Characters / BallisticNG

List of racing teams, ships and associated tropes in BallisticNG.

Teams

G-Tek

Name: Gravity Technologies

Location: Japan

Ship: G-Tek R34

Motto: "The Only Way Is Up"

G-Tek are a global R&D company and racing team established in 2110. They are responsible for the introduction of AG racing and have competed in every AGL season since the inception of the race commission in 2140.

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• Crutch Character: G-Tek's ship sports high handling and above average shielding...in exchange for everything else. This makes the ship suited for new players but much less so for veterans.
• The Rival: With Tenrai, due to the G-Tek's introduction of weapons into the AGL. Tenrai was originally founded by ex G-Tek employees who left over creative differences, and Tenrai have always been ardent opponents of weapons on the grounds that it removes driver skill from the race and introduced too much of a random factor.

Nexus

Name: Nexus International

Location: Salzburg, Austria

Ship: Nexus NTI-4

Motto: "Supporting Us Supporting You", "Combined Arms"

Nexus are a racing and research unit representing the combined forces of several European and Scandinavian countries. They are the most prominent European team and are a very respected institution in their region.

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• Multinational Team: Formed out of cooperation between the governments of France, Germany, Austria, Poland, Switzerland and Hungary.
• Glass Cannon/Fragile Speedster: Nexus's ship handles sluggishly and slow off the line, demanding the pilot to be precise with their racing line and braking. But when they do, it is almost untouchable if its sub-par shielding doesn't let it down first.

Omnicom

Name: Omnicom Technologies

Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA

Ship: Omnicom Series 2

Motto: "Near Field Friends"

Omnicom are a global telecommunications and broadcasting company and an AG vehicle manufacturer that established a racing division in 2110. Along with G-Tek, they are one of the most prolific civil AG manufacturers on the globe. Omnicom broadcast the lion's share of AGL-based TV content and their communications technology is the de-facto standard used on the racetrack.

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• Jack of All Stats: Their Series 2 AG Craft are well rounded in almost every field, with only the shields having a slight advantage.
• Hated by All: Most of the other teams have beef with them, which usually manifests as Omnicom cutting them from broadcasts and those other teams going out of their way to embarrass them.
• Irony: In contrast to Wipeout here it's the American team who are the Qirex stand in (being owned by the primary broadcasters and exercising sometimes dubious powers to get what they want).
• The Rival: In-universe, with Diavolt. Omnicom often complains to the Anti-Gravity Race Committee regarding use of weaponry on track by Diavolt and no one else.

Diavolt

Name: Diavolt Engineering

Location: Khimki, Moscow, Russia

Ship: Diavolt DI-5000

Motto: "Always On Target"

Diavolt are a Russian AG manufacturer and research company. Originally a military company, they are now the most prolific AG manufacturer in Russia and were the very first company to join the Anti Gravity League after it's inception in 2135.

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• It's Personal: Omnicom have blacklisted them for an incident at one of Omnicom's test tracks that involved a Seismic Emitter going awry and causing a minor Earthquake that levelled the area. Both sides blamed each other for shoddy workmanship, incompetence and corruption in the investigation that followed. Both ultimately settled Out Of Court but Diavolt regard the blacklisting and their name being dragged through the mud as sufficient reason to single out Omnicom for special treatment. This makes them and Scorpio (and to a lesser extent Hyperion) natural allies.
• Lightning Bruiser: The DI-500 is not only the second fastest ship in the game, it's also the most powerful in the weapons department and also sports very sturdy shields. However, the handling is fairly heavy, requiring expertise piloting and proper airbrake application to get it around the circuit (especially more so on the technical tracks).
• The Rival: With Omnicom, whom Diavolt staff often accuse of monopolizing race broadcasts. This leads to violence on the track between the two teams.

Wyvern

Name: Wyvern Incorporated

Location: Bristol, United Kingdom

Ship: Wyvern MKII

Motto: "By Any Means"

A bright group established in 2151 as a knee-jerk reaction to a group of engineers wanting to participate in the 2159 Spectre Season. The ship was manufactured quickly using different technologies, and once it entered the AGL it became hugely successful due to its brilliant engineers.

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• Fragile Speedster: The Mk II ship is fairly fast, being the third fastest in the game and has fair handling, but their shields are right along the lines of fellow AGL competitors Nexus and Tenrai.

Tenrai

Name: Tenrai Racing Developments

Location: Morioka, Iwate

Ship: Tenrai T1-X

Motto: "We Are Pure", "For Purity"

A protest group formed after weapons were introduced to the AGL by G-Tek. They strongly oppose vehicular warfare in the sport, believing races should be pure and based on piloting prowess rather than violent entertainment.

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• Beware the Nice Ones: They normally focus on purity and reject the violence on AG Racing. Regardless if you're a G-Tek pilot or not, they WILL try to obliterate you once provoked.
• Fragile Speedster: Tenrai's ships follow the team's philosophy of pure racing, with great speed, acceleration and handling, but poor shielding and weapon power.
• Irony: Despite protesting against the use of weapons in AG Racing, their ship actually USES weapons (then again, their ship has the worst weapon system in the league). Also, the "Impurity" achievement involves destroying the G-Tek craft with the Tenrai craft as an act of vengeance over the introduction of the weapons to AG Racing.
• The Rival: With G-Tek, along with Diavolt and Wyvern.

Hyperion

Name: Hyperion Research and Development

Location: Isorakka, Finland

Ship: Hyperion ILMATAR

Motto: "Ready To Reveal"

Hyperion Research and Development are a development group based in the wilderness of Finland working on military projects. They joined the league as part of Finland following Nexus into the AGL.

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• Jack of All Stats: Along with Omnicom's Series 2 craft, the ILMATAR is a well rounded craft, despite having a slight disadvantage on thrusting.
• No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: Ardent believers of this; the whole business with being banned from Omnicom's broadcasts and their response to it are a case in point.
• Troll: Towards Omnicom. Scorpio and Diavolt go after them on principle. Hyperion do it just because they think it's funny.

Scorpio

Name: Scorpio Engineering

Location: Palermo, Sicily, Italy

Ship: Scorpio RS2100

Motto: "Challenge Every Extreme"

Scorpio Engineering are a small engineering outfit from Italy. After building most of the circuits used in the early days Scorpio joined the AGL after a fantastic Spectre season in 2143. Scorpio went overboard on their engines, requiring them to design two hulls to keep airflow efficient.

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• It's Personal: With Omnicom after the latter tried to screw them over on an asteroid mining deal. When Scorpio then pulled out of the deal Omnicom put them on the media blacklist which Scorpio responded to by creating their own race team with the express purpose of causing such a ruckus they'd be impossible to ignore.
• Mighty Glacier: Their RS2100 craft is fairly heavy and suffers from average speed (being slightly higher than G-Tek's R34 craft), but it takes a great advantage on shielding, handling, grip and firepower, as well as the single best thrust rating among all crafts.

Orbitronix

Name: Orbitronix
Location: Wolfburg, Germany
Ship: Orbitronix TRX-22
Motto: "To The Cosmos."

Orbitronix is a space-faring contractor and space service operator hailing from Germany that was established in 2043. The team's TRX-22 makes use of one of their ORB-330 shuttle engines, providing high speed and torque.

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• Downloadable Content: Orbitronix was introduced in the Outer Reaches DLC since the v1.2 update.
• Fragile Speedster: Their TRX-22 has average shielding, slow acceleration, and very poor firepower (tied with Tenrai's T1-X), but makes up for these shortcomings with decent grip, handling, and high top speed.

Caliburn

Name: Caliburn

Location: Campinas Projetos, São Paulo, Brazil

Ship: Caliburn CR-1

Motto: "U + Me."

Caliburn are a AG Racing team set in Brazil and notable for their pretty average ship, despite having a small disadvantage on the firepower. They were disqualified from the AGL for using a banned stabilization technology that deducts all lateral momentum from the ship while moving.

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• Cheaters Never Prosper: They were originally disqualified for using a forbidden technology that negates the ship's weight while moving, giving the pilot the advantage of overtaking faster ships like Nexus' NTI-4 craft.
• Jack of All Stats: Pretty much like the Omnicom and Hyperion ship, their CR-1 craft is fairly well balanced thanks to its good top speed and thrust, but what really sets it apart is its handling, only matched by Barracuda's ships.

Barracuda

Name: Barracuda

Location: Busan, South Korea

Ship: Barracuda Model A

Motto: "All Bite."

A highly influential vehicle manufacturer whose sudden and dominating 2153 performance led to the introduction of their personal Barracuda Challenge, as well as the Model B (Drag) and Model C (Drift) grids to the AGL Season, with all eight AGL contenders currently competing.

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• Awesome Ego: When their first entry into AGL ended up getting them disqualified in the following season, they just made a short tweet; "너는주의를 기울이고 있니?" ("Are you watching?") and broke off to form a racing league of their own.
• Game-Breaker: Their own series of AG craft have among the best top speeds in the game, with the Model A in particular having a very good top speed, superb handling and acceleration, and virtually indestructible shields (though it has no weapon systems installed).
  • As of version 0.8, using the Barracuda will make other pilots ride the same craft.

MTech

Name: MedicTech R&D

Location: Toronto, Canada

Ship: MTech P1

Motto: "M On Call."

M-Tech are experimenting with a new anti-gravity tech that keeps ships suspended above the ground much more efficiently. The P1 is the first of many tech experiments to come from the company.

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• Fragile Speedster: While the top speed, acceleration and the handling are well balanced, the shielding and the firepower are slightly worse compared to Omnicom's Series 2 AG craft.

Protonic R&D

Name: Protonic Incorporated

Location: Daejeon, South Korea

Ship: Protonic AG4

Motto: "New Perspectives."

Protonic's AG4 ship was built for one thing and one thing only: drifting. This ship lets you steer into any corner and drift around it.

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• Difficult, but Awesome: Their craft is very fast and agile, but comes with such god-awful grip that you have to drift it around corners most of the time.
• Fragile Speedster: Judging by their ship's stats, it's essentially a slower Nexus with worse handling.
• The Rival: With Barracuda after the latter stole several of their engineers.

C.Y.G.O.N.

Name: C.Y.G.O.N.

Location:

Ship: C.Y.G.O.N. Tempest

Motto: "High Tech, Angular Elegance."

C.Y.G.O.N. has brought their Tempest model to the AGL. Sacrificing manoveurability and speed for excellent shielding and weapon technology, C.Y.G.O.N. might just prove a match for Diavolt's devastating firepower.

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• Guest Fighter: This ship originally came from GRIP: Combat Racing before making the jump to BallisticNG as part of a collaboration between the developers.
• Stone Wall: It moves like a brick (although its acceleration stat is high), but it can certainly take (and dish out) a beating.

Unlockable Ships

Note: Spoilers will be unmarked

G-Tek NX2000

The NX2000 is one of the first AG ships in existence. It's fast, not so nimble and has no shielding technology, making it a masochist's dream.

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• Fragile Speedster/Difficult, but Awesome: Par excellence. The ship itself is, by far, the most fragile ship in the game but also insanely fast just like the Barracuda craft. Just like the NX1000, it's obviously not designed for racing, but anyone who's willing for a death wish may enjoy riding said craft and try to survive any damage dealt by the other pilots.

Precision Delta

Although the original intentions for this cornering monster were for it to be virtual only, this one and only manufactured unit is about to decide if more should show up in the next AGL season.

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• Bragging Rights Reward: What this ship pretty much is after clearing all the Precision Runs, which is ballsy-hard to say the least.
• Secret Character: Secret Craft. This ship requires clearing all of the Precision Runs to unlock, which is easier said than done.