Unification Wars (browser game)

Unification Wars [ [http://pc.ign.com/objects/817/817134.html IGN: Space Federation - Unification Wars ] ] is a free browser-based massively multiplayer online game under the Space Federation [ [http://www.dmoz.org/Games/Video_Games/Strategy/Turn-Based/Browser_Based/Space_Federation/ Open Directory - Games: Video Games: Strategy: Turn-Based: Browser Based: Space Federation ] ] series game created by Gamestotal.com [ [http://games.ign.com/objects/817/817132.html IGN: GamesTotal.com ] ] a private company registered in Malaysia. The game can be played directly on a web browser such as Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox, or a client can be downloaded from the website, which provides enhanced graphics and music, as well as a more advanced GUI (Graphical User Interface).

Players of Unification Wars develop a galactic empire through one of various strategies provided by the game. Some players may prefer to befriend other players and create federations, while others may rely on selling materials collected through mining or farming for food, while still others may choose to invade other empires, pillaging and destroying as they go.

tory

[http://uc.gamestotal.com/?in=1186828/ Unification Wars] takes place 1000 years after the collapse of the United World Council, an agency devoted to governing the laws and safety of the universe. The fall of the UWC occurred when the agency forced out many criminal federations, causing them to ally and kill off all of the UWC leaders. Now, in 11000 AD, the universe is slowly becoming encompassed by greed and power. Even those unwilling to go to war are forced to for their own survival.The universe now awaits for the arrival of the Ultimate Empire, who is destined to unify the shattered empires of the universe.

Features

[http://uc.gamestotal.com/?in=1186828/ Unification Wars] is a Massively Multiplayer Online game. Therefore, players interact with all other players within the server, which includes over 2,200,000 registered players. [ [http://www.gamestotal.com/ GamesTotal.com free strategy games , Free Massive Multiplayer Online Games ( MMOG / MMORPG ) Page 1 ] ] The game features an in-game chat system, allowing quick communication among players, as well as a forum for posting information and questions.

Three servers are available to play on, including paces suitable for different playing styles. "Real Time" is fast-paced and provides lots of action, while "Hourly" sets a pace for those looking for a more recreational type of play, and "Daily" is recommended for those players only able to log on to the server once a day.

Players can choose from 6 possible races to play as, each with unique characteristics that can affect the play style a player may choose to pursue.

The game provides 5 types of economies, called infrastructure, that can be developed to further increase the success of an empire. These can be focused on or an empire can choose to develop more than one at once, leading to different economic possibilities.10 types of resources can be gathered to be used for building star ships for use in exploration or conquering.

101 unique star ships are available to be researched and built.

Gameplay

Gameplay in Unification Wars is based solely on text. All actions in the game are taken by either typing in a number, or clicking a hyperlink to perform some task or navigate the game’s user interface.

All actions that take place within Unification Wars require time to perform, so Unification Wars developed a turn-based system. The system stores time as “units” called turns that can be used by the player to accomplish any task. One turn is considered one game day for the player’s empire. This means that each turn used causes your empire to grow and produces resources. Turns are generated at a rate based on the server being played on.

A player begins the game with an empire, which contains a system. This system contains planets, which can be assigned to different economical aspects called infrastructure that will benefit the empire’s growth in different ways. A player will also be able to research new technologies using turns accumulated, which can lead to the development of new ships, buildings, and mega projects. Ships can be used for exploration or for attacking other empires, while buildings provide places for ministers to live. Ministers provide benefits to economies and provide military bonuses. Mega projects provide the empire with unique ways of developing.

As players grow, an empire will be able to create new systems, research more ships and projects, develop their minister to further provide economic and military bonuses, and begin to interact with some of the over one million other players in Unification Wars.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure defines the economy the player choose to pursue in Unification Wars. More planets assigned to a given type of infrastructure increase the benefits. Each Infrastructure level increases the efficiency percentage by 10%.

Housing

This increases the population of the given system, providing the empire with money in the form of taxes. The greater the population, the more taxed income the empire receives. Food is required to feed the population, and if sufficient food is not provided, the population starves, reducing the income produced by 90%. This form of income does not use up turns, and thus produces money whenever a turn is used to do any task.

Population also gives points towards increasing your empire level, which is needed in order to use some of the projects available in Unification Wars. Higher empire levels also help you get better lords, and Housing/Taxing is the major form of earning money of which 95% of experienced UC players use.

Commerce

This produces a flat rate of income based on how many planets are assigned to the commerce infrastructure. This type of income does not rely on turns, and thus will produce money even when turns are spent on other tasks. This form of income does not use up turns, and will produce money whenever a turn is used to do any task.

Industry

This type of infrastructure relies heavily on agriculture and housing to produce income. Industry works by using raw materials produced from planets assigned to agriculture, and creates consumer goods at a rate based on how many planets are assigned to industry. These goods can either be sold to other players, or will be used by the player’s population, assuming planets are assigned to housing, which will create income as a result. This form of income does not use up turns, and will produce money as long as consumer goods are available and whenever a turn is used to do any task.

Agriculture

Agriculture produces food based on how many planets are assigned to the infrastructure. Food can be used to feed a population or sold to other players. Agriculture will also produce raw materials, which can also be sold to other players, or used in the industry infrastructure to produce consumer goods. This form of income does not rely on turns, and will produce food whenever a turn is used to do any task.

Mining

Mining produces different materials based on what the system randomly chose and produces an amount based on how many planets are assigned to mining. The materials that can be mined include:
* Terran Metal
* Red Crystal
* White Crystal
* Rutile
* Composite
* Strafez OrganismThese materials are used when constructing ships, and sell for a high amount. Likewise, regardless of what is mined, the mining infrastructure will also produce ore, which sells at a premium price and is necessary for the temple mega projects. Mining requires the use of turns dedicated to the act of mining, and thus hinders the development of other areas of a player’s empire.

Systems

Each empire in Unification Wars begins with one system. Each system has unique characteristics that make it better at certain economical aspects, while falling short on others. Also, once a system is attained it can be upgraded (by spending planets) to improve its economical and defensive aspects.
* Sol - This system is good for exploring more planets, making it good for players starting out, as they can explore a lot of planets that can be used to increase income from a given infrastructure. (This system upgraded gives a 3% defence boost)
* Eden - This system provides a large boost to population growth, plus a better than usual tax income from the population. Thus, given the same planets assigned to Eden compared to another system, Eden will produce a population faster with a greater total income. (This system upgraded gives a 3% defence boost)
* Farm - This system provides more food to your population in the same way that Eden sustains a greater population. The player will receive a greater amount of food for the same amount of planets assigned to agriculture than other systems will. (This system upgraded gives a 4% defence boost)
* Heavy - This system gives a larger bonus when using consumer goods on this system. Thus, the player will receive more money for each consumer good that this system uses for its population. (This system upgraded gives a 3% defence boost)
* Capital - This system produces a higher flat income from commerce infrastructure than other systems will.
* Rich - This system will produce a greater amount of minerals than other systems will. (This system upgraded gives a 3% defence boost)
* Dark - This system will provide greater defensive bonuses to inner systems than others will. (This system upgraded gives a 6% defence boost)
* Orion - This system, as well as providing excellent population growth, is the best for all archaeological expeditions. Thus players who excavates on these systems will find more artifacts, and rarer ones at that. Orions must be attained through missions (or purchased using donations), and cannot be upgraded. (This systems gives a 2% system defence boost)
* Urania - This system is great for agriculture and has a high percentage to it. This must be acquired through missions. (This system gives 4% system defence boost)
* Titan - The most common of the free systems, must be acquired through missions. It is great for population and mining with a high percentage. (This system gives a 4% defence boost)

Paid Systems

* Parthenon - This system is the most popular one for taxing which most people use and costs approximately 34.95 dps/donation points. Along with a very high housing percentage it also has an exceedingly high agriculture boost. (This system upgraded gives a 7% defence boost)
* Mintaka - This system is for purely taxing and has a similar sprite to the Orion. It does not do much else other than excavation and housing. (This system upgraded gives a 7% defence boost)
* Acheron - This system is purely for commerce and has an enormous percentage to commerce. (This system upgraded gives a 7% defence boost)

Races

There are 9 races in Unification Wars. 6 are playable and 3 are the enemies of all players.

Terran

This is the race everyone starts off with in Unification Wars. The Terran race is average in all of its traits.

Aspha Miner

To play the Aspha Miner race a player must complete the Act 1 missions as a Terran. The Aspha miner race receives a 135% bonus when mining materials and consumes 70% less goods than average. To balance the race, it produces 40% less food and receives 5% less money from commerce.

Viral 106

Viral 106 is a race that relies on a host to survive. Because they can take over bodies of other races, this allows them to assimliate their ships in combat. They main ability is "Reverse Engineering", which allows them to recreate ships that they assimilate in combat, but is only allowed to "RE" 3 war ship from each race.

Collective

Collective ships are generally the weakest of all the ships with high hull and low firepower. Some of these ships have an exclusive *capture* ability which captures ships which those specific ships destroy to be used in your fleet. No matter what happens the maximum amount of ships you can use in 1 invasion is 6 ships.

On the bright side unlike all other races Collectives are permitted to create 8 systems instead of the standard 7 giving them an edge in defence.

Guardian

Requires a paid status to use, as well as completing Act 1. Guardians have vast technology, and a large array of ships to choose from (including some kalzul ships). However, most guardian ships share the same weapons and shield stats, making their fleets predictable (but powerful nonetheless).The number one bonus for guardian players is that their population consumes next to no food (85-90% less), making it easy to support populations in the millions without a vast agricultural dependency.

Marauder

Marauders are a mysterious race that is now playable. They tend to attack in small numbers rather than to attract unwanted attention. They were involved in the great war between Marauders and Guardians.

Kal-Zul

An ancient race that used to rule the universe has all of a sudden collasped in the past. Scientists know very little about this race. They're ships are extremely powerful and can sometimes be used by other races in special events.

Dark Marauder

Dark Marauders are the outcome of the war between Guardians and Marauders. When an ancient Kalzul artifact was used to aid to the victory of the war, a portion of the Maruaders were mutated and became the Dark Marauder.

Metos

Metos is an unknown race. They occasionally cause disturbances in the galaxy.

Ministers

How Battles Work

Federations

Federations require a paid status to create from scratch but paid is not required to join a federations. Federations may consist of up to 20 members in each one, of people solely to help each other out and discuss strategy and recent battles and to have fun. The main reason of a federation is to post OP or Outpost, which are ships in posted in a specific area in your shipyard called the outpost. Ships posted here appear in your fed mates fleet when they are attacked and to arrive the ships must be at least 1/4th of your fed mates total PR. There are 4 positions possible in a federation as follows:

* Leader - The creator of fed or the person who the fed was handed down to, has supreme power in the federation and the power to recruit lieutenants. The leader may accept new federation applications or kick existing federation members.

* First Lieutenant - The second person in charge, has equal power to the leader of the federation but may not kick the leader, where as the leader can kick the lieutenants.

* Second Lieutenant - The third person in charge who has equal power to the First Lieutenant.

* Ordinary Members - These are the other people in the federation who have the power to post in the discussion board and thats pretty much it. These people may not kick other members, nor update the federation.

Donations

Players interested in greater options can donate real money to the owners of Unification Wars. When donating, players have two options available to them. The first option is to upgrade their account to paid status, which opens up new races, systems, and features. Included in this is the ability to start a new federation, new missions available, 3 new races to play, as well as bonuses to turn generation, turn storage, planet exploration and artifact digging. Also, turn usage and planet assignment numbers are increased, allowing for more efficient use of time. Finally, additional CPU intensive features not available to free players are allowed.

The second option available to those who donate is to gain donation points, which can be redeemed for special projects or additional artifacts.

Vassals/Lords

To vassalize someone you require honour points, which are acquired while playing the game automatically.

* Lord - A lord is a player in the game who vassalizes your empire and supplies it with credits and food to help you grow. A lord may also give you advice and help you excel in your game basically.

* Vassal - As a vassal you gain most of the benifits as food and credits arrive, but a vassal may also be asked to post *op* or outpost to assist him in defending his systems in attacks.

Additional Opportunities

Unification Wars provides information and links regarding alternative ways to pay for a paid account, as well as ways of making real money through the game through advertising, joint-business relationships, and jobs in the gaming community. Users with personal web pages or web sites can include advertising about Unification Wars, which when clicked by others, deposits a negotiable credit that can be withdrawn. Unification Wars promotes this by offering rates better than other advertising companies. [ [http://uc.gamestotal.com/refer/compare.cfm Gamestotal.com CPA program ($0.40 CPA, $1.20 eCPM) ] ] Users interested in marketing can create a partnership with Unification Wars, marketing the game on their web site and splitting the profits with the owners of Unification Wars. For this opportunity to make profit, the user's web site must meet requirements set by a domain rating web site called Alexa. [ [http://www.gamestotal.com/corp/ Games Total - Total Games Solution - Massive Multiplayer Online Games Development ] ] Unification Wars also provides a link to various jobs related to the field of gaming, as well as short descriptions of what those jobs entail. Clicking on the hyperlink associated with the interested job gives a more detailed explanation of what the job entails as well as a link to applying for the job. [ [http://www.gamestotal.com/jobs/ Games Total - Total Games Solution - Massive Multiplayer Online Games Development ] ]

Reception

Although many of the players reside in Malaysia, Unification Wars has spread to all parts of the world since 2003. It has received media attention through newspaper and gaming magazines in Malaysia, as well as numerous gaming websites. [http://www.gamestotal.com/corp/print/] [http://www.gamestotal.com/corp/online/]

References

External links

* [http://uc.gamestotal.com/ Unification Wars main page]
* [http://uc.gamestotal.com/?in=1186828/ Play Unification Wars]
* [http://www.gamestotal.com/ GamesTotal, developer of Unification Wars and other web games]
* [http://www.alexa.com/ Alexa web site rating site]