Cities And Housing Archive

I'm sitting here in Mos Entha, Tatooine and see from my overhead map 32 houses (probably more) that can be gone into, they aer filled with decorations only on the first floor but there is elavators and levels below have nothing. Every other city has some structure of housing exactly the same that serve no purpose at all and just are taking up space.

I think this would makea perfect type of veteran reward. I mean playing for 2 years should have some elite perks, and living in an actual city in the star wars universe is quite frankly one of the best things a veteran can recieve. I mean you've watched all the movies, saw all the towns, and being a person to live there would be just the best thing.

For the average player for 2 years, they could get the houses.

Guild hall owners with a guild lasting 2 years or more should be able to move into the guild halls that are in the citys.

Merchants would be able to have there "tents" where the places are that have drapes hanging over them.

Cantina's & Taverns should be able to be a reward for Chef's musicians, or dancers either playign the game for 2 years or being that profession for 1 year out of the 2years.

I also think that the faction towns examples: rebel outpost on rori, Imperial outpost on talus should be rewards for players who have been the same faction for2 years, to live in there. I know you think there is no houses but there is Towers. And in the towers there is buttons that look like an elevator. What if that elevator went underground and was like a bunker that had several rooms of all kinds for them to put there stuff in. Also in the towers there is consoles. I think that it would be really neat if those consoles were hooked up to things such as calling in npc's for help defending it, if it can be taken over.As well as sending a emergency message to all faction members to get there asap because its under attack and you could lose the outpost.

What does everyoen else think about living in city's?

Anarr Ivo

Vendor located at 5164, -3675
Tylas, Talus

Hawk

EQ 2 manged to do it ...WHY NOT SWG ???

It is a good idea to bring players into the big NPC Cities ... Right now they are (apart from Theed and Coronet ) pretty empty most of the times.. And Yes ..many big buildings in the NPC cities are rather ..hm ..decorational (useless) right now.

There is more.. I just recently viewed again the old movies and most say that SWG Galaxies Cities look to ...NEW. I understand that to much clutter will slow down the game, nevertheless some change to the buildings appearence would enhance the game experience in my opinion .

With increasing RAM a little more clutter will not slow the game very much.

Freedom and life, for me, are the two sides of the same coin.

I see that alot of people are all stirred up and happy about this thread etc, I ask you keep your posts relating to the topic confined here to one thread. This way devs/correspondents dont go "what are they all talking abbout now?". I'm glad though that my idea's have made such a good uproar as this may cause this to actually be implemented!

Anarr Ivo

Vendor located at 5164, -3675
Tylas, Talus

Bad mister frosty said:

Star Wars Galaxies engine provides large landscapes that are sometimes worth a postcard. It is strong in creating a large map with no loading zones in between, but shows its full weakness in NPC metropols like coronet. We need to understand first the design difference between landscapes and cities.

Landscapes
The Landscape first is a large plain where a player is able to go everywhere for kilometers. Designers create content by the method of substraction. They place obstacles like houses, trees and other elements that occupy a place on the plain, so effectively removing land a player cannot walk anymore. The other important point is, designing content on a landscape is horizontal work. Even with mountains, everything is arranged horizontal, house beside house, tree beside tree and so on.

Metropolis
A metropolis in the Star Wars Universe has much more vertical elements in it, with large canyons that end in an abyss between the large skyscrapers. Gangways and balkonies high in the air, traffic is arranged vertically between houses and so on. The other opposite from landscapes is, to design a city you would start with an abyss and adding ground where a player can walk on (like balkony, gangway, appartments).

So here it goes...

New Coronet

The current skyscrapers are only the suburbs of the major city in star wars galaxies. They are the smooth in between landscape and dark city jungle. Walking towards the center of new coronet, you see large skycraper silhouettes. They are only a kind of marquee and they are only designed to create a believing look of a city center from outside. It could even be a texture, like a matte painting creating the illusion of a huge city center. Closer, there is a wall and or other obstacles (houses etc), so you cannot get in rightaway.

Now it depends what the designers are willing to do.

A) create the center as a new zone [see below]
B) no center zone, so "our" coronet playground is only the suburbs and it will basically be quite the same like it is now (but it looks more believeable).

The Center Zone

The new center of coronet will be a completly new zone. You enter it through some passages in the wall as described above. Once you enter, the known loading screen appears and it would be as if you would travel to another planet. Maybe, you need to talk to a NPC or use a terminal to get in.

The Center zone is designed completely different from the landscape zones. As explained above, its a large abyss where the designers add skyscrapers, gangways between them, corridors and rooms inside skyscrapers and so on. They add the playground were a player can walk. With this technique they have full control over technical issues, that may arise from polycounts and so on (they already using vis-blockers and stuff in the landscape, so they can use it in the city zone as well and its fairly easy to place a large wall to block the view in a city).

-- Swoops and Speeders

You cannot use swoops and speeders in the city zone like in the landscape (remember, it takes place on balkonies, gangways and appartments). However, there is traffic in cities. You would need to go to a certain platform where you can draw your speeder. There is a terminal where you can choose a destination platform and your speeder will auto pilot to it. With the fix of multi-seats, there would be public transports as well, that cruise all platforms like a bus.

-- Appartments for rent

Appartments are available in the skyscrapers. You might even look outside the window into the landscapes, but it will be done via a skybox (like a matte painting creating an illusion).

-- Shops

There will be shops as well. It will work instanced. All players can pay a special shop appartment, it is instanced. There is only one PUBLIC shop per shop appartment block. All owners of shop appartments need to bribe the appartment owner NPC (or criminal). The highest bribe has the effect, that your instance becomes public via the main PUBLIC shop door in the appartment block. All other shop appartments are not public (can be entered by the admins and current group members, like with mp-ships).

-- Missions in the city zone

There are many doors in the various levels that are closed. It could be regular doors in skyscrapers or sewer grid, ventilationshaft and so on. Once you draw a mission, it will spawn instanced behind a door. A mission could lead you into the sewers, so the waypoint would direct you to a specific sewer entrance that will be open via radial just for you (and your group). Or you must take out a rebel cell, that hides in a an appartment (or ISB agents). Those appartment missions could be even behind the same doors like player appartments...

Leaving...

Just go back to the passages or use your speeder's auto pilot to bring you to a close platform station.

This proposalwas only a digest and plea to try to get beyond the current horizon of the horizontal suburbia. Many are passionate for a coruscant, but we do not need a coruscant, when coronet is already an extremly large city described and already painted in books and comic.Let's try to get Gordon Waltons attention and an answer if they can do something like this somewhere down the road(soon™) or if it is impossibletechnically and with their time they have to use on a city revamp like this.

Please add your ideas and what you think about transfering a city into a unique zone (maybe a quarter the size of planetary zones). What do you like, what do you dislike and why? This way we keep it constructive and help the developers the most (so they might take serveral ideas instead of the full package or an impression on what we like and what not

I hope you'll support it. "

Anarr Ivo

Vendor located at 5164, -3675
Tylas, Talus