Galaxy on Fire 3

Galaxy on Fire 3: Manticore
	;
Release Date	December 8, 2016
Price	Free
Addons	iAPs
Follows	GoF3: Manticore Rising
Predates	None

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“	"The Neox Sector. Purgatory on the outskirts of space. Out here, pirates rage, and crime lords rule. But to us, they're just another payday."	”
– Voiceover from first teaser trailer

Galaxy on Fire 3: Manticore is the sequel to Galaxy on Fire 2, developed by Deep Silver Fishlabs and is the fourth entry into the Galaxy on Fire series.

Plot

The game is set in the Neox Sector, a far-off part of the galaxy that is filled with warlords and mercenaries. The protagonist for Rising is Hayley Snocom, but the protagonist for the main game is created by the player themselves, as stated in the Fishlabs Dev Blog. Bryce Vantok refers to you as "kid", but can later on in Act 2 call you "ace".

The initial plot (Act One) revolves around hunting for the leader of the Gr'Gath pirate gang, Sh'Gaal. When Act One concludes, Act Two, and subsequently, the Porros sector is unlocked. Currently, there is no Act Three, and the Rigant Sector is inaccessible.

Characters

Gameplay

Manticore is based around the "freemium" scheme, involving multiple currencies – the original credits, and the new ore exclusive to this game, Mhaan-tiq. Mhaan-tiq is a much rarer currency, and is less easy to obtain, compared to credits. Minimal amounts are given out after missions, alongside credits. However, it can be obtained via iAPs (In-App Purchases) – or as it is called in-game, the black market.

Primary Weapons, Secondary weapons, and Ships can be upgraded, but are unlike those inGalaxy on Fire 2. There are currently five upgrade 'stages', and for Ships, four elements can be upgraded five times: Reactor, Generator, Structure, and Engine.Depending on the Ship or Weapon, a certain amount of credits is needed. The higher the upgrade stage, the more costly the upgrades become. Upgrades will take time to take effect, costing more and more each level. Upgrades currently require credits, not Mhaan-tiq. However, Mhaan-Tiq is required to speed up upgrades, similar to other freemiums.

The game has a ranking system which is based on your gained XP. Each ship also has a ranking, which is determined by your ships 'hull', 'energy' and 'shield' stats, and by the stats of your primary weapon levels. Secondary weapons and sip specials are currently not included in this ranking. New weapons and equipment will be made available with higher ranks.

There are currently three classes of ships: Scouts, Fighters, and Gunships, each with their own characteristics. Depending on the type of mission, one type suits better than the other. Some ships will be familiar for GOF and GOF2 players. All ships have two primary weapon slots (equipping four guns in total), one secondary weapon slot and 1 or 2 special slots. There are Terran, Vossk and Nivellian ships, as well as a variety of specially adapted ships based on their original hulls. Interestingly, the once-powerful Aegir and Bloodstar are incredibly weak from around level 7 onwards, making them effectively a waste of 1K+ Mhaan-Tiq.

There are currently three primary weapon types: Plasma, Laser, and Ballistic. You can fit two primary weapons (giving it 2 of each) on your ships. Each weapon is measured by 'impact', 'fire rate', 'range' and 'accuracy'. The strongest enemies in the game have certain weak spots based on these three weapon types. Meaning, you might need to adapt your setup to counter certain enemies.

For each mission, you can select two wingmen. The wingmen ships and load outs are based on actual players, and these players get a mercenary payout each time they are called in by another player. You can make friends and select wingmen from your friends list, as some are stronger than others, or use a specific setup, you need for a certain mission.

Dev Blogs

At this time, DSFishlabs announced an exclusive 360° video of official Manticore gameplay. This video can be found here.

DEV BLOG #8 – Setting the Galaxy aflame in full 3D: How the Game World of GOF3 came alive

June 2016

DEV BLOG #9 - Harvesting Resources: The Exploitation of the Neox Sector by Starfire Survey
DEV BLOG #10 - Digging for Mhaan-tiq: On the Neox Sector’s mysterious resource

July 2016

DEV BLOG #11 – Navigating the Galaxy Map: On the Neox Sector and its different Regions
DEV BLOG #12 – “Rat ‘em out!“: Gaining valuable intel from informants
DEV BLOG #13 – Full speed ahead!: Mkkt Bkkt’s illegal space races

August 2016

DEV BLOG #14 – Manticore has landed in Cologne: Presenting GOF3 to the press at gamescom

September 2016

DEV BLOG #15 – Saya, Chief of all Things Flying: Meeting the Manticore’s head mechanic
DEV BLOG #16 – Community Poll: Tell us what you want to see in GOF3!

October 2016

DEV BLOG #17 – Thanks for voting: Following up on our community poll
DEV BLOG #18 – VIP Package: Gear up for the coming fight

November 2016

DEV BLOG #18 – The “Space Trinity” update: Hunters, mercs and explorers

At this time, DSFishalabs revealed a cinematic teaser for Manticore. The link can be found here.

Trivia

Free roaming (flying outside missions) wasn't present in the initial release, however, is now a major part of the game.
Originally, all speech was shown solely through text, with no audio. However, full voiceover is now present.
There is no docking at any stations/jumpgates, etc. After every mission, you are automatically returned to The Manticore. In free-roam, flying to a Jumpgate will also return you home.
After patch 1.6.10, the smartphone app version of Galaxy on Fire 3: Manticore had been renamed to just "Galaxy on Fire 3", the Nintendo Switch version released on 19-April-2018, however, is named "Manticore – Galaxy on Fire".