February 1998 Update

Here are the latest changes on Star Wars MUD:

It is now possible to advance above level 19 even without doing the High Mortal Quest. These higher level mortals get HM experience for HM monsters, just like High Mortals do, and they can also use HM weapons. They can also do the quest at any point, but will need to pay a little additional exp to complete it. These non-HMs do not get access to any of the skills, channels, homes etc. that HMs do.

Cabbies were changed into Smugglers, from "dead" objects into actual "living" monsters that communicate with the player and try to persuade them to take a ride. These Smuggler cabbies can also be killed, which can be very beneficial in a player killing to prevent others escaping from the planet.

Planet Alderaan was completely rewritten by Azrick and new additions are being worked on as well. The planet has at least doubled in size and has something for all levels now. A shuttle from Coruscant takes you directly to Alderaan now as well.

Planet Bimmisaari was opened as a mid-level area. The planet has a large market place and the Tower of Law, with large forests surrounding the city. Bimmisaari space introduced three new ships: Hornet Interceptor, Galactic Voyager and System Patroller.

Changes were made to the Smuggler skill disguise. Now it actually has a chance to fail. Due to a bug in the skill, it never failed before. To compensate the smugglers for this change, a new skill was added for level 19+ smugglers, called smuggler catalog. With the catalog, smugglers can get access to items not normally found in shops. Conceal skill was moved down to level 18. Camouflage nets were also introduced into the mud as a sort of an advanced hide skill for smugglers. The nets can be used to hide large objects, even ships and are usable by 19+ smugglers.

Several High Mortal skills have been coded and the only ones remaining left to be coded are now one scientist skill, a couple of pilot skills and a few Jedi skills. These will all be taken care of soon as well hopefully.

The training center was reopened once again, this time in many random locations. It only appears in one place for a particular player. This way if one player finds it and tell their friends about it, the friends probably will not find the training center there though. All this in hopes of keeping the locations more secret and avoid having to move the center again due to people revealing its location.

Level one of a large hotel was opened in Bespin. The hotel can be accessed from near the Bespin docks. Work is being done on the remaining levels of the hotel as well.

A government complex was opened on Corellia, adding almost 80 new rooms to the planet.

All the newbie areas around the mud were moved into a Newbie Simulator, which new players can access from Coruscant. When inside the Simulator newbies can easily access any newbie area they wish and get instant transport back to Coruscant when they leave the simulator. New players also get a set of basic starting equipment when they enter the Simulator.

Jedi alignment is finally implemented! From now on, jedi and team alignment are two separate things, so players can be Rebel Dark Jedi, or Neutral Light Jedi etc. Jedi alignment is still divided into Dark (-50 to -1) and Light (1 to 50) Jedi. Jedi alignment 0 means that a person is not a Jedi at all. Jedi is also generally being worked on, with old skills fixed and new skills added. The High Mortal Jedi skills will also be coded shortly.

A clan system has been coded and is undergoing its first steps. There are currently 3 clans in development, and applications for more have been accepted and should be operational very soon. All clans will receive a special room with a board for its members. All clan members must be player killers. Different kinds of tools and equipment can be bought for the clan, such as an equipment donation locker, communication device etc. Read about clans for more information.

Preliminary work has begun on adding two new guilds to the mud: bounty hunters and diplomats. Everything is still being planned and discussed and there is no definite information yet, nor any idea of when the guilds will be accessible.