Friday Feature 6/16/2017 – Player Cities!

It’s been one month and 12 days since the official launch of an Empire in Flames! During this short period of time, we’ve experienced tremendous growth. Roleplaying is getting started and various venues are being created by the players. EiF launched with a new player starter city outside of Coronet on Corellia. Broken Bridge was a great place to begin adventures and get the feel of the game again and EiF’s spin on it. As with any SWG environment and especially one filled with a majority of roleplayers, player cities started popping up within a couple weeks. Many now have their shuttleports and welcome visitors to their delightful towns and cities.

EiF asked the mayors of the cities to share some information with the community to give players an opportunity to find the city which will meet their own characters’ needs. Below find information about some of the cities in an Empire in Flames. A complete list of all cities and their mayors is at the end of this Friday Feature.


City name: Fort Vigilance

Mayor: Tessick Fenix

IC: We’re protecting the core from the dirty republic scum.

OOC: We have a guild running out of the city. Imperial Task Force Aurek (ITFA) which is a stormtrooper division, open to only human combat characters. The Fort though is a safe haven for all loyal imperial citizens and we accept crafters, entertainers, and neutral characters. I’d like to see a bustling metropolis where business and RP can thrive. I am offering free houses to all new citizens and over a month in free maintenance.

Also I am levying no taxes on the citizens.


City Name: Cioral Station

Current Mayor Name: Sabosan’ola’nae

IC description: Nestled between the mountains and protected from the harsh storms of the sand dunes of Tatooine sits a modest outpost. Cioral Station, funded and operated in part by the Csaplar Ruling Family’s agriworld colonial affairs program, is an independent colony outpost situated within the north-western mountains of Tatooine. Day-to-day operations focus mainly on the upkeep of the facilities, including the local bazaar, power generators, and various homesteads. Despite staking no claim in the Galactic Civil War as of yet, the presence of an Imperial base situated next to one of Tatooine’s rare oasis has not gone unnoticed by the few residents. Within the outpost, there are rumours and rumblings of a seedy underbelly taking shape. For now, though, too much energy is being spent on the foundations of the humble station to worry about galactic matters such as a “war.” The station is looking to expand and secure a foothold over the area and recruitment efforts are underway for more local colonists. The city currently offers an open bazaar, where residents can sell their goods in small shops that they can decorate to their desire while providing a central area for commerce. Future developments include a cantina, communal crafting hall, and medical center.

OOC intent: Cioral Station is new and ready to be shaped. We have an organic, but compact layout in mind to keep the frontier, outpost style as immersive as possible. We’d like to foster a close city community with the idea that, just as a real outpost, our work together can make us independent. In that regard, we’re actively seeking doctors, entertainers, rangers, crafters, merchants, and all other types of characters who are interested in a tight-knit community feel for both OOC and IC. The city is neutral in the GCW at this time, but that does not mean that it will stay that way and while there is no overarching plot to the city just yet, we are very open to just letting that develop as it comes. We’re looking for anyone interested in light, but tight-knit frontier/outpost RP. This can include working and managing within the city, but also in hunting parties on the outskirts for supplies and resources to later be sold in-town. We’re looking for players that are interested in helping the outpost grow and keep it maintained, which can be through various means. While cities cost a lot to run and are a community effort, this is meant to be a casual and fun community – no one will be expected to do anything other than contribute in their own way in a positive manner. If you have questions or are interested, feel free to respond here, send a tell to Sabosan’ola’nae in-game (be aware that I AFK survey while at work), or speak with me either in the Cioral Station discord (https://discord.gg/bBhzyyp) or privately (Blueberry#0459).


City Name: Gnorton

Mayor: Doreen Green

IC Description: Gnorton is a beautiful villiage located on Naboo, in the river washed lowlands southwest of Keren. Surrounded by scenic mountains and lovely riverfront property, it is hard to find a prettier place on Naboo. We welcome anyone who would like to join us, and offer no discrimination to anyone seeking a home in our gorgeous little corner of the galaxy.

Gnorton is a city about freedom. We offer an environment free of criticism no matter what individuals choose to do with their lives. You want to juggle kaadu’s? Hug rancors? Wear your underpants on the outside? As long as you don’t bother anyone, you are welcome in Gnorton. We are a peaceful and receptive city that wishes only the most judgement-free environment for its constituents.

OOC Intent: We are true to our words when we say we are about freedom, as there will never be a faction terminal or city-sponsored factional event (if devs take things out of our hands, we can’t police everything!) We intend to stay neutral, making it possible for players to have a community seperate from the ongoing conflict between the New Republic and the Empire. It’s okay to have friends on both sides! You’re imperial? Fine, just don’t bring your decorations and contentions within city limits. You’re organizing for the New Republic? Good for you! We have no interest in being the venue for your next demonstration. The idea is to respect everyone and leave the rest at the proverbial door. If someone leaves their hat on, just leave it be. We are looking to grow into a research center. We are capable of placing a shuttleport and only lack the citizens. We will also never, ever, EVER levy taxes for any reason. Donations to the treasury however, will never be refused. Any citizen is able to contribute to the city treasury via the city management terminal in city hall. And anyone can place any type of house that can be placed on Naboo.


City Name: “Cleveland” – This is mostly a temporary name placeholder

Current Mayor Name: Morrioghain, emphasis on “temporary”

IC description: “Cleveland is a manufacturing and commerce city on Dantooine where the best products are produced and sold. The city is protected by an Imperial detachment but the Empire does not influence the every day life if the citizens. It is rumored that the city’s Imperial commander has seen the error in the previous regime’s anti-alien mentality and has waned on such scrutiny, making alien soldiers in the ranks a welcoming thing. The last rumor is that of a mysterious group of force-wielding “witches” that found their way off Dathomir have settled in the city, making it a refuge in a galaxy so foreign to their lifestyle.”

OOC intent: Manufacturing and Commerce, slight imperial alignment and a focus on “Witches of Dathomir”


Current List of Player Cities, as of 8/6/2020

This list is sorted by Planet:

CORELLIA
Broken Bridge, Rellek
Cresent Bay, Or’dino
New Hope, Paulus
===================================
DANTOOINE
Agathon, Ivunuvi
Eventide, Lucia
===================================
LOK
None
===================================
NABOO
Gnorton, Tacitus
New Zeltro, Topaz
===================================
RORI
None
===================================
TAANAB
Whisperwind Shores,  Abi
==================================
TALUS
None
===================================
TATOOINE
Destalon, Kill’ian
Mos Carova, Shaal
Andor Outpost, Daradyn
===================================
DATHOMIR
Coven, Anishor

Enjoy EiF and a Player City near you!

Sandarie Coron, EiF Community Manager

Friday Feature 6/2/2017: Enter the Cats

Star Wars Galaxies has long struggled with the idea of obsolescence. An Empire Divided launched without any player transportation – only shuttles – which meant characters spent a lot of time on foot, hoofing it to distance POIs after landing at the nearest shuttle.

Creature Handler mounts were the first to cut into that, with a handful of mounts available to everyone (well, everyone who had befriended a Creature Handler!): carrion spats, kaadu, lesser dewbacks, and lesser bols quickly became a common sight; larger mounts, like the giant carrion spat or the larger dewbacks, were sources of pride among the Creature Handlers.

Then came the speeders.

Creature mounts quickly fell out of favor, even among the Creature Handlers. Fast-moving swoops became ubiquitous; even the slower speeders, like the Speederbike and the X34, barely saw use. Speed was king.

And it’s hard to blame players. Creature mounts were clearly obsolete, and have remained so ever since. Even NGE mounts like the rancor were a novelty, not a serious mode of transportation.

That changes on Empire in Flames.

The Clone Wars CGI cartoon actually demonstrated Talz riding narglatches. Not only were they a viable mount, but they kept pace with the Republic force’s BARCs!

In SWG, creature handlers running missions often use cat creatures for just that reason. Cats in various forms can almost keep up with a swoop. That said, creature handlers still generally resort to driving a swoop themselves, since the mountable creatures are too slow to be efficient at running missions.

Adding cat mounts to Empire in Flames has to walk a fine line – on one hand, they need to be valuable and useful if we expect players to actually seek them out, rather than just use the same old swoops (and improved speederbikes) that are already in use. On the other hand, creatures aren’t killed off in the same way speeders are blown up; if they’re too good, we essentially kill off the speeders market.

How do we walk the fine line?

First, by speed. Cat mounts are slightly slower at natural speeds than a swoop; at /gallop the speed boost makes them slightly faster.

Second, by skill. Only the largest cat types can be used as a mount, and none of them are available to non-creature handlers. Your CL10 cowardly gurreck or BEed narglatch? Don’t expect them to carry you across the planets. While the list has not yet been finalized, powerful wild cats like the narglatch matriarch, grand wrix, and greater sludge panther are strong enough to carry a rider.

Coming soon in the client patch!

Friday Feature 5/26/2017: Decorating in Empire in Flames

 

This guide draws heavily upon old guides and the input from Gail and Andarta. Thank you! Feel free to add others!

As the server is progressing, players are beginning to decorate their shops, homes, and other RP centers, it’s time to share tips and tricks to help you decorate. A personal goal for the EiF team is to get ready for our version of the Galactic Showcase!

The basic commands

The following are the commands you will need to use in the decorating process:


/move forward 1-500
/move back 1-500
/move up 1-500
/move down 1-500
/rotate yaw 180 to -180  
     A positive number turns the object right horizontally
     A negative number turns the object left horizontally
/rotate pitch 180 to -180
     Spins the object in a circle.
     For example, /rotate pitch 90 will lay an object down, as if a person standing falls backwards
/rotate roll 180 to -180
     Tilts the object, as if a person standing falls on their side

In technical terms: Pitch, Yaw, and Roll refer to the axis of rotation.

Tips:

Use the Ctrl + Up arrow to repeat the previous command

Create macros to put on action bar buttons, so you don’t have to type them out over and over. Each of the lines in the list below should each be a separate macro.

/rotate yaw 45
/rotate yaw 90
/rotate yaw 180
/move forward 10
/move back 10
/move forward 5
/move back 5
/move forward 1
/move back 1
/movefurniture up 10
/movefurniture down 10
/movefurniture up 5
/movefurniture down 5
/movefurniture up 1
/movefurniture down 1

Pro Tip

Use a chair to arrange your furniture. This will help keep straight vertical and/or horizontal lines. Here are some steps to do this:

Place the chair and then use the rotate command to position it in the “line of sight” you wish to have for your objects (in this example we will build a counter).

Drop the items near the position you wish to line them up at, you can leave them all stacked on one another.

Sit in the chair (which should now be facing in the direction you wish) and then select the first item.

Using the move forward or back command move the first item

Items on Tables

Each table has a specific height, so once you find the height write it down for future reference. (Use the /no command to open up the notepad, if you want an ingame place to store information) Place the table and then the item. Select the item and move it up in increments of 10 until it is at or above the top of the table. This is best judged by being in third person view and tilting the camera so you can see the edge of the table head on. Once the object is in place add up the number of moves and use it for subsequent items.

Website Resources:

Basics: (doesn’t include pitch, yaw, roll)
https://lucid-dreams.fr/PreCUScrapbook/data/20070130165010/index.html

Pics of decorated buildings
http://vescas769.wixsite.com/emudeco

Chandeliers, Fireplace, Imperial Table
http://www.swgemu.com/archive/scrapbookv51/data/20070131123930/

More ideas on Pinterest
https://www.pinterest.com/ylisaxa/swg-decorating/?lp=true

Friday Feature: Planetary Factional Alignment in EiF – 5/19/2017

Planetary Factional Alignment

Factional alignment of planets is one of the major questions surfacing, as people prepare for city placement and roleplaying. Putting things into perspective, Empire in Flames’ timeline starts three weeks after Endor,  Below is the listing of planets and their factional alignment in EiF.

Planet

Faction

Other

Corellia Imperial Core
Tatooine Neutral Outer Rim
Naboo New Republic Mid Rim
Tanaab Imperial Inner Rim
Lok Neutral Outer Rim
Dantooine New Republic Outer Rim
Dathomir Imperial Outer Rim
Talus Imperial Core
Rori New Republic Mid Rim
Mandalore Neutral Outer Rim
Yavin IV Imperial Outer Rim
Endor New Republic Outer Rim
Kashyyyk Imperial Mid Rim

Sandarie, Community Manager

Friday Feature – Pauleh Plays! 5/12/2017

Greetings!

It’s been a very busy week at Empire in Flames. The server is barely a week old and already we have people very invested in the project. A day or so after launch, our very own Halyn was perusing the internet to see if any players had created videos. What he found is a true gem. Pauleh, who is very active in Discord and now in game, has created some fabulous videos. They are perfect for the person coming back to SWG. Most especially for those who never played in the pre-CU, they are invaluable. I, myself, fall into this category! The staff is enjoying these very much and look forward to seeing them.

I wanted to know more about the player, so Pauleh graciously agreed to an interview. Directly below is a link to an Empire in Flames Playlist Pauleh created for us! I hope you enjoy them as much as the staff at EiF does!

Thank you, Pauleh! You are amazing and we love that you are part of our community!

Sandarie, Community Manager

Pauleh Plays! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqF0Fy06qoy0XXHyMl0UZUkSLedJoM4Go

Forum Handle: Pauleh

Main Character Name: Kuhltyran

Description of Main Character: Just your typical good looking face tattooed Zabrak.  I’m still working on a background for him as writing isn’t my strongest skill.

Original SWG Server: Ahazi
Did you play SWG prior to joining SWG Emu?:

I did, I believe I picked the game up early January 2004, playing it pretty religiously until the first combat upgrade at which point I was on and off a few months at a time.

Halyn stumbled across your videos the other day, as he was looking to see if any players had created any videos. Tell me about the videos and what prompted you to create them:

I’m a video creator and it’s what I do, however SWG has a very special place in my heart and it’s one game I’ve always wanted to cover and share with my viewers.  I suppose I was waiting for the right time to dive into it and after hearing about Empire in Flames (By actually stumbling across one of Halyn’s videos) it seemed like a perfect opportunity.

As far as my videos themselves, It’s never easy to make videos for MMO’s due to the nature of them, i.e. the content, leveling, questing, etc.  So my approach has been creating a sort of video log documenting the progress I’ve made across my characters, and while doing that I’m able to branch off and explain game mechanics, as well as touching on EiF’s goings on.

Describe your most fond memory of SWG?

I have a lot of memories when it comes to SWG but the one I always mention whenever I talk about the game to anyone and infact I’ve mentioned this in a recent video.  

When I joined the game I had no clue what I was doing as it was my first MMORPG, I struggled and toiled around Tatooine until making it to Anchorhead.  I ended up meeting a Wookie (sadly I can’t remember his name) who trained me in Brawler and showed me where to learn Teras Kasi Novice.  From there we did missions and grinded xp until he said he had to go, his guild’s city was under attack and he needed to go and help defend, but before leaving he asked if I wanted to join his guild so I said yes.

We arrive at his guild’s city which is located in a giant canyon, so all sides are surrounded by steep rocky slopes.  There are Imperial players everywhere, some with their faction pets out (AT-STs) just battling Rebels in the streets, their goal was this guild’s faction bases they had set out.  I make it to the Cantina where most of the Rebels are, buffing up and preparing to rush out, the guild leader welcomed me and said he could invite me now.  So just me and him exit the cantina and make our way to their guild hall so I could be added, we had to make sure they had no line of sight on us as we ran between houses, all the while a massive battle was going on around us.  

In the end we made it and I was added to the guild, I’m pretty sure the Rebels lost that particular fight and the base was destroyed, but that was still one of the most fun and surreal experiences I’ve had in a video game.

What prompted you to come to Empire in Flames?

Halyn’s video showcasing the new playable species caught my eye, after that I started looking through all information that was available.  Everything sounded amazing to me, it’s clear a lot of time and planning had gone into Empire in Flames, it was hard not to pass up.

Not to mention being apart of a server from day one is an experience I never had in Star Wars Galaxies.

What does a typical day in SWG consist of for you?

A bit of everything really, currently I’m focused on gathering resources for my city.

What do you hope your days will be like in the future?

I hope they will be packed with plenty of PvP as well as some good roleplay experiences with folks.

What is your favorite part of SWG?

All of it… there really isn’t anything quite like Star Wars Galaxies.

What was the race and class of your very first character?

My first character was a Human and I went with Brawler, the first skill I fully mastered was Teras Kasi Artist.

Describe your favorite place in SWG?

Anchorhead, a small Rebel aligned town on Tatooine, fantastic for PvP action due to it neighboring the Imperial controlled city of Bestine.

Would you put the phrase, “purple turtle” in one of your recordings?

I’ll try!