Best Of
Sexual Harassment Allegations
Hi.
Sexual assault survivor here.
Please, for the love of all things holy and my sanity, if you are being actually harassed in game, remove yourself from the individual at fault and issue them if it's a big enough problem. Harassment is against the rules and it will be handled. The admin can review logs and determine what happened and handle it accordingly.
Please do not make it the center of a political discussion.
I cannot begin to explain how deeply frustrating it is to see these things be made a political football for dramatic effect as someone who didn't have the option to QQ out of my abuse. There is never a reason you should be forced to endure real abuse in a text game. Have some common decency for the people around you who have actual trauma related to this kind of behavior.
Thanks.
Sexual assault survivor here.
Please, for the love of all things holy and my sanity, if you are being actually harassed in game, remove yourself from the individual at fault and issue them if it's a big enough problem. Harassment is against the rules and it will be handled. The admin can review logs and determine what happened and handle it accordingly.
Please do not make it the center of a political discussion.
I cannot begin to explain how deeply frustrating it is to see these things be made a political football for dramatic effect as someone who didn't have the option to QQ out of my abuse. There is never a reason you should be forced to endure real abuse in a text game. Have some common decency for the people around you who have actual trauma related to this kind of behavior.
Thanks.
TextWench
15
Ship updates - batch #1
We are pleased to announce the first batch of changes in our large overhaul to our ship system! The goal of these changes is to make ship building and use a little more user-friendly, while still keeping a wide gamut of configuration and customisation available to truly make your vessels your own!
Here are the details of this batch:
Superstructures and components
------------------------------
* Ship classes, which are now more core to the ship experience, are as follows:
* Interceptor, Corvette, Destroyer, Cruiser, Battleship, Freighter, and Superhauler.
* Each ship class will will have subclasses: Light (meaning more nimble, but less resistant to damage), Heavy (less nimble, more resistant to damage), or Normal (which is a balance between the two).
* Insurance costs and voidgate fees are now solely based on ship class.
* There is now a wider spread of turning times and general handling between the different classes, with larger vessels being less agile.
* Components (engines, capacitors, etc) are now designed for a particular ship class. An engine made for an interceptor will not work in a freighter.
* All components now have mass and power draw.
* Component mass no longer influences cargo capacity.
* Components are now balanced in a way to promote meaningful decision about what components you use. If you want the best engine, you will need to skimp on another component.
* Engines no longer control ship component power and thrust. They now only handle ship thrust. Superstructures will have in-built power generators that provide a fixed power supply for components and modules.
* Ship thrust formulas have been reworked (we are monitoring this, and while it tested well, this might need some more adjustments).
* Shipsim cycles are now only required for weapon usage.
* Component health pools have all been increased to be commensurate with the hull integrity of the intended superstructure. This means that an engine for an Interceptor (for example) has a health pool intended for the Interceptor superstructure.
Weapons and modules
-------------------
* Modules are now differentiated by category and size, so you might have a small weapon slot, or a large utility slot. Existing ship modules have been updated to reflect this.
* Weapons now have tracking speeds, which controls accuracy of the weapon based on the size and speed of the target. A larger weapon with slow tracking will have low accuracy vs a small ship moving at speed. If the smaller ship isn't moving, the accuracy is much higher.
* Ship size modifiers for target locks have been removed.
* Ship size modifiers for shield bypass have been removed.
* Ammunition bias' have been reworked:
* Thermal ammo does full damage to hulls, no damage to shields. (100%/0%)
* Kinetic ammo does split damage to hulls and shields. (50%/50%)
* EM ammo does no damage to hulls, and full damage to shields (0%/100%)
* Gravitic ammo does more damage to hulls and less damage to shields(67%/33%)
Conversion
----------
We've converted all existing ships to work with these changes. If your vessel had any conflicts, we've automatically docked it (if it was not already docked) at your Faction's station (or Omni if you're factionless), to give you a chance to resolve the issues.
This is just the first batch of changes. We have three more planned batches in our development queue, covering more weapons changes and balancing, the captaincy skill, space gathering mechanics, more shipmods/drops, and other quality-of-life improvements. Stay tuned!
Here are the details of this batch:
Superstructures and components
------------------------------
* Ship classes, which are now more core to the ship experience, are as follows:
* Interceptor, Corvette, Destroyer, Cruiser, Battleship, Freighter, and Superhauler.
* Each ship class will will have subclasses: Light (meaning more nimble, but less resistant to damage), Heavy (less nimble, more resistant to damage), or Normal (which is a balance between the two).
* Insurance costs and voidgate fees are now solely based on ship class.
* There is now a wider spread of turning times and general handling between the different classes, with larger vessels being less agile.
* Components (engines, capacitors, etc) are now designed for a particular ship class. An engine made for an interceptor will not work in a freighter.
* All components now have mass and power draw.
* Component mass no longer influences cargo capacity.
* Components are now balanced in a way to promote meaningful decision about what components you use. If you want the best engine, you will need to skimp on another component.
* Engines no longer control ship component power and thrust. They now only handle ship thrust. Superstructures will have in-built power generators that provide a fixed power supply for components and modules.
* Ship thrust formulas have been reworked (we are monitoring this, and while it tested well, this might need some more adjustments).
* Shipsim cycles are now only required for weapon usage.
* Component health pools have all been increased to be commensurate with the hull integrity of the intended superstructure. This means that an engine for an Interceptor (for example) has a health pool intended for the Interceptor superstructure.
Weapons and modules
-------------------
* Modules are now differentiated by category and size, so you might have a small weapon slot, or a large utility slot. Existing ship modules have been updated to reflect this.
* Weapons now have tracking speeds, which controls accuracy of the weapon based on the size and speed of the target. A larger weapon with slow tracking will have low accuracy vs a small ship moving at speed. If the smaller ship isn't moving, the accuracy is much higher.
* Ship size modifiers for target locks have been removed.
* Ship size modifiers for shield bypass have been removed.
* Ammunition bias' have been reworked:
* Thermal ammo does full damage to hulls, no damage to shields. (100%/0%)
* Kinetic ammo does split damage to hulls and shields. (50%/50%)
* EM ammo does no damage to hulls, and full damage to shields (0%/100%)
* Gravitic ammo does more damage to hulls and less damage to shields(67%/33%)
Conversion
----------
We've converted all existing ships to work with these changes. If your vessel had any conflicts, we've automatically docked it (if it was not already docked) at your Faction's station (or Omni if you're factionless), to give you a chance to resolve the issues.
This is just the first batch of changes. We have three more planned batches in our development queue, covering more weapons changes and balancing, the captaincy skill, space gathering mechanics, more shipmods/drops, and other quality-of-life improvements. Stay tuned!
Tecton
12
Re: Player Artwork/Designs?
One of the resident artists of Aetolia was most happy to accept some alien commissions, hehehe.
Sylt in Chibi Form and Portrait Style
Sylt in Chibi Form and Portrait Style
Kirotyn Chibi
Jerrax Chibi
And here is a link to her Twitch if you want to watch her arts come together, and/or get in contact:
Sylt
8
Re: Cosmpiercers
That's not at all what happened with Song, jesus christ.
Song had heard news that Scatterhome had positioned guards on the Reynold Station dropoff point and all over. We'd heard that this guard had been instantly KOing a number of people. We only found a turret, which instantly began to attack us, so we killed it. After that, a fight was instigated over the slap emote.
We didn't storm the station. We remained in one spot and focused on those that attacked us. Others got caught in AoE attacks. Both sides who were actually participating in the conflict expressed positive attitudes towards what went on. It was only after when people heard what happened that this sort of stuff came out.
Most people in Song are encouraged to join in on Cosmpiercers, as they're a healthy objective to aim for. Since the start, we'd considered Cosmpiercers a neutral and fun way to compete with other factions non-violently.
Song knows that we'd crush any faction given time.
The fact that you were declaring us an enemy for taking Cosmpiercers would have meant that eventually, you'd have had our entire faction enemied. We said that this wasn't acceptable, and that this would had basically led to war.
Our offer wasn't for ourselves. If we wanted to, we could come and daily clear your guards, causing a massive waste of your city resources. Instead, we offered you a way to get out of fighting and conflict.
Afterwards, a few individuals from Scatterhome went and spawncamped a non-combatant, repeatedly killing her clones.
This was the first group combat in Starmourn. It was fun for both sides. Yes, we won, but members of SH themselves admitted that they'd enjoyed the fight, and could have just simply left. The issue came with SH people firing AoEs into the room we'd set up in, and Sythiorn's eventual Beast AoE, which massively damaged mostly Song members.
Our interests were in our newer members and the state of Scatterhome. Scatterhome would suffer far, far more than Song would.
Song had heard news that Scatterhome had positioned guards on the Reynold Station dropoff point and all over. We'd heard that this guard had been instantly KOing a number of people. We only found a turret, which instantly began to attack us, so we killed it. After that, a fight was instigated over the slap emote.
We didn't storm the station. We remained in one spot and focused on those that attacked us. Others got caught in AoE attacks. Both sides who were actually participating in the conflict expressed positive attitudes towards what went on. It was only after when people heard what happened that this sort of stuff came out.
Most people in Song are encouraged to join in on Cosmpiercers, as they're a healthy objective to aim for. Since the start, we'd considered Cosmpiercers a neutral and fun way to compete with other factions non-violently.
Song knows that we'd crush any faction given time.
The fact that you were declaring us an enemy for taking Cosmpiercers would have meant that eventually, you'd have had our entire faction enemied. We said that this wasn't acceptable, and that this would had basically led to war.
Our offer wasn't for ourselves. If we wanted to, we could come and daily clear your guards, causing a massive waste of your city resources. Instead, we offered you a way to get out of fighting and conflict.
Afterwards, a few individuals from Scatterhome went and spawncamped a non-combatant, repeatedly killing her clones.
This was the first group combat in Starmourn. It was fun for both sides. Yes, we won, but members of SH themselves admitted that they'd enjoyed the fight, and could have just simply left. The issue came with SH people firing AoEs into the room we'd set up in, and Sythiorn's eventual Beast AoE, which massively damaged mostly Song members.
Our interests were in our newer members and the state of Scatterhome. Scatterhome would suffer far, far more than Song would.
Wuff
5
Re: The tips and tricks thread
And speaking of QUESTS, you'll be thrown into the main story line quest right away. Embrace it. You're going to learn from the quest, but you may also learn a bit about your character too, if you're open to it. Also, take advantage of the ship tutorials.
(And when you're told to stock up on ship weapons, a review of the commands might be useful before you embark on that journey.)
If you're not used to DIALOGUE TREES, you will be soon. They're a lot of fun. Some choices have more consequences than others. Enjoy.
LEARNING SKILLS is about to be a lot better for those of you coming from other IRE games. No more learning blocks of 20 or even 90 at a time. You have the lessons to learn exploration all at once? Learn exploration all at once. No really, LEARN 1750 EXPLORATION from Caliber will work.
When it comes to BASHING, expect it to be slower than you're used to in other IRE games. For one, there's no equilibrium, herb balance, salve balance... etc. There's simply balance. You're going to have to decide how best to use each balance or else you'll end up dead...
...And then you'll be cloned. You'll come back to life in your new body, ready to go, save for a bit of experience. You can get most of that back by finding your corpse, taking your INR from it, and using your MINDSIM to SCAN the INR. But beware, someone else can beat you to that.
You can also beat them to theirs...
Tecton
5
Re: The tips and tricks thread
This is less a Starmourn tip than it is a general MUD/MUSH tip. Do not reuse passwords!
This is true pretty much everywhere, but with MUDS/MUSHs it's especially important.
While I'm certain IRE takes its security very seriously, some of you may play more than one MUD, and smaller MUDs don't always have the resources to take it as seriously.
For some MUDs login info may be stored server-side or transmitted from your client in clear text.
I want to be clear that nothing has triggered this post, it was just something I remembered on my drive home from work, and I thought it was worth saying.
P.S. I haven't slept in two days so sorry if this makes no sense.
P.P.S. Damn you phone formatting!!!
Fyrel
5
Development Updates - February 20, 2019
Firstly, I have to apologize for things being been a bit slower for the past two weeks, due to my needing to head back to Australia, and having very little in the way of internet access. As I'm sure you're all aware, I'm back now, and it's time to give you some updates on what's happening in terms of Starmourn development.
Current projects we're working on are:
1) Ships - we're updating and improving the entire ship system, making it a lot more user friendly and intuitive. Some highlights of the first phase of this are:
- Making a harder differentiation on ship classes, and dividing the components up in to shipclass-specific options, so fitting out your ship won't just be bigger = better, you'll want to make meaningful decisions as to what you want to prioritize on your vessel.
- Separating power flow and thrust on ships, to make kitting them out a bit easier.
- Weapon ammo and shield/bypass mechanics changes to make these more usable and less frustrating.
This is the first of a couple of batches, with subsequent ones tweaking Captaincy, gathering mechanics, weapons, etc.
2) Economy - Continued work on this, adding more non-space sinks for cargo/refined goods, giving captains easier access to player-created ship supplies, reworking our algorithms for how asteroids and gas clouds spawn, and rejigging things in terms of fees/taxes that you pay in the varying parts of the economical systems.
3) Classleads - As you're all likely aware, classlead reports are open for submission this week. Submissions will close on Sunday, and then you'll be able to comment on the submitted reports with any pertinent input. Once things are all finalized, we'll start coding up the approved reports and getting the class changes into your hot little hands.
4) Building - More hacking content will be coming your way shortly! Our building team is putting the final touches on a new system that combines hacking and questing in a new and exciting way!
Current projects we're working on are:
1) Ships - we're updating and improving the entire ship system, making it a lot more user friendly and intuitive. Some highlights of the first phase of this are:
- Making a harder differentiation on ship classes, and dividing the components up in to shipclass-specific options, so fitting out your ship won't just be bigger = better, you'll want to make meaningful decisions as to what you want to prioritize on your vessel.
- Separating power flow and thrust on ships, to make kitting them out a bit easier.
- Weapon ammo and shield/bypass mechanics changes to make these more usable and less frustrating.
This is the first of a couple of batches, with subsequent ones tweaking Captaincy, gathering mechanics, weapons, etc.
2) Economy - Continued work on this, adding more non-space sinks for cargo/refined goods, giving captains easier access to player-created ship supplies, reworking our algorithms for how asteroids and gas clouds spawn, and rejigging things in terms of fees/taxes that you pay in the varying parts of the economical systems.
3) Classleads - As you're all likely aware, classlead reports are open for submission this week. Submissions will close on Sunday, and then you'll be able to comment on the submitted reports with any pertinent input. Once things are all finalized, we'll start coding up the approved reports and getting the class changes into your hot little hands.
4) Building - More hacking content will be coming your way shortly! Our building team is putting the final touches on a new system that combines hacking and questing in a new and exciting way!
Tecton
16
Re: Scooping, Mining, and Why I Won't Do It
I honestly think the biggest glare with the system as it is simply that is not profitable. People find different things to be enjoyable, and not everyone needs to find everything enjoyable. If you don't enjoy, don't do it, but there is plenty of people who I think would get involved on the trucking business if it was actually worth their while.
It just... Isn't.
Like with most things on the economy side of the game right now
It just... Isn't.
Like with most things on the economy side of the game right now
Arsentar
6
Re: Scooping, Mining, and Why I Won't Do It
Thanks for the post Kestrel. Storytime! During my EVE Online days I had a corpmate who would come home from his job as a mining foreman everyday and login, fly out to the asteroid belts, and mine asteroids for 6-8 hours straight. I could not for the life of me understand his affinity for what in my opinion is the most boring aspect of the game. But for him it was an effective mode of relaxation.
But there are some things which make asteroid mining in that game interesting. One thing that SM might strive for is this: Risk/reward, and the opportunity for min/maxing. One of the nice things for my EVE corpmate is that he could login and fly to the same asteroid belts in the same system everyday and mine the most common ore in the game. Incrementally over time he could make improvements to his ship to allow more and better mining lasers, cargo capacity, and resistance to griefers, so that is a mini-gamr. Even the task of flying through the asteroid belt in an efficient manner is a mini-game. Other miners get their kicks by flying into low security space and harvesting higher value ores.
The key here would be RELIABILITY and PLENTIFULNESS. You don't have to scour the sector for rocks to drag back. Mining in SM could be equally relaxing, but removing some of the frustration-inducing aspects, such as the scarcity. Asteroid belts with fixed coordinates which spawn mineable ores regularly seems reasonable to me. So would the introduction of dedicated mining vessels, which could be acquired eventually by a dedicated player who enjoys the relaxation aspect of a repetitive activity, and could be bought SOLELY off the marks they generated from selling their ore to buyers.
But there are some things which make asteroid mining in that game interesting. One thing that SM might strive for is this: Risk/reward, and the opportunity for min/maxing. One of the nice things for my EVE corpmate is that he could login and fly to the same asteroid belts in the same system everyday and mine the most common ore in the game. Incrementally over time he could make improvements to his ship to allow more and better mining lasers, cargo capacity, and resistance to griefers, so that is a mini-gamr. Even the task of flying through the asteroid belt in an efficient manner is a mini-game. Other miners get their kicks by flying into low security space and harvesting higher value ores.
The key here would be RELIABILITY and PLENTIFULNESS. You don't have to scour the sector for rocks to drag back. Mining in SM could be equally relaxing, but removing some of the frustration-inducing aspects, such as the scarcity. Asteroid belts with fixed coordinates which spawn mineable ores regularly seems reasonable to me. So would the introduction of dedicated mining vessels, which could be acquired eventually by a dedicated player who enjoys the relaxation aspect of a repetitive activity, and could be bought SOLELY off the marks they generated from selling their ore to buyers.
Retirement is now open
Starmourn has been purring along for two and a half months and we feel as though things have settled to the point we can allow retirements into the sector.
Starting immediately, Starmourn is open for retirement credits.
All characters, regardless of when they were created, will be able to use retirement credits through April 15th.
After April 15th, open retirement will end and Starmourn will return to normal retirement rules. Normal retirement rules only allow credits to be transferred to new characters (less than 30 real life days old).
HELP RETIREMENT has been added, and contains all of the information for using this system.
Starting immediately, Starmourn is open for retirement credits.
All characters, regardless of when they were created, will be able to use retirement credits through April 15th.
After April 15th, open retirement will end and Starmourn will return to normal retirement rules. Normal retirement rules only allow credits to be transferred to new characters (less than 30 real life days old).
HELP RETIREMENT has been added, and contains all of the information for using this system.
Tecton
10