The denizens of the galaxy have taken note of the recent uptick in bounty hunting activity. While initially caught unaware, wanted criminals and gangs of roving kidnappers will now attempt to flee from battle under additional circumstances.

• When confronted by a party containing Huge or Colossal creatures, bounty hunting targets will flee to a new location on the planet.
• When attacked by someone who is not the contracted hunter, and the attacker is not holding the contract puck, bounty hunting targets will flee to a new location on the planet.

The NPC/Quest team appreciates the feedback and suggestions from everyone working hard to earn that Bounty Hunting reputation. Keep an eye out for additional content and features in the future!

UI Changes:

• Updated NPC Speech interface look and feel
• Updated IFF interface

Bugs:

• Reason field is propagated when accepting faction inventory requests
• Fix for issue with cities in systems not in sectors (mostly dev server issue)
• Cybernetic cost calculation fix
• Docking bay/hangar bay cargo container boarding issue
• Extra inventory filters have been added to tree view
• Doors cant knock you unconscious anymore (but can stun you if you are too low)
• Fix for get entity info set entity type exploit (lisp related)
• Fix for inventory filter exploits
• Inventory filter remove unused group parameter
• Inventory reason xss fix
• Ascend/descend hook incorrect travel type issue
• Cockpit events yellow icon link
• Events page shows all event type filters now

Rules:

• More Bounty Hunting rules updates
• Many rules pages have been updated to show scaling xp bonus values
• Second in Command rules page updates
• Repair capable stations shown on rules page

NPC Scripting:

• fmt function
• Strings can now be multiline
• New """Triple quotes string syntax"""
• number_format/nf function
• pick-up-item function
• set! builtin fixes
• say-html added for unformatted output
• Table css classes added

The party slots have been adjusted on all of the gunboats to make them a bit better balanced. Please look at the rules page here

We will monitor and might tweak them a bit more again at a later date. Send Evan thanks for coming up with the idea and compliment his beard, and for being the nicest asim we have that isn't an ewok. Perhaps he is nicer that is up to you all to decide. 

Edit: As promised we are monitoring and tweaking them Alpha-class Xg-1 Star Wing has been moved from gunboat to fighter and slots go to 1

The ability to change to the newly discovered race has been fixed. You may now change to the Fosh by going to your character page and selecting the option to change race.

Sorry to those that had tried already! You should have 14 days from discovery to decide now.

Range for both ground and space combat weapons has been completely redone. It now works as an optimal range instead of a min-max range.

On the rules page for personal weapons you might see a 75%, 50%, and 25% hit column. This is the range you need to be at to have that percent chance to hit. Assuming a hit using the same method of skills vs dodge.

The simple way to describe this: Any weapon (other than melee which is only range 0) can fire at any range. Chance to hit is variable based on optimum range and a weapon's tendency to Drop Off in accuracy.

Some changes to weapons and how they work with these new variables will likely happen over the next few weeks. Do not be alarmed. As always, report issues as you see them.

During this time of year, especially this year hopefully everyone in the community is happy as healthy as they can be. Speaking on behalf of the staff we wish you all a happy holiday and hope you all can enjoy it however you choose to. As I likely won't post on Sim News again until the new year.

This has been a year with lots of changes for SWC. Some might view the changes as good some might view them as bad, hopefully more the former than the latter. We have actually achieved all the goals we set to complete this year and more. Next year we might have even more ambitious goals and hope to achieve those as well. As always you can view what we are working on from a high level on the Development Projects page.

Once again hope you all enjoy playing this game and stay safe and hopefully more stuff will roll out next year...or perhaps before the end of the year. You never know what some fo the small projects might be able to be taken care of between now and then.

With the upcoming Bounty Hunter release and the holidays catching Kyle in a lovely mood, we have added hangars to some of your favorite corvettes! Check out the list below:

• CR-70 Corvette
• CR-90 Assassin-class Corvette
• CR-90 Corvette
• CR-92R Battle Corvette
• DP-20a Gunship
• DP-20b Gunship
• DP-20c Gunship
• Foray-class Blockade Runner
• IPV-1 System Patrol Craft

Most of these simply had a hangar added to an existing room. However, engineers were excited to find a well-hidden pathway to a hidden hangar onboard the IPV-1. Galactic sources have now been updated to reflect the hangar's location on the lower level near the entrance.

Be sure to send some extra bawoon-shaped cookies to your favorite bunny!

The Descriptions Team is nearing the end of their Galaxy Audit, where we have checked each and every system for planets that had descriptions for the wrong planet attatched. We moved descriptions around to the proper planet were we could, but in the end many, many planets are sadly without descriptions. Planetary descriptions help immerse players in this galaxy by helping them explore Lore and Combine history, give RP's more flavor, help fill out character histories, and more. We need your help to give more life to the galaxy.

For Year 22, we are offering DOUBLE CP's for each and every approved description of a currently undescribed planet. This includes planets with the short 'survey marker' descriptions. This means that with a little effort, you could earn up to 10,000 cp's per description. Before submitting a description, please be sure to read the rules- this is will help maximize your compensation. 

::Forum - Submitting Descriptions - Everything you need to know and more. - Star Wars Combine:: (swcombine.com) 

We've cleared out the Description Suggestion backlog and are ready to work with you and bring this galaxy to life! 

-Your friendly neighborhood Descriptions Director 

This is an announcement that the Bounter Hunter Faction Type will be merged sometime this week into the Mercenary Faction Type. In the future might rename the Mercenary Faction Type to be just Paramilitary or something of the sort. Once the change happens this will be updated to reflect that.

Edit: Bounty Hunters have been merged into Mercenary faction type

Asteroid Mining with Depots has been released: Rules are available here.

Using depots allow you to automate some aspects of asteroid mining, at a small throughput penalty.

There is a new overview page for both variants of asteroid mining to help manage it, available under the cockpit actions.

This is a fairly large change and really the first of a chain that will be coming over the next while. This won't affect how most people see combat, but a few will see big changes to their strategy with just this one simple change.

For players level 3 and up, dropping to 1hp in any way (combat, doors, Quests, creature scripts, etc.) will be stunned for 10 hours. This creates an additional fire delay and acts the same as a combat fire delay. This will greatly discourage some of the poor methods of bashing on creatures unarmed/lightly armed for weeks. And it will force some of you to be more strategic in how you approach combat in general.

The 10 hour time is adjustable but is unlikely to change soon. Other enhancements we make to combat/the game will be tied to this as well. Stay tuned and enjoy the current wrench in your xp farm!

Two announcements, both being shoved into one sim news!

A long running complaint about the experience/leveling system in the game has been the absolute advantage of ground combat. It is hard to compete with a dedicated hunter even if you build like crazy and produce a ton. To... combat... this advantage we have added a system to scale various types of XP in the game. Individual adjustments can now be made to the xp system on a percentage based scale. It might take some time to fine tune it to good levels, so keep an eye out for future announcements about adjustments.

Subject to change, here is the list of changes:

Travel experience is doubled (200%)

Production experience is now at 220%

Construction experience is at 130%

Station Construction is at 150%

Space Combat is at 130%

Everything else is staying as is FOR NOW. We will watch and adjust if needed. There is also potential for "double XP weekends/Holidays". A rules page is under construction to display current levels of xp as well.

MOVING ON! Newbie Tutorial System is next!

We announced not that long ago that we were working to change new player experience. This system is now live for newly created characters. There is an option to skip and spawn as 'usual', but the default will be to do the learning quest. At some point we will add in the ability for people to go back and try the quest, but it is not set up yet for that. 

Evan made a really cool guide page for the newbie quest world. He will finish it off soon but for the moment it covers the first half of the quest. Feel free to reference the page so you know what newbies have seen.

http://guide.swcombine.com/wiki/Tutorial_Quests

The list of "Joined in the last 24 hours" will no longer display newbies who... joined in the last 24 hours. It will instead show those that completed the newbie quest in the last 24 hours (or skipped it).

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.

Year 21 Day 269, 11:14 Evan banned player Zembuel Miraz providing the following reason: Asset laundering to get around death timer

Year 21 Day 269, 11:14 Evan banned player Erwin Vri providing the following reason: Asset laundering to get around death timer

Accounts are banned and the laundered assets have been sent to the market. Submit a support ticket in 3 weeks to have the unbanning of the accounts considered.

---

Friendly reminder that when your character dies and you go through the process to create a new one, the new character should be separate and distinct from your previous character(s) - we do strive to be a roleplaying game afterall. This includes assets previously held be former characters; they should be re-purchased at current market price if you wish to regain possession. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

1 Year 21 Day 267, 12:56 Noctis banned player Tomas Haalux providing the following reason: Multi Ban - multiple accounts, one player.

2 Year 21 Day 267, 12:56 Noctis banned player Bol Farrimando providing the following reason: Multi Ban - multiple accounts, one player.

3 Year 21 Day 267, 12:56 Noctis banned player Morghanna Fey providing the following reason: Multi Ban - multiple accounts, one player.

Oldest account can request an unban after 3 weeks.

Reminder, registering as a multi does not mean you get to have multiple accounts for yourself.

*DCs available until Y21 D266.

Jaden Ashby is now known as Jaden Praetorian.  

Year 21 Day 234, 19:35 Noctis banned player Amale Damanic providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Year 21 Day 234, 19:35 Noctis banned player Raa`hse Nahk providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Permanent ban.

Year 21 Day 234, 19:33 Noctis banned player Urkh Malal providing the following reason: Multi Ban - accounts coming under control of a single player.

Year 21 Day 234, 19:33 Noctis banned player Raghie Faub providing the following reason: Multi Ban - accounts coming under control of a single player.

Year 21 Day 234, 19:33 Noctis banned player Erwina Kammerer providing the following reason: Multi Ban - accounts coming under control of a single player.

Can submit a help ticket in 3 weeks for the oldest acocunt to be unbanned.

Year 21 Day 234, 19:32 Noctis banned player Tara Ta`sa providing the following reason: Multi Ban- accounts coming under control of a single player.

Year 21 Day 234, 19:32 Noctis banned player Kara Ta`sa providing the following reason: Multi Ban- accounts coming under control of a single player.

Can submit a help ticket in 3 weeks for the oldest acocunt to be unbanned.

Reminder, even registering as a multi does not mean you can access someone else's account.

Questions and concerns can be directed to 

Year 21 Day 227, 18:03 Noctis banned player Damon Wren providing the following reason: Multi Ban - Nero Wren remake.

Ban is still ban.  

 1

Year 21 Day 218, 15:51

Baugrems banned player Azul Bumpas providing the following reason: Multi Ban

 2

Year 21 Day 218, 15:51

Baugrems banned player Palo Halostepper providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Banned for a month for making an account to get around death timer. Then attempting a third account named Soloman Lear a bit later.

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!

As the title implies, we are adding a new Asim to the team starting next week. Dimitri Halden will be joining us on the team for this term! He will be known as Dimitri Falcon as an Asim as well.

Thank you to everyone that applied. It is always a tough decision to choose from the list. Don't be discouraged by not being chosen this time. The more experience you have and getting to know the team can help your applications in the future.

The team for support will be: Evan, Dimitri Falcon , and Erek. Sometimes with assistance from Noctis.

The Admin team will be: Arjuna, Kyle, and Baugrems.

Looking forward to 2021 and what we can add to the game. Welcome to Dimitri Falcon !

EDIT: Alright, y'all, I've officially hopped in the seat. As you may have noticed, the name Dimitri was already taken, so I've assumed the name Falcon instead. I look forward to helping you all where I can!

GO CLICK ALL THE THINGS!

Deathmatch

GRUDGE MATCHES!

----

Y22D35 Edit: Final round of deathmatch is live!

A new year means a new round of asim applications! There are 1-2 slots open for the new year as one current asim will be stepping back and another is changing roles.

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?
• Which new Star Wars series/movie excites you the most and why?

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

Edit: Just a few days left to apply!

As the title says, bounty hunting is now live.

Anyone can hunt, just visit your local mercenary owned tavern to get started. Report any issues you see to support.swcombine.com or the help channel on SWC discord.

Click here for the rules page.

Possible rare drops include:

• Beskar Ingots (Collection items for now. Beskar crafting coming up next)
• Physical DCs for rare ships

Bounty Hunting is coming! As you can tell from the title we are releasing the Bounty Hunting Questlines for Life Day (Christmas Time).

Everyone can participate no matter your faction or stats. Though you may find it difficult to rank up or succeed without some equipment and NPC soldiers.

So get yourself prepared to hit up a local tavern for a contract this holiday season. There are a lot of potential rewards that won't be explicitly revealed right now, but a keen eye might see clues!

Kill targets in order to claim them while holding a bounty hunting fob. Then return with the successful bounty puck to the guild contact who sent you.

At this time we are not seeking testers for the quest. Adjustments may be made in real time as data comes in though so expect drop rates and the physical challenge to possibly change.

Rank up by completing missions and unlock better rewards in a Guild Shop that lets you leverage your hunting reputation for goodies.

Details on how to begin and who to contact will be available in future postings (Both SIM and GNS).

Creative members may find clues out there now as to what to expect for rewards, but we are not saying what they are for now.

Jic Uiji has stepped down as the Art Team Director and has made myself Art Director in his place. I would like to thank Jic for his time and effort, especially as he continues to help the Art Team and SWC as his time and energy allows. Please if you have the time or inclination, Thank Jic Uiji for his work as Art Director!

It is my goal and focus to breath some new life into the Art Team with some minor internal changes and help guide and teach those who want to learn to do art for SWCombine. Also the Art Team is always looking for team members who are willing to work for CPs and work in a team environment. While more will be done on this topic later, I wish to welcome anyone with any 3d art skill and the desire to work in a good art environment to help SWC, to contact me directly. If you are looking to learn and think you have the time and energy to learn 3d art, feel free to reach out as well. I learned art for SWC and it has become a passion of mine to teach, instruct, guide, and help the next generation of artists here.

To maximize effectiveness of the Art Team, I will leave the Art Queue Team alone and under its current management, giving me more time to focus on other Art Team projects and management. For all art queue issues please contact Art Queue Director Varcessaro A`Rynelba.

For any other Art Team issues, complaints, suggestions, etc... please contact Art Team Director: Galia Winters

If you would like to contribute art but not as part of the Art Team, you can do so here. 

A quest has appeared in the Bright Jewel System in orbit of the gas giant, Wynkahthu. The station, Tansarii Point, has a mining foreman who will be needing a lot of assistance. It sounds like he will always need at least a little help so there is no time limit to get there!

It seems Purrgils have been spotted on the planet below and are disrupting his operations. The pay will be good, but it won't be in credits. Bring along your hunting crews and discover the quest!

Y22D15 Edit: The Purrgil is now invisible to everyone besides the person assigned to it. Interference is no longer possible on NEWLY spawned Purrgils for the quest. The Mining Foreman will also now send a message to the player with the city coordinates for ease of finding it.

The NPC and Quest Team is open for more members. Ever since Galaxy Fest, I have been drowning in questions about the team, how to work in swc-lisp, and how someone can help. This team is in charge of things like Galaxy Fest, generic NPC/Droid/Creature scripts, and everything in between where it involves a conversation tree or quest.

How do I join?

Message Baugrems or Noctis expressing your interest. We will be expecting you to have written some custom NPC/Protocol Droid scripts to show. It does not need to be complex but it should show that you know how to use it.

What projects can I work on?

We have a huge list of available jobs and potential for new projects. NPCs, Droids, and Creatures are still missing a lot of generic scripts. Galaxy Fest style events need worked on/planned. Newbie Quests need help. Random quests (like Purrgil) need help. If you have a plan that doesn't fit, let us know and it might be possible.

What's in it for me?

Besides monthly CP pay ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 there are bonuses for work done and you get first look at upcoming quests. Plus you can help influence what comes next.

Here is the Top 10 for the Galaxy Fest ticket counts. Top 5 got grand prizes. The top 3 chose moons in Bright Jewel. The next two took Starspeeder 3000s!

handle,tickets

"Con Semper",3816

"Simkin Dragoneel",3814

"Legend Myre",3799

"Kara DuMonte",3796

"Eliana Nicabre",3749

Syn,3744

"Owyn Darklighter",3686

"Sevk Ill`er",3672

"Thomas Decoy",3656

"Lev Bolden",3647

Tickets can still be redeemed for one more week on the surface of Ord Mantell in the Galaxy Fest city. The shield is down for landing.

Now that Galaxy Fest has ended, there will be a lot of people returning to life as normal and some poor penguin will be forced to clean up all the trash. But the planet is still open for swap meets, hang outs, and more. In the next couple months it will also have a regular carnival appear with lesser prizes.