SWG Producer, Tony "Teesquared" Tyson outlines the plans for Game Update 15, coming soon to Star Wars Galaxies. 

You can discuss this story on the Stratics Star Wars Galaxies Discussion forum.

Update 15 – Galactic Civil War

It’s Star Wars Galaxies. It’s an empire divided. It’s our passion. And, it’s a galaxy at war.

 
Rebel AT-XT's storming an Imperial controlled city on Tatooine.

This update will bring with it the most engaging GCW content we have ever put into the game.

"The AT-XT's are the equivalent combat vehicle that the Rebels have appropriated to counter the AT-ST's Imperials are using."

More information on the AT-XT can be found here: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/All_Terrain_Experimental_Transport 

AT-ATs will take siege upon the cities.

Every profession must be ready to participate and fight for their cause.

GCW information will be at your finger tips. This is the one-stop-shop for everything that is GCW across all Galaxies.

Has the rebellion taken over Yavin IV or are the imperials holding them off? What faction is dominating Tatooine? Hit the galaxy map and you’ll find out.

Have we lost Tatooine? What’s the status of Bestine? Has Mos Eilsey fallen to the Imperials? Is Anchorhead still a rebel stronghold? Check the planet map and find out.

Contribute to the GCW from anywhere in the game not just these regions.

Battles in space will make an impact on the conflicts on the ground.

We will bring the entertainers and traders back to the cities.

The cities will be alive again.

The war is ON.

Wookie Life Day 2009

Wookie Life Day will be back this holiday season. We’ll be adding more rewards and, of course, a new badge. We'll be posting some sneak peaks of the new stuff you’ll be seeing under your Life Day Tree this season. Stay tuned!

What’s next?

We’re currently working on the plan for next year. A few things we know we’ll see more of next year are GCW, Chronicles, and game improvements. I’ll have more details in the next producer note.

- Teesquared

Questions about the update from the SWG players and Answers from the SWG Development Team followed:

Melchizedek: Will this be a PvP Update, or will there be an adjustment to the PvE GCW as well. Also, what has been done abour rank decay?
Alteris: Hopefully both. I know both sides of the fence where wanting GCW content and I believe it was mentioned this was geared for PvP and PvE. Could be wrong.

HanseSOE: Those screenshots (aside from the posed AT-AT) are geniune pictures at the locations they were taken at.  Those are all NPC's that will be spawning to assault and defend the cities, so PvE and PvP are both considered part of this update.  The defenses in the pictures are constructed prior to the invasion by tradeskill players.

Teesquared: During an invasion timeframe, entertainers and traders can pick up quests that use their skills. Completing these quests will influence the battle.

ShelbyF: So what is the incentive for players to fight as SPECIAL FORCES in the attack or defense of a city... instead of just hanging around Restuss or in Battlefields? 

Teesquared: Yeah we're still working out the details on this but the goal is to scale the results based on the difficulty. However, we want to make sure players feel challenged and rewarded when participating as PvE only.

JediKnightDasst: Will there me new rewards?
Teesquared: Yes

JediKnightDasst: will old reward items be making it back? (marine pack, faction pets etc)
Teesquared: Maybe. We'll take a look at those and see.

JediKnightDasst: what about professions that doesnt have a Pre/post-combat role? IE officers and Jedi, they cannot hunt, smuggle, nor heal....will there be non-combat quest for them?
Teesquared: We'll take a look at that too.

JediKnightDasst: what about the lag? is this being looked at as well?
Teesquared: The goal is to have a lot of activity in various locations around the Galaxy.

JediKnightDasst: also, will there be capes?
Teesquared: Yes!

Matt_NZ (Imperial Senator): Since there's going to be alot of different places the GCW plays out, will there be indications on the new maps to show where the activity is happening?
As in your face as something like a blinking icon or such? Probably not. However, the maps update as they recieve the updated scores from the servers. So if you look at Tatooine and see a zone that is 53% Rebel controlled, go fight somewhere, check the map again and it's now 75% Rebel controlled - well, that's a pretty good hint that you have people over there right now.

AdeptStrain: As in your face as something like a blinking icon or such? Probably not. However, the maps update as they recieve the updated scores from the servers. So if you look at Tatooine and see a zone that is 53% Rebel controlled, go fight somewhere, check the map again and it's now 75% Rebel controlled - well, that's a pretty good hint that you have people over there right now.

AdeptStrain: I take this back. DevH just spammed my email and the answer is now 'maybe'...but probably only for your server, you can't watch other server's and see their hot spots. So we'll see. No promises just yet. 

Zin: Looking good guys 

Just curious, are those rebel walkers in the first couple shots? Are we going to be about to drive them? How about the turrets? Player or NPC controlled?

HanseSOE: The AT-XT's are the equivalent combat vehicle that the Rebels have appropriated to counter the AT-ST's Imperials are using.

The AT-XT has problems because it has not been used in this manner before in SWG.  It has bugs being passed through our art department.  If those bugs are not fixed, I'm not sure what we will do for Rebel combat vehicles.

Currently, you cannot drive the combat vehicles and the turrets are automated. 

Red-Dwarf (Testing Senator): That looks rather suspiciously like you've got the battle of Dearic up and running on an internal server?

Given how important this update is to so many of us, any chance you can shift the Dearic battle out to TC and TCP while you carry on working on space, and the wider zone implications? Just so we can test the battle and try to iron out the bugs in that before we all get overwhelmed with how much stuff there is to test in the full update.

I understand it isn't as easy as "just put it on test", since the internal server will be set up rather differently to a full server like TC/TCP, but I suggest it would be worth tweaking the battle so it works without the space and wider gcw control changes so we can get some useful focus testing done.

There's a lot to test, and not enough of us (never is) to test it all so any advantage will be appreciated.

HanseSOE: The entire battle sequence is not ready for prime time players, yet.  We have a lot of quests to make and some of the defensive structures are not working, yet.  So, it won't be going on to test any time soon.

Eveas (Gameplay Senator): This looks very promising while at the same time not being really detailed to any extent. I have a few questions. How will specific combat professions effect the GCW? You hinted that if I am a spy I might have a role different than a commando. I hope this means profession specific content with different bonuses for the side you are helping instead of just their standard roll in a mass battle.
Will pilots have to keep landing to get missions? I hope this brings space PvP back outside deep space.
What cities were selected to have these battles?

HanseSOE: 1) We're not giving profession specific content to each profession.  However, we are giving some out to groupings of professions (combat, entertainer, and trader).

2) We do not have specific GCW quests for pilots, so you do not need to land.

3) Bestine, Dearic, and Keren have been chosen.  These cities are subject to change, if we find them too problematic or an issue arises.  Restuss may be included, as well, but not have construction quests.

Tee.... I see there will be Factional NPCs / Creatures / Turrents involved in attacking/defending cities right?

So what is the incentive for players to fight as SPECIAL FORCES in the attack or defense of a city... instead of just hanging around Restuss or in Battlefields?

I am not suggesting we need something 'special' for SF players.. I am simply asking WHY would they fight SF when they could as Combatant.

HanseSOE: If you are SF, you get a better reward than you would in another state.  Atleast, that's what we plan to do.

scout3000ranger: i'm going to take a guess that those defenses are going to be SF oriented verses Combatant. in addition, i bet the defenses can only be placed when SF.

HanseSOE: We are not requiring tradeskill players go special forces to construct defenses, currently.

Trixie9819: Pretty pictures, what I've heard so far is great, but I do have one fear. you say 'before the invasion' Entertainers and Traders will affect the battle. But.... is it one battle? One ongoing battle? A battle lasting a certain time before everything resets?

My fear is that once the battle begins, Ents and Traders will have no part in lifting the moral of the troops or creating supplies for the war effort. Please double check your plans so that the things that Ents and Traders do are as continuous as the combat profession's fighting.

Other than that, I love the ways to keep track of who's doing good, and where we rebels need to beat back the evil Imps.. *cough* I mean, where the tide of battle is turning.

I also want to remind you of something I brought up at fanfaire. The Lifeday Proton Chair, it is sexist currently. The female voice was (of course) because Grandpa was a male wookie. We females would like a nice, soothing male voice to take a nap to as well.

Oh, and consider boards...just, plain boards to make shelves out of that we control the distance and height. I don't care if it's a Chronicle reward or what, I'd just like to have some planks to make things out of.

HanseSOE: The construction phase lasts one hour and the invasion phase lasts up to an hour or until the final boss fight is completed.

Entertainers and traders have roles to play in both construction and invasion phases and are specifically designed to play a major role in both phases.

JediKnightDasst: define "Boss". we talking about some random gold elite? or a heroic NPC like Luke or Vader? (be cool to fight along side with them)

HanseSOE: The commanding general of the city defenses is the end goal for the battle.  He/she gets weaker as the defenders lose more defenses (so you can't insta-gank the general).  I watched one general take on a couple hundred NPC's the other day for kicks.

ACEoj: Ok, on population control, since there has been no answers forthcoming at all , might I suggest some responses?

An announcement is coming soon on this matter. (Only works if there really IS an anouncement coming soon however)
Our official position is we have no official position at this time.
We understand the population concerns some players have and are working on a solution to be announced soon.
We are not planning to revisit the population balances in the near future.

Care to make any of these official? We would love more detail than this of course, but something...anything...please?

HanseSOE: We've already discussed overpopulation issues surrounding the new content.  I don't have specific information on how it will be handled at this time, though.

ACEoj: Wait wait wait!  Please don't misunderstand me...I am not complaining about OVERpopulation...I am worried about under population. Those of us on 'dead' servers would like to be included in this new GCW content, as opposed to being gated out of it.

HanseSOE: You can still participate.  The invasion system will still function on your server.  It works on any server regardless of player population.

Skinmeister: So is it like Hoth in that respect, i.e. the attackers always win, it's just quicker if players help?

HanseSOE: No, the attackers can lose.  Spies can destroy NPC spawners with explosives.

Inat-Mivea (Rebel Senator): hanse, how to player cities get involved?

HanseSOE: You get GCW points through factional terminals.  You can place GCW bases in your cities and influence the region surrounding your city through the factional terminals.

We have other goodies for player cities on paper, but currently do not have a finalized design to discuss for player cities.

Cigaran (Player Cities Senator): Are these new factional terminals or is this a new function being added to the already existing one's we can place as Mayor?

HanseSOE: They're existing ones and we're looking at making them more interesting, too.

Vincent76 (Former Game Play Senator): Try again, and watch the Area Activity meter during the fight. If it goes above Medium (even spikes to Extremely Heavy), you'll need to add more server resources.

During recent GM events and the AT-AT walker events it was confirmed that some servers are unable to handle the load of +10 players shooting at 1 MOb at the same time.

HanseSOE: I'm sure Teesquared will have the servers adjusted for the new content being added to load balance it.  I've evesdropped on the conversation about it, but I'm not directly involved in making those adjustments.

black666label: Hope it's not just PvP changes...  I want Equal PvE content gains for GCW

AdeptStrain: I have a card to make the life of players on a planet controlled by the opposite faction a never ending abyss of pain.

So, yea, expect faction based spawns in the wilds and other places.

Erusman: Yep.  That is the only thing i am concerned about. LAG.  All those NPC battles going on and explosions.  Hopefully there is a way to tweak the settings on the servers or something to compensate.  With this update server performance should be top priority.  I am sure you guys are working on it.  This looks like one awesome update.  Thank you devs!

/airguitar

HanseSOE: I have made sure maximum spawn quantities do not get out of hand, since it is player constructed.  I had a bug with it running out of NPC's spawning due to traders being able to influence the difficulty of NPC's, but I fixed that recently.

scout3000ranger: Hanse, after participating in todays live "event" at Nym's and observing the "area activity" you can see very quickly how an area which has dozens of players and dozens of mobs, can very quickly go from "light" to "extreme". this can cause gameplay issues with some players, just wanting to participate in "mass battles". that is what most players complain about when they say "Lag".  in regards to space, is some of you had read other notes/posts, you would see that space IS being included.

HanseSOE: Space directly affects planetary control and is part of the GCW calculations.

Zaile: I wouldn't mind seeing the trader class work in somewhat of a combat Engineer style (blow up bridges, repair on field vehicles, etc). But I would be very surprised if that kind of system would be included in all this too. wow.

HanseSOE: I'm working on combat vehicle repair quests right now. 
 

Red-Dwarf (Testing Senator): Just to be clear Hanse, I'm not worried if it isn't ready yet (the pic had me hoping) and I'd prefer you take the time to get it broadly working so we don't just crash the server constantly, I'm just asking if WHEN the battle itself is ready we get to test that.

Without waiting for the rest of the update to be finished.

Logic being that the battle itself is likely to be a bit buggy (no offense, SWG just wasn't designed to turn Dearic into a warzone back in 2003). So give us a chance to iron out the bugs by focussing just on that test.

Then, once the battle there has been through the ringer a few times we can move on to test the other battles, to test the wider control system, to test the space interaction.
There's a lot to test, I just want to try and focus players one bit at a time rather than present us with the entire update, and some of us head to space, some to dearic, others to keren etc and each bit gets tested, but not as well tested as it might if we focussed on it bit by bit.

We did it with Hoth where only one side was opened up so we bashed on that for a while, I just want to get confirmation up front that we'll be handling the GCW update test in a similar fashion, given how important it is to everyone.

HanseSoE: I understand your concerns and your wanting to test this soon.  I'm not the person in charge of making that decision.

On the flip side, I do have a fully functional battle working, although it is a very rough version.

Scoser: Are points/token/rewards/control % tied to the level of NPCs killed as well, or just the number of NPCs killed? Otherwise I see a lot of opposite faction alts creating CL1 NPCs for their combat alts to farm.

HanseSOE: They will be.  The reward system is currently not granting the rewards, yet.  We'll be tweaking all the rewards in a week or two. 

4thPlaceSwooper: Can we at least get a hint of what kinds of rewards we would get?

AdeptStrain: We're still making that list. Hence no details yet.

CharlsBigbooti: So does this statement directly from you  mean that this willbe affected across THE SERVERS.

Adeptstrain: You can only affect your server's score (via planet control and such), but you can look at how other servers are doing and the final "Galaxy Wide" score is the score for all the SWG servers.  Galaxy Wide (SWG Total Score) <- Other Servers Scores / Your Server's Score <- Your Server's Planet Scores <- Your Server's Gameplay/ Region Scores

You can tune in by going to the Official SOE Podcast site. Once you get there, click on your preferred bandwidth.

Another way to tune in is with iTunes. If you have iTunes installed, select iTunes store, type SOE into the search box and click Subscribe!

Your feedback is always welcome either on the Station forums or via email.

Check out the Official SOE Podcast!

Spook-Cast is here!

In this podcast:

You can tune in by going to the Official SOE Podcast site. Once you get there, click on your preferred bandwidth.

Another way to tune in is with iTunes. If you have iTunes installed, select iTunes store, type SOE into the search box and click Subscribe!

Your feedback is always welcome either on the Station forums or via email.

Check out the Official SOE Podcast!

Star Wars Galaxies: Game Update 14 Death Troopers

Publish Notes, October 12th, 2009

Death Troopers
After a mysterious turn of events the Empire has mustered an enormous military presence in a remote location on Dathomir. Imperial High Command has issued a travel warning to notify citizens to avoid travel to the planet if possible. Citizens that cannot avoid travel to Dathomir should be aware that certain locations are now considered restricted areas. Unauthorized travel by citizenry to these restricted areas may result in fines, arrest or both. While rumors have circulated that restricted areas are being used to contain a biological threat, no official report has been confirmed or denied by High Command.

• Players that have already completed the Update 13 "Something is Obviously Wrong" quests will be contacted and given a quest upon login.
• Players that have not already completed the Update 13 "Something is Obviously Wrong" quests will need to finish up to have access to the Death Troopers quest line.
• Players that have not started the "Something is Obviously Wrong" quests can kick off the content by using the publish gift named "Jabba's Comlink."
• To participate in the Death Troopers content, players will first need to complete the "Something is Obviously Wrong" quest line.
• Added Chronicles relics specific to the Death Troopers content

Death Troopers - Known Issue

• After further experimentation with the Blackwing virus, we discovered that the Sullustan race was particularly susceptible to the infection. Sullustan's who have been infected will exhibit symptoms including mood swings, cold sweats, and white eyes. Rest assured we have an inoculation ready and it will be administered in the next update.

Vendor/Bazaar

• Search By Attribute: You can now search by attribute factory crates by the attributes of the item contained inside the crate. If the Misc->Factory Crate node is selected, you must first specify the Type search attribute to indicate the type of item you are looking for, and based on the specified item type, additional search attributes for that item type will be added to the attribute list. If an item type node under the Misc->Factory Crate node is selected, the attribute list will be automatically populated with the search attributes for the selected item type.
• Fix issue where the Offers and Stockroom tab return all items regardless of what is selected in the Object Type Filter tree.

Chronicles

• If your Chronicles Reserve has something in it, you will see a reminder message when you log in.
• Reward items inside of a Chronicles Holocron will no longer appear in a junk dealer's list.
• You will now be able to move objects inside of a Chronicles Tent up or down.
• Generic Location tasks in a Holocron built directly from a draft will point to the correct location.
• If you are claiming more than 500 tokens from your Chronicles Reserve, you will now get the correct amount.
• Chronicle relics are no longer of any interest to junk dealers.

Game Update 14 Gift

• Undead Rancor Statuette

TCG

• FG 8T8-Twin Block2 Special Podracer: Driver uses the correct riding position.
• The AT-AT Head ITV will now cancel sending you to a location if you choose "Cancel" in the confirmation window.

User Interface

• Chronicle rating now shows the rating to the tenths place, this provides a bit more accuracy.

Misc

• Navari Trik (Painting Distribution Specialist) is back in Mos Eisley with some new paintings for you.

SWG Galactic Civil War and Player City Statistics - October

Among SWG communities, there are always many different discussions occuring every day regarding combat profession balance, GCW participation levels, server populations and much more.

To aid these discussions, I put together some graphs and charts using stats available from the Star Wars Galaxies: GCW Points Calculator website which shows statistics of all characters in SWG that are ranked higher than Lieutenant rank in the Galactic Civil War.  This small sub-section of the SWG playerbase tends to be PvP players, although Pilots and PvE players are also able to appear on these statistics.

I also took statistics from the official Star Wars Galaxies - Player Cities page.  With these stats I was able to calculate the Minimum number of characters declaring residence in servers cities to support current city rankings.  This is put together based on Rank 2 cities requiring 10 characters declaring residence, Rank 3 = 15, Rank 4 = 30 and Rank 5 = 40.  I then add up the total and create a chart on these numbers.

You can tune in by going to the Official SOE Podcast site. Once you get there, click on your preferred bandwidth.

Another way to tune in is with iTunes. If you have iTunes installed, select iTunes store, type SOE into the search box and click Subscribe!

Your feedback is always welcome either on the Station forums or via email.

Check out the Official SOE Podcast!

Star Wars Galaxies: Game Update 13 -- Chronicle Master System

Star Wars Galaxies: Game Update 13 -- Chronicle Master System

Publish Notes, September 30th, 2009

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If you're on the Chilastra server, take some time to stop by and see this place in person. Kracken also has vendors on site with a variety of items for sale. So, visit the lab and do some shopping while you're there!

Click here to see some amazing screenshots and find out more about Exergens Genetics!

Which servers will be closing?

The following 12 servers will be closing on Thursday, October 15 2009:

Some of what's in this podcast:

You can tune in by going to the Official SOE Podcast site. Once you get there, click on your preferred bandwidth.

Another way to tune in is with iTunes. If you have iTunes installed, select iTunes store, type SOE into the search box and click Subscribe!

Your feedback is always welcome either on the Station forums or via email.

Check out the Official SOE Podcast!

This Galactic Showcase features the artistic style of Callandra Kain of Radiant. Read on to see what Callandra had to say about her work.

"I have always been a big RP fan in SWG and I like the stories of the old ancient Sith Empires very much. Combining these things was where I came up with my character. I thought my character could be one of those ancient Sith lords. Actually, the "Queen" of the Sith that was murdered by ancient Jedi masters and has now come back from the dead. She helps the empire hunt down the last living Jedi but as she feels betrayed by Palpatine and Vader, she seeks their doom as well.

I believe my guildhall reflects her dark agenda quite well with all the Sith Temples inside doing things like chanting the "code of the Sith" and creepy /scary stuff like that. Just take a look at the screen shots or better yet, come visit. You will see that it IS HELL unleashed!"

Click here to see shots of Callandra's awesome work!

A smuggler by profession and Rebel at heart, Cebot has combined these two passions and his love of the good life in his latest venture, Diamond in the Rough. Built on a Black Sun AEG-77 Vigo chassis he received as payment for a particularly lucrative job, Diamond in the Rough was designed as a flying retreat for entertaining friends, clients and associates in style. Complete with a fully stocked bar, cantina, and meeting room, the ship also boasts a full-sized pool and many small, private meeting areas. But don't let her opulence fool you - Diamond boasts a full array of state-of-the-art weaponry, countermeasures, and communications equipment to complement the heavily modified engines and long-range boosters you'd expect to find in this line of business.

Click here to read the entire article and see the screenshots!

Congratulations Cebot!

Hear all about the International launch of Free Realms and the EverQuest Giants, Giants, Giants update. Jason Ryan has all of the latest news from many of the SOE titles! What are the 10 reasons to play PlanetSide? What cartoons did the EverQuest II developers watch as kids? Listen in and find out all the answers!

You can tune in by going to the Official SOE Podcast site. Once you get there, click on your preferred bandwidth.

Another way to tune in is with iTunes. If you have iTunes installed, select iTunes store, type SOE into the search box and click Subscribe!

Your feedback is always welcome either on the Station forums or via email.

Check out the Official SOE Podcast!

SWG Stratics News Reporter BadgerSmaker interviews Engineering Senator Rasal regarding the currently in testing Game Update 12 for Star Wars Galaxies, which focuses on the Engineer profession.

Shaikh, a commando serving under the Imperial army, decided that it was time to build a place to settle down. The original concept was to design a home with a display corner, indoor garden, an office and a workplace. In order to have all that he decided to take a little bit from each, creating what he calls "Project Bunker."

The range of items displayed in this bunker stretch from pre-combat upgrade items, house packup rewards, veteran rewards to all new Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game loot cards. Shaikh is very proud of his work, and finally decided that "Project Bunker" is now up to the Imperial standards.

Read the rest of this article and check out the screenshots here.

“That’s one hell of a practical joke,” Kal said as he spun around in to face Ressa at the comm station

“Listen for yourself.” Ressa said as she replayed the message.

After hearing it, Kal wondered what to think. Was this another test, a loyalty test? Or was it real and the whole mission in danger? “Look up those dis-whatever pirates in the computer and see what it knows about them.”

“Te’vah, go check the guns. I don’t want to get caught with my pants down IF this is true. Not like we can hit the side of anything, but we can make it difficult. We’ve got six hours to do what we can." Kal spoke more like a captain than, well, what he normally sounded like, no one questioned him.

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The Aggravation arrived at Nwarcol Point Station.
To call it old wouldn’t do it justice. The Hutts built it long before the idea of a Republic. To Kal, it looked like a child put it together from leftover parts of several different broken toys. The inside was all Hutt.

 Kal was checking out docking bay 12: 421 that he and his ship was sitting in. After jumping into the system he lost sight of the others in front of or behind him due to the large amount of traffic around Nwarcol Point Station. It seemed the Beacon was ‘in full swing’ and that kept most traffic from leaving the system in a timely manner.

 Not really knowing what to do, Kal tried to contact traffic control but was put on hold. At that time the program know as ‘envelope’ translated a signal and pointed them towards the docking bay. Immediately after that Traffic Control contacted the Aggravation and cleared them for approach, and the tractor beam insured a safe landing.

 Upon landing, the envelope started a clock showing that the coordinates for Destination: Adventure! would be provided in 30 minutes.

 “So we wait?” said Te’vah.


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We've been busy working with PLAYXPERT to deliver a totally unique experience for you while you play the games you love. This new technology allows you to use gamer-inspired tools without the need to alt-tab. Now for those of you with dual monitors, this is already an option. But for the majority of users out there this will be a new luxury, allowing you to surf the web, chat with friends, listen to music and even kill process's all while still in-game.

We have built these Stratics Community tools just for you.

DOWNLOAD HERE

The hand-picked widgets that will come standard for our users:

• Universal chat across all major chat IM tools (Yahoo, Xfire, Windows Live, ICQ, AIM, Gtalk)
• Pandora for your music listening pleasure while you're raiding or grinding in-game (Pandora has a US only restriction)
• Web browser widget so you can access the stratics news, reviews and even your guild pages while in-game and
• Switchblade so you can test playing your favorite games with a Xbox 360 controller.
• GoogleGadgets – Allows the user access to the wealth of Google Gadgets in-game
• Notepad – Gives the user the ability to use the Notepad application in-game to take notes for quests, locations, etc.

*The technology works on XP and Vista but the in-game overlay system will not be available to Vista users until January. Take note – the updater will auto-upgrade your vista version when the in-game support is added.*

More about the Technology:

Life in the Fast Lane Episode 6

“Ironically, the stellar body that first brought the Hutts to the Sisar Run millennia ago is now considered a great nuisance by them and anyone else navigating near it. The Novolek Beacon is a trans-dimensional energy streamer, a rare sort of the pulsar star that emits a steady barrage of radiation, stellar energy and matter as it rotates. The streamer is a result of EM-invisible, multidimensional, gravitational curves intersecting across a large star. Sort of a convergence of hyperspace mass shadows, the star is under great gravitational stress, but does not possess enough realspace mass to collapse into a singularity.”

“In addition, the gravitational curves are not uniform, and occasionally, a patch of the star will be freed of the immense forces pushing against it. This patch then explodes outward in realspace, like air pushed out of a balloon. The realspace stream is mostly high-energy stellar plasma-hydrogen and helium gases-yet this stream causes a hyperspace shadow itself. The hyperspace shadows are dragged back into the other gravity wells, but the realspace particles continue unaffected.”

“This paradox, the El’shuun Aa Effect, causes immense disturbance throughout a localized area of hyperspace. The “walls” between dimensions are stretched thin at this point and even subspace communication signals are disrupted, their broadcast ranges varying radically. Yet, despite all this chaotic activity, all that is seen in realspace is particle fountain emitted from a bright star, flashing like a light-house in a storm.”

“The Novolek Beacon, like most energy streamers, is not always active. It follows precise cycles, as the stellar bodies that cause the imposing gravity curves to move about in space. The Beacon, nicknamed “The Grandfather Clock” for its precision, flares every 28 days, 12 hours and 42 minutes; the flare’s duration is variable, however lasting anywhere from a few minutes to a couple of days. At this time, all hyperspace travel around the Beacon has to be rerouted or slowed down, depending on the Streamer’s intensity.”

“The Hutts have long been dreaming up a way to destroy the star since it slows down traffic and spawn all sorts of excuses for disreputable smugglers who conveniently ‘lose’ important cargoes. Incidentally, it creates an arena for competing pirate forces. Rumors float up and down the Sisar Run that Durga the Hutt is contracting scientists to come up with a plan to destroy the Novolek Beacon. What would happen if a transdimensional streamer was artificially destroyed – is unknown.”

Kal listened to this during the hours of hyperspace and studied any information he had on local space. It didn’t help the feelings that came up; it’s a trap of some kind. He shook off the daydreaming and got back to work.

Regal Imperial Defenders of Starsider

What is the name of your player association, and which galaxy do you play on?

Our player association is named the Regal Imperial Defenders, or RID for short. We currently reside in the Starsider galaxy.

How many members are in your guild roster?

Our roster can fluctuate anywhere between 120 and 170 members. Half of those tend to be alternate characters. A percentage also tends to be inactive. However, if a character isn't played at least once a month, it's removed during our monthly inactivity purges.

When and how did your player association get started?

I had always wanted to form a guild to RID the galaxy of Rebel scum, but couldn't due to lack of funds. One day, however, I received a large sum of credits from someone I didn't know. I used these credits to establish a guild hall at the Imperial Oasis on Tatooine. After much hard work, our guild was formed on November 23, 2003.

We will be bringing our forums down Friday, July 11th 2008 to import restored user data initially lost in May. The following was posted in our Forum Announcements:

"On Friday, July 11th our message forums will be taken offline for approximately 48 hours while we restore the data we were able to pull from the old database and merge it with the existing data. The restoration will begin at about noon EST on Friday.

Users whose accounts were recovered from the old database will have those accounts merged with the current existing account, if the username and the email address match. For those of you who created alternate usernames we will be able to merge your restored account with your new account after the restoration has been completed.

If you have any questions or need any assistance with your account please email forumhelp@stratics.com or use the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the forums."

Stratics IRC - 

Please feel  free to join us on Stratics IRC during the downtime! You can connect to one of our Stratics IRC servers using your favorite IRC client. A list of popular IRC clients is available on our downloads page, and for those who wish to chat via their browser you can connect via our java IRC client. (Java required - download here)
Connect to irc.stratics.com (port 6668) or choose a server close to you from following list:
     stratics.frws.com USA - Colorado (ports 6667 6668 7000)
     irc.glowfish.de EU - Germany (ports 6667 6668)
     stratics.afraidyet.net USA - Texas (ports 6667 6668)
     irc.gamers-irc.org USA - Colorado (ports 6667 6668 7000)
 

While we apologize for the inconvenience, we are at the same time very happy this scheduled downtime is occurring as it means we are returning to normality!

What is the name of your player association, and which galaxy do you play on?

Starhawk Conglomerate (SHC) on Starsider.

How many active members are in the guild?

When and how did your player association get started?

SHC was founded approximately 1 month after the launch of Star Wars Galaxies. Even though the concept of the Starhawk Conglomerate had been planned well before the launch day. The concepts and ideals were planned and developed by Tom, Coren, and Arment Starhawk, all veteran pilots of X-wing Alliance.

An excerpt from Tom Starhawk's journal entries before his tragic death at the battle of Corenth Unaversias, better known by its abbreviation, the C.U.:

"In the beginning, the idea started off where my cousin and I would portray Thomas and Coren Starhawk. We were going to originally be bounty hunters / security guards for FDWS. However the game wasn't even half of what we made it out to be, and a month after signing up to be apart of FDWS (take note this is one year before the actual release) we jumped ship. This is when Arment who was a friend of mine from mIRC came into the picture. Coren, Arment and I would create our own guild. Coren and I had already had a clan of 200 members called ISHI - Intrepid Starhawk Industries. However Arment wasn't in on that, and we'd thought it'd be a horrible thing to do to name it the same thing. So he brought to the table the Starhawk Conglomerate. We were all going to take on the last name of Starhawk and the Conglomerate would be basically an RP base since all three of us are roleplayers. By the time launch reared its head, I was the only one to make it. So it was all up to me to start the guild..." Tom Starhawk

"Nashal is where I met my first few business partners. Deku, Narr'Durzol, and actually Allawellyn. At this time Narr was working on becoming an architect and I had no idea what I wanted to be, but I knew what I wanted to do, start a guild. I recruited a few people including Deuce Wildcard and Aus'tin Surge. Unfortunately, we were getting no where fast. Narr'durzol was my best friend in the game and basically we'd just go on adventures together. Allawellyn took me on my first kill Rebel mission. I became an Imperial the hardway by doing 40 of those delivery missions that only granted 5 FP. Soon I met Reggi when I was a pistoleer, and I recruited him for the guild. He became Narr'durzol's apprentice architect and the first guildhall had gone up. Wick was announced the first Master Architect and TIO was the first guild... I had to get in on this, so I talked to him and basically he tried to cheat me." Tom Starhawk

Is your guild based out of a player city? If so, which one, and how did the city get started?

The Starhawk Conglomerate is based out of Flame's Hold, Talus. Some historic perspective is provided by Reggi Lonestar, from his printed work "The History of SHC":

"The day of player cities came and the player city limit of Tatooine had already been reached and the Tatooine city hall I had created was worthless to us. We contemplated placing our city on Lok (due to the fact that you could use Tat structures there, because it was just more then the city hall... it was all of our houses as well that would have to be replaced). We thought long and hard and all had a eureka moment. Let's go back to our planet of origin, Talus. We knew exactly the spot in mind for our new city, Iwen created the city hall (we just barely had the parts to make another) and we scouted the spot. It was clear of structures! It was the flame, the namesake of our now beloved city, Flame's Hold. We placed the city hall in its current location where it rests today, Allwellyn placed her hall where the SHC guild hall currently sits (a fact that Tom did'nt like too much) and the SHC guild hall was located to the right of the guild hall. Iwen and myself began production of the first generic mediums and the first streets of Flame's Hold came into being." Reggi Lonestar

Flame's Hold is currently one of the largest and longest standing player cities on Starsider with a rich tradition of excellence.

Is your guild partial to one faction over another? Why did you choose that faction (or remain neutral)?

SHC is an Imperial guild who is part of an Imperial Consortium with many allied guilds. Starhawk Conglomerate does not condone or accept Rebels as a part of their ranks. It undermines the aims and ideals of SHC to guild Rebels.

How is your guild leadership organized (i.e. single guild leader, council, etc.)?

The leader of SHC is Svaartvadel. He has been the guild leader for many years. However, their are two governing bodies within the confines of SHC: The Executive Council and the Senior Council.

The Executive Council is comprised of the following four members: Svaartvadel, Jod, Lalapb, and Reggi. Their roles and duties include to deal with Interguild Relations and Policies as well as overseeing the communication of the councils to the guild and the other guilds on the server and across server lines.

The Senior Council is comprised of the following five members: Warlorn, Kiris, Kyysh, Sol'us, and Dantel. Their roles and duties include overseeing the Intraguild Communications, voting of guild policy, discipline, and guild related issues.

Other leaders within the guild that are not part of the councils, include events, recruitment, space, crafting, PvP, and role-playing.

What sets your guild apart and makes it attractive to current and prospective members?

Starhawk Conglomerate is rich in tradition. We were founded almost five years ago and are still one of the strongest guilds on Starsider. This is a strong PvE guild that is self-sufficient with many traders in all the disciplines. Because of such a large and diverse membership, SHC has players who are at home in space with most of the guild being at least a one time ace or even players that excel in PvP.

Because SHC has established themselves as a guild that has stood the test of time and has many attributes, we are considered one of the elite guilds of Starsider.

Above all, the members conduct themselves with a level of integrity that is unique among many of the guilds we are allied with. This is part of our mantra of "SHC: S trength, H onor, and I ntegrity."

Because of SHC's ever presence on Starsider, many other guilds have a respect for their play style and know that their motto is never far from the member's mind: "Heart to guild; life to Empire."

What professions are most popular with your guild?

Part of what makes for a well rounded guild is that SHC is well represented by all professions. There are many combatants as well as crafters who help provide for the needs of the combatants. There are less smugglers and spies as the other combat professions but enough traders to outfit an army.

Does your guild put together events (i.e. raids, parties, storyteller events, etc.)?

SHC has an event coordinator who is in charge of the monthly calendar of events. The calendar has specific events that are aimed at all play styles. Weekly norms are heroic instances, slayer collections, bunkers and caves, PvP, meetings, and socials. In addition, our home city is the host of many server/dev sponsored events which help to bridge the gap between the different guilds and the different factions. These server events range from role-playing, attack and story events, as well as PvP and PvE events.

Rarely is there a time when there is nothing going on within the guild. On those rare occasions, guild members band together to help each other finish up gear, quests, or just hang out in Ventrilo and have a fun time.

When all is said and done, SHC is about family and friends and not just about killing. It is truly a staple of Starsider's community.

Does your guild have a web site? If so, what is the link?

You can visit our web site here.

Because of the recent update to BlackHats and all the attention they’re receiving I decided to recruit some help and compose a short guide to playing as a BadHippie for everyone who just started or is simply bad at killing things from 60 meters away with first strike and sniper shot when you have the advantage of surprise.’

Now I’m an experienced BabyHippie and have leveled at least 4 of the same race to 90 on the same server in the same slot, so my word is law and am clearly undisputable.

Chapter 1: What Everyone Knows About BigHeading Except You (but not after you read this)

Jewelry:

Every decent (add your own BH acronym here) knows that jewelry is for suckers. Why tarnish your dazzling image by not constantly trying to kill someone 20 levels higher then you to acquire a useless set of trinkets? I certainly never did, and you shouldn’t either.

You can achieve the same effect as +120 stamina with your sage-like knowledge of every single pixel inside the cloning tube you’ll be spending most of your time in! Trust me, its part of the lesson.

Are you still paying attention? Good. You’ll be tested on this at the end.

Bounty Hunting:

Hah! Like you’re ready for that yet.

Getting Missions:

The most important part of tracking your elusive target is accepting their mark. This can usually be done at “bounty hunter terminals”, but you can substitute these for either “explorer terminals” or “artisan terminals”, depending on how adept a bounty hunter you are.

As you know, at level 22 you’re officially a certified Bounty Hunter and can now forgo all the friends in your group and rush to the nearest Bounty Hunter Terminal (probably located in Theed). When you first log on, you might notice something, there are no missions for you to accept, this is normal. Instead of going out to increase your level, you need to stay at the terminal, continually refreshing the screen until either your finger becomes an inert, useless appendage or common sense smacks you about the head.

Every good Bounty Hunter knows that you are only player given missions after you complete Legacy on two different accounts. I bet you’re surprised!

Shooting:

Click on your target and hold your finger there. Auto-aim is for people who wear jewelry. Make sure to constantly swivel your screen to keep up with the Jedi running circles around you.

Traps:

Never use these, even your marks will laugh to death at you. This could be a good thing, as it may be the only way you can kill them.

Tracking:

9/10 times your bounty will be on the Nova Orion station or Kashyyyyyyyk, in either case, make sure to continue sending droids out until they go somewhere else. This process could take anywhere from months to years to complete. Be patient.

On the 1/10 chance your foe has dared exit the safety of the lush forests of wookie-town they will be inside their homes. A good technique to use here is the famed “door watching” maneuver, known only to the most professional of Bounty Hunters.

Try to use psychological warfare on your pitiful mark by standing still and silent, but never becoming AFK. Faced with such a conundrum, your foe will be driven mad!

That dog has the right idea, do you?

Communicating:

Words are the hammers and screws in the toolbox of communication, so make sure to type them as jumbled and unorganized if you can. This may confuse your mark. Common phrases to try are:

if i pay u 100k will u let me kill u???? –This means that if (heaven forbid) you cannot kill something, you will retain your pride as a Bounty Hunter. The opposite phrase is:

pay me 100k or ill kill u!!!!! n00b!!! –This tells your mark that if he doesn’t pay you 100 credits you’re going to kill him and be 100k credits poorer. Even if they pay you, make sure to kill them anyway.

Stalking Your Prey:

If you manage to get this far, congratulations! You’ve officially proved your literacy!

“Make your plans as dark and impenetrable as night.” Sun Tzu said that. Just thought you should know.

Following your prey is the most sacred of all BHing arts. Remember to follow them wherever they go, be it to the store, another planet, or to their faction-based guild hall full of their powerful friends. When the right time comes, attack with all the fury in your tiny little pea-shooter!

Killing the Mark:

Point, click, fire off a special once in a while. Just make sure that if you lose (heaven forbid again), you destroy their special addition walker or speeder. No repairing for them!

Cloning:

Try not to cry too much at this point. In another 30-40 bounties, you’ll be going all pro!

You've now got an entire guide under your belt and about 50 hours of cloning experience! Good job! Remember to tune in next time when we handle killing spies! Don't miss it!

Well, this concludes today’s article. I hope to write more on the subject in the future.

Run for the Star is Episode 5 of Life In The Fast Lane by patchman70.

I suppose I’ve not been entirely honest with you all over the past week and how I promised another article soon with photoshop and the works- and am deeply sorry.  You must understand, though, I was too busy snow camping in Israel to come write.  You have no idea what kind of cold it gets there. 

To make up for my complete disregard of moral hygiene I’ve got an interview with our community’s very own Anach. 

Instead of staging a full on voice-interrogation, Anach preferred to keep it limited to messaging, and who can blame him? 

1. Where do your incredible ideas find their creation? Just how do they come to mind?  

Often I'll be playing the game and notice something that could use some improvement. I'll then alt-tab to write down a reminder note to post something more detailed later. Other times an idea will form from discussions with other people, inside and outside the game or in other forum threads. Additionally there have been many fantastic ideas and well written posts on the Official SWG Forum that have helped me to improve my own presentation and conceptualizations over the years. I'm always pleasantly surprised when other people approve of my ideas.  

2. When you create your ideas, do you consider the coding it would take to put them in action?  

Keeping the ideas reasonable is always on my mind. I have learned to reach a compromise between what I really want and what I consider doable within the current game system, without altering the game too much and without stepping on too many involuntary toes. By keeping other players in mind when posting ideas, I hope to have a better chance of seeing those ideas realised.However, I'm sure that my own notion of what is doable is a lot different to what the Devs believe is doable. 

3. Do your friends at MOB ever assist you in your amazing concepts?  

I'm very proud to say, that even though we removed around 100 members from MOB in October last year due to inactivity, this month MOB has again achieved the game cap of 500 total members. This means that the Guild has a continuous influx of new people, and along with my position in the Guild, I have the benefit of hearing feedback from hundreds of people, with various play styles, on almost every aspect of game-play, on a regular basis. This feedback is certainly a consideration when coming up with new ideas.  

4. Have you ever considered attempting to join SOE and put these ideas to action?  

In a way, the entire SWG community has joined SOE since the launch of the NGE.  It appears we have far more say in what's done with the game compared to how it used to be (as it should be.) There is a forum full of great ideas being posted daily, and with the help of the Senators, we have the means to push for what we want as a whole. Besides, I don't live in the US, and I'm quite happy right here in Australia.

5. What are the processes you go through with every new concept? 

 It's easy to get lazy when writing a post and just want to get it out there, but having something that makes sense and is easy to read, is more likely to get community approval. This means lots of proof reading, which is easier to remember to do if using a word processor. Also using a word processor means no lost posts due to forum errors. Recently I started using pictures to break up the more lengthy posts, such as in my recent GCW related thread. This makes them much easier to read and is something I'll be doing more often.Before I start putting the idea together, I might ask around my Guild for other people's opinions on the subject and read up on other similar posts. This way I get a general feel about my own idea before I post it and possibly something I hadn't yet thought of. This is exactly what I did with my recent post on Decay via smuggler slicing. Both subjects are frequently hot topics within my Guild and on the forum. So I thought of a way to combine them, to bring in extra content and keep the choice of decay up to the individual. 

6. Aside from SWG, what MMOs do you play?  

I've dabbled in quite a few MMOs over the years. Some of the more recent include: EQ2, PoTBS, MXO, VG and WoW. However I'm more a Sci-fi kinda guy and find playing more than one MMO concurrently is too time-consuming. Right now, SWG is the game for me. 

7. Does real life ever influence the ideas you carry over to the SWG forums?  

Sometimes other games can influence my forum posts and suggestions, but as far as real life and forum life, I try not to mix the two. I've seen a lot of people let one influence the other and usually not in a good way. If I find I'm taking the forum or the game too seriously, I'll usually take a break or limit my time there for a while. Otherwise the game stops being fun. I try my best to keep forum comments non-personal and not carry any debates over to other community forums. 

8. What else do you do to improve SWG as a whole?  

Other than trying to improve the game through the various forum threads, I leave myself available for advice in the various communities I participate in. I know there are some out there who appreciate it  

9. Would you ever become a Senator for Gameplay or Community- etc?  

The Senators do a great job, posting many great ideas and keeping the community updated with various Guides and bug threads. Like many other SWG players, I'm quite appreciative of their dedication. However, I'm content enough to offer feedback to the Senate threads like everyone else, and be able to step away at anytime.  

10. Do you think the Devs are listening to you and your posts?  

I'm positive they are listening and taking notes to many forum threads.  I wouldn't expect them to reply to every post I made, especially as these days, they seem to need a disclaimer every time they reply to anyone's idea. Of course, I think we all would like to discuss ideas privately with the dev team in depth, or get a sneak peek at what might be coming, but like everyone else, I have to wait and see. 

11. Lastly, who or what do you consider to be the greatest influence on your ideas to improve SWG? 

Honestly, I'm encouraged every time I see a well written post on the forum, but there are some I'm always sure to read. I'd have to say, most of the Senators, Blue Glowies, BadMisterFrosty, and Everitt_Cage, to name a few. These folks generally maintain a high level of quality in their posts.  

I'm glad Anach had the time to interview!

This article should hold everyone over until next time!

While clearing out old guides I came across the one below. It might be a few years old but the message is still valid.

I decided it needed to see the light of day. :)

Run for the Money is episode 4 of Life In The Fast Lane by patchman70.

Down the ramp walked an aging Shistavanen male, flanked by two well armed body guards. He was wearing a well-tailored but functional flight suit. His face is grizzled with age, his fur peppered with gray and his left ear is torn. He pulled off his gloves and hesitated as if something was wrong. Turning to the Rodian on his left, quietly whispered something into his ear. Shouldering his carbine, the Rodian sprinted off into the direction the two droids went.

A muffled conversation could be heard with the sounds of something hard hitting metal. Out came the same two droids carrying a foldout table as fast as they could with the Rodian in tow, placing a few kicks and choice words to keep their pace fast when it lacked.

Quickly after setting up the table centered in front of the captains, the off white protocol droid grabbed and place a chair for his master, offered a few apologies and kicked the other droid for forgetting the table and hurried out of sight again.

With a loud sigh, the Shistavanen sat down. “Good afternoon Kalend, Rycar, Kal’falnl, Elis, Nabrun, Az-Iban, and Kal.” Mal Biron spoke giving a brief nod at each captain.

“Thank you for coming. I trust the refreshments are adequate. I have some merchandise I need moved along the Sisar Run. It is quite an important cargo, so I’ve contacted each of you to make the run to ensure that at least some of it gets through. Your crew will be paid 5,000 credits for the run, with a 5,000 credit bonus if you are the first to deliver your final payload. Those who are interested, remain seated. Those who are not, please leave.”

No one moved.

Mal continued, “A cargo pod will be loaded onto your ships, at a yet-to-be disclosed location. From that location, you will move to the Salin Corridor and rendezvous with the Destination: Adventure! A luxury liner, and deliver the pod.”

Some of the crews and captains mumbled thoughts and plans, Mal kept talking.

“To be fair, each of your datapads has a file called ‘Envelope.’ It indicates your first location,” Almost all were pulling out the datapads and were about to start working on the location, but the talking employer words stopped them from working on it further, “No need to look it up now, the file is coded to work through your nav computers. I will let you know when it starts.”

Mal stood up from the desk and every other captain did too. Each captain and crew then seemed to migrate away from each other crew, a bit tightly lipped and more whispering, more planning. Kal’falnl also seemed too pushed away from talking with anyone, including Kal but gave him a look with a wink to seem to keep up the prior arraignment.

Mal Biron Started with the crews on the far right and greeted each group, making small talk and answering questions as he worked through his new employees.

As Kal and Te’vah were working out planning and seeing if they have enough of a ship to complete the run let alone finish first, Kalend Thora popped her head into their conversation.

“So what do you think, you going to win?” Kalend ask.

“Uh, sure we can. I have every faith in my ship and crew.” Kal answered puffing his chest out, with as much bravado as he could.

“These guys are pretty scary. I just hope to get the delivery money. Just hope that no one does anything stupid just to win. Last time I tried one of these cargo races one ship, trying to cut time cut out of hyperspace on top of another ship and killed them both. Well have fun. Hopefully he will give us the sign for the event to begin so we can get going.”

With that she worked her wait up to Mal Biron while he was talking with Kal’falnl. All Kal could see is that she said a few works to Mal and he said less back.

Even the jovial Rycar was subdued and Kal caught an air of ‘keep away from me’ from all the other captains. He decided not to move and chat. It was business time.

Mal finally got to Kal and Te’vah. “Well Mr. Surh, I see you set a new record for landing from orbit a few days ago. Very Impressive.” Mal gave a wicked toothy grin.

“Where do I get my picture taken for the plaque? Or is it a statue?” Mal tried humor, it works with a new employer right? No laugh, so I guess not. “So what’s in the crate?” He asked quickly changing the subject,

“Well, nothing that will kill you quickly, radiation or disease. However I would like to avoid any ‘Imperial entanglements’ and this is the best way. But don’t worry you’ll do fine, just no ‘Large’ bumps please.”

“Can you define ‘bump’?” Kal knew how he flied and landed, he was worried.

“Just don’t set a new record, you’ll be fine.” A comlink chimed in on his belt. “Ahhh excuse me won’t you, captain.” Mal moved off to a quiet spot and had a few of his people join him as he answered the call.

His voice was low enough for no one to hear him and yet all groups had their eyes locked onto him.

“Attention everyone, the cargo is on its way to your ships. I do hope the best crew wins and my cargo is safely delivered. Goodbye.” And with that Mal Biron walked directly to his ship and up the ramp he went.

The word ‘Goodbye’ hung in the air for a second. The first group to move was Al-Iban’s. They didn’t seem to hang on the words like everyone did waiting for their new boss to leave the area.

Rycar spoke up as they all seemed to make their way to the door, “Last one to deliver buys!!!”

A few hailed taxis or jumped in their own vehicles, while Kal, Te’vah and Kal’Falnl went off on foot.

“Goodbye Kal! Mayyouhaveagoodtripandyoucomeinsecond after me.”

“You too!” Is all Te’vah could think of.

With that, the Twi’lek and human ran to get to their ship. They stopped and changed direction because the started in the wrong direction and losing valuable time.

They finally found their way back to the docking bay and the ship. No communication was needed to go through pre-flight; they both knew what was needed and who did what.

“Look at the panel.” Kal told his co-pilot as he was about to enter his code to bring down the ramp. Anyone not knowing the ship wouldn’t see it but he could tell that the panel was pried off and put back on. It was to clean around the edge.

“I didn’t do that?” Answered Te’vah while pulling out his blaster and scanning the whole area around his ship.

“Hmmm I guess we have a visitor with bad timing.” Kal’s past was littered with poor choices, bad timing and regrets. However the one thing he never could get over was having someone break into his ship. Ones personal space shouldn’t be messed with.

Kal then brought down the ramp and covering the opening. Te’vah moved to cover the ramp from the other side and let the captain slowly move up the ramp, blaster at the ready.

“I don’t have time for this,” Kal sighed.

Coming soon, Episode 5 - Run for the Star

patchman70

As I finished my e-mail conversation with Rain, as seen in this helpful little article, I couldn’t help but contemplate my assignment with a hint of caution. 

When using the word represent I tend to forget the last two syllables and assume that the people who are going to be reading this article were brought up on a suburb in California and have a definition-like understanding of every acronym ever to be typed in any sort of game.  So to begin my article I apologize for any hurt feelings or parties that feel like they didn’t get a fair pick at me before I began and wish you all nothing but happiness and joy. 

Now that you’ve read through that big chunk of boring text, take some time to recharge your electrolytes (they’re very important!) and rest. 

Smuggler Reactions, “We’re all fine here, now how are you?” 

As I’m trying to represent two giant parties in this article concerning the most recent update to Star Wars Galaxies, I’m tempted to put Smuggler first because their Senator was the one who endeared themselves most to me and on a completely unrelated story I had a nice quote from a Star Wars movie I can’t quite recall that I found here. 

To start out with- I’ve played a Smuggler before and have, at least, the rudimentary knowledge that comes from being one of those dashing rogues to know that we would surely not have this class after Han Solo’s movie-death when he tried to solo a squad of Stormtroopers with a sword- thus I received what I expected when told that the Smuggler community has received its Illegal Pistol Modules like a neglected child receiving its father’s first attempt at righting sore relations after weeks of pretending the aforementioned child did not exist. 

“I am actually a bit relieved that there is now a reason to keep doing the UW missions.” 

In this handy quote from the Smuggler Senator Firestar, it looks like Smugglers will have a bit more work on their hands in the near future. 

Though Firestar also had this to say,  “One can only hope they make the means to obtaining these a bit better. Crawling through a manure pile is still crawling through a manure pile except this time you get candy at the end.” 

In another handy quote from the Smuggler Senator Firestar, it’s explained that, even if this new addition to smuggling is handy and fairly necessary, the system still needs more refining.  In other, less interesting, quote less goods, the Call a Favor cool down reduction has gone over extremely well with the community- as well as the new “NPCs do not attack over water” fix. 

Firestar still felt that the changes “should all have been fixed long ago.” 

After having content strongly linked to expertise changes being added in to the mix, some Smugglers were feeling cheated.  Should Smugglers be granted another free Expertise Respec? Firestar had this to say:“Expertise respecs are cheap. I find it upsetting that they continue to put our content attached to our expertise. Does this mean every time we get new content we will have to re-shuffle our expertise because the only way to access it is through expertise? When our expertise first came out, we were told we would not have to buy back our specials.” 

With something like that on the table, Firestar asserted that the next move for any Devs out there is to:

“come to the community.” 

“You don't choose Smuggler. It is a profession that chooses you.” 

Spy Reactions, “No blasters! No blasters!” 

Meeting Time is episode three of patchman70's story Life In The Fast Lane.

Maskman, Cloaked Humanoid, Boneface, a Duro, a Bimm and .... Uhhhh Large bird thing. Those were the captains hanging around in docking bay 42. You could tell the captains by how their crew circled around them; the respect or fear that kept them in line.

Kal and his Co-pilot entered the docking bay by showing the invitation and promptly went to the food spread out under a tent. Not having eaten a good meal in a long while kept the two from really noticing the large Barloz freighter parked in the bay.

"Myshune" muttered Kal with a mouth full of tiny tea sandwiches, finally seeing the transport.

"What?' Ta'vah said, not really paying much attention since he was stuffing his packs with as much food as he was stuffing in his mouth. "Oh Eyeshine," He saw and then ignored his boss by seeing some nice sweets just placed by the droid.

From what little Kal did learn snooping around the local cantinas of the past two days, Mal Biron captained the Eyeshine. The most he found out was that he was a fair boss to work for. The most he'd found out was that he was a fair boss to work for, fair with pay and fair with punishment.

A servant droid replaced every bit of food that both took or ate. Fruits and sandwiches and cold fruit drinks were all over the buffet. To some it would look like a last meal. To the crew of the Aggravation it was free food, and it all fit in packs, well, if you smashed stuff together.

"Let's mingle and see what's going on" Kal spoke, after draining two cans of local fizzy drink. His co-pilot just nodded and quickly put more food on his plate before walking on his pilot's left side, pretending to be alert but keeping an eye on the buffet to see if something new is put out.

Mingling had never been a strong suit of Kal's, and his years in space hadn't sparkled up his touch. Boneface, also known as Givin, was named Elis Helrot. Hinthra was his ship. He works in the surrounding systems, shipping "whatever you need to go, where it needs to be, Fast". Lately Elis and his crew were looking for some contract work to make steady credits. He also seemed to be eating like a starving ship captain too. His crew around him was two other Givins and a human male, names not known, but looks, well, looks gave the impression they were meant to stay silent. Not a single laugh, either, with Kal's best jokes. In the middle of Kal telling a story about his escapades, the conversation ended with the Givin and his entourage moving back to the buffet for more food, tailed by a still hungry Twi'lek with a few empty pockets.

As he turned around, a large bird was standing before him and the long neck was curling down and checking him out. The whole creature towered above him at more than 3 meters, with packs, equipment, arms that looked like wings and piercing eyes that seemed to look into your very soul, if you had one.

"Whatshipdoyoucaptain?" the bird spoke in VERY fast Aurabesh. The ensuing conversation went a bit too fast for Kal's tastes, and he thought he'd given out too much information. Kal learned that her name was Kal'Falnl and was a Quor'sav. He had never heard of them before today. She captained the ShellTooth, alone.

"Sure..." Kal said to what he thought was a question about making a partnership to help each other. Can't hurt making friends, right?

As Kal was still pondering what he'd just agreed to with the Quor'sav, he felt a presence behind him and it didn't smell like a Twi'lek. Actually it was 5 beings; 3 Morseerians, a Gand, and a Chadra-Fan. Well the Gand had a mask but the Chadra-fan was enjoying not wearing one being off ship.

"Who are you huuuuman?" spoke the leader, sizing him up. The voice loud enough to not be muffled by the breather mask.

"Kal. And you are?" Kal was trying to look larger and numerous. One against 5 was not good odds and he wondered where his co-pilot was.

"Nabrun," He said using his top arms to thumb his chest while the bottom two arms were crossed over his stomach. Morseerians have four arms." You should keep your slave on a shorter leash or it will run away. Oh and how much for your slave? I could use a new cleaning one since we got rid of our last one."

"Not for sale and HE'S NOT a slave." Kal said not trying to sound mean but his tone made all but Nabrun take a half step back. "Did I do that?" He muttered to himself, trying to remember how he just did that.

"EVERYTHING is for sale at one time or another. Another time perhaps," And with that the Morseerian and his entourage moved off, this time chatting with the large bird, errr Quor'sav.

"Excuse me Capt'n, you look familiar, do I know you?" A Duro ask Kal. "I'm Kalend Thora."

"Hullo, I'm Kal." He noticed her before, as she worked each group. Rather tall for a Duro, hovering in around two meters. She was wearing a mostly red and white flight suit that hugged her figure and gave her a nice look, for a Duro female. Her only feature that stood out was the scar that went from the top of her head to her left cheek. Her voice was confident and never sounded loud or stood out and she seemed to notice when engage or disengage from conversations that seemed to put off others.

"Enjoying the food and drink? Seems like a lot for beings in our trade, eh? Which ship is yours?" Kalend ask.

Kal replied with ‘You first."

A smile played across her lip-less mouth "Are you flirting with me? Kidding, I have a small freighter called Starknife."

"Mine is called Aggravation. Do you know what this is all about?"

"Nope, I just got a data pad like everyone else seems to have got. Did you get one?"

Shrugging, Kal showed her the one he got, "Yup. Do you know this Mal Biron? People seem not to give out too much information about him."

"Nope never met him. Sorry I must grab a small bit to eat before those Givins and others completely eat everything. Nice talking you to Hal." She gave him a mock salute and headed to the buffet.

"It's Kal..." but she was out of range when he answered.

Since everyone seemed to come to him, Kal decided to go to someone else. The Bimm was next to the Givin. Time to go and talk to him.

The Bimm was finishing what sounded like a joke "... And he said ‘that's the last time I shave a Wookiee!'" Listening to the joke was Elis Helrot and his Givin crew. They made a sound that sounded like an air intake valve sputtering, rupturing and venting gas, assuming that is the sound they make when laughing or about to get angry.

Seeing he had a new audience to work with, the Bimm excused himself from Elis crew and beamed a smile that seemed to be double his one meter height.

"Heya! You must be Kal. That was a beautiful landing a few days ago, like a Bantha on skates. I'm Rycar."

"Yeah, I'm Kal. I thought it was more like a Hutt doing a handstand, graceful and stylish."

"Ooooh, can I use that?" Rycar laughed along with his crew of three other Bimms at the Hutt joke.

Rycar was one of the near-human looking Bimms along with one of the crew. The other two were of the floppy-eared race. Both spoke the same language just floppy-eared type were a bit taller and didn't quite share the jovial spirit of their boss. All looked capable of switching from jovial to dangerous on the command of Rycar.

"Watch this," the Bimm said to Kal. "Nabrun, how much did you make on that run to Tatooine for Jabba? Ouch man I forgot. Better luck next time. I'll buy when I see you in the cantina." This time ALL of the Bimm's smiled at the Morseerian and his crew, which got the effect they wanted. All growled under their masks.

Rycar started another one of his jokes, "A Wookiee, Ithorian and two Jawas walk into a cantina..."

But Kal's mind wandered off a bit. He saw a group of scruffy looking humans grouped away from most of the others. He watched as the group spoke very little, watched everyone and put off a feeling of ‘don't talk to me.' That feeling seemed to radiate about 20 meters since that was the closest anyone got before just walking away. They ate or drank nothing. There were five total, four humans wearing loose fitting clothes and hands on side arms in holsters. They surrounded a being, since Kal could not see his face which was hidden inside a hood.
Kal smiled at the punch line of the story but didn't feel very good. So far they all seemed like better pilots and crew then his. He was use to this, using his plain looks and plain ship to garner work that others ignored. "Credits were credits,' an old captain told him which he used whenever he worried about jobs.

When it seemed like most of the captains and crews started to fill up with food and drink, two protocol droids came out of a side door pushing a hover-sled with a stack of cheap foldout chairs. They stopped the sled in front of the Eyeshine, near where the ramp would come down, however that didn't stop the arguing.

The green and battered RA-7 droid spoke loud enough for everyone to hear, "I still say a semi-circle centered here is best." It used it arms to wave to emphasis what it was saying and hit the Cybot 3PO in its head causing it to drop several chairs.

"You 10th rate Imperial cast off, I'm in charge and we put one for each captain and IF they want others to sit let them get their own chairs. It's hot out and I'm done arguing." The off white protocol droid gave his own emphasis by aiming a kick at the backside of the RA-7. The bang and the hurtful "Ouch" ended the show. Seven chairs were placed evenly spaced under the ship in the shade and the sled ended up off to the side with both droids walking back where they came.

Every captain slowly staked out their chair and personal space. Kal ended up right in the middle with Te'vah behind him still with a plate of warming food. The unnamed secret humanoid, face still covered in his dark cloak, did not sit but put of foot on it and leaned forward still surrounded by his crew.

Kal felt safe, everyone watched everyone, ‘honor among smugglers' still held true, until you found cover to shoot from.

The landing pad came down and the show started.

...Next up Episode 4 ... Run for the money.

patchman70