By
the Atlantica Online Developers



In Atlantica Online,
a new massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) from
NDOORS Interactive, the path to Atlantis is beset with countless
monsters you must battle.  To save the world from doom, you
must defeat these enemies to acquire the clues that will lead you to
the legendary lost land.



But getting past some of these opponents won’t be easy,
especially if you have to face the likes of Dracula alone. 
This is where Atlantica distinguishes itself from other MMORPGs: You
don’t have to fight Dracula by yourself or with other
gamers.  You just might have Napoleon and Joan of Arc to help
you take Count Vlad and his vampire minions down.

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You'll need the help
of mercenaries to make your way to legendary Atlantis.

It’s this blending of myth and reality and the warping
together of different periods of human history that add to
Atlantica’s appeal. This wild mash-up is made possible in
part through the combatants - called mercenaries - you can bring along
in your quest for Atlantis.



Atlantica’s mercenary system enables you to put together a
team of fighters with various strengths and skills to take on the
evildoers set before you.  Mercenaries can be acquired in a
few ways.  They can be bought from mercenary
merchants.  You can also hire mercenaries you happen to come
across during your travels, persuading them with gifts of
money.  Some mercenaries are obtained by completing particular
quests.  Mercenaries under your control will be able to have
children, and you will be able to raise them to become mercenaries for
you in the future.



In addition to procreating, mercenaries have another real-world
quality: they age.  Mercenaries under your control will
eventually decline in strength and other stats as they grow
older.  This means you must continually bring on and discard
mercenaries over the course of the game.  You can’t
just assemble a super team of mercenaries, expecting them to take you
all the way to Atlantis.  A player’s main character,
however, does not age in Atlantica.



A similarity mercenaries and your main character share is that
both’s skills and magic are dependent upon the weapon
wielded. Like a main character, a mercenary can wield either a sword,
spear, axe, gun, bow, cannon or staff.  Building a crew of
mercenaries with a diverse set of skills and magic might help you go
far.

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You can take up to 10
mercenaries with you into battle.

You can have more than 10 mercenaries, depending on what resources you
have to acquire mercenaries.  When it comes time for a battle,
though, you can take only a maximum of eight mercenaries into the fight
— that’s a total of nine combatants including your
main character.  Strategy comes in when you choose which
mercenaries to take into battle.  Some combinations will be
better suited for PvE combat, like when you’re pitted against
a particularly nasty opponent, and you might need two shamans with
healing powers around to help you prolong the fight.  For a
PvP battle, a crew of mercenaries heavy with melee attackers might be
the preferred choice, especially if you want to just blitzkrieg your
opponent.



How you position your mercenaries in a battle is also a strategic
choice.  You must arrange your characters in a three-by-three
grid. You might prefer to have your swordsmen mercenaries, who possess
the greatest defensive strength, to be in the front row nearest your
opponent.  Your monk, with the weaker defense ability, would
probably be better off in the back.  If a
mercenary’s health points are decimated in a battle, he can
be revived after the battle by a potion or at a hospital to fight
another day.



If a mercenary successfully completes a quest with you, he too can
level up and advance.  This is another similarity between your
main character and mercenaries, who have their own independent
experience score.  When your group completes a battle that
earns you a level increase, your mercenaries can receive a bonus point
and a skill point, along with your main character.  You can
apply the bonus point to boosting one of the mercenary’s
attribute and a skill point toward his or her magic skills.

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Mercenaries can
procreate(!) along with leveling up and being upgraded.

In addition to leveling up, mercenaries can also be upgraded as you
increase in levels and acquire the required number of items. 
One of the first mercenaries you might hire is the Artilleryman, who
uses his cannon to hit multiple enemies from a distance. 
After reaching level 20 and amassing 50 Ashen Crystals, the
Artilleryman can be upgraded to an Artillery Officer, who has higher
stats all around.  The next step up is Artillery Captain, and
then, if you get far enough, your captain can be upgraded to
Napoleon.  The path to Joan of Arc begins with the Lady Knight
mercenary.



The possibilities that mercenaries offers players are
numerous.  They’re leveling up and
upgrading.  But they’re also aging, eventually
becoming too old to be effective.  All these factors, along
with their fighting and magic skills, are more variables that you can
control and manipulate. This only enhances the strategic element of
Atlantica as you pick and choose which qualities to emphasize.



Mercenaries are puppets for you to pull along with you toward
Atlantis.  String them along well, and they can help you go
far in Atlantica.