Exteel

On June 27, 2008, the first part of Exteel's official back-story was posted to GameZone.com.[2] It described a violent conflict in the distant future from a first-person point of view (with in-universe tone).

Accordingly, a group of colonists had settled on the planet of Natha on the untamed continent of Taryn, the primary setting of the game. Over the course of thirty years, as the colony grew and advanced technologically, territories were slowly drawn up. Borders were reinforced by immigrants, trying to escape the Federation, from other planets such as Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. Given these beginnings, weapons and fighting were almost unheard of on Natha in its early existence, and were not easily resurrected. To settle these disputes, mercenaries in battle-hardened Mechanaughts were hired by the four major nations on the planet: the subterranean-dwelling Marston, the financially prosperous Palamo, the newcomer and only recently independent West Palamo, and the technologically advanced Aiers. In time, small border conflicts grew between the government houses. Marston declared war on Palamo, after a village within Marston territory was destroyed. Palamo, claiming innocence, retaliated, and thus began the conflict around which the game is centered. The unnamed narrator wonders when the fighting will end and who will win the long war for independence fought on various planets. (No mention of extraterrestrial life is made, an indication that none will appear in the game.)

Players assume the role of mercenaries fighting in endless battles across the developed continent, almost unrestrained by the governments who hired them.

Players start off with a free, cheap Mechanaught. Credits are used to purchase new parts, weapons, and skills, or secondary items such as repair points or paint and acquired through the various game modes. Some parts can only be purchased with real money via the NCcoin micropayment system. Most items in the game can be purchased using credits or NCcoins. Most items in the game can be bought for a time-limit or, for a higher price, a level of durability. If the time limit or the durability points of the item run out, then the item is lost and must be repurchased or the item must be repaired, respectively.

Durability is based on the time that a player spends in game, whereas time-limit is based on the length of time after an item is purchased, regardless of whether or not a player actively plays the game. The rate at which durability of items is lost is dependent on the price of the item, with cheaper items losing durability at a slower rate than more expensive items. For all items, the time-limit is 7 or 30 days, depending on the item. Durability of items can be restored by using repair points, which can be purchased with credits. Repair points are the only items in the game that do not have durability or a time-limit, and the player keeps the repair points until they are used.

Mechanaught performance is based on multiple factors that attribute to its stats. Heavy-class mechs often have more HP, EN, and SP—stats, improving its resilience in battle, but tend to be slower and easier to hit. Light-class mechs are the opposite, favoring speed and agility. Standard-class lingers in the middle. Parts from each class can be mixed and matched when building a Mechanaught. Weapons contribute less to your overall stats but carry stats of their own, regarding their performance. Some weapons are held with two hands, others can be mounted in each hand. Any weapon will produce a given amount of heat when fired, ultimately overheating the weapon until a cooldown period has elapsed. At this point, a player may switch to a secondary set of weapons, or wait for the weapons to cool down to be used again.

Skills may be purchased to add another form of attack. With their own cooldown rate, skills may only be used when there is enough SP accrued in a given battle.

Combat and its objectives are determined by the game mode the player chooses. Points are scored based on number of kills, contrasted to number of deaths, number of Aerogates currently in possession, number of flags captured, or ability to defend base towers. The team with the highest point total, or with their towers still standing, wins.

Most matches center around specified markers in the battlefield map called "aerogates". These are points of occupation that must be defended against for a positive outcome. An invading player merely steps onto an aerogate, to begin a capture process which will take several seconds. (Multiple allied players standing on an aerogate will increase the rate of capture.)

Around most aerogates, there will also be a small number (usually 1-2) of healing pads, which will restore the health points (HP) of a player's mechanaught. However, healing pads have both a limited time of use for the allied side, and need time to restore themselves before they can be used again. Enemy players can only utilize allied healing pads when they capture the associated aerogate first.

On December 22, 2009, NCSoft terminated its license to Exteel SEA. In addition, IAM-Interactive had removed its forum and website contents, replacing them with an advisory to consume all coins within 30 days, despite Exteel game servers being offline at the time.[3] The primary reasons for shutting down were a lack of financial stable income and NCSoft losing a lawsuit that resulted in a loss of 28 million dollars.

The game and all of its international servers were permanently shutdown on September 1, 2010 at 10:00am CST.

• Official US site
• Official US site ending