Taikodom (Part Two)

Editor's Note:
Don't know whether its just my luck or is the "dude above" trying to make a sport out of me...

But right when I thought everything I needed for Taikodom was pretty much done, have the screenshots and vids collected plus a general idea of how to feature the game in my next few posts, it suddenly got hit with a version update (to version 3.20) which radically overturned everything and rendered what I had...useless.

While things still retained a similar visual appearance (in comparison to before the update), certain stuff and its underlying mechanics got a major overhaul. "Ship Classes" (Assault, Vanguard and Suppressor) got discarded, space sectors got redesigned and sub-routines...simplified.

In short, I had to re-learn the game...right from the start...all over again...not to mention that I've just lost track of how to continue forth with my articles for the game. Fantastic huh?

But thankfully, as I have yet to start on writing the post on its gameplay, things are still salvageable.

Gameplay
The entire gameplay of Taikodom essentially revolves around the PVPing between the two factions, Consortium and Renegade. This is the one single truth that has held...regardless of pre or post v3.20.

The gameworld is still made up of a system of "sectors", with each faction starting at one end and each sector linking up with one or multiple others.

Players of either faction will then have to make their way across the sectors to reach the other side's "territory" via some sort of portal contraption.

Naturally of course, battles can and will break out at any time, on either sides or even in the middle "No Man's Land", but that's about it. No plot, no storyline whatsoever. Just fights.

However, there's a huge difference in the way fights now occur (and how certain things work).

Pre v3.20, everything kind of works like a "semi-fantasy" MMO. There was a "level" and "class" system in place...so much so that you will need to level up to access and use the better equipments as well as gain "skill points" to allocate into your chosen class's "skill trees".

Furthermore, most of the basic stuff, upgrades and commodities, like ships, weapons, "recovery potions" (for your ship's shields and energy) and missiles...they can all be acquired from the "NPC Store" found in-game. It is only for the "rarer" (and better) stuff that you will need to hunt for resources to make them yourself.

But even then, once you've made them...at least for the ships and weapons...you will rarely need to do anything else other than repairing it occasionally, using in-game credits or cash-shop currency.

Post v3.20, however, the whole game changed. There was no longer a "level" and "class" system. In fact, everyone apparently has the same boring skill tree (and amount of skill points to allocate).

• Cruise Mode (Toggle Ability)
  Once toggled, and after a brief "charging period", your ship will then accelerate to full speed and stay there (in cruise mode) until you toggle it off. Use of weapons will be disabled, however.
  
  Level 1 - Allows your ship to travel at its "maximum velocity + 250".
  
  • Energy Cost: 4000
    
  • Cooldown: 20 s
    
  Level 2 - Allows your ship to travel at its "maximum velocity + 500".
  
  • Energy Cost: 4000
    
  • Cooldown: 20 s
    
• Inertial Mode (Press And Hold Ability)
  Allows you to maintain your ship's present course while leaving you free to aim and fire your weapons in another direction (for as long as you hold the hotkey).
  
• Afterburner (Press And Hold Ability)
  Allows you to give your ship an extra boost of speed when you need it (like for evasive maneuvers).
  
  Level 1 - Instantly increases your ship's velocity by 125.
  
  • Maximum Duration: 10 s
    
  Level 2 - Instantly increases your ship's velocity by 150.
  
  • Maximum Duration: 10 s
    
  Level 3 - Instantly increases your ship's velocity by 175.
  
  • Maximum Duration: 10 s
    
  Level 4 - Instantly increases your ship's velocity by 200.
  
  • Maximum Duration: 10 s
    
• Energy to Shields (Toggle Ability)
  Reroutes energy to your ship's shields.
  
  Level 1 - Increases maximum shield capacity by 12% but reduces maximum energy capacity by 18%.
  Level 2 - Increases maximum shield capacity by 14% but reduces maximum energy capacity by 21%.
  Level 3 - Increases maximum shield capacity by 16% but reduces maximum energy capacity by 24%.
  Level 4 - Increases maximum shield capacity by 18% but reduces maximum energy capacity by 27%.
  Level 5 - Increases maximum shield capacity by 20% but reduces maximum energy capacity by 30%.
  
• Energy to Weapons (Toggle Ability)
  Reroutes energy to your ship's weapons.
  
  Level 1 - Increases damage by 5% but reduces maximum energy capacity by 8%.
  Level 2 - Increases damage by 10% but reduces maximum energy capacity by 10%.
  Level 3 - Increases damage by 15% but reduces maximum energy capacity by 12%.
  Level 4 - Increases damage by 20% but reduces maximum energy capacity by 14%.
  Level 5 - Increases damage by 25% but reduces maximum energy capacity by 16%.
  
• Energy to Engine (Toggle Ability)
  Reroutes energy to your ship's engines.
  
  Level 1 - Increases maximum velocity by 120 but reduces maximum energy capacity by 26%.
  Level 2 - Increases maximum velocity by 140 but reduces maximum energy capacity by 30%.
  Level 3 - Increases maximum velocity by 160 but reduces maximum energy capacity by 34%.
  Level 4 - Increases maximum velocity by 180 but reduces maximum energy capacity by 38%.
  Level 5 - Increases maximum velocity by 200 but reduces maximum energy capacity by 42%.
  

And everything else? They got turned into a "Make It Yourself" fest.

You will need to "hunt" for the resources to make your own battleships (minus the simplest basic ones that are used to kick-start the player), your missiles and other whatnots. Yes...even repairing your own ships, I believe.

But even then, I'ld have to warn you that things are still looking very primitive. Its like they've "scrapped and redesigned everything".

For instance, I remember that I was just looking for something called an "Estrutura: XXXX" which was required as one of the "core parts" to build a new ship. But no matter how hard I've looked around, I just couldn't find them. It was only until they've released v3.20.1...that I found a new category of blueprints called "Estruturas de Naves".

Not only that, there's also severe balancing issues to resolve as well.

Prior to v3.20.1, it was relatively quick to complete the in-game quests and get rewarded with a hefty amount of in-game credits. However after that, it became more time-consuming than ever before. And yet, the costs of purchasing even the "basic equipment" (ships and weapons) are still kept at the same high costs.

What's even funnier is perhaps the fact that these "ludicrously priced" equips appear to be totally "useless" and "fragile"...so much so that a weapon costing me "millions" (of in-game credits) couldn't even dispatch one lousy training drone in time.

The drone had simply too much "HP" (about 5000) while at the same time my weapon's damage was simply too "low" for it (about 140 damage per second...IF all my shots hit the target).

And only after merely going through four of these training drones, I had lost about 31% of durability on both of my weapons...which translates to about 790,667 worth of in-game credits lost (each weapon costs T$1,275,270) or about T$197,666 per drone.

Previous: Taikodom (Part One)

Next: Taikodom (Part Three)

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