AFS/What is Allegiance
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OK. So that's Allegiance: "Beautiful, squadron-based, large-scale multiplayer Space Action game, where you're one of the units in an RTS." We coined an acronym for the game type and genre: BSBLSMSAGWYOOTUIARTS. We're hoping it will catch on. - — Quoted from Joel Dehlin, Executive Producer of Allegiance, February 2000
BSBLSMSAGWYOOTUIARTS
| It's catching on! |
Allegiance is a free, online, multi-player space simulation game. You pilot spacecraft, flying in a team with other players, defending and attacking sectors in space. Your team is led by a Commander who makes tactical decisions and invests in technology and bases. Flight and combat is done in first person view in a 3D environment, with a real-time, top-down 'Command view' of your immediate surroundings also available.
While this sounds simple enough Allegiance is anything but an easy game to learn, even with its relatively basic control scheme and its simplified flight model. Allegiance is about tactics and coordination; knowing your ordnance and, most importantly, knowing where to be and what you should be doing there. Given the enormous amount of factors to reckon with, it takes the average player somewhere between 3 and 6 months to firmly grasp the basics.
On the plus side, Allegiance is full of interesting ways to turn spaceships into debris. Depending on the technology path your Commander has chosen you might fly stealthcraft, hiding and sniping at your unsuspecting enemies from far away. You might fly the interceptor, the king of short-range dogfights. Perhaps you might pilot a bomber, with other players manning the anti-fighter turrets on your ship. Or you could be the infinitely useful scout that spots enemy movements, repairs friendly vessels, and can even deploy minefields to devastate an enemy attack.
Allegiance is a great game to play because:
- It's free.
- It can run on pretty much any computer, on any connection speed (see system requirements).
- No other game out there offers as much diversity, nor is as teamwork orientated as Allegiance. No matter what role you choose to fulfill - whether it be dogfighter, scout, bomber, Commander, or something else entirely - your efforts will make a difference to the outcome of the game.
There are, on average, about thirty people participating in a game of Allegiance (15 per team). A typical game lasts between thirty and forty-five minutes, although games of more than 2 hours in length are not uncommon. The most commonly played server currently has nine different factions (each of which has at least five different techpaths the Commander can choose from) and over 40 playable maps.
No two games are ever the same.
What draws players to Allegiance is the rich interplay between teammates and commanders, as well as the unlimited number of strategies that can be used to win a game. The choices in factions, ships, weapons, missiles and equipment create thousands of possibilities, making variety a central aspect in Allegiance. There are hundreds of ways of doing the same thing, and there are hundreds of things to do. We won't get in to the details here.
A typical game
The maps in Allegiance consist of sectors joined together by wormholes (called alephs in-game). Each sector is a three-dimensional section of space which contains a number of asteroids and a few alephs leading to neighbouring sectors. Some sectors may be central "hubs" to large portions of a map and a team controlling them can dominate many surrounding sectors. Other sectors may be safe havens where the vulnerable miners can work unmolested. The layout of the map will impact how the players focus their attention throughout the game.
The commander will invest in constructor drones and get his team to escort them to empty sectors where they construct new stations. Pilots will attempt to destroy enemy constructors to deny enemy expansion, and kill enemy miners so they cannot afford new drones or enhanced technology. Advanced technology stations can be built on certain kinds of asteroids and funds are spent on new equipment, better weapons and stronger ship types. The game is ended once one team destroys all of their opponents' technology bases.
Being a commander is a special role bestowed upon a player at the beginning of a game. The commander's chat messages appear in bold face type to make it easier to identify his messages in game. The key differences between a pilot and a commander is 1) all money is automatically donated to the commander; and 2) the commander has the ability to boot an uncooperative team member from the team.
So much to do, so little time
As a pilot, you will have very specific roles to fulfill, however which role you should embrace at any time depends on the current ebb and flow of the battle. You may be scouting an enemy sector one minute, teleport home to defend against an enemy attack the next minute, and dock to man a bomber's turret the next.
Commanders will tell pilots when specific tasks must be conducted. The commander can't micromanage every player on his team though, and often pilots will need to figure out where the best place for them is. Should you bomb, lay sensor probes, go miner hunting, or defend a station? Knowing the answer is called "situational awareness", and in time, you should know exactly what needs to be done and when.
Every single player in a game has some of the capability that the commander does (i.e. nothing stops you from ordering other pilots and/or drones, or coming up with a brilliant gameplan and rallying your fellow pilots to help you), but as a new player you'd do best to avoid this unless asked by the commander.
Newbie servers
Newbie servers have been set aside for you to allow you learn the basics of flight, ships, communication, etc. They are labeled in the Master Lobby as "Newbie training" or some such. Vets are not allowed on these servers, and will be automatically banned if they do play.
Practice on newbie servers until you have the basics down (how to turn your ship, target enemies, fire weapons, etc). Then go and join the vets in the big games. Main games can be very intense and there is not always time to answer a new player's basic questions during a game. Players on main servers are expected to have at least the above mentioned basics down pat. Be patient and observe. Ask your questions during a lull in the game or on "All" chat so any players sitting the current game out can answer.
Welcome to Allegiance! The best game you've never played.
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