What did the "Fire Unicorn", which came out of thin air 11 years ago, bring to "CrossFire"?

In 2012, domestic online games flourished, and the national service of "Crossfire" also worked silently for 4 years, during which new weapons, new characters and new models continued to be launched, and professional leagues also flourished, accumulating a certain mass base.

At the Tencent Game Annual Conference in March of that year, it was officially announced that the highest number of simultaneous online users of CF exceeded 3.5 million, setting a new record for large-scale online games in China.

Also in 2012, smartphones and mobile payments have not yet become popular, and the Internet café's network fee rarely exceeds 5 yuan an hour, and if you want to recharge the game krypton gold, you have to contact the network administrator, or buy point cards and phone cards.

In such a context of the times, a weapon launched by CF formed a dimensionality reduction blow to the consumption concept of the majority of players at that time: "AK47-Fire Qilin".

As a weapon that has set many records in the history of CF operations, the Fire Kirin has been destined to be in controversy since birth, and it seems that there is no weapon in FPS games that is as controversial as the Fire Qilin. Some believe that the fire unicorn is to blame for the disruption of the CF balance. Some people also believe that the fire unicorn is not a balance breaker, but it has made CF establish a clear payment model for the first time and go to its peak.

The quarrel around CF often involves a clash of ideas between players of different circles, orientations and ages. However, these players have to admit one thing: the fire unicorn has become an exclusive cultural symbol of CF. Even players who have never played CF will have heard of the name of the "Fire Qilin".

In many shooting games that were not originally related to CF, there are also players who make fire unicorn gun mods for the purpose of paying tribute or remembering.

The fire unicorn module in "Fallout 4", source B station @小筱purple

There are countless fire unicorn modules in "Road to Survival 2"

In the anniversary celebration of the 15th anniversary of the official operation of the CF national service that has just opened, the fire unicorn, which has made countless CF players flock, was officially given back for free to the recruits and veterans who are still sticking to CF, and the "national weapon" from the perspective of terrier culture has become a national firearm in the true sense.

Between July 15 and July 16, the character in any player account reaches level 10,

You can unconditionally receive "AK47-Fire Qilin"; Players who already have a permanent fire unicorn,

You will get a new "Heart Candy" skin

However, after the event started, the most important keyword in CF Tieba and other player communities was nothing else - but "nostalgia".

Why is it that until today, 11 years later, when people mention CF, they always think of the three words "fire unicorn", and vice versa?

1

In December 2012, with the release of the CF "Raging Fire Unicorn" version, the Fire Kirin was released as an enhanced version of the existing weapon AK47-A.

Its handguard was fitted with a unicorn head, scales were attached to the upper receiver, and the magazine was gilded, while the AK47-A's original bayonet was replaced with a more visually striking unicorn thorn.

From a realistic point of view, the design of the unicorn head does not conform to the ergonomics in reality, and it will "tie the hand" when used, and the front sight in front of the barrel may not be seen clearly when actually aiming.

But it was 2012, when the gun skin in the FPS game was mainly based on stickers, and the "gold", "diamond" and "camouflage" painted weapons without additional decorations were popular in CF, and the launch of the fire unicorn with independent modeling at this time had the meaning of leading the fashion of the times.

In terms of actual performance, the Fire Kirin has been tweaked from the AK47-A, while retaining a good tradition of the original AK47: one shot can penetrate the helmet to kill enemies.

In subsequent tests, players found that the distance attenuation coefficient of the fire unicorn was low, and the effective range of a headshot was nearly 1.5 times that of the original. Taking the old map "Desert-Ash" as an example, the player at one end of the entrance avenue in Area A, the original AK47 compared to the Fire Unicorn, cannot kill the enemy at the other end with a headshot.

Even the gold AK-47 could not get a single headshot at this distance

The official modified the ammunition change animation of the Kirin weapon based on the tactical bullet exchange movement in reality. Compared to the original AK47, the Fire Kirin weapon changes ammunition faster, has 5 more magazines capacity, and enjoys faster gun cutting speed.

Fire Kirin has an exclusive left-handed change animation

In addition to the difference in performance, the fire unicorn has also left a number of important memories in the history of CF operations.

Before the advent of Fire Unicorn, only weapons purchased with the in-game currency "GP" were permanently held in the player's account, and weapons and props purchased by recharging CF points, drawn or participated in events had a valid expiration date. However, the Fire Kirin becomes the first paid weapon that can be permanently owned after purchase, which is equivalent to a one-time buyout, and you can use the shutdown service after buying.

At the same time, the Fire Kirin is also the first "hero-level weapon" in the history of CF. Heroic weapons come with a V logo, which adds a V to the player's nickname and to the room name. At the same time, it can bring a large number of experience bonuses to the holder, which is equivalent to buying weapons with a permanent bonus card. Players in the same room as the holder can also be stained and receive XP and GP bonuses. There are also special features such as "Drop and disappear", "Optional Record Save" and so on.

Since the beginning of the fire unicorn, CF has really moved towards the "next decade".

2

As the leading bird of hero-level weapons, Fire Kirin fundamentally changed the payment model of CF, and to some extent responded to the wave of commercialization of FPS games.

Compared to the Fire Qilin, the players who purchased the all-gold weapons for a limited period at that time were the real local tyrants

Fire Kirin did dissuade a group of players who could not accept this payment logic, but at the same time, it also created another group of stickier users, who had gained a stronger sense of ownership in CF by purchasing their favorite hero-level weapons, so they were reluctant to abandon the pit, or return to the pit after abandoning it for a while.

Evaluation ten years ago

At that time, as long as you buy a fire unicorn, you can become the focus of the whole Internet café, or the big brother of the whole village. Because of its non-falling nature of death, Zero Krypton and Micro Krypton players at that time would expect to buy the fire unicorn's local tyrant gun, and even borrow their accounts, just to see the true face of this legendary weapon.

Even if they can't borrow the gun, players have to run to the room with the hero-level V-icon in order to rub at least 20% of experience points and GP bonuses in order to quickly level up and unlock more GP weapon items.

Although the performance advantage of the Fire Kirin affects the balance, it was once called "artifact" by players. However, these advantages are incremental enhancements, not strong enough to completely destroy the overall game environment.

Taking Demolition Mode as an example, the regular engagement scenes in most maps are enough for all AK47s to play with a one-shot headshot. Some CF veteran players believe that the Fire Kirin is still a weapon that highly tests personal point shooting strength, and the advantages in addition to the range are not so supermodel, since it is an AK that can shoot the head, it should not be reduced to the point of having to fight to the last few bullets, change bullets and cut weapons.

Subsequent CF also launched a lot of hero-level weapons, but none of these weapons were as popular as the fire unicorn, but in the circle, everyone knew it.

In July 2013, the permanent hero-level weapon "M4A1-Thor" was officially released. Thor inherits the characteristics of the M4A1 series of weapons, although it cannot take down enemies with one shot, it has 100% penetration, which means that there is no damage reduction when penetrating some obstacles. In terms of the short spot shot that the M4 is best at, Raytheon's performance is outstanding.

In professional competitions at the time, Thor's appearance rate began to be equal to that of the AK47. A group of professional players majoring in AK47 noticed the charm of Thor and began to double cultivate, or even use only Thor. To this day, Thor is also a T1 level weapon in Demolition Mode.

And when the QBZ03 series, launched in 2018 and designed with a domestic assault rifle as the prototype, began to kill in the formal and professional arena with many advantages such as damage, rate of fire, and straight ballistics, it also made the fire unicorn no longer the strongest choice among hero-level weapons.

Appearances can be deceptive

But even though the fire unicorn is no longer the weapon with the highest appearance and the best performance, it has eternally become the common memory of the most "terrier" and exposure tied to "CF".

3

Today's Fire Kirin has a bit of a veteran's twilight taste, but the AK47 series is still an eternal classic in the minds of all FPS players - as long as its headshot is not lost, the feel is still there, and it is still one of the players' favorite weapon series.

"Kalashnikov holding a fire unicorn", this spoof picture was widely circulated on social media at the time

Including the Fire Qilin, some hero-level AK47s have so far exclusive record customization functions, and it is no wonder that the old CFer always leaves a place for them in the limited warehouse location.

Veteran players don't see the Fire Kirin as a sign of CF's decline. In fact, in the years since the launch of the hero-level weapon, the number of people online in CF has not decreased, but increased. At the CF 7th anniversary celebration in August 2015, it was officially announced that the number of simultaneous online users of CF has exceeded 5 million; By March 2016, the official announced that the total number of simultaneous online users of CF and its mobile games exceeded the 6 million mark.

The full bloom of the CF server after the opening of the "300 million fire unicorn white sending" event is enough to show the status of this first hero-level weapon in the minds of players. According to the statistical estimation of the server model, on July 15, Beijing time, the highest number of simultaneous online users of CF exceeded 4 million again - and this is the 15th anniversary of the game.

"Gold bars have been distributed in the village"

As the age of the player layer gradually increases, due to the shift in the focus of life or work, it is already difficult for many old CFers to invest too much time, but many players will find that even if they open CF again for a period of time, there will be no "combat power panic" caused by being out of the version for too long.

On the contrary, the endless return welfare activities have given players who return to the pit more opportunities to "white"

Big and small regression benefits

At the same time, CF officials tried to increase the popularity of hero-level weapons, introduced them into limited-time event rewards, and also designed "youth version" hero-level weapons such as "source weapons" and "imperial weapons". The basic performance of the source weapon and the royal weapon is exactly the same as the original hero-level weapon, but there are no special features and experience GP bonuses, and it is not possible to replace skins.

For example, the ultimate reward at the 10th anniversary event is the permanent "Source Thor"

And any player who has been playing for a while, participating in events to win rewards, or spending a small budget to win a prize, can easily obtain a large number of gun props, even those that early players lacked the most, such as AC (body armor and helmet), grenade bags, flash goggles, smoke protection helmets, and heroic weapons. The new and returning players who have just entered the pit also have their own benefits, and there is no shortage of anything - the fire unicorn that is given away for nothing may be the best proof.

So, CF can be said to be a completely stress-free game to get back into the pit. It seems to have foreseen the player's return and helped the player get everything ready.

For example, at this year's anniversary, Nicholas Tse, who sang the game's eponymous theme song "Crossfire" in 2014, also became the spokesperson of Crossfire, and he not only returned to the team himself, but also called on the majority of CFers to return with him.

After the release of this promotional video, we can see that CF and the fire unicorn bound to it as a cultural symbol have long been not limited to a game and a gun, but the memories and playing experience of youth.

Instead of discussing anniversary activities and gifts, players in the comment area discussed more about the "past" - CF ten years ago, and Nicholas Tse and Fire Kirin ten years ago, "he is even exactly the same as ten years ago, and he is more handsome".

As a game that has been in operation for so long, CF has undoubtedly accompanied CFers through the changes of the times. For more than a decade, endless gunplay games have emerged like a carp crossing the river, but people still remember the "fire unicorn". From the initial envy and ridicule, to the nostalgia of the past, perhaps there has never been such a gun, which can better represent the largest group of FPS players in China.

Finally, share a post from a player when they collected the Fire Kirin in the early hours of yesterday morning

*CFer's "Report Point First and then Ninety" also contributed to this article