Well lately theres been a lot of complaints on the forums in regards to character effectiveness and archtype effectiveness.

I've been a bit confused by them because the statements being made do not actually jibe up with my understanding of the game dynamic as I designed it.

Well today after reviewing the code it appears that the problem is the system has been calculating character effectiveness based on actual LEVEL and strength mod bonuses were not being applied as designed.

This might have gotten mistakenly switched around in a code update somewhere in the past and never came to my attention as being out of standards until just now.

So heres whats going to happen. We're looking to release the next revision of CCS next week. It will be coming with the CCS RP Combat addition, and a complete switch of the level over statistics method of character effectiveness.

The next revision will reapply the original design standard which allows character statistics to be the major developmental factor in a characters design. Level will only determine how many points are available to a character for development.

Just as a recap the stats perform as follows:

Strength - Determines base melee damage bonus BEFORE buff based bonuses
Fortitude - Determines overall hitpoint bonus at level up.
Endurance - Determines overall stamina bonus at level up.
Willpower - Determines overall ability to resist status effects
Intelligence - Determines base effectiveness at magical combat (in CCS 0.5.0, this stat is still inert in 0.4.8)
Perception - Determines base ability to dodge ranged or melee attacks.

Respec - Because of the game changing nature of this fix we will be enabling a network wide respec so characters can adjust to the intended dynamic.

Once again, the problems that have surfaced are because there was a switch in the variables being used to determine effectiveness and it occurred without me catching it and to be honest I'm not entirely sure where it occured either...so we'll be releasing the new revision next week to readjust the system so its performing as expected, with characters being able to surpass limitations through creative statistic investment, versus simply being managed by their level.

Anyways, just a heads up, this may actually address a few of the problems that have been popping up in regards to the tank archtype and a few other character based problems that weren't making sense to me.

It's that time again. The call for skilled warriors has gone out to participate in the Post Apocalypse's end-all, be-all of tournaments, the Fists of Fury competition. Now larger, more complicated, and containing more carnage per a cubic square of arena.

Why the added GT?

This time around, the tournament is a month-long spectacle dedicated to brawling, carnage and glory. Lasting the entire month of June, with a set of bouts taking place on each Saturday, the Fists of Fury aims to provide something not seen ever in the Post Apocalyptic world, and CCS sims in general.

Also, GT means Grand Tour, and for good reason. The first three Saturdays of the month will feature fights on location in three separate arenas. Champions will be selected from each sim, from three weight divisions. The three champions from each sim will represent their sim in the final and fourth bout on the last Saturday of the month, with each sim going up for control of each division's belt. Also, themed fights will be fought in each arena based on the location of the event.

For a more in depth look to the FoF: GT event check out the thread here.

EDIT: For some reason the site is being goofy and will not let me add the link to the thread. It keeps redirecting it back to the news page. Please check out the thread in the CoLA General Forum under Fists of Fury: GT.

This months Bring 5 Bucks To CoLA Day is May 15th! Sorry for forgetting to put the notice up! Thanks Selene for reminding me :P

Anyone who wants to donate Linden dollars is welcome to via the in world tip jar in the bar you can click here and get tped directly to it

Or if you wish to donate RL money in US funds you can click here for information on how to donate via paypal.

For those of you who are new to the community the original discussion thread can be seen here.

Again this is not required and is strictly voluntary but every little bit helps keep this great RP sim going for us where she lets us play for free!

EDIT - Addition by Suz:

Just to add on here, this isn't just about CoLA. This is about all you indy sims out there that use CCS to build and engage your communities with. Right now the donations that make all this possible, CCS included are coming entirely from the CoLA community, so basically 45 other sims out there are enjoying CCS on the generosity of CoLA players.

So don't hesitate to donate, even if you're not a CoLA regular, because the CoLA regulars are paying for you all, even if you never come to CoLA.

Sorry to those who sent in notecards and didn't get into this auction, hopefully you'll beat the others to the punch next month...

Here is the list for everyone...

Jessicka Graves
Layna Szondi
Kage Marx
Meianno Nishi
Eianna Cale
Endymion Nacht
Lazarus Charron
Methias Eponym
Nort Sinister
Fel Darkstone
Rek Kohime
Dent Arashi
Vixy Bravo
Dawson Brooks
Avrilla Jewell

Save your pennies!!

See you there, bishes...

SheJ

*puts on her pimp hat and clears her throat* .. Get yo ho asses up on tha stage!

The rules are simple enough, put yourself up for auction, to be bought for twenty four hours by your peers. Half the funds will go to LA and the other half will go to you, the auctioned. (i.e. You sell for $1000L .. $500L goes to LA and $500L goes to you. ))

The one that buys you will get you for a full 24 hours as a slave to do as they wish, however they wish to use you .. (( you are allowed to put in stipulations, like "only guys" or "I like it in the butt" beforehand if that is your preference..)).

(( This is for roleplay fun and for keeping LA afloat. Please keep it IC and have fun with it. Be creative in how you use your slave .. or just doink them senseless! ))

If you wish to enter your name in for the auction, please send She Juniper a notecard titled "Zodiac Slave Auction - (your name)" ..

The auction will be held on May, 17 a Saturday .. at 7pm SLT.

SheJ .. see you all there..

Just a little heads up. Over the last couple years we've done a lot of work on the CCS system, and while we have some big major plans for CCS 2.0 in the works that Jora and Melanie are busy bouncing around via our closed discussions, we've also not abandoned new ideas and considerations for the current CCS system.

One thing I believe we can all agree on, is that while CCS does happen to do FPS based RPG combat in about as efficient a manner possible in Second Life while retaining user access to 3rd party content....I think we can all agree that not everyone can really participate in it due to variable system peformance based on sim activity, sim state, computer capability.

And role play doesn't really require CCS or even require combat. This is something I've always stated and still completely believe.

People that have a distaste for the CCS FPS style have always role played combat together. Which can be great if the pair of players involved in it are great role players and know how to give and take.

But it also lacks the strategy and structure of a game system and is wide open to god modding and unresolvable situations.

So...low and behold, CCS in its next release, will have RP Combat as an option.

What is it? How does it work? Well...I'm not going to reveal that just yet because of course if I did...someone would probably yoink the idea and put it in their rip off combat system too.

But suffice it to say, its not some lame open mod dice roller script tacked onto CCS as if its some kind of new feature.

And it will bring strategy and skill to RP combat, and allow for folks with lag issues in combat to actually participate in combative role play where they can only directly control the results of it based on their skill at the game system.

It is not a separate system from CCS, it will be system integrated. And it also does not REPLACE CCS RPG/FPS combat, its a secondary option for smaller scenes that are meant to be more role play graphic....and...even more fun, its turn based combat and characters involved in RP Combat fights cannot be attacked by people that aren't in RP Combat mode...so FPS combatants and RP combatants can fight side by side!

Regardless, its in the works now, and I'm pretty sure that once everyone gets their heads around it, they'll enjoy it.

Just a teaser about this addition, as I'm pretty excited about it...and I hope you all like it as much as I think you will.

We identified and fixed a potential security issue with the CoLA website which could potentially expose the passwords of users in the website database.

Largely we do not believe the focus of this attack was to compromise user data but to gain access to administrative levels of the website and use the passwords gained by exploiting this website to gain access to the CCS content management system.

Fortunately they were largely unsuccessful as CCS system administrators do not use the same passwords on the website as they do on the CCS content management system, so only one non-administrative account was compromised and used in an illicit fashion.

The CCS website does not have the same SQL Injection vulnerabilities, and I have spent the evening patching out the vulnerability here on this website, but you may wish to change your website password if you feel you may have a concern with your website account being compromised.

CCS GMs and CCS Regional Admins would be highly advised to ensure that the password they use on the CCS Content Management System isn't the same as the password they use on the website and to ensure their passwords are always a combination of numbers and letters and less than 9 characters in length as those kinds of passwords are much harder to decrypt via heuristic hash analysis.

CCS GMs and Regional Admins can change their passwords on the CCS CMS simply by clicking the Account link after logging in.

Here's the list of those that will be auctioned, save up your pennies!!

Roland Goddard
Vixy Bravo
Catirena Demonia
Winter Illios
Lazarus Charron
Annette Hotaling
Taien Foulon
Isadora Vanalten
Jag Aquacade
Sharda Mirabeau
Methias Eponym
Krankheit Spaatz
Gensa Jameson
Taja Avro
Rek Kohime

See rules below...

It's that time again folks!!

The rules are simple enough, put yourself up for auction, to be bought for twenty four hours by your peers. Half the funds will go to LA and the other half will go to you, the auctioned. (i.e. You sell for $1000L .. $500L goes to LA and $500L goes to you. ))

The one that buys you will get you for a full 24 hours as a slave to do as they wish, however they wish to use you .. (( you are allowed to put in stipulations, like "only guys" or "I like it in the butt" beforehand if that is your preference..)).

(( This is for roleplay fun and for keeping LA afloat. Please keep it IC and have fun with it. Be creative in how you use your slave .. or just doink them senseless! ))

If you wish to enter your name in for the auction, please send She Juniper a notecard titled "Zodiac Slave Auction - (your name)" ..

The auction will be held on April, 26th a Saturday .. at 8pm SLT.

SheJ .. see you all there..

Its official, CoLA is now limited to 50 agents in the sim.

Havok 4 turned out alright but unfortunately it still has some pretty major buglets and sim performance after 50 users just goes directly into the toilet.

Most RP sims in SL, with a few notable exceptions, leave their agent limits pegged at 75 or 80 cause for them...its all about the traffic score, its all about attracting mall rentals. For me, not so much any more, CoLA stands on its own as one of the single best combined role play/combat/sex environments in SL bar none...and its the oldest of all of them.

Anyways, city citizens that rent an apartment will always be able to TP in via the Teleport Home option if they have their home point set to CoLA, so even if its full, apartment tenants can always get in. For everyone else, if CoLA is full I suggest RPing in South Gate or Aracadia or New Gommorrah or any of the other 40+ CCS sims that are available til some space opens up.

Yes its a bit of a throwback to the old days in Satellite, but sim performance and the ability to enjoy the game is a lot more important than traffic score, especially since I'm not whoring the sim out as a mall to cream more money out of the community.

Regardless for large scheduled events like the Slave Auction and Tourneys or big city wide RPs I will be on hand to increase the agent limit, but for standard day to day play, CoLA is now set to 50 users max. So if you want in, get in, or get used to humping that border like the whore it is!

Thanks all, have fun.

This months Bring 5 Bucks To CoLA Day is April 15th! Which also happens to be tax day here in the US.

Anyone who wants to donate Linden dollars is welcome to via the in world tip jar in the bar you can click here and get tped directly to it

Or if you wish to donate RL money in US funds you can click here for information on how to donate via paypal.

For those of you who are new to the community the original discussion thread can be seen here.

Again this is not required and is strictly voluntary but every little bit helps keep this great RP sim going for us where she lets us play for free!

EDITED: To fix a missing link.