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Oh hey look, Bac's here. GABA is going to be gone for a week or so, so I've stepped in to make sure things still run smoothly in her absence. This announcement is about the recently-announced Battle of Coruscant. The staff and faction leaders have made a big decision about what this battle entails...
We all know what Dawn of the Republic is about: the fall of the Old Republic, the fall of the Sith, and the dawn of the Galactic Republic. The destination of this timeline was never unknown to any of us. What's been unknown is how we get there. Lately, the Sith have been making big gains and are establishing themselves as something more than a rag tag brotherhood: they're showing the beginnings of a new empire, a credible threat in the last great war before Darth Bane changed the ways of the Sith forever. We've had our ups and downs in the 10 months since this timeline started, but I think you all have done a pretty good job telling a story that has gotten us to the point we are at. Now, it's time we turn to a new chapter of the timeline and tell the story of the fall of Coruscant.
This is a canonical event. We know from canon that the Republic was forced to flee Coruscant in a devastating ouster at the hands of the Sith. That gives us the opportunity to tell this story in a way that isn't focused around PvP or deciding who wins, who loses, and who lives or dies. Because of that, the Battle of Coruscant is going to be a predetermined event where we know going into it that the Sith win the battle and the Republic is forced off of Coruscant. It's also going to be a no death event, so no one has to worry about their characters dying unless they want to let their character die. I'm not going to go into too much detail on this part yet, but Coruscant will also be devastated in a way that is going to open the door for superweapons to become a (heavily regulated, of course) part of the timeline.
Why are we doing the battle this way? I'll level with you: the site needs it. One of the biggest issues with PvP is that there isn't a real overarching story to balance it out. We need to focus more on the actual premise of this timeline, and also weave a meta-narrative into the site for people who want to participate in something like that. Having a predetermined Battle of Coruscant isn't a magic bullet that fixes everything, but it's a step towards things being better on the site and we think it'll be a welcome respite from the typical battle style. Rather than having sign ups and needing to focus on the Manaan Rules, this will be a free for all where anyone can join any official battle thread they want, or even make their own battle thread. We'll provide a basic structure, but you're the ones who decide how this battle plays out before we reach the known ending.
We did this before in our previous timeline, and that Battle of Coruscant was very successful. It gave people an opportunity to role-playing a cinematic-style battle in really epic ways because they didn't have to worry about winning or having their characters die. No one was worried about the outcome because everyone already knew what it was. Plus, removing the element of death sucks a ton of tension out of the battle because there's nothing to really argue about at that point. This isn't a battle system we'll use all the time, because overusing this system does suck momentum out of a timeline, but when it's used sparingly for major cinematic events at the right time, then it's very effective.
To be clear, this is not the fall of the Republic, of course, since the capital is on Chandrila, but it's a big step towards it. It's a clear evolution of the story and opens up a new chapter in the timeline, a chapter that the faction leaders already have some big ideas for.
You probably all have questions about the logistics of all of this. We'll follow up with more announcements about this soon. I think it's safe to expect that we'll have these threads up by Sunday. We can kick off 2017 with this really awesome storyline! For now, if there are any questions I can answer, I will do so here. If not, I will let you know that an answer will be forthcoming.
Dawn of the Republic: The Fall of Coruscant
We all know what Dawn of the Republic is about: the fall of the Old Republic, the fall of the Sith, and the dawn of the Galactic Republic. The destination of this timeline was never unknown to any of us. What's been unknown is how we get there. Lately, the Sith have been making big gains and are establishing themselves as something more than a rag tag brotherhood: they're showing the beginnings of a new empire, a credible threat in the last great war before Darth Bane changed the ways of the Sith forever. We've had our ups and downs in the 10 months since this timeline started, but I think you all have done a pretty good job telling a story that has gotten us to the point we are at. Now, it's time we turn to a new chapter of the timeline and tell the story of the fall of Coruscant.
This is a canonical event. We know from canon that the Republic was forced to flee Coruscant in a devastating ouster at the hands of the Sith. That gives us the opportunity to tell this story in a way that isn't focused around PvP or deciding who wins, who loses, and who lives or dies. Because of that, the Battle of Coruscant is going to be a predetermined event where we know going into it that the Sith win the battle and the Republic is forced off of Coruscant. It's also going to be a no death event, so no one has to worry about their characters dying unless they want to let their character die. I'm not going to go into too much detail on this part yet, but Coruscant will also be devastated in a way that is going to open the door for superweapons to become a (heavily regulated, of course) part of the timeline.
Why are we doing the battle this way? I'll level with you: the site needs it. One of the biggest issues with PvP is that there isn't a real overarching story to balance it out. We need to focus more on the actual premise of this timeline, and also weave a meta-narrative into the site for people who want to participate in something like that. Having a predetermined Battle of Coruscant isn't a magic bullet that fixes everything, but it's a step towards things being better on the site and we think it'll be a welcome respite from the typical battle style. Rather than having sign ups and needing to focus on the Manaan Rules, this will be a free for all where anyone can join any official battle thread they want, or even make their own battle thread. We'll provide a basic structure, but you're the ones who decide how this battle plays out before we reach the known ending.
We did this before in our previous timeline, and that Battle of Coruscant was very successful. It gave people an opportunity to role-playing a cinematic-style battle in really epic ways because they didn't have to worry about winning or having their characters die. No one was worried about the outcome because everyone already knew what it was. Plus, removing the element of death sucks a ton of tension out of the battle because there's nothing to really argue about at that point. This isn't a battle system we'll use all the time, because overusing this system does suck momentum out of a timeline, but when it's used sparingly for major cinematic events at the right time, then it's very effective.
To be clear, this is not the fall of the Republic, of course, since the capital is on Chandrila, but it's a big step towards it. It's a clear evolution of the story and opens up a new chapter in the timeline, a chapter that the faction leaders already have some big ideas for.
You probably all have questions about the logistics of all of this. We'll follow up with more announcements about this soon. I think it's safe to expect that we'll have these threads up by Sunday. We can kick off 2017 with this really awesome storyline! For now, if there are any questions I can answer, I will do so here. If not, I will let you know that an answer will be forthcoming.
