Below you’ll find an index of all of our Friday Features over the years. There is a wealth of great information, so be sure to take a look!
Category Archives: Resources
Friday Feature 1/5/2018: Commands in SWG
Happy New Year! 2018 is going to be an exciting time for EiF. Our population are numbers are rising. The roleplaying community is burgeoning. The GCW is around the corner and players are getting ready and helping with live testing of the invasion portion of the system!
SWG is rich with action players can use either from the command line or placed into macros. This week we’ll focus on some useful commands. Some of our earlier Friday Features utilized a few, such as with macros.
Basic Commands
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Complete list of commands in game. Note many commands may need a target.
/afk
Sets your character to “Away From Keyboard” so others know you are not currently available.
/anon
Sets your character to anonymous for the purpose of searches.
/consider (/con)
Displays the difficulty rating of a targeted creature or NPC compared to your skill with your currently equipped weapon.
/earth
Displays the earth (real) time.
/find
Brings up list of commonly searched for locations. Selecting a location will create a waypoint to the nearest one of that type and will produce a lighted path leading you to it. To remove the waypoint you created, type /find clear.
I personally use this ALL THE TIME! /find starport when I’m out in the middle of no where searching for the best resource spawn, allows me to get a waypoint to the nearest starport.
/findfriend
Locates your friend by name and creates an active waypoint for them. You must have the person in your friends list and you must also be on their friendslist for this to work.
/follow
Auto-follows your target; use /stopfollow to cease following.
/gallop
Urge your mount go faster for a short time. Don’t expect to use this command continuously! This is useful if you are mounted on a pet and get into combat and the pet slows down to fight.
/logout
Logs your character off the server; you should be in a city, house or campsite for a safe logout, otherwise your character will be at the mercy of the world for 3 additional minutes.
/notepad
Allows modifications to a text file that gets saved as “notes.txt” in your base profile directory. I use this to enter notes about what foods I can make and the max stats I can hit.
/quit
Exit the game immediately. Your character will remain vulnerable to attack for three more minutes.
/tip
Automatically transfers a specified number of credits to your target; you can also use /tip bank to send money directly to their bank, but there is a 5% transfer fee to do this.
/unstick
If you are stuck in a building or other feature of the landscape, this should unstick you. You cannot be moving in order for the command to work. If this command does not free your character, then please contact an admin.
/waypoint
By typing /waypoint and the coordinates, you will create a waypoint in your datapad at location of the current planet’s coordinatate or at your present location if nothing is entered. Note: targeting something and typing /waypoint does not function.
Chat
/groupchat (/g)
Sends message to group channel.
/guild (/gu)
Sends the message typed after the command to your guild channel.
/retell (/rt)
Sends tell to the last person you sent a tell to.
/reply (/r)
Sends a tell to the last person to send a tell to you.
/say
Puts your message in a chat bubble and in the main chat window.
/tell (/t)
Sends an instant message to the character indicated; you can send the message to multiple people by separating their names with a comma.
/tellpet
Sends a command privately to your pet.
Combat Players
/listen
You actively listen to the targeted musician. Heals mind wounds and battle fatigue
/loot
Loots targeted corpse.
/watch
You actively listen to the targeted dancer. Heals mind wounds and battle fatigue
/unstick
If you are stuck in a building or other feature of the landscape, this should unstick you. You cannot be moving in order for the command to work. If this command does not free your character, then please contact an admin.
Digging in the Dirt!
/forage
Rangers: Searches the area for anything useful.
/me
Medics: Use to forage items useful for Medics and Doctors
Entertainer/Dancer/Musician
/flourish <#>
Plays indicated musical or dance flourish.
/bandflourish
Synchronizes flourishes of everyone in the group (however, this does not grant the XP of normal flourishes). Using this command allows you to show some style alongside fellow entertainers! Only band leaders can use this command.
/bandleader
Transfers Band Leader status to indicated character.
/sing
Chat bubble that is unique to Entertainers.
/startdance
Begins the dance style that you specify.
/startmusic
Skill and instrument required – begins playing song that you specify.
/tip
Automatically transfers a specified number of credits to your target; you can also use /tip bank to send money directly to their bank, but there is a 5% transfer fee to do this.
Grouping Commands
/invite
Invite the named or targeted player to a group (only group leaders can invite additional people into an existing group).
You cannot /invite while you are in combat or the invitee is in combat. You cannot /join while you are in combat or the inviter/group leader is in combat\
/uninvite
Cancel the group invitation to the named or targeted player.
/join
Joins group or band if you have been invited.
/makeLeader
Group leader only – transfers leadership to named or targeted group member.
/groupchat
Sends message to group channel.
/dismissGroupMember
Dismiss the named or targeted player from the group.
/disband
Group leader only – disbands current target, or entire group if no target is named.
Guild
/guild
Sends the message typed after the command to your guild channel.
/guildremove
Removes target or self from your current guild.
Management: Structures (Houses, Harvesters, Factories
/addpower
Adds power to selected structure.
/setpermission
Sets which players are allowed to move and pick-up items within a structure, as well as the ability to destroy that structure. You must be in or near your building or installation to do this.
/setprivacy
Sets your structure to private or public. You must be in a building to use this.
Merchant/Crafters/Resource Gatherers
/mailsave
Saves your game mail on your computer
/sample
Used by Surveyors to take a resource sample after surveying.
Roleplay
/emote
Displays whatever text you follow it with as an action of your character. For example, if I want to say: Megan is serving free chocolate mousse cake on Port Jato, then the following would accomplish that: “/emote Megan is serving free chocolate mousse cake on Port Jato.
/kneel
Changes stance to kneeling. Great for RP!
/moods
Displays list of moods.
/mood none
Returns your default mood to neutral.
/prone
Changes stance to prone.
/roleplay
Sets your character to “Role Player.”
/say
Puts your message in a chat bubble and in the main chat window.
/sing
Chat bubble that is unique to Entertainers.
/stand
Changes stance to standing.
Emote Commands: On the Abilities and Commands menu (Ctrl + A) there is a Social tab with all the emotes you can use with your characters. Most emotes each have three states:
For example, in the list you’ll see an emote for “About Dang Time!” By hovering over it, you’ll see the command for it. /adn. By clicking on it, you’ll see the three states:
- Without a modifie:
- /adn : You openly show that your patience has expired
- With the self modifier to apply it to yourself:
- /adn self: A bit frustrated with yourself?
- Targeting a player, or adding player name as a modifier:
- /adn Megan: You encourage Megan to hurry. Any day now!
Next week we look at more commands to improve communications.
Sandarie Coron, Community Manager
Welcome to Empire In Flames
What’s the 10,000 foot view?
Empire in Flames began conceptually before the shutdown of the live servers with a design friendly to Roleplayers, PvE players, PvPers, and pilots. It started as, “What’s your ideal server?” It started with a new profession system, expanded to housing and races, and dreamed of a Galactic Civil War in practice instead of imagination. In short, it’s the concept of a Star Wars game as dreamed by a small group of long-time Starsider players – players who were RPers, PvErs, PvPers, crafters, and pilots, none of whom fell into the trap that any of the major combat systems – pre-CU, CU, or NGE – was by any means perfect.
A new profession system
Empire in Flames offers a new approach to the system – one that combines the best of the ideas of the NGE and pre-CU.
Trees are categorized as “professions” and “skills.”
Professions cost no skill points (though they require XP to level). However, a player can only have ONE profession at a time. Professions include:
Bounty Hunter
Commando
Doctor
Entertainer
Merchant
Ranger
Smuggler
Squad Leader
Abilities acquired from professions can be used with any weapon, or even unarmed. Professions offer enhancement, access to specialized skills like slicing, vendors, creature harvesting, and so forth.
Skills, on the other hand, require skillpoints and can be freely mix-and-matched. They, too, require XP to level; however, all skills can be learned from their novice box up. Prerequisites are not required.
Architect
Armorsmith
Artisan
Bio-Engineer
Carbineer
Chef
Creature Handler
Dancer
Droid Engineer
Fencer
Image Designer
Medic
Musician
Pikeman
Pistoleer
Rifleman
Shipwright
Swordsman
Tailor
Teras Kasi Artist
Weaponsmith
Skillpoints have been adjusted to allow a player to pickup approximately 2 1/2 trees, with some exceptions. (Image Designer, Dancer, and Musician together reach 250 points, for example.)
A new approach to housing
Like most branch servers, Empire in Flames offers additional housing options not available on Basilisk – and a few not available on any other branch server. However, player cities take a central role; player houses are required to be built inside city limits.
No more crust of housing on the edge of the no-build zone around NPC starports. No more endless sea of houses on Tatooine. Instead, players have more reason than ever to cooperate – “home” is now a community.
New Races
While “new races” are proliferating across the branch servers, they started with Empire in Flames. After unauthorized use of our code on other servers, we decided to release them for other servers to use…and used they have been. Still, we’re not resting on our laurels – we’re working to add even more options, even when it means we’re pestering Timbab for a new tool to make it happen.
A New Setting
The decision to move post-Endor is partly driven by roleplay, but also by a desire to implement a proper Galactic Civil War. While the immediate ramifications of the time shift are largely cosmetic, it does mean new themeparks will be coming – after all, Jabba the Hutt, Darth Vader, the Emperor, and Xizor are all dead.
How will you position yourself to rise to power?
We respect existing lore that has happened before Endor, but past that we will be creating our own lore, pulling bits and pieces from varying sources. We simply don’t think the way things go in the new canon with Jakku and all makes for very compelling gameplay or storytelling, but we also can’t trod down the path of Legends as its over saturated and restricting.
Crafting Revamp
One of the most controversial changes we have adopted is a crafting revamp for weaponsmith and armorsmith.
Instead of the old crafting system, we moved to a “core”-based system. The base of every weapon is a core, whether it’s a pistol, carbine, rifle, or melee weapon. The core determines critical stats like HAM cost, damage, and speed. Additions like stocks, scopes, and customized barrels are done at the weapon-level to modify those core stats. In essence, any weapon or armor can be made good. Empire in Flames is more than powerhammers and T-21s and composite armor.
A Roadmap Forward
Post-launch, the next three major patches are planned: Galactic Civil War, Schisms of the Force, and Underworld. The first is to bring a proper Galactic Civil War to the galaxy; the second to implement the Jedi profession; the third to reveal black markets, smuggled goods, player bounty hunting, and Crime Lords.
Along the way, other content is planned – new themeparks for the New Republic and the Empire, a three-faction questline over the fate of Jabba’s criminal empire, and a series of post-Endor based heroic encounters.
Also check out our Q&A from the summer!
And the whole Friday Feature Archives
Patch Notes: Client Patch 8/30/2017
The much anticipated CLIENT PATCH arrives tomorrow! Patch notes follow down below. The brand spanking new EiF Launcher will be available to load up the patch, as well! Instructions will be available. I’m sure you will all be grateful I didn’t add my *squees* and *happy dances* throughout these notes, you’ll just have to guess at which ones are my favorites!
- 4 new player races:
- Devaronian Females
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- IG-100
- Mirialans
- Zeltron
- New creature mounts have been introduced! Note that not all variants of a creature can necessarily be mounted – only the largest, toughest versions of some of these animals can carry a rider.
- Narglatches
- Gurrecks
- Greater Sludge Panthers
- Tusk Cats
- Gualamas
- Bordoks
- Blurrgs
- Entertainer Missions have been reworked using the new Fame system, which replaces the old Image Designer line in the Entertainer Profession. Entertainers with more fame can command higher payouts, particularly for gigs that require travel.
- Fame-enhancing clothing and attachments will be coming at a future time.
- Fame is not retroactive for already-established entertainers. The SWGEmu code that should force an update does not work, and we are investigating and will patch as soon as we have a solution.
- Only a single entertainer mission can be taken at a time.
- Munitions crafting has been re-added to the game. See the next Friday Feature to learn more about the Heavy Weapons revamp.
- Weaponsmiths now have a number of new cores and components to craft to create heavy weapons.
- Grenades, mines, and rocket launchers use explosive cores.
- Flamethrowers and acid rifles use tanks.
- Heavy beam weapons use capacitors.
- Light lightning cannons use static cores.
- Armor slicing has been re-added to the game.
- Races that previously lacked customization now have basic morphs and palettes available, including:
- Abyssin
- Cerean
- Duros
- Gungan
- Iktotchi
- Kel Dor
- Kubaz
- Togruta
- The first stage of the GCW has been implemented. All planets participating in the GCW now have factional troops present. (See this Friday Feature!) Planetary control scripting is still in process and has not yet been enabled, but is coming soon.
- Port Jato, an underworld-themed player hub, can now be visited via friendly smugglers who take cash in advance. These smugglers generally don’t like being found anywhere near law enforcement, but can likely be found at the watering hole of criminal-infested hives of scum and villainy.
- Devaronians and Kel Dor no longer appear headless when wearing hats or hoods.
- Paintings now have backs.
- Cats can now swim.
- Ubese armor jackets now correctly offer chest protection.
- Two-strap bandoleers now use the correct color palette.
- Up to six missions can be taken from a standard mission terminal.
- BER rates on harvesters have been changed from pre-CU BER calculations to NGE BER calculations.
Sandarie
Community Manager
Friday Feature 7/21/2017 – Creature Resources
In the Empire in Flames galaxy, crafters are the ones who enable players to handle more and more difficult content. They enable roleplayers to dress their characters appropriately for their given roles. Crafters create the buildings, the droids, the weapons, the armor, the furniture, the food, and so much more!
However, none of those items can be crafted without resources. When I first began playing SWG, I was an NGE girl. I didn’t really comprehend how in depth the crafting sandbox of pre-CU was until they brought in the Beastmasters. This time around, I’m testing the waters of the chef. I’ve learned that unlike crafting in other MMO’s, the quality of the resource matters. That high quality resources only exist for a short window of time. Some resources still haven’t spawned in the game for some of the crafters. *Thinks about lidium for the Droid Engineers*
Resources can be mined from the ground, water vapor pulled from the air, creatures killed and harvested for hide, meat, and bones. Testing each of the resources, to see what is currently available in EiF is time consuming. If the information isn’t shared, then everyone has to check on the resources they care about themselves. Galaxy Harvester is a website, designed to track current and past resources. Up until a few weeks ago, players who checked resources could manually update the site. Other players would come along behind them and verify the resource.
In EiF, we rarely had GH updated with everything at the same time. Halyn was able to use code another SWG developer shared with him to pull the resource information from EiF and automatically import it into GH. The import didn’t however clear up the resources no longer in spawn, if they appeared on multiple planets. Ditchbuster, a prominent member of the EiF community, refined the script to clean up expired entries.
Now every two days the script runs and GH is fully up-to-date. It’s run at that interval, so players still have a reason to check for specific needed resources to give themselves an edge and to use the DE made Interplanetary Survey Devices and survey tools to run those checks. One of the updates to ISDs is they give not just a list of what is in spawn, but also the stats. These upgrades to EiF’s resource management has changed the lives of crafters in our community.
It also created some confusion and consternation. We discovered there were shellfish to be harvested, some animals had horns… Wait what! There were a numbers of resources we didn’t know existed before! Then learned not all did exist, but *could* exist if they were created. Ugh, things were getting complicated again. And just what creature did you hunt down to get that scaley hide from anyway?
Earlier this week, two of our staff, Gail and Kelta took it upon themselves to identify which creature resources were actually available in EiF, as well as which creatures could be harvested to obtain the type of resource needed. Below is the spreadsheet they created! I hope this is as useful to you, as it is for me!
Sandarie
Community Manager