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25

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114

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02:03:34

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Player Administration

Don't create new accounts. And don't keep creating new accounts.
(Posted by Platypus on Year 25 Day 107)
1 Year 25 Day 107, 12:46 Platypus banned player Coren Nooram providing the following reason: Multi Ban 2 Year 25 Day 107, 12:46 Pl...
[more]

Strike 0 - Simkin Dragoneel
(Posted by Falcon on Year 25 Day 82)
Simkin Dragoneel has been issued a Strike 0 for OOC Harassment, and sharing personal information about another player. Any future i...
[more]

This is your irregularly scheduled reminder not to multi
(Posted by Platypus on Year 25 Day 81)
Platypus banned player Jado Finnall providing the following reason: Multi Ban Platypus banned player Azlaya Siln providing the fol...
[more]

Community News

Mental Health is Important!
(Posted by Falcon on Year 25 Day 88)
Falcon Update Y25 D95: Just popping in to say thank you to everyone who sent kind words my way. I'm headed out for the next month a...
[more]

Our Tutorial Needs Some Work, huh?
(Posted by Falcon on Year 25 Day 53)
Falcon Update Y25 D95: Alright, I've got the results from the survey I put out a while ago. We'll start with the juicy data bits an...
[more]

All Hail Thine Feathery Victor -- Deathmatch
(Posted by Falcon on Year 25 Day 83)
As expected, the Asim Bias won out on the final round of deathmatch. Jar-Tan, you put up a valiant fight, but the people need their...
[more]

Technical News

New Just a pixel day in the neighborhood..
(Posted by Kolomon Seph on Year 25 Day 113)
Greetings sentients! A brand new batch of updated rules images hot off the presses: Ardent-class Fast Frigate Namana-class Lig...
[more]

Sync Report Y25D111
(Posted by Clarr Solo on Year 25 Day 111)
Force Sight - A new passive force ability has been added, Force Sight. Force Sight boosts vision range when activated. Force Sight...
[more]

Sync Report Y25D97
(Posted by Clarr Solo on Year 25 Day 97)
Force Lightsaber Throw Why would you want to throw away your lightsaber? ...Wait, what do you mean it comes back? Bugs - An Icon...
[more]

Posted by Kolomon Seph on Year 25 Day 113 16:07 New

Greetings sentients!

A brand new batch of updated rules images hot off the presses:

Enjoy!

Kolo

 
Posted by Clarr Solo on Year 25 Day 111 0:34

Force Sight

- A new passive force ability has been added, Force Sight. Force Sight boosts vision range when activated. Force Sight does not stack with items that improve vision range.

sfFMEWd.png

Improved partying controls

- Improved controls for partying NPCs and other entities remotely via the inventory have been added.
- This is useful for squadding entities together for combat without being physically present.

Faction leader rules changes

- Faction leaders can now leave their faction, previously they were prevented from doing so.
- Factions require a leader otherwise the dissolution timer will run.
- The faction leader dropping will no longer cause immediate dissolution of a faction with no members.

Bugs

- A new page for managing faction custom image shares has been added, accessible from within the faction menu.
- Fixed an issue with field repair finishing when the target was not disabled.
- Fixed some government change GNS flashnews that did not show the planet names or faction names.
- Fixed issues with instanced vendors.
- Fixed issue where vendor was using dead managers skills.

 
Posted by Clarr Solo on Year 25 Day 97 18:49

Force Lightsaber Throw

Why would you want to throw away your lightsaber? ...Wait, what do you mean it comes back?

Bugs

- An Icon now shows up for HQs in the inventory.
- Fixed an issue with asset protection percentage calculations: Facilities and Items were not being counted correctly.
- Fixed an issue where subfaction leader changes charged a fee.
- Fixed an issue with updating faction profile where it was enforcing a shortcut.
- Fixed an issue with non-modular factions and build permissions being auto accepted.
- Fixed faction status screen crash.
- Fixed an issue where Poisoned character would crash Force heal screen.
- Fixed an issue where you could migrate factions to modular twice.
- Fixed issue where tooling would show in inventory for non production entities.

WS

- Updates to WS adding subfaction memberships and factions modules.

 
Posted by Falcon on Year 25 Day 88 18:56

Falcon Update Y25 D95:
Just popping in to say thank you to everyone who sent kind words my way. I'm headed out for the next month and am looking forward to taking a step back forever. You're in great hands with the remaining members of the Asim team (maybe someone try and find Tortle while I'm gone, eh?). In the meantime, you have Modular Factions phases 2.5 and 3 to look forward to, and let me tell ya, it's gonna be great! Thanks again to everyone for your support. I'll see ya never again in a month!

Ninja edit: Room bounty will be open until I get back, I suppose. poor planning on my part haha.
____________________________
Hello Galaxy, it is your resident space birb coming back to share some news. This is all gonna mostly be personal so if you don't care, then now is a good time to stop reading, as it probably won't affect you. 
 

As many of you know, I've been an Assistant Sim Master (Asim) for a bit over 3 years now. I have greatly enjoyed my time serving this community and bringing new things to the game. This community has been very rewarding to be a part of and is the main reason I'm around today. I admit I'm not perfect and I've made mistakes, but I value the fact that (most of) you all think highly of me and my willingness to work with you all. 
 

Now before you get all teary-eyed, no I'm not leaving you just yet. That time will come but it is not now(Sorry Noctis). However, around 6 months ago, I noticed I was getting a bit more temperamental and irritable than normal and I wasn't the same person IRL than I am in this community. Something was affecting me but I could not figure out what. Then last month (and really these last few weeks especially), I noticed a pretty sharp decline in my mental state which has started to affect my OOC life and my family. I realized it was coming from the stress and expectations that come with being an Asim. I don't blame anyone in particular in this community for my stress levels, so much as I do my own habits. 
 

So what does this mean? Why should you care? Well, I don't think you should lol. But for me, it means I need to take a step back, reassess things and take a deep breath of fresh air. So for the month of March, I will be stepping back (not down) from things. I won't answer support tickets, I won't monitor the forums, I won't engage in the community for as much as I can help it. I've become addicted to monitoring my phone for pings in the SWC Staff, SWC Teams, and SWC Main Discord Servers. I wake up and the first thing I do is check discord followed by monitoring it every chance I get until I fall asleep. It's just not healthy physically or mentally. I'm taking a break and clearing my head from things. 

I know this is a blow to some of you who reach out to me personally for support issues, etc. and I want you all to know that I hear you. I won't be gone forever, and in my stead Platypus and Chupacabra will pick up the slack. I've coordinated some tasks with SWC Teams and they're working hard to bring you some new features. Most of which, I'm very excited for! I'll be back and in greater numbers too, and I'm looking forward to having a clear head. Platypus is doing a wonderful job stepping up, and I fully trust him and the rest of the staff to make informed and fair decisions, so please do not hesitate to spam him mercilessly with requests reach out to him if you have an issue. 
 

Now I'll ask you the same thing I've asked my fellow teammates and staff members: Please do not ping me unless it's an absolute emergency. I'd rather another Asim ping me for something they can't figure out or handle than have a player do so. Please respect my time away to clear things so that I can come back and continue to serve this community!
 

I'll be around until the end of February to help any transitions for Modular Factions to go smoothly, and to make sure Platypus and Chupa (and the rest of the teams) are set for my absence. 
 

As always, the best way to get support remains to file a support ticket or visit #swc-help in either IRC or Discord. Thanks for your understanding and support!

 
(Edited by Falcon on Year 25 Day 95)
Posted by Falcon on Year 25 Day 53 22:24

Falcon Update Y25 D95:
Alright, I've got the results from the survey I put out a while ago. We'll start with the juicy data bits and then we'll move on to popular feedback from the questions themselves. A quick note before we begin that although there are answers from members who did not complete the survey themselves, I did leave it open for them to provide feedback because they may have information from their newer players who gave feedback to them or from things they may wish their new players were taught. 

Ok, onto the results:

  • Out of the 74 people that answered the survey:
    • 58 / 74 completed the tutorial (78.4%)
    • 16 / 74 had not completed the tutorial (21.6%)
  • Out of the 58 people who completed the tutorial, and on a scale from 1-10 for how prepared it made them feel:
    • 10 / 74 people answered between 0 - 3 (17.24%)
    • 23 / 74 people answered between 4 - 6 (39.66%)
    • 25 / 74 people answered between 7 - 10 (43.10)
       

The following questions had some sort of "N/A", "No change", Blank responses, etc. response as their answer. I will provide 2 percentages for these. The first will be total responses based off the 74 people who responded(aka including blanks), the 2nd will be based off of only the people who answered the question(aka excluding blanks):

  • What features (if any) would you add to the Tutorial? (62 responses)
    • 17 / 74 responses (22.97%)
    • 5 / 62 responses (8.06%)
    • AKA: Most responses would add more to the tutorial.
       
  • What features (if any) would you remove from the Tutorial? (47 responses)
    • 61 / 74 responses (83.78%)
    • 34 / 47 responses (74.47%)
    • AKA: Most people would not remove anything from the tutorial.
       
  • What did you like about the Tutorial? (54 responses)
    • 22 / 74 responses (29.73%)
    • 2 / 54 responses (3.7%)
       
  • What did you dislike about the Tutorial? (50 responses)
    • 34 / 74 responses (45.95%)
    • 10 / 50 responses (20%)
    • AKA: roughly half of all responses either didn't dislike anything about the tutorial or didn't dislike anything enough to provide a response.
       
  • Do you have any additional feedback you would like to provide? (45 responses)
    • 41 / 74 responses (55.41%)
    • 12 / 45 responses (26.67%)
    • AKA: Roughly half of the total responses or nearly 3/4 of the responses for this question had some sort of additional feedback (whether it was an unaddressed question or merely a thank you for the survey, etc.).
       

Now onto the individual questions. For the next section, I will provide the individual question at the top and the most common answers below it (text in parenthesis is mine):

  • What features (if any) would you add to the Tutorial?
    • Additional quests
    • An overview of some non-covered topics (Construction, Production, and Mining were the 3 biggest requests. We also saw a few for Prospecting and Recycling)
    • An overview of the UI/buttons, etc.
    • Space Combat/Bandit Combat/Room Combat/More explanation of combat
    • The importance of factions (See also, but also probably an overview of Modular Factions?)
    • Change the location of the Quizzer
    • Time Dilation (aka make things faster)
    • Space Travel
    • A quest log
       
  • What features (if any) would you remove from the Tutorial?
    • The level cap
    • The slow speed of things
    • The level cap
    • Change the location of the quizzer
    • The level cap (Ok, I think I see a common theme here)
       
  • What did you like about the Tutorial?
    • That there is one.
    • The instant immersion into the swc galaxy
    • The storytelling
    • The starter ships(and that you got them)
    • It was quick(which directly contradicts all the answers that say it was too long/slow lol)
    • Having something to do while respawning
       
  • What did you dislike about the Tutorial?
    • The level cap (no guys, really, I think I get it lol)
    • The amount of abandoned characters/entities [me too guys... me too :(]
    • Too many timers
    • Lack of starting credits (I agree)
    • The Quizzer quest (which one person called a Sand Panther and another called a Quizzle)
    • It's bare minimum
    • The lack of faction content
    • The lack of how to navigate the UI/interface
    • "Everything." (rude.)
    • It was too slow
    • It was too fast (guys pick one)
       
  • Do you have any additional feedback you would like to provide? (I'm going to exclude the thank you messages and the ones offering their assistance in helping with future tutorial work)
    • It might be nice to clean up the UI/Interface to make it easier
    • The tutorial needs regular wipes of abandoned grear/entities (and I'd even say characters)
    • It was difficult to navigate the tutorial either by talking to NPCs or knowing where to go
    • Move the level cap
    • The tutorial as it is now, combined with the wiki/rules pages are not enough (While I agree, this is a tough issue to address. Perhaps more of a focus on showing the players the rules page and where to find information is how this should be approached.)
    • There should be somewhat of a focus on joining a faction, and explaining the importance of getting involved in the community. (100% agreed)
    • The tutorial needs more Noctis (agreed.)

All in all, thank you to everyone who provided input. You can find the results of the survey at the link below, and I'll leave it open, but I will no longer be monitoring responses or collecting data.

A huge thank you to both the original members who worked on the tutorial to make it happen in the first place as well as the current Quests Team for helping me sort though this information. We've already collected some key areas to improve upon and have some ideas for things to add to the tutorial. Perhaps we will even see a level cap increase...

That's all for now, but stay tuned in the future for updates on the tutorial!

______________________________________________

Y25 D57 Update:
I've gotten 64 responses so far, and all of it has been great feedback! Thank you all for your feedback, and if you haven't answered yet, there's still time! I'll be going through in about a week (now that it's slowed down) and taking some of the major points I've already identified (with the help of the Quest Team) and post it in an update here. I hear your feedback and read every entry, no matter if you've completed the tutorial or not, essays or single word responses. All feedback is appreciated and we're already drumming up new ways to improve the Tutorial and expand it. 

Please don't hesitate to keep the survey responses coming, and like I said below, if you don't feel comfortable using Google Forms to submit your response, you can DM/PM me your response. Additionally, if you'd like to remain anonymous, feel free to send me an email at swc.falcon@gmail.com. You can use a 10-minute-mail or another anonymous email to send me a response that won't be attached to your name.

Finally, if you submitted feedback with ideas, and would like me to contact you about it, not everyone left their Handle, so if you'd like to discuss ideas more, please reach out to me so we can discuss them.

Thanks, and enjoy your day!

______________________________________________

Good day, my little birdies,

I've finally gotten around to some housekeeping and made a brief survey on Google Forms asking for feedback about our Tutorial. This survey does not require you to be signed into a Google account to fill it out, nor do we collect any personal data from it. Below is the link:

https://forms.gle/p4HX2qiaSPJkTaUg6

If you do not feel comfortable filling out the survey on Google Forms, you are more than welcome to PM me your responses to the questions below, and I will input them manually on your behalf no questions asked. We'd like to collect this data to figure out popular additions/removals/suggestions for the Tutorial so that we can enhance the New Player experience and best prepare them for the game. 


You do not have to have completed the tutorial to answer the questions, however, I expect the most beneficial responses will come from players who have. 

Questions are below (Mandatory items marked with a **), but as always if you need anything, feel free to DM me in-game, send me a message on Discord or submit a support ticket.


___________________________________________________________________________

Survey Questions (Feel free to copy/paste into a DM to me):

1) Have you completed the tutorial? **
( ) Yes
( ) No

2) On a scale from 0 - 10, how do you feel the Tutorial prepared you for the game? **
( ) 0 - Not at all
( ) 1
( ) 2
( ) 3
( ) 4
( ) 5
( ) 6
( ) 7
( ) 8
( ) 9
( ) 10 - I was fully prepared for the game

3) What features (if any) would you add to the Tutorial?

4) What features (if any) would you remove from the Tutorial?

5) What did you like about the Tutorial?

6) What did you dislike about the Tutorial?

7) Do you have any additional feedback you would like to provide?

 
(Edited by Falcon on Year 25 Day 95)
Posted by Platypus on Year 25 Day 90 2:47

Falcon Edit Y25 D92: We've identified a major bug with subfactions, so we've disabled the ability to purchase more and will re-release them in 2.5 with the alliance module.

______________________________

Platypus Edit Y25 D91: You can message Platypus with faction disbanding requests. Be the faction's owner, send me its name and the HQ recipient. Note that Faction Disbanding is irreversible. Any assets left in those shells will be lost. 

______________________________

This is your warning that Modular Factions Phase 2.0 has been... released!

Any new factions created now must have at least 2 members. Faction leaders can find the conversion button on the Manage Faction page.

As previously noted, upon conversion, factions will receive applicable modules at no cost, in the following priority:
 - Core module
 - Government module or equivalent of current type(eg. Mercenary -> Paramilitary module)
 - Subfaction modules(1 per existing subfaction)
 - Planetary Control module, if planets are controlled at the time of conversion. Planetoids are exempt and will not obtain this module.
 - Datacard module, if generic datacards are owned

You will receive those modules even if you do not have enough members. However, this will initiate inactive status for lowest priority modules and a 14-day timer for those modules' removal. 

Phase 2.5: The alliance feature, via diplomacy module, will become available. (~1 month from now)
Phase 3: Existing factions will be forcibly converted to modular factions. (see above for modules carried over) (~2 months from now)

A new Q&A thread has been opened on Discord.

CAUTION: Do not convert if your module preview list is not as expected(for example, you have generic datacards but Datacard module does not appear)!

Falcon EDIT Y25 D90: Disregard. Nothing to see here.

 
(Edited by Falcon on Year 25 Day 92)
Posted by Clarr Solo on Year 25 Day 84 15:45

- Fixed issue where restricted visiblity AI was able to attack others (Thanks Ted)
- Fixed an issue where parent/subfaction flats were being calculated incorrectly (subfactions should always delegate their flats to the parent faction).
- Added a button to disband subfactions to faction ownership screen. Disbanding subfactions sends credits and assets back to parent faction.
- Fixed an issue with subfactions and crewlist checks.
- Fixed an issue where return from inactivity event was only sent to primary faction.
- Fixed some permission checks relating to editing Budgets.
- Medical item usage screen target sorting changed.
- Fixed various issues with WS interactions with subfactions (Thanks Onderon). Covers Privileges, Events, Datacards, Inventory, Added new fields to Types endpoints.

 
Posted by Falcon on Year 25 Day 83 22:43

As expected, the Asim Bias won out on the final round of deathmatch. Jar-Tan, you put up a valiant fight, but the people need their bird. I wish you the best of luck in your next Deathmatch (Maybe Tomas will finally be in it and you can crush him).

Long story short:

Click me for Deathmatch

Click me for Grudge Matches

 

Click me if you hate yourself

 
Posted by Falcon on Year 25 Day 75 17:42

Coastas edit: Updated initial modules to clarify only factions currently owning generic datacards will get the Datacard module


Modular Phase 1 has synced. Generic datacards no longer cost members, see new rules here:

https://www.swcombine.com/rules/?Datacards#Generic_Datacards:_Cost

Phase 2.0 will be released without a warning when we are ready, as the conversion process to modular factions is voluntary during this phase. Phase 2.0 also acts as the warning period to Phase 3, when any remaining unconverted factions will be automatically converted.

The timeline of events currently looks like this, but are subject to change:
- Phase 1: DC Change (released)
- Phase 2.0: New factions will be modular, but the alliance module will not be available. Existing factions from this point on may convert if they wish but will not be forced to. (~1 month from now)
- Phase 2.5: New factions will be modular, and the alliance module will be available. (~2 months from now)
- Phase 3: Existing factions will be forcibly converted to modular factions. (see below for modules carried over) (~3 months from now)

Upon conversion, factions will receive applicable modules at no cost, in the following priority:
- Core module
- Government module or equivalent of current type(eg. Mercenary -> Paramilitary module)
- Subfaction modules(1 per existing subfaction)
- Planetary Control module, if planets are controlled at the time of conversion. Planetoids are exempt and will not obtain this module.
- Datacard module, if generic datacards are owned

 

The administration would like to make it clear that we will not be merging factions. There will be no refunds for costs incurred as the result of abandoning a secondary shell and purchasing its applicable modules elsewhere. Nor will an error of judgement be reversed or otherwise corrected.

 
(Edited by Coastas Agrios on Year 25 Day 82)
Posted by Clarr Solo on Year 25 Day 75 17:40

Force Dominate

A new dark side force power has been added: Force Dominate.
Force Dominate is an activated power that can cause enemies to turn on each other.
Being dominated is a hidden status that will cause affected targets to damage to their own party in combat.

Generic Datacard Acquisition Cost Change

Generic Datacard acquisition and maintenance costs have changed. There will be a separate sim news posted about this.

Bugs

- The Kel Dor Homeworld, Dorin has had its terrain changed, and has a new NPC city added.
- IFF has had a reason field added.
- Large palaces can now change planetary tax rate.
- Room auto movement rewritten to reduce concurrent room movement errors.
- Production mod is now shown on entity rules pages.
- Factions can no longer use commas in their names, commas can be used in some fields for splitting multiple names.
- Fixed door lock breaking mangled action wording.
- Fixed issue with loading combat reports.
- Added note to CP exchange about exchanging ships: Ships with landing capacity can only be purchased at Planetary Based Facilities. Ships without landing capacity can only be purchased at Space Stations.

 
Posted by Falcon on Year 25 Day 72 21:33

Good evening,

Word has made its way to me that Vito Royan (also known as Grom de Ghrul and Loucina Al-Muzzum) has passed away as of October 2023. We send our condolences to his family and friends(both ingame and OOC).

 

Thank you.

 

Falcon Edit: As some of you may know, when the DC Change is pushed, your faction will retain any Generics already purchased. Please do not exploit this system by trying to buy as many generics as you can right now. Prior to the sync, I will check and see how many factions have mass bought generics to save money on the back end. Buying generics for business purposes is fine. Buying 10 generics so that you automatically have them after the change is not.

Also, I've edited the title: we will be pushing this change in one week from this original sim news post, not 2. I apologize for any inconvenience this causes you.


Rules ninja edit 2: The cost equation for generic datacards has changed to use currently owned slots rather than raw number of owned datacards.


Rules ninja edit: Couple of changes from the screenshots below based on feedback and discussions.

  • The module inactivity timer has increased to 14 days from 7.
  • The Planetary Control module will not be required for planetoids (still requires a faction).
  • The Government module requirement has increased from 10 to 12 members. Note this is total members, and does not consume active member slots like the rest of the modules.

You may resume being angry.


Modular factions & alliances are new features that promises to make your life worthwhile overhaul the existing faction system. This is a brief summary of what's coming:

- Factions no longer have a type. Instead, factions are now modular. Faction modules provide access to functionality that was previously tied to a type, as well as new functionality. Each module costs a one time credit fee, and an ongoing number of active members and capital. Factions can purchase as many modules as they wish so long as they meet the requirements.
- Factions are founded with only a base module, which provides access to available-to-all datacards. This module requires 2 active members, therefore factions will require a minimum of 2 active members.
- Some functionality that was available to all factions now requires a module, including the ability to control planets and access to generic and unique datacards.
- Alliances are enabled by the Diplomacy module, and enable factions to share spare active members. Members of factions in an alliance can join any of these factions simultaneously, similar to how members can join multiple subfactions.

Other changes have also been made relating to this overhaul:
- Generic datacards no longer require active members to obtain. Instead, they cost an increasingly large credit fee.
- The library, museum, zoo, wildlife preserve and stadium facilities must now be managed by factions with the information module to generate income.
- A change of government on a planet now resets the tax rate to 5%.

This will be a staggered rollout as follows:
- Phase 1: Generic datacard change
- Phase 2: After the sync, any new factions will be modular. Existing factions will retain their type for now. Faction leaders will be able to opt to convert their factions to be modular ahead of...
- Phase 3: A forced migration later this year.

Draft Rules:
Faction Modules
Alliances
Datacards

Edit: Added the Draft Rules screenshots
Edit2: Faction module & datacard rules screenshots have been updated

 
(Edited by Falcon on Year 25 Day 72)