One of the things that makes Star Wars what it is, Star Ships! When walking around the world of Star Wars Galaxies you really don’t see a whole lot of them. In fact, you are pretty well limited to the shuttles taking off and leaving their pads as your only feel of having ships flying around. Sure there are the graphic effects of ships flying high overhead on occasion but knowing they are not piloted by real players makes them kind of fade into obscurity.
In my vision of a remake of Star Wars Galaxies, star ships would be prominent. Player owned ships would be visible taking off and landing on the planet and cruising through the sky. After all, in my vision atmospheric flight is a reality, isn’t imagination grand? Of course, star ships zipping around the sky would not be to realistic either, these things aren’t really designed to handle well in the atmosphere. They would have to travel at low speeds to land and take off to prevent them from taking damage - not to mention handling in the atmosphere would be cumbersome, so they wouldn’t be primarily used to go out and run missions - just to get you close.
In my vision, the ships wouldn’t be able to just plop down anywhere on the planet. Having a parking lot of star ships sitting around every major attraction in the game would be game breaking in it’s own right. To that end, the ships would only be able to land in star ports, player houses equipped with a landing pad or in the case of really large houses - a docking bay, or just out on the planet on a acceptably large piece of flat, solid ground. And just to make things more interesting, those just landing in the open would be susceptible to attack by NPC’s or enemy players - giving pilots more incentive to find a safe haven for their precious craft.
All ships docked on the planet, whether they be out in the open or in a docking bay would be visible at all times. Including when the player is logged out of the game. This would help add to the feel of being in a Star Wars game. Going into a city and visiting a star port would be a sight to see - it would be more than just a big circle with a landing area for the community shuttle. It would be on a much grander scale, depending on the city, with numerous docking bays of different shapes and sizes housing ships of all types.
Player owned cities would have the option of building large, albeit expensive star ports in their cities and making them private for their citizens or public and earn extra income off of docking bay fees. Starports would be a major commerce attraction for transports of all types. In a game like I have in mind, buying goods would not be as convenient as in current MMO’s. In this style of game, realism takes a bit of a priority. Here, star ports would be used as a hub to load and unload items for sale to deliver to other cities and planets where those goods may not be as abundant. Likewise, players not wealthy enough to own a ship of their own could barter for a ride at star ports to areas they could not otherwise get to. Not every planet is going to have a community shuttle link after all.
Next up, smuggler’s and how they will be one of the most popular player classes in this MMORPG. Smuggling goods and players into places they aren’t wanted by the populace at large is going to be big business.
Other Posts That May Interest You
Stumble it! 
Leave a Comment