Age Changes – ORKFiA Classic Age 39
Hey, here comes the changes for Age 39
Starting of with the dates. The age will start night between 1th and 2th of May at 00:00, first update at 01:00. It will last for four weeks.
The usual updatebutton will be there for a minimum of 48hours and then removed with the final reset 24hours before the game starts.
These age changes are more of balancing then extreme changes.
PPA
Dont count priests to population anymore.
Classes
Guardian
- Remove Guardians ml bonuses.
- Add Guardians – immune to MV.
Layout
- Production science display improved on Internal affairs – Goods.
- Thievery page improved like the mystic page was last age.
- Mystic page fixed for ie where the right sidebar would center below the left sidebar.
- Stats page improved.
- Frontpage improved.
- Registration improved.
Sponsorship
This is one of the big new things for the next age.
Let me start of by saying that ORKFiA Classic will NEVER require money to play, we are now launching a feature were you pay $2 per Age. By being a sponsor you will get some stuff a normal player cannot have. These stuff wont bring a to unfair advantage but it will save time.
Here is the stuff you’ll get from being a Sponsor:
- A free nick@orkfia.biz mail acount
- A all in one selfspell which throws the four basic selfspells all in one go, mp cost like one selfspell * 4, successrate slight higher.
- Option to be notified in tribe news when your selfspells is running out (1-4 hours before the spells runs out).
- Target finder – The target finder will be removed for normal players, with the current playerbase this isnt some extreme thing, this will be tweaked once the playerbase increases.
- There will be a protection period feature but it deserves a own post in a few days (nothing too extreme ofc).
This is what you get for only $2 per age, we never want to create some CashFia where you have to pay to make it to the top, but this is a cheap price to pay for features that makes your Orkfian life easier.
Now over to the race changes, I think this is some kind of record, really really few race changes, we feel that there is a really good balance with the races for the current playerbase.
Races
Mori Hai
- Gnome 60cr -> 75cr
Dragon
- FoR is no longer available for dragons.
Thats it for this age people. Stay tuned for more information and especially about age 40 with its special “A World at War” theme.
Cheers
~Acwder
More funky stuff
Hey
Last week we had a poll here asking for what people wanted more of on the Portal, the ones with the most votes were “more articles” (the Winner), “better design”, “its fine as it is” and “more funky functions”. The last three being on split second place.
The goal now is to have way more articles posted, ofc quality before quantity. Have the current layout improved without to much extreme changes and more funky functions.
First out is the launch of a new function and a preview of a coming function, first of Live Help. This is for people who have any questions involving the world of Orkfia, if a operator isnt online then you are given the option to send us a mail.
There are already several ways to be helped, friends, irc, ingame etc etc but this is gonna be live, instant, no need for any client, etc etc.
If you wanna help out by being one of the operators then feel free to contact me.
Preview: Orkfia Wiki
We are launching a Wiki here on the portal which is gonna consist of well the world of Orkfia fit into a wiki, well the posibilites for a wiki is quite endless, making a history for changes with races etc comes to mind, the ability to add more depth to the current guides also comes to mind. This is a work in progress and its planned to be launched at the start of Age 40 (ORKFiA Classic)
Stay tuned for more stuff, the Orkfia Portal Shop is still in beta version, more information to come
Cheers
~Acwder
Orkfic Prologue
Welcome to the first weekly installment of the Orkfic series. These short stories are a window into the lives of the people of Orkfia and the events of their world. It is set in an age when new races are uncovered and introduced into the world, when old races are brooding, forgotten and planning something unknown and mysterious. New magic and wisdom brings new possibilities for all, including an end to some things that had always been…
***Prologue***
Clouds swirled in the skies, black as the swarms of birds flying about in it and crackling with ominous power. Together they blocked the light of the Sun and celestial bodies. Divine energy pulsed through Ancero as he willed lightning to form. Arcing from the firmanent, silver-white bolts surged into the attacking forces, incinerating the ravens and rendering their burnt forms into a fleshy hail that rained down upon the helmets and upraised shields of his Istari phalanx. No god dared to stay the destruction of this spell, no mystic possessed enough knowledge to counter it. His magic came from a higher authority. Black feathers and bloody forms littered all of the ground around, and more greasy ravens fell from the wrath of the heavens. Swift as they were, fleeing from Ancero’s retribution, he had still more power to unleash. Pursuing them with arcane sight, his storm heckled their forces for miles until but a remnant remained. And then they were gone, safe within their borders and protected by their brutal gods, as such they called them. At least, until the next time. He did not know who their leader was, but they were clearly acting on behalf of the Empire, so foolish in its futile plays of power and senseless violence.
Sighing, he surveyed the battlefield for the fallen. Ancero was still getting used to his new incarnation, one which he had never taken before. The Light Elves came from the realms of the gods, beyond the lands of Orkfia. For ages they had been content to watch the events of the world without interfering directly. It had only been when the demons had been released from their infernal prison that they chose to come into the physical existence. Though they were not entirely of this world still; their bodies unearthly and ethereal, it was enough to make them mortal, as the mauled and defiled bodies of the dead indicated. Even with every wizard under his command an asset, Ancero knew that you could only go so many, many lifetimes without the scratched faces and pecked out eyes all blending together and becoming an expected part of life. And if it was his fault for not being prepared, no one seemed to blame him. They never did, so in awe of his power. It was up to himself, alone in this world.
The tribes of these new elves were few in number. Still, the Elders from beyond had instilled in them ancient wisdom and lore, and their magic was strong. When he had died, from the age before, he had taken his one opportunity to try something new – and yet ancient. The cycle of death and rebirth had become stale. He had seen the side of every story, played the role of every character, remade himself time and time again endlessly. Alliances formed and disbanded, empires rose and fell. It had very much surprised him that there had been something he didn’t already know, and that was enough to sustain him.
“Order an expedition,” He ordered one of his bureaucrats; “I know we are close to it.”
The elf frowned at his cryptic words. Of course, they wouldn’t know. They never kept their memories over the ages, even these elves could not once they entered the world of Orkfia. But he would uncover the Library of Arathos. Much would be illumined by its lore. He had no time to waste, as he had so many times before. It was the first step, a key to unraveling the enigma of the Comet.
“As you command, Your Grace.” The radiant bureaucrat hurried off to convey the order. There would barely be enough time to bury the dead before the Istari would be on the march.
Entering the walls of his grand city, Ancero walked to the Academy district, observing the damages done to the buildings by the attack. Repairs were already on the way. The shining white walls of the towers came into view, colonnaded with alabaster pillars and set with reliefs of marble and silver. He passed through the outer cloister, allowing himself to relax. Sagely mystics gazed upon him serenely, though he knew how they really felt and did not care. The tall lattice doorways were laid open before him. Stairways spiraled upwards to the vaulted altars and airy balconies high above the rest of the city or the canopy of the forest.
“There is a message,” A young elf mystic bowed as he approached Ancero; “The Allies have called for a meeting in the World of Dreams tonight.”
Nodding silently, Ancero made his way to his Sanctum. Prestige was not everything; he had to climb the flight of stairs all the way to the top. Pristine, the Sanctum was warded by various magics that allowed no one but himself to enter. The walls were bare, though in a time before he would have lined them with books to humor himself. He no longer needed such props. Sitting, he waited meditatively to enter the World of Dreams. It was a sort of ritual, to expand his mind beyond his body to find the astral realm.
Enveloped in twilight and mist, it was here that he communicated with his allies from afar. He was not the first arrival. The translucent, incorporeal forms of Hairen and Svetia, a dark elf and an eagle, respectively, were huddled in counsel. “Greetings,” Ancero said stoically. “So, you are here now,” Hairen said, his voice an odd resonance in this place. Svetia watched him quietly, her eagle eyes both deep and sharply intent.
“Who has called us here?” Ancero asked, vexed by the situation.
“It is Blodir, he claims to have a plan,” Svetia answered, with the same strange echo.
Ancero’s frown remained. Blodir always was reckless, and had brought much ruin to his followers and allies. Not everyone learned from the past.
“I do have a plan,” A voice hummed from all around the dusky ethereal mist. Blodir’s current form was that of a man in priestly robes. Emblazoned on the white cloth was a golden sunburst – the mark of the pious Templars.
Ancero rolled his eyes and said nothing. This should be good.
“Long have the four of us defended our alliance from the ravages of the other mages. Only we can truly understand the significance of what I have to say,” The templar said sanctimoniously.
It was not exactly true, but Blodir had a flair for hyperbole. Ancero wondered what was going on in the physical realm. Surely it would be of more interest than airy rhetoric.
“The source of our power and destruction has long been the Comet, an instrument of Destruction. We had thought it was our only way to charge the power of the Guildstones, but we were wrong. The Light Elves have brought with them a new source of power into this world: the magic of Creation. With it we can dispel the Time Spell and destroy the Comet. The endless ages will be no more.”
Insane, Ancero thought at first.
“It’s been tried before,” Hairen spoke distantly; “And it was a disaster that brought misery and sorrow for all.”
“Of course,” Blodir responded dismissively; “Because we tried to fight fire with fire. Destruction can only bring about destruction. Our weapon shall be wrought of Creation, and through it we will Preserve Orkfia, once and for all.”
“You seem quite eager to die, Blodir,” Svetia said quietly.
“Maybe, but there isn’t much of a point in living anymore,” Blodir said harshly; “Time repeats itself. There is never any change. This is our opportunity to remake the world. I am going to take it, with or without your help.”
“I don’t believe it,” Ancero spoke, aghast; “For once, Blodir is actually right about something. Stunning.”
“Well, if you think so…” Svetia murmured thoughtfully.
“Then it is agreed,” Hairen concluded; “What exactly is your plan?”
“I’m glad you asked,” Blodir said with a triumphant grin; “First, we must learn to tap into this new source of magic. Ancero here should have a head start. Then we’ll have to wait until the end of this age to put our strategem into motion…”
The four talked of contingencies and elaborations, beyond space and time in the eventide realm. By the time Ancero returned, his body was tired and the sun was about to rise. He never got any sleep.
Only a little while longer, and then an eternal rest…
Interview with HaRRy
Hi, its been a while since we had any interviews done here on the portal, so in a response to the latest finished poll the portal will have much more articles, gonna have more funky functions and in general improved stuff. But at the same time trying to keep it quality over quantity.
Q: I think most Orkfian players recognize your nickname but what does it mean?
A: You’re probably trying to say “How and where did you get your nickname?” because it doesn’t ever really mean anything. Or if it does I don’t know it and would make a rather disappointing answer.
I won’t tell you where it comes from but I will tell a bit about my nickname(s). First of all the name isn’t English and should more be pronounced as the word “starry” while replacing the st with an H.
I also have a 2nd nickname and that is Henk(pronounced Hank), that one started when someone was too lazy to remember two syllables. Both the nicknames are often used by friends to introduce me to others, who are usually pretty confused when I introduce myself as René.
Q: What do you do for a living?
A: Apparently I get paid while answering these questions. Of course that isn’t what my job description is saying, it says something like “Draws, checks drawings from 3rd parties, attends meetings and shows initiative”.
My main job is draw, not design, homes, shops, schools, offices and homes(which is in order from small to huge) in archiCAD. In some cases I follow the whole building process from start to end.
Besides the normal things you come across during the process it also happens I have to make a 3D image + photoshop and that sort of things.
Q: How and when did your Orkfian career start?
A: I really don’t know it exact but I think it was around age 5 of the original series that my friends finally forced me into it. Played a few ages, went away a few ages, played a few ages, went away etc. etc. and it still goes like that.
For me it’s pretty time consuming because I keep looking even when I know nothing is happening so I have to take big breaks to keep my real life running as well.
Q: What part of your years in the Orkfian universe are you most proud over?
A: Maybe it was getting myself in BvS while I was still a bit newbish or maybe it was when the game was still holding a lot of players and I came to the top spots without support from a good alliance.
Either way, it was a lot of fun back then when I had a lot of undiscovered calculations.
That’s why I think this game should keep changing things to keep the vets thinking as well.
Q: What is your current position in Orkfia?
A: Dev staff in AatW only. I’m not as good with PHP as Martel is but I can be pretty creative in solving problems.
The biggest achievement so far is rewriting all the ingame links and making them work. That means that .com/index.php?page=alliance&id=1 is changed into .com/alliance/1/ which is a lot neater and more readable for humans.
Currently most of my work will involve javascript.
Q: Being part of the development team on Alliances at War, can you give any sneak peek on whats coming mechanics wise?
A: The whole bbcode function on the forums(and works in pm as well) is also made by me and I’ve already made a few changes to it that might be uploaded next age.
That includes an image tag and a greatly improved script for the buttons. The caret position/selected text will be used for inserting tags and didn’t fail in any of my tests. After pressing the button the caret will be placed back to the right position.
You should also be able to select text anywhere else on the page and then press the quote button to get that text quoted.
We’re also busy improving the gamespeed by use of ajax that communicates directly with the server without having to load visual data every time you want to cast a spell or send thieves away.
Other gamespeed improvements should already be noticeable.(like archiving forum topics)
There are always a lot of changes on the roll, just so little time and so much to do.
Q: Both Alliances at War and Orkfia Classic is suffering from deminishing playerbases, what do you think is nessescary to turn the tide around?
A: Except from expensive marketing I don’t really know. Mouth to mouth advertisement is the best we could have at the moment.
1 option might be merging with a big company that hosts a lot of other games but we would still have to refresh more game mechanics and the interface before we could actually make a chance. But that would also be selling our souls, so please no.
Another thing that could help the mouth to mouth advertisement is coding something very very cool. Please tell me if you’ve got an idea. I’m already thinking about some (mathematical) solutions to an abstract world map but even that seems impossible.
Q: How does your dream of a perfect Orkfia look like?
A: 4000+ players and enough people donating to support payment for a personal server in personal rackspace. The game has to stay free tho!
Q: What would you like to say to the new players out there?
A: Find your way into the community(irc) ,keep playing with people you like and brutally force other people in playing this game too.
Q: Five Quick Questions:
- IRL or Internet
- IRC or MSN – Completely different uses.
- Attacker or T/M
- Download or Buying – Pay for anything worth it.
- Graphical or Textbased – Both. I wouldn’t enjoy a LAN party with just text based games.
Q: is there anything else you would like to add?
A: If you want to know anything more you can find me on IRC.
With that Id like to thank HaRRy for taking part in this interview.
Cheers
~Acwder
And the winner is iSplicer
Hi
The banner contest is finally over, and the winner is iSplicer.
iSplicer is getting $10 for getting the most votes and here is the userbar he created:
On second place we had Chonkaz cashing in $5 for this one:
Do You have a idea for a new competition? Then send me a email at webmaster[at]orkfia-portal.com.
Cheers
~Acwder
AatWards – Vote!
Hi
The voting polls for AatWards Age 20 is soon closed. You have until 23:59:59 ST tonight to vote so if you havent replied to the ingame msg already then make sure that you do.
Cheers
~Acwder
Introducing the weekly poll
Hi, this is long overdue but finally here is the Orkfia Portal – Weekly Poll.
This has been on the todo list since the huge survey we had months ago (If there is any volounteers that would like to make graphs out of the rawdata then please let me know, dunno how relevant the data would still be but atleast it would be fun to see.) so here it is, every monday there will be a new poll posted. Starting of with what version of the game you play.
The weekly Poll can be found here on the sidebar.
Finished Polls can be found in the archive which is linked on below the Poll.
Cheers
~Acwder
