Line Of Defense is a sci-fi MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) in which thousands players fight for the control of various bases located on planets in the far reaches of space.

The game is played in either first (FPS) or third (TPS) person perspective as infantry or in land and naval vehicles, as well as aircrafts (fighters, gunships) – some with the capability to travel to space and back, and vice versa.

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The game is owned, designed and developed by 3000AD, Inc and is scheduled to be released in North America and other international territories via third party affliliates late Summer 2012.

It is using an all new 3000AD developed game engine powered by Havok Vision Engine. It also features other middleware engines including Havok Physics, Havok AI, SpeedTreeRT 6, ReplicaNet, Radgametools Iggy and Granny3D, Sundog’s Silverling and Triton and many other underlying tools and modules such as LUA, MySQL, FModEX etc.

It is a huge game as evidenced by some of the shots on the game’s website as well as its Facebook page.

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The game is being developed exclusively for the PC.

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Please note that these specs are subject to change at any time.

• 32-Bit or 64-Bit Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista w/ all Service Packs
• Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz or AMD equivalent, Recommended Quad Core 3.0Ghz or higher
• 4GB RAM, Recommended 8GB RAM
• nVidia GeForce 9800GT w/ 512MB memory or AMD Radeon HD4850 w/ 512MB memory, Recommended nVidia GeForce GTX 560 or AMD Radeon HD5770
• DirectX Compliant audio card
• High Speed (DSL, Broadband) internet connection
• SupportedMicrosoft XBox 360 Controller or joystick

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All things being equal, we are scheduled to release by the end of 2012.

*UPDATE* Due to unforeseen circumstances, the game has been delayed to the first part of 2013

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The game is purely PvP. Though the game engine and tech support PvE elements, we are focusing on the PvP elements in the first release and will be exploring the PvE aspects post-release.

Both sides fight on planets and in space for the control of various territories. The tide and balance of war are both dynamic, fluent and happen in real-time.

However, even though the game is all about combat, you can still build up your class and play as you want. For example, there are some players who would rather not go to the frontlines, but rather stay at the home base and defend it as a sniper. With such a character class, you can acquire various CEP stats and CTC modules which give you the ability to play as this character type and with the ability to hack into facilities, operate them etc.

For example. Say you really don’t like the whole run and gun thing – or that you just plain suck at it – but you still want to play this game. You can build your character into a sniper class with full hacking and cloaking capabilities, a high velocity sniper rifle with parabellum ammo rounds, tracers, a long range scope, an infra-Red scope illuminator and perhaps a few motion detectors. If you remain at your base, you can pretty much find a nice perch on high ground and monitor the key installations at the base. You spot an enemy making his way towards the base’s shield generator with a view to hacking into and disabling it, thus bringing down the base’s shields leaving the base vulnerable to inbound missiles and such. At this point, assuming that you’re a good shot, you take him out and gain CEP for your troubles. You can do this at your own base or behind enemy lines without ever being in the forefront of the more intense combat.

Or you could build your character as a medic sub-class and go around healing your team mates, thus gaining CEP for your troubles.

Or you can focus on acquiring enough CEP and CTC so that you can build an FARP for your team, and then support them from there.

Or if you are good at flying, you can be that guy who grabs a transport gunship, blazes into a hot zone behind enemy lines and either extracts or drop launches your team. Nothing screams “I’m gonna live!!” like the sight of a heavy gunship coming in with automated turret guns blazing and leaving carnage and dead bodies everywhere.

Or you can just stay on the station and defend it from within because, trust me, given the ease with which players can move between environments, the station is a hot bed of intense action – and may never ever have to step foot on the planet if you don’t want to.

Or you can just grab a super (can fly on planets and in space) fighter, get into space and engage in space combat alongside your friends as you take on other enemy fighters and stations.

There are several ways that you can play the game.

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The game takes place on various continents on planets, each with unique topologies, characteristics, atmosphere, time of day, climates etc. You will wage war on open planetary terrain, within massive bases and cities, in space as well as inside massive buildings and stations.

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Yes. Each game world located on a server is fully persistent with no instancing or sharding. Each server cluster is capable of supporting thousands of players. As long as the server is up, the conflict continues regardless of whether or not you are logged in.

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The game is free to download.

There is no monthly subscription fee to play.

At any time, you can purchase a premium pack. This gives you a choice of starter weapon and ammo as well as the ability to select an armor scheme, a choice of inventory item (e.g. wingchute, jetpack etc). You also get some starter GALCRED. The premium pack is a one-time purchase. There is no monthly payment.

You can also purchase a premium account for a period of time.

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You gain Combat Experience Points (CEP) for combat actions such as killing enemy players, destroying enemy equipment, capturing enemy installations, healing/assisting friendly players etc. These are used to gain rank as well as CTC.

The accumulated CEP can be used to purchase Combat Training Certificates (CTC) required to gain certain skills such as using various types of vehicles, aircraft, weapons, entering certain areas, hacking into installations etc.

You also have GALactic COMmand Credits (GALCRED), the game’s currency which can be purchased for real money. GALCRED can be used to purchase various game items. Some of these may provide gamers with some advantage, but since this is a twitch based game, having a good weapon does not ensure a decisive victory.

You can also use GALCRED to buy a premium account for 1, 3, 7 or 30 days.

Benefits of a premium account

• Ability to buy Combat Training Certificates (CTC)
• Ability to buy certain high-end weapons, ammo, inventory items
• Ability to buy combat androids as team mates
• Ability to buy certain vehicles and aircrafts
• Earn 50% more Combat Experience Points in battle
• Ability to create a Fireteam of up to 8 players
• Ability to create a Forward Operating Base (FOB)

What you can buy with GALCRED

• Premium account access for a period of time
• Certain weapons & ammo
• Certain inventory items (e.g. jetpack)
• Certain player customized items (e.g. armor)
• Rent certain vehicles, aircraft, inventory items and weapons for a period of time (e.g. 1 day)

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No. You can play the game as long as you like without having to buy a single thing. From the time you create your character, you will be given a basic rifle, rifle, some ammo and well wishes. From that point on, you’re on your own. If you can fend for yourself, then good luck to you and all that.

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The game supports up to 256 players per continent. When a continent is full, access to it is prohibited.

The game world is built to support the following:

4 planets. Each planet is built to support up to 8 continents, though we are starting out with 4 continents and on 1 planet only.

7 moons. Each moon is built to support up to 8 continents, though we are starting out with 0.

4 space regions (also regarded as continents).

This means that, fully populated, the  entire game world on a single server session instance can support between 2048 – 23,552 players.

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Line Of Defense hails from an original IP that has thirteen alien (Terrans, Gammulans etc) nations and over twenty-three castes (Military, Insurgents etc) in a vast universe that spawned several IPs (Battlecruiser 3000AD, Universal Combat, Galactic Command, All Aspects) and to date, fourteen (LOD is our fifteenth game!) games from 1989 (when I started working on my first game) to present day.

I decided to include two opposing sides because I felt that the whole “alien” premise and focus was already overdone. So instead, we have the Terran military forces taking on the Terran insurgents on a distant planet. The other aliens were going to sit this one out. At least until I found a very good reason to introduce them in this new game.

While some may shrug or frown at the only two factions, there is no empirical evidence or research to suggest that having any particular number makes a game any good or bad. Yes, we all like choices and having a choice is good. But in LOD, with two sides, each with four unique classes – which can cater to any type of character – there are even more possibilities than having more factions and less choice.

Of course, with such a rich lore to pull from, introducing other alien races (my first choice would be the evil, formidable and far superior Gammulans) is something I had already planned to do. That’s what expansion packs are for.

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The battle is between the Terran military forces of Galactic Command and the opposing Terran Insurgents. Each side has four classes which can be customized depending on player preference. There are no fixed classes.

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Combat Experience Points (CEP)

These are awarded for performing various in-game actions such as killing the enemy, healing a fellow team mate, destroying or hacking enemy installations etc. They are also used to gain rank within each class.

Accumulated CEPs and various ranks also unlock various CTC which you can then acquire.

You can lose CEP for various actions ranging from killing other friendly players to destroying friendly units. If your CEP drops below the required amount for a rank, then you drop in rank. And if you drop in rank below some CTC which you already have, they will be deactivated – only to be reactivated when your CEP and rank build back up. For example if you have  CTC that allows you to fly a certain  class of gunship, if you lose CEP and rank to below the required levels, the CTC will deactivate and you will no longer be able to fly that gunship class.

Combat Training Certificates (CTC)

These are neural implants which once acquired are injected into the side of your neck. Once activated, they give you various abilities ranging from hacking into installations to flying gunships.

Some CTC implants also give you a boost in physical abilities e.g. the ability to run faster, jump farther and faster, sustain more injury than normal etc.

You can acquire CTC but not activate them until needed.

You can only have a total of four*  CTC implants active at any one time.

* subject to change based on gameplay testing

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The game is targeted for quick “jump in, jump out” engagements. So we strived to make the control schemes as simple as possible and modeled after various gaming standards.

This means that mouse and WASD keyboard commands are  used. We also have support for analog and Xbox 360 controllers.

The scheme allows you to seamlessly control your infantry character as well as vehicles and aircrafts with very little variations. So going from infantry to vehicle or aircraft is not very different.

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There are lots and lots of player assets, most of which have various customizations which amount to hundreds of combinations.

For example there are various types of body armor, weapons (machine guns, combat and sniper rifles, pistols, automated turrets,  rocket launchers etc), aircrafts (various fighter classes and gunships), naval units (small transports), vehicles (ranging from fast an nimble hover bikes to massive tanks), defense and offense units (e.g. SAMS, turrets, cannons), special units (shields, radar, jammers etc), various inventory items (e.g. motion detectors, portable turrets, scopes etc), various mech-type battle suits etc.

Also, most weapons have a variety of customizations such as scopes, ammo etc

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Yes.

Various vehicles, aircrafts and gunships can support more than one player. Some have positions for the pilot/driver, gunner(s) and/or passengers.

Also there are some massive gunships and vehicles capable of transporting up to 16 players at a time.

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Yes.

If you can afford it – or can steal it – you can acquire and own your own vehicle or aircraft. Only you can have access to it as the driver or pilot, though you can give another player access permission to use it.

Your personal asset(s) can be stolen (by someone with the requisite CTC) if you don’t acquire and install an anti-theft device for it.

It can also be destroyed unless you give it adequate protection.

It can be repaired by you (if you have the requisite engineering CTC) or another player.

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A fireteam is a group of up to thirty-two players (or clone infantry personnel) from the same side and working toward as a team. They are the equivalent of player guilds.

Fireteams can be created and disbanded by anyone and at any time. The person creating the fireteam becomes the leader and with the ability to setup map waypoints with specific orders for each member or the group.

Groups that want to create larger fireteams can do so by creating several thirty-two person fireteams and giving them different named designations. e.g. Fireteam Alpha, Fireteam Bravo, Fireteam Charlie etc.

You need a specific leadership CTC in order to create and/or join a fireteams.

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The gameplay is spread out across two star systems, Sirius and Barnard’s Star – both within the Galactic Command mythos. You can see a map of our entire game galaxy over here. That entire galaxy is featured in our other upcoming MMO game, Galactic Command Online; so you can imagine how much work is involved in that game.

In this first release of the game, only the Lyrius planet – where the conflict takes place – is colonized and populated. The other planets and moons are there – you can travel to them – but they are empy masses of land which will later be colonized through expansions and player housing.

SPACE REGION

There are four space regions each containing a planet, moon or both, primary station and theme.

Each space region is approximately 64x64km.

The four space regions are linked together by jump gates each of which has a single target destination.

Each space region has a spaceborne jump gate with an endpoint located on the planet below. Only aircrafts can use these jump gates to move from planet to space and vice versa.

Some stations are linked to starbases on the planet via teleportation devices. For example you can use the device at the HEATWAVE starbase on the planet to go to the ARKANGEL station in space.

LYRIUS (ARKANGEL station):
Contains 1 planet (LYRIUS) and 2 moons (PRIMUS, VERAN)
Linked to LENNEN
Linked to HEATWAVE, NIGHTBRIDGE, FROSTBITE, GULGE starbase

LENNEN (VANGUARD station):
Contains 1 planet (LENNEN) and 1 moon (ECLIPSE)
Linked to LYRIUS and SYGAN

SYGAN (TEMPLAR station):
Contains 1 planet (LENNEN) and 2 moons (OMARIS, STIGLER)
Linked to ZILON and LENNEN

ZILON (OVERWATCH station):
Contains 1 planet (LENNEN) and 2 moons (WAYWARD, BLOOM)
Linked to SYGAN

PLANETARY REGION

There are a number of continents on each planet, each containing a primary starbase and theme.

Each planetary scene is approx. 16x16km.

Each starbase area is approx. 2x3km.

The four continents on Lyrius are linked together by teleportation devices; each of which has one or more target destinations in another continent. Only infantry and vehicles can use these to move between continents.

Some special teleportation devices used to move from a starbase (planet) to station (space) can only be used by infantry.

Each planet has an airborne jump gate with an endpoint located in the space region above. Only aircrafts can use these to move from planet to space and vice versa.

STARBASE01 (HEATWAVE starbase):  (Desert Climate Zone, DCZ)
Standard starbase
Linked to NIGHTBRIDGE and FROSTBITE
Linked to ARKANGEL station

STARBASE02 (NIGHTBRIDGE starbase):  (Moderate Climate Zone, MCZ)
Standard starbase within an abandoned city
Linked to HEATWAVE and GULGE
Linked to ARKANGEL station

STARBASE03 (FROSTBITE starbase):  (Artic Climate Zone, ACZ)
Standard starbase
Linked to HEATWAVE and GULGE
Linked to ARKANGEL station

STARBASE04 (GULGE starbase):  (Hot Climate Zone, HCZ)
Standard starbase
Linked to NIGHTBRIDGE and FROSTBITE
Linked to ARKANGEL station

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You can move around the world on foot or using vehicles and aircrafts. You can also drop launch from an orbital space station. To save time going from one continent to another, there are teleportation devices which link all of them. So you can enter such a device on one continent and emerge in another. Similarly, you can use these devices to move from the planet to a station in space and vice versa.

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Each base has a series of special installations which it requires for continued operation. These installations operate only within the confines of that base. So for example, if the Area Defense Shield at one base goes down, it has no effect on the same unit at another base.

All of these installations must either be disabled or destroyed in order for the base to be taken over.

NUCLEAR PLANT

Provides power to all units at the base. If it goes offline – and the solar reactor is offline – then
each of the key base installations will start to shutdown one after the other in sequence.

SOLAR PLANT

Provides backup power to all the units at the base. Kicks in if/when the nuclear power plant
is offline.

COMMS CENTER

Enables friendly players to communicate regardless of where they are located.

COMMAND & CONTROL

Provides full access to an overhead map of the planet or space region.
Shows enemy troop icons on the overhead map with a three minute update delay.
Activates automated base turrets when hostiles are detected.

AREA DEFENSE JAMMER

Jams all incoming aircraft missiles fired at the base.

AREA DEFENSE SHIELD

Creates a visible dome around the base and which protects the base from inbound missiles and most types of weapons fire.

EARLY WARNING RADAR

Sounds a warning alarm when hostile troops are first detected near or inside the base.
Sounds a warning alarm and sends a message when a base installation is hacked or destroyed.

LAUNCH PAD

All player created units appear here.
Can launch automated drone fighters to engage inbound hostile aircraft.

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Each base has a set of installations. These range from the shield systems to early warning radar. When all these installations are either disabled (through hacking or destruction) or destroyed, the base is essentially taken over and then belongs to the other side.

Even when all bases belong to the other side, the game does not end. The opposing side can continue the fight either from behind enemy lines or from remote FARP sites.

Stations can also be captured by hacking into certain terminals.

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No. You can only customize your class.

We wanted to get players into the game and playing as quickly as possible. So once you select a base class, you cannot customize how it looks.

However, we may consider putting in minimal support for combat armor customizations so that fireteams can easily recognize each other in the battlefield without just relying on the color coded tooltip that appears above the model for a player.

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Right off the bat, we’re not doing a game whereby you can just pull a weapon or vehicle out of nowhere. So whatever item you have is either visible or has a plausible explanation as to why it is not visible.

By default you can carry one primary weapon, one secondary weapon, a few clips of ammo and one inventory item. If you acquire a backpack, this gives you additional room for ammo and inventory items.

So if you have a pistol, a rifle and a shotgun, then one of the rifles will be holstered to your back when not in use. If you have a jetpack or backpack, that extra rifle is also visible and holstered to your back. And you can only have a jetpack or a backpack – not both. If you chose a backpack, then you can get a pair of jump boots which are similar to jetpacks but which work differently and cost more CTC to acquire.

Some loadout examples. The backpack (there are different types with different storage volumes) allows you to carry more items (e.g. ammo, attachments etc).

1:
Light body armor w/ cloaking device
Pistol + 2 extra clips of ammo
Sniper Rifle + 4 extra clips of ammo

2:
Medium body armor
Pistol + 2 extra clips of ammo
Machine gun + 4 extra clips of ammo
Type 1 jump boots

3:
Heavy body armor w/ x2 regen device
Pistol + 2 extra clips of ammo
Combat Rifle + 2 extra clips of ammo
Type 1 jetpack

4:
Light body armor w/ x4 regen device
Pistol + 4 extra clips of ammo
Combat Rifle + 4 extra clips of ammo
Backpack
Long Range rifle scope
Infra-Red rifle scope
Long Range shots tracer
Laser sight
2 fragmentation grenades

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Character progression is based on acquiring Combat Experience Points (CEP), which translate to higher ranks as well as Combat Training Certificates (CTC). The higher you increase in rank the more CTC skills are unlocked.

You gain CEP from various activities such as killing other players, destroying various units, healing other players, hacking into a base’s data systems (e.g. to disable the base shields) etc.

Combat Training Certificates are required to use many of the game’s vehicles (aircrafts, gunships, naval units etc), access to base units etc. You can gain CTC in the battlefield or purchase them at an inventory station. They work like neural implants which you inject into the side of your neck.

The combination of CEP and CTC is critical to character progression and the combination allows you to build up your character class as you see fit. You can chose to be a stealth player (sniper anyone?) whose sole purpose is to aggravate the forces behind enemy lines, while sneaking around and hacking into base units. Or you can chose to be heavy infantry guy with a massive shoulder mounted cannon, a pocket full of grenades and a mini nuclear weapon.

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Your character can perform various basic physical actions including the ability to crouch, go prone, lean around corners, swim etc.

With CTC implants all actions can be improved beyond human capabilities. e.g you can run faster, jump farther and higher etc.

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The game only allows up to four player characters per server.

When you die, you will spawn at either the nearest friendly planetary base, space station or FARP.

If you have your own outpost, you will spawn there.

If you are part of a fireteam that has an outpost, you can also spawn there.

When you die, you respawn with most of your stuff, though you will lose some random stuff (e.g. weapon, ammo etc) that is on your character at the time of death.

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No.

With the required CEP and CTC, you can however build outposts (a.k.a. player housing) on specially designated parts of the terrain using prefabricated (a.k.a. prefab) buildings, units etc. So for example once you find a plot of land and lease it (you need to purchase the required CTC), you can then build a small (e.g. four person) outpost which serves as player housing. You can then purchase various units such as shields, radar, turrets etc to protect and defend it.

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No.

All assets (weapons, ammo, vehicles etc) are available at the various stations within the planetary bases or space stations. At game start, each player is given a standard rifle, pistol and some ammo.

During the course of the game you can acquire other assets from the battlefield or from various inventory stations. In actuality, you don’t buy any items. It’s all there, being manufactured by the base and station facilities.

In order to acquire, for example an infra-Red scope for your rifle, you simply need to have the CTC required to use the item. So if you must have that scope, you either have to achieve the required CTC in the battlefield or purchase the CTC neural implant at an inventory station.

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Yes. Wait! Wot?!?! Pets? Absolutely not! However you can hire cloned marines who then act as your fireteam mates and sidekicks. You can give them basic orders but their primary role is to follow you into combat and defend you at all times. You can also use these clones to create your own fireteam if you don’t want to join a fireteam of human players.

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Yes. Players have the ability to build their own bases and outposts within the game using building prefabs.

You first locate specially marked plots of terrain, then lease it. Then you can purchase your building prefabs which are then immediately available at that location for use as player housing or an F.A.R.P.

You will also have to buy defense systems (e.g. shields, surface-to-air turrets etc) to protect it, though they each come with built in protection.

You can also pay for insurance. With your own outpost created in this manner, you our your fireteam can use it as a base and you can also store your personal game assets (weapons, ammo, vehicles etc) here as well.

Your player housing is protected (by the game) if you are not logged in and playing. This way, nobody gets to destroy it when you are gone.

Your player housing is leased and a CTC maintenance must be paid each week to keep it active otherwise it will be de-activated and removed from the game world, leaving the plot of land open for others to lease.

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