Age of the Republic
Project Rebirth

---

‏‏

Disclaimer: All content & information hinted at, outlined, explained, or shown may be subject to change by the time of release.

TO KICK THINGS OFF...

Let's face it. The server as it is now is not enjoyable to play for the first time, or to play consecutively. In the past 2 years we've accumulated a content pack that is 26 gigabytes. This is not normal, nor is it healthy for a garry's mod server to be this big & jammed with content that we just wanted to quickly please players with. It's even gotten to a point several times where I just didn't want to work on the server anymore, as no matter what I did the download size would simply get larger and larger everytime. And to be fair, when Age of The Republic started 2 years ago I didn't have the code knowledge or the more-than-abundant care for the project that I do today.

So, after around a year and a half of careful planning, we are finally ready to reveal what the community's future holds.

QUICK-SHOT DETAILS

• The Age of The Republic 2 project will "replace" the Age of The Republic that you know & love today.


• The current Age of The Republic will be further known as Age of The Republic: Legacy.


• Legacy will continue to be around while AOTR2 get's on it's feet, and to also cater to players who may not agree with AOTR2's earlier days, i.e it's beta phase.


• If Legacy continues to have a playerbase, it will continue to get small feeder updates drizzled down from AOTR2, and of course any bug fixes that are necessary.


• However, our goal is to eventually kill off Legacy for good. Respectfully, of course.



• Age of The Republic 2 puts a heavy emphasis on player freedom of choice.


• We will hit the ground running on the premise of tactical engagements and realistic combat. Time-to-kill is the lowest it's ever been, all across the board, meaning risks are at an all time high.


• With that last point, we are also doubling-down on difficulty. Nearly everything you obtain can be taken from you. Medics can get robbed for their medical supplies, pesky ARCs can get robbed for their jetpacks, and you will drop all that ammo you recklessly stockpile in your backpack.


• "Sub-regiments" or squads will be entirely player created, customized, progressed, and managed. Players will be able to freely select their class loadout in a new kit-based system within these squads. If the squad leader deems you fit for another role, he may swap your kit out just as it has always traditionally worked before.


• This also means full regimental integration & control of everyone's favorite classes, such as Medics, Pilots, A.R.C. Troopers, and Clone Commandos. However there will still be pre-checks and private trainings to become an A.R.C. Trooper or Clone Commando.


• Civilians, Jedi & other independent gameplay routes will be entirely free to play. This even includes deserting the Republic as a Clone Trooper. However all this will come in an update sometime post-launch, meaning clones will be all you can access in the beginning.

REGIMENTS & STORY

While staying true to our plans of delivering a universe set in an alternative timeline of the Clone Wars era, we cannot ignore the pleas of wanting something grounded & true to the actual source material. Which is why we have decided to take it upon ourselves to dedicate real time to planning out the next 6-8 months of story content that directly ties into the server's development.

Not only will your choices matter to your own character & your regiments, but it will ultimately dictate where our story goes and how we deliver content to you as we progress through the story & the server's development.

This also means that you will no longer see outlandish Santa Beards or Astromechs-in-a-bag, and if you do see something you consider outlandish, you'll have the option to disable it at any time despite how minimal it may be.

Clone regiments will work on a seasonal-rotation system, meaning you won't see every regiment on base at the same time, and this may affect your favorite regiment at times.

• Age of The Republic will only feature 3 main regiments at any given time. This excludes Republic Command and Coruscant Guard, as they will always be around no matter what.

• These three regiments follow after the 3 core gameplay options; Frontline, Specialized, and Support.

• The beginning season's lineup will allow players to step into the roles of the 501st Legion, 41st Elite Corps, and the 104th Wolfpack Battalion.

• The next season's rotation will feature the 212th Attack Battalion, 327th Star Corps, and the 21st Nova Corps.

• Doing this allows us to fit more gameplay routes and sub-classes to each regiment, catering to their niches to their greatest potential while "restricting" players to narrower options, resulting in rosters and regiments remaining much more full and healthy.

• To do this even more successfully and to utilize the new player-created squad systems to their max, lore characters will no longer be a feature on Age of The Republic. Players will be focusing on building their own story and legacy true to themselves, and ultimately their character.
  
  This can't be done when you have people wanting to roleplay as Captain Rex but also want to wear a custom helmet they had made while not even embodying the personality and actions of the Captain Rex everyone knows and loves, which makes it a better move for players to instead embody something that fits them.
  
  This also means that you can have as many Commanders in one regiment as necessary to match the more extreme amount of regiment members.

• This method also allows us to slip more regiments into the rotation without spiking content higher, meaning you may see other fan favorites arrive (or re-arrive) in the future of our universe, such as the: 187th Legion, Doom's Unit, 91st Reconnaissance Corps, 13th Iron Legion, and much, much, more.

In summary, you will still be with the same group of people you've always been with. However, one day you may wake up and log in and be referred to as a new regiment's name and have a whole new color automatically. This will pretty much all be based around the roleplay aspect of the server, since the squad system I mentioned prior does all the heavy lifting within a regiment. The inner workings of a squad holds your identity, not the color of your armor. Republic Command (A.R.C. Advisor)

Frontline Battalion (501st Legion)

Specialized Battalion (41st Elite Corps)

Support Battalion (104th Wolfpack Battalion)

Regiments will act as a launch pad for players to create and progress their own individual and unique squads.

• Upon reaching the rank of Sergeant, players will be granted the ability to create their own specialized squads that essentially take the place of all sub-regiments that you are familiar with today.

• While creating these squads, players will be able to customize the name, tag, colors, and available kits they have to hand out. Squads can only hold members that are within the same regiment, meaning 501st cannot join a 104th squad.

• After the squad's creation, they will begin as a Level 1 squad and players will have to invest experience earned during gameplay to level it up. Upon levelling, the squad will earn more slots and perks to utilize.

• Squads are permanent unless they receive 1-3 strikes or become an inactive squad. Once they cross these boundaries, they will then be removed and all members will be set down to the default class within their regiment. Squads cannot be disbanded, and if the leader chooses to leave (or is removed from the regiment or community) leadership may be handed off to another member.

• Each squad leader will have full control over their regiment. If a player decides to just want to have a squad with a few of his buddies and roleplay as a Pilot squadron, they have all the power to do so. If a player decides he wants to attempt to make a squad that will eventually evolve into something similar to the 501st Torrent Company, a fully equipped & large-scale sub-battalion, they can do so by all means.

• Since roles such as Pilots and Medics are now completely free and up to players to choose at anytime, there may be questions in your mind regarding the actual quality of these Pilots or Medics, and the answer is actually quite simple. It'll be clear to the regiment's command or even the community that a certain squad isn't very desirable in terms of their roleplay or tactics. The squads that actually put effort into their trainings, roleplay, and how they carry themselves during battle will shine brighter than the ones that don't, thus attracting more members & ulitmately missions to them instead.
  
  If the server ends up being 90% Pilots for example, that's entirely fine too and we've prepared for it. It simply means that players choosing to tip the scales into a Grand Army without any real attack strength will have dire consequences since Pilots are significantly weaker and under-equipped for battles. Gamemasters, Simulations, Quests, and etc. will do all the punishing necessary to cause people to want to keep class diversity around.
  
  In a sense, any current pilots or medics on AOTR: Legacy hold the upper hand, with superior and proper training at their disposal. In the end, this was all done for the sake of player freedom, and we trust our community with the tools to roleplay how they want to.

• It may take some adjusting, but the entire team feels that this is a huge step in the proper direction since players will truly be individualized, down to the type of squad they choose. Make a squad that specializes in mortars, or a squad that specializes in frontline medicinal assistance. Create a squad that makes up half of the 501st's frontline power, or create a squad that will take on the long-distance battle within the 41st. It's all up to you.

NEW-AGE ECONOMY

One of our goals with AOTR2 was to not only one-up ourselves, but try and make it harder to one-up ourself the next time.

If you think back to how cool the Summer Games was and how I mentioned that we would be testing a new method of how weapons would be dispersed in a way that it felt like you had a chance of getting a gun that, despite being technically the same gun as someone else, it could still perform better? Well, we successfully found a way to make that infinitely better.

• Age of The Republic 2 will boast an entirely new way to experience our Clone Wars roleplay server, and ultimately any Clone Wars roleplay.


• Every weapon you craft, unbox, or obtain will be randomized down to the decimal of each statistic. These stats include Damage, Accuracy, Ammo Capacity, Spread, and Control.


• Every cosmetic you craft, unbox, or obtain will now come with it's own stats, which are also randomized down to the decimal. These stats include Health, Armor, Jump Height, and Walk & Sprint speeds.


• Players will now be able to craft weapons right in their Inventory, using a new blueprint-based system. Players can also destroy any weapon or cosmetic for quick credits with the click of a button, and are no longer able to be sold to vendors for a sleazy price.










• Speaking of the inventory, you now have two. One of them is your "Backpack", which is the good old Q-menu you all know and may not love. This backpack holds all of your food, ammo, and more "in-world" focused objects.


• You now have an additional inventory, binded to your I key. This is your "Inventory", which holds all of your cosmetics, weapons, and other items that are more virtually based as opposed to being an in-world object.


• Various new features have been implemented to both of these menus, such as an Auction House to sell your cooked goodies or illegal items, and a Trading Menu to trade your god-roll weapons and limited edition cosmetics in the safety and security of the server's hands.


• Other features are planned to be introduced to your inventory (which may or may not be there on release) such as a free Battle Pass, Daily Contracts & Bounties, Seasonal Weapon Event Challenges, A PvP Casino, and much more.


• Loot Caches and an infinite amount of loot.


• Crates are now known as Caches, a virtual version of the good ol' lootcrate that can be purchased right in your Inventory's shop menu using the in-game credits that you earn through gameplay.


• This means you'll have a TON of more crates to choose from, each with their own randomized loot pools with different themes & their very own unique items at the top to collect.


• In the future, the same attention will FINALLY be given to Jedi, as they will now have their own genuine sources of their own randomized loot.





• And in the same breath, players will be able to customize their favorite loot by giving it their own skin of their choosing or even name their weapon to fit them more.

Weapon Skin Customization





Weapon Name Tags


• Self-sustainable gameplay environments.


• Something that we have always aimed to fill, a void in the player's heart where they can join our server at anytime and be able to blast something.
  
  Maybe you don't like to cook or craft or collect things, maybe you don't want to grow botanical concoctions and make deathsticks in a tiny room. Which is why we are introducing a massive quest system that will evolve at every corner in the future.


• Since we are still a small team, we may not be able to match the quest mechanics of a game like the Elder Scrolls or Destiny, but we sure will try. Quests can be found on every planet we will visit, allowing players to immerse themselves in the story that we have planned & written carefully, which allows you to have a further understanding of how the tale of the Age of The Republic will play out.


• If you are more of a traditional trooper and can't be bothered to go do an NPC's bidding and task, we got you covered too. Simulations are now available to be started by any player. These simulations may be easy to get the hang of, which is why there are several difficulties and scenarios that you may approach, with many more on the way.


• Alongside this, we are and always will be looking to improve the output quality from our gamemaster team, so be on the lookout for their fancy new tools of destruction and story conveying at their disposal.



• VIP & Supporter benefits have been revitalized.

Since some of you may be wondering what VIPs and our lovely Supporters may be getting in return since Jedi are no longer exclusive to them, I am happy to tell you that there are many more benefits now than ever before.

• As mentioned before, players can destroy their weapons and cosmetics with a click of a button right in their inventory. Deconstructing your items gives you a broad range of a randomized amount of credits that you may get. Supporting players & VIPs will receive a percentage boost to their decosntruction rewards.


• VIPs will also receive a small %-discount when purchasing caches and other items in the shop within their Inventory.


• Of course, the extended character slots are still around, and VIPs will have more characters to create than your default player.


• There are many more benefits still being worked out, but we are sticking true to our promise of no pay to win opportunities.




• Player Inventory & Belongings Disclaimer

And I am sure there is one more question (atleast one) left in your brain, and that is:
"What happens to my stuff?"


• Everything you have now will remain available on AOTR: Legacy as long as it remains alive.


• Everything* will start fresh on AOTR2, because it is a new server with a whole new content pack that is significantly lesser than what it is now. (Server is currently rocking a juicy ~6.5 GB content pack.)


• Custom Items can be directly ported to AOTR2 if requested, however it is advised you get it remade free of charge. In the future when we progress through the story and eventually roll around to Phase 2, you'll want to get it remade once again (free of charge) due to the awesome features we have lined up for Phase 2.


• No custom items will be sold until we reach Phase 2 on AOTR2, and no more items will be offered in terms of custom orders or general additions for AOTR: Legacy.


• Any community members that have brought harm to the community by attempting to stir drama or bring herds of players to other communities that are also taking part in this drama will not be granted compensation or any free rewards given to the community. If these problematic members were to request compensation for custom items, they will have to pay a fee.



• Any non-recent permanently banned members that did not antagonize or cause issues during their ban will be lifted from the ban list and welcomed back to the community.



• Any Crystal Vendor items/crystals purchased in the past 6 months will either be refunded or given back depending on if they are ported to AOTR2.


There will be a list pre-release of what crystal items are surviving the leap to AOTR2, however keep in mind that we are trying to keep content low and the new style of gameplay takes priority. Some features such as Player Icons for example are changing entirely, along with how the server handles cosmetics on the code end of things as we have made massive improvements and dedicated time to creating our own custom system for cosmetics to achieve real performance and optimization.

We do however plan to offer several things to not only commemorate the players that stuck around for a very long time and witnessed the storyline events such as Operation Winterfell or Battle of North Anaxes, but also offer rewards for players who show have shown their undying support over the years.

The team has also been bouncing around ideas regarding a starter kit on our store that players may purchase to have a kick start to their adventures as a thank you for giving back to the Contributors that worked extremely hard to deliver AOTR2 to you.

TO WRAP THINGS UP...

To put things simply, AOTR2 is a new server that will feature a more hardcore, small to large squad tactics gameplay perspective that puts a massive emphasis on every player's decision on how they want to identify themselves within the Grand Army. If players want to run their own small-scale squad with friends or if they want to evolve that small-squad into a full fledged sub battalion to attempt to withstand the test of time, they can. The story will be tied closely into the story of the Clone Wars that will eventually deviate from what you are used to in a more grounded & more planned out way that was unachievable years ago when we began. This story deviation may have been written by us, but it is ultimately the community who will be the executive director and producer of the story. Between the randomized and entirely unique loot you'll be collecting, to the stories you'll be coming up with on your own, with friends, enemies, and more, you'll always have something different to experience day by day.

In the end, we want to provide what's best for our community, and at that, the best for the part of our community that is yet to come. We will continue to push the boundaries of this little source game as we aim to provide a fun arcade shooter based on everyone's favorite universe, while also putting our own spin on things to keep us ahead of everyone else. We are beyond excited to share this project with all of you, and not everything that is prepared let alone in the works has been shown or mentioned here. So you'll just have to wait just a little longer to see the now unrecognizable server from what it was 2+ years ago.

While AOTR2 is still in development, feel free to enjoy AOTR: Legacy while it lasts. AOTR2 is on track to release sometime this Summer as long as I don't plan any more kickass features to stack ontop of it in the meantime. We have up to 6-8 months of story and development content planned, so we won't be running dry on you anytime soon. Take care, and thanks for reading.