Signer.
The signer is the
Leader of the team who gets debited $11,000 team-starting fees.
The signer
maintains the general well-being of the team and is responsible
for
maintaining its prestige, be it positive, neutral or negative.
The signer retains full command of the Team, including (and not limited
to):
A. Choosing the Team Name and writing the Team
Description/Charter.
B. Managing members (Approving applications, booting
members and promoting them. Note that you kick members off by demoting them to
Initiate, then demoting them one more time to boot them.).
C. Managing Team Rigs (Vehicles that transport
team-members).
D. Managing Team Bases (including Head-Quarters and
Safe-Houses).
E. Accepting Team Missions (you receive these from your
degree/angel).
The co-signer is the Second in Command. He or she gets debited $7,000 from
his or her
account. The Second in Command's duties include all the signer's
privilages except Section A.
Co-signer eligibility:
1. The signer MUST have Leadership points exceeding
or equalling that of the co-signer.
2. The co-signer must be the SAME
alignment as the signer's.
There are four alignments:
1. Positive
(Idealist - Principled, Pacifist and Scrupulous).
2. Neutral-Left
(Opportunist - Righteous and Karmic).
3. Netural-Right (Opportunist -
Unprincipled and Anarchist).
4. Negative (Malignant - Miscreant, Aberrant and
Diabolic).
Accordingly, all of your members must retain your alignment. Therefore, a
Neutral Team
cannot have a Negative member and a Positive Team cannot accept
Neutral members, etc.