orton, post: 2828, member: 2006 wrote:

Overview

Player cities are a cornerstone of the Star Wars Galaxies community experience. However, as server populations grow and mature, limitations in the current city infrastructure have led to several issues, including overpopulation, lack of creative freedom, and economic stagnation for crafters.

Player City Update 2.0 aims to expand city customization, encourage new player interactions, provide economic opportunities, and introduce long-term solutions to city overpopulation.

[HR][/HR]

**Key Enhancements

1. City Militia Improvements**

• Militia Accessibility Update:
  Mayors may now add players to the militia list regardless of their online status or proximity.

• Impact: Simplifies city management and improves defense logistics, especially for large, active guilds and event coordination.

• New Role – Militia Captain:
  Cities may now assign a Militia Captain, a role with limited administrative access focused on militia management.

• Can add or remove militia members
• Lightens administrative duties for mayors, especially in large cities or during wars/events

• Mayor Flagged for Removal Tool:
  Mayors may now flag structures for removal, initiating a 30-day countdown. This is intended to support long-term city planning, especially in early development stages when player-placed structures may not align with evolving layouts.

• Structure owners receive an in-game notification and have 30 days to relocate or respond.

• If no action is taken within that time, the mayor gains the ability to pack up the structure.

• Impact: Empowers mayors to refine city layouts over time while maintaining fairness and transparency with residents.

[HR][/HR]

2. City Decoration & Flavor Structures

• New Craftable “Flavor” Structures:

• Mayors and militia members can place decorative, non-functional structures such as:

• Walls and gates
• Small bridges
• Statues, monuments, non-accessible buildings

• These items are crafted by a Structure Trader, enhancing their role and boosting the in-game economy.

• Placeable Road Types:

• Roads now come in multiple variants with size options:

• Tatooinian, Nabooian, and Corellian styles
• Width variants (narrow paths, standard roads, wide boulevards)

• Impact: Provides more immersive city layouts and diverse aesthetic choices.

• Increased Decoration Limits (see Megalopolis rank below):

• Decor elements contribute to city maintenance, creating a credit sink and adding prestige to well-maintained cities.

[HR][/HR]

**3. Long-Term Expansion and Population Solutions

A. Planetary Expansion**

• Issue: All servers eventually reach the player city limit per planet, restricting growth, creativity, and new player settlement.
• Solution: Introduce new planets as needed, based on server housing demand. Once the total available player housing slots on existing planets reach near-capacity, a new planet can be unlocked for additional city development.

• Optional Themes:

• Uninhabited Outer Rim worlds: Rugged landscapes ideal for pioneers and survivalist guilds
• Reclaimed Clone Wars battlefields: Scarred terrain with remnants of war, suitable for militarized or reconstruction-themed cities
• Ancient Sith or Jedi ruins: Archaeological and Force-sensitive areas for lore-based city building and exploration potential

• Features:

• Minimal NPC footprint to maximize player construction space
• No major POIs to ensure unrestricted city placement
• Rich, flat land with varied biome options for aesthetic diversity
• Optional city-specific planetary bonuses (e.g., visual weather effects, theme-based decorative perks)

• Impact:

• Dynamically addresses housing and city demand without overextending development resources
• Protects vital harvester space for crafting-focused players
• Encourages long-term exploration, colonization themes, and economic decentralization
• Keeps the galaxy’s expansion player-driven and responsive to community growth

[HR][/HR]

4. New City Rank: Rank 6 – Megalopolis

• Requirements:

• Higher citizen count than Rank 5 (e.g., 75+ registered citizens)
• Significant maintenance fee increase to reflect status

• Benefits:

• No increase to city radius (still 500m) to avoid overextension
• Unlocks additional decoration slots
• Enables a second city specialization
• Player City Starports: Cities at Rank 6 may place a fully functional, craftable starport within their borders.

• Crafted by Structure Traders using high-end schematics and resources
• Includes options for architectural style matching planet (e.g., Tatooinian, Nabooian)
• Offers standard travel services and ticketing
• Subject to high maintenance costs to maintain balance

• Enhanced prestige and strategic significance

• Impact: Encourages player retention, coordination, and deepens late-game progression for communities. Starports further transform cities into travel hubs, increasing foot traffic, commerce, and visibility for vendors.

[HR][/HR]

5. Player Access to Existing NPC Structures

• Overview:
  This update introduces a selection of existing in-game NPC structures as player-buildable items. These are visually and thematically rich buildings already present in the world, and many players have requested access to them for personal or city customization.
• Acquisition Methods:
  These structures can be obtained through a variety of engaging methods:
• Quest Rewards: Unlocked upon completing specific storylines or city development quests
• Token Purchases: Available via token vendors or faction-based merchants
• Rare Drops: Introduced as low-drop-rate rewards from bosses, events, or world encounters
• Impact:
• Expands creative and aesthetic options for players and city planners
• Incentivizes engagement with multiple game systems (PvE, economy, questing, and exploration)
• Reuses existing high-quality assets in a way that enhances player satisfaction and world-building cohesion

[HR][/HR]

Benefits to Game Ecosystem

• Economy Boost:

• New craftable items provide purpose and profit for Structure Traders.
• City maintenance increases serve as a long-term credit sink, helping to balance the in-game economy.

• Enhanced Player Expression:

• Players can create visually distinctive cities that reflect their guild identity or roleplaying themes.

• Community Engagement:

• Encourages group coordination, promotes creativity, and revitalizes city-building as a shared endgame activity.

[HR][/HR]

Closing Remarks

Player City Update 2.0 represents a forward-thinking evolution of one of SWG’s most beloved systems. By empowering mayors, revitalizing trader markets, and offering scalable solutions to infrastructure limitations, this update ensures player cities remain relevant, dynamic, and integral to the ongoing story of the galaxy.

Yes pleaseeeee, however, one thing to think about that could be addressed at the same time, is the amount of hinky unlevel land on most planets. We initially grew ISB to over 80 residents and quickly ran out of useable space due to unlevel terrain/sloped terrain that wouldn't allow for structure placement. A lot of cities run into this issue on most planets (some are obviously better than others with flat land availability) and it would be nice to have some sort of tool or auto leveling that occurs around City Hall structures. I really don't know what this looks like back-end wise and whether or not its even feasible, but since we're talking about larger cities I wanted to point out possible issues. Love the mayoral eviction notice idea. That would help so much with people who aren't playing anymore but have a million in maintenance so the house is just here forever.

Historical reactions: Like × 1

I am totally for this. DOO EET!

I all for it. city building . player placement of housing has been a bane for decades. House removal of buildings in a more timely manor also would be great. basically i would like to see theses ideas in game. thanks Much.. and all the hard work i know that goes into a project like Evolve. well done.

Being able to move and place structs in your city at your own leisure instead of waiting for another player would be peak. For everyone’s convenience.

Historical reactions: Like × 2