Following up on last weeks blog post about Mars, I wanted to stay in our solar system. Many interesting missions are already happening right now, and many more are on its way, helping us better to understand our nabor planets and our place in the universe. NASA’s spacecraft Juno is en route to Jupiter, and below is a video about why we’re headed there, and what we hope to discover about Jupiter while Juno is in orbit around our largest planet. The documentary is combined of hundreds of 1 minute videos, so the video changes style a bit and is a little long-winded. The video Features interviews with scientists and engineers working on the probe with interesting computer-generated imagery of the mission. It also Explains the science of the solar system, why this mission matters, the instruments on board and the scientists and engineers behind this mission. The Juno spacecraft…
Author: Soeren Kamper
SWTOR: Republic Ships Visual Customization and gunship class Preview (PTS)
Lightsaber from TheOldRepublic.Ru have yet again been fast, and recorded the Republic Ships Visual Customization for us. If you don’t have time to play around on the public test servers this weekend, you are really missing out. Below you can see the Republic Ships Visual Customization. It’s unknown if these can be unlocked to legacy, as BioWare haven’t given us any information on how the unlocks work yet. The Cartel Market is not available on the PTS, so we can’t try it to see. Note: Every ship on each faction has the same customization options.
PTS Game Update 2.5: Galactic Starfighter Patch Notes
Here are the latest patch notes from the Public test servers. If you have the time, go try out Galactic Starfighter now Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ PTS Game Update 2.5: Galactic Starfighter Patch Notes Last Updated: November 15th, 2013 All content and features on the Public Test Server are not final and are subject to change. Galactic Starfighter Access the Galactic Starfighter Hangar Bay by clicking the Ship Icon on the in-game minimap. Players can queue solo or as a group for free-flight 12 v 12 PvP Battles in the first Galactic Starfighter gameplay type: Domination! During Domination, players fight to control multiple satellites. Points are awarded according to how many >satellites each team controls, and the first team to reach 1000 points earns victory. Highly customizable Starfighters available: The Scout – Fast, agile, and maneuverable. Scouts make up for their lack of armor and shielding with incredible elusiveness. The Strike…
Two seater mounts confirmed?
This image was in the mail today. Two-seater mounts were in the game during the beta (like the Taxi’s on certain planets). The korrealis series is an example of this (they just put a piece of metal over where the other seat was. Your companion would sit with you, but when they added guys like M1-4X they scrapped the whole idea as they didn’t fit. This is Likely not for your companion though, but having your character sit in the side pod and be “driven around” by the droid.
San Francisco Cantina Tour thumbdrive files
The lifting of the Galactic Starfighter NDA, comes the day after BioWare hold their cantina tour gathering in San Francisco last night. At the event, all attendees got a thumbdrive whit images and info of upcoming content. Below are all the images including: Six GS screenshots, Tons of GS concept arts/paint jobs (mostly Empire ships) A forest trooper and mountain trooper gear set coming to cartel pack/cartel market New information on upcoming stuff from the events includes: Public Testing coming up this weekend New Flashpoint (Kuat Driveyards) in February. Role Neutral, Level Neutral. Bridge between regular game and GS. Early Access will feature Strike Fighters, Scouts, Gunships. Bombers in February. Every starfighter model present in the game world will eventually be available in GS. Most will be just be variants of the basic ships available to everyone. Most will be obtained through the Cartel Market Rakghoul/Chevin event coming back sooner than later and…
Galactic Starfighter – Your Questions Answered
NDA officially lifted at noon EST, so we won’t get in trouble for posting this Qand A from the beta forums. This is a great read about the upcoming expansion and will answer most of the questions the community have been asking for the last month. all credits goes to Ludwig Vancove from the Army of light guild Check it out: STAR WARS: The Old Republic – Galactic Starfighter Does Galactic Starfighter (GS) provide Joystick support? At the initial launch of GS, there will be no Joystick support. The purpose of this is simply time vs useability. Bioware wants to offer GS in a way that all MMO players can engage in the content. There has been debate by other testers on rather or not the use of Joystick controls in space may offer a benefit to the gameplay, therefor almost making it required to purchase and use on to be…
Bounty Contract Week Event – Now Live for all Classes Level 15 and up!
Bounty Contract Week is back. This time it will run from November 12 – 19, 2013. The basic premise for this SWTOR event centers around the Bounty Brokers Association. This organization, is overrun with the number contracts that it needs fulfilled and is willing to pay anyone for completing the bounties. If you need help to finish up any of these, have no fear. We got guides to help you out for some of them. The rest should be up before the event is over. : Guide to SWTOR Bounty Contract Week Voss Kingpin Bounty Contract Guide Tatooine Kingpin Bounty Contract Guide Coruscant Kingpin Bounty Contract Guide Below is the official announcement from BioWare: The Bounty Brokers Association needs you! The BBA has taken in too many contracts for their regular membership to handle and is asking anyone Level 15 and above to answer the call of bounty hunting between November…
Patch Notes – 2.4.3 – 11/15/2013
Here are the patch notes for tomorrows maintenance: Game Update 2.4.3 Patch Notes Highlights PvP Season One! Ratings have been reset to mark the beginning of the Ranked PvP Season One. Get in there and go berserk! Ranked PvP Leaderboards! Players can now visit the website to compare Solo and Group Rankings. Details under PvP Character Name Renewal Program! Many previously held names have been released! Subscribers are unaffected by the Name Renewal Program. Preferred Status: Characters below level 10 that have not been played in the last 60 days are flagged for rename. Characters below level 30 that have not been played in the last 120 days are flagged for rename. Characters level 30 and above are unaffected. Free-to-Play: Characters below level 10 that have not been played in the last 90 days are flagged for rename. Characters below level 30 that have not been played in the last 180 days are…
Documentaries: Mars, All aboard for the red planet
Today I will post a recap of all the documentaries found on youtube regarding Colonization of Mars. There is a lot of speculation, reports and planning for Mars Colonies in the near future, this seems to come out of nowhere in the last few years. Not only by NASA who have always been luke warm ,but several groups and consortiums. Russia, China and now India are planning various missions to the red planet. The Dutch are planning a Big Bros House, and there was an article encouraging older people to apply for first, for possible one way trips in case they cannot come back. Colonizing Mars [HD] Robert Zubrin, author and aerospace engineer, has the blueprints to build a colony on Mars. He and NASA Ames researcher Margarita Marinova explain how and why humans will one day turn the Red Planet green, establishing the next frontier of technological innovation and seeding the universe with…
Dewbacks in Collections next week
It looks like players finally will be able to get their hands on the Dewback mount. From the next patch comming this Tuesday, these mounts will be obtainable via packs on the cartel market. Eric Musco posted two teasers on the forum last week: Slow and steady wins the race! I heard a rumor that a Dewback mount is in the next pack, which is coming next week. That could just be a rumor though. Rumor has it that it will be in Collections on Tuesday with 2.4.3. These animal mounts are really the only thing these days, that people seem to really go crazy for. Give it time, they’ll throw in more. There is still one Varactyl and three (I think) Tauntaun mounts to be released. They’ll stretch out those Dewbacks for a very long time to sell packs. It’s going to look strange though, if they make the Dewbacks outrun speeder…
Scheduled Maintenance: November 12th, 2013 – Patch 2.4.3
Just a heads up to let you know that BioWare will be taking down the servers on Tuesday November 12th, to preform scheduled maintenance. At the same time, the developers will be adding patch 2.4.3. No patch notes are up yet, but be sure to check back, as we will post them when they are available. Don’t expect and event, as Gree event is in December and double xp weekend over Thanksgiving weekend. Below is the forum post be Eric: EricMusco Scheduled Maintenance: November 12th, 2013 | 11.08.2013, 11:46 AM On November 12th, all game servers and SWTOR.com will be unavailable while we perform scheduled maintenance. Game Update 2.4.3 will be implemented during this downtime. Details are as follows: Date: Tuesday November 12th, 2013 Duration: 5.5 hours Time: 2:30AM PST (10:30AM GMT) – 8AM PST (4PM GMT) Time Zone Start Time Scheduled End Time UTC Offset HST Tue Nov 12, 2013 12:30 AM Tue Nov 12,…
Developer Blogs: PvP Season One Blog
Senior System Designer Rob Hinkle posted a blog regarding the upcoming season 1 of ranked warzones. The blog post doesn’t contain a ton of new info, but it’s nice to see the 6 month timeframe officially stated. It does feel like they’re doing a lot of stuff on the fly which seems scary but hopefully it provides them latitude to adapt as they go instead of screwing up season 1 and having to wait until season 2 to make changes. You can read the full blog post on the official website right here, or our copy paste below: Developer Blogs: PvP Season One Blog 11.07.2013 Greetings PvPers! I’m happy to say that a long awaited and promised time is finally upon us! With the launch of Game Update 2.4.3, the longest pre-season will be over and the inaugural Ranked PvP season will begin. We know it has been a long haul and…
Community Cantina Tour Arrives in Austin, Texas – 11/22
BioWare Community Cantina will stop by Austine later this month. As always we should get information about upcoming content from this event. Hopefully the last peaces of information we want to know about upcoming expansion Galactic Starfighter. There is no mention about getting some hands on time with Galactic Starfighter though. If you are in the Austin area when this is going down, let us know. THIS IS AN ADULT EVENT AND ALL ATTENDEES MUST BE OF LEGAL DRINKING AGE TO PARTICIPATE. PLEASE BE PREPARED TO SHOW ID. Important details for the less-than-savvy minors amongst us 😛 The Star Wars: The Old Republic Community Cantina Tour Arrives in Austin, Texas! 11.07.2013 We’re happy to announce that the next stop in the Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ Community Cantina Tour will be happening on Friday, November 22nd, in Austin! This is your chance to join the Star Wars: The Old Republic community for a development team Q&A…
Name Renewal details from the dev tracker
community manager Eric Musco posted some clarification regarding the Name Renewal program that starts november 12, 2013. Bascially if you have a 30+ character you don’t really need to do anything, but if you have toons below that level, it will be a good idea to read the details below. Character names poll for prefered and f2p | 11.06.2013, 12:39 PM Hey Liron! I wanted to clear up how the Name Renewal will work to alleviate any concerns that you have. You are obviously a subscriber right now, this means that even if you unsubscribe today, you will be completely unaffected. The reason is that you would then become a preferred status player. Preferred players are completely unaffected as long as they logged in to those specific characters within the last 90 days. Being how the name renewal is next week, that is far less than 90 days 🙂 Here…
Patch Notes – New Feature – 11/5/2013
Servers are back up, and a new feature has been added. As we mentioned last week, it’s now possible to buy cartel coins ingame. As we also mention last week, Subscribers receive a 50% discount on the first purchase made using the in-game feature, so hurry up and get your 5500 Cartel Coin’s with a 50% discount! – Just a heads up though. The system don’t support Paypal yet… New Feature Patch Notes Highlight New Feature! Players can now purchase Cartel Coins through the “Add Coins” interface within the in-game Cartel Market: * Players must enable this feature for their account before it can be accessed. For additional details, please refer to this News Article. All major credit and debit cards are supported payment methods for in-game Cartel Coin purchases. PayPal and other payment methods are not supported at this time. Subscribers receive a 50% discount on the first purchase made…
Jawajames Reads Star Wars: The old republic Annihilation
If you haven’t read Annihilation by Drew Karpyshyn yet, your are missing out. The book have been out for about year now, and reviews have been positive. Annihilation with the possible exception of Revan also written by Drew Karpyshyn is quite possibly the best novel based around Star Wars: the Old Republic video game franchise. While it is not free of it’s flaws it is very enjoyable to read and easy to do so. It was one of the few Star Wars books that I have read recently that kept me turning pages. The best part about the novel is its characters. Theron Shan, first introduced in a the Old Republic comic series, is an intriguing character considering his background, lineage, and the fact that he is not a Jedi. However, I thought that his character lacked a measure of conflict. He seemed too at ease with his position in…
Speculative Documentary: Space Wars
Last week I wrote about our plans to put up a weekly column on more nerdy stuff, that is not really part of the Star Wars universe. We still don’t know what to call it, but the plan is to post documentaries, images or articles, on space and speculative discussion on future technology. Last week i promised we will post something new each Saturday, and already I broke my promise. I have been out almost all weekend, but now I am here, and here is a new documentary from National Geographic. This one is called Space Wars, and is part of the “the universe” series. This one was aired back in 2009 and has scientist speculate on future space weaponry and battle tactics. So far no country has put weapons into space but they can shoot down satellites. If weapons do become part of space, how will they work, how effective will…
Ingame cartel coin purchase coming Nov 5
It looks like it will be possible to buy cartel coin ingame, starting Tuesday November 5. At least that’s what Amber Green writes in her forum post yesterday: On November 5th, all game servers will be unavailable while we perform maintenance. The In-Game Cartel Coin Purchase feature will be implemented during this downtime, and there will not be a new patch to download. Details are as follows: Date: Tuesday November 5th, 2013 Duration: 2 hours Time: 3AM PST (10AM GMT) – 5AM PST (12PM GMT) Thank you for your patience as we maintain service for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. Amber also confirms via Twitter, that subscribers wil get 50% off their first ingame CC purchase as BioWare promised. Personally I am going to buy 5500 coins and save them for when I need them. I’m hoping they add a higher quantity to maximize the 50% savings. Also remember that…
TOR TV: Best emote ever to hit Star Wars: The Old Republic
Youtube user crabby654 made this small videos showing what he think is the best emote ever to hit Star Wars: The Old Republic. Mixing it up with Haddaway – What is love, I kind of understand were he is coming from. All he needs is some guy next to him that tips his hat…. like this. And then yell out “EMILIOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”. Check it out:
Ranked Season 1 Details via Customer Service
Still not sure what Ranked Warzones is all about? The in-game help center might clear a few things up. It sates: Ranked Leaderboards and PVP Season 1 What are Ranked Arena Leaderboards? Our Leaderboards are where players can go to compare themselves against all other players in STAR WARS: The old Republic. Comparisons are based on a Players’s Rank. How are Leaderboards categorized? SWTOR Leaderboards are defined by Advanced Classes, and each Advanced Class across the two Factions shares a Leaderboard. How is Rank determined? A player can generate two types of Rank: Solo & Group Rank. When a player plays a Ranked Warzone in either of these categories, their respective Rank will be affected depending on the outcome of the match. The higher a player’s Rank, the higher they will be categorized on a Leaderboard, relative to all other players’ Ranks. What is Season 1? Season 1 is a…
Swtor Data mined patch 2.4.2
SWTOR_Miner made a small updated with data mined game information found in the latest patch. The info comes in XML- format, so there is not much use if you don’t know how to read that. These are the new cartel items I spotted in the list: AD-14 Heavy Blaster JM-30 Assault Cannon MR-39 Sniper Rifle Advanced Yellow Blue Hawkeye Crystal Advanced Yellow Blue Indestructible Crystal Advanced Yellow Blue War Hero Crystal Balmorran Arms Corporate Shirt Camp Fire: Set up a camp site. You regenerate health and your class energy pool while submerged. CD-36 Blaster Rifle Czerka Corporate Shirt Dark Purple and White Dye Module Deep Brown and Black Dye Module White and Dark Green Dye Module Emote: Funky Emote: Nod Off Emote: Pbj Time Emote: Toe Touch¨ Mount: Gurian Rose Mount: Ikas Flamethrower mount: Ikas Shark Mount: Ikas Spear Mount: Morlinger Imperator Mount: Rendili Shadow Mount: Swamp Tauntaun Infected Treek…
Patch Notes – 2.4.2 – 10/29/2013
As we told you a few days ago, the servers are going down for maintenance tomorrow. Patch update 2.4.2 will implemented during this downtime, and below are the patch notes. “The mysterious floating box on the Imperial Fleet is no longer mysterious, because it is no longer floating. ” It’s smartass notes like these that make me love the devs that much more “A new item, Kick the Huttball, is available in the Cartel Market! This item modifies the “Throw the Huttball” ability, allowing players to kick the ball, thus breaking the number one rule in Huttball. Cost: 400 Cartel Coins.”This is awesome. Game Update 2.4.2 Patch Notes General Quick Travel terminals throughout the galaxy now display proper indication when they have not yet been discovered. All Oricon Quick Travel terminals remain unlocked after being discovered. Cartel Market General The description for Cartel Market Certificates has been updated to clarify…
Speculative Documentary: Evacuate Earth
Last week we posted a story about the images carried by the spacecraft Voyager. This was so well received by you – our readers – getting more then 300 likes on Facebook. Therefor we thought we will follow up on it, and start a new column on this more nerdy stuff, that is not really part of the Star Wars universe. We don’t know what to call it yet, but the plan is to post documentaries, images or articles, on space and speculative discussion on future technology. This first video we are posting is named “Evacuate Earth”. It is a National Geographic Channel documentary, that tells the what-if story of the evacuation of the planet Earth which is due to be destroyed by a rogue neutron star. The documentary goes into the technical and social complications of building an Ark to save humanity and other Earth life, and moving them…
Scheduled Maintenance: October 29th, 2013
Just letting you know, that BioWare will be taking down the servers on Tuesday October 29th, to perform maintenance. Patch update 2.4.2 will implemented during this downtime, but there is no info on what to expect yet. The big thing about 2.4.2 was the start of ranked Season 1, but thats delayed so i’m guessing this patch is just a bunch of fixes. Maby a new Rakghoul plague? Anyways, below is the announcement: On October 29th, all game servers, SWTOR.com, and the launcher will be unavailable while we perform scheduled maintenance. Game Update 2.4.2 will be implemented during this downtime. Details are as follows: Date: Tuesday October 29th, 2013 Duration: 4.5 hours Time: 3AM PDT (10AM UTC) – 7:30AM PDT (2:30PM UTC) During maintenance, all updates and additional information will be posted on our Twitter account. Thank you for your patience as we maintain service for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™