Question If we nuked the map and the majors whats a cool event to explain that

[Tsungtiin Kwaartz]

Just spitballing…

Another galaxy crashes into the Star Wars galaxy, rather surprisingly fast. The systems themselves are mostly not destroyed, but the whole galaxy is rearranged by the gravitational chaos, demolishing most hyperlanes and relocating entire systems in locations that cause them to be lost.

Edit: pros and cons:

Pros:

• Rearranging the galaxy obliterates influence clouds on a OOC and IC level, allowing for a fresh reset.
• Various creations and assets can be preserved such as factory and codex creations
• Some assets can be cleaned out as a form of house cleaning, as a result of the collision
• The other galaxy adds mass to the galaxy, allowing for expansion
• The map can now be rearranged into the shape of a lightning bolt

Cons:

• Planets are no longer where they should be on the map ie: coruscant is in the outer rim
• New players need to be caught up to speed on this change when they arrive
• Tefka has to manually move each individual world to a new location.

 

[Xitli Sacul]

Well the list of options is quite long;

• Plague.
• Superweapon (Iokath, SCORPIO, and Eternal Fleet being some notable examples)
• AI Purge
• Precursors (e.g. Rakatan Empire)
• Force Entity (e.g. Abeloth)
• Extragalatic Invaders
• Rogue Machines go around terraforming everything into tomb worlds due to a miscalculation.

The Weird and Exotic

• Strange Matter Bomb (Best thought of as a Molecular Virus)
• Grey Goo Scenario (Nanomachines son)
• Boltzmann Theory (It's really wacky)
• Contraction - Traditional line of thought is that the Universe is constantly growing/expanding. However, there is increasing evidence that the opposite might also be true, that the Universe will begin contracting at a certain point. What happens then, is anybody's guess but an amusing (Albeit unlikely theory) is that time starts moving backwards.

 

[Ugoto Chivaro]

Wiping the map? Old hat. We've been there. It's not spicy enough. Wipe the factory, codex, and character creation. Then advance the timeline 200 years.

That'll really show 'em.

 

[Ala Quin]

Giant extra-galactic EMP pulse knocks everything out.

Or some extra-galactic event/attack temporarily shreds hyperspace. It would take a time jump to rectify the issue....not sure how I feel about a time jump at this juncture.


Wiping everything Ugoto Chivaro ? Only if I can save all my bios first just to repost them afterwards....because I am not scrapping my stories

 

[Darth Empyrean]

Wiping the map? Old hat. We've been there. It's not spicy enough. Wipe the factory, codex, and character creation. Then advance the timeline 200 years.

That'll really show 'em.

Burning the park down is easy when you don't often play in it.

As a small faction, I wouldn't personally care for a total map wipe just because the failings of a few. It'd upend alot of work and story we've put in - but I'm also apart of a small faction so my stakes are pretty low. Beyond story, it affects me little.

We've so far done Abeloth, AI revolution, Gulag Plague, Netherworld apocalypse, and probably a few I'm forgetting. Redoing them would be weird. A forced time skip or time mechanics would also be weird. I'd like to see something fresh beyond those.

Dark Side corruption from the mass wars spreading across the galaxy to make the populations crazy and cultish to an insane degree beyond anyone control. Worship dark nether gods that's break sanity, go real eldritch with it for a year OOC before things start to fall back into order.

Not a great idea, but a simple one with potential.

Celestial remergence to snap the structure, given Chaos has driven away from balance and their status quo for too long. They break the galaxy and reforge it in a moments notice - could allow for a change in time frame as many are thrown into the past and future, remerging into a galaxy that was without Chaos PC influence for hundreds or thousands of years.

Rakata Swarm remerging to decimate the galaxy. Gree ultra nationalists. Unknown dark side ritual that spans the galaxy similar to Valkorians plan, but we have no true indication for who did it, just that the last 20 years of conflict was guided secretly by them for that purpose.

Could come up with a few idea beyond rehashing old ideas, or doing another zombie apocalypse.

 

[Kitter Bitters]

Could be unexplained. It just happens. Nobody knows. Then we all have to wander around and figure out new lives.

 

[Gerwald Lechner]

Celestial remergence to snap the structure, given Chaos has driven away from balance and their status quo for too long. They break the galaxy and reforge it in a moments notice - could allow for a change in time frame as many are thrown into the past and future, remerging into a galaxy that was without Chaos PC influence for hundreds or thousands of years.

Of all the options people have listed I like this one. It allows the map to be wiped while also allowing people to keep the characters they love, snap the ones they don’t. If this is done I would also recommend nuking the factions as well.

 

[Fatty]

A Galaxy-wide Hyperspace Storm makes travel between worlds impossible except for those with portals to Netherworld/Oblivion (and maybe a select few "weird" travel methods that don't rely on hyperspace).

You could run an event where (lacking any other avenues) factions try to spread through the Oblivion/Netherworld while the galaxy map is on hiatus. During this time, you could massively reduce post requirements for territory gain or, more excitingly, massively inflate what they get in return for X number of posts building a whole new location. Once the event is over, we could skip a few years to see how factions pick up the pieces in the aftermath once the storm has dissipated. Maybe factor in what they can maintain on the main galaxy map based on how much territory they acquired in the Netherworld/Oblivion and how much of what they created was interacted with (side stories, invasions, etc.)

This has a few benefits:

• Re-using underutilized assets (fewer new things needs to be created artwise)
• Should encourage creative new Codex/factory subs and more drama for characters to deal with possibly being cut off from family/friends/assets for a limited time
• It might be an opportunity to test new game rules to be adopted for the main map later
• Gives everyone a break from the main map (possibly giving Tefka or whoever time to revamp it if they want to)
• Doesn't necessarily need any staff to run critical plot characters, etc., since it is a "natural" disaster (though it could easily be something unnatural if you wanted it to be, but I think that's overdone)

It does have a few risks:

• Underutilized assets may be underutilized because no one has a passion for them, and a second chance won't change that
• If the asset does get used, it may only be because the main map isn't an option, and once the main map is back, it will go back to being unutilized.
• Since there isn't anything to "solve" necessarily, the event may seem arbitrary and largely ignorable

 

[Valiens Nantaris]

On the subject of events which I've seen mentioned here, I would caution against anything which relies on a big NPC or 'enemy' presence.

I've done it twice directly and been part of others. It's hell, honestly, and usually doesn't work very well. The event will sputter and wind down leading to a rushed conclusion. People like to promise and boast they'll post, but they don't.

So if there's going to be an event it needs to have a malleable situation which happens and people can react how they want within it if they want to with other writers. That's the only way it might work...and even then might not.

 

[Breha Sal-Soren]

Maybe all the Superweapons in the Galaxy are overloaded by a virus? Or some major hack?

They are all set to fire on each other, or overload and cause cataclysmic explosions at the epicenter of the Universe?

And maybe it creates a huge time paradox through all kinds of physics and other things I know nothing about, and we are all put back x amount of years? Or maybe it creates a void that causes major planets to just become uninhabitable by some void energy.

 

[Gorba the Hutt]

Thanos snapping space travel, time skipping however many years necessary for intergal govs to collapse, and then realizing that it was done by Forerunners who have been building up strength in a satellite galaxy. No event, just an intro scrawl leaving the players to do what they will with that info.

 

[Cyran Vaas]

Maybe it's all been a simulation and new update brings along a whole lot of game breaking bugs that corrupt the save files the map looses all it's major factions, blah blah human batteries blah blah robots blah blah seeing the numbers blah blah bending spoons blah blah red pilled

 

[Starlin Rand]

A Galaxy-wide Hyperspace Storm makes travel between worlds impossible except for those with portals to Netherworld/Oblivion (and maybe a select few "weird" travel methods that don't rely on hyperspace).

You could run an event where (lacking any other avenues) factions try to spread through the Oblivion/Netherworld while the galaxy map is on hiatus. During this time, you could massively reduce post requirements for territory gain or, more excitingly, massively inflate what they get in return for X number of posts building a whole new location. Once the event is over, we could skip a few years to see how factions pick up the pieces in the aftermath once the storm has dissipated. Maybe factor in what they can maintain on the main galaxy map based on how much territory they acquired in the Netherworld/Oblivion and how much of what they created was interacted with (side stories, invasions, etc.)

This has a few benefits:

• Re-using underutilized assets (fewer new things needs to be created artwise)
• Should encourage creative new Codex/factory subs and more drama for characters to deal with possibly being cut off from family/friends/assets for a limited time
• It might be an opportunity to test new game rules to be adopted for the main map later
• Gives everyone a break from the main map (possibly giving Tefka or whoever time to revamp it if they want to)
• Doesn't necessarily need any staff to run critical plot characters, etc., since it is a "natural" disaster (though it could easily be something unnatural if you wanted it to be, but I think that's overdone)

It does have a few risks:

• Underutilized assets may be underutilized because no one has a passion for them, and a second chance won't change that
• If the asset does get used, it may only be because the main map isn't an option, and once the main map is back, it will go back to being unutilized.
• Since there isn't anything to "solve" necessarily, the event may seem arbitrary and largely ignorable

I like this one the most out of what's been suggested thus far. It's simple, doesn't involve some external enemies, and if you don't want to be involved in it you can just handwave the event, since it's temporary. It also still provides a solid reason for the map wipe, as a big faction is going to suffer serious problems if interplanetary travel is disrupted.

I'm not crazy about any of the time travel/simulation stuff, as it seems like it would get too confusing.

 

[Emberlyn Rekali]

Dark Side corruption from the mass wars spreading across the galaxy to make the populations crazy and cultish to an insane degree beyond anyone control. Worship dark nether gods that's break sanity, go real eldritch with it for a year OOC before things start to fall back into order.

I like this, ngl. So much dark side energy pulsating through the death, destruction and general chaos of war(s).

And you have a faction of a few Lightsiders who are left, they pull an Obi-Wan style hide in plain sight type thing. Galaxy is massive, they have to minimalize their presence.

By a few, I'm sure everyone will have one or alt but make the faction narrowed down - eliminate the schism for a while and then like they said, open it back up after whenever.

 

[Tefka]

I think using the Force as a macguffin like that is kinda lame.

Even if you took away technology, the amount of awe-inspiring natural phenomena that could occur is still unlimited. Using the magic space wizards to rewrite reality a sixth time this year isn’t my cup of tea, but it’s a matter of taste for most I think. I prefer a more grounded scenario, says guy who wrote the Akala storyline.

 

[Onrai]

Dark Side corruption from the mass wars spreading across the galaxy to make the populations crazy and cultish to an insane degree beyond anyone control. Worship dark nether gods that's break sanity, go real eldritch with it for a year OOC before things start to fall back into order.

I'd actually had an idea for a story based around this, related to a prison of fallen Celestials having its wards fail, leading to the Star Wars equivalent of Satan and his legions escaping into the galaxy while attempting to turn everything into a perfect mimic of their chthonic hellscape where mortal beings are nothing more than playthings to be tormented at their whims. While we've done something similar (eg. the force animating the Dark Harvest virus, Akala becoming neo-Abeloth and warping reality), We haven't really had an event that's gone 100% pure unrefined cosmic/eldritch horror. Even the Akala story ultimately wound up being very Suspiria-esque(the ST: Voyager one, not the Italian horror movie), with her motivations ultimately being within the understanding of the characters involved, not so far detached from the galaxy that no one can understand. It would be a fresh taste of "band the galaxy together against a common threat" if there was no way for characters to understand the threat in a way that could encourage empathy or willing allegiance to it (since it's guaranteed some PCs will want to align themselves with it OOC, eg. Omni/the Kursed).

A Galaxy-wide Hyperspace Storm makes travel between worlds impossible except for those with portals to Netherworld/Oblivion (and maybe a select few "weird" travel methods that don't rely on hyperspace).

If we're going with a full map-rebooting event, might as well throw in all the bells and whistles to stress territorial growth to the maximum. The more room there is on the map(s), the more groups of people are encouraged to congeal around an idea that hasn't been so heavily recycled. New Force orders not derived from the Jedi or Sith. Cultists worshipping dark gods. Mercenaries that aren't just an excuse to have some derivative of a Mando faction. It would honestly be nice to see.

 

[Emberlyn Rekali]

Maybe you don't need a reason. Just do it. Absolutely chaotic.

or

Maybe some entity arrives, and there is an era of peace and eventually all factions become one and war is gone - then fast forward a few hundred years, do a Adam/Eve kinda introduction to the light vs dark thing - just throwing it out there.

Not a Force entity either, just whatever you make it to be.

 

[Amani Serys]

Maybe like a Great Hyperspace Disaster 2? But like scaled way up?

If it is gonna happen, I'm very much in the corner of "thing that can reasonably justify a map wipe but still be ignored on an individual basis." A big non-baddie, non-Force related calamity like that would work just fine. Impede and threaten hyperspace travel across the galaxy, causing a spiral of chaos and inevitably the decay of any enforceable borders. Now factions gotta rebuild and expand all over, and/or new ones will rise up from the former's ashes. Destructive, but not rewrite-the-spacetime-continuum destructive.

Whatever the specifics might be, anything that involves serious time skips is a groan-worthy no from me. I mean yeah sure anyone can play fast and loose with stuff like the timeline updates but for something big like this it just feels like an unnecessary addition that would overcomplicate things and throw a wrench in some people's personal plans.

 

[Warmaster Nyâsh]

One of the more simple versions would be what Fatty implied.

No hyperspace travel.
No holonet communication or communication outside a system whatsoever.

That would lock all systems to themselves and explain why nothing beyond exists.

No contingencies in factions, nobody would plan that both would just not work for a while.

For how long? Well large time-skips are frowned upon I see, so maybe half a year, a year? That's not much in anyone's life and we do more by just playing on from year to year.

W H Y
No clue. Something with gravity, core, sun systems, rotation, physics. Someone smarter than me could think of a possibility.

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Faction Suggestion #1

I would suggest that if the wipe is done - that no current major faction staff can become major faction staff for 3-6 months after the wipe.

The wipe is not for the idea/theme of a faction but the people meant to drive it forward and having lost interest, IRL or whatever [insert excuse].

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Faction Suggestion #1 is mutually exclusive with Faction Suggestion #2!

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Faction Suggestion #2

Map game for factions with at least three individuals involved plus activity checks every two months. At max two Dominions per month/territory gains (if under five people?).

All further, current rules apply.

Why you are asking adding more potential crap to the map helps clean the map?
More dynamics, more options for diplomacy (possibly adding vassal statuses, client states, march etc), more versatility and a surge of activity for the map game of course.
It may be bound with more work, but just as for Factory and Codex Judges or RPJs, for sure someone is interested in such an activity to oversee it.

 

[Valery Noble]

If this actually going to be a thing this time, I'm on the same page as Amani and some others. Some big calamity that doesn't require an NPC invasion or weird time shenanigans would be best. Avoids a drawn out story that might not get anywhere at all, so it'll at least have a clear conclusion that isn't rushed. Probably something original too, so maybe not another virus. I like some the hyperspace ideas I've seen better, personally.

But I'm also not entirely sure if it's necessary still. I'm sure that you've seen a lot of MF owners not wanting to go minor and feeling relief when you talked to them about the out, but I also feel that it has maybe been better?

Some big MF's have gone minor in the last year/year and a half, and another recently announced that they were going to. There are definitely others that have grown stagnant, but idk if wiping the whole map because of them is the way to go and will bring change beyond the initial excitement.

But with other changes to the map and dominions etc coming, it's hard to say.