FES Headlines

A Heavy Heart, A Hard Pill to Swallow

Kyenia — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 01:30:35 +0100

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

It is with a heavy heart and a tear that I announce something we should have done much sooner. I am publicly announcing that the Force Elite Soldiers is on a hiatus. Some may argue that it has been for some time, especially in certain divisions, and I agree. But as a Moff Council we should make an announcement that makes this official.

Corporate Universal tried Star Wars: The Old Republic, and it failed to meet everyone’s expectations. The Black Sword Fleet lost Star Wars Galaxies and struggles to keep itself going on its emulated server. The Shadow Army has become very fragmented over the last year divided in different games and wreaking havoc as small teams instead of as a group (not that I’m not proud still). The Remnant Corps have tried multiple games and hasn’t found it’s step either.

This isn’t to say that we don’t get back on our feet in the future. I still plan to stick around now that I am back from Afghanistan and play with the remaining Army members who are up for a united game. Hopefully the remaining division leaders come on board with this as well when they sort out their other life obligations.

If you have any questions you can PM me, I usually read mine every weekend.

- Cassie (Kyenia)

SWTOR Preorder Now Available

Reporter — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:03:49 +0100

Now available: Preordering Star Wars™: The Old Republic™!

Play Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ and explore an age thousands of years before the rise of Darth Vader when war between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire divides the galaxy. Team up with other players to battle enemies in dynamic Star Wars™ combat and overcome incredible challenges.

The order in which you redeem your Pre-order Code is the order in which you will gain Early Game Access before the game’s official release. So don’t wait and pre-order now!

More Information can be found at the preorder page here: http://www.swtor.com/preorder

The Navy post-SWG

Motti — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 01:49:44 +0100

Well the time we were all expecting would eventually happen is here, SWG is set to be put down December 15th of this year. What does that mean for the Navy? Let’s go through a quick breakdown that we discussed in our emergency Senate meeting this morning:

What will the Navy do now?

We’ll carry on as we always have; making our experience the best there is in SWG. We’ll continue to satisfy our member base and bring the best content and events as we can to our base. We’ll also kill a whole lot of rebels.
What’s going to happen after SWG is dropped?

We still plan to have those playing SWTOR to switch to Corporate Universal’s planned guild. We of course don’t want to lose the Navy, so there are plans to setup pre-cu based servers for those who enjoyed SWG and want a place to play. If we can break down some of the new content or even NGE content, we’ll include this as well.
Is another game in the Navy’s future?

Of course. Without a game, the Navy won’t be able to function as an active division. Debates are ranging from EVE Online to Star Trek Online, though Star Wars fans may shoot themselves in the face if we make STO an official game. We’re looking for another MMO that offers space and sci-fi elements.
What about our website and all that SWG-integrated features?

Obviously we can't use that anymore, so any SWG-related features will be pulled unless we can get them working with a pre-cu backend. Any new game will of course be brought into our website.

We will go into more detail once plans are further along for our post-SWG plans. We don’t want to decimate our member base, but we understand that we won’t be able to keep all of you, and we won’t be able to keep everyone satisfied with a single game with so many opinions. No division or gaming club for that matter wants to lose their established game, but we have no choice in the matter. We’ll continue to move forward, we hope you all continue with us through that journey as well.

- Fleet Rep, Admiral Motti.

SWG to End Dec 15

Reporter — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 01:28:44 +0100

Star Wars Galaxies is dying. Yes, we all heard this before, but this time it's coming straight from Sony Online Entertainment itself. Sony has announced that the contract with LucasArts is up in early 2012, so the game will end December 15th. From the official closing announcement:

This is the producer note that I never wanted to write. As was announced today, the Star Wars Galaxies service will come to an end on December 15^th, 2011. Galaxies has been a part of all our lives for so many years that it's really going to be hard to see it end. It has meant different things to each of us. For some it's about combat. For others it's about socializing, or crafting, or collecting, or decorating, or fishing, or adventuring, or more. For all of us, though, Galaxies is about sharing experiences with our friends. May of this year was my 7^th year working on this game. As a developer, Galaxies has been an opportunity for me to learn how to create a virtual universe and to interact with a community that is very passionate about the product I work on. When you look back at all the updates over the years, it's very impressive how much we managed to get done. In the end, it is our fans that made all the hard work and effort worth it.

From former Creative Director Raph Koster's blog:

Star Wars Galaxies, a game I was the creative director on, is shutting down. It’s happening in mid-December.

From Sony CEO John Smedley's comments:

The decision to shut down SWG is first and foremost a business decision mutually agreed upon between SOE and LucasArts. LucasArts has a new game coming out, and the contract would be running out in 2012 anyway, so we feel like it's the right time for the game to end.

More information and special deals for subscribers can be found here at the official shutting down page: http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/playerinfo/

Guild Wars Update in SWG

Reporter — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 17:51:54 +0100

To much dismay of the Stormtrooper Corps, the griefing potential of guild wars has been altered and guild wars themselves have seen some significant updates both on live and in testing. The changes are the following:

Guild Wars in Space

Guild war PvP between ships has been added, including the guild war excluded and guild war exclusive rules, the 1 minute guild war cooldown after cloning or ejecting, and the guild war kill count tracking.
Intra-guild squad PvP between ships has been added, including the 1 minute guild squad PvP cooldown after cloning or ejecting, and the guild squad PvP kill count tracking.
For POB ships, the guild war and guild squad PvP rules will apply regardless of who is actually in the pilot chair, even if the pilot chair is empty or someone else (besides the guild war/guild squad PvP guild member who owns the ship) is in the pilot chair. It is the ship's owner, and ONLY the ship's owner, regardless of where on the ship the ship's owner happens to be, that will affect how the ship will be involved under the guild war and guild squad PvP rules.

Guild: Intra-Guild Squad PvP

Guild members belonging to any of the 4 squad guild ranks (Guild Squad A, Guild Squad B, Guild Squad C, and Guild Squad D) can now PvP other guild members belonging to another squad. This can be useful for practicing group PvP tactics, settling/creating intra-guild drama/disputes, guild RP/events/tournaments, etc.
Access the Intra-Guild Squad PvP UI from the Remote Player Association Access Device in the Datapad, or by /guildSquadPvp.
From the Intra-Guild Squad PvP UI, guild members with the Set Rank guild permission can toggle the PvP status of the 6 possible guild squad PvP types (A vs B, A vs C, A vs D, B vs C, B vs D, and C vs D), specify whether to track score/kill counts for each squad PvP type, and reset the score/kill counts for each squad PvP type.
A guild member can be in multiple squads, and multiple guild squad PvP types can be enabled simultaneously, creating "interesting" alliances/scenarios.
If you are on a squad that is part of an enabled squad PvP type, after you clone, you will incur a 1 minute guild squad PvP "cool down" period during which you cannot engage in guild squad PvP combat (attack or be attacked). This rule affects guild squad PvP only. All other PvP rules are still in effect.

Exemption System Changes

A GuildWar channel has been added to receive guild war kill notification for guild wars your guild is currently involved in.
In addition to the existing /guildnotify slash command, you can now also toggle your guild login status notification by selecting yourself from the guild Permission List window.
The guild war Exemption/Exclusive permissions have been split into separate ground and space guild war Exemption/Exclusive permissions.
HINT/REMINDER: Use the Exclusive permission if there are only a few guild members you want to participate in guild wars. Just flag those guild members with the Exclusive permission. If any guild member is flagged with the Exclusive permission, all other guild members will be automatically exempt from guild wars (regardless of their Exemption permission status), unless they are also flagged with the Exclusive permission. This is more efficient than having to flag everyone with the Exemption permission. Conversely, if you want most of the guild members to participate in guild wars, with the exception of a few, then use the Exemption permission. Flag those few members with the Exemption permission and everyone will be included in guild wars except for those flagged with the Exemption permission. This is more efficient than having to flag everyone with the Exclusive permission. Remember, Exclusive supersedes Exemption, so a guild member with both the Exclusive and Exemption permissions will always be included in guild wars. If someone in the guild with Set Permissions permission is making you Exclusive (or removing your Exemption status) against your wishes, because you have unilaterally given yourself the Exemption permission, perhaps it's time to consider a new guild, or a new guild leader.
The mechanism for ending a guild war has been changed. The following are the new methods that guild X can use to end a guild war with guild Y.
Guild X disbands. The guild war will be immediately terminated, and the newly added Status column in the Ended Guild Wars window will display "X disbanded".
Guild X surrenders, by selecting the guild war from the Guild Enemies window, and then selecting Surrender. The guild war will be immediately terminated, and the newly added Status column in the Ended Guild Wars window will display "X surrendered".
Guild X offers truce, by selecting the guild war from the Guild Enemies window, and then selecting Truce. The Guild Enemies window will display that X has offered truce, and the newly added Status column in the Active Guild Wars window will display "X offered truce". Once a truce has been offered, it cannot be withdrawn.
If guild Y accepts the offered truce, by selecting the guild war from the Guild Enemies window, and then selecting Yes to confirm acceptance of the offered truce, the guild war will be immediately terminated, and the newly added Status column in the Ended Guild Wars window will display "X offered truce - accepted".
If guild Y doesn't accept the offered truce, after 7 days have elapsed (during which time, the guild war will still be on), on the next galaxy restart, the guild war will be terminated, and the newly added Status column in the Ended Guild Wars window will display "X offered truce - expired".
Notifications of guild disband, surrender, truce offer, and truce acceptance will be sent to the GuildWar channel of members of the 2 guilds involved.
New guild members will now have the ground and space guild war Exemption permissions set by default.

Stocks Reveals New Changes

Reporter — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:12:14 +0100

Stock Market Overseer Stelec announced last weekend that new changes are here for the Galactic Stock Market. The announcement at the monthly Merchant Conglomerate meeting was on the heels of other important announcements to overhaul the aging merchant authority. The Stock Market now provides individual Corporation data, specific industry data, market share information as well as the ability to search back up to a year in history.

For the non-merchants the Stock Market can be found here at the Black Sword Fleet site.

New Fleet Website Live

Reaper — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:33:04 +0100

After months of planning, information gathering and divisional coordination, the Black Sword Fleet''s beta website phase 1 is now live. While many have been using the stock market update since September, it should be no surprise to many of you.

I''d like to thank the efforts of Havoc and Renegade for the site design as well as Motti and Kieran for the writing and editing of content. Many members also provided captions, screenshots and videos and as I don''t have the list handy, I''d like to thank all the members for participating in making this project a reality.

I''d like to also remind everyone that we have a major vote this week for your political representatives in the Politik Korps senate. Be sure to enter your votes before Friday. The Senate has become a much more important organization in the last few months, so these votes now matter.

Enjoy the new site and let me know in-game or private message if anything is still broken or not linking correctly.

SWG Bonus Everything Weekend!

Reporter — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 01:49:25 +0100

Bonus Everything Weekend Is Coming!

Bonus Everything Weekend is returning this Labor Day holiday! Stock up on food and drinks, grab your favorite chair and get ready for double the action!

During the Bonus Everything Weekend, everyone logged in will earn Double XP, Double GCW Points, Double GCW Tokens from Battlefields and City Invasions, Double Pet XP and Loyalty, Double Chronicles XP, Double Chronicles Silver Tokens and an increased chance to earn Gold Chronicles Tokens!

The bonus period starts on Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 4am PDT and ends Tuesday, September 7, 2010 at 4am PDT.

Mark the dates and tell your friends… Bonus Everything Weekend Is Coming!

Claim your 7th Anniversary Year 4 Gift!

Greetings Citizens!

Time is running out to claim your SWG 7th Anniversary Year 4 gift! Log in now to claim your gift - you''ll receive the ''Schematic: Vehicle Lava Resistance Kit'' and the ''Seven Years of Galaxies Year 4'' collection item which you can add to your collection or keep as a house decoration! For those tough enough to travel to Mustafa and brave the lava world and conquer HK-47, there awaits another prize to be won!

On Thursday, September 2, 2010 4:00 am U.S. Pacific Time we''ll be removing access to the Year 4 gift and releasing the ability to claim the Year 5 gift.

Get your Year 4 gift while there''s still time!

Navy Awards Begins Next Week

Reaper — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 20:54:15 +0100

This week we're starting back with Navy awards on the site. In-game awards are still going to happen, but we'd like to bring back the interaction with the FES network and so we'll be giving awards and other promotions through the website. Thanks for everyone who has given us a list of new awards to add, we'll be working on those this week as well. Starting next Friday we will give between 20-100 awards out a week depending on what its for.

IE6 Back in Action

Havoc — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 19:17:35 +0100

After a large number of complaints and a variety of solutions brought to the table, IE6 again will be allowed to work with our web site and forums. A few feature will not work in IE6 and will go to an error page, including the wiki.

As the backend work continues on the web site we will make sure that it is fully IE6-8 compatible and all our features work in IE6, IE7, IE8, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari. This is the main focus of the next few months for our web team.