We have updated Spying rules taking effect next month. With more PvP potential (see notes below) comes a huge cut in what we are going to be allowing regarding Spying in the game. You can still spy on enemy factions, gather intel, and even assassinate people, but it has to be a bit different. These Spying rules also affect individuals who wish to loot or grief a faction for personal gain. You no longer need to worry about someone using their access loot your factions. Nor can someone open the door for your enemies to come kill everyone.

https://www.swcombine.com/rules/?Spying

(yes I know there is a typo in an example and it'll fix later on another sync)

On top of this we are also updating our community rules based on feedback from our recent survey and past years of feedback from players directly. Our community is important and we want to make sure it's a place we can enjoy. We know in the past even staff have not been good about these things, but we hope moving forward with the guidelines we can all enjoy the game a bit more.

https://www.swcombine.com/rules/?Communication

Strikes will not be retroactive nor will the spying rules. You have until the 1st of October to make sure you are complying with both sets of rules. This is mostly for public SWCombine communication and Core Factions, we will not be policing your internal communications unless many complaints come out of it.

Lastly, as you may have seen noted above, PvP is expanding. Arrest/Execute as we currently know it will be replaced by global room/ground combat. Characters who are stunned will be able to be captured. Once captured, a character can be executed as well. It will act the same as A/E now except there will not be a skill check system for success/failure. We will have safe zones where combat cannot happen and areas where combat is enabled but capture/killing is not. The timeline for that is to release hostile AI in the next month or two, then to pivot to A/E changes in a month or two after that. These changes to A/E will be implemented likely around the end of 2021 or start of 2022. This does NOT mean future combat scales (space, ground vehicles, facilities, etc.) will be global. Global Combat at all levels is not the intention. Most development conversations are about opt-in and/or easily avoidable PvP in the game. You will always have a safe place to hide, even if that means your impact on the game is very low.

We are conducting a survey to gather information about the community, specifically the community that factions develop for their members. We would like the participation of as many people as possible. The results will only be seen by the SWC Admins and will not be shared with anyone else so feel free to answer honestly and freely about people, toxic envrionments, or anything else you want to. The more honest you are the better the results will be. 

The survey can be found below:

Faction Community Survey

We are taking this serious, and if we find any people or factions attempt to harrass, threaten or otherwise try to get people to respond in a certain way, to not participate or do any retalliation against you in game for the survey. The administration will take appropriate punishment on the person or faction which might include but is not limited to loss of assets, ban from the game, or even the dissolution of your faction.

Please provide your response so we can continue to improve the game and the community of the game. Thank you for taking the time to help us with this. Submissions need to be completed by Sept 12.

If you are hoping to get involved in the game behind the scenes, now is your chance! Every one of these positions also pays in CP so you can spawn new ships, vehicles, droids, items, creatures, and apply images to them. Any affiliation can apply for any position, these are fully OOC jobs. Details on how to apply will be specific to each one so read carefully and send to the right person. Apply for whatever you think fits for you!

Event Asim

This is a brand new staff position that we are testing out. The Event Asim will be in charge of running combat exhibition matches, managing the Quest team, and running faction/galaxy-wide events. While it isn't required that you can script NPC conversations, it is a good skill to have for this position. You will be required to "Pause" your character just like a regular Asim position. For a six month term your character will be paused wherever you leave it. Training is provided so you can learn how to set up matches, events, and so forth. The other staff members will also be able to support you and fill gaps where needed.

Managing the Quest team is a big piece of this job. You will review script ideas (not code) and approve the concepts alongside other staff/leaders. Your task will be to copy and paste the finished scripts from Dev server to the main server, tweaking them as needed to bring them to the game. Setting up the physical locations for these quests to work is also mainly on you.

In general, you are expected to spend the first month of this job learning the tools and processes. From there you will gain more independence for the rest of the term. We are looking for someone who will be active. Message Baugrems and Kyle in-game expressing your interest and relevant experience to apply. This application will close on August 25th. (Y272 23:59)

Quest Team

As a member of quest team, your job will be to write scripts for NPC/Droid/Creature/item dialogues. This can be for generic "All Riflemen say this" or specific to a quest. You will have the ability to more directly suggest quests as well. To apply, send Baugrems (or the new Event Asim when they're chosen) two example scripts you've written using the LISP NPC Scripting functions. Please be sure to do more than just (say) and similar functions. There is no end date to apply.

Art Team

The Art Team is looking for 3d modelers, both beginner to advanced. Beginners will be allowed in on an intro level and given help to train to intermediate level within three months. For those at the intermediate to advanced level, the Art Team is accepting applications for full time team membership. In recognition that the major projects that the Art Team is about to undertake, we will need some 2d Artist support as well for a large scale NPC project. To apply please message Galia Winters on discord (Galia Winters#0576) or via game DM with samples of your work and/or intent. 

Descriptions Team

There are no current pressing positions open for Descriptions team. If you are interested in their work, submit descriptions through the public Descriptions forum. You can also contact the Director, Paul Luz, if you're interested in the team.

Edit Y22 D270: Only 2 days left to apply for Event Asim! Want to help run events, plan quests, and take a break from IC life for a bit? Send a message to Baugrems and Kyle in game about your interest in the role. It doesn't need to be very formal! We are excited to add this role and see where it goes! 6 month terms but you can potentially re-apply for more terms even.

Edit: Y22 D275: Our event asim has been chosen! Thomas Decoy has been selected to be the new Event Asim,  and he will begin in roughly a week. Thanks to those who applied, we had a good amount of interest and it was difficult to choose!

Just a quick note that we will be down for about 30 minutes starting at 22:30 combine time (Y22 D 266).

This is to ensure a smooth sync that has many backend changes and scripts to run.

Changes coming this sync:

• Capturing a hostile NPC (bandit) ship with an ELB now requires that you be in the cockpit, and no hostile NPCs aboard
• Bandit corvettes will spawn with a squad of NPC guards in the cockpit
• Arrest Rules have been updated to recognize "Safe Zones" please read it.
• "Space" Combat (e.g. ships) can now occur at ground and atmosphere layers (This changes nothing for players right now but allows more combat later)
• NPC Cargo Transport added concurrency factors for time and cost (more squads you run at once, slower and spendier it gets)
• When starting a Mine, can choose NOT to transfer materials to Silo-type buildings in the city
• Fixed display bug where tiny fraction of health/shield/ionic remaining showed as 0 (now always rounds up)
• Bandits will no longer try to target escape pod
• Various behind-the-scenes clean ups.

Edit: Downtime complete! Sync was a success. Also I added an item or two to the above list.

As a few incidents in the last couple of months have shown, it has fallen out of memory that Combat Zones are also no Arrest and/Execute (A/E) or capture zones. Under no circumstance can you trap or try to trick someone into A/E in the Derra system, Serroco system, or any of the Petabys systems. Any admin sponsored event or special testing area is safe from worry of A/E shenanigans. Pull your spying/trapping/games somewhere else. We will undo captures or kills at these locations as we have done for years. This is not new, this is a reminder. System descriptions will be updated to make sure these are better understand and a future rules update will reflect this more clearly.

On top of this, A/E as a feature is overdue for the chopping block. Keen eyes will have seen that A/E changes/removal has been on the dev project list for a while now. Our hope is that by the end of this year we will be able to release some of these changes that will remove A/E as we know it. Instant capture/kill in this game is simply silly. You may remember a recent sim news announcing more aggressive AI and a note about further expansions beyond that. This is one of those expansions. Removing A/E with a system that requires combat to be done and your party to be killed before you can be "Arrested". This won't make swap meets much less safe and events/testing areas will still be safe. The major change is removing the instant actions.

I am here once again to give an update for combat in the game! 

The release of Corvettes into the wild with a few changes has been great, even if we have a few more tweaks we wish to make to the system. Those will be coming soon! We've taken in... literally thousands of combat reports the last few months about the new meta. Some more balance will be done around the same time as the following change. Stay tuned for exact details as we get closer to the actual sync date.

Heavy Freighters and Light Freighters are entering the combat sphere. There will be a balance where all stats are fair game. A full list of changes will be posted at time of sync. Expect this change within the next 2 months. Move your parked ships from danger zones like Petabys if you value them. You have been warned. We are stepping closer to bandits becoming aggressive as well, but that will not be included in this sync. Consider moving them out of your bandit hunting zones too.

Most of you have likely noticed by now that combat is creeping along in the game. We have Petabys for space combat, we did a showdown full of combat, and we've had Derra for a decade (or so?) now.

The Galaxy is a dangerous place and anyone who has unwittingly stepped out of their ship on Derra only to be absolutely stomped by an aggressive creature or bandit squad can attest to that. In a couple of months or so, this feature (with a few balancing changes) will be released upon the ENTIRE galaxy, except for a few safe zones (Newbie tutorial land, maybe a few darkness/quest areas). Space Bandits becoming aggressive will be a separate change but is also on deck soon. This is paving the way to getting players in the mind for more combat possibilities in the future. This release is itself a warning that more pvp opportunities will be coming soon as well, and that it will be fairly global. More details on that will come at a later time.

If you have questions or concerns you can message me by clicking here.

Happy Friday everyone! Hope the weekend is looking bright. Maybe this will help!

A long requested feature of the game has been the automation of material transfers from Mining operations to a central depot. Having a player dedicated to running these is frankly not fun no matter how you spin it. While there are other uses for such automation in this new NPC Cargo System, consider that to be use-case number 1. Please consult the rules page I am linking below for details on how this all works, and visit the official SWC Discord for help/issues. Just click the chat button in the top right menu! You may also open a support ticket if you encounter a problem. Visit support.swcombine.com for that one.

Currently, this only works for in system transports but later may expand to allow hyperspace routes as well. A fair warning that it will be highly expensive and inefficient to use this to directly bring materials from a Mine to an orbital large Depot or Shipyard. It is suggested that you pool resources locally in a starport or a smaller depot station before then manually stocking things from there or doing a single, more expensive route from it.

Suggestions are welcome but please understand they will likely be unread for a couple of weeks as devs watch the current release rather than consider changes. We suggest holding off until then to give everyone time to learn the system before trying to change it anyway. Happy hauling! (or not hauling?)

Rules Link - Click me!

- Vendors are now able to sell RM. Purchasing RM from a vendor requires using the "delivery to adjacent entity" feature which has an extra 5% fee associated.
- Improvements to datacard assigning events.
- Pilotable entities that are disabled will now show a timer indicating when they will become active again.
- Dissolution events are sent to faction panel members if faction is governed by a panel.
- Faction bankrupcy now has a 3 day grace period (previously dissolution was immediate upon bankrupcy).
 

Today's sync brings some backend changes to the Combat Core engine and related utilties. The vast majority of the changes are focused on smoothing the way for future changes and are transparent from a player perspective. There are, however, a few items of note:

• Hostile NPCs can be commanded to Guard a room, and will open fire as soon as someone enters the room. This is not yet deployed as part of bandit hunting, because bandits do not spawn inside. Just a heads-up for future Quest-based content.
• Lightsabers will now take a Force-aware individual's Lightsaber Combat skill into consideration. The skill is considered as part of a weighted average that also includes the individual's Non-Projectile Weapon (NPW) skill. You may see a small increase in damage output depending on your skill levels. Lightsaber wielders who are not Force-aware continue to use NPW/2 as the weapon skill.
• Part of the changes to the Combat Core breaks Combat-related Hooks. This only affects Admin LISP scripts, and we have made every attempt to update them accordingly. If you encounter an error with a Quest or with Warsim, please contact Baugrems.

In addition, there are some minor tweaks to Production.

• Ships and Vehicles will record the Builder (Commander of the Factory or Shipyard) at the end of production, and this information will be displayed in the detailed stats page. This is applicable for all production which finishes after the sync, regardless of when it was started.
• Shipyards now have the option to force construction to occur outside regardless of ship length. Certain ships, such as the Goji, would normally be produced inside a Shipyard 1 but are too large to fit inside. This option allows these sorts of ships to be built outside of a Shipyard 1 even if they are shorter than 80 meters in length.

Also, the Squad page will now show the location of your Squads without making you click through to inventory to see them!

As always, feel free to check out the Development Projects tracker on your right-side Technical Menu for the latest projected status on new features.

EDIT: The NPW/LSC equation is not published at the moment will be on the rules page after the next sync. It is a weighted average of your NPW and LSC skills. You basically need a 5 in both to get an effective 5. Pretty much any other combination gets you a lower effective lightsaber skill. That effective number then gets halved and mushed around in the combat code and out comes damage, which at the end of the day is all that matters.

- Nearby combat events now show on the system maps and ground maps, and nearby combat reports can be viewed via the scanners.
- Sometimes a hard browser refresh is needed if it looks weird to you.
- There is a new setting on the look and feel page to disable it.

Pew pew pew.
(Audio by Baugrems)

Bugs

Cleaned up room connections and gave a better error message for bad rooms

Tweaks

Physical Datacards now have a uses status bar instead of a number listed in equipment view

Physical Datacards can now be split and merged. 

Friendly fire should be more difficult in combat now. Attack button won't show for friendlies.

Rules

Updated Physical Datacard rules page

Development Projects page given a facelift

Small sync today focused on improving the new Vendor features.

Vendors

• Vendors can now be opened on entities to which you are crewlisted
• Added a new financial transaction tag for vendors
• Custom items can be crated and sold
• Added filters to the vendor pages to easily navigate items
• Vendor rules page updated
• Added a scanner grouping for Merchants with new icon
• Removed ability to add duplicate records to vendor inventory
• Fixed issue with other vendors seeing cargo already added to a vendor

Other

• Physical Datacards and Cargo Containers will now display the "product" as the main image, with an overlay of the "container" in the upper left corner.

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.

Hello members of the galaxy (and Loki),

It has come to our attention that on Febuary 2, the largest data breach to date occurred which released 3.2 billion unique username/email and password records. For anyone interested, it is being referred to as "COMB - Compilation Of Many Breaches" and you can read about it online. Therefore, we suggest that all players should take the following actions now and over the course of the next few weeks:

• Use a service like haveibeenpwned.com to check if your details are in any data breaches.
• Change/update your password and use a password manager to generate random password (such as KeePass or 1Password or use your browsers inbuilt password manager).
• Check your events for anything that looks out of place or that you did not do
• Check your account activity for any suspicious logins.
• Keep an eye on your events over the next couple weeks to ensure that nobody has gained access to your account
• Submit a Support Ticket if you notice anything out of place with your account.

It should go without saying, but the SWC Administration does not tolerate hacking of accounts by any means, and any player(s) found to be doing so will meet my fist and be permanently banned. 

EDIT: This was not a SWC-specific breach, this was a worldwide data breach and a reminder to follow good account practises. None of your data was leaked from SWC servers.

Deathmatch has been advanced, and Grudge Matches have been cycled through. Don't forget to submit your ideas for future grudge matches!

It seems as though the 385 of you that voted for the Interdictor DC as your favorite bounty drop are enjoying them, and that the majority of people think you should be able to get CPs at the start of the day. Interesting, I'm sure we'll find a way to nerf this in the future.

1

Year 22 Day 51, 2:34

Baugrems has changed a players handle: Malik Atar to Nodin Seneca.

Pretty much explains itself. Update your Christmas Card lists.

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!

edit two too many: Thank you everyone who has applied, applications are now closed. We received just shy of 100 applicants, and it may take us a while to review all of the candidates and decide on the team structure.

edit: due to the unexpectedly high volume of applications already received, I will be closing the application form at 20:00 SWC time today, Y22 D264. If you miss the deadline you may still reach out to me via DM for consideration. Thank you.

To keep up with the pace at which new features are being introduced to the game, I have been invited as the new QA Director to expand and formalize the QA Team. As a team, it will be our responsibility to throw everything we can think of at new features to break them prior to their release into the wild. I would like to invite anyone and everyone, regardless of game experience, to apply to be a member of the QA Team. I'm looking to gather a group that represents the very diverse playerbase we have, from the experienced space truckers, the FI spreadsheet masterminds, and to the sentients just now getting their first clunker gem of a ship.

If you want to break stuff and earn CPs for doing so, this may just be the dream job for you! Best of all, this is not a pause-character position, so you can continue playing while helping to improve the experience for everyone. If you are interested in being a member of the team, apply using the link at the bottom of this post. Please direct any questions about the role to myself (Tor`Vor Xess) via DM, or on the SWC public Discord (Tor`Vor).

I look forward to seeing your application!

If you are currently on the QA team, please reapply through the link to indicate you are active and still interested in participation on the team.

Apply via Google Form here! 

The Dirty Pixel policy has been a serious point of contention on many pieces of art and something I have been outspoken about in the past as I find it can be unreasonably strict. After some time observing and working with the Art Queue along with its members as well as consulting some other staff and reviewing the history of how we got where we are, I as Art Director am going to make a backwards policy shift. We are still going to maintain black backgrounds on entities other than NPCs, however those black backgrounds do not need to be pure black anymore to the fringe of your customs. Your custom image submissions will need to have black backgrounds that look black and uniform looking still but no longer will your artwork be denied for stuff such as one stray slightly off black pixel that we need a special tool to detect. 

Var's pixel tool will still be viable and can help with a lot of the off black issues that cause lack of black background uniformity. Var's Dirty Pixel Tool is the link and by uploading your image and selecting the KILL option, should resolve 90%+ of all issues resulting from off black backgrounds. That said, this is a 3rd party tool and is not necessary so long as your background and the edges of that which is the custom is non-distracting from the custom itself. 

The Art Queue Team will still be using a 3rd party tool for now that helps see dirty pixels as a means of comparing images to see if things are in line with this new ruling, as not all of our monitors are the same. Two different approvals are still needed for each image submitted, and each of the approving team members must consider the image in question to have a non distracting all black background. Basically if the Art Queue team can see the dirty pixels unaided by a special tool, we will deny.

While all other rules remain in place, this policy shift is testing the proverbial waters of loosening restrictions while maintaining quality of the Art Queue. As always I welcome constructive feedback.  

EDIT: Please take notice, that even though we are not denying for invisible dirty pixels, we will deny for backgrounds that are not true black. The purpose of the dirty pixel forgiveness is to make it easier to submit things without sacrificing quality control. We will be enforcing a fully black background, minus invisible dirty pixels. Submitting customs with off black backgrounds, will be declined. Please message me if you have any questions. :)

Artwork by Fractalsponge and other Star Wars artists cannot be given credit through the art public system and benefitting from it even though it is game CPs is not going to be allowed anymore. To avoid conflicts, all PUBLIC art must be approx. 20% or more edited before it can be used as a public image from now on. If something falls through the the proverbial cracks, we will take care of it when we find out and remove the images without CP refund. If you feel your artwork or the artwork of another has been stolen and utilized through the public image system, please contact me (Galia Winters) and we will look into it. Repeated attempts to do this from this point forward will result in an Art Ban. Thank you for your understanding in this.

Please read this entire sim news before coming with questions. The bottom section will answer most of them.

Space Winners Bracket
Round 3 due: Friday just before midnight combine time
Round 4 due: Saturday 8:00 combine
Round 5 due: Saturday 11:00 combine
Round 6 (Semi-Finals) due: Saturday 13:00 combine

Space Losers Bracket
Round 3 due: Saturday 8:00 combine
Round 4 due: Saturday 11:00 combine
Round 5 due: Saturday 13:00 combine
Round 6 due: Saturday 15:00 combine
Round 7 due: Saturday 17:00 combine
Round 8 due: Saturday 18:00 combine
Round 9/10 due: Saturday 22:00 combine

Space Round Finals

Due: Sunday 12:00 combine

Ground Winners Bracket

Round 2 due: Saturday just before midnight combine time
Round 3 due: Sunday 8:00 combine
Round 4 due: Sunday 11:00 combine
Round 5 due: Sunday 13:00 combine
Round 6 (Semi-Finals) due: Sunday 15:00 combine

Ground Losers bracket:
Round 3 due: Sunday 10:00 combine
Round 4 due: Sunday 13:00 combine
Round 5 due: Sunday 15:00 combine
Round 7 due: Sunday 17:00 combine
Round 8 due: Sunday 19:00 combine
Round 9 due: Sunday 20:00 combine
Round 10 due: Sunday 22:00 combine

Ground Round Finals

Due: Monday before 8:00 combine

Mystery Round Final

Finish by Saturday before Midnight Combine time. Any members of the team who do not complete it will receive 100 as their score.

Reminders

Champions Circle will consist of winners of each round, plus the 3 best placed teams.

Winning 1st place in any of the events will result in forfeit from the other rounds.

All groups that compete at least once in a round will get a participation prize of their choice in Physical DC.

Teams are encouraged to forfeit early if they do not think they can make this schedule work. We know it can't work for everyone, and we will do better at the next iteration!

If you do not drop out early, and do not show up to do matches at the scheduled times you will not get your participation prize. Forfeit now and get rewarded or risk losing it if you won't make it. If you start your matches and then forfeit after losing, that's okay.

Once you lose twice, or choose to forfeit, you can relax and enjoy the show. Discord has all battle reports automatically posted and you can watch it live!

Hello everyone! If you've not been refreshing the brackets you may have missed a lot of progress this week. Both space and ground combat has been going in full force now with a lot of fun matches.

CLICK HERE FOR SPACE BRACKET

CLICK HERE FOR GROUND BRACKET

These are updated constantly, just refresh them every so often to see progress. Y22 D212 (today) we have about 12 matches planned so far. It's going to be a busy day for the brackets!

For Champions:

Make sure to be at the showdown hub a few minutes or more before your match, and inside the ready room. This can be found just one room East of the command center. If you're having issues, DM Baugrems, Kyle, or Falcon (or all 3).

As we move along we refined a few rules that may be confusing so let's clarify them here:

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

Ground and Space combat squads CANNOT be mixed. You group together like-types and that's how they stay.

You CANNOT modify equipment for the NPCs. Don't touch those screens. Just assign skill points and supervisors. Your faction (player in first column's faction from the list in the last sim news) will own the NPCs. Make sure privs are set up for the group to either use or assign the NPCs. We recommend letting each team member assign skill points as they go. The walk from spawn to the entrance of the arena is long enough to click through it usually. If you're worried, only walk to the entrance without peeking out. Once your NPCs are killed, you will be removed from the match. It does not matter if you have HP left or not. If you are stunned (1 hp) before you lose your NPCs, you must wait 1 hour before waking up. Your NPCs will return fire but are otherwise stunned with you. 

In Space Combat, the ships are assigned to your faction. Look in faction ship inventory, click the tab for Faction Assigned Ships and then filter by System. Look for "Showdown" plus some number (1-10). That will give you the ships. Assign them out or have privs set up for people to do it themselves. You all will spawn inside the Corvette with ships waiting in the docking bay.

All fire delays are 3 minutes long. Travel is 10 times faster. For both ground and space.

Be anticipating these rulesets.Unfamiliarity with the above can greatly slow your start to the round.

SCHEDULE IN ADVANCE - Look at the bracket and see who has potential to face you next. Message both groups and set up potential times. The team that loses will face you in loser bracket if you both lose, or the team that wins will face you in winner's bracket if you both win. Plan ahead, hit problems early. If a team agrees to a match and does not show up, they will likely be disqualified from the event and NOT receive participation prizes. Forfeit loser bracket matches with no penalty, but let us know ahead of time as soon as possible. If you do not feel your team of four can compete during this week at all, let us know. Participation datacards will be given to teams who at least do their 1st round of winner brackets.

SWAPPING GROUPS - If you absolutely cannot make a time work (Europe vs USA for example) we may be able to swap you out, but please try to find a time and exhaust that route before attempting it. All four groups must agree to the new opponents and times arranged before admins swap the groups in the bracket.

DEADLINES - Y22 D212 23:59 is the deadline to begin your first space combat match. Round 2 is due by Y22 D213 23:59. This is a tight schedule. So please plan ahead. Loser's bracket is one day behind winner's bracket. Have those done 24 hours after the equivalent winner rounds. Ground Combat deadlines are not set yet, but you may schedule those matches. Please get them done early if there are openings to make things easier for everyone. If you're knocked out of the space bracket, focus on ground right away. If you have a gap between space matches, sneak in your ground matches. And vice versa. Yes these are tight schedules but matches have been taking under an hour for space and about an hour to an hour and  half for ground at most. If there are scheduling walls that cannot be overcome, contact us. Do not panic.

Mystery Round deadline is not set in stone yet. Expect it to end in about 1 week. Get those in during down time. Should take only an hour or two of dedicated time and it's completely individual. Anyone who does not compete in Mystery Round will receive a default score of 100 (this is bad). The best score possible is a 4. Lower the score, the better. Make sure your members all complete it if you care to be competitive in it.

You are allowed to forfeit matches if you have completed 1 space and 1 ground match.

SCORES AND STANDINGS

Winner of space, ground, and mystery rounds are all given a spot in the champions circle. If you win one of these rounds, you will forfeit all matches in the other brackets if any are left. Your spot is secured. The other 3 spots will be a based on placement in the other brackets. For example, getting 2nd place in Mystery Round and 3rd place in Space while losing ground badly, is still likely to get a spot in the final 6. We will weigh your total placements to find these next 3 best teams. Once we have a top 6, they will send one member to space combat and one member to ground combat. These cannot be the same person. Details are not being released yet on what the format for those will be, just plan to send 2 people instead of 4 if you make it there.

Your placement in the bracket is only significant for the top 8 of each bracket. Anything worse than 8th place is considered equal to 9th place. If there is a Tie, we will do a tie breaker round where each team sends one champion to compete in sudden death.

Our goal is to have the showdown over and host the champions round on July 5th or 6th.

EDIT:

The deadlinees for Space round 3+ and for ground are ready for release. Ground has been set to Friday. Y22 D218 at 23:59, first round is due. The next day, Y22 D219 the round 2 is due. Space Combat round 3 has the same deadline, then each day after is the next round until championship. This gives you the work week to plan both ground and space matches. You can do them earlier! Plan ahead get it done as soon as possible.

Space losers bracket round 2 is due today. If you need help/extensions, please talk to us.

Mystery Round is due by Y22 D220 23:59 combine time. If you do not complete it, each missing member gets a score of 100.

This weekend (Friday/Saturday/Sunday) will be very busy for those who continue to win. Except to do many matches that day. If you cannot do this, it's okay, you may drop out and get participation prizes still as usual. Once you do at least one ground and one space match you can drop out of the rest of the event and get the rewards. Please do so sooner rather than later. Let me, Falcon, or Kyle know. The brackets will be over this weekend and an inability to keep up will make it hard on everyone and result in a forfeit for you anyway. We are aware that scheduling has been an issue. We have given the max time we are willing to give at this point to work them out. Future events has lessons learned from this one.

Hello once again! Here is yet another post about the showdown.

Click here to see the latest bracket/results for the Space Combat round.

Click here to see the latest bracket/results for the Ground Combat round.

With 63 teams total, one team will end up with a bye based on the random seed. That will explain why each bracket has one team already advancing to round 2. This will not affect rankings and has been accounted for fully

These are Double Elimination which means if you lose once, you move to the Loser bracket which lets you redeem yourself

Now that you have the bracket info please try to set a time for your first match. Matches (IN SPACE COMBAT) must start by the end of the day Arizona time (combine time) June 26th. You can even do it as early as now but the deadline isn't until June 26th. The 2nd rounds begin, at latest, on June 27th. This mainly applies to the space bracket, but ground matches can be scheduled too. There is no obligation to do your rounds early, if you wish to wait until the 26th to do your rounds there is no punishment but it may be more difficult is all. We recommend that you plan with potential future opponents on the brackets to make sure there are times that work rather than waiting until matches are won.

Contact each other and agree on a time. Then let myself, Kyle, or Falcon know when that is so we can get you prepared.

The Mystery round will also likely open soon as well. It can be done one person at a time at leisure, but once started must be finished. I estimate an hour or two at most to finish it. Unless you really take your time... but no time limit besides being out in time to do your other matches.

The showdown hub (accessible via T1, T2, Tansaari, or Petabys stations) will have a VIP section to the far "east" with NPCs that ensure you are ready for your round. Speak to them before your set time with no equipment or party members. When your team is ready, let the admins know so they can begin your round.

Good Luck!

Edit: (clarified scheduling a bit above, plus new announcement below)

Mystery Round will be open to anyone, even non-participants (only listed champions will have their scores count for Showdown). 
Will this give advantage to having scouts tell us what's inside?
Nah. What's inside is a combination of rng, skill checks, and puzzle solving. It includes a game of Mastermind, a puzzle guess, and random fun npcs. Even getting the wrong answer has odds of success. Scouts will only tell you what they think are strategies, which can help, but now you know anything they can tell you, cause I told you!
Can we do it as many times as want?
One attempt per person. Might release Mastermind as a standalone game somewhere later if people like it.
Will it take time?
Depends. I had it take 5 minutes and had it take an hour. You are not timed it's about steps rather than seconds.
Can we exit early?
No. Finish it before you can exit the maze. If you have a match waiting, don't do mystery round. Do it during freetime. It's all individual.

Have at it!

Current teams that have sent me their competitors. This list is not fully verified yet and may be subject to change on full admin review or if teams change people. I will edit this list again on June 16th showing final members. If you do not see your team on this table that means I have not received your list or you told me you want it changed. There are still 5 days left to sign up as of this post. If you notice a typo or have any questions, let me know.

EDIT: This list should be final, pending anything I missed or mispeled.

Potential Disqualifications:

Sabotage will be the quickest way to find yourself and your team disqualified. We will redo matches. We will ban people. We will kick out teams. We will allow alternates if you get caught. If your group has a spy in another group intending to sabotage another team's chances, you will be disqualified and other punishments may follow depending on the case. Attempting to exploit holes in the showdown security will result in heavy punishments. This includes killing or capturing players. It also includes theft from the Showdown events or from other players. Don't do it. If the event ends and a group is found not to be indepedent, we will pull the card(s) and give them to the next runnerup. Punishments may also follow. Be truthful. We are not players for you to spy against. We will not reveal your secret affiliations. But you MUST tell us before you get too far. Message me (Baugrems) or Kyle about this if you are concerned.

Timing:

A big question from many of you has been timing. How long do we need to be active to do this event? How long will it take? We are hoping this entire event will last one week or less. To help enforce this timeline we've added a few special flags to the Showdown combat areas. Not only will multiple rounds be happening at the same time, but fire delays and travel timers will be cut to only a fraction of their normal amount. This will allow for quicker action to end an engagement that might take 12 hours in only 2-3. We will also be enforcing time limits on the rounds. If one round lasts more than 12 hours we will end it and take best progress as a winner.

The Force:

Will the force be an advantage? Can we use our lightsabers? No to all of the above! Force will be completely disabled during the event. Even visitors on the showdown hub station will be unable to use the force at all. This includes healing, speed, deflection, and testing. Training and meditation are the only skills that will work. Your force powers will return to you when you leave the hub and head home.

Healing:

Another big one we've been asked a lot. Can we heal? Is the force an advantage because they can heal? Good news! No healing items are being provided. The force will be disabled so no healing is possible.

Ground Combat Arena:

What will ground combat look like? See the layout below and start your planning! Teams will start in opposing, top corners. The NPCs will all be level 10 of the same race with available points to spend open to the team to assign. The race of the NPCs will be Penguani. 12 Riflemen with E-11s. 12 Melee Troopers with dual vibroblades. 12 Scouts with X-45 rifles. 12 Musicians with dual Relby K-23s (Drummer boys?). All of the NPCs will be wearing a flak jacket and a flak helmet. No other items will be provided or allowed. Characters will get to choose their equipment from the above. They will wear the same armor and get a stockpile of the above weapons to choose from. One pair of macro binoculars will be included. It's probably a good idea to give it to the snipers. Squads can be mixed if desired but optimal ranges here don't play well together. The event hosts do not recommend it. As stated above, fire delays and travel timers will be shortened.

Space Combat Arena:

Okay nothing is really special here. It's an empty, deep space location. Hyperdrives will be deactivated but everything else is the same. As above, travel and fire delays will be shorter so you won't spend your time waiting for sublight. Teams will start at roughly 6 squares apart as well to shorten approach time. Provided ships will be a single Raider Corvette, a squadron of Tri-marks, a squadron of B-wings, and a squadron of TIE Interceptors. Contestants will all spawn aboard the raider with everything magically docked inside. Teams will be assigned all the squadron leaders and the corvette to choose who flies which groups. Squadron mixing will not be allowed.

Showdown Hub:

Half of the showdown area will be dedicated to visitors. Anyone can come to it and visit with each other, buy from vendors, and enjoy the event. Contestants get a VIP section that includes more services and has shuttles to their rounds. Please have your entire team at the showdown hub by June 26th. It can be reached via any Trading 1, Trading 2, Petabys Station, or Taansari point in Bright Jewel. If this is somehow a concern, let me know. Access will open on June 15th.

If there are any questions in the meantime, feel free to send me a direct message (SWCombine or Discord). Also check out the dedicated showdown discord server to get questions answered, talk smack, and see a list of FAQ/announcements.

Edit: Added macros to the equipment list for sniper squad.

A lot of questions have been coming in about event specifics and new races being triggered raised even more questions. To help with team planning for the upcoming deadline, we have some more information for you! If you already sent me your team and wish to make changes, just DM me the new list. I've been recording all the selections and will audit them when we get closer to the selection deadline (June 15th). If you decide your group does not wish to participate (and you were invited) please let me know soon so I may update things.

Space Round: As said before, the first phase will be space combat. It will be set up as a tournament with a losers bracket and a winners bracket. If you lose your match, don't worry as you get a chance at redemption! Teams will be placed in opposite corners of a system with 4 squadrons of ships. Expect a Corvette, a fighter squadron, a bomber squadron, and a gunboat squadron. These are provided; you cannot bring any of your own assets. The team who wipes out the entire enemy fleet moves on. The matchups for the brackets will be randomized and your  team's placement in the tournament will give your team points towards the overall win.

Ground Round: Part two will be very similar to part one. Teams will be given squads of NPCs of various types. Expect a sniper squad, a melee squad, a mid-range squad, and a short range squad. You cannot bring any of your own equipment or NPCs. The team loses when the npcs are killed not when players are stunned. High HP does not necesarily mean an advantage in this round. Your other skills and tactics will make all the difference. Randomized brackets for both winners and losers will be used just like in Space. The city will be fairly crunched in by walls and wall obstacles so don't anticipate walking through an entire 20x20 square, but do expect obstacles and tactical movement. Every single team does this phase no matter how they placed in space combat round.

Mystery Round: There is not much to say here. This round will be more about cleverness, luck, and random skills. No way to really prep beyond "send people who can think on their feet". All teams participate in this round.

Champions circle: This is where we kick out all of the teams besides the top 6 performers.They have already won a Datacard but now we will compete to see who gets the top slots. There will be a chaotic, warsim-like space combat battle with one member of each team. Meanwhile, a similar battle will take place with one member of each team (not the same person as space) on the ground. The other two members will not be involved in this battle at all. The free-for-all results will be compiled into a final ranking for the teams overall to determine 1st through 6th place.

That's all the info for now. Looking forward to next month to see who comes out on top!

Edit: For those interested, a discord server can be found here.

Edit2: Starting June 15th, you can access the DC Showdown public meetup via any trading 1 or trading 2 station (and Petabys). Anyone can visit. An NPC will be at the entrance to those stations and allow instant transport back and forth. There will be vendors and a chance to meetup with others safely. There will also be a VIP lounge just for contestants to use. Contestants will need to come here before the event begins on June 26th. This is where the showdown begins!