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Well as you are here, I guess I'll take you through the basics of how the game works! (Shocked face!)
Let's start with the basics. The Lawless Online is a free (FREE) Online, Multiplayer-Only Role Playing Tactical Strategy... As a way to help get your lovely heads around the concept, imagine Diablo but with the gameplay similar to the old Commando games (or Desperados) and based around objectives like Company of Heroes... all set in the world of the Old West.
Make sense? Didn't think so. But if it did then that's excellent and we'll continue.
CHARACTER CREATION
Everyone starts by creating an account on our website (which is still under construction). From the Account pages on the website the Player, you, can create a new Character. This Character is the main Character in your game. He or She can be anything you want... A Bank clerk who is seeking revenge for the violence against his family... Or a General Store owner who is tired of being harassed by bands of Outlaws, or just a bat-Schmidt crazy Outlaw hellbent on killing everything and everyone - Whatever you want, it's up to you! The more creative the better and these stories will help build the world of The Lawless Online with it's own user-created history and culture.
Once all the information has been set up about your Character and chosen what he/she looks like, you can start playing the game via a downloadable game client!
Let's say you have joined a game and it's a 3-player free-for-all match.
Each Player in the game starts with one unit - their Character they created on the website. They also have two resources - Notoriety Points and Cash.
Cash is the main resource. With Cash you can purchase Units, Equipment, Tech and maintain a healthy economy.
Notoriety Points are an in-match level system. So the more Notoriety Points you gain from killing people, capturing buildings etc. the more buildings, equipment and techs you have access to/
MAPS & BUILDINGS
Every map in the game contains one or more Towns and each player's objective is to have Persuasion over the whole Town by securing the Town's important buildings such as:
Houses are the staple to the Towns. Although they are common they are extremely useful. It is up to each player to "capture" these Houses to gain territory and gain Notoriety Points.
OR you can choose to Rob the building and get a quick injection of Cash but you make the building inactive for a set amount of time.
Saloons can either be Captured or Robbed like every other building.
A Saloon generates Cash per minute, capturing buildings like Saloons are vital to secure a good stream of income to fund your efforts. It is important to protect the ownership of these buildings and fight to capture other player's Saloons.
The Saloon also allows you to Hire Men. Once a unit has been hired, the unit costs per minute. But the unit is under your control until you sack him, he gets killed or you run out of Cash.
GUNSMITHSGunsmiths can be Captured and Robbed like every other building, but they also generate Cash per minute.
Another benefit is items can be purchased (using Cash collected in the game) from these types of buildings and you can equip your Hired Units or your Character with them.
There are many other buildings but it would be a waste of time to go through them all, so imagine a map that has a town that consists of these important buildings and you and the other opposing players have spawned in different areas of the map.
It is every player's objective to capture the town and fight for possession of buildings and land that may tip the balance of power.
UNITS & COMBAT
Ok, so now time to discuss combat! Each unit in the game has certain abilities and stances (depending on items and weapons you have equipped them with). It is important to learn the different attributes a certain weapon or item bestows on the selected unit.
For example a unit with a rifle has better accuracy and reload time when in a crouched firing position than when running around, although a unit equipped with a revolver isn't affected much by a crouched position but gains a fire rate boost when running around or charging.
Along with the changing attributes of items and equipment, the whole map is divided into areas of effect. So if your unit is, for example, standing in the middle of a road in the open, he/she suffers a dramatic decrease in their ability to take damage and can easily be surrounded. Although a unit perched on a hill gains a Range and Damage bonus which can prove useful when covering other units that are capturing a building.
Due to the constant cost of the units and shifting building ownerships, each player would only be able to reach a unit count of around 6 or 7. This means that each man counts and it is vital for the Player to choose equipment, weapons and tactics carefully in order to win fights that may break out.
XP, SKILLS & MASTERIES
The difference between a good player and a great player will be about who has learnt how to use the terrain to their advantage and equips each unit with the best set of stuff. But that's not everything. Everything you do in-game is recorded and translated into XP. At the end of the game, this XP is transferred to your account on our website and you can use the Account panel to "Spend" earned points.
Each Character has a choice of several Masteries. As an example, one of these Masteries is Attack, another is Business. These Masteries then contain a set number of skills and abilities - some passive and some deployable and are unlocked when Characters reach a certain level.
Each level awards the player with one skill point. For example, at a high enough level a skill in the Attack mastery is Charge. Once a skill point has been added to Charge - the unit can use the Charge ability. The Charge ability has a recharge time, but the more skill points you add to Charge, lower the re-charge time and add Speed for example.
Very much like Diablo!
Win.
That's all of the basic gameplay elements. Check back for updates and for more details or if you have any questions, leave a comment! or follow us on our Facebook page and ask us there foor allll to seeeee.
Jack Bromhead
