FINAL FINAL EDIT Y25 D21:
We are aware of a bug that allows combat inside ships on a Darkness/Quests owned planet. This is not intended, and players who participate in pvp on these planets will be issued a strike. The bug should be fixed next sync.

Also, the StarSpeeder 3000 has been marked safe against Room Combat(since many new players rely on NPC Transport).

Finally, Petabys Station has had its safe zone flag removed.

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FINAL EDIT Y25 D20:

Space combat has been turned on in Derra and Serroco.

Global Room Combat has been enabled.

Quest/Darkness controlled planets, cities and stations have been marked as PVP Safe Zones, so you may conduct business there without fear of being attacked via room combat. This does NOT apply to the System layer. Only the planet layer and below.

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EDIT: Y25D12:

I promise I'm not ignorant. Room combat will be enabled in 8 days, not 1. You may resume panicking.
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EDIT Y25D11: Just a reminder that we're a little over 36ish hours before Global Room Combat and Space Combat for Derra/Serroco will be (re)/enabled. Once enabled, all combat-enabled ships in the system will be fair game for targets, and combat will be live in every entity that has rooms(with the exception of quest/darkness worlds). Guards will likely also have some stats adjusted here in the near future. No ETA on that, but I'll make sure I give advance warning. You can follow the discussion and/or provide your input in the Suggestions Forum HERE.
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EDIT: It seems as though I didn't actually give prior notice like I thought I did. As such, I can't undo the damage done, but I have shut off space combat for Derra/Serroco and it will be re-enabled with Global Room Combat  apologies for the unnecessary stress this may have caused you.

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Greetings fellow birdfolk as well as you non-birds out there! The SWC Administration, Dev Team and rules team have been hard at work bringing you updates to the game. In conjunction with the sync report dropped earlier, I've got some special updates for you all that warranted their own post:

Spying/Sabotage rules update
- Spying/Sabotage rules have been changed back from when they were changed to disallow betraying your faction. With subfactions, privileges and Faction Advisory Panels in place, that should severely limit the ability for thievery when set up correctly. The rules have been synced and are live.

Global Room Combat release
- In no less than 6 weeks from the Sim News post, Global Room Combat will be enabled. There will be some exceptions to this (typically for Admin-run events), however once enabled, any combat enabled entity inside a room will be able to participate in combat. I know many of you are worried about your vendors, so that brings us to the next topic:

Vendors
- Vendors have been a hot topic for discussion due to the future release of Global Room Combat. As a reminder, vendors that are killed still have the shop setup in place, so you don't have to re-set-up everything, all you need to do is place a new NPC in the old vendor's position and link them to the shop.
- The Prison Guard NPC has returned and was renamed to just Guard. With this name change comes new functionality. Guards will have a the ability to allow automated temporary passage through a locked room door via an NPC interaction, subject to optional restrictions like weapons, parties, and other owner configured settings. This will allow for some additional safety for your vendors. The code for this is written, and you can expect the scripts to arrive onto the guards soon! In the meantime, check out the rules for Guard Posts!  

R&D Updates/Changes
- As many of you know, Entity Stat Overhaul is a major part of R&D release. We have in the past, and will continue to be modifying stats in preparation for R&D. This will allow a smoother transition to a component-based system.
- As part of the stat overhaul, once Station Modification is released, expect to start needing to use Nova as a station construction material. Nova will be used for explosive damage dealing weapons/components of entities. (rough target is SWC New Year)
- Station Modification is currently being tested by the QA team, so you can expect it to arrive relatively on time. 
- Additionally, Ships will start needing Nova as a construction material, however we expect that this will not happen for a few months following station modification release. Announcements will be made the closer we get to that date.
- Ship Stat overhaul will coincide with Ship Modification release and again, won't happen for a few months from Station Modification release.
- Vehicles will have stats overhauled... eventually. No target date for this, but I mention it now so that it's in the back of everyone's mind.

Combat
- Serrocco and Derra both have Space Combat PvP enabled similar to how it is in Kowak already. Go nuts.