Yesterday on Leo Finance threads I promised a deeper look into my Army Of Crypto experience so here we are!
Army of Crypto, or short, AOC, is a fast, turn-based blockchain game utilizing NFTs. It's still in its early stages meaning not every feature is live yet. However, when it comes to blockchain games, being an early bird can be a huge advantage.
In this post, I will be covering the process of getting involved, buying packs and cards, and sharing my experience with the actual gameplay. Even though I just started playing myself, I hope the post can serve as a sort of getting-started guide and hopefully, you'll find it helpful.
Tokenomics
Let's take a look at the tokenomics first. There are two kinds of assets used in the game:
1. Hertz
This is the in-game governance token with quite a many utilities:
- Upgrade AOC cards
- Sell Hertz to Onix
- Holding X amount of Hertz will allow players to buy AOC decks at a discount
- Hold Hertz before the burns to make it more valuable
- Purchase Insurance or other in-game items
- Bet Hertz in a match
- Hertz whale badge
- Voting
Hertz can be earned by simply battling against other players. So far I have played six matches and earned a total of 70 Herzt - I lost 5 of those and earned 10 Hertz for a loss and 20 for a win.
2. Onixcoin
This coin is used to purchase packs from the shop and cards from the marketplace.
The Onixcoin Tokenomic system is strategically designed to aggregate advantages to gamers and users of the network. The team is happy and proud to present the full distribution of Onixcoin, a hybrid coin that is built with the securities of Bitcoin Core, merged with smart contract functionalities of Ethereum through an EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine).
By the time of writing this, there's an ongoing Zealy Campaign in which you can earn Onix by completing quests. Great way to get your hands on your first Onixcoin. Also, depending on the Zealy task, you can also earn cards by doing more challenging tasks.
So how to get Onixcoin?
Swapping HBD to Onixcoin
After opening my very first Essential pack I received 11 attack cards and 3 magic cards. Magic is something I believe will be a total game changer but unfortunately, the use of magic cards is not yet live. The good news is that it's on the next stop on the first of September according to Roadmap.
The minimum number of attack cards needed to battle is 12, so I needed to add one more card to my deck to start playing and earning.
Marketplace for cards can be found on your Onixcoin wallet. Since the game is really new(Alpha release 4th of July 2023) there aren't that many cards yet on the market but I managed to find one I thought I needed for a price of $1.70.
In order to make the purchase I needed to top up my account with some of that Onixcoin. What is really great for us hivians is the possibility of swapping HIVE or HBD for Onix quickly and smoothly.
There are very good and thorough instructions on the wallet page but in a nutshell, here's how I did it:
First, there is a handy calculator on the wallet Hive swap page that you can use to find out how much Onix you'll receive with a certain amount of HIVE or HBD.
After you've figured out how much Onix you need, go to the Army of Crypto:
- On the top click the Onix balance button on top banner
- Copy your Onix deposit address
- On your Hive wallet, paste your address as a memo and send the desired amount of HIVE or HBD to 'onixcoinofficial' account
The swapping process was really fast, we are talking for just a couple of minutes and I got the Onix in my wallet(minus very low fees).
Now the card needed to be sent from the Onixcoin wallet to my gaming account. The process was similar to swapping HBD only this time on the AOC main page click Cards on the top banner. Then copy your NFT address and head back to the Onixcoin wallet. Find the NFT you want to send to your account, click 'withdraw', paste your NFT address and send.
Creating a Deck and Finding a Battle
Since I now got the minimum amount of required cards it was time to find some action. After I had downloaded the AOC from the Army of Crypto site I clicked Inventory and added all my attack cards and named my deck.
I then clicked Battle to search for matches. Since the game is so new the battle challenge page isn't actually flooded with challenges but I learned the Onixcoin Discord is a great place to find someone to battle against.
You can always create a battle of your own and wait for someone to accept the challenge. There are some variables you can change when creating a battle such as turn time(from 30secs to 1min), setting a bet for NFTs, and setting a betting for Hertz.
There are also different battlefields to choose from. One interesting thing I noticed was the timer being different depending on which field you are playing on. For example, on this dune field timer is replaced by a fading candle. As the time is running out, the screen is getting dimmer. Small details but shows some creativity!
Packs
A little bit about the packs.
There are three different kinds of packs in the shop:
- Essential Pack - $20
- Ultimate Pack - $60
- Legendary Pack - $300
From these three options, it seems like only the Essential packs can be currently purchased. As I mentioned earlier, I almost got enough cards from one pack to form a playable deck. $20 might seem like a much but considering it's nearly enough to get you started and earning I think the price isn't that bad.
Compared to Splinterlands and some other games, there isn't any kinda pass(Summoner Spellbook) required. Also, there seems to be a free-to-play mode on the roadmap due in October.
Gameplay
About the actual gameplay in a short:
There are a couple of different kinds of cards. Soldier cards as well as General cards are Attack cards and besides those, there are also Magic cards. As I mentioned, magic cards aren't live yet but once they are, they can be used to heal another card for example.
This here below is a general card which is a bit stronger than soldier cards but also costs more mana.
In the top right corner, you can see those two arrows. They determine the direction this particular card can move or attack. In the bottom left, there is attack power and next to it are the unit's health points.
The very first impression or feeling I got from the gameplay was that it reminded me of a lot of chess or checkers or other games like that. It also makes us think fast because even the timer with the longest duration(60sec) is running down pretty fast since there are lots of options you can do on the table.
It really is quite addictive and I can see it developing even more strategic with the upcoming updates.
The rules and more info about the gameplay can be found in the AOC Whitepaper.
Conclusion
At first, I was a bit confused about which asset is in the Onixcoin wallet and which is on the Army Of Crypto account. To those reading this on Leo Finance or on other Hive fronts, I'd say it's comparable to sending assets between Hive wallet and the second layer - nothing to it once you get the hang of it!
I've been playing a lot of idle blockchain games recently so this kind of a more engaging game is more than welcomed. Even though I've lost almost all the games I played(dammit) I find the gameplay and the idea really fun - you really want to go again after a loss!
This is something I would probably play even without crypto being involved.
So, hope this has been a compact little guide and I got you interested. This post is getting a bit long and there is still so much to cover and discover. Therefore I'm planning on writing part 2 once I get to dig deeper into the game mechanics and tokenomics. Perhaps I'll publish that when the magic cards are implemented so be sure to keep an eye out for that one!
If you want to give this addictive game a shot(I recommend you do!), I have gathered the essential links here for you to start from:
- Discord (really nice and welcoming community!)
- Zealy Campaign
- AOC Whitepaper
- Army of Crypto main page
- Onixcoin Wallet
There are some really good prizes on the Zealy Quest including HBD. At the time of writing this, they got increased and now even more participants get rewarded! So check that out.
Thank you for reading!
DISCLAIMERS:
- Note that this is not financial advice
- Thumbnail image made with Canva
- Other pictures are from Army of Crypto