Pre CU?

[wrackspurt]

Have people seen this?
http://www.swgemu.com/

[Sobuno]

A year or two ago, yes

A variant of SWGCraft for emu servers can even be found (Search for tgcraft on Google)

[Dimmih]

For those of you who still long for the pre-CU era, SWGEMU has just brought a big update that makes the game actually semi-playable! No more blue frogs to give you instant gratification, normal mission terminals are working and so is most of the combat, crafting and entertainer professions.

Bear in mind that its still in a beta and not a ready product though and its meant to be beta tested, so you're meant to find the bugs, and there are alot of them, though not as brutal as they used to be.

There is still no player housing, no beast handlers and be aware of krayts outside of Mos Eisley, though this is not a bug but a little evil gift from the moderators

[wrackspurt]

Krayts outside of Mos Eisley??

I tell you, nothing in this game causes me actual trauma like having one of those suddenly spawn next to me.

Are you actually able to play characters yet?

[Memnoc]

LOL ... you all worried that you end up like fish stick snacks

I have a friend who is playing the swgemu and loves it. I'm undecided if I want to play or not.

[wrackspurt]

LOL ... you all worried that you end up like fish stick snacks

I have a friend who is playing the swgemu and loves it. I'm undecided if I want to play or not.

As somebody who missed CU and NGE, I definitely have to try it.

[Dimmih]

Yes, it is playable, its not perfect and you shouldnt expect it to be, but its verry playable

I've gotten to crafting III and I'm busy getting the right materials to start making personal harvesters

*edit*
Oh and lightsaber wielding java's went on a rampage last night

[wrackspurt]

Oh and lightsaber wielding java's went on a rampage last night

Now see, that's my kind of humor

[Zbignew]

Oh and lightsaber wielding java's went on a rampage last night

I've had some potent coffee but never seen a cup of java with a lightsaber stirring stick, lol.
Hoping to try the EMU soon.

Zbig

[wrackspurt]

Nonsense, why do you think they speak so rapidly in high pitched tones? By the brown robes they declare their religion...jawa=java.

[Asmodeus]

I have actually been closely monitoring the SWGemu since it was started. It's been a long haul and a lot of ups and downs, but with the change to making it an open source collab it has gone through leaps and bounds in the last year alone from an pretty much sandbox type enviroment to where it is now.

One thing remains the same though, It's still not ready for release, a lot of things still not working, and because of this a lot of things are currently disabled such as Vehicles, Player Housing (includes all structures like harvs and factories, player cities, etc), a few professions still not implimented like CH, DE, to name a few, and JTL which apparently won't be added until they get the OR done and the ground game complete.

However. This latest patch they added a week ago has made the game very playable (pretty much all schematics were added for example) from a starting out stand point. Keep in mind though, This patch is still using the old code, and was a "gift" from the Devs currently not working on the "Object Restructure." Apparently this object restructure is a complete rewrite of the game code that will make things a lot less complicated for the Dev's and is a rewriting from the ground up. So if your looking to play expect downtimes on regular basis, and don't get too attached because server wipes are going to happen and with the eventual upgrade to the new code, no one knows how playable the game will be at that time, because they will have to redo everything again...... although it should be a much faster process due to all the info gathered from current testing.

The only down side I have noticed, is there seems to be a lot of hardcore members, and currently you can run as many instances of the game as your CPU can handle so you can expect that if your just a casual player your going to have a very hard time keeping up with the current community.

One thing is for sure though, they have done a fantastic job of emulating the pub 14.1 game so far, I am really enjoying it.

[wrackspurt]

I'd read repeatedly that there were big changes in combat between either CU or NGE and now, but it was never clear what they were. I've heard some say the newer system is dramatically better, while others say it's dumbed down and cliche. But what exactly is the difference?

[Savacc]

I'd read repeatedly that there were big changes in combat between either CU or NGE and now, but it was never clear what they were. I've heard some say the newer system is dramatically better, while others say it's dumbed down and cliche. But what exactly is the difference?

What EXACTLY is the difference? That would take a very long post to describe.
The combat engines of the original game, CU and NGE are completely different. It really was like playing three different games, as if you were moving from EQ, to WoW or Vanguard. Personally, I would be in the camp that says the NGE is dramatically better, and would say the original game was the "dumbed down" version, CU was better and the NGE, more rich and complex then either.

The original game was characterized by a "combat que" In which you "spammed" special attacks or defenses and they would be executed in the order you specified as long as you had health/action/mind pools sufficient to pay for them. The big problems were not so much the simple and "afk" nature of combat, but rather that medical and chef buffs overpowered all other issues. Your stats maxed at about 1200, but a really good doctor buff could add over 6k to that. The best weapons and armor were crafted so that they could only be used while buffed. Without a buff you could not move in the armor, and the recoil of your weapon would harm you more then what you were shooting at. It was an interesting game, where the "buffs" turned ordinary people into supermen, but it wasnt Star Wars.

The CU fixed the problem with "buffs" by totally nerfing them. All weapons, armor and combat pets were nerfed too. The "combat que" was gone and timers on specials were introduced. You could only activate one special at a time. The original game had an "afk" feel to it, in that you could fill the "combat que" with specials, and then sit back and watch your char execute them. The CU took that away and made you sit at the keyboard punching buttons or you would die. I liked the more active nature of the game and the removal of the "buffs" and equipment based on buffs. what I didnt like was the introduction of, what I felt was an artificial, combat level to the game. The original game had no levels, there was only skill. You had skill in a pistol, rifle, sword, crafting or whatever. The CU converted your combat skills into a "combat level". That CL became the overriding factor in whether you won or lost a fight. Armor, weapons and skill became irrelevant, only the comparative CLs mattered. It turned out that the CU was only a stopgap system. LA had a separate team of devs working on the NGE all along and were just waiting for it to be completed.

The NGE changed much more then the combat system, player generation, skillsets, how you leveled all changed. Most aspects of Crafting were the only things that got imported from earlier versions of the game into the NGE. The biggest change to combat was the need to manually aim your attacks now, but really everything changed. (an auto aim similar to what we had in CU did come back later on). The need to "button mash" was similar to the CU, but the specials became more varied and complex. Once again all your equipment (weapons, armor, pets) was nerfed and you eventually replaced it. I prefer the NGE style of combat. I hate how it destroyed so much of what I liked about the game, the ability to play a char I want, instead of one SOE makes for me, the sandbox nature of the game, a commitment to crafting and the player economy and the social gatherings in the cantinas and med centers.

I hadnt intended to write this much, I just got carried away.

[Zimoon]

Thanks Savacc, a great writeup. It seems as I was way too into crafting already to notice half of what you remember and listed here

/Zimoon

[wrackspurt]

Thanks for that, Savacc. I haven't seen anybody explain it so well. That talk of a "combat que makes me think of KOTOR. Course in that, you're controlling 3 characters at once. I'm not sure why anybody would want that in an MMO. Then again, I don't understand why they couldn't have made the ground combat shooter style rather than the way it is.