- Tractor beam functionality was separated from the Tractor Beam weapon, all entities with a hangar bay or docking bay can now use tractor beams (with a new clickable icon on the Cockpit screen).
- FI events have been updated.

Facility Income Sharding Change

For server performance reasons, facility income will now run grouped by Sector and will be spread out evenly across an hour period.
The income rules and calculations remain the same. This will apply to tomorrows income run.

Bugs

Fix NPC fitout drop error when trying to drop installed cybernetic.
Fix installed cybernetics taking up weight and volume.
Add rng rolls to cybernetic install/uninstall events.
Fix character faction membership caching to be more effective.
Optimize facility inventory export querying FI transactions too often.
Optimize default building inventory sort settings.
Fix Grant XP Admin tool unintentionally setting NPC/Creatures above their level cap.
Fix db partition tool crash when table missing.
Fix php 8 crash in asteroid mining code.
Fix php 8.5 inventory filter crash.
Fix php 8.5 WS auth crash.

There will be about 30 minutes of downtime in 3 days time to perform some database maintenance. Downtime will occur at Y27 D18 19:00 CGT and last for up to 30 minutes.
Edit: Downtime is completed.

We are updating the way escape pods are used. Today, I will be updating escape pods to have 0 sensors and applying that to all escape pods currently in existence. Moving forward, we will likely modify them to be deleted when they are empty, but will provide advance notice when doing so, and when the mechanics for that are finalized.

Happy Y27!

Angry DM to Noctis // Support Link

- Added the ability to slice doors without an item. Not using a lockbreaker has reduced success chance.
- Strike quest opponents will be more aggressive.
- Sorted tags alphabetically on some inventory subpages.
- Fixed room decal apply tool floor picker bug.
- Fixed an issue with undocking leading to unexpected ship teleporting.
- Showdown coordinators can now set showdowns to occur in asteroid fields.
- Fixed an issue with WS privilege listing privilege checks.

FALCON EDIT Y26 D353: The Herdship and Subjugator now accurately reflect the rules pages. 

------

FALCON EDIT Y26 D338: Passenger count for the Herdship has been slightly adjusted and is now 3,000. Passenger count for the Subjugator is now 5,000. I will postpone updating the stats for these 2 ships for 2 weeks so you can make necessary accomodations. 

------
Ship Balance: Mobility Update is here!.
This update brings a broad range of stat and balance updates primarily focused around ship mobility + some stat adjustments in other areas.
 

===Broader Stat Changes===

• Dreadnaught-Class heavy Cruiser:  
  • Hyper: 1 → 3
  • Sublight: 10 → 20
  • Turbolasers: 10 → 0 
  • Turbolaser Batteries: 0 → 5 
  • Shields: 3,000 → 4,000
  • Hull: 3,800 → 5,000
     
• Kandosii-Type Dreadnaught: 
  • Sublight: 20 → 30
  • Ion Batteries:  0  →  4
  • Quad Lasers: 0 → 2 
     
• Quasar Fire-class Bulk Cruiser:
  • Weight Cap : 1,200 → 6,000T
  • Hyper: 3 → 5

• Subjugator-Class Heavy Cruiser:
  • Passenger Count 83,350 → 1,000 5,000
     
• Ithorian Herdship:
  • Passenger Count 50,000 → 1,000 3,000
    
     

===Mobility Updates===

• Capitals
  • Acclamator-Class Assault Ship:
    • Hyper 1 → 2 
  • Colossal-Class Heavy Carrier:
    • Hyper 2 → 3
  • MC-80a Star Cruiser:
    • Hyper 1 → 2
  • Modular Taskforce CRuiser:
    • Hyper 2 → 3
       
• Frigates
  • Ardent-Class:
    • Hyper 3 → 4
    • Sublight  50 → 60
  • Arquitens-class:
    • Hyper 3 → 5
    • Sublight 30 → 50
  • Belarus-Class Medium Carrier:
    • Hyper 3 → 4
  • Belarus-class Medium Cruiser:
    • Hyper 3 → 4
    • Sublight 20 → 40
  • C-9979 Landing Craft:
    • Hyper 2 → 3
    • Sublight 25 → 50
    • Sensors 1 → 4
  • Carrack/I-Class Light Cruiser:
    • Hyper 4 → 5
    • Sublight 20 → 50
  • Carrack/S-Class Light Cruiser:
    • Hyper 4 → 5
    • Sublight 20 → 50
  • Corona-Class Frigate:
    • Hyper 3 → 4
  • EF65 Meridian-Class Frigate:
    • Hyper 4 → 5
  • EF76 Nebulon-B Medical Frigate:
    • Hyper 2 → 5
    • Sublight 20 → 50
    • Length 600 → 300m
    • Volume Capacity 10,000 → 42,000
  • Guardian-Class Medium Cruiser:
    • Hyper 3 → 4
    • Sublight  20 → 40
  • Hammerhead-class Cruiser:
    • Hyper 2 → 5
    • Sublight 30 → 50
  • Kaloth-Class Battlecruiser:
    • Hyper 2 → 4
    • Sublight 20 → 40
  • Lancer-Class Frigate:
    • Hyper 1 → 4
    • Sublight 10 → 50
    • Weight 841,000 → 840,000T
  • Namana-Class Light Cruiser:
    • Hyper 3 → 4
    • Sublight 30 → 50
  • Neutron Star-class Bulk Cruiser:
    • Hyper 2 → 4
    • Sublight 10 → 30
  • Nova-Class Battlecruiser:
    • Hyper 4 → 5
    • Sublight 30 → 40
  • Pelta-class Frigate:
    • Hyper 3 → 4
    • Sublight 30 → 50
  • Sabaoth Destroyer:
    • Hyper 3 → 4
    • Sublight 30 → 40
  • Star Galleon-Class Frigate:
    • Hyper 2 → 4
    • Sublight 10 → 50
    • Sensors 1 → 4
    • Weight 85,832 → 100,000T
  • Ton-Falk-Class Escort Carrier:
    • Hyper 3 → 4
    • Sublight 40 → 50
       
• Corvettes
  • Adz-class Patrol Destroyer:
    • Hyper 3 → 5
    • Weight 219,996 → 220,000T
  • Bayonet-class Light Cruiser:
    • Sublight 20 → 50
  • Braha'tok-class Gunship:
    • Hyper 2 → 5
  • Consular-class Cruiser:
    • Hyper 2 → 6
    • Sublight 55 → 65
    • Weight 3,358 → 4,000T
    • Volume 23,358 → 25,500m³
  • CR-90 Corvette:
    • Hyper 2 → 5
  • CR-90 Assassin-class Corvette:
    • Hyper 2 → 5
  • Crusader-class Corvette:
    • Hyper 4 → 5
    • Volume 154,271 → 175,000m³
  • Defender-class Light Corvette:
    • Hyper 5 → 6
  • Discril-class Attack Cruiser:
    • Hyper 4 →5
    • Sublight 40 → 65
  • DP-20a Gunship:
    • Hyper 2 → 6
    • Sublight 50 → 70
  • DP-20b Gunship:
    • Hyper 2 → 5
    • Sublight 50 → 60
  • DP-20c Gunship:
    • Hyper 2 → 5
  • Fairwind-class Gunship:
    • Hyper 3 → 4
    • Sublight 30 → 60
  • Foray-class Blockade Runner:
    • Hyper 2 → 5
    • Sublight 55 → 70
  • Gozanti-class Cruiser:
    • Hyper 3 → 6
    • Sublight 40 → 55
    • Weight 4,281 → 4,500T
    • Volume 36,775 → 45,000m³
  • IPV-1 System Patrol Craft:
    • Sublight 60 → 75
  • KR-4B Luxury Star Cruiser:
    • Hyper 2 → 4
  • Marauder-class Corvette:
    • Hyper 1 → 5
    • Sublight 40 → 60
    • Weight 18,000 → 20,000T
  • MC-30b Corvette:
    • Hyper 4 → 5
    • Sublight 40 → 60
    • Weight 13,962 → 15,000T
  • PB-950 Patrol Boat:
    • Hyper 3 → 5
    • Sublight 30 → 50
    • Weight 10,501 → 11,000T
  • Pirate Interceptor Frigate:
    • Hyper 3 → 5
  • Raider-class Missile Corvette:
    • Hyper 3 → 5
    • Sublight 50 → 70
    • Weight 15,704 → 16,000T
    • Volume 155,299 → 168,000m³
  • Sphyrna-class Corvette:
    • Hyper 4 → 5
    • Sublight 40 → 60
    • Shields 1,099 → 1,100
    • Volume 102,000 →,125,000m³
  • YV-666 Light Freighter:
    • Hyper 4 → 6
    • Sublight 40 → 60
       
• Fighers/Bombers
  • A/SF-01 B-wing Starfighter:
    • Sublight 40 → 50
    • Weight 91 → 100T
    • Volume 912 → 950m³
  • Alpha-class Xg-1 Star Wing:
    • Sublight 40 → 50
    • Volume 740 → 745m³
  • BTL-S3 Y-wing Starfighter:
    • Sublight 50→ 55
    • Volume 743 → 745m³
  • Hetrinar Assault Bomber:
    • Sublight 45 → 60
  • I-Beam:
    • Sublight 50 → 65
  • N-1 Starfighter:
    • Sublight 40 → 50
  • Razor-class Starfighter:
    • Maneuver 5 → 5.25
  • Scarab-Class Droid Starfighter:
    • Sublight 40 → 70
  • Toscan 8-Q Starfighter:
    • Hyper 3 → 4
    • Sublight 40 → 55
  • X-Ceptor Ugly:
    • Sublight 35 → 50
  • Y-Tie Ugly:
    • Sublight 35 → 50
  • Z-95 Headhunter:
    • Sublight 50 → 75
       
• Gunboats 
  • Atlas-class Troop Transport Shuttle:
    • Sublight 50 → 60
    • Weight 386 → 400T
    • Volume 2,939 → 2,950m³
  • D5-Mantis Patrol Craft:
    • Sublight 40 → 65
    • Shields 178 → 179
  • DX-9 Dropship:
    • Hyper 3 → 4
    • Sublight 30 → 55
    • Shields 148 → 152
    • Weight 442 → 450T
    • Volume 2,608 → 2,800m³
  • Firespray-class Interceptor:
    • Sublight 40 → 60
    • Shields 103 → 107
    • Weight 643 → 650T
  • Gamma Assault Shuttle:
    • Hyper 1 → 5
    • Sublight 50 → 65
    • Shields 263 → 264
    • Weight 1,189 → 1,200T
    • Volume 14,301 → 15,850m³
  • GAT-12h Skipray Blastboat:
    • Hyper 4 → 6
    • Sublight 60 → 70
  • JumpMaster 5000:
    • Hyper 4 → 5
  • Kom'rk-class Transport:
    • Hyper 3 → 5
    • Sublight 40 → 55
    • Shields 129 → 137
    • Weight 433 → 450T
    • Volume 2,429 → 2,450m³
  • Muurian Transport:
    • Hyper 4 → 5
  • Pelagia Duplex Command Assault Gunship:
    • Hyper 3 → 4
    • Weight 387 → 400
  • Zeta-Class Long Range Shuttle:
    • Hyper 2 →5
    • Sublight 50 → 60
    • Shields 214 → 218
    • Volume 2,947 → 3,300

The rules pages for each of these ships is live, and the individual stats for your ships should update by tomorrow. Please feel free to thank Redjon Mirrabel, Dex Sehrin and Thrall Lothbrok for these wonderful changes. As a reminder, we are constantly watching combat and how it plays out. We are still taking feedback about entity stats (mainly ships) and are working on Capital Ships and above for an overall balance pass prior to being enabled for combat. 

Support Ticket Link

- Everyone's favourite Jawa T`uk now has Medium Strike Quests available. They are unlocked after completing his Easy Strike Quests 5 times.
- Improvements to the process for applying Custom Room Decals (CP Exchange -> Apply Custom Room Decal). You can now rotate (some) decals and in general it now requires less clicking.
- Equipment screen now shows item cargo containers with corner overlay.
- Fix missing quest crash.

- Factions can only change their name once per day.
- Subfactions can now pay salaries.
- Fixed an issue with invalid discord notifications being sent.
- Fixed an issue where droids would not show their capture immunity icon.
- Optimized parties/combat checks for scanner screen.

As part of an update to ship mobility stats(yes that includes your slow frigates), we're in the process of updating ship stats. The process is slightly longer than we expected it to be, so It'll probably be finished tomorrow. For now, explore the rules pages as you wish, pay no attention to the fact that some of your ships state they're modded, and expect a full rundown tomorrow.

And before many of you get too worried, the vast majority of the changes are increasing hyper and/or sublight speed for ships. 

EDIT: Sorry folks, I got hit with some OOC stuff today and the stat revision is not gonna make the cut today.

Rules changes:
- Movement 2.2/Sun & Black Hole Damage rules were updated to reflect bombers being destroyed when sunning or black holing
- Spying & Sabotage rules now include a blurb about capture with regards to PVP zones
- Ship Capture rules now references both ELBs and Computer Spikes
- Locks and Keys rules now mention computer spikes
- Bounty Hunting rules now replace mentions of "Paramilitary factions" with "factions with the paramilitary faction module"
- Creature HP rules now indicate creature HP is rounded, per SWC code
- Custom Image rules now indicate cybernetics may have custom images applied after installation
- Space Combat rules now indicate that bandits use reinforced doors, not blast doors
- Combine Points rules got a facelift and go into more detail about what you can spend CPs on
- NPC rules better describe how skill points are generated/allocated, and the characteristics section was relocated to a more appropriate area
- Subfaction rules have been updated to no longer reflect that only SWC Admins may create subfactions.
- Life and Death rules now indicate that a player inside the tutorial system may not drop their character
- Missions and Quests 2.3/Restricted Quests rules have an Action column to match other sections and reduce confusion
- Movement 4.1/Ground Movement Calculations rules have been changed so that the maximum ship speed no longer refers to itself as vehicles
- Rooms rules now indicate that storage rooms may be used to house ship parts for field repairs
- Bait Usage description now more accurately clarifies how bait is used
- Warlord Heavy Cruiser description had a minor typo correction

Bugfixes:
- Fixed an issue with poisoned weapons being duplicated during combat.
- Fixed an issue with force rage application being duplicated during combat.
- Fixed an issue with the new salvage class ships not having wreck images.
- Made the tactics selector use pointer cursor.

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.

Falcon EDIT Y26 D327: An issue was identified that prevented loot from spawning inside the salvage-class ships after bandits had their life force relieved from them. This has been fixed and all salvage-class ships (that spawn after this sim news) eligible for loot spawns will now drop loot.

=====

Bandits have recently discovered more ways to smash ships together in the form of Salvage-class Ships! You can find a snippet of their image rules on the Custom Images Rules Page.

The intent behind these ships is to bring an averagely-statted ship from most categories into play and give the players some artistic liberty with bringing their Ugly-type ship fantasies to life. We look forward to seeing your best (and worst) amalgamations of Uglies. Players are free to create any Ugly-type concotion of ships they like (so long as they fit within the Custom Image rules), but the stats/room maps will NOT change to represent the image(i.e. if you have a gunboat with 4 quad lasers depicted, the Salvage-class Gunboat will remain with its standard loadout of 2 Heavy Lasers / 1 Ion Cannon).

Salvage-class ships can be found and captured in normal bandit spawns, and their spawn chance can be found on the Space Bandits Rules Page. Many of the bandit ship spawn rates have been changed as a result of adding new ships into the mix, but they should be pretty close to their original values (+/- ~2.5%).

Furthermore, the exact Salvage-class ship type stats can be found on their prospective rules pages below:

• Salvage-class Fighter
• Salvage-class Gunboat
• Salvage-class Light Freighter
• Salvage-class Heavy Freighter
• Salvage-class Corvette

As always, if you need assistance, you can reach out to us on Discord or by submitting a support ticket.

Year 27 Day 33, 11:10 Noctis banned player Inquiz Warder providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Year 27 Day 33, 11:10 Noctis banned player Jasper Jervada providing the following reason: Multi Ban

 Oldest account may request an unban after 7 days.  

Y27D25, 20:29
Kodkod banned player Malcolm Marrz Blaine providing the following reason: Harassment

This player has received a strike 1 ban before, making this a strike 2 ban (1 month).  Player can submit a ticket in one month to request unban. 
 

Additionally, as a public service announcement, Discord has a block feature which you can use if you want someone to be prevented from sending you DM's.

Year 27 Day 10, 16:49 Noctis banned player Repok Spiuar providing the following reason: Multi Ban.

Year 27 Day 10, 16:49 Noctis banned player Crale Groman providing the following reason: Multi Ban.

Multiple accounts being controlled by a single person.  Remember, only 1 account per person.

Oldest account can request an unban in 7 days.

Year 26 Day 350, 7:09 Noctis banned player Jann Celtru providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Year 26 Day 350, 7:09 Noctis banned player Sogan de Celanon providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Oldest account can submit a help ticket to request an unban after 7 days.

It is with a sad heart that I relay to you all that we've received news of Rick Bender's OOC passing. Rick was a member of the SWC community for over 17 years, and greatly contributed his time and efforts into helping make the descriptions of many of your planets and entities better over the years. Although a portion of Rick's personality was considered controversial at times, we still thank him for his contributions and wish his family and friends well. 

Noctis banned player Scylla Dracolyth providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Noctis banned player Zeb Bardak providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Noctis banned player Ommol Stark providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Permanent ban for continuing to create new accounts.

Year 26 Day 267, 12:50 Noctis banned player Soloman Barris providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Year 26 Day 267, 12:50 Noctis banned player Bradar Skylancer providing the following reason: Multi Ban

EDIT

Year 26 Day 267, 16:01 Noctis banned player Robert Gestahl providing the following reason: Multi Ban

EDIT again

Year 26 Day 267, 18:59 Noctis banned player Rel Dalgas providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Submit a help ticket in a year or so.

Year 26 Day 239, 5:50 Noctis banned player Ketha Herm providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Permanent ban is still permanent.  

Year 18 Day 343, 23:59 Baugrems banned player Tribata Vahni providing the following reason: Multi Ban
Year 18 Day 343, 23:59 Baugrems banned player Linett Suarvi providing the following reason: Multi Ban
Year 24 Day 44, 10:15 MoleRat banned player Addison Fallon providing the following reason: Multi Ban - Previously banned illegal multi - Use your original account.
Year 25 Day 121, 15:33 Platypus banned player Shandrila Varkesha providing the following reason: Multi Ban - Previously banned illegal multi - permanent
Year 25 Day 121, 15:33 Platypus banned player Kieran Chro providing the following reason: Multi Ban - Previously banned illegal multi - permanent

Year 26 Day 238, 7:00 Noctis banned player Mack Patterson providing the following reason: OOC Threats

Player can submit a help ticket or reach out on Discord to request an unban after 7 days.  

Hi folks, me again.

I just finished an investigation into the capture of Dane Star, and concluding discussion amongst staff members, we are reversing the capture. Dane has been teleported back to safety, along with any relevant assets. This capture was done prior to the reversal of Erik Rebulas, however, the precedence was set, and this capture was also found to violate the rules. Everyone involved has been very cooperative about the situation and willing to assist in whatever way was necessary. As such, I am giving Taranjeek O`Cuinn a Strike 0 (instead of what would normally be Strike 1) for the illegal capture. As a reminder, this is simply a note on your account stating what happened and expires one year after issuance and comes with no bans.

All questions about this matter may be directed to myself via Darkness Message, Discord, or Support ticket.

Good day to you all,

I recently concluded an investigation into the capture of Erik Rebulas, and made the decision to reverse it. This was because of the longstanding rule we have had in place regarding PvP zones and capture, where we don't allow it. The idea behind this rule is that Combat as a whole is considered to be in its beta phase of testing right now in limited areas(and to that degree, you could consider Showdowns an Alpha version to some degree). We want to encourage maximum participation (or rather, to discourage minimal participation) in combat features, as we take the feedback gained from newly released features in combat zones and apply them to the final product that will eventually be released. When you enter a PvP zone, we do not want you to have any fear of being captured, and as such have determined that it is not allowed.

Now, I had someone reach out to me about a week and a half ago asking whether only the physical PvP Zone is off limits for capture or if it was more inclusive. The physical locations where PvP takes place have always been off limits up to this point, but I also made the clarification that the spirit of the PvP zone is also off limits. What does this mean, though? If you are planning an operation with someone, and you encourage them (anywhere in the galaxy) to use your personal ships, only to then capture the member, this is a violation of the PvP rules because the member in question believed they were boarding someone else's ships in order to participate in a PvP operation. 

This is what happened in the case of Erik Rebulas. He was captured under the pretense that he would be participating in a PvP operation, only to be captured. While Erik did drop, and we offered to revive his character, he had unfortunately already made a new handle, and so we were unable to revive Erik himself. However, Erik now exists under the handle Asep Shadowscale (he allowed me to include his new handle in this post) and any business dealings you had with Erik, you may continue to have with Asep. We consider them to be the same character at this time, albeit with a new name and authorize him to act under a continuation of his former character. We have also returned Erik to a ship of his choice, reversed any assets he lost (to the market as well as any automatically sent upon his death), reset his level and previous skills. 

In addition, I am giving Alorxlan Palabar a Strike 0 for illegally capturing Erik. I reduced this from what would originally be a Strike 1, due to his willingness to cooperate with the investigation, his understanding of the events, as well as the initial communication I had with the parties involved which I believe played a part in miscommunication leading to the events that transpired. As a reminder a Strike 0 is only considered to be an official warning, and comes with no ban. 

Finally, expect the Spying and Sabotage rules page to be updated shortly to include a bit about PvP zones. Thank you all for your time, and as always if you have any questions/concerns, you can reach out to an Asim/Admin or by submitting a Support Ticket.

Hopefully many of your will be aware that a whacky scientist is developing a new droid in the Black Hole of Quintas system, and with your help, has even managed to develop a working Prototype!

At this stage I would like to clarify this community quest and how it works. 

After completing the Abandoned Research Installation quest in The Maw, the player is given a set of Unfinished Blueprints. These blueprints are a small part of a larger design, and can be donated to the Scientist aboard the station in the Black Hole of Quitnas system, to generate Research Points. The amount of points gained toward the community goal is proportional to your average R&D skills, so higher R&D skills equal more points! At this stage enough points have been generated to release the Prototype Droid. Any character which donates blueprints is able to redeem a single-use DC for the Prototype Droid by speaking to the scientist in the Black Hole of Quintas system.. This DC will be redeemable for up to three months after the total arc has finished, and can be redeemd by any character which has participated at any point during the event.  Once enough points have been generated, this arc will conclude with a brand new generic datacard added to the pool. 

Once you have donated your blueprints, you will also have the option to donate credits toward the research effort. This option is available once per week, and the cost will increase each time. The amount of research points generated remains tied to your R&D skills. 

You can find some more information about the location of the quests here

EDIT: The race is now closed, winners are being verified, and results will be posted shortly, along with prize winnings! 

After having carefully reviewed the contestants' events, and verifying the integrity of the results, I am pleased to announce the winners!

1. 1st place: Lorenzas Atticus - 7,214 Minutes
2. 2nd Place: Rall Dack - 7,266 Minutes
3. 3rd Place: Regulus Jagarnat - 7,299 Minutes
4. 4th Place: Akeeg Viawei - 7,314 Minutes
5. 5th Place: Jarneskeg Yrfeloran - 7,331 Minutes

The prize pool came to a total of: 1,620,000,000 credits, and as such, our top 5 winners will win the following amounts:

1. 1st place (50%) = 810,000,000 credits
2. 2nd place (25%) = 405,000,000 credits
3. 3rd place (15%) = 243,000,000 credits
4. 4th place (7%) = 113,400,000 credits
5. 5th place (3%) = 48,600,000 credits

Thank you to everyone who participated! I hope you all had as much fun participating in this as we had watching you!

___________________________________________
Edit: I've been made aware of a bug which can result in the checkpoint event being sent prematurely within the same star system. We are looking into a fix, but in the mean time: If this happens to you, please continue on to the correct checkpoint sublight location before setting course for the next checkpoint. Cheaters will not be rewarded. Thank you to those who have come forward. 

Edit2: The leaderboard and prize pot and now viewable on the Datapad.

It's a Christmas disaster! Chiss Chingle has gone missing, and the winter helpers need your help to save Christmas!

The key to saving Christmas is going to be speed this year. So grab your fastest non-modified* ship (No A-Wings allowed either!) and head over to the Winter Colony Station in Tynnani if you're feeling lucky**. There are no other specific gear requirements.

The event will take approximately seven days from the point it is "accepted", depending on the speed of your ship. It must be completed before Christmas Day. Plan accordingly, and pay attention to what the helpers tell you!

*Modified ship refers to any ship with the modified flag, regardless of the actual modified stat.

**You will need 5 million credits, and the knowledge that you may not get it back. 

Final Update: You will no longer be able to accept any quest from Dr Bram Pyre. Any quests which have been accepted prior to the cut off may be still completed as usual. Be aware that each quest will time out after two weeks from the point it was accepted. Thank you for participating and we hope you enjoyed this year's halloween event!

Hold on to your pumpkin spice lattes, because spooky season is upon us and something strange is afoot!

Intrepid pilots have reported sighting a peculiar and quite agitated Devaronian in the entrance rooms of Trading I and Trading II stations across the Galaxy. The reports suggest that he is a scientist of sorts, but it's not entirely clear why he's so upset - maybe you could figure it out?

Happy Halloween!

*With thanks to Clarr for doing like 90% of the work on this year's Halloween event!

Edit: If taking part in these quests, it would be wise to prepare for room combat. The quests will be active for the next 2 weeks!

Edit2: In approximately one week from now, you will no longer be able to accept any quest from Dr Bram Pyre. Any quests which have been accepted prior to the cut off may be still completed as usual. Be aware that each quest will time out after two weeks from the point it was accepted.

Edit3: Consider this your 24 hour warning. 

Greetings everyone,

As you may have seen the GNS Flash News just now, a new System has just been found! Your SWC Teams have been hard at work these past 2 weeks crafting a special memorial for our fallen players. We would like to present for you, the following additions:

• New System: Makem
• New Planet: Makem Te
• New City: Thousand Thousand
  • Inspiration reference: (LINK)
• New City: Tract of Makem Te (MAIN FACILITY) -- located at (9, 8)
  • There are Tracts fom (9, 5) to (12, 11) on the planet. However, for now, only the main facility is in use. The rest of the Tracts are visible, however the Swokes Swokes ask that all visitors remain at the main facility at this time.
• New 20x20 Facility: Tract of Makem Te
• New Item(Trophy): Memorial
  • The intent behind this is to be used by SWC Administration in the same room as a character who is moved inside the Tract and will note the date they joined SWC as well as their final login date. Players are encouraged to make their own memorials as custom items and leave them at the character's final resting place, should they so choose. 

In Legends, the Tract of Makem Te was where members of the Swokes Swokes race were buried when they died. The tract was vast and covered an enormous portion of the planet's surface. In our community, we are using it to honor our members who have passed away OOC and are no longer with us. 
Inside the Tract's entrance, you will find an NPC named Sepul Sepul Kurr. He is available to give you information about the Tract, the members inside the Tract, and to help you arrange funeral services for yourself(via a very generous donation) or for others. You may use Sepul Sepul Kurr to notify the Administration of a death in this way, and it will send a DM directly to us. 

I'd like to give a huge shoutout to the following individuals who expedited this process:

• Kolomon Seph: Art
• Wynk Waawat: Sepul Sepul Kurr Script
• Raptor Cardel: Descriptions
• Clarr Solo: Initial Idea

Through their quick work, we were able to knock this out in just about a week.

Finally, we'd like to issue a call-out to the SWC community at large: If you know someone who has passed away OOC and would like their character moved to the Tract, please contact me directly to arrange movement to their own room. (Please don't spam this DM like you normally would, I'd like to filter the noise on this one)

That's all for this announcement. Thanks for tuning in. (SUPPORT LINK)

Right, First and foremost I just want to thank everyone for their continued feedback. I would like to remind everyone that my previous Sim News announcement about Permadeath and Global Combat was not intended as a message that "we're moving forward with these features so screw you all", or that we're just gonna yeet these features into existence. The purpose of the announcement was also not to relay a completely laid out plan. Rather, the point of my announcement was to help give some relief from features that may be or have been released suddenly and with limited reminders/warning. Global Combat and Permadeath (in whatever form it ends up being) are not small features. They are major features with subfeatures that have sub-sub-features. We as an Administration, Dev Team, and the rest of us working on this game in some sort of capacity owe it to you, the players who stay here with us, to give you an idea of where things are headed, and that's what I was trying to do with the announcement. 

Now, I've read every single post in the Forum Thread designated to this discussion, and there's been some excellent feedback. Based on the feedback we've seen, know that some of this next part may be vague (and that's intentional while we work out the specifics), but the key points that I've taken away from this forum so far are that:

- Safe Zones of some sort are absolutely necessary, and as such will likely be implemented using Quest/Darkness controlled planets and/or systems. 

- Many of you are scared of dying in your sleep/on vacation/at work, etc. so I want to reassure you all that I do not intend to release global combat in a condition where this is possible without preventive measures. Telling you all "just hide, gosh" is out of touch, and unwarranted(and particularly crass, and.. wait this isn't the copypasta..). We will introduce mechanics to prevent you (in some way) from being attacked when you're not ready. I don't know specifically what will be implemented yet, but we've gotten some great ideas and are toying with a few of them to see what's best.

- Many of you are worried about losing your things, and to that I don't have much to say except that while we will try to preserve assets with genuine historic SWC value, most of the entities in the game are expendable and not of historic value. What good does having 1,387 ships do you if you are not (and litereally cannot) use them? Why amass a fleet if you have no intention of keeping your hoard/territory safe? I understand that's a semi-hot take and not everyone will (or has to) agree with me on this, but the majority of this Administration believes that owning assets and not doing anything with them is not entirely in line with the intended spirit of this game. That being said, we are exploring ways to save SOME (not all) of your assets/credits upon death, likely in tandem with cloning.

- Many of you are interested in the technology of clones. I wil be the first to admit, the last time we discussed the proposition, I was inherently against it. I thought it served no purpose in this game and would just be abused. However, we are exploring ways to implement it (properly and at a level that everyone can achieve while retaining some amount of risk).

I think I had more to say, but that's it for now. Thank you all for your patience, understanding, and feedback. PLEASE keep the feedback coming. It's exceptional to hear from so many of you, and many of you have decent enough ideas for consideration. 

Big birb out.

Ladies and gentlebirbs,

They keep letting me near the Sim News, so I keep posting!

Deathmatch has been updated, as have the grudge matches. Enjoy!

Hello everyone, having come back from a brush with IRL permadeath, I would like to try rewarding the grim reaper by doing something with SWC permadeath. The main stumbling block is that we do not appear to have a consensus on whether to go towards the light or run away from it.

Therefore I am launching this survey in order that the SWC community may express its hopes, dreams and wishes as we continue to approach global combat. May the future ever be filled with violence and destruction in this universe, which literally has Wars in its name.

Click here for survey

If you have questions, feel free to hit me up in DMs. Or submit a support ticket.

Edit: The survey will remain open for a week and be closed around D246. Results may be published shortly after that point. 

Edit2: 544 responses so far. There are still three days until I close this. 

The survey has been closed. Stand by for results.

=====

FALCON EDIT Y26 D328: I am not sure what happened with the posting of these results, but since many of you assume (incorrectly) that we are hiding these results for any number of reasons that have been imagined, here is a direct link to the survey results:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tsZ_eKsxT_bLxPcC2594SZoezSEG07xMKgWe0gzWsVI/edit?usp=sharing

and for those of you who don't like clicking links, below are the results copied from the google doc:

Please do with this information what you will.

Oversight on the release of the quest.  With the Strike Quests bandits will now be able to spawn in Deep Space and Asteroid Fields.  No stations may be present at the location and no existing hostile bandits can be present for this to occur. 

What does this mean for you?  Ships considered safely tucked away from central locations will now be able to be attacked should bandits be spawned there.

Any questions, please reach out to Kodkod or Koi.

Hello! Your favourite (only) quest team director just checking in with some exciting updates to the "Kill Space Bandits" quest.

• Dooka Shop "availability roll" has been removed - players will now be shown a flat three purchase options per week - this will be effective from the next weekly roll. 
• Relative rarities of stock has been adjusted - rarer entities are now between 1.5 and 3x more likely to appear. 
• M'uk, T'uk, L'uk have expanded their enterprises and can now be found inside Recycling Plants

As always, we endeavour to get every release spot on -- but as many of you pointed out, there were a few tweaks that needed to be made here. The purpose of the "availability roll" was to add a dynamic and random element, but it's clear that this missed the mark. Thank you for your feedback and your patience.

Recap on Dooka Shop mechanics:

• The shop will rotate it's stock every seven days.
• Each week, each player will be given three purchase options, unique to that player.
• Each player can purchase any, all, or none of these options.
• Each player may only purchase each option once.

And it's fresh! Just like this tournament!

To start with the mandatory pre-tournament orientation, please click here.

With that out of the way, let me tell you things.

First, it starts on 4/11 or Y26 D137(ish). Sign ups close 4/4 or Y26 D130(ish). Yes, I could have made a 4/20 joke but I didn't. We'll have time for that later, trust me.

Secondly, here are the prizes since I know you all like free things. If you make it to a prize tier, remember that you can also choose to get a prize from any lower tier. (1st place can pick anything on the list, 2nd place can pick anything except 1st and so on).

1st:
1 x Ardent DC
1 x CR-92 DC
1 x Acclamator DC

2nd:
1 x Kom'rk Class Transport
1 x Xanadu-class Superyacht
1 x Spirit-Class MSA1
50m Credits

3rd:
1 x Tri-Mark
1 x Nu-Class Attack Shuttle
1 x ETA-class Shuttle
25m Credits

4th:
1 x YT-1210
1 x Dynamic Class Freighter
1 x JX40 Jailspeeder
10m Credits

Knockout Participants:
1 x ETA-5
1 x BARC Speeder
1 x BTL-A4 Y-wing Longprobe
5m Credits

Everyone:
1 x CK-6 Swoop Bike DC
1 x HWK-290 Light Freighter DC
1 x R0-L0

Is the prize tier list balanced? IDK man. I'm a goat pretending to be a man who is really three jawas in a trenchcoat behind a keyboard. I'm in it for lulz, not sanity.

Some other neat links

The rule updates

Definitely not this discord

This sign up sheet

The bracket

Remember to thank Noctis. If you don't, I will know and I will find you. D:<

The schedule with captain names

Also, keep a lookout for the blue flashing icon as I modify this post with more information.

Edit 1 - Chupa can't combine time and failed hard. Be sure to ping him relentlessly on discord and laugh at him for his mistake.

Edit 2 - Rules have been updated. Big changes. Be sure to read carefully. You will notice increased madness and a changed prize due to popular request. Enjoy!

Edit 3 - Sign ups are closed. I hope you remembered a towel!

Edit 4 and 5 - The schedule is posted. Also, I recommend using a tool like this one here to help you find a better time to bash rather than wait until the last minute.

Ayeta! A highly legitimate businessjawa of the clan L'uk has appeared on board Recycling I, Recycling II, Recycling III, and Recycling IV type space stations. L'uk sells a variety of rare and not-so-rare products which can only be purchased with the elusive Dooka.

• The shop will rotate every seven days.
• Each player will be given a list of between one and three potential purchase options.
• The exact number of options presented may change between shop rotations. 
• Each player can purchase any, all, or none of these options.
• Each player may only purchase each option once.

Happy shopping!

Hello everyone!

I’ve got some exciting updates to share with you all about some changes on the team!

First off, Thank you to Erek for announcing that I’ve been promoted to Game Admin! Over the past several months (...perhaps longer), I’ve been working closely with the Dev and Quest Teams while balancing the support side of my Asim duties. Now, I’ll be joining Kyle (RIP), Arjuna, and Erek (Supes/Superman) on the Admin team! Arjuna will continue handling Galaxy Direction, Erek will focus on Game Design, Kyle will continue to be MIA, and I’ll be taking on the role of Implementation Director. I’ll still be closely involved with the Dev and Quest Teams, just as I have been, and I’m always here to help with support issues if needed, but otherwise the Asims are in excellent hands with Noctis, Chupa, Kodkod, and Koi at the helm, so feel free to reach out to them as well! You can find the full list of team members on the Team Members Page.

Along with this new role, I’ll be helping to develop and refine a Dev Roadmap for public release. This roadmap will outline our long-term goals and the steps we’re taking to get there, as well as answer any questions the dev team has about the way forward. Once it’s finalized, we’ll share it via Sim News so you’ll know exactly what to expect in the future.

Lastly, a quick heads-up about some upcoming changes to Ships and Stations. We’re almost ready to finalize these updates, but since they’ll impact RM costs(including the long awaited introduction of Nova to stations with concussions or porton-torpedoes), we want to make sure you have enough time to prepare. Consider this your (no less than)2-week notice that RM costs for Ships and Stations will change for any constructions after the stats update. Weapons and Damage Modifiers will likely be changing this weekend. The finalized list isn’t ready yet, but once it is, I’ll share it with you in a detailed Sim News post. Some RM costs will increase, some will decrease, and the same goes for RMP. If you’re concerned about the changes, I recommend boosting your stockpiles by about 25% for stations and 10% for ships.

[Edit to add that we will be removing some med rooms from the CR-92 Battle Corvette, Nova-class Battlecruiser, Kandosii, ISD, Battle Dragon, Acclamator, Home One, and SSD to bring us in line with the R&D Master Plan.]

That’s all for now! A huge thanks to everyone in the SWC Administration, past and present, for their support in getting me to this point. It’s a pleasure to serve this amazing community, and I’m always open to your feedback on how we can keep improving.

As always, if you have any questions or need support, don’t hesitate to reach out on our Discord Server or by Submitting a Support Ticket.

Thanks!