February 2004 Update

Here's what's happened within the last few months:

COMBAT
First, a crash on November 19, 2003 set back the mud about two months (the backups that had been made were accidentally erased as well). Most of the coding was replaced within the next couple of weeks, but some of the larger projects have yet to be refinished, and some of the minor tweaks may not yet have been remembered and replaced.

Morgan had released 3 new races before the crash, and the mud had gone through a race change period. With the crash, the races had to be re-released. Morgan released 5 new races the second time around: Gand, Gungan, Togorian, Verpine, and Zabrak. Ideas for stats and skills go to various other players and coders. We thank you all.

Also, the Bimm race is no longer a selectable option for player creation. Current Bimm players may keep their characters without any penalty, but there will be no new Bimms.

With the exception of the Merchant Container Quest, the Merchant guild has completed its renovation. Keep an eye out for a new Merchant trading system in the next few months, too. It promises to be interesting.

The droid daemon was significantly updated in order to allow for the new HM slicer abilities under Advanced Droid Control, including multiple droids slaved to one module and repetition of commands. As a result, the syntax for droid control was also updated: all control commands now require the word 'to' as part of the command. Please read the new panic file carefully.

Some smaller combat updates:
Bodyguards should not take all of the experience for a kill any longer if they make the kill.
The fastdraw skill should now hold your weapon after being drawn, so that you can't accidentally sell it.
Improve can no longer be used during combat.

WIZARD PROMOTIONS
Congratulations to Aerin for making Ambassador!
Congratulations to Jessica and Morbius for making Secretary!

AREAS
Af'El has been released!
The Af'El, Ka'Dedus, planets, quest_doc, and secret_list panic files were recently updated in anticipation of this.

Nar Shaddaa was submitted to Area and Balance before the crash, but suffered a set back due to the crash. It is still in progress at this time.

QUESTS
The Merchant Container Quest is currently submitted to Area and Balance.
The Slicer Slicertool Quest is currently under construction.
The High Mortal Quest is still under construction.

PLAYER-KILLING
Some of the prices for clan purchases were raised.

GENERAL INFORMATION
The Administration released a general announcement that players not buy and sell unreasonable amounts of items in order to run up skill percentages (like haggle), or the sell command will be modified to prevent such selling.

Players are now able to change their gender, from male to female or vice-versa, in the Coruscant Medical Facility [MED] for one million credits. Characters undergoing this surgery will be unable to withstand another operation for three months.

An unequip command was created to remove all worn items of armor (except those that auto-load) and unwield the currently wielded weapon.

A checkmail command was created to give players a quick way to see if they have unread mail.

Syringes were changed so that if they are not in a player's possession, a player cannot see what type of fluid the syringe contains. This change includes syringes within shop inventories. They also now show you a message when you use the last dose in them.

A logo contest was held and a new logo was chosen for SWmud. This logo was used on merchandise that can now be purchased to help pay for the cost of hosting the mud and hardware upgrades. Alternatively, you can also make a Paypal donation to SWmud using the 'Donate to SWmud' button on the top right menu of each page.

Congratulations to Thrud, who reached the highest levels of 50/50/19, and entered the Hall of Fame.

Lots of little things were updated, among them:
donate all was changed to prevent the donation of held items.
Some of the feelings were updated due to 'abuse'.
The sponsor command was updated to allow questbanned players to see their current sponsors' levels.
hmplan and merchads were made into full editors.
'Druggedness' was added as an option to the prompt command.
Bodyguards were given the ability to unequip.
alias and nickname were updated to tell you how many you have used of your limit after additions or changes.
The who command now has flags to look for Newbie Helpers and Player Council members.
The inventory commands now show you how much weight you are currently carrying.
Droid slave modules now indicate which droid they currently control when you look at them!
reinforce and construct now check for the first full toolbox in your inventory.
Heavy and light ammoes were changed so that you call check ammo, check ammo 2, check ammo 3, etc.

And finally, the Player Census was run in December 2003, and here were the stats as of December 20, 2003:

• 294 players of level 5 or greater logged in.

* This does not indicate no players of this type. However, none logged in or were above level 5 during this period.