We're fightin' the bandits
But still they do well
And maybe they'll shoot back
Or run, who can tell?
I guess there is no one to blame
Except the devs ('cept the devs)
Will things ever be the same again?

It's the final countdown
The final countdown

In 48 hours (2 days), bandit shoot you!

It's the first sync of Year 23! Guess what that means...

...yeah, poison got nerfed a bit. The previous implementation, doing damage as a percentage for Max HP, was ridiculously overpowered against strong targets. The updated rules for poison can be found in the usual location but TL;DR for combat applications, the damage per hour is derived from the max damage of the weapon which applied the poison, and the amount of damage done is capped.

EDIT: After reviewing some stats and looking at weapon vs creature effects, the following changes to poison parameters have been applied (the rules page should reflect):

• Max duration: 24 => 36 hours
• Hard damage cap: 500 => 800 HP
• Percent of Max HP total damage cap: 25% => 30%
• Percent of Max HP per-hour damage cap: 5% => 10%

Stay tuned for further feature release news and other news over the next month as we celebrate the New Year and move into Y23!

There have (understandably) been a number of questions that have popped up in the last few days about the new Hostile AI. This should hopefully answer the most common ones.

Q: Will space bandits spawn outside of deep space asteroid fields now?

A: No. This update only changes the behavior of bandits (ground and space) once they have spawned. This sync did not change how or where bandits spawn.

Q: Will space bandits attack my mining depot/asteroid hideout/Y-8s?

A: No. This update did not make any changes to the types of entities allowed in combat (i.e. stations are still not part of combat) nor to the classes of entities allowed in combat (i.e. heavy freighters are still not part of combat... for now). The same is true for ground combat.

Q: Will space bandits attack player-owned ships, and will the ships defend themselves, with or without a pilot present?

A: Yes. Any ship that is capable of combat and owned by a player (character or faction) is a fair target, regardless of whether they are piloted or not. Unpiloted ships will defend themselves during a combat round. The same is true for ground bandits; any NPC or Droid or Creature that is owned by a player (character or faction) is a fair target for ground bandits and creatures.

Q: Does this mean that players can attack me anywhere now?

A: No. This is only a change to Hostile-owned creatures and bandits. There are no changes to the areas where PvP is possible at this time.

Q: Why did the bandit do this?

A: We are not answering any questions or revealing any design details of how or why the AI decides to take a particular action, outside of the general descriptions on the rules pages here and here.

• Removed Breathing Mask Refills and converted all existing items into Breathing Masks
• Fixed bug with Bandit Capture that didn't clear AI, causing unintended actions from player-owned ships
• Added new Inventory Filter for "Location Type"

Just a friendly reminder that PvE aggression from hostile forces (ground bandits, creatures, and space bandits) will be enabled in a matter of days or weeks. This upcoming change has been communicated through Sim News multiple times in the last three months (it was first posted on Y22 D248, for those of you who are counting). This is NOT a Soon(tm) situtation and it is not April 1st!

Once the AI finishes Open Beta testing on the combat worlds (Derra, Serroco, and Kowak) and in Exhibitions, there will be ONE final announcement with at least 48 hours (2 days) of warning. All betas have discoveries, but things are running relatively smoothly right now. Due to the upcoming holiday in the US, this final countdown warning will not occur any earlier than one week (7 days) from today. This means that you are only guaranteed NINE more days of protection for your assets from hostile forces, effective immediately. If you have not heeded the warning over the last three months and have left your droids, creatures, NPCs, or (for space bandits) ships and satellites strewn across the galaxy, this is your last chance to grab your most precious assets and get them to safety.

The adminstration is not liable for losses which occur due to hostile action and will not be issuing replacements or refunds. Please secure your assets immediately if you have left them in a vulnerable position.

The creatures and unsavory NPC sorts throughout the galaxy have been taking their smart pills, and are now under the control of a more advanced "AI" to drive their actions. The galaxy-wide aggression has NOT yet been enabled.

Bandits and creatures on Derra, Serroco, Kowak, and in Showdown Exhibition matches will respond aggressively while the new AI is beta-tested. We will post a new Sim News when the galaxy-wide aggression is enabled. The timeframe is TBD but expect it in short order if all systems look good during testing.

EDIT: As part of the new AI, creatures no longer have ridiculous ranges and attack from melee range only. You're welcome/I'm sorry.

EDIT 2: There is some work happening on the backend to standardize how actions (travel, combat, medicine, the Force, etc.) interact with each other. As a result, certain oversights from the past have now been corrected in this sync. For example, you may no longer begin piloted travel while training with the Force.

This is official notice that the Breathing Mask Refill item will be retired shortly. The DC owner has been notified. If you have an assigned DC, please contact the DC owner.

The refill functionality is being removed entirely; Breathing Masks will not need uses or refills to be functional. All existing Breathing Mask Refill items will be converted into Breathing Masks.  

The exact time of the change is TBD, but will likely occur sometime this weekend, pending resolution of any DC assignment issues.

As promised, you can now use bait on empty open terrain for a chance at spawning new creatures and/or bandits.

Bait is a new generic datacard (0.5 slots); you can check out the item here: Rules Page

The usage instructions are on the rules page, but in summary:

• On an empty terrain grid, bait has a chance (the same change as entering the square originally) to spawn hostile bandits and creatures.
• Bait is used by interacting with the item.
• Bait can be used once per hour.
• Bait cannot be used inside rooms or in cities.
• Bandits or creatures spawned with bait will cancel the respawn timer.
• Using bait on a square that is not empty will not throw an error, and the bait will still be consumed without doing anything. Make sure the grid is truly empty of hostiles before using bait!

The remaining changes in the sync were all backend improvements, save for one small change to Repair; this action will now kick the repairing entity from its party.

Small update today.

• Ground bandit/creature spawning and persistence has been updated to behave more like Space bandits. Reference the Ground Combat rules.
  • Ground bandits/creatures will persist on the terrain for one week after the last character leaves.
  • If no bandits and/or creatures spawn when terrain is entered, the next spawn attempt is in one week after the last character leaves.
  • If all bandits and/or creatures are killed, the next spawn attempt is one week after the last character leaves.
• No more than one squad of colossal creatures will spawn per terrain grid.
• Gas Giant terrain must now be cleared of hostiles before city construction can begin.

We understand that the changes to bandit and creature spawning may have an impact on those of you who are devoted to hunting. There are additional changes planned (but not ready to discuss in detail yet) that will help offset these changes to spawn rates.  Look for more news on this front in the coming weeks. It's bait. You use it and things come for you to kill. Rules are still in development but this should be a quick development cycle.

EDIT: To further clarify, if there are bandits on a square that someone has left to despawn and a player enters, it will cancel the despawn. If there are no bandits and the respawn timer is running and a player enters, it does not affect the respawn timer.

This post serves as official warning notice of the following upcoming changes:

City Decay

As previously announced here on Y22 D69, paused construction will soon no longer block city decay. A detailed description of the rules and the warning timeline will be released prior to enabling this feature. Regardless of the details, if you have a city with no completed facilities, you are advised to complete at least one facility as soon as possible to avoid any chance of being impacted by this change. The release timeline is being evaluated, but expect this change sometime within the next 1 to 3 weeks.

EDIT: This feature has been released and enabled. Any city which is 90 days old and does not contain at least one completed or actively constructing facility is subject to decay and deletion. The city owner will begin receiving a daily warning when the city is 83 days old, for a total of 7 days. If the situation has not been remedied after that warning period, the city decays and is deleted on the 90th day. All cities which meet this criteria will begin issuing warnings to the owner today.

City Construction

The temporary exception for the hostile forces check on gas terrain (Gas Giants) will be removed soon, but no earlier than 48 hours (2 days) from now. As announced here on Y22 D337, an equipped jetpack or Mandalorian jetpack will allow disembarkment and movement on gas terrain. This is also a reminder that gas terrain is considered a hostile atmosphere; you can review the appropriate survival equipment to mitigate damage here.

Citizens of the Galaxy, if you have never had the opportunity to set foot on Darkness Prime and experience the luscious jungles, pristine oceans, and grasslands teaming with life, now you can! Located onboard all Trading 1 and Trading 2 stations, and inside all powered Starports, a shuttle pilot can instantly transport you to Darkness Prime so you can experience the New Player Tutorial for yourself. There are a few simple rules to be aware of before you begin.

• This is a ONE-TIME offer. Once you have completed the Tutorial, either as a new player, a pre-release beta tester, or by using this shuttle pilot, you will not be able to return to Darkness Prime.
• After you complete the Tutorial, you will NOT be returned to the location from where you departed. You will be experiencing the full Tutorial, so refer to The Guide if you get stuck or have questions about the implications.
• You may not bring any items with you, nor can you bring a party. Please leave them in a safe location before departing. The shuttle pilot will enforce these rules and will not transport you if you are out of compliance.

If you have any questions or issues, please contact an Asim. Enjoy your travels!

As some of you may have noticed, there was a small backend sync yesterday that enabled the display of Combat Roles for all entity types which can currently participate in combat (ships, creatures, droids, and NPCs). The Combat Role for each entity type can be found on the corresponding rules page. Understandably, there have been some questions raised which I will attempt to cover here.

What are Combat Roles?

Combat Roles are pretty much exactly what they sounds like - the role this entity type would most commonly fill during combat. They are generally based on a combination of size (for ships), any special or defining characteristics, and offensive and defensive capability.

Does this mean that I cannot do XYZ with my [ship|creature|droid|NPC] due to its role?

No. Your agency as players remains intact. You are free to do whatever you could before yesterday. Combat Roles are a way to help the AI which drives hostile-owned entities (i.e. bandits) make more logical decisions.

Why is ABC ship listed as [Role A] when it clearly should be [Role B]?

The mapping of entity types to roles is moderately subjective and will be evaluted by developers and admins as stats change and data is gathered. Not all entities are a perfect fit for the available categories and some are placed in a 'closest fit'.

These Roles don't make sense, why don't you just add new Roles to cover [XYZ] niche situation?

There is a fair amount of work that goes on behind the scenes with Combat Roles which will not be detailed publicly. It is not simply a matter of creating a new Role and assigning it. There are no plans to add any new Roles at this time, but this decision is subject to review based on data gathered in the future.

What do Combat Roles mean for me today?

Nothing. They have no effect on the game engine at this time. They will become more relevant when the updated AI is released Soon(tm).

 7 Year 22 Day 356, 17:46

Hawk banned player Taevan Zaldeen providing the following reason: Multi Ban-Yr22 D356 -One account per player. You had been notified. Player can file a support ticket in 21 days to have the original/oldest account reinstated.

 5 Year 22 Day 356, 18:11

Hawk banned player Brian Salazar providing the following reason: Multi Ban-Yr22 D356 -One account per player. You had been notified. Player can file a support ticket in 21 days to have the original/oldest account reinstated.

And due to a third attemp: I have banned Makro Talten and the ban has increased to 2 months.  Contact via support ticket when the timer is up. Not before. 

 1 Year 22 Day 330, 17:19 Falcon banned player Idor Lesgard providing the following reason: Multi Ban

 2 Year 22 Day 330, 17:19 Falcon banned player Bartan DeWalt providing the following reason: Multi Ban

 3 Year 22 Day 330, 17:19 Falcon banned player Lylah Skysek providing the following reason: Multi Ban

__________________________________________________________________________________________

The above players have been banned for 6 months for having illegal multi accounts. After 6 months, Bartan may request an unban by submitting a support ticket. 

 1 Y22D323 22:16 Falcon banned player Hiro Craven providing the following reason: Multi Ban

 2 Y22D323 22:16 Falcon banned player Cordin Siprus providing the following reason: Multi Ban

--

Cordin was previously banned for having multiple accounts and was let off with a light sentence. He has since chosen to make another multi account, and as such has been banned indefinitely. 

He may open a support ticket in the future to request an unban

Forgive me Combine, for I have used the almighty Ban Hammer once more...

 1 Year 22 Day 282, 18:02 Falcon banned player Xac Sug providing the following reason: Multi Ban/Asset Laundering

 2 Year 22 Day 282, 18:02 Falcon banned player Billhec Park providing the following reason: Multi Ban/Asset Laundering

 3 Year 22 Day 282, 18:02 Falcon banned player San Krar providing the following reason: Multi Ban/Asset Laundering

 4 Year 22 Day 282, 18:02 Falcon banned player Kadgur Edar providing the following reason: Multi Ban/Asset Laundering

 5 Year 22 Day 282, 18:02 Falcon banned player Roovan Zi`veri providing the following reason: Multi Ban/Asset Laundering

 6 Year 22 Day 282, 18:02 Falcon banned player Vomak Myo providing the following reason: Multi Ban/Asset Laundering

 7 Year 22 Day 282, 18:02 Falcon banned player Vuks Raa providing the following reason: Multi Ban/Asset Laundering

 8 Year 22 Day 282, 18:00 Falcon banned player Ashara Nashaa providing the following reason: Multi Ban / Asset Laundering

These players have been banned for 3 weeks for sharing assets between them. During our week-long investigation, we found minimal evidence of them being the same individual, so for now they may all individually request an unban after 3 weeks via a Support Ticket. The assets in question will be confiscated and the individuals in question will no longer be allowed to share a connection with another player or register further multis, legal or otherwise. 

Furthermore, the following individuals, while found to be legal registered multis with those above, but not found to be associated in the asset laundering ring will not be banned, but will no longer be allowed to share a connection with the individuals above:
• Damaris Oro
• Wor Baldor
• Chucho Trillby

Finally, I would like to remind everyone that unless you buy assets owned by a previous character at fair market value, then you may not own assets owned by any previous character.

Any questions/comments/concerns can be directed to Syn submitted via a Support Ticket.

Y22/D283 Edit: We have lifted the 3-week ban for Billhec Park, though he must still adhere to the separate connection rule in place for all parties listed above.

Year 22 Day 272, 16:17 Falcon has changed a players handle: Clifton Barnes to Extor Ace.

Handle changed due to breaking name rules. Update the 'ol Rolodex accordingly. When asked for a comment, Extor provided the following statement:

"New name, same personality."

That is all.

Year 22 Day 245, 19:56 Falcon has changed a players handle: Ja Garras Kaos to Ja`Garras Kaos.

Update your rolodex accordingly.

Year 22 Day 189, 22:45 Falcon banned player Marcus Draenor providing the following reason: Bug Exploit

Dear SWC, it has been 25 0 days since the last ban was issued.

Marcus has been banned for 2 weeks for exploiting a bug related to race changes. As a result, it brings me great sadness to inform his family, that unfortunately the Metamorphosis Plague has taken his body over and transformed his to body to that of a mere human. He must spend these next 2 weeks recovering, and when he is ready, may submit a support ticket to request an unban.

Baugrems Edit:

Two week ban for same exploit. If something seems like a problem, report it. Also will be reset back to old race.

Year 22 Day 164, 20:17 Noctis banned player Irdo Vag providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Year 22 Day 164, 20:17 Noctis banned player Raa`hse Nahk providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Accounts under control of a single player.  Previously banned player created new account.

Permanent ban.

Edit: Ban overturned due to clarifying information.  Noctis is newb

2

Year 22 Day 128, 16:43

Baugrems banned player Za Zarzuela Zohan providing the following reason: Multi Ban

3

Year 22 Day 128, 16:43

Baugrems banned player Pierce Woodburn providing the following reason: Multi Ban

As a second multi offense with admited asset laundering and further attempts at asset laundering, there is... very little to be said beyond a permanent ban here. We are happy that the game is enjoyed but follow the rules like everyone else. The Porgicorn still has a hammer!

1 Year 22 Day 112, 12:46 Falcon banned player Dawn Skye providing the following reason: Multi Ban, Asset Laundering

2 Year 22 Day 112, 12:46 Falcon banned player Murdoch Un providing the following reason: Multi Ban, Asset Laundering

3 Year 22 Day 112, 12:46 Falcon banned player Akeno Rei providing the following reason: Multi Ban, Asset Laundering

4 Year 22 Day 112, 12:46 Falcon banned player Atsuko Alucard providing the following reason: Multi Ban, Asset Laundering

5 Year 22 Day 112, 12:46 Falcon banned player Riana Rei providing the following reason: Multi Ban, Asset Laundering

6 Year 22 Day 112, 12:46 Falcon banned player Raziel Rei providing the following reason: Multi Ban, Asset Laundering

Players have been banned for 6 months and assets have been confiscated. The oldest account can request an unban in 6 months by opening a support ticket.

EDIT: Ban has been upgraded to permanent for continued attempts to bypass the initial ban

EDIT 2: Year 22 Day 125, 3:31 Falcon banned player Ravel Rei providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Falcon banned player Aurra Sevanna providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Added Ravel Rei and Aurra Sevanna to the list.

1 Y22D92 13:19 Falcon banned player Haydanus Mortis providing the following reason: Multi Ban

2 Y22D92 13:19 Falcon banned player Gorhorn Grognar providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Player created a new account to bypass dropping and recreating. The original account can request an unban in 2 months, after which they are free to drop and recreate if they wish.

Y22D81 18:08

Falcon banned player Lunna Vetraa providing the following reason: Multi Ban - Ban Evasion

Character was banned in Y18 for multi abuse and decided it was time to make their own account again. 

The original account holder can open a support ticket in 2 months to request an unban.

Polar here

I was waiting for the perfect moment to write this very beautiful post, to make it memorable and one of the best ever, but I get yelled at that I have to do it today so here it is.

On december 18th we would like to invite everyone to the Winter Event that will happen on a secret comet that is flying through our galaxy. More details will be posted closer to the starting date, for now I can only say that you can expect some fun, some fights, some vendors, some quests, some gungans, and some free stuff! Do you remember Gal-Fest? Yeah! This will be nothing like that. This will be very similar! You may even see some familiar faces, some of them never forgave what you have done in the past, but there are also new faces, that don't know you yet!

There will be a special transport taking people from around the galaxy to the place of this event, so you don't have to worry about long hyper trips, unless you are in one of those weird, very far away sectors (we will make sure everyone can get here on time).

The Comet will be a great place to hang out with your friends and all people from around the galaxy, so check your calendar, throw it away and come to the event!

Some quick snake preview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__XERCoYTi8

Final event may or may not include some things shown in the video.

Thank you for your attention and stay tuned for more details soon! Polar out.

Polar here

I will make it quick today. New round of Deathmatch is out, a lot of different races are being represented during this match so everyone should find something for himself. No circle shaped avatars, so at this point it's hard to predict who will be the final winner. There is one hexagon though, bold strategy, let's see if it pays off. You can vote for them here.

Results of grudge matches from the last week are as follows: Baugrems is the biggest troll, Metyl is the wackiest CP vehicle and big majority of voters have said that there are not enough bandits in this world and 7 day respawn is terrible. This week we will have 2 new grudge matches, vote for them here.

That's it for today, take care everyone and see you next time. Polar out.

Polar here

Greetings Everyone! Today we are witnessing grand finale of the current Deathmatch. George is the winner (congratulations) and we all know why! Circle avatar meta is here, it's official now. New round of Deathmatch has been started, you can go and vote here.

During last round we had two grudge matches. In the first one, asking "What role are corvettes best used for?",  the majority of people answered screening starfighters and bounty hunting. Fighting other corvettes got the least number of votes.

In the second match, we got to vote for the worst CP ship. Flarestar-class Attack Shuttle with 250 votes took the 1st place. It's a mix of flare, a star, attack shuttle and a gunboat with strike combat role. But all those things weren't enough to save it from the infamy!

New grudge matches are out!

I also have one more news for you today. I have drawn the shortest straw so I'm here to announce that...

Warsim has once again been enabled! Feel free to fight to the death and see who reigns supreme! You can find the details in this Sim News Post. Warsim can be accessed via any military station. If you have any issues, please reach out to an Asim and we’ll get you sorted.

Have a good week everyone and blow up your ships safely.

It's that time of year where we are looking to expand/rotate our team! Every 6 months (roughly) we do new applications and allow a current asim to take a break if they need it. As staff retire back to the game or have to be away for personal reasons, we look for others to step in!

This time we are changing it up a little by using a Google Form to collect answers. Hopefully this makes it easier for everyone involved. The Admins (Kyle, Arjuna, and myself) will review the submissions just as always.

Deadline is October 31st and new Asim will start sometime between November 1st and November 10th. They will start a 6 month term that ends in May of 2022.

Fill out this form to apply!

Edit: Please get these filled out by the end of the weekend!
 

Edit 2 Electric Boogaloo: We have two new asims starting up soon! Baxter Snow and Kyp Arkanus. They will be known as Wombat and Hawk. Thanks to all who applied, we had a nice pool to choose from and we decided to go with two people instead of one!

As always, complaints can and should be forwarded directly to Veynom.

Polar here

It is time for a new round of Deathmatch! Many people seeing Circle avatar being paired against a Jawa in the last round, said that this will be a fight of giants. More than 432 people participated in voting for this battle, making this duel the most voted on from the whole tournament! The winner can only be one though, and the person who advances to the final round.... has the circle avatar! Can anyone stop him? Or is this a new meta? Cast your final vote here and let's wait for the results!

Moving on to grudge matches. Most Anticipated Feature or features are A/E changes. There is big pressure from Stun Cuffs Lobbyists to make those changes minimal, but we will see. Most hands-on date's race is Codru-Ji, closely followed by Jawa. Last place was taken by sad Bosph. When it comes to first important decisions as Asim, majority of people would check if they can create a city on the sun. Some jokers would prefer to rename Gov Factions to the titles of Kpop songs instead. Not many people voted for banning people with suspiciously looking avatars, probably because they have one of those by themselves.

Two new grudge matches are on, vote for them or not!

Today I would also like to talk a bit about quests. I'm sure many people noticed Missions and Quests page in our Rules. At the bottom of the page you can see a list of Standalone and Monument quests. This week, we added a new Monument quest called Fountain of the Ancients. Special thanks go to Quest Team and Lilith Delcroix, who wrote the script for this quest. Everyone is welcome to try it as well as other quests from the list! In the future we are hoping to have more official quests added there. One more thing, the Fountain quests starting location will be changed soon, currently it lists location on the ground, but to get there, you have to use a convenient shuttle that is close to the orbit of the planet. It's located at:

Sector: Hutt Space
System: Si`Klaata Cluster (360, 120)
Station: Fountain of the Ancients Gateway (3, 2)

You can just go inside and talk to the Shuttle pilot. Please keep your items on you at all times, littering on the station or anywhere on the planet will be punished, same with using the shuttle to go to a different square than where the Fountain is located. Have fun!

That's all for today, see you next time everyone.

Polar here

After short break we are coming back with a new round of Deathmatch. Is it possible that in the current tournament we may be witnessing a beginning of a new trend? What trend? Circle shaped avatars! A person with one of those is breezing through the rounds like stolen A-Wing farming hyperlane data and he currently has the most votes from all participants! Coincidence? I don't think so. Let's see if it will pay off in the current round. You can vote for or against circles in deathmatches here.

Our last weeks grudge matches gave us some interesting results. In Huttiest Hutt contest, a Hutt won.

Most of the voters have visited their homeworld at least once in their lives and this is very reassuring news. To quote a famous philosopher: "gravity wells are strong, but not as strong as a family". Also a lot of people have never been to their homeworld, but would like to go there sometime in the future. Maybe even before the whole galaxy will be on fire because of combat.

Favourite part of the galaxy? For most of the people it's north. You may ask "Why?". Let me tell you why. I don't know. South and East side are almost tied for 2nd place. 70 people like to dive into unknown of the west side.

As always we have some new grudge matches to vote for. You can find them here.

We would like to remind everyone that we are trying to organise Exhibition matches at least once a week. If you have Discord, you can join SWC Showdown server (link: https://discord.gg/ZhWXUt2V ) for more info. It is also a place that we are using to set up those matches. In case you never heard about them, in short summary, Exhibition Matches are battles (usually in space) that you are getting teleported to from your current location. You join one of 2 teams (made of 3 or more members), get assigned to a squad of ships by your teams commander and try to take down enemy team before they shoot you down. It takes place in a special deep space system and have decreased fire and travel delay. Matches usually last around 1 hour, depends on the number of participants. After match ends, you get teleported back to the place where you've been before it got started. If you want to participate or just to know more, join Showdown discord server. It's a great opportunity to get some experience in PvP space combat without risking losing your life or any assets. We are also working on organising it for people who don't have Discord. Stay tuned for more informations.

That's all for tonight, have a great weekend everyone.

Polar here, greetings everyone!

Short announcement today because it's already monday. New round of Deathmatch tournament is here. Those who claim that female avatar guarantees success in the deathmatch, may get surprised with some results from previous round.

Grudge matches! Majority of our players have been here for at least 6 years and many of them even longer than 15! Those who are here for "only" 1-5 years could be their kids. Scary thought.

Best type of racing is ship racing. Something to consider for the future events. Fourty seven people voted that they would like racing on foot, while 27 Hutts voted that they would rather watch their droids do the running. Smart!

Best droid for babysitting? BX-series Commando Droid! Their high dexterity and dodging ability make them a perfect companion for any baby and with their friendly look, it's hard to imagine a better guardian.

We have a few new grudge matches. You can vote for them here. Again, if you have any good ideas for grudge matches, submit them on this page. If you don't have any good ideas, you can submit them too. In worst case Falcon will make fun of them on his private manga server. That's all for today. Have a good night!

Sapo has stepped down as one of our more junior ASIMs; his term had 3 months remaining, and we will be actively recruiting to fill the hole left by his departure.

While we thank him for his many contributions to the game, we unfortunately also have to reveal that he attempted to pave an easier path for his character on his way out the door. For this, we've decided to delay the reactivation of his character for two months. This will be equivalent to a 2-month ban from the website

We hope he spends this time remembering the good work we got done and the good times we had during his tenure.

If you have any questions, comments, or issues, you are always welcome to submit to support [link] or DM a member of staff (Falcon, Noctis, or Erek).

Polar here, greetings everyone!

As promised, today we are announcing the winner of a deathmatch! And it's no one else than... checks his notes... wait a second. Penguin lost? Very sad news everyone, as a representative of winter loving race, I would like to announce that the winner of the Deathmatch is Mingolo Mingolonio! Congratulations! This makes him the last person standing in our contest, and everyone knows the penguin credo - never swim alone. So starting today for the next few weeks we will swim with a new group of contestants! You can vote for them here.

The next thing I will address today are results of last weeks grudge matches. Your Favorite junior dev is Baugrems, which is not surprising because he is the only person from the list who could ban everyone if someone else would win. I would like to thank everyone for keeping the votes for the rest of the candidates tied, more or less. They should all be happy with the result as no one got zero votes.

The next two questions were about changes to the rules and A/E removal. Majority of voters have shown that they approve those changes. It will take some time to get used to the new additions, but with everything that is being planned for the future, I think with time even more people will get convinced that we are going in the right direction.

Last question, about vendors, has shown that while a lot of the people like them, many didn't hear about them or just don't care. They are a great addition to the game, especially if you like trading. Today was the last day of Swap Meeting - event that many players are attending to hang out with other players and trade their goods. During this meeting, a lot of players decided to use vendors to sell their wares, at one point more than 40 of them were present and ready to trade with you. How big impact vendors have on trading can be seen in statistics from the last month:

During the time when the Swap Meeting was about to start, credits transferred through vendors skyrocketed to 1.7bil. People spent a lot of credits by buying from vendors and we will probably see a lot more of this trend in the future. If you are curious about Vendors, you can read about them here.

Today new round of grudge matches is starting. If you would like to vote, go to this LINK, if you don't want to vote, you can still click that link out of curiosity.

That's all for now, have a good week everyone and good luck on monday.

SWC 3D Art Competition
Aug 1st - Sept 1st(2021)

In 2020 we experienced our first ever art competition in Star Art Studio discord server, however this was unofficial and sponsored by several factions and some artists to help encourage new artists and support artists in doing art for SWCombine. Unlike the previous contest this year's contest will be exclusively all 3d digital art. Another thing that has changed is with support of the administration this is now an Official Art contest. 

This art competition will largely be held on Star Art Studio discord server, however you are not required to join. If you do not join the discord server you will need to send your initial and final submission to Galia Winters via Darkness. Artwork will be displayed on that discord and final entries will be displayed in the General Talk forum for everyone to review and admire. 

If you are not an artist yet or just starting, we highly encourage you to participate and socialize with other artists in this competition. We have decades of experience collectively, and it is the hope of this competition to inspire new artists to enter into SWC's art community. In addition we also highly encourage anyone to take advantage of our tutorials section and guides on how to do art. Anyone in SWC is welcome :)

Must be started no earlier than 1st of August 2021.
Must be submitted by the deadline (1st of September 2021)
Must be created after the start date (honor system)

Details:
- Announce in the #initial discord channel or to Galia Winters, your initial intent to 3d model. This will act as the proverbial measuring stick in which we compare to the goals we actually achieve. I.E. "I want to 3d model a YT-1300." Not doing so results in a 10 point Difficulty penalty.
- Each artist chooses the 3d model/s they wish to make. You may make a scene or an individual model or so much more, but it must be based in SWCombine.
- Three Judges will be selected to rate each submission from 1-100 in each of the following categories: Difficulty, Originality, Complexity, and Aesthetics. The average of these four scores will be each submission's final score.
- Must be a SWCombine member and the submission must be 100% made by the player submitting it. 
- Rewards in CP form will be given out to each serious entry based on each submission's average score. ADDITIONAL CPs will be rewarded is SWCombine can officially utilize that submission (i.e. say you did the art for a starship that SWC needs an image for). 
- You may only make one submission for this contest!
 

Edit: 

Thank you to all who participated! Here are our top 3!

1st Place: Alex Tylger
2nd Place: Janus Defou
3rd Place: Ondoron Bondoon
 

Polar here. New round of our Deathmatch Tournament is out and we have only 2 aliens left! Just like last week, one duel had to be decided by a coin toss. Now this week it's a final duel and we have 3 coins left, so it's safe to say that next sunday we should know the winner of the whole Deatchmatch no matter what!

This week one mysterious submitter would like to find out your opinions about recent changes in Combine. You can also vote for your Favorite junior dev, but maybe keep it tied so none of them will go on strike, in case of small number of votes. Let's go!

Also don't forget that you can submit your own grudge matches, you can ask our players many interesting and important things, like what type of ship would they like to own or what is their favourite horse colour.

Let's move on to the summary of last week grudge matches.

Most of SWCers are in 30-39 years old bracket. There are also many who are 40 and more. Very few are under 20, or they don't know where to find grudge matches.

If anyone is curious, the best way to lose DC Showdown is to forget to undock. The least popular way is friendly fire, so you probably don't have to be afraid of your own team mates.

Most popular opinion about DC Showdown was "Don't care, wasn't there". I personally didn't participate, but there was some good stuff you could get in the Showdown Station, even if you weren't in any of the showdown teams, for example spacecrawler DC you could buy from the vendor and tons of plushies for your daily tea parties during hyper trips.

That's all for this week, take care everyone and have safe hyper travels.

Polar here, greetings everyone!

Another round of Deathmatch has started. We are closer to finding out who will win death (or life?).

You can vote for the person who has better looking avatar here: Deathmatch is so much fun.

As for Grudge matches, new batch has been released right.... here! People are very curious about your opinions on DC Showdown, especially on how to lose it with style. Take notes for the next one.

Results of previous ones are as follows:

1. Ranged weapons are the most popular kind of weapons that people use. Shoot first, become famous.

2. Favourite pilot? 1st place - the one and only, Han Solo. 2nd place - any droid. 3rd place - Anakin Skywalker. Sounds about right.

3. The answer for "which Star Wars monster is the most scary?" question is... all of them! Good thing is, not all of them will fit under your bed at night.

My work here is done. Thank you for your attention and until next time!