Friday Feature 1/26/2018 – Base Busting EiF Style!

Tensions are mounting. Imperials and the New Republic alike are setting the stage for invasions. Armies are in training, troops being dispatched, leaders are coordinating the survival of their planet or the take over of another one. Bases and Outposts are being placed in preparation. Some are  placed to intimidate small cities, others located more stealthily in the lesser traveled areas of planets. Training is underway to take out these bases, some preemptively in hopes of turning back an invasion.

Join your faction today and start preparing. Below is the training manual to take out a base. Learn it. Use it. Don’t let the other side take over your planet!

OOC:

Base busting was a very popular PvP event in SWG Live. It was content driven by players. A faction could plop down a base, complete with NPCs and those deadly turrets, to protect a city or outpost. The opposing faction would search out these bases and then make plans to bust the base wide open.

The planetary invasions in Starports are designed around the base busting model as well.

Below is a guide I found from the old SWG Live forums. It’s been tweaked to explain the new base busting design of EiF’s developers.

Required Professions:

Bounty Hunter 2000 (Investigation II)

Smuggler 0100 (Slicing I)

Novice Doctor

Commando 0200 (Heavy Weapons II)

Novice Squad Leader

Equipment:

The smuggler must have Molecular Clamps and Laser Knives.

Base Vulnerability Times:

Find an opposite faction spy who is at least a Warrant Officer II. They can enter any base and look for the Main terminal to check its status. The base’s terminal will indicate how much time is left before the base is vulnerable to attack. For those placing bases, the countdown starts when the base is dropped.  The base will be vulnerable to attack for two hours.

If a spy is not available, use /tar power. If the base is vulnerable, you will be able to target its power regulator.

Starport Note: These are only vulnerable when an invasion is active.

Base Entry:

When the team gets to the base/starport, turrets should be taken down first.

You cannot enter the base while the turrets are up.

Base Only Note: You can blow up the turrets prior to the vulnerability window. However the defenders can replace them. Only one turret can be added during the vulnerability window.

Take Down Procedures:

Remember there is a timer ticking down!

Make sure that system messages are enabled in your options

First slice: The Bounty Hunter on the Uplink Terminal

Goal: Find the numbers

  • Stand next to the Uplink to begin the process of jamming the uplink.
  • Open up the radial menu and click on the jam uplink.
  • A set of numbers  (1-10) appears and you need to guess the number. A system message appears indicating of your choice is too high or too low.
    • Repeat selecting numbers until you find the first one.
  • Repeat until you find all the numbers.
  • You will get 1000 xp and a successful slice when you’re finished.

Second slice: The Smuggler on the Security Terminal:

Goal: Successful slice using smuggler slicing skills

  • Stand next to the Security Terminal
  • Open up the radial menu and choose to Slice Terminal
  • Use the molecular clamp
  • Follow directions for the slice
  • Check spatial for the message that you were successful or received XP for the slice.
  • If you get a failed message, start the process over once the cooldown ends

Third slice: The Doctor on the Override Terminal

Goal: Break the code.

  • Stand next to the Override Terminal
  • Open up the radial menu and choose DNA Sample
  • A box with 44 letters appears.
  • Look at the sample at the box of the opened box. It shows the 4 letters in the DNA sequence
  • Each of the letters matches up with one of the others letters.
    • For example: If the DNA Sample code is ACGT
    • ACGT would match with TGCA (notice the code is reversed)
    • a with t, c with g, g with c, t with a
  • In the box below is 22 code sequences. Using the information above enter the corresponding code
    • For example: if the box displays ACAC, the answer is TGTG
  • When all 22 codes are decrypted, you will get XP or a message in spatial indicating you completed the slice.

Fourth slice: The Commando on the Power Regulator

Goal: Turn off the power at the base

  • Stand next to the power regulator.
  • Open the radial menu
  • 8 power switches appear, which are either set to on or off
  • Click on the “on” buttons until the buttons are off
    • It’s possible that clicking one button to off will turn another one on. Just keep clicking until a system message appears indicating the power has been shut down, or you receive 1000 heavy weapons XP

Fifth slice: The Squad Leader on the Primary Terminal:

  • Go to the top of the base if it’s a large or the front entrance of the smaller ones
  • Stand next to the Primary Terminal
  • Open the radial menu
  • If all the slicing was done properly, select the activate overload. In 60 seconds the base/starport will be shut down/destroyed. 🙂

Defend, Defend, Defend!

Defend the base for 60 seconds to protect the countdown. An overt defender can shut down the activation sequence. (The 60 second countdown is subject to change.)


Special thank you to Halyn, Abi, Anishor, Kelta, and Alhai for their help in reviewing this, making suggestions, and clarifying things for me!

Sandarie, Community Manager

Clearly Not Combat Princess!

Friday Feature 1/20/2018 – Factions

Rumors of a Galactic Civil War erupting are increasing. Stories are spreading of Imperial Moffs attempting to consolidate their power in the wake of the Emperor’s death. Mon Mothma is rallying the Rebels to form a New Republic in the wake of their success against the Empire. Planets all over the galaxy are preparing for war on their soil. Calls are being put forth for retired military to come back and lead the scattered troops. The NR looks to each planet’s citizens to join them and stabilize a New Republic. The Imperials expect citizens to demonstrate their loyalty and help maintain the Empire.

OOC:

Many in the EiF community have participated in two live tests of the GCW invasion system which greatly helped the devs and the players learn more about what is needed to improve when the entire GCW finally goes live! New and returning players continue to swell the population. Crafters are working hard to meet the demands of the growing community, as it prepares for the GCW.

Part of players’ preparation is gaining enough faction to be able to participate in the exciting, original content exclusive to  Empire in Flames. This Feature is one in a series to help players prepare. This week we are concentrating on gaining factional alignment.

The GCW’s factions are Imperial and New Republic. You will need to earn 200 faction points to show a faction recruiter you are serious about joining their cause. These are earned by:

  • Killing enough opposite faction NPCs or overt players
    • Random factionally align NPCs
    • Faction missions obtained from mission terminals
      • Found in Cities
        • NPC
        • Player Cities whose Mayor has provided them.
  • Having another player of the same faction delegate some of their faction points to you.

Once you have your points, locate a recruiter. They will let you join the faction and you will gain the rank of private. There are links to locations below, but there will also be recruiters at the GCW Basecamps and in the defending faction’s city.

New Republic recruiters (formerly the Rebel Recruiters)

http://swg.wikia.com/wiki/Rebel_recruiter

Imperial Recruiters

http://swg.wikia.com/wiki/Imperial_recruiter

To participate in a GCW invasion you will need to already be aligned with a faction. When you enter an active GCW invasion, you will automatically be made Special Forces.You will be vulnerable to enemy players, NPCs, and their equipment, such as turrets.

Special thanks to Kelta for editing and Halyn for reviewing for accuracy!

Sandarie, Community Manager

Clearly Not Combat Princess!

Friday Feature 1/12/2018 : A Chat with Sandarie

The staff has been really busy getting ready for the second GCW Invasion Live test. Instead of something new, fun, and exciting, you get to know more about your Community Manager.

Clearly Not Combat Princess!

EiF: Which versions of SWG did you play?

Sandarie: I can’t really say that I played the CU. I started SWG three weeks before the NGE hit. I never got a chance to do much except learn the tinest bit about creature handling.

EiF: If you played in the pre-CU live, approximately how long did you play in the pre-CU?

Sandarie: As noted above, I did not play the pre-CU. EiF is a crazy experience for me. All the nostalgia for the game I have loved more than any other MMO, but with a newness to it since it wasn’t the same familiar gameplay.

EiF: Which server did you play on?

Sandarie: I started on Narutis. Joined a guild, but a friend from Everquest found out I was playing SWG and talked me into creating a character on Starsider. That’s when Sandarie was born and I never looked back!

EiF: Which classes and which was your favorite?

Sandarie: I loved the roleplayer class the best! *eyes twinkle mischievously* I liked the love the Entertainers eventually got in the NGE and I was always a little sad to hear all the stories about how Entertainers were actually a benefit to other players back before the NGE. I played an Entertainer, a Doc, and I had a Domestic mostly to make clothing for my roleplaying!

EiF: How many accounts did you own/manage?

Sandarie: I had three at one time. I stopped playing the game for awhile and one of the accounts was taken over by a friend. So when I came back, I only have two accounts at the end of SWG.

EiF: What type of gameplay style do you most enjoy?

Sandarie: Roleplaying! I also enjoy PvE sometimes. I HATE PvP, unless it’s with a group of people. I will never again be talked into playing on a server of any kind where it’s set in an open world PvP environment. Way too stressful for me.

EiF: What’s a typical gaming session for you, what activities?

Sandarie: Wow, hard to have anything typical. It’s a lot reactive unless there is an event that I need to help run. I get a lot of /tells in game, in Discord, and on the social websites we are on.  I always hope to get in some roleplaying, though. I always check on my vendors, especially lately. Being a chef was a pretty slow business, even being the only one on the server most of our 8.5 months. However things are picking up

EiF: What do you most enjoy about SWG?

Sandarie: First, foremost, and always the people. The community. The sandbox provided by SWG, the a universe people are passionate about is incredible to me.

EiF: What do you enjoy most about Empire in Flames?

Sandarie: THE PEOPLE! *grins* are you sensing a pattern here? I feel very honored I’ve gotten to be a part of something so amazing twice in a lifetime. Not only with some of my dearest friends who have been in my life for over a decade, but now new friends are being added. Some are folks who were only “legends” to me back on live. The SWG/Starsider celebrities outside of the piloting community are now people I get to interact with and have as part of my EiF experience. How much of a blessing is that!

EiF: When you are not ingame, what do you enjoy doing?

Sandarie: I love to read. Sometimes I binge watch a television show. Since SWG Live died, I’ve gotten 4 grands added to my family. I really enjoy my job too.

EiF: What do you do outside of EiF / do for a living?

Sandarie: I am a corporate trainer for a very large business. I travel most weeks throughout the United States and spend a week on-site with clients. I love my job. I get asked a lot if I have favorite places I’ve visited. My VERY favorite visits have been when the travel allows me to meet friends and family. I’ve gotten to meet Halyn and Kelta, as well as Anishor. From a location perspective, it’s hard to say where my favorite place has been. I go to Washington, DC every chance I get. I was awestruck by Alaska and I can’t wait to take my family camping up in Maine near Bar Harbor. But if you ever get the chance, you must visit Niagara Falls and Mount Rushmore.

EiF: What is your role with EiF? What does that entail?

Sandarie: Some weeks, a lot of weeks actually, EiF has been getting more hours of my time than my regular job. And I’m not talking about playing the game. I’m the liaison between the community and the rest of the staff. I manage the Website and Forums along with BluePyros. I write or research most of the Friday Features and other posts. I make a lot of requests to the Devs on behalf of the community. I listen to community issues. I help coordinate server events and sometimes get to play an NPC in the EiF RP Campaign. I run the EiF RP Hub, Port Jato. I coordinate most of our social media outreach on about half a dozen sites…. *takes a deep breath* There is more, but this gives you a taste of the things the EiF CM does.

EiF: If you could have ANYTHING instantly in EiF, what would it be?

Sandarie: Female Nautolan!

EiF: If you could find out one thing about our EiF Community, what would it be?

Sandarie: What makes them happiest while playing EiF.

EiF: What gives you Developer’s Crack?

Sandarie: I’m not a developer. They won’t let me near the coding *broad grins* But when I hear how much someone love EiF and gushes about how amazing our community is… that touches my heart and gives me my CM crack.

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

//
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

Clearly Not Combat Princess!