- April fools is over.

- All newly created wrecks are now NPC Owned.

- Asteroid Prospecting Changes: Prospecting a failed find is now faster (it uses a base time of 1 hour instead of 4) & Prospecting result traces are now shown on the map
- XP for failing a find roll has been reduced
- Each successful asteroid mining extraction slightly increases the deposit stability.

- Small buff for Turbolaser damage in general, and a buff for corvette turbolaser damage against fighters
- The space combat rules have been updated to include some previously undocumented information (specifically maneuver comparison factor).

No jokes here! I want to give a huge thanks to all the players who submitted descriptions this past month. Here are all the descriptions updated in March. As a reminder, we still have our double CP incentive for descriptions of currently-undescribed planets- you could earn up to 10,000 cp's per description!

Writing descriptions is one of the best ways to enrich the galaxy and the game we all love so much. 

Bank Cloud Car DL-18 Foxhole Kulthis Park Pelgrin 

Personal Residence   Procopia Nizon Rathtar Resh 9876 

Tellrig-7 Trading II  Wynkahthu Zoo Station 

Happy day everyone! Space Combat has just undergone a huge change this sync. There are other fixes in this Sync that will be listed at the bottom.

Space Combat Update:

Your best resource will be the Space Combat rules page. So this will be highlights.

Concussion Missiles now do almost no damage to Corvettes and are purely anti-fighter

Turbolasers are anti corvette and will not be a huge threat to fighters anymore

Corvettes can now participate in all space combat

Satellites can now be shot down in pvp zones

Cargo Containers can now be shot down in pvp zones

Maneuverability of attacker vs defender now matters in hit chance. Length difference matters as well. See rules for exact details.

Pursuer-class Enforcement Ship has been increased to 3 slots and had its shields dropped to 150. it was... way too overpowered beforehand.

Razor-Class Starfighters had their maneuver bumped down to 5 as they were overpowered at 6 with new rules.

Miy'til and T-wing interceptor starfighters has been bumpted to 6 maneuver from 5 as they were underpowered with new rules.

DP-20c has been lowered from 3 to 2 maneuver.

Other Changes/Fixes

MSDs are now able to work as spawn points for factions

Budgets no longer error out on adjustment

Weird duplicate locations will no longer lock people from exiting entities sometimes

Bandit Ship capture rates now match the rules page properly

Bounty rescues can now be kicked from entities

Allow export of first 5000 items if selection is higher

Sender name is now included in hails

Accessibility options have been added. Works best on chrome or android.

Edit:

Due to complaints suggestions and feedback, we have included a surgeon in every medical room in the game who can change your voice. He may charge a fee but he works quickly. Have a friend with stimpacks nearby to revive you in case he doesn't though...

    Corvettes have all been adjusted to a range of 6-10 slot sizes to prepare for the coming soon R&D releases and any not-so-soon combat including them. The skipray gunboat has been lowered to 2 slots to make it more balanced in current space combat. The consular class has been reclassified as a Light Freighter.

As the title implies, there are a few changes coming to space combat at the end of the month. This is part of the ongoing effort to improve and expand combat in the game. Expect more changes as we continue working on things.

Starting April 1st:

• Corvettes will be available for space PvP and PvE
• Satellites will be able to be shot down in PvP
• Cargo Containers will be able to be shot down in PvP (This does not include escape pods)

• Production RM totals shown in red if insufficient quantity
• Sidebar timer for Hidden System reveal
• Hyperlane map update with modes, table moved below map
• Add hyperlane length warning to travel planner
• WS cleanup
• Fix item disarm issue
• Fix BH contract to assign owner at acceptance, not creation
• Fix BH cross-terrain hook
• BH kill squads show as Bounty Hunting Squad instead of Bandit Squad
• Contextual menu for party and squad actions
• New LISP to claim achievement credit, transfer hyperlane datasets
• Add alphabetical sorting to datacard pages
• Rules page cleanup for Missions and Quests

There will be approximately 2 hours of downtime on Year 22 D100 starting at CGT 18:00.
During this time all features of the game and the website will be completely unavailable.

We will be upgrading the database server software during this time.

Edit: Maintenance complete: Database server upgraded. There will be another short unplanned outage in the future after everything is confirmed stable for us to restart the server one more time.

Bounty Hunters of the Galaxy, rejoice! The fine people responsible for the firmware on your tracking devices have pushed a galaxy-wide firmware update with some...erm, minor modifications. You might have to be more patient with your scans, but you should have a better idea of which direction to travel right off the bat. Rules page has been updated accordingly.

Update: There appears to be some concern about the new tracking mechanics. Some of this is likely due to changes in the rules page, which is meant to stand alone and not explictly compare to the old mechanics. Please take note of the following while using the new feature and providing feedback.

• There is no randomness in the scanning result. The only factors are your skills, the target's skills, and the distance between you on a galactic scale.
• Re-scanning in the same location will always provide the same result.
• The target lock will always provide you with the highest level of detail i.e. system, planet, and surface location.
• If your skills and the target's skills are equal, you will hit the 10%/75% thresholds at the following distances:
  • You will score under 10% from a distance of 94 or greater. You will only receive a bearing to the target. This bearing will always be correct.
  • You will score between 10% and 75% between a distance of 26 and 93. You will receive a bearing and range estimate to the target. They will always be correct.
  • You will score above 75% (solid lock) at a distance of 25 or fewer. You will receive the detailed target location. This will always be correct.
• Regardless of your skill level, you will always have a solid target lock when in the same system as the target.

We appreciate your fervant feedback, especially if it is based on experience trying the feature at least once, and provides constructive and actionable recommendations.

Update 2: After an exhaustive review of player feedback and extensive discussions within the development team, the decision was made to remove the new "Scan Delay" feature and return to the "Cooldown" method. The base XP for contract completion was also increased slightly. Several values that were previously constants have been replaced with properties, allowing ASims to more easily perform minor tuning adjustments in the future. The new tracking methodology (direction-based "radar") will remain. The thresholds have been adjusted slightly to provide better range feedback once the hunter is in terminal guidance. The rules page is updated accordingly.

February saw 17 new descriptions uploaded- a huge thanks to the players who submitted their suggestions, and the DescriptionsTeam who helped them along the way! 

Reminder: We are still offering DOUBLE CP's for well-written descriptions of currently undescribed planets or systems. You could earn up to 10,000 CP's per description! Help us fill out the galaxy: no planet left behind!

Abhean BD-1 Cutter Brodo Asogi 

Chakram  DL-56 Mandalore (planet)

 Moroa Morobe System NZ 9118   

Othone Pernicar R3 Astromech 

 Sinite Sword T-21 Blaster 

 Vorsia Yelsain

NPCs, custom and otherwise, will now have to have a race image that reflects their current race. No more clone, stormtrooper, or other helmets may be displayed on the NPC's image itself. Instead it will need to be applied to the armor the NPC wears. This is not a retroactive change, but one going from this day forward. There is one exception to this ruling, and that is races that typically have traditional/race face coverings, such as but not limited to Jawas and Tuskens. In regards to this exception, they still may not have any entity within the NPC image other than traditionall racial head coverings. So as an example you want a Clone or Stormtrooper custom for instance, you can customize the armor/gear but not the NPC image which must reflect their race. Existing customs will be phased out once their approval timer expires. All other existing rules apply. Thank you.

A lot of the most recent syncs have been more backend that players don't see directly. Today's sync fixed a couple of things that may affect players but this list also includes a few highlights from earlier this week.

Changes

• Clicking the map while on foot will now show a "Board" option. This helps make the tutorial more intuitive for newbies and gives an easier route to the boarding page.
• Bounty Hunting is now more integrated with the site and is no longer tied to just NPC/item conversation trees.
• Deep Space scanning has been fixed. Previously was giving a property of null error sometimes
• Added more admin-level NPC script powers. Poison, removing from parties, and new hook types.

Art has also been updated a few times this month so keep an eye out for new images out there for various things.

In concert with the release of Poison, the NPC/Quest team has released a new creature script for the Crystal Snake. Be careful which parts you touch!

More creature scripts are planned shortly, and as always, if you're interested in contributing to the ever-growing collection of LISP functionality the team can be found on Discord in the #coding channel, or you can PM/DM Baugrems directly.

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.

Year 22 Day 39, 17:11 Noctis banned player Gladias Masha providing the following reason: Multi Ban - Continuing to attempt to create new accounts.

Player can submit a support ticket for Evan in 6 weeks requesting an unban.

1 Year 21 Day 336, 15:31 Noctis banned player Draco Venom providing the following reason: Multi Ban - Failing to register, accounts coming under control of a single player.

2 Year 21 Day 336, 15:31 Noctis banned player Zaxcen Scales providing the following reason: Multi Ban - Failing to register, accounts coming under control of a single player.

Oldest account can request an unban after 6 weeks by submitting a help ticket.

Or by constantly messaging Baugrems.

Year 21 Day 293, 6:26 Noctis banned player Xinnu Thax providing the following reason: Multi Ban - Dav Koor, Kam Spider, Dak Kahn remake.

Permanent ban is still permanent.

 9

Year 21 Day 284, 16:34

Bane Senatu has been revived by Baugrems.

The dead live again! Due to some poor form cheating the death has been reversed. If you notice some assets missing from your inventory it is because all were returned to him. If there was a sale involved, let me know, but I think I saw all of them.

RELATED BAN:

 259

Year 21 Day 279, 20:33

Baugrems banned player Ahmus Wright providing the following reason: Spying/Multi

 260

Year 21 Day 279, 20:33

Baugrems banned player Cheko Uketakth providing the following reason: Spying/Multi

Don't expect these guys to be back.

UNRELATED BAN!

 212

Year 21 Day 281, 22:50

Baugrems banned player Bret Checkway providing the following reason: Spying - Trying to sell info from old character on a new character. 2 week ban.

Kind of explains itself. Short warning ban.

Year 21 Day 273, 17:59 Noctis banned player Jin Croth providing the following reason: Multi Ban - Creating multiple accounts to get around the death timer.

Year 21 Day 273, 17:59 Noctis banned player Rilee Willy providing the following reason: Multi Ban - Creating multiple accounts to get around the death timer.

Permanent ban.

The market on Petabys station has received a boost today, and it has reset to a new set of wares.

Instead of selling single fighters, it now sells full squadrons.

Corvettes can now be bought as well.

These share the same 5 day cooldown. You can buy once every 5 days, either a squadron or a corvette, and the wares change every 3 weeks.

Be careful though, your goods can be shot down once they're bought so get outside quick to dock or hyper away!

Enjoy!

Greetings and salutations! We've advanced the next round of deathmatch as well as put up some more grudge matches for you all. It was a close competition wirh Dunta vs Dijaca, with both votes being tied. It seems the Deathmatch gods favor Dijaca more than they do Dunta. My condolences.

In other news, we welcome Indiana Jones as our new Star Wars overlord and will be nerfing the popular playstyle associated with Snipers.

This week, we saw a plethora of new grudge matches submitted, so thank you all for that. We had to decline a few due to broken images, but keep them coming! We've also saved a few for future rounds, so if you don't see yours this time around, check back next time. We look forward to letting the playerbase choose the next darkness event.

As always, have fun with this session's deathmatch/grudge matches and keep the grudge match ideas coming!

Alright Laddies and Ladies, Deathmatch has been advanced! There were some pretty close votes right out of the gate, so I'm curious to see how this tournament ends.

I've also put some new grudge matches up for you:

• First up is a completely and totally accurate list of characters from the Star Wars series, and we want to know your favorite! (Maybe for another hidden race??)
• Second is your favorite ground battle tactic... sans pictures. I guess we don't believe in them anymore.

If you're mad that those are your only options, well then shame on you because you didnt submit any grudge match ideas(unless you're the one person who submitted both of the above)! 

And of course, we can't forget last round's results!

• It seems as though none of you actually know how to get The Force. Ask Virak Kira, maybe he knows?
• In true fashion, JOE is the most popular of the Jawa variants, which JOU(who?) coming in last place
• Lastly, it would appear as though no concensus could be reached on the helmet issue, wait what's this? HR is telling me I need to read this card that says you all want helmets. Why would I talk about such lies? Oh well... maybe you all can be more decisive this round.

Alright peeps, that's all for this week's deathmatch and grudge match updates. We'll see you next time(with more grudge match ideas hopefully?)

Congrats to Spree Razzix for winning the final round of Deathmatch! We hope you have a newfound sense of pride and accomplishment. As such, A new round has started. Vote to your heart's content!

And now a moment to look at the grudge matches ending this week:
 

•  
• 369 of you think Bounty Hunting needs to include Space Combat. We applaud your enthusiasm and instead point you towards Klug. I'm told if you're able to dock his ship, you win a prize? Someone please confirm.
• 363 of you apparently hate all false sith lords, though I think Arthur is the most handsome of the three listed(Call me?)
• The last grudge match seemed awfully divided. While I can appreciate the humor behind aborting hyper into a star(seriously, though... the chances of that are so slim it wouldn't ACTUALLY happen to anyone right...?), most of you would either sacrifice yourself for the greater good of the galaxy or go out in an epic lightsaber duel(how original).

This week, we have some spicy grudge matches for you! Thanks to everyone who submitted a grudge match! There were so many submissions, we couldn't list them all. Look for them in the coming weeks, and continue to submit your grudge match ideas if you have them!

•  
• We look forward to seeing how to implement Force Sensitivity, so long as your name isn't Virak.
• Vote on your favorite JOx variant!
• And of course, this rotation's grudge matches wouldn't be complete without asking your opinion on the helmet rule(I think I got about 10 variants of this grudge match)

As always, have fun with this week's deathmatch and grudge matches!

Hey look another sim news!

Petabys Station is open now for business. You may have noticed like 5 sim posts ago, so yesterday, that a new system was found that enabled space pvp. Now the station that gives name to the zone is open! Come see the blackmarket and potential questing opportunities if you dare to risk it.

Edit: Here is a link to the system with the station. Note that we have good hyperlanes to it for you to use as well.

A new feature has been added that allows admins to create space combat zones. This follows the same rules as bandit combat, except you cannot board disabled player ships. Rules can be found here. Note that it includes a stipulation about not arresting or attempting to kill/capture people while using this area.

 This is the first area for space combat. It is a 5x5 zone (25 systems) that allows space combat per the rules I linked above. There are also hyperlanes between Derra, Petabys, and Serroco now. Good luck!

New deathmatch is up! Leebri managed to win by 2 votes, but can he win against Spree(and no, I don't mean the candy)? Lets find out!

While you're at it, check out the latest grudge matches! 

Looks like last round, you all favored our Great and Benevolent Bunny Overlord as your favorite Asim (lol). This time you get to choose how your character will die how you'd ideally like to go out in a blaze of glory.

Don't forget to submit any grudge match ideas if you're tired of seeing all these grudge matches about Arthur fighting Russ.

Given some new changes behind the scenes the cockpits of a bunch of vessels need fixing. In the spirit of involving the community there is now a cockpit display bounty thread in the Work for CPs section, for those interested! :)

DEATHMATCH!!

GRUDGE MATCHES!!

Deathmatch has been advanced, and new grudge matches are up! I'm told these ones are supposed to be exciting.

Those looking to make progress towards that next CP bonus ship might look into our newest Work bounty. Room maps have been neglected for a long while. We have put out a bounty on improving some of the ones that need some love. This is also a chance to try to get that update your favorite ship has needed for years.

I am doing my best to maintain locks. Some locks will likely be broken in the process, but I am trying to minimize that.

Check out this forum to see how to submit something.

Current Updates:

• Pelagia
• CR-90, CR-92, CR-90 assassin, CR-70
• DP-20a, DP-20b, DP-20c
• Action VI Transport
• Modular Taskforce Cruiser

A new shopkeeper has moved in near the bounty guild contact. Mercenary taverns now have a Quest NPC to buy things from depending on your guild rank and reputation.

The items/droids it sells require reputation and credits to purchase. The list is not being released right now you'll have to see what is willing to be sold as you rank up. It may also change over time so keep checking in.

Top tier hunters can buy a datacard from the shopkeer for 10 million credits. What datacard? That is up to chance. A random choice from a large list will be chosen. Some might be hardly worth the price while others make 10 million seem like a steal. Good luck.

Congrats to Nileri Ateisa Rosiir for winning the last deathmatch by only 3 votes! 

New round is up, along with a couple new grudge matches. Knock yourself out!