Good day ladies and Gentlebirbs,

First, a brief disclaimer: this Sim News outlines some long-term development goals that may stir a range of reactions. Everyone is entitled to their feelings and opinions, and we welcome thoughtful discussion. All we ask is that the inevitable conversations about this announcement remain respectful. Please also remember that these are long-term goals that are still in various stages of development, with no complete roadmap yet defined.

Now to the good stuff: After many days/weeks/months/years of discussion amongst the SWC Administration, Dev Team and Rules Team, there is broad agreement that the game should move toward two significant long-term objectives: Global PvP/Combat and Permadeath. Many of you may have anticipated this direction, so for you, this will not come as a surprise. These are not the only long-term goals, but they're probably the ones that will affect you all the most.

naturally, this will raise MANY questions from MANY of you, such as:

• How will we get to these goals?
  • The honest answer is that the specifics are still in progress. For combat in particular, this will involve a complete revision of entity stats and the coding of combat functionality across all stages and environments. This won’t happen overnight, though. Our plan is to introduce combat features gradually, with clear advance notice for major rollouts (ground, atmos, and deep-space combat), as well as for major features (stations, vehicles, and capital ships, etc). Notice won’t always mean months in advance, but expect at least a month before individual feature releases. Consider this Sim News your early warning that development is heading in this direction. We’ll share more feature-specific details as work progresses and as each stage nears release.
     
• When will we get there?
  • Soon(TM)
     
• Are my assets safe?
  • Yes and no. The galaxy is a large place, in which you have 251,001 1,001,001 systems to hide your things within. Non-PvP areas are currently safe, and named systems will likely be among the final areas to have combat enabled. If you’re concerned, move your stuff there. For those who maintain genuinely historic SWC assets they can no longer access, please reach out to the SWC Administration for help relocating them. Those of you with these assets probably know which assets we mean.
     
• Am I going to die?
  • Everyone dies.
  • The intent behind Permadeath is not to make death easy or random. Like the old Arrest/Execute system, it will be a deliberate, intentional action, not something that happens by accident. We’ve had many discussions on how to approach this responsibly, and we will likely not release it until after combat is fully (or nearly fully) implemented and thoroughly tested. We want to ensure the mechanics work exactly as intended, and we’ll rely heavily on feedback to get it right.

Ok, whew, we made it. We understand that this announcement is a lot to take in, and that it may feel like a big shift in direction. That’s exactly why we’re being transparent early in the process. We want everyone to know what’s on the horizon. Whether these large-scale goals are achieved next year or sometime before the heat death of the universe is up in the air.

No funny Noctis DM this time. We simply ask for your respectful and rational discussion on the forums. As always, if you encounter any issues or have concerns, please submit a support ticket or reach out to your local ASim or Admin

NINJA EDIT: I created a Forum Thread in General Talk specifically for discussion surrounding the topics listed here. Please keep all discussion limited to that thread.