Smuggler Archive
Thread: Underworld expansion soon?
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LaughingWolf
Sat Feb 05, 2005 9:37 am
#1
Ok in several threads lately I have seen the assumption that the secret team is working on the Underwrld expansion. I see no basis for that assumption.
TH (I think it was TH) said a while ago that adding a real Underworld is something big that would be better suited for an expansion (I'm parahrasing, not an exact quote), but no where did I saw "btw guys, the next expansion is the Underworld!"
Soooo...
- We know there is an expansion being worked on by the secret team.
- We know they want at some point to add factions (was mentionned before, and now SOETyrant's comments on Zane seem to indicate it is still true)
BUT
- We don't know that the next expansion, the one under work now, will be the Underworld. In fact, no Underworld expansion was promised at all: the comment was a "ooh too big for a publish, would have to be an expansion" comment, not a promise. (I'm not saying it can't be, but to just assume it is is bound to disapoint a LOT of peoples if it is not. )
- And certainly no where did they mentioned a release time for that yet-no-public-info-at-all expansion. "Later this year" and "this fall" would very much surprise me. Look at how long we have known about JTL.
Believe me, I WANT the next expansion to be a rich well define thrilling Underworld. And it might well be: it would make sence, right now I can't think of any expansion that would be more logical. I just wanted to set things straight.
If someone saw a quote I missed saying i'm wrong, by all means, post it here. I will be the first to clap and cheer.
TH (I think it was TH) said a while ago that adding a real Underworld is something big that would be better suited for an expansion (I'm parahrasing, not an exact quote), but no where did I saw "btw guys, the next expansion is the Underworld!"
Soooo...
- We know there is an expansion being worked on by the secret team.
- We know they want at some point to add factions (was mentionned before, and now SOETyrant's comments on Zane seem to indicate it is still true)
BUT
- We don't know that the next expansion, the one under work now, will be the Underworld. In fact, no Underworld expansion was promised at all: the comment was a "ooh too big for a publish, would have to be an expansion" comment, not a promise. (I'm not saying it can't be, but to just assume it is is bound to disapoint a LOT of peoples if it is not. )
- And certainly no where did they mentioned a release time for that yet-no-public-info-at-all expansion. "Later this year" and "this fall" would very much surprise me. Look at how long we have known about JTL.
Believe me, I WANT the next expansion to be a rich well define thrilling Underworld. And it might well be: it would make sence, right now I can't think of any expansion that would be more logical. I just wanted to set things straight.
If someone saw a quote I missed saying i'm wrong, by all means, post it here. I will be the first to clap and cheer.
Ternque01
Sat Feb 05, 2005 11:17 am
#2
I bet it will be a coruscant expansion. Why? Well the devs wanted suggestions on making NPC cities worth hanging out in, as well as underworld suggestions. If the whole damn planet is a city.... they will need ideas to make it worth (and fun) going there.
If it is an Underworld expansion... this is a cool idea. We would see Crimelords, criminal factions, and perhaps other criminal professions like a "thug profession". Maybe this expansion would also include a "law enforcer" profession for players wanting to police all of this crime. Add in a smattering of criminal bases in the form of casinos/dens and police headquarters.
This could be made to mesh with the smuggler revamp fairly well. It will be interesting to see, but most of all, I wish for a strong law to be imposed on all items of contraband. Sure our slicing business will take a hit, but I'd rather see these items used in theirproper context.
I still don't feel that makingslices/spices actually illegal will make player smuggling feasible, but this will:
What was suggested in the past seems like the best idea. Make certain resources (for making weapons, armor, buffs, etc.) rare and illegal. These resources will only spawn on off-world planets (the planets like Endor where you cannot drop a house). Make these resources give a small bonus to the crafted items, but do not make them necessary to create these items. I am not sure if you can run a factory on these planets, but if you can make the items created illegal to ship off of these planets.
Have the players (let's call them crafters) wanting these goods make a request to an NPC standingslightlyaway fromstarports on these off-world planets. This NPC will then put thecrafter name on the smuggling terminals for any smuggler to see.Smugglers across the galaxy can then submit their namestothe criminal NPC contact systemwhich our "crafter" would check at any time. The crafter will then see every smuggler willing to do the job, and also the reputation rank of each smuggler. The crafter will pick a smuggler's name from the list. At this point, the chosen smuggler will get a "hired job" message by email or through an NPC contact, as well as the name of the crafter needing the job.
So the smuggler sends a /tell to the crafter arranging pickup and a haggle for the price of the job. The smuggler heads to Endor, picks up theresources away from the starport, then sneaks it past the guards at the starport. Due to certain security issues at some starports, the smuggler will be required to take the goods through one extra planet before being able to take it to its destination planet.
Once the smuggler physically appears in the destination starport, the resources he/she is carrying will be masked by the smuggler by slicing to make them appear legal. At this point, the crafter can meet the smuggler, pay him/her, then be off to making their goods!!!
This is an organic, alive, interesting, as well as feasible player smuggling system.
Ternque01
Sat Feb 05, 2005 11:24 am
#3
Oh yea, with the above system, this allows the SMUGGLER to dictate the interaction they have with their customer, and avoids it all being done by some boring, damn computer/terminal.
Oh yea, I appologise for the slight thread hijack LaughingWolf
SmugglinZane
Sat Feb 05, 2005 2:56 pm
#4
Hey Wolf, your point is one I was trying to stay away with other than to say waiting for something else is not something we should have to do.
The thing is that they talk about it without saying it was next, but they also talked about it pre beta. I've learned that until they put it out there, then they're just talking. So the answer to your question is this... depending on your view. To me, soon is close enough that they won't have to tell people to wait until the expansion to fix problems created by changes they make now. Do I expect it to be this soon, not at all, but I can still hope.
One point to remember in everything that's going on right now is that none of the things rolled out in the last couple days was ever supposed to happen until after the CURB, and following profession revamps (ours included). Everyone has been told wait until the CURB, and we were told wait and wait and wait. So we waited and once again other aspects of the game are recieving attention while we still wait.
Our profession revamp is now rolled into one that encompasses many others. The initial designing and blueprints are just now being written while these other things have obviously been done for at least some time (unless you believe all of this was doneand approved in the 1 month since their holiday break).
My point in all of this is that we are one of the main professions in the game that have a major interest in an underworld expansion and we got pushed to the side (along with some other professions) and we didn't even realise it. We were too shocked at the great stuff put out to realise it happened to us and now we're hoping for an underworld expansion so we can actually have some profession related involvment in the game.
In summary, no, we will not see an underworld expansion any time soon. The expansion will come out by the end of the year at best (gotta remember Christmas you know) and what it contains is still completely up in the air. Until they come out with concrete evidence saying it will be sooner and it will be about an underworld. Until then, we will just be waiting for a mythical beast while the rest of the game passes us by (kind of like waiting for our turn in the publish line).
Wow, kind of a long and harsh answer to a simple question, but I've made a lot of observations lately and kind of had to get that off my chest.
Cloudchasing
Sat Feb 05, 2005 11:12 pm
#5
I dunno....
Personally, I'd LOVE an Underworld Expansion, but, I'd love Coruscant too. PLUS, I really like the Corporate Sector Expansion Idea.
Hmm, maybe they can all be rolled into one.
Coruscant wouldn't be all that difficult a thing to implement really, as well as most the added worlds for the Coporate Sector Idea. Because all those mechanics are already in the game, the only difference is that Coruscant wouldn't have ANY animals running around, just a bunch of npcs (and I mean a FREAKING LOT!!!)
Plus,this game SERIOUSLY needs some additional planets to go to.
So the only thing in this concepts wasy is implementing a good underworld, and all THAT really means is making the current npc faction ratings apply to PCs as well.
So maybe this really wouldn't be all that hard, it'd just be all that additional server space need for the extra planets.
In any case, I'm not holding my breath for us to see anything close to this before an as-yet unannounced expansion that may possibly come out by the end of the year (yes, in time for Christmas)
LaughingWolf
Sun Feb 06, 2005 1:37 am
#6
Very interesting idea.
And np about the hijack. lol You pirate you arrr
And np about the hijack. lol You pirate you arrr
Ternque01
Sun Feb 06, 2005 9:36 am
#7
Cloudchasing wrote:
I dunno....
Personally, I'd LOVE an Underworld Expansion, but, I'd love Coruscant too. PLUS, I really like the Corporate Sector Expansion Idea.
Hmm, maybe they can all be rolled into one.
Coruscant wouldn't be all that difficult a thing to implement really, as well as most the added worlds for the Coporate Sector Idea. Because all those mechanics are already in the game, the only difference is that Coruscant wouldn't have ANY animals running around, just a bunch of npcs (and I mean a FREAKING LOT!!!)
Plus,this game SERIOUSLY needs some additional planets to go to.
So the only thing in this concepts wasy is implementing a good underworld, and all THAT really means is making the current npc faction ratings apply to PCs as well.
So maybe this really wouldn't be all that hard, it'd just be all that additional server space need for the extra planets.
In any case, I'm not holding my breath for us to see anything close to this before an as-yet unannounced expansion that may possibly come out by the end of the year (yes, in time for Christmas)
The only problem with a Coruscant expansion is that there would be a lack of things to do if it is just like our current NPC cities. What would you shoot at?
JTGAlpha
Sun Feb 06, 2005 10:18 am
#8
1) Unless technology drastically changes, there will never be a Coruscant, or so said the devs ages and ages ago. Why? Too MUCH TOO MUCH! An entire planet sized city? With literally THOUSANDS of stories? YIKES! Info-overload, lag fest, sonofa....!!! Yeah. Unless they made a crappy one.
2) Why a criminal expansion? Because the Hutt faction got cut before Beta, and it's one of the few things they still owe us (and player missions, which I think is also in the works). And because the Devs said, again, ages ago, and therefore, subject to change, that they were thinking about doing a Crime Expansion after the Space Expansion. And because as far as MACRO-sized things, big-picture things, crime is really one of the only BIG things missing. The GCW is being revamped. Combat's being revamped. The professions revisted. Jedi have been tweaked and tweaked. So you have a GCW. You have the Force. You have Space. What else is missing from Star Wars? The Underworld!
So there ya go.
Cloudchasing
Sun Feb 06, 2005 10:29 am
#9
Ternque01 wrote:
The only problem with a Coruscant expansion is that there would be a lack of things to do if it is just like our current NPC cities. What would you shoot at?
No, I don't think so, sure there would be the big and vast expances of nothing to do, up on the higher levels which is all adminstrative and bureaucracy, but it's not like Kaadara or hell, even Amidala's retreat, it'd be pretty, but boring.
The fun parts would be the lower levels, which are full of murderers and thieves. Taking missions down there would be the same as taking any other mission where you would need to kill Nyax cultists or any other mid-level mob. The entire concept of Coruscant is that there is NO OUTSIDE to go to, so all the content would be IN the city, which would be the ENTIRE planet, which just sounds too good to pass up.
Just a little imagination could make Coruscant (Imperial Center) a really great place.
I think that the only problem implementing the planet into the game is that it would probly take as much server space and resources just for Coruscant as it would for the rest of the galaxy, and if they added the Corporate Sector idea, then Server space would probably have to go up by 300%.
That's the real obstacle here, is not the coding, is not the ideas, but the money. Server costs and all would be crazy, but think about how cool it would be. I think a lot of people would really sign up (or back up) if they added content like this.
WesBelden
Sun Feb 06, 2005 10:41 am
#10
They could always pop up with underwater/air flight travel and combat .
.Seriously though (although that'd be cool if it was included), I'd love to see a criminal faction systemtied in with a trade and commerce element (such as the great post linked to in the stickies) and hopefully something akin to Caylin's crime lord profession.
JTGAlpha
Sun Feb 06, 2005 10:42 am
#11
Ehem. I have a thread about criminal factions. Or do you not LIKE my thread?
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