Beyond Protocol FAQ

Beyond Protocol FAQ

*What type of game is BP?

Beyond Protocol is an MMORTS game that allows you to explore or attempt to control, entire star systems full of astral bodies and planets, in a full and persistent 3D environment.

*What does MMORTS mean?

MMORTS stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Real Time Strategy. Simply put it means you build and manage an empire in real time, giving the assets under your command orders without turns in between.

*What does persistent mean in this context?

The BP universe stays online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. It continues whether you are online or not. The same can be said for anything you create. Cargo routes will continue, research will continue, wars will continue.

*What can I do in Beyond Protocol?

There are four main areas of the game to specialize in: Espionage, Research, Trade, and War. Each of these aspects offers enough content to be separate games all by themselves, but in BP they collide. You could try to manage all four at once, or you could form an alliance to balance each other?s strengths and weaknesses. Each aspect will be addressed in a following question, but rest assured, if you consider yourself a gamer, there is a role for you to fill!

*Are there covert ways to attack an empire?
YES! There is a deep espionage system in place within Beyond Protocol. Each empire can hire agent recruits which have different skills and specialties. These attributes determine the types of missions they can be a part of or agencies they can protect at home. Missions range from ?Find Mineral? which scouts an area for a specified resource, to ?Steal Cargo? which attempts to transfer the contents of someone else?s store houses to your own, to ?Assassinate Governor? which lowers the overall effectiveness of a colony. Counter agents are also deployable. They attempt to capture enemy agents and thwart covert strikes on your empire. Should you catch one of these enemy agents, you can interrogate or execute them, depending on your own policies.

*Are units customizable? If so, what limits create balance in the game?

YES! BP is the first MMORTS to offer, not only customizable units, but also customizable components. Would you like your weapon to be rapid firing, short range and green, or perhaps long range, lots of splash damage and purple? Design cheap radar for fighters, or extremely expensive jamming and targeting radar for your capital ships. The same goes for armor, engines, and shields. As for limitations, cost is a big one. You might be able to research or purchase a powerful component, but whether or not you are able to afford to outfit a fleet with it may be a different story. Time to research or produce is another factor. Some designs can take months of real time to complete and sometimes weeks to produce. It is your choice whether you want to or can afford to wait on a design. Decreasing the time through better minerals or changing the design specifications is always an option. The last limiting factor is the game?s overall research system, called ?Special Research?. Specials, as they have become known, allow for better overall designs by improving things like maximum range, or speed, or recharge rate. They can also unlock new technologies, like cloaking, stellar mining, or bigger ship hulls. If you?ve seen it in science fiction movies or TV shows, chances are, it?s in the special research realm.

*Is there a trade system built into BP?

YES! Trade has many facets within this game. To begin with you can build a planet side trade post. This trade post functions like most of your other buildings, in that it can not be seen unless revealed by radar, but is able to buy from anyone selling in your area. The range you are able to sell to is determined by your special research, but it can range from your planet, to your star system, to the entire BP universe. However, trading over such distances can take some time. You can trade everything from components, to ships, to one or more of the 105 minerals in the game and near infinite combination of alloys. The pinnacle of trade in BP, however, utilizes a space trade post which is visible to all, but capable of marketing the extremely large vessels to your clients that the planet side trade post can not. This decision is up to you.

*I?ve seen a lot about peaceful or covert tactics, are there exciting systems for open war as well?

YES! Beyond Protocol offers its war hawks many tactical abilities and settings to keep combat interesting and intriguing. The AI is just one of many systems that allow for advanced war making. You are capable of determining your units? targeting preferences between fighters, escorts, corvettes, carriers, cargo ships, etc. Furthermore, fighters give you the ability to target components, like engines, weapons and radar for tactical strikes that will cripple a capital ship. Another tool available to the warmonger is the formation builder. Choose the ship arrangement you like best; prioritize by firepower, speed, cargo space and a number of other attributes. The formation builder allows you to save, edit and manage your formations on the fly. There is also a battle grouping system which allows you to collect and keep tabs on important groups of ships. Snap to a single ship, locate the entire fleet, or order them all to a new location with this one interface. If those are not enough for you, each ship, each component can be built to your specifications if you are willing to pay for it. If your tactics rely on broad siding your opponent, then allocating all weapons to one side of the ship is the way to go. Should you prefer long range attacks, so be it. If you prefer to rain multi colored salvo into your enemy?s base to add insult to injury, it can be done! Planetary bombardment is another tool available for making war. You can park ships in orbit and call in strikes on the ground. So long as the planet is not well defended in space or lacks surface to space weaponry, you can safely destroy a planet side colony with ease. There are many tactics available, choose wisely.

*I saw something about 105 minerals in this game, is that true?

It certainly is. They each come with unique characteristics, rarities and player based demand. To add further depth to the resource system, each mineral can be added to an alloy to create custom minerals. An initial alloy is limited to 4 different minerals, but alloys can be made with existing alloys, so the possible combinations are pretty much infinite. In addition, each alloy has fairly unique properties in general, making yours different from anyone else?s.

*Can I be attacked while I am offline?

The general answer is yes, however, there are several systems within BP that should give a player confidence when logging off. First, if you provide BP with an email address or the address of an SMS capable device, you will receive tailored attack, research and production notices with counter options at that location. In essence, you can manage your empire without being at a computer. Second, a single planet is declared invulnerable every time a player logs off. This invulnerability can be switched to any planet that appears in your budget window and the invulnerability takes effect an hour after logging off. After that time, units cannot fire at and will not be fired upon by the assets on this planet. They can not be bombarded, but will continue normal activities, mining, research, etc. A tertiary system is available in extreme situations. You can order a complete lock down. This effectively declares invulnerability on every planet, but also halts every aspect of the empire: economy, mining, research, espionage and movement in general. It is not recommended to use this feature lightly, as it wreaks havoc on infrastructure, but it gives peace of mind in times of crisis.

*Can I play Beyond Protocol now?

Yes and no. Beyond Protocol is currently in semi closed Beta, there are many ways to get in but there are still limitations. Without major problems, the game will be launched September 9th 2008 and therefore open to the public.

*Do I have to pay for BP?

Yes there is a subscription fee, used to keep BP running, there, however, pay scales to fit your gaming needs.
Empire Accounts
1 Month = $12 USD
3 Months = $30 USD
12 Months = $100 USD
There may also be an option to have a strictly Alias based account, which will cost less, but can only log into the game as an Alias and will not have the ability to build an empire of its own.

*What happens when I cancel my subscription?

Any units and buildings will be forfeit. However any research and special tech you have will be retained should you choose to return. This system prevents large inactive empires from being a nuisance to active players.