Photo by Brigitte Tohm from Pexels
Today – the 15th December 2021 – is Starmourn’s third birthday!
And hasn’t it been quite the year?!
(full annual update post to follow at the end of Dec, but this is just a summary!)
We started the year with ship customization improvements, and a new batch of Storytellers – Nicnevin, Argus and Neritus! We introduced Smash tables, newbie kits and daily streaks. We added lawlessness as a proper thing, crew spars, spacewalking and a ship VR arena, as well as an ooc command, class emotes and soooo much more.
In June we lost our previous Lead Producer, Eukelade, as she moved on to pastures new (on good terms, and she does come back to help out every now and then!) and Neritus and I took over as co-leads.
Since then we have launched Hardcore mode which was an IRE first that saw permadeath being a thing for the first time in all the realms. We (read: Neritus) did a HUGE revamp on armor and weapon modding, giving you your own team of employees for the first time. We recruited MORE new Storytellers (welcome, Domin and Astor!) and more volunteer coders (hi there Ferenzi and Bricky!).
Takes a breath
We introduced the art tradeskill, we had a full round of classleads, we built, stocked and evented the Floating Market, we made player shops a thing, we launched player habitations, enabling you to own your own home in Starmourn for the first time. We made credit shops and broke records for the number of missioncontrol shots fired in one month. We reworked ship weapons, and mining – introducing ore crushers and gas compressors and making harvest drones universal. We made faction ships a thing, and made large asteroids explorable and explodable BOOM!
We introduced Rapadruk, and held a great roleplay event for halloween centered around the HugTech factory. OH MY GOD WE ALSO INTRODUCED SPACE TWITT… Flogger!
Sooooo much has happened this year that I’m legitimately staring at the 2021 announcement posts boggling and actually feeling really very proud of all of our staff, volunteers and players. We may still be the little sibling in the IRE family, but we sure as bala pack a punch, right?!
…and we have no plans on stopping!
To thank you all for sticking with us, or to welcome you back if you’ve recently returned (it’s been amazing to see so many old faces returning lately), or to welcome you for the first time if you’re new – we on the Starmourn Team would like to give every player of the game a little anniversary present.
If you log on in the next couple of days, you’ll receive a limited edition, interactive item and a simple giftcatcher – no strings attached.
Thank you again, from all of us. Here’s to another year in space!
Damiel
source: https://images.unsplash.com/
Your chance to create a permanent area in the Starmourn sector! Read on for more info.
In what we believe is an unprecedented contest, we are offering an opportunity for one lucky player to win the chance to work alongside myself and any other storytellers who may be interested to create a playable area that will be a permanent feature in lore.
That’s right! A whole area with quests, things to hunt, denizens to interact with, and lore material inspired by YOU.
Oh wow! That sounds so cool! I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited!
– definitely not Argus
I know! It’s exciting!
In order to ensure we have a really good idea of what you’re proposing, your entry should include the following:
- A summary about your area.
Where is it located? Who lives there? Why does it exist? What lore element(s) does this tie into? - What MIL player would use this area?
General gist – Is this for new players? Something to challenge the vets? - Three huntable mobs in the area.
What are they, what do they look like, and what do their attacks look like? - One idea for a quest in this region.
Who gives the quest? What’s the goal? - One mob shop or service in the area that players will be able to frequent.
Who runs the shop? What do they sell?
It’s absolutely absolutely okay to think of more options than what I’ve listed before, but for the sake of fair judging and to keep the project feasible we ask that you please stick to the requirements listed above for your entry.
Wait… Argus, were you just quoting yourself about how excited you are?
Yes! But only for now. I know you’re all going to be just as excited, if not even more so!
Storytellers are not able to enter this contest – This is all about our players! We know we’ve got a super creative group, and we want to see how much you can challenge yourselves. We’ll make it happen for whoever gets creative and really comes forward with a fun story to share.
Entries should be submitted as either a Pastebin file or a Google doc (make sure those permissions are right!), and you can either message the link to me in game or on discord.
All submissions are due by sync on January 16th, 2022. That’s loads of time. You’ve got this!
You got some questions? Fire off a message on discord or in game – I’m here to help!
Argus, the tiniest feracht
December in Starmourn is all about Winterflame and our brand new HABITATIONS system, where you can buy your very own space home.
I hope you’ve all got your winter bobble hats ready and your elasticated space jeans on, because this December is a complete treat glutton, you lucky things, you.
Winterflame is here again…
For the uninitiated – you can read the backstory/lore of the season here!
As usual, transport to the Winterflame Festival area will be available from Omni Station, or it’s accessible from Tosmar Hunting Preserve.
Just like last year, you can expect things to happen all month long as we add new faces, introduce new features, create new content, and keep things rolling along just like a snowball.
You’ll see various quests around the Winterflame Festival area, and most of them count towards a running total of points, for which some extra special rewards will be given at the end of December. Our favorite Halloween event kids, Eddie and Ely have been added to the quest children and there will be more added to the Winterflame area as time passes… it’s only just getting set up! You may even see some familiar faces FLOATING about!
There are a LOT of prizes in the giftcatchers this year, and many of them brand new, with details of exciting new artifacts, items and ship rooms in Announcement 319.
As always, you can go and enjoy the snowmounds, start a snowball fight, make some snowmen (be sure to PUSH mounds and snowmen), learn about Winterflame and get accustomed to the cold climate. You can also now SNOWANGEL SNOWMOUND to make snow angels and give yourself a sparkly little EFFECT.
Effects
Oh yes… we now have an ‘Effects’ section in our descriptions, where us admin types can pop pretty little add-ons to your appearance. More to add to this, for sure, but for now, you can use the EFFECTS command to view and remove any effects you have!
Ironbeard is back!
The SS Ironbeard is also back this month, and while whoever pilots this massive capital ship remains a galactic mystery that would stump the wisest Rek Chronomaster, what ISN’T mysterious is the packages full of goodies that it rains down upon whatever planet it is currently orbiting.
The SS Ironbeard will orbit racial homeworlds (and Haven City, since it counts as a racial homeworld. But not Glisal II or Song) and will toss gifts to everyone who happens to be on the surface at the time. You can only get these gifts in an outdoors room, and you can track him by doing STARCHART IRONBEARD. You may only receive one such free gift per day.
HABITATIONS ARE HERE!
It’s the announcement you’ve all been waiting for… you can now buy your very own home in Starmourn!
Ranging from the absolute basic accomodation priced at 100 credits, up to the opulent luxury of the Diamond Belt at 12500 credits, there’s a lot to choose from, and something for any budget.
More info on the brand new HABITATIONS system can be found in Announcement 318 and HELP HABITATIONS.
THANK YOU!
Thank you SO MUCH to all of the Storytellers, Worldbuilders and coders who have been working their little butts off to get all of this ready for you all. Please show them lots of love and give them lots of praise. They deserve it!
More to come… but for now…
Happy Flameday, one and all!
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Helloooo Cyborgs!
Just a little update before we dive headlong into December. We’ve been hard at work on new artifacts, systems and content for you all these past few months and I think Neritus is gonna post a whole post about all of that, but I’m just dropping by to say I’m super excited about the new artifact we’ve just dropped for Cyborg Monday.
The galactic forerunners in body modification, The M0DIF1KA Collective, a Bushraki organization based in New Dikamazi, have created a brand new body mod, now compatible with every race in the sector!
Introducing… The ‘M0DIF1KA R-153’ – fully integrated rocket wings!
(OooooOOOOOoooh)
Crafted from charcoal brushed paristeel by master Bushraki modders The M0DIF1KA Collective in New Dikamazi, these mechanized wings are implanted in the body subdermally, fusing with the wearer’s shoulders and wetwiring system to be a fully integrated modification.
The primary, secondary and scapular thermoregulated rocket boosters will allow their owner to fly, no matter their class skills, even up to the mid elevation within the winding tunnels of their creator’s home asteroid, or indoors anywhere else, for that matter.
MODIFICATION <INSTALL/UNINSTALL> WINGS is the command you’ll need to surgically implant the modification into your body, and they will show in your desc in the brand new ‘Body mods’ section on your LOOK description.
Once the wings are installed, they will:
- Activate the bhrk_wings artifact.
- Only work for you.
- Will allow you to FLY no matter where you are, and what your class skills are.
- Only one pair of wings can be installed at a time, but you can buy multiple pairs if you have more than one character, at a discounted price (an additional 20% off for every extra pair you buy, up to three!)
- In order to do this, you need to purchase the number required via the ‘Artifact Packages’ tab on the credits page and then in-game you’ll be able to CONSIGN <wings#> <NAME> to send them to an alt.
- You may only consign artifact items to characters on the same registration.
This very special artifact is available to buy direct just for today, but I’m sure it will appear again as a promo item, as it’s way too good to only drop for one day.
Some of the keen-sighted among you might also be wondering whether this paves the way for more body modification shenanigans… well… I am here right now to absolutely not deny that at all! There’s a new body mod slot available on your descriptions, and we fully intend to use it! (Not like that, you heathens).
Stay tuned for a Winterflame extravaganza in December, with a whole heap of new artifacts, rewards and the long-awaited release of Habitations!
Happy swooping,
Damiel and the Starmourn team
Wow, it’s June already! Time really got away from us over the past few months as the team has buckled down on a lot of really big projects we’ve all wanted to tackle for awhile.
All the changes that have happened since March are available in game on our Announcements newsboard, but to keep the website content fresh and current, we’ll start posting a backlog of all the shiny new things we’ve created recently! Today we’re going to focus on BATTLE STUFF of all kinds, so keep reading for a variety of new ways to be aggro on your fellow players.
Battlespace!
Virtual reality software continues to improve in the Starmourn Sector. Introducing: BATTLESPACE, a VR arena for ship combat!
In Almasi, north of the transports, you can access BattleSpace. In Space VR, ships and ship supplies are free. So practice your maneuvers, fire off some cannons, and build up the biggest, baddest, prettiest ship you can imagine. The only things off limits are luxury liners and auction ships.
Battlebots!
Bot fighting is a popular past time within Starmourn sector. Bot kits, fabricated and sold by corporate members of the Mechanized Entertainment Combat Cooperative (or MECC), are wildly popular among young and old.
In other words, after an extended period of development, we’ve finally made Battlebots available to Starmourn’s playerbase!! It was a long haul, but we got there in the end. Build your bot, name it, boost its stats, and watch it climb RANKINGS BATTLEBOTS to the champion’s platform. What glory will you gain with your fighting robot by your side?
We have plenty of artifacts to enhance the Battlebots experience, too – including Battlebot life extenders, honorable retirement chipsets, repair discounts, and more. Check out our artifact store in game!
Crew Battles!
A change has been made to arena battles that will enhance your understanding of group pvp combat in Starmourn. ARENA CREWCHALLENGE has been added, allowing your crew to challenge another crew in team combat.
Practice for the next cosmpiercer meeting or simply test out team mechanics between the different classes without having to deal with the sweet sting of a HETE payment.
Stay tuned for more updates coming really soon!
Hey Starmourners, if you like to play Starmourn every day, we have good news for you! If you WANT to play Starmourn every day, but needed more incentive to do so- we still have good news for you. (And if you don’t care, the good news is things aren’t going to change.)
By now, you probably know all about our daily credits system, a way for you to play the game AND earn our currency without paying real money for it. Today, we’re introducing Daily Streaks and Milestone Rewards as a brand new enhancement to the daily credits system.
Streaking is a way to earn MORE daily credits. You see, the maximum number of daily credits you can earn will depend on how consistently you can play the game. If you play Starmourn daily for at least an hour, earning at least one daily credit during that time, you will qualify for a streak. Streaks increase the amount of daily credits you can earn over time, and at its cap, will more than double your maximum. Milestone streaks will award you a prize of bound credits (You don’t need to do anything to earn these, just streak!) and a unique honors line and title. The longer you streak, the more valuable your milestone rewards will be.
Be careful, though. If you lose your streak, you start over from 0 – log in every day for the most rewards and accolades possible!
Good luck, Starmourners, and happy streaking!
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