Welcome to Fate of the Republic's Christmas Blog!  2014!!

Apologies for the big gap this year, some health issues in April, pretty much made life for all of us rather hectic for the last 8 months, but we should be up and running now. Well, at least managing a brisk shuffle. :)

New Coders and Coding Changes

We've had some wonderful coding done these last few months. Issues some of you probably didn't know existed. And a more stable base for the code being implemented, which will allow us to put in some much longed for changes and new systems. Thanks hugely to our new coder Titania and of course Blaize.  Life should be made a whole lot easier and interesting for a lot of us, with fixes and new features.  Some of the changes are:

• The junk command has been updated for more functionality.
• RRSHIP for simulator ships is now free.
• Quests now support expiration dates and show their creation dates.
• The /f (format) command now works properly in the text editor.
• Disguise skill now has an AP cost and clears properly.
• Turrets targeting ships after leaving the system is fixed.
• Introducing now shows the player's name for players with default titles.
• The dual-wield bug has been fixed.
• The ability for the Pendragon planetary shuttle to enter or leave a planet with planetshields up has been fixed.
• The ability for characters to own more than one shop has been implemented. These are limited to 5 per character.  You will also be able to list your shops. Remember all characters can buy shops, it's not limited to engineers. Some in game items are valuable to players and they will buy, rather than travel to obtain them. The relevant help file for shops is 'help buyvendor'.

There is also a rather heated debate about the Exchange AP Table (found by typing 'exchange rate'.). So, in the spirit of progress, we will be trialing some new designs for it. Please feel free to let us know how these go for you. We always want to hear feedback about our changes, to keep improving our playing environment.

A few notes for returning players and new ones, to make your life easier.

• After absences from playing, always check your wanted status and faction status. Massive RP changes can happen in a very short while, so pre-empt any problems before they occur. 
• Remember we expect you to quit in safe areas, (homes, hotels, etc).  Ships are not always safe, so consider other options before quitting in those.
• Also, please don't idle in food rooms with triggers. This stops other players getting food, and there will be consequences for your character.
• A request from Faction Leaders; if you are in a faction and you multiplay, please monitor the factioned character closely, especially if you report on comms as being present. Leaders expect orders to be seen and acted on. 
• Some incidents have occurred with characters flying, while another is rping. This often doesn't end well, so take heed. :P
• When multiplaying, check all  your alts, regularly.

Question Time
Questions have been asked about purchasing skills with AP. You can only improve mastery in the   your own skill tree with exchange rate (type command 'exchange' for more information). However, you can buy other skills with Quest Points from an Immortal, please read 'help  purchase_skills'.

This leads to another question we've had, 'are quest points obsolete?', and the answer is most definitely no.  Good in game items all have quest point costs attached to them, be it armour, ships, weapons or crafting materials. Cut, is exclusively a quest point cost, 'help cut', and is vital to pilots.
Banking quest points for quest point races is another use for them. (quest, quest stat, quest deposit, help races). Some immortal modifications, cost quest points as well.

Happy Holidays!
Lastly, the Christmas Trees are up all over the MUD again!
As usual, the Hapes Tree is for donations. Please give generously, and don't forget to receive as well. Lots of players spend their own quest points and action points to put nice things under the tree for other players to get.
If we have enough interest, the Fading Quasar will be the meeting spot for Christmas.
Food, wine, presents, good company, and some bad.. ALL ARE WELCOME!!
The FotR Team, wishes you all, a safe and happy holiday season. And we want to thank you for all your support this year. :)
Remember, enjoy the game!!

A Great Start to 2014

Welcome to the first blog of the year.  Hope you all had a great holiday period. It was nice for us to be able to see Skar after a year overseas and we were sad to see him leave again.  We've had a good start to the new year with a lot of returning players checking in to say hello.  Even managed a somewhat impromptu event in celebration.

The Valentine's Event
We had some requests for an event and as we were a week out from Valentine's we decided the Fading Quasar should play host to a little get together.  Rooms were transformed with roses, candy hearts, chocolate fountain and a whole lot more. And it was opened in the evening for people to explore, and we had a great turnout with lots of veteran players and several new players transferred in from Belsra for the evening. We had really good feedback and hope you all had a fun time. A big thanks to the Boss, who spent several days building and designing a lot of the area we all enjoyed.
As always, event ideas are welcome, please contact Iselka to discuss any ideas you may have.

RP
As requested in the last blog, a number of players left some of their characters in an area easily accessible for general role playing. I'd like to say a big thank you to all those players who did so (and are still doing so), and are using that area in the spirit it was meant to be used. I very much appreciate your efforts, and from what I've seen it has definitely improved the rp level on the MUD.

Reminder
Multiplay is new, and as such, I remind all players to read the help file in game. Most people are doing well, and if you are unsure of anything it is a lot wiser to ask first. For those who do stray, warnings will be given for first time offenders, and penalties will apply for repeat offenders as per the rules of the game.

Build/Code changes
Ongoing coding is being done, we have more ideas we want to implement than the coder has time to do unfortunately, but he is working and we hope to have a few new things up and running soon. There is also an apprentice builder in the making, so some ideas are being thrown around for improvements at the building level as well. Do bear with us when the coding is being done, it is a large and unique code and can take a little cajoling before it behaves. As AP has become the new marketable 'coinage' on the MUD, some of the things we want to bring in involve quests rewarding AP from mobs, and as with the pirate hunting, a possible planet based hunting system to compliment the non- flyers amongst us. Do keep checking the 'changes' list, so you know what's happening.

And lastly, for those looking for something creative to do..

Competition Time
A small competition this time. But one that will immortalise one of your characters in the MUD forever.
A new thread on the forums will give you a chance to design an in game item. It will be for sale on one of the MUD vendors. As competitors, you need to design an item, that can be a weapon, an article of clothing, jewellery or an engineering item. Don't forget food, roses, furniture, something that will bear your character's name, or an associated trait. Colour and describe it and post it on the thread. Keep it appropriate and in the Star Wars genre. Be sure to tell us why you have chosen this item and what it means to your character.   If deemed appropriate, you may also be able to choose the vendor/area the item sells on.  The winner will receive their own copy of the item they design, as well as the AP reward that all entrants will receive.  Have fun with it and we look forward to seeing your contributions.

Remember, if you're not enjoying the game, you're doing something wrong. It's a game, ENJOY! :)