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I've been wishing for this for a while. Adds some content to the game, gives it a more "Star Wars"

Too bad it won't happen.

I love the idea of interplanetary travel using an actual shuttle. Insta travel to anywhere kinda kills the immersion. IMO I think SOE is trying to head towards this since they will be selling SWG the total experience from mid may on-ward That means JTL comes bundled with and all players will have access to space. Even Rage of the Wookies comes with JTL bundled up with it and you can only get to kashyyyk through JTL. Walking up into a shuttle, sitting down for a interplanetary trip, and maybe even being blockaded or hi-jacked may be an SWG reality in a years time.

To make it fun though certain things must be addressed. Travel time has to be at the most ten minutes or less. Shuttle lefts off, flys into space, hypers to the desired planet, drops back down to the surface and lets every one off. The shuttle doesn't even have to load into the relative space sector of the planet. just get to space and hyper.

Also think about this. Every player has to load up to a new area constantly between shuttles and JTL. SWG can really benefit from transition zones to cut down on this. That shuttle ride we all want can be used as a time sink for the game to drop all the graphics out of memory and load up the new zone every one is flying into. players can chit chat while all of that is happening behind the scenes. It will be a blast!!!

Especially since SOE can then start focusing on all the starwarzy stuff instead of all the inbetween crap. things like being hi-jacked mid flight by some randon faction because one player on board has negative 5k against them. Actually running past blockades that are sopposed to be around some of the planets. Dathomir is an Expanded universe planet invented for use in "courtship of princess leia", or some name like that. The whole planet was blanketed by by a satilite net that blocked sunlight with a massive imperial blockade in a loose orbit beyond that. If the imp prison didn't keep the criminals caged the planet sure as hell did the job.

Forcing interplanetary travel upon players via actual starship would be a good thing over all. then SOE can fill in all the inbetween stuff with content to keep players occupied. Droid could actually be considered useful with this kind of boundry set in place. One poseter mentioned that shuttle trips would put him out due to checking harvs accross all the planets. Simple fix, send the droids with cash and instructions to bring your materials back. Throwing in obsticles and boundries that force players to overcome them is what SWG really needs right now.

Then the dev team can code some quality programming to creative bypass those boundries. I know all you smugglers what to run capital ship blockades, outsmart the interagator star destroyer, then hyper out to drop your crew off on a death trap of a planet for some crazy quest.

Good thoughts. I actually got nuclear-flamed a while back for merely asking if anyone thought the instant travel option hurt the game or detracted from immersion. I use instant travel all the time, but somehow to me it seems more Star Warsy and game-balancing to say either that you can wait for the shuttle and travel instantaneously, or you can launch your own ship any time you want but you have to endure whatever space hazards might await.

I sort of like the idea that you might have to use a smuggler or take a shuttle from an unmonitored backwoods location to avoid scans. I also think it would be cool if you could just simply get some phony "papers" from a smuggler or some other source (NPC quest item, perhaps) to bypass scans. This is the kind of stuff that smugglers do during a war, produce phony documents to allow for unrestricted travel and disguise contraband. It would make smugglers invaluable for everyone and really boost the profession.

The idea of actually riding in the shuttle is fine with me, but I have to agree with those who say it shouldn't take a long time. Maybe a minute wait for the shuttle itself and not more than that actually inside the craft travelling. Maybe a player who's a chef could walk up and down the aisles offering brandy and canape.

Don't.

You.

Dare.

If you want to fly manually to your destination, nothing is stopping you. Some of us are on a clock sometimes.

Great ideas so far.

Just like to highlight those that I personally find exceptional:

1) Make interplanetary travel more socialable.

2) Players with illegal stuff should find it more viable to charter a Player Ship to travel interplanetary. This will give way to whole new professions eg Private Ship Captains and Flight Crews (gunners).

3) Smugglers able to get past scans and blockades either by some sort of stealth or be offered the chance to pay bribes under the table.

4) Active faction parties get free access to their faction controlled Star Ports while opposing faction members got to find a way to sneak in.

Please keep this up folks - we need SWG to be more Star Wars like ....

The first time I went to travel to another planet at a starport, I ran up the ramp to the transit shuttle, only to see the empty hallway. :/

I myself didn't mind the 10 minute wait at the starports because I was used to the boats in EQ - as a paladin, I rode them a lot, and didn't mind. Ten minutes? That was nothing... time to do a little web browsing while waiting. No big deal.

With the insta-travel that exists in SWG now thanks in part to JTL, I sometimes wondered what the point of POB ships were.... aside from having to run to repair conduits and components, the interiors were only something you could explore when the ship wasn't moving. I've been in a few guildmates' ships and they've done fine jobs decorating the insides of their Decimators and YT-1300s... I just got my Decimator last night after making Ace on my Imperial character and have made the front room a "Captain's Quarters" and the middle room being a "lounge". I'd like it if there was an option to have trips from planet-to-planet take time.

When I first flew my yacht, I started the hyperspace countdown in order to look around the ship during the trip - imagine my surprise when the countdown stopped when I got out of the chair.

Of course, there are times when you get a tell from a guildmate saying he needs help on Dathomir now, not ten minutes from now, which is why I believe it's not likely any such option would be added. I do kinda like it that you can't one-button travel to Kashyyyk.

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Balzan wrote:
If it's optional, then it won't be used. It's quite simple, if you have the option to go the easy way or the hard way you're alway going to take the easy way. This would hopefully be after the CU so timmers on buffs aren't as important (hell I want buffs completely removed from SWG, or at least nerfed so much it doesn't make a difference).

The fact that rebels are punished is because this is a game, and as such people who are rebel should be willing to have to undergo hardship, if you don't want to be part of the GCW, then don't join a side. If your ship is good enough you'll be able to outrun your opponents anyway. For the shuttle travel I mean there are occasional scans not automatic ones, so unless you're straped for time and can't risk an allout fight on a shuttle against imperials, you take other methods (would also only happen in Imperial Controlled territories).

It would also be good to see ground factions link to space factions, JtL should be part of SWG not just a side game

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The problem IS pvp in space. 1 hit and your dead if the other pilot happens to be rich enough to buy a crapload of equipment and cert 10 blasters. Fix some kind of damage reduction in space or JTL will still be empty of peeps since its no point in trying it if your not in a A+ fighter.

Sorry i would like to say i like pvp in space but no, its garbage and it takes a bussload of creds to get the equipment you need to participate in a fight.