FALCON EDIT Y25 D239:

Hello folks, As promised in the Sim News below, as well as my follow up Sim News, Frigate class ships and higher can now be targeted by enemies in combat zones. In addition Hyperspace Protection has been enabled with a 24-hour protection timer. This timer is subject to change with or without advance notice as necessary, but for now, enjoy your protection and ability to shoot everything in a combat zone!

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Hello Again.

I'm required by bird law to make this announcement, so please be seated before reading.

There has been a growing need to make all ships combat-enabled in the galaxy, but we still have some outstanding blockers that need to be addressed before we can achieve this. These issues are currently being worked on, while the number of PvP systems continues to increase. There needs to be a middle ground, so we must take action. Therefore, in no less than 30 days, all ships in PvP systems will become attackable.

What does this really mean? Combat-enabled ships will not see significant changes, as this isn't targeted at them. Non-combat enabled ships will become attackable, but with a catch: they will not be able to initiate attacks or return fire when attacked. They will simply be attackable, and this restriction applies only to ships. Once a ship class becomes combat-enabled in the future, this restriction will be removed.

Why am I doing this? This change is being implemented because, for years, we have been able to move through PvP systems safely. Many of us have been bringing non-combat enabled ships into PvP systems to build cities, move logistics, and prepare attacks with little to no risk, effectively countering the entire purpose of having PvP-enabled systems. Non-combat enabled ships are becoming only attackable because, if they could be used in a fight, they would simply be combat enabled. This change is meant to discourage players from taking advantage of the current protections for non-combat ships, while others can do nothing but watch as these ships move around a PvP system.

Please evacuate any non-combat enabled ships you have in a PvP systems.

Guild Contact Daargin has been busy with some updates to the bounty system. As a result, he is now able to issue a replacement puck to any hunter whose puck has been destroyed. Daargin knows if you merely lost it, and will not give you a new one in that case. 

As a result of the update, he can also keep better track of expiry dates. If a contract has passed the deadline without the target being taken out (or rescued) , he will soon be able to mark your contract a failure even if you forget to check up on your puck. Once your objective is completed, there is still no deadline to report back to Daargin.

Expect Daargin to clear out his backlog later this week. 

Finally, starting somewhere next week, failed contracts will be declared null and void a month after failure. The target will disappear in anonimity. Rescue targets will join their captors in a life of banditry (ooc: bounty squads become bandit squads that can be killed and despawn just like regular bandits).
 

Falcon Edit:
Contracts will be auto-marked as a failure if they meet normal failure criteria beginning sometime on Day 234 (EDIT: D234 -- The property to allow bounties to autofail has been enabled, and should run whenever the daily jobs run tonight at 22:00 CGT)
Contracts will be cleaned up if they are more than a month past failure beginning sometime on Day 241

Ondo Edit D238:
The list of pucks that can be re-issued to you for dissolved networks currently includes the pucks for contracts Daargin has on offer for you. We will look into this ASAP, best not to take these pucks for now ;)

Hello everyone, your resident birb has some updates for you that may or may not make you cranky or rejoice!

Let me preface this by saying that with the release of each new combat zone, we learn a lot of good and new information. Ok so let's see here... the last major update your all got from us was about how we're trying to mitigate potential abuse vectors when it comes to ship combat, which led to the NUMEROUS discussions... pretty much everywhere about how upset everyone was that we were going to allow Frigates and above to be targeted by combat, but while not returning fire since we are still wating for some features to be developed before we're comfortable to allow them to shoot back. We understand why this made many of you upset, but I asked you to trust me that some features were in the works to help mitigate this. Let's discuss the whole picture below:

Frigates+ Taking Damage
As you know, we are enabling frigates to be targeted by combat-enabled ships. The main reason for this was to prevent groups/individuals from using Frigates and above for transporting materials down to a planet, essentially just sailing past a blockade and building cities unhindered. This is especially important to consider since the removal of Arrest/Execute where in the past, the main defense someone had was to execute another character's builders, halting construction of key facilities, or at least delaying them. The first step in this process should ideally be a way to set up a planetary blockade and prevent access to a planet without permission or a fight. Remember, that this change will take effect in just under a week(Y25 D239 is the no earlier than date).

Temporary Armour Values
That being said, we have listened to the feedback and as of this latest sync, all Frigates and above have a DEFAULT AND TEMPORARY armour value set on them (70-90 depending on class) to allow them to take a hit more easily. Let me emphasize yet again that this armour value is TEMPORARY. This number WILL CHANGE when stats are finalized with the stat overhaul that will pave the way for Ship R&D. The rules page will not display this information, but it will show up under the ship details in your inventory.

Hyperspace Entry Point(HEP) Protection

The next main feature we have to help mitigate Frigates+ (and actually, this applies to ALL ship types) is HEP Protection. Each system has 8 HEPs (noted in the above picture) which is where your ship exits the Hyperspace layer back into the System layer. The point you exit onto depends on where you entered the Hyperspace layer(aka if you started at system 0,0 and travelled due east, you would exit on the westmost HEP[white]). 
HEP Protection will be a 24-hour timer that prevents you from being targeted by combat while the timer is active. ANY action performed by a ship with HEP (kicking ships, starting travel, initiating combat, etc.) will immediately remove your HEP Protection. This timer is intended to allow some sort of relief for pilots who, for instance, enter a combat-enabled system but are not present when they exit, and would normally be immediately attacked with no other recourse. 
There is a rules page for this feature, but it will not be visible until the feature is enabled. The current plan is to enable HEP Protection at the same time we enable Frigates+ to be targeted in combat zones.

These are just some of the features to help mitigate Frigates+ being targetable. The end goal is still to make all ships fully combat-enabled, but we still have a few more features that need to take place before that can happen.

One final note I'd like to make is to discuss the development process because this feature seemed to highlight the fact that not everyone knows/understands how that works:

1. The first step in the development process is for a member of a SWC Team to make a proposal document and post it to our submissions area. Typically this is done by members of our Rules or Dev teams, but this is not always the case (for instance, HEP Protection and Frigate+ targeting was made by an entirely separate member). Proposal documents are not just "hey we should do this" documents. They are well-prepared documents that descibe exactly how a proposed feature will work, being as specific as possible. 
2. Next, the submission is tagged for the specific teams that need to weigh in or sign off on the feature. 99% of the time, an Asim is involved in this process at a minimum. While Asims rarely do any actual development, we do sign off on features and/or provide restrictions (such as requiring a 30-day notice for feature release). (The exception to Step 2 is small QoL features or minor features that minimally impact gameplay. These are not common). During step 2, a full discussion is heald amongst all relevant teams to fully flesh out the proposal.
3. Once a consensus is reached on how the feature should be implemented, then a developer is assigned to actually code/implement the feature as described. Sometimes this step takes us a bit further into discussion on clarifying portions of the feature, etc. 
4. Once a feature is coded, it is pushed to our Dev Server and assigned to the QA team to test. Their job is to essentially find ways to break and exploit these features so that we can patch/fix them prior to final release.
5. The final step is for the feature to be pushed to main where inevitably the general community will find new ways to break it where you all can enjoy the new feature. Asims are kept in the loop about when a feature will be synced.

As you can see, the development process is not one where the devs operate in a vacuum with minimal oversight. Feature development is a team process and requiresparticipation from multiple teams.

That's all for today, but as always, please feel free to submit a support ticket for any issues you encounter or reach out with any feedback/suggestions you have.

- The game terms of use has been updated. Formatting fixes, and sections on chat and privacy data has been updated.
- Fixed an issue with space combat skill checks where pilot was not aboard piloted entity.
- Fixed an issue with force actions where unrelated actions would overwrite passive force slot.
- City construction now requires empty working slot before starting.
- Added Arvala to Space Combat rules page.

SERVER MAINTENANCE IS COMPLETE -- CARRY ON WITH YOUR LIVES

We're doing some more maintenance on the main server to debug performance issues. This will create performance issues for a little while. We'll update you when this is all complete!

Server maintenance is still in progress. Please do not upload any custom images until this maintenance is complete or they will be lost. 

_____________________
This is old, ignore it:
We’re doing some back end work to make some admin tools and overall performance work better. This involves taking a backup of some tables we normally wouldn’t and the server may be impacted for a while. 

Edit: Server work completed.

Greetings fellow sentients!

A small update this time...

• Clone Trooper Belt - New images, including a never seen before large image!
• Zeta-class Long Range Shuttle - New images updated to canon design.

Enjoy!

Kolo

Force Rage 😠

Force Rage is a toggled dark side power that will increase the firepower for the party with their anger.

Recycling Faction Privilege

There is a new faction privilege required to access recycling features within a faction. Until Y25D217, the privilege exists and can be granted but is inactive and not required. After Y25D217, this privilege will be necessary to continue using recycling. This gives a short period of time to grant the privilege necessary without disrupting existing actions.

Bugs

- Force heal: Now no longer cures stun. A future light side force power will be added for this ability.
- Item claim fixes: Added rules page and fixes synced.
- Personally owned items that were tagged as protected due to bug in item claim have been fixed.
- Garrisoned Entity Fixes: Some entities were marked as garrisoned after being removed from the garrison. Code will now track this better.
- Migrated caching to Redis.

Look out master bounty hunters, there's something new in your local bounty shop. Introducing... the Carbonite Freezing Unit. With our state-of-the-art technology, you can freeze your bounty on your ship or vehicle, ensuring they stay perfectly preserved until delivery. No more worrying about escape attempts or unforeseen accidents. Make sure you thaw them out before meeting with your guild rep though. With the Carbonite Freezing Unit, your catch is as good as delivered! Compact, reliable, and easy to use, our Carbonite Freezing Unit is the ultimate solution for every professional bounty hunter.

If you have issues with hibernation sickness, make sure to keep a Medic NPC in your party. They should now be able to help you and your party with any type of medical emergency. If you have any questions, make sure to ask them and they should be able to clarify everything for you.

Thanks to Ondoron Bondoon, Vadik Edik & Thresh Elykson for all their contributions to these new additions.

FAQs:
Q: Can I use the Carbonite Freezing Chamber on all NPCs or players or myself?
A: No, only rescues from bounties at this point.

Q: Why do I have to freeze my bounties now? I liked things the way they were.
A: You do not have to purchase a Carbonite Freezing Unit or freeze your bounties unless you want to. This is merely a fun addititon to free up passenger space that might allow some new ship and vehicle combinations to be viable. 

Q: Do medic NPCs only help with unfreezing?
A: No, I just thought it was a funny segue into the Medic NPCs doing stuff now announcement. 

Q: What do medic NPCs do then?
A: If you talk to a Medic NPC they will explain what needs to happen for them to be able to help. 

Q: I'm a master bounty hunter and I don't see the Carbonite Freezing Unit in the bounty shop.
A: The bounty shop item list is saved for the week after you checked it last. Wait until it refreshes next and it will be in there. 

Expanded Item Claim

Items (crated or not) that are inside a character's personal entity or in the wilderness (not a city) may be claimed by that character. This won't apply to crated droids, quest items or admin owned items.

www.swcombine.com has been upgraded to PHP 8.3! Which is great! But it might be a bit buggy given it has required over 1,600 individual changes from PHP 7 to get here. It's likely we missed one or two.

If you encounter a bug that you think is related to the php upgrade, please report it on discord, and you can try to workaround the issue by using the other server www2.swcombine.com, which is still on PHP 7.

Expect us to run this setup for about 2 weeks, or until we have ironed out all the major upgrade bugs. After which we will say goodbye to PHP 7 for good.

(Also flamethrowers have been nerfed back to their pre herdfest stats).

Future Warning: Item Claim

Next Weeks Sync will include the following rules change:
Items (crated or not) that are carried by a character or are on terrain (not a city) may be claimed by that character.
This won't apply to crated droids or quest items.

Force Armour & Cybernetics

There is an update for force users and their armor and cybernetics interactions.
The armor you wear and the type of cybernetics you have will negatively impact the force alpha level and maximum Force pool.
The equations for reductions are on the rules page.

Combat changes

- Only leaders can initiate the attack, not party members (or non-leader squadron members).
- Leaders no longer need to have weapons of their own to initiate attack, as long as the squadron has at least one weapon.
- You can attack squads with non-combat enabled ships in them, the non-combat enabled ships will be ignored. (Example: a Frigate squadded with a fighter, the frigate will be ignored). Previously this would have been rejected with an error.

Year 25 Day 221, 21:59 Noctis banned player Dietrich Rakshesh providing the following reason: Harassment

Player was given an immediate strike 2 and can request an unban through a help ticket at support.swcombine.com in 3 weeks.

Falcon Edit:

Year 25 Day 225, 14:15 Falcon banned player Ahm Chin providing the following reason: Multi Ban -- ban evasion

I'm issuing strike 3 for ban evasion. This ban is now permanent.

Year 25 Day 227, 12:49 Falcon banned player Lothor Shan providing the following reason: Multi Ban - Dietrich Rakshesh remake

Gorgo Cyclo has been issued with a strike 1 ban for repeatedly stealing items from HerdFest.

Year 25 Day 166, 8:28 Platypus banned player Gorgo Cyclo providing the following reason: HerdFest misbehaviour

Submit a support ticket in 7 days.

Arnis Endeel has been permabanned for creating yet another account trying to circumvent the ban.

Year 24 Day 317, 8:28

Tortle banned player Elix Chume providing the following reason: Multi Ban

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Year 24 Day 316, 20:42, Tortle banned player Arnis Endeel providing the following reason: Multi Ban - asset laundering. 

Year 24 Day 316, 20:42, Tortle banned player Titus Marth providing the following reason: Multi Ban - asset laundering.

Year 24 Day 316, 20:42, Tortle banned player Gul Arkanus providing the following reason: Multi Ban - asset laundering.

Year 24 Day 316, 20:42, Tortle banned player Jaster Varless providing the following reason: Multi Ban - asset laundering.

First day and I already got to drop the hammer... it's almost enough to bring a tear to my eye. 

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They came back, or tried to. Your ban is now as permanent as knotweed.

Year 25 Day 152, 10:09 Platypus banned player Bren Mao providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Year 25 Day 139, 13:35 Platypus banned player Rick Bender providing the following reason: Golden Rule violation

Rick Bender has been issued with a strike 1 ban for a golden rule violation - specifically, sending a tavern to a faction which had blacklisted him in order to turn in a few bounty hunting pucks, then recycling said tavern. The rewards from those pucks have also been confiscated.

Submit a support ticket in 7 days.

Year 25 Day 135, 10:20 Platypus banned player Kameis Dinoa providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Year 25 Day 135, 10:20 Platypus banned player Asania Kousen providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Attempting to bypass respawn timer. Oldest account(Asania Kousen) can submit support ticket 30 days after their respawn timer ends. 

1	Year 18 Day 343, 23:59	Baugrems banned player Tribata Vahni providing the following reason: Multi Ban
2	Year 18 Day 343, 23:59	Baugrems banned player Linett Suarvi providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Tribata has been banned for 2 months for their second attempt to bypass the death timer with multi accounts. A third count was denied entry and further accounts will extend this ban. After the ban time passes, submit a support ticket.

1
Year 25 Day 107, 12:46
Platypus banned player Coren Nooram providing the following reason: Multi Ban

2
Year 25 Day 107, 12:46
Platypus banned player Jacen Ran providing the following reason: Multi Ban

3
Year 25 Day 107, 12:46
Platypus banned player Worma Terra providing the following reason: Multi Ban

4
Year 25 Day 107, 12:46
Platypus banned player Dannen Lasena providing the following reason: Multi Ban

5
Year 25 Day 107, 12:46
Platypus banned player Vonar Hesas providing the following reason: Multi Ban

6
Year 25 Day 107, 12:46
Platypus banned player Herron Cass providing the following reason: Multi Ban

7
Year 25 Day 107, 12:46
Platypus banned player Ran Kaal providing the following reason: Multi Ban

8
Year 25 Day 107, 12:46
Platypus banned player Vonar Mao providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Ban is permanent.

Simkin Dragoneel has been issued a Strike 0 for OOC Harassment, and sharing personal information about another player. Any future infractions will result in a ban. 

Platypus banned player Jado Finnall providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Platypus banned player Azlaya Siln providing the following reason: Multi Ban

Oldest account can contact us via support ticket in 7 days to get unbanned.

1 Year 25 Day 68, 18:07 Falcon banned player Zamlin Lothwolf providing the following reason: Multi Ban -- Permanent

Yet another Anakin Sky recreate. 

Hello folks, it is with a heavy heart that I deliver this note to you from the members of Tresario Star Kingdom:
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Steven Markowitz, 59, known in Darkness as Gravnkev Forestwanderer, suddenly and unexpectedly passed away on December 26, 2023. An active player since Y9, he held prominent roles in both the Anzatan Commonwealth and the Tresario Star Kingdom. As a long haul trucker always travelling with his Papillon Niki, he never let that stop him from being an active member in the TSK community, leading their Force group, the Tikiars. He will be sorely missed.
 

you can find a link to his obituary here:
https://www.norwichbulletin.com/obituaries/pnrw0700817
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Our thoughts and prayers go to Gravnkev's family and friends. And to Grav: thank you for everything you brought to this community.

__________

EDIT: Some people outside the USA mentioned that the obit link didn't work, so here's the text below:

Steven Markowitz of Rocky Mount, VA died unexpectedly on December 26, 2023, after suffering a stroke.

Born in Putnam, CT on August 26, 1964, to Michael Markowitz and Kathleen Taylor Markowitz . He graduated from Putnam High in 1982. 

He worked for many years in the construction industry before becoming a long haul trucker. Thanks to technology, he kept his family and friends updated on his travels around the country. He was accompanied by his faithful companion Nikki, a papillon who also loved to travel. His final check-in was from Great Falls, MT.

He is survived by his mother, Kathleen Taylor of Rocky Mount, VA, siblings Elizabeth Buzalski of Putnam, CT Ginny Friedman of Brookline, MA, Patrick Markowitz of Rocky Mount, VA and James Markowitz, of PA, his dog, Nikki, extended family and many friends.

He was predeceased by his father, Michael Markowitz.

A celebration of life will be held in the spring.

Hello everyone, having come back from a brush with IRL permadeath, I would like to try rewarding the grim reaper by doing something with SWC permadeath. The main stumbling block is that we do not appear to have a consensus on whether to go towards the light or run away from it.

Therefore I am launching this survey in order that the SWC community may express its hopes, dreams and wishes as we continue to approach global combat. May the future ever be filled with violence and destruction in this universe, which literally has Wars in its name.

Click here for survey

If you have questions, feel free to hit me up in DMs. Or submit a support ticket.

Edit: The survey will remain open for a week and be closed around D246. Results may be published shortly after that point. 

Edit2: 544 responses so far. There are still three days until I close this. 

Hello everyone.

I was talking to a little bird, and he reminded me how much you all enjoy CPs, so I figured I would see how true that was. I have been working towards getting Ground Showdowns up and running again because, if you haven't noticed, we have a lot of exciting ground combat features that would be really nice for you all to test out. I'm about halfway through my work, and I remember getting tired of having only one map to play on in the past.

This is where you all come in, as I don't want to be the only one making maps.  I need suggestions and some new ideas for new cities for us to all play in. I have made a post to keep everything contained in the Work for CPs area. Head over there to see the rules and what you need to do to join in.

Edit: Y25 D217

Just a friendly reminder, don't forget to submit or vote. 

Edit Y25 D233

We have had a very busy week so far and I don't want to stop the fun, so here's a quick update from me. First off, thank you to everyone who created city designs. They were all very enjoyable to see, but unfortunately, I couldn't accept them all. CPs have been awarded for the 30 cities I did pick, and I'll let the winners brag about their creations. With that being said, Ground Showdowns have been released and can now be enjoyed. Contact your local showdown coordinator to setup a match and continue enjoying all the new things this week.

Falcon Edit: I've posted a Ground Showdown FAQ for how to set up ground showdowns in the FAQ portion of the forums. Enjoy!

FALCON EDIT Y25 D228: This is the final update for this sim news post. Herdfest server has been archived and you may now claim items aboard the T2 and Herdship (with the exception of items currently being spawned by another character. Give them ample time to pick their item up from the floor).

Thanks again for participating and enjoy your day!
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FALCON EDIT Y25 D206: I will be archiving the HerdFest Discord server in ~24 days(just setting all channels to read-only and removing extra privs). Once that is done, I will post one final update here. Additionally, when the server is archived, I will not be enforcing the "no stealing from HerdFest" rule. So basically, if you want your stuff, you have until I post the next update to grab your stuff or someone else is gonna come along and steal it. 
 

one caveat to this is that if you follow a latecomer into the Baffor Jubilee and claim their prize right when it's spawned, then that will be enforced. 
 

That is all. See you in 24 days!
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It seems we Platypus forgot to make a Sim News about this... sorry!

The Ithorian Explorer who used to teleport you to the Herdship has gone home. The rewards vendor is still available and can be found in the cockpit of the Herdship which you can travel to at the following coordinates:

Sector: Bright Jewel
System: Bright Jewel (-5, 185)
System Position: (12, 9)

We have no plans to remove the rewards vendor any time soon, so if you still have leaves burning a hole in your pocket, feel free to spend them!

Platypus Edit: Sorry, my bad! One note - the Herd Meet Host in the Bafforr Jubilee's entrance can still send you home one last time. This NPC will be removed after D194.

Arise, Sir Shrek, and receive this lightsaber. 

Click me for Deathmatch

Click me for Grudge Matches

Hi, I’m Mador Anami. You may remember me from such Quest Team projects as Herdfest, Lightsaber Crafting X and dozens of other entity scripts.

I hope everyone had a good time at Herdfest. Most of the teammates who worked on Herdfest had not been involved in any previous events before. We are already painfully aware of a few issues to improve on for future events. But we also wanted to get feedback from all of you.

Here’s the feedback form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdfRTLZnEAbxJ_Gjro7iVhGe5xAaaPqfXpp3HVpwvEh642yJw/viewform?usp=sf_link

I have also had a number of people reach out to me asking about joining the quest team. I appreciate all the enthusiasm. The main thing I’m looking for is for you to show me a LISP script that you wrote which shows you understand the basic fundamentals of the language and have some fun and creative ideas. If you aren’t familiar with LISP, luckily you should have lots of rare protocol droids from Herdfest you can test things on.

Rilan Ludel has made an awesome intro to LISP video tutorial series. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1Ega_eBm2fH3XFQXEBqDGlAP82kqrTde

Kay Dallben has a written tutorial overview as well. https://docs.google.com/document/d/11i9y8ydhDKJmIAr6Ah-g-sRJ4hEqCKeYg0V2ZM4sdEA/edit?pli=1

Even if you think you would excel more in the quest writing/story side, having a basic understanding of LISP will help you to know what’s possible.

Feel free to reach out to me via DM or on Discord if you have any questions.

Salutations!

We are approaching not only the end of HerdFest, but also the end of the group event! In case this is your first time hearing about this, there is a city to the south with an Infested Research Centre, lots of berry monsters, and a couple consoles that are requesting a blood sample. We're nearing the end of the required amount of samples, but are running out of donors(as each player can donate exactly once)! If you are at HerdFest and haven't donated a sample, make sure you talk to the Ithorian Explorer outside the Herdship!

As a side note, we'll be redoing the concert this Friday at 19:30CGT again, but I'm hearing rumors that the band will be out today and tomorrow for a meet and greet. 

Edit: Enough blood samples have been donated. The final boss battle is underway... perhaps lend a hand?

Because many people have asked about which room to be in, as well as an assortment of other questions, I've compiled them into our FAQ. Please feel free to reach out with any questions.

==================================================================

Gadzooks! It seems like Linkin Bark is almost done preparing and will be putting on a concert in the Bafforr Jubilee Docking Bay (Room# 6061) using their Gale-class StarStage Light Freighter! In case you didn't know, this ship has a stage that can fold out from one of the side panels, which is where they'll perform.

Make sure you are in the Docking Bay (Room# 6061) on Friday (Y25 D166) NO LATER THAN 19:30 COMBINE GAME TIME (10:30pm Eastern US Time/2:30am UTC) if you wish to attend this concert!!!

Additionally, this concert will be livestreamed from the Concert Hall voice channel in the HerdFest Discord! (Speaking permissions will be disabled, but we've got a special treat for you! Also, attendance in the voice chat is not mandatory, but showing up to the concert is HIGHLY ENCOURAGED.)

Good evening/morning/afternoon folks,

I'm taking a break from watering these plants in order to inform you that the former asim, Tortle, has stepped down. He was with us for a bit over 7 months, but will be returning to Player status under his old character: Myrhrai Isalia Rosiir. We want to thank Tortle for all of his hard work, and dedication to this game.

We are not opening Asim applications at this time, but stay tuned for when the next round opens, and apply!

Current Asims are:
- Me (Falcon) -- Hi
- Platypus
- Chupacabra
- And, of course, Noctis

We hope you're having fun at HerdFest! We're 3 days into it and it's getting better and better! If you haven't already, come join the HerdFest discord HERE as there's a dedicated help channel just for the event, and that's also where all the updates are going(there's too many to post here without spamming you all). I also drop nightly stats in there for you nerds who enjoy that stuff (hey it's me, a nerd).

As always, you can click HERE to submit a support ticket. 

EDIT: Y25 D161 -- Replaced image link to picture since it was broken.

Just a friendly reminder that stealing items from other characters at HerdFest is against the rules. Remember, you agreed to these rules when teleporting to the event:

==========================================================================

clarification below on the Winterfest Beacon Quest and bringing droids to HerdFest:

You can crate and take in droids, but they can only be power, astromech, or protocol droids to fulfill the Winter Beacon Quest(or to sell to others). Donating a droid to Rhym Nasendow will scrap it for parts. Any droid from the category requested is allowed to be donated, and fear not if you donated a less common droid, there will likely be further opportunities to purchase one. Rhym asks for either a droid or an item each day, and picks from a random list for each. I think Droid capture is disabled, but if you're able to, then Capturing droids on the planet itself is allowed. (It's not disabled. Thanks Vadik!)

Please do not hesitate to ping me for further clarification/questions.

==========================================================================

If you have items stolen, I will be allowing support tickets to be opened starting tomorrow. Please include an image of the entity/entities stolen where it shows the carrier other than you.

 == IF YOU HAVE STOLEN AN ITEM, YOU HAVE UNTIL TOMORROW TO DROP/RETURN/BUY IT BEFORE I START ENFORCING HERDFEST BANS == 

Howdy folks, Herdfest is right around the corner! Remember that if you plan on attending, you'll need to make your way to the nearest Trading I Station, Trading II Station, or Powered Starport to access this event. Additionally, you may travel to the Trading II station Morning Star above Gasteroid within the Bright Jewel System at 7,11 which we have provided as a place for anyone to set up vendors! Please hurry though, the plants keep growing and I'm not sure we can contain them.

At the event, there will be vendors, minigames, quests, plants and prizes galore, so head on over! On Y25 D160 (AKA May 4th), an Ithorian NPC will appear at the above locations to ferry you the event. The event will run for 2 weeks (until the end of Y25 D174), but fear not, for when you decide to go home, you will be able to return to right where you left.

This is also a friendly notice that you won't be able to land your ship on the event planet (Gasteroid). You can bring items/vendors with you to the station above Gasteroid, so that you can set up vendors, but you may not bring NPCs planetside. This system will be marked as a combat safe zone, so you don't have to worry about anyone attacking your vendors. We will also be monitoring for theft from vendors aboard this station, and any theft will result in your immediate dismissal from HerdFest. This is a family friendly event after all... so if your vendors get stolen from, please let us know! (You should be able to set up a vendor from your ship anyways, which makes that a moot point.)

I will provide a link to the HerdFest discord server approximately one week prior to the event(subject to change) so everyone can get situated. This is an officially endorsed SWC server, and as such SWC rules, HerdFest Server rules, and Discord TOS all apply. 

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to send me a message via DM, PM or via Discord. You can also submit a support ticket by clicking HERE.

EDIT: Yes you may arrive early to set up your vendor. The Ithorian NPC will spawn on Y25 D160 in the entrance. 

SupaChupa edit: Oh look the discord is live! Don't forget to thank Noctis!

...You guys didn't REALLY think I was leaving, did you? I don't apologize for leading you all on During April 2nd, when we all know that's the day that our April Fools jokes become real... However, the best April Fools jokes are the ones that you truly believe, and this one took an extra day! Thank you all for the kind words you sent my way, wishing me well. And for the naysayers, I apologize that you have to continue to put up with me. :)

Extra special thank you to the 63 people that sent Evan a DM, the 38 people who thanked Noctis for Mount Sorrow, and the 40 people that messaged me on Discord or via DM after the initial post went up(man you people really liked Evan didn't you??).

So in short:

• No, I am not leaving SWC
• No I am not stepping down as Asim
• No, Evan is not taking my place (sadly... Evan there's still time to come back!)
• Yes, you may continue sending me questions/comments/concerns/etc.

I will be spending the majority of this week continuing to get caught up on what I've missed, as well as prepping HerdFest for our planned Star Wars Day release(Which I am very excited for). We've got a couple new features coming within the next... ehhh... 6 months or so that are also super exciting, so stay tuned for that. You'll probably see them a bit after HerdFest winds down.

Finally, I want to send a super special thank you to all the members of the Staff and the Team Directors for their patience while I was gone. I was a bit worried that I might not be able to stay away as much as I was hoping to, but the members that make up these teams really supported me stepping back and did a fantastic job carrying the extra weight in my absence. I truly can't thank you folks enough.

Anyways, enough about me. Let's get back to our regularly scheduled programming, shall we? I think next up is DeathMatch... Oh and I'll be finishing that darn CP Room Map Bounty next week too. Final final final call. I promise.

______________________________________________________________________________

My fellow citizens of this glorious galaxy,

I want to thank each and every one of you for the overwhelmingly kind words sent my way. You all have been more than gracious and understanding with me taking my hiatus this past month, and for that, I say thank you.

I did a lot of self-reflection this month, and tried to find out where I was at in life. This month has been such a relaxing month for me, and I found there's more to life than some online Star Wars game that I've been playing for almost 20 years... 

So I guess I'll just cut to the hard part. I am formally announcing my resignation as ASim, and will be taking an indefinite break from the game. I plan to take this week to catch up on outstanding issues, help out where needed, and then I will fully step down. It's been a wonderful journey these past few years as ASim, and has been extremely rewarding for me. I'm going to miss you all, and I know many (not all) of you will miss me. But fear not, I have chosen my replacement, and I think you're going to be in great hands... for in my absence, I would like to congratulate and thank Evan Bluvius for agreeing to re-join the ASim team. You all probably know him as just "Evan" and he is who I aspire to be when I grow up (do we ever really grow up?).

If you'd like, you can send him a message by clicking on THIS LINK congratulating him on rejoining the team and offering tot ake on the workload left in my upcoming absence. 

Anyways, if you have any issues this week, feel free to send me a message on discord, or via DM, or you can always file a support ticket at http://support.swcombine.com.

So long, and thanks for all the fish!

Falcon Update Y25 D95:
Just popping in to say thank you to everyone who sent kind words my way. I'm headed out for the next month and am looking forward to taking a step back forever. You're in great hands with the remaining members of the Asim team (maybe someone try and find Tortle while I'm gone, eh?). In the meantime, you have Modular Factions phases 2.5 and 3 to look forward to, and let me tell ya, it's gonna be great! Thanks again to everyone for your support. I'll see ya never again in a month!

Ninja edit: Room bounty will be open until I get back, I suppose. poor planning on my part haha.
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Hello Galaxy, it is your resident space birb coming back to share some news. This is all gonna mostly be personal so if you don't care, then now is a good time to stop reading, as it probably won't affect you. 
 

As many of you know, I've been an Assistant Sim Master (Asim) for a bit over 3 years now. I have greatly enjoyed my time serving this community and bringing new things to the game. This community has been very rewarding to be a part of and is the main reason I'm around today. I admit I'm not perfect and I've made mistakes, but I value the fact that (most of) you all think highly of me and my willingness to work with you all. 
 

Now before you get all teary-eyed, no I'm not leaving you just yet. That time will come but it is not now(Sorry Noctis). However, around 6 months ago, I noticed I was getting a bit more temperamental and irritable than normal and I wasn't the same person IRL than I am in this community. Something was affecting me but I could not figure out what. Then last month (and really these last few weeks especially), I noticed a pretty sharp decline in my mental state which has started to affect my OOC life and my family. I realized it was coming from the stress and expectations that come with being an Asim. I don't blame anyone in particular in this community for my stress levels, so much as I do my own habits. 
 

So what does this mean? Why should you care? Well, I don't think you should lol. But for me, it means I need to take a step back, reassess things and take a deep breath of fresh air. So for the month of March, I will be stepping back (not down) from things. I won't answer support tickets, I won't monitor the forums, I won't engage in the community for as much as I can help it. I've become addicted to monitoring my phone for pings in the SWC Staff, SWC Teams, and SWC Main Discord Servers. I wake up and the first thing I do is check discord followed by monitoring it every chance I get until I fall asleep. It's just not healthy physically or mentally. I'm taking a break and clearing my head from things. 

I know this is a blow to some of you who reach out to me personally for support issues, etc. and I want you all to know that I hear you. I won't be gone forever, and in my stead Platypus and Chupacabra will pick up the slack. I've coordinated some tasks with SWC Teams and they're working hard to bring you some new features. Most of which, I'm very excited for! I'll be back and in greater numbers too, and I'm looking forward to having a clear head. Platypus is doing a wonderful job stepping up, and I fully trust him and the rest of the staff to make informed and fair decisions, so please do not hesitate to spam him mercilessly with requests reach out to him if you have an issue. 
 

Now I'll ask you the same thing I've asked my fellow teammates and staff members: Please do not ping me unless it's an absolute emergency. I'd rather another Asim ping me for something they can't figure out or handle than have a player do so. Please respect my time away to clear things so that I can come back and continue to serve this community!
 

I'll be around until the end of February to help any transitions for Modular Factions to go smoothly, and to make sure Platypus and Chupa (and the rest of the teams) are set for my absence. 
 

As always, the best way to get support remains to file a support ticket or visit #swc-help in either IRC or Discord. Thanks for your understanding and support!