EQ2_Bloggers
06-24-2010, 02:01 AM
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I first dropped into battle in Tanarus when it was in open beta around July 1997. The beta actually started in 1996 and the game was released November 30, 1997.* Tanarus was the first online game ever made by Verant, which later morphed into SOE. The original, huge Tanarus server is still on display at SOE San Diego, a reminder of times long past in the gaming world. This old server is huge but had less processing power than a modern desktop PC. It’s hard to believe that almost 13 years have passed since I first started playing Tanarus. I still consider it one of my favorite games.
So what did I love about Tanarus?
Tanarus was one of the best team play games that ever existed.* It was fun, simplistic, and yet each battle was unique.* While it was mainly a “capture the flag game,” you couldn’t help but feel the thrill of the hunt while searching for enemies, lining up your turret on unsuspecting targets, or dropping mines to kill multiple targets at once!
Each of the regular arenas in Tanarus could hold up to twenty players, with five players per team. The goal of those teams was to capture the flags of one of the opposing teams.* Teams and individuals got points for each flag captured as well as points for killing the enemy.
There were also some specialty arenas, including Force Wars (which allowed you to only use missiles that pushed people off edges), Phoenix Wars (which were pure damage missiles), and 10 vs 10 which had 2 teams of 10 tank commanders.
Tanarus also had the ability to adding player submitted maps. Many of these maps were added to the game as more permanent maps.
When I first started working at SOE (formerly Verant), I made a few maps for Tanarus. The two most popular ones, as I recall, were Empires and Egypt. Empires was an extremely large map intended for large battles and Egypt was a Force Wars map that had Egyptian artwork. I made each base a pyramid! No, I didn’t make the art for it. The art was done by Daniel MacGibbon, a former artist here at SOE.
In Tanarus, teaming up on someone wasn’t considered a cheesy tactic.* Instead, it was a lesson to those who tried to go out on their own!
In addition to your teams in battles, there were community Teams. These Teams were equivalent to guilds or associations you might find in other games.* People joined Teams so that they could always find a group of friends to drop into battle with.* Later on in the games life, Leagues were implemented to allow Teams to go head to head in combat.
Within the Commander Center area of the game, a list of top tank commanders and Top teams was kept. These lists recorded daily, weekly, monthly, and all-time scores for the individuals and Teams. These stats were used for bragging rights, for which there was plenty of in Tanarus.
When going into combat, players had a choice between 5 different tanks – Lightning, Vanguard, Devastator, Chameleon, and the MagRider.* Each of these tanks had a unique specialty usage.* Tank commanders would further add to their tanks by selecting a variety of weapon and armament combinations.
What was my favorite set up?* I could usually be found in a Lightning, shooting phoenix missiles or Mark IVs, or in a Chameleon with a full set of phoenix missiles or a supply of mines!* The only tank that I never used much was the MagRider.* I could never get the hang of maneuvering those things.
Overall, Tanarus just kept you wanting to play more and more!
Farewell Tanarus! We’ll miss you!
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Lydia “Zatozia” Pope
Community Relations Manager
Sony Online Entertainment
AKA
Godmother
Fairy Godmother
Godmommy Goose
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I first dropped into battle in Tanarus when it was in open beta around July 1997. The beta actually started in 1996 and the game was released November 30, 1997.* Tanarus was the first online game ever made by Verant, which later morphed into SOE. The original, huge Tanarus server is still on display at SOE San Diego, a reminder of times long past in the gaming world. This old server is huge but had less processing power than a modern desktop PC. It’s hard to believe that almost 13 years have passed since I first started playing Tanarus. I still consider it one of my favorite games.
So what did I love about Tanarus?
Tanarus was one of the best team play games that ever existed.* It was fun, simplistic, and yet each battle was unique.* While it was mainly a “capture the flag game,” you couldn’t help but feel the thrill of the hunt while searching for enemies, lining up your turret on unsuspecting targets, or dropping mines to kill multiple targets at once!
Each of the regular arenas in Tanarus could hold up to twenty players, with five players per team. The goal of those teams was to capture the flags of one of the opposing teams.* Teams and individuals got points for each flag captured as well as points for killing the enemy.
There were also some specialty arenas, including Force Wars (which allowed you to only use missiles that pushed people off edges), Phoenix Wars (which were pure damage missiles), and 10 vs 10 which had 2 teams of 10 tank commanders.
Tanarus also had the ability to adding player submitted maps. Many of these maps were added to the game as more permanent maps.
When I first started working at SOE (formerly Verant), I made a few maps for Tanarus. The two most popular ones, as I recall, were Empires and Egypt. Empires was an extremely large map intended for large battles and Egypt was a Force Wars map that had Egyptian artwork. I made each base a pyramid! No, I didn’t make the art for it. The art was done by Daniel MacGibbon, a former artist here at SOE.
In Tanarus, teaming up on someone wasn’t considered a cheesy tactic.* Instead, it was a lesson to those who tried to go out on their own!
In addition to your teams in battles, there were community Teams. These Teams were equivalent to guilds or associations you might find in other games.* People joined Teams so that they could always find a group of friends to drop into battle with.* Later on in the games life, Leagues were implemented to allow Teams to go head to head in combat.
Within the Commander Center area of the game, a list of top tank commanders and Top teams was kept. These lists recorded daily, weekly, monthly, and all-time scores for the individuals and Teams. These stats were used for bragging rights, for which there was plenty of in Tanarus.
When going into combat, players had a choice between 5 different tanks – Lightning, Vanguard, Devastator, Chameleon, and the MagRider.* Each of these tanks had a unique specialty usage.* Tank commanders would further add to their tanks by selecting a variety of weapon and armament combinations.
What was my favorite set up?* I could usually be found in a Lightning, shooting phoenix missiles or Mark IVs, or in a Chameleon with a full set of phoenix missiles or a supply of mines!* The only tank that I never used much was the MagRider.* I could never get the hang of maneuvering those things.
Overall, Tanarus just kept you wanting to play more and more!
Farewell Tanarus! We’ll miss you!
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Lydia “Zatozia” Pope
Community Relations Manager
Sony Online Entertainment
AKA
Godmother
Fairy Godmother
Godmommy Goose
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