- 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.

Alright folks, it's time for your bi-monthly Deathmatch Update! Deathmatch rounds have been advanced and I don't think I have anything more to say about that.

GO VOTE!

 

Now onto our grudge matches:

• It displeases me to see that the majority of you are having at least a semblance of fun. Knock it off, or I'll have to try harder to make your SWC experience undesirable
• Begrudgingly, we've implemented Ewoks as a playable race, at your request.
• I'm just gonna ignore the request about NPC cargo... we all know that's never gonna happen.
• And finally, it's my pleasure to announce the People's Choice Award for the Most Emo Paramilitary Faction: Silhouette! Enjoy your commemorative trophy seen below:

 

Now, onto this cycles NEW grudge matches:

• Tell us which weapon type you use and we'll tell you we don't care. We'll probably nerf it.
• Who's your favorite star pilot? If you spell favourite with a u then you're banned. In true admin bias fashion, I voted for Falco Lombardi. 
• Chick fight round two: Electric boogaloo!
• Finally, the SWC Administration would like to gauge your responses on which SWC creature is the scariest. Responses will be recorded, so choose wisely.

As always, here's a link to the grudge matches. Enjoy.

That's all for this week folks. Have fun 

Due to some recent changes on the backend, custom item submissions will lock the art queue from being processed. Please refrain from submitting new custom items until the fix is finalized.

 

Edit: Fixed!

Features

• NPC Vendors can now sell items/droids in crates. Players and factions can use these to set up automated shops. See more rules here.
• Room maps now can have storage rooms for vendors
• Room combat in pvp systems can occur in space now, not just on the ground.

 

Tweaks

• Updated poison to do a % of max health
• Various minor bug fixes/performances boosts

Rules

• Vendor rules page added
• Custom image rules adjusted for readability
• Petabys added as a red dot for darkness worlds map

 

Edit: Custom items of the same image can now be packaged into crates to sell at vendors. Nevermind this breaks stuff.

It has been a while since we swapped out the fabled CP creature. Thala-Siren has haunted us for long enough. Get your puffer pig today! Be careful about scaring it though, you may be in for a surprise. Due to this unique trait, custom images on the pigs won't be allowed (for now).

The Raider-class Missle Corvette has appeared in the galaxy! The datacard is available on the generic datacard market as of now. This ship can easily remove those pesky A-Wing or TIE squadrons while looking good in the process. Just watch out for bigger corvettes and bombers. Get yours today!

Small sync with some QoL stuff today.

• Clarified Bounty Hunting rules regarding accuracy of scan bearing
• Updated Bounty Hunting scanning to prevent use of scanner in WarSim system
• Added WarSim to Quest rules page
• Added LISP function to set a ship's hyperspeed to 0
• Asteroid Mining fix for repeating stored yield caps and added asteroid deposit size to mining widget
• Travel Planner now defaults to hyper exit point when choosing a system. No more accidental sunning.
• Travel Planner now warns you when you set a sun as your destination. Seriously, no more accidental sunning. Stop it.
• You can now set a Travel Plan while in a Hyperspace Abort Cooldown. The Travel Plan will count down until the cooldown has finished, and then begin.
• Art Team Leaders can now issue temporary bans for custom image submissions.

Web Services has an API change, there is a forum post detailing the exact changes available here.

The summary for consumers of the Web Services 1.0 API:

• The 2.0 API has output format changes.
• Web Services 1.0 API endpoints will disappear on or before Year 23 Day 150 (you will need to migrate to the 2.0 endpoints before then).

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.

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.

 

 

 

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!

It is once again time for a new asim or two to step up! As always, the rotation of staff every 6 months gives people a chance to take a break, either from IC or from staff. This set will be from June to December.

Here are the rules:

• Newly hired asims are not required to irrevocably drop their character. Instead, their characters are suspended for the duration of being an asim.     
• Asims have no IC activity related to their character while working for the administration.     
• Asims will have a defined period of service of six months after which a new group of asims will be hired. There is no limit on the number of terms if reselected.     
• Applications will be in December and June, with terms serving between January and July.     
• Compensation in the form of Combine Points will be provided for asims who remain active and effective throughout their service period.     
• Asims are required to use Discord and must be active in staff channels as that is how the majority of decisions are made.     
• Asims duties center around helping players affected by bugs, handling support tickets, and dealing with rules violations. There will be opportunities for asims to assist in designing RP opportunities for SWC at large, along with participating in discussion on game features before they are announced or implemented.

Applications should be submitted via Darkness Message to Arjuna, Baugrems, and Kyle. Please answer the following questions in your application.

SWC-specific questions:

• What is your Combine handle?     
• How long have you played SWC?     
• What have you done IC so far (including previous characters)? What are you working on currently, and what is your position with your faction?     
• Why do you want to become an asim?     
• Are you involved in any other online games or RPGs of a similar nature? If so please describe your position and responsibilities     
• Please provide three references of SWC members who are not on the administration team that have been in the game for at least two years.

Real-life questions:

• Where do you live?     
• How old are you?     
• What is your occupation?     
• How much time would you like to volunteer per week on improving SWC?     
• Have you performed administrative duties in the past or organized groups/events?     
• Would you rather fight 100 Porg-sized Rancors, or 1 Rancor-sized Porg? Why?

 

Applications will be open until May 31st with new asims starting their term sometime between June 5th and 15th.

---

Evan Edit Y22D176:

Hey friends, with this ASim term coming to an end and the next one about to start, I want to use this opportunity to announce that I will be stepping down as ASim effective on or around May 31st. This has absolutely been a great experience that I have truly enjoyed and would do it all over again if given the chance. Special thanks to Baugrems, Noctis, Loki, Arjuna, Kyle, Falcon, Clarr, Mikel, and Erek for always being so supportive (albeit, also typically with a healthy dose of sarcasm; thankfully, that is my love language) and for teaching me so much. If you're on the fence about whether you should apply to be an ASim, I'd recommend giving it a try - you'll be working among some of the best the game has seen!

With that, I plan to go freelance for a while after stepping down to put some time between any information or access I had as an ASim and any IC decisions or acts I might take that could be perceived as unduly influenced. Frankly, I'm just excited to get to play with all the new features that have been released since I became an ASim!

Finally, I want to thank you, the community, for your support and encouragement. I've enjoyed getting to serve you and help out wherever I could. I hope you all know that you're stil more than welcome to reach out for help or questions or even just to chat! This decision was not easy, but I am looking forward to what another may be able to do with the opportunity.

May your days be forever filled with cookies,

- Evan

 

Edit Y22D182: Less than a week left to apply. We will be going over these on the 1st of June or so and letting people know shortly after.

 

Edit Y22D188: the new asim has been selected! We will welcome Adrian Owen as an asim starting sometime next week. 

Well folks, the madlad actually did it! It was a close battle, but winning by 2 votes, Gaarurra Madclaw has been named your latest deathmatch champion! For those of you voting for Fake Squirtle, my heart goes out to you(no it doesn't).

This new round of deathmatches has some... interesting members. I will watch the entire thing with great interest.

 

...Moving on, it appears as though we have some grudge matches to take care of. 

• Apparently you lot are a bunch of sadists and prefer to stew all of us. Those of you who voted for the birds... you know who you are and will be hearing from my lawyer shortly.
• The Chiss really came out in numbers for this next one. I'm not sure how they got so many of their kind to vote for being the best race, but I have to give them props. I didn't think they'd make it this far.
• With a vote ratio of roughly 3:1, you all have decided that the radar is the best bounty tracking method. We'll make sure to nerf this ASAP.
• Finally, poor Sevk, it seems, will never see any sort of Star Destroyer. I considered taking down the match so he wouldn't even have been able to see the pictures, but the SWC legal team has advised me against doing that(like they know anything anyways...)

 

None of those results come as a surprise to anyone, so maybe this next round of grudge matches will. I had to dig extra deep into my hat of nonsense for this round, so buckle up:

• First, a test to gauge how much fun you're having in SWCombine. I'm sure there's no shenanigans involved in this one. No pressure.
• Second, you get to pick the player's choice award of "Most Emo Paramilitary Faction". Yes, there will be a trophy.
• Third, a query about how NPC Cargo routes should work. Work your magic.
• Finally, after last night's ewok discord discussion, I should have expected to see this pop up for nothing other than the memes, but hey, lets run with it: Ewoks, yes or no? For those of you voting on this one, I expect a 24-page paper explaining your position on the matter. Please submit said paper in triplicate to Evan for his review. He's really looking forward to reading all about this.

Links to make Tomas happy:

DEATHMATCH

GRUDGE MATCHES

In an attempt to keep things streamlined and fresh, we are going to open the Art Queue team to some applicants. We are only looking for a few at this time, but this will likely become a regular thing about once or twice a year depending on the activity of the members of the team. Keep in mind we are looking for people who have experienced the art customization system in SWC and want to be part of helping it operate smoothly. Having experience in creating art that passes the art queue is a major plus. Actively using discord is a must. Applications will run for about one(1) week. Thank you.
All potential candidates please message me on discord: Galia Winters#0576

We never expected so many applications! However We have a tremendous amount of candidates who have applied for very few slots.

From deep in my heart I say thank you for the interest, however I am going to close the application process for now. Thank you :)

 

Edit: We have our candidates and they have been informed of their acceptance. For all of those who applied, thank you so much for your interest and perhaps we will see you next cycle!

Welcome to another Datacard Showdown update! As of this post, all groups should have received an in-game message from me explaining their eligibility. If you did NOT receive one and feel your group should have received one, let me know.It may have gone to a different member of your group if you have multiple factions so keep that in mind as well.

 

A few changes since the first post have been made as well to make things easier on those involved, and to make it more fun. There will now be 6 winners instead of 4. Each datacard can be chosen TWICE overall instead of once. 1st and 2nd place will get to pick again from what is left after 6th place chooses its datacard. The events themselves will also be spread out more so I expect it to take the entire week instead of just the weekend, but you won't need to be active the entire time. Each phase will be broken into a tournament bracket randomly generated for fairness. We will determine best times between each group and move it along as quickly as possible.

 

Teaming up will likely not be possible. Even so, we will watch for shady behavior. Your group should act in its own interest and for its own datacards or they may be disqualified.

 

Space Combat Phase:

The 4 champions from each team will be split into different types of ships to form a small fleet. Two fleets will engage with the winner moving on in the tournament bracket. Expect Corvettes, gunships, bombers, and fighters.

Ground Combat Phase:

The 4 champions will be given squads that specialize in different things. Expect melee, sniping, and everything in-between. Tournament style as well. 2 teams face off.

Mystery Phase:

Expect anything from R&D skills to Perception to Combat to Space Combat to Infantry Command... expect anything and nothing! You'll need to be creative and quick-witted. There is no other way to prep for this one.

Champions Circle:

The top 6 teams will battle it out here. Ground, Space, and Room combat are involved.

 

Prizes:

UT-60D U-wing Support Craft - Permanent Datacard

Goji-DF Turtle Tanker - Permanent Datacard

MC-30b Corvette - Permanent Datacard

Kandosii-type Dreadnaught - Permanent Datacard (stats and art pending)

Winners will be the teams with the most overall points. The prize pool will be selected from in descending order for their faction. 6 winners overall. Each DC can be chosen twice total. Draft order is -  1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 1st, 2nd.

Every team member who competes, even if their team does not win, will get to choose a Physical DC of one of the new ships, making a full squadron (12 slots).

 

edit: some of the DMs didn't go through. I'm working on it now. Will edit again when they're all fully sent.

Edit: All sent!