FOnline: 2238
History
- December 2008: The second Open Beta Test of FOnline will end soon. At that time, there were three servers running, but all with the same content: FOnline, developed by Cvet. And then, with Cvet's agreement, the rotators are allowed to modify the FOnline engine or game's content to make their own game, an alternative to the original FOnline game. FOnline: 2238 is hosted on an independent server.
- January 2009: Open Beta has vanished to be replaced by a Closed Beta Test where a few lucky testers can play the game, give their opinion, report bugs and suggest new features. The game, still only known as Factions Mod, can still be compared to the original FOnline, but the first big modifications appear: Factions Bases are available for players, introducing a brand new concept in the FOnline world.
- August 15, 2009: After several months in Close Beta Test, the Open Beta Test 3 begins. It's the third Open Beta Test for the FOnline game, but the first for the rotators game, now only known as FOnline: 2238. For the first time, everybody can play the game and test it.
- August 17, 2009: FOnline:2238 game's manual was released on a blog note.
- August 18, 2009: The official game's public board is opened as an NMA's subforum.
- August 30, 2009: A first server wipe happens, switching the game to a brand new database system, and updating game content with fixes and new features.
- November 21, 2009: A second full and long-scheduled wipe happens, three months after the August's one. It involves many updates, mostly on the game's economy.
- December 22, 2009: FOnline:2238's board was moved to an independant forum, http://fonline2238.net . This wiki is also released.
Main differences with FOnline: TLA
Here is a small list of some notable differences with the original FOnline game.
- Level cap: 24.
- No supply bases (Cathedral, Sierra Army Depot and Mariposa in the original FOnline).
- You can buy a base, regroup in players-driven factions and manage them.
- You can buy and manage mercs.
- Fallout 1 & 2 towns. Only Fallout 2 towns are implemented in the original game.
- A brand new worldmap, involving the whole southern California.
- Gear is harder to get.
- No heavy armors (Such as Power armors) and high-level weapons (Such as Gauss rifle).
- A crafting system is implemented and very important in game's economy: The PPC system, for Professions-Production-Crafting.
Press release extract
The official FOnline:2238 press release was posted by the rotators on their blog, on July 8, 2009. You can find the exact article here.
« Berlin/London/Novopolotsk/Stockholm/Vienna/Warsaw, 08-Jul-2009
The small indie development group, "Rotators", supported by the main developer of FOnline, A. Cvetinskiy "Cvet", are proud to present FOnline: 2238, the new massively multiplayer game, free of charge, based on the famous award-winning CRPG titles Fallout and Fallout2.
Bringing the single player experience into a massively multiplayer game was not an easy task. Merging the existing features with new ones in order to provide as much game experience as possible, the young developers aimed for the recreation of the Fallout world as we knew it back in the late '90s, keeping the emphasis on the alternative, unique universe and its settings. The game will remind you of Fallout 1 & 2 everywhere you go - the places, the people, the common history and the events that shook the world and keep it trembling.
Humanity, or at least what is left of it, has no time for a break. Faced with constant challenges, surviving in the harsh post-apocalyptic, post-nuclear, barren world, struggling for an uncertain tomorrow, the humans, ghouls and mutants are organizing themselves to push it through. To make it. To stay alive. Each group, each place, each organization with its own agenda, with its own ideology, fighting for their place under the scorching Sun. What they believe may be right or wrong... Who are we to judge, while striving for the same old necessity - survival?
The game adds several unique features regarding the players and their interactions, be it with other players, their respective groups or NPCs. First of all, there are groups: factions, gangs - call them whatever you like, which determine the fate of the world. Some of them are more powerful than others, some are cunning and treacherous, some even hideous. But they are there, conflicting with each other, or aligning with the policies of the greater powers - those who have technological advances, political power, are just plain bigger, or any other advantages over them. Choose your way: join your favorite group and spread their agenda throughout the wasteland. Decide for yourself how to handle the resistance - with good will or stubbornness. Respect the authorities or lead a revolution to throw them off the throne - it is your world, you decide.
If you don't feel like belonging to a group and have your own ideology, then you can take one of the numerous paths the wasteland offers. Some of them are: bounty hunting, brahmin trading, crafting, exploring and trading in general. The brand new system of professions allows you to polish up your skills and learn things you will rarely find in books, giving you a certain advantage over other players. Scavenging, gathering resources and useful items will be an inevitable part of your FOnline: 2238 life. Crafting something useful out of the gathered junk or selling it directly to your favorite vendor are just a small part of the great possibilities this game offers you. And of course, you can just take them off someone else, simply by brutally killing him/her or using more exquisite methods, like stealing. The choice is yours - and so are the consequences. »
