CITY LIFE IS HERE!

After a lot of planning, development, testing, and preparation, we are excited to officially announce the release of City Life!

City Life is one of our biggest changes to the server in a while and introduces an entirely new style of RP alongside our traditional Star Wars RP.

The goal of City Life is simple: give players more freedom to create their own RP.

Instead of everything revolving around events or structured Star Wars RP, Vardos now gives players a living city where they can work jobs, make money, own property, cause trouble, interact with other players, and create their own stories.

WELCOME TO VARDOS

Vardos is our new Base Map and the home of City Life.

The map gives us the opportunity to have a much larger variety of RP while still supporting our traditional Star Wars RP.

Throughout the city, players will find areas such as:

• The Bank

• The Bar

• The Senate

• Apartments

• The Hospital

• The Docks

• Underground Tunnels

• The Temple

• Our Base

These locations aren't just there for decoration. We want players, staff, GMs, and regiments to actually use the city and create RP around it.

NEW CITY LIFE JOBS

While playing on Vardos, players now have access to several new City Life Jobs that allow them to step outside of their normal roles and experience the city in different ways.

These jobs are exclusive to Vardos and will only be accessible while Vardos is our active map.

Citizen

Sometimes you just want to experience Vardos as a normal citizen.

Citizens can explore the city, interact with other players, open businesses, own property, find ways to make credits, and create their own RP.

Mayor

Players can now participate in elections and become the Mayor of Vardos!

We intentionally want Mayor RP to remain fairly open-ended. Different players can approach being Mayor differently, create their own goals, establish laws, interact with citizens, and decide what kind of Mayor they want to be.

However, your actions as Mayor can have consequences.

If you make controversial decisions, upset certain groups, or generally give people reasons to dislike your administration, you are responsible for the possibility of making yourself a bigger target.

How you choose to run Vardos is up to you, but the city may react accordingly.

Scum

Not everyone living on Vardos has good intentions.

Scum gives players another opportunity to participate in the criminal side of City Life. Cause trouble, make credits, plan crimes, interact with other criminals, and try not to get caught.

Hobo

Hobos offer a more chaotic and unserious style of City Life RP.

Hobos are able to build on the streets of Vardos, beg other players for cash, interact with citizens, and generally find their own ways to cause some trouble around the city.

Hobo Lord

Every group of Hobos needs someone at the top.

The Hobo Lord is a limited one-slot job intended to serve as the self-proclaimed leader of Vardos' Hobo population.

Gather your fellow Hobos, establish your territory, and organize whatever questionable activities you can come up with.

Whether the other Hobos actually listen to you is another question.

CRIMINALS & BOUNTY HUNTERS

City Life isn't only about the new jobs. The update also gives our existing criminal jobs, factions, and Bounty Hunters significantly more opportunities for RP.

Groups such as the Pykes and other criminal roles now have an entire city population to interact with. Criminals can conduct business, organize criminal activity, interact with civilians, become involved with the Mayor and city government, and create their own situations throughout Vardos.

The addition of citizens, businesses, property, a Mayor, and other City Life systems gives these roles much more to interact with during everyday RP.

Bounty Hunters also benefit directly from this increased activity.

With more civilians and criminals operating throughout Vardos, Bounty Hunters have more opportunities to get involved in situations happening naturally around the city.

Together, this creates a much larger environment for both sides. Criminals have more opportunities to create activity, while Bounty Hunters have more opportunities to respond to and become involved in that activity.

THE VARDOS CITY BANK

TheVardos City Bank will be more than just another location around the city.

We will be implementing raidable bank vaults throughout the server, with the primary vault being located inside the Vardos City Bank.

These vaults aren't just being added as targets for the Pykes and other criminal jobs. They are also objectives for the Republic to protect.

Criminals will have the opportunity to plan and attempt robberies for credits, while Republic forces will have an actual objective to defend and respond to when those robberies occur.

More specifically, this gives Shock an important role within City Life. Protecting the bank and its vault, responding to robberies, securing the area, and dealing with those responsible will give Shock another responsibility within Vardos outside of the Republic base.

The goal is for the bank to create RP on both sides. Criminals have something valuable to target, while the Republic has something valuable to protect.

The Vardos City Bank will contain the primary vault, but additional raidable vaults may also be implemented in other locations throughout the server.

NEW REGIMENT & FACTION CONTENT

City Life isn't only adding content for our new jobs. A major part of this update is giving our existing regiments and factions more things to actually do throughout Vardos.

Several new systems have been created specifically around different regiments and factions, with more opportunities for this type of content in the future.

41st— Rat King Hunts

The 41st now has a new threat to deal with: The Rat King.

Depending on the number of 41st online, they may receive an alert that the Rat King has been let loose somewhere within Vardos.

Their job is to track it down, hunt it through the city, and capture it.

The 41st will have access to the Anti-Rat King Beam, which must be used to weaken the Rat King before it can finally be captured.

21st Nova Corps— City Hazards

The 21st Nova Corps now has a series of new hazards that can appear throughout Vardos.

These include:

• Fires

• Electrical Hazards

• Gas Leaks

Each hazard requires specific equipment and tools to properly deal with.

We intend for these hazards to have the ability to randomly occur throughout the city when enough 21st are online, giving Nova Corps situations they can respond to without needing a GM to manually create them.

104th&Pykes— Vehicle Delivery and Theft

A new Vehicle Delivery System has been added, creating opportunities for both the 104th and Pykes.

The 104th can transport vehicles throughout Vardos and deliver them to an NPC, allowing the vehicle to be sold for a refund.

The Pykes, on the other hand, can take a slightly less legal approach.

Pykes can steal vehicles and transport them to the new Scrap Dealer NPC, where stolen vehicles can be sold for a fraction of their original value.

This creates another system where Republic and criminal players can interact with the same mechanic in completely different ways.

Shock&Naval— Evidence Display Data Pad

Shock and Naval will receive access to the new Evidence Display Data Pad.

This tool is primarily intended to support court RP, allowing evidence to actually be displayed and presented during court cases.

This gives Shock and Naval another tool to support investigations, prosecutions, trials, and other legal RP taking place within Vardos.

7th Sky Corps&Pykes— Territory Control

Vardos will also introduce a new Territory Capture System.

New capture zones will be placed throughout the map that can become contested between the Republic and the Pykes.

These territories can be captured by the 7th Sky Corps — the501stand212th — as well as thePykes, creating an ongoing fight for control of different areas.

While the 7th Sky Corps will be the Republic force capable of capturing these territories, we expect all Republic troops to contribute when needed to help defend and maintain control of these zones.

The goal is to create an ongoing objective throughout Vardos where territory can change hands and both sides have reasons to attack, defend, and maintain control.

CITY BUILDING

Approved City Life jobs can now build throughout designated areas of the city.

Build a home.

Open a business.

Set up a shop.

Create a hideout.

Or make something completely ridiculous.

We want players to get creative and actually make Vardos feel different depending on who is online and what people are doing.

To help keep server performance under control, City Building uses an approved selection of props rather than unrestricted prop spawning.

PLAYER-DRIVEN RP

This is probably the most important part of City Life.

You don't have to wait for a GM to start having fun.

City Life is designed to give players the tools and locations necessary for RP to happen naturally.

Start a business. Run for Mayor. Commit a crime. Become a local menace. Organize something with other citizens. Start a protest. Make some credits. Get a group together and create your own storyline.

The server gives you the environment and tools.

What happens with them is up to the community.

GMs & CITY LIFE

City Life also opens up a completely new playground for our Game Masters.

Not every event needs to be a massive deployment.

GMs can now create smaller events and situations directly inside Vardos, allowing random things to happen throughout the city and helping keep the map active.

You might log on expecting a normal day in the city only for something completely unexpected to start happening.

City Life gives our GMs significantly more opportunities to create spontaneous RP without having to take everyone away from the map.

QUESTS THROUGHOUT VARDOS

Alongside our Game Masters, we will also be working closely with our Quest Master Team to make sure quests take full advantage of everything Vardos has to offer.

Quests will no longer be focused only around the Republic base or designed exclusively for Republic jobs.

We want quests to be spread throughout Vardos, giving players reasons to explore the city and interact with its different locations.

This also means creating quests for the different types of players participating in City Life. Citizens, Hobos,criminals,Bounty Hunters,Republic jobs, and others should all have opportunities to find quests that fit what they're doing.

Some quests may send Republic forces to deal with problems around the city, while others may give a Citizen a way to earn some credits, give criminals something questionable to do, or send a Hobo on an unusual task.

Our goal is to make quests feel like they are actually part of Vardos, rather than something that exists only inside the Republic base.

As City Life continues to grow, we intend to continue working with the Quest Master Team to add more quests and give players more things to discover and do throughout the city.

CITY LIFE WILL CONTINUE TO GROW

This release is not the finished version of City Life.

We fully expect City Life to continue changing based on how the community actually uses it.

Jobs may be adjusted. New jobs may be added. Locations may receive additional uses. Systems may be expanded. Underused content may be changed, and entirely new features may be introduced.

We would rather build City Life around what the community actually enjoys than assume we already know exactly what it should become.

CITY LIFE — RELEASE UPDATE LOG

For anyone looking for a more direct breakdown of what has changed, here is the official update log for the initial release of City Life.

Vardos

• Vardos is now our new Base Map.

• Introduced City Life as a new style of RP alongside our traditional Star Wars RP.

• Expanded opportunities for player-driven RP throughout Vardos.

New City Life Jobs

• Added Citizen.

• Added Mayor.

• Added Scum.

• Added Hobo.

• Added Hobo Lord.

• City Life jobs are only accessible while playing on Vardos.

Mayor & Elections

• Added player Mayor elections.

• Added the Mayor's Secretary election NPC.

• Added the ability for the Mayor to establish laws.

• Added a City Laws HUD for players to view current laws while a Mayor is in office.

• The Mayor and voting systems are map-specific and can only be used while playing on Vardos.

City Building

• Added building permissions for approved City Life jobs.

• Added a City Building prop whitelist.

• Added approved props for players to use when creating homes, businesses, shops, hideouts, and other RP builds.

• Added restrictions preventing unauthorized jobs from using City Building features.

Vardos City Bank & Raidable Vaults

• Established the Vardos City Bank as a major City Life location.

• Raidable bank vaults will be implemented throughout the server.

• The primary raidable vault will be located within the Vardos City Bank.

• Vaults provide criminals with valuable targets to raid.

• Vaults also provide the Republic with objectives to protect.

• Shock will have a major role in protecting the Vardos City Bank and responding to attempted robberies.

Regiment & Faction Content

• Added the Rat King Hunt system for the 41st.

• Added Fire, Electrical, and Gas Leak hazards for the 21st Nova Corps.

• Added the new Vehicle Delivery System for the 104th.

• Added the Scrap Dealer system for Pykes to sell stolen vehicles.

• Added the Evidence Display Data Pad for Shock and Naval.

• Added new Territory Capture Zones for the 7th Sky Corps and Pykes.

Vardos RP

• Established the Bar as an RP location.

• Established Apartments as usable City Life spaces.

• Established the Hospital as an RP location.

• Expanded RP opportunities around the Senate, Docks, Tunnels, Temple, and other areas of Vardos.

Additional Changes

• Added and adjusted supporting systems necessary for City Life.

• Added restrictions and safeguards to help maintain server performance.

• Updated server systems to support City Life jobs and gameplay.

• Additional balancing, fixes, and adjustments will continue after launch based on community feedback.

WE WANT YOUR FEEDBACK

City Life is something we plan to continue developing, and community feedback during its launch is extremely important.

Tell us what you enjoy, what you don't enjoy, what you think is being underutilized, what you think City Life is missing, and any bugs or errors you experience.

We have created a dedicated #city-life-feedback channel under theFeedback/Ideas category in our Discord.

If you have feedback regarding City Life, please use that channel and let us know what you think.

Management will be actively watching the feedback we receive and how City Life is being used so we can determine what should be changed, improved, expanded, or added in future updates.

THANK YOU

A lot of work has gone into getting City Life ready, and we're extremely excited to finally put it into the hands of the community.

This update is ultimately about giving everyone more things to do, more ways to RP, and more reasons to get involved with the server.

Most importantly, City Life is something that will continue to evolve alongside the community.

City Life is what you make of it.

Welcome to Vardos.

From,
FBG Community Management