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The Case for an Alderaan Stronghold


Capella

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I've been wanting an Alderaan stronghold ever since the Strongholds system was announced. Here's my reasonings why and ideas for what could go along with it. I'd be happy to hear other people's suggestions.

 

 

Plausibility

 

There are many planets on which I'd love to have a stronghold, but recognize that due to lore and story, it might not be possible. For example, while Voss is a lovely planet I'd be happy to live on, the Voss have an indifference towards outsiders and the fact that they contain the aliens into a specific trade quadrant means we probably aren't getting a wilderness mansion. Likewise, Manaan is beautiful and often requested, but the Selkath are also isolationist and unlikely to want outsiders having a retreat in their sacred spaces.

 

So why do I think Alderaan is plausible?

 

  • It's on a planet both Republic and Empire can access.
  • It's neutral territory not owned by either side.
  • Given that most of the player classes have done decent-sized favors for at least one noble House during their class stories, and that doing the factional planetary quests give you popularity among others, it makes sense the PC would have the resources to acquire some land.

 

 

Appearance

 

What would an Alderaan stronghold look like?

 

1.) It's a different type of environment from what we have now

  • It's not a sterile desert like Tatooine ; an untamed wilderness like Yavin ; or a city-bound apartment like Nar Shaddaa, Kaas, or Coruscant
  • If they keep it with the lighting of the planet it will have a clear neutral lighting (unlike Tatooine and Yavin and Nar Shaddaa and Kaas) . Alternately maybe they'll give it some kind of weather like snowy or make it set at night or something
  • There's the chance to have dramatic environmental features (mountains, waterfalls) like with Kaas or Tatooine
  • If there aren't thrantas circling in the sky or vorn tigers prowling outside I'm going to be disappointed

 

 

2.) There's some cool architecture options:

  • There's the towering mansion style (think House Organa or Thul): a central large building, 2-3 stories, with a big hall in the middle and large sized rooms on each floor, with the outside views being balconies like in the current city strongholds. Maybe there's a small courtyard where one could put statues or a garden, and overlooking a pond or river or the mountains.
  • There's the large courtyard moderate house style of stronghold (like House Cortess): a big walled courtyard area with plenty of room for sculptures, fountains, gardens, etc would dominate this design. There could also be a few smaller buildings in the courtyard that are single rooms that serve as like, stables or storage or guard facilities. There would be a main building near the back of the stronghold that would be the main house, 2 stories, with a grand hall and some public-oriented rooms (for trophies or meetings) on the first floor, while the second floor would have rooms intended for the family's use (bedrooms or studies).
  • Something that doesn't look like the noble Houses at all. Maybe it's a small retreat in the woods that used to be a hunting preserve, and it would have lots of open space, a river, a medium size building to live in and maybe one or two smaller ones.
  • A ruined retreat your character's fixing up. This would be more like Yavin is now, with open outdoor areas and a building that's not entirely sound - it'd be based off of the Elysium area, a former place of culture and learning and import. There could be some parts of it fixable to live in as private rooms and other areas exposed to the elements.

 

 

Decorating

 

Alderaan would be an awesome stronghold to add because there are a bunch of awesome Alderaan-themed decos already in the game, and there's a lot of potential to add more decorations that could appear in game in a bunch of ways.

 

  • Allegiance: The Noble House banners and flags. We have Ulgo, Thul, Rist, and Alde banners and flags in game. We're lacking Organa, Teral, Cortess, Panteer, and others. Adding additional House banners and flags would be great to give your stronghold the feeling of being owned by someone aligned to the noble House(s) of your choice - and it's criminal we don't have Organa for the Republic when we have Thul for the Empire.
  • Personnel: People make strongholds look lively, and there's a bunch of relevant categories.
    a.)Nobles: male and female nobles wearing the liveries of all the Houses
    b.) Guards: male and female guards wearing the guard armor of all the Houses
    c.) Civilians: bartenders, waitresses, servants, people standing around conversing
  • Furniture and Civic: Art, sculpture, and various kinds of furniture
    a.)Statues: There are a few kinds of sculptures we see around Alderaan, including the statue with a book and a columnar one, which would look good.
    b.) Artwork and Collectibles: There's already an Alderaan painting and the one you get from Civil War pvp, but what about adding some more art? A Thranta or Vorn Tiger one to match the nerfs one; some paintings of the major Houses; maybe some mounted weapons like swords to look like ornamental pieces
    c.) Furniture: The elegant themes of Alderaan would lend themselves well to a set of furniture like the craftable Voss ones. I'm thinking desks, chairs, a few ceiling and wall lights that actually cast light (as sconces or chandeliers), a couple fancy bed options (canopy bed?); more libraries
    d.) Outdoor Decor: there's a few beautiful fountain designs found on Alderaan (the long ones outside of House Organa); the curved sculpture found on the Elysium and other locations
  • Environmental:
    a.) Animals: Tethered thrantas, pacing vorn tigers or manka cats, a few big fluffy nerfs - there's a lot that could be added
    b.) Plants: The noble Houses tend to have gardens. So plant arrangements would be great (something like the Yavin tree plot but with the deciduous-like trees or evergreens we see on Alderaan), something formal and flowery like orchids, etc.

 

I'm sure other people could come up with more great ideas to this stronghold. Please, let me know what you think!

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Acquisition

 

Here's the most radical idea I have for this stronghold: Give us three ways to earn it, not just the traditional two we've had.

 

1.) Buy the unlock with credits from the Fleet terminal - pay credits to re-activate if it's ever closed. Let's say it's 3 million credits for the base.

2.) Buy the unlock with Cartel Coins from the Fleet terminal - do not pay credits to re-activate if it's ever closed. Let's say it's 2,000 CCs for the base.

3.) Make the stronghold unlockable via an item acquired when reaching reputation cap with the new Alderaan reputation track

 

I propose adding a rep track that works exactly like Voss reputation does right now. Add a weekly "Befriending Alderaan" quest that is updated by completing all of the heroics. Completing each heroic rewards a blue rep token in addition to the credit and commendation/lockbox/Galactic Command XP rewards. Completing the weekly quest provides a purple rep token. There may be green tokens dropped from mobs during the heroics or elsewhere on planet.

 

As you advance through the rep track, you can purchase items from vendors located in the House capital for your side. These items include:

-decos

-mounts

-armor sets for the Noble Houses that don't have sets (currently missing include Baliss, Cortess, Girard, Teral)

-personnel

-noble titles

 

The vendor will also sell an item called the Stronghold Key. It requires the full reputation to buy, and costs a significant amount less than buying the unlock with credits from the fleet (maybe 1 million or even only 500,000) - reflecting the fact that you put a lot of work into earning it. Maybe there's even a short quest where a representative of the noble House your side is aligned with commends you for your service to their House and the planet and rewards you with a small piece of land.

 

This would be a way of earning the stronghold that doesn't currently exist for the other ones. It would reward players for doing the rep grind. It would provide something to work towards, and if all the vendor items were available for credits it could be a credit sink. I think it would be more of a novelty than just spending CCs to get the stronghold.

 

What do other folks think?

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This would be a way of earning the stronghold that doesn't currently exist for the other ones. It would reward players for doing the rep grind. It would provide something to work towards, and if all the vendor items were available for credits it could be a credit sink. I think it would be more of a novelty than just spending CCs to get the stronghold.

 

There's no Alderaan reputation, is there? Just so I understand this: you're asking for more grind in an MMO forum? Isn't that like standing on a hill in the middle of a thunderstorm, flying a kite, and yelling, 'All Gods are bastards!'?

 

Be careful what you ask for. ;)

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There's no Alderaan reputation, is there? Just so I understand this: you're asking for more grind in an MMO forum? Isn't that like standing on a hill in the middle of a thunderstorm, flying a kite, and yelling, 'All Gods are bastards!'?

 

Be careful what you ask for. ;)

 

Correct that there is no Alderaan reputation right now. I'm proposing one be added to facilitate this. When the legacy reputation system got added there was Voss, Oricon, Section X, etc - I don't think any new ones have been added since then? But I didn't mind grinding those for concrete rewards. The way I see it is, so many decos come out for the Cartel Market packs but there's no way to earn them in game - so doing an ingame task (planetary missions) in order to get rep to earn decos, armor, etc, feels more enjoyable. And wouldn't a whole new stronghold be one heck of a top level reward for all the grinding? If it doesn't wind up going over well, the next one can be sold like they are now.

 

(There's more rep grinds in KotFE and probably KotET with the Alliance, but I don't find those as enjoyable because it's per character and while there are some cosmetic things I can buy from my Alliance base, I don't remember anything being locked to a certain influence level).

 

I like your imagery of me tempting fate here though!

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Acquisition

 

Here's the most radical idea I have for this stronghold: Give us three ways to earn it, not just the traditional two we've had.

 

1.) Buy the unlock with credits from the Fleet terminal - pay credits to re-activate if it's ever closed. Let's say it's 3 million credits for the base.

2.) Buy the unlock with Cartel Coins from the Fleet terminal - do not pay credits to re-activate if it's ever closed. Let's say it's 2,000 CCs for the base.

3.) Make the stronghold unlockable via an item acquired when reaching reputation cap with the new Alderaan reputation track

 

I propose adding a rep track that works exactly like Voss reputation does right now. Add a weekly "Befriending Alderaan" quest that is updated by completing all of the heroics. Completing each heroic rewards a blue rep token in addition to the credit and commendation/lockbox/Galactic Command XP rewards. Completing the weekly quest provides a purple rep token. There may be green tokens dropped from mobs during the heroics or elsewhere on planet.

 

As you advance through the rep track, you can purchase items from vendors located in the House capital for your side. These items include:

-decos

-mounts

-armor sets for the Noble Houses that don't have sets (currently missing include Baliss, Cortess, Girard, Teral)

-personnel

-noble titles

 

The vendor will also sell an item called the Stronghold Key. It requires the full reputation to buy, and costs a significant amount less than buying the unlock with credits from the fleet (maybe 1 million or even only 500,000) - reflecting the fact that you put a lot of work into earning it. Maybe there's even a short quest where a representative of the noble House your side is aligned with commends you for your service to their House and the planet and rewards you with a small piece of land.

 

This would be a way of earning the stronghold that doesn't currently exist for the other ones. It would reward players for doing the rep grind. It would provide something to work towards, and if all the vendor items were available for credits it could be a credit sink. I think it would be more of a novelty than just spending CCs to get the stronghold.

 

What do other folks think?

 

I.... absolutely LOVE this idea! *Applause*

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I've been wanting an Alderaan stronghold ever since the Strongholds system was announced. Here's my reasonings why and ideas for what could go along with it. I'd be happy to hear other people's suggestions.

 

 

Plausibility

 

There are many planets on which I'd love to have a stronghold, but recognize that due to lore and story, it might not be possible. For example, while Voss is a lovely planet I'd be happy to live on, the Voss have an indifference towards outsiders and the fact that they contain the aliens into a specific trade quadrant means we probably aren't getting a wilderness mansion. Likewise, Manaan is beautiful and often requested, but the Selkath are also isolationist and unlikely to want outsiders having a retreat in their sacred spaces.

 

So why do I think Alderaan is plausible?

 

  • It's on a planet both Republic and Empire can access.
  • It's neutral territory not owned by either side.
  • Given that most of the player classes have done decent-sized favors for at least one noble House during their class stories, and that doing the factional planetary quests give you popularity among others, it makes sense the PC would have the resources to acquire some land.

 

 

Appearance

 

What would an Alderaan stronghold look like?

 

1.) It's a different type of environment from what we have now

  • It's not a sterile desert like Tatooine ; an untamed wilderness like Yavin ; or a city-bound apartment like Nar Shaddaa, Kaas, or Coruscant
  • If they keep it with the lighting of the planet it will have a clear neutral lighting (unlike Tatooine and Yavin and Nar Shaddaa and Kaas) . Alternately maybe they'll give it some kind of weather like snowy or make it set at night or something
  • There's the chance to have dramatic environmental features (mountains, waterfalls) like with Kaas or Tatooine
  • If there aren't thrantas circling in the sky or vorn tigers prowling outside I'm going to be disappointed

 

 

2.) There's some cool architecture options:

  • There's the towering mansion style (think House Organa or Thul): a central large building, 2-3 stories, with a big hall in the middle and large sized rooms on each floor, with the outside views being balconies like in the current city strongholds. Maybe there's a small courtyard where one could put statues or a garden, and overlooking a pond or river or the mountains.
  • There's the large courtyard moderate house style of stronghold (like House Cortess): a big walled courtyard area with plenty of room for sculptures, fountains, gardens, etc would dominate this design. There could also be a few smaller buildings in the courtyard that are single rooms that serve as like, stables or storage or guard facilities. There would be a main building near the back of the stronghold that would be the main house, 2 stories, with a grand hall and some public-oriented rooms (for trophies or meetings) on the first floor, while the second floor would have rooms intended for the family's use (bedrooms or studies).
  • Something that doesn't look like the noble Houses at all. Maybe it's a small retreat in the woods that used to be a hunting preserve, and it would have lots of open space, a river, a medium size building to live in and maybe one or two smaller ones.
  • A ruined retreat your character's fixing up. This would be more like Yavin is now, with open outdoor areas and a building that's not entirely sound - it'd be based off of the Elysium area, a former place of culture and learning and import. There could be some parts of it fixable to live in as private rooms and other areas exposed to the elements.

 

 

Decorating

 

Alderaan would be an awesome stronghold to add because there are a bunch of awesome Alderaan-themed decos already in the game, and there's a lot of potential to add more decorations that could appear in game in a bunch of ways.

 

  • Allegiance: The Noble House banners and flags. We have Ulgo, Thul, Rist, and Alde banners and flags in game. We're lacking Organa, Teral, Cortess, Panteer, and others. Adding additional House banners and flags would be great to give your stronghold the feeling of being owned by someone aligned to the noble House(s) of your choice - and it's criminal we don't have Organa for the Republic when we have Thul for the Empire.
  • Personnel: People make strongholds look lively, and there's a bunch of relevant categories.
    a.)Nobles: male and female nobles wearing the liveries of all the Houses
    b.) Guards: male and female guards wearing the guard armor of all the Houses
    c.) Civilians: bartenders, waitresses, servants, people standing around conversing
  • Furniture and Civic: Art, sculpture, and various kinds of furniture
    a.)Statues: There are a few kinds of sculptures we see around Alderaan, including the statue with a book and a columnar one, which would look good.
    b.) Artwork and Collectibles: There's already an Alderaan painting and the one you get from Civil War pvp, but what about adding some more art? A Thranta or Vorn Tiger one to match the nerfs one; some paintings of the major Houses; maybe some mounted weapons like swords to look like ornamental pieces
    c.) Furniture: The elegant themes of Alderaan would lend themselves well to a set of furniture like the craftable Voss ones. I'm thinking desks, chairs, a few ceiling and wall lights that actually cast light (as sconces or chandeliers), a couple fancy bed options (canopy bed?); more libraries
    d.) Outdoor Decor: there's a few beautiful fountain designs found on Alderaan (the long ones outside of House Organa); the curved sculpture found on the Elysium and other locations
  • Environmental:
    a.) Animals: Tethered thrantas, pacing vorn tigers or manka cats, a few big fluffy nerfs - there's a lot that could be added
    b.) Plants: The noble Houses tend to have gardens. So plant arrangements would be great (something like the Yavin tree plot but with the deciduous-like trees or evergreens we see on Alderaan), something formal and flowery like orchids, etc.

 

I'm sure other people could come up with more great ideas to this stronghold. Please, let me know what you think!

 

The idea is great, but I still feel that the Manaan Stronghold would be a better option. I see your point as to why they might not do it due to lore, but if it's following a similar trend to the yavin stronghold where they brought out yavin themed decorations then it's manaan for sure. Either that or it's something like the Shroud's base from the HK chapter with an underwater section. Take a look at the emergency submarine ceiling decoration. That will not fit in any of the stronghold especially alderaan.

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Real Estate on Alderaan has no future.

 

Seriously though, you make a good case but for many of those same reasons I would prefer Hoth as a location for a Stronghold. I suppose it's because of the Empire Strikes Back where there is the rebel base and I've always wanted to have a base on Hoth because of that.

 

I would welcome any new Stronghold pretty much though that's not city based. I hate how orange Nar Shaddaa and Coruscant are, one sand desert is enough for me and Yavin, though beautiful was too much of a pain to decorate because it was so horribly assymetrical.

 

That's why I would prefer Hoth, because a base in a snowy mountainside will give me a stronghold with a clean white slate to decorate in/on. That's what I missed most. I would also be happier if there would be base colour skins for our strongholds. Honestly, two orange strongholds...

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I honesty don't think they going to make any more strongholds.

 

Why? Data Miners seem to think they're working on a Manaan stronghold. I think they're likely to make them, they're expensive, and an easy motivator for people to buy cartel coins and packs for new decos.

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Why? Data Miners seem to think they're working on a Manaan stronghold. I think they're likely to make them, they're expensive, and an easy motivator for people to buy cartel coins and packs for new decos.

 

Why?

 

 

(1) If they were going to make one this year, it would already been released. Strongholds have normally been released in the summer or early fall before a new expansion.

 

(2) They would need to expand their system for us to be able to have all the strongholds and that took them over a year to do first time and if people can't purchase a new one without having to give one up they won't do it. Too many people have all the strongholds and have spent millions in decorating and having to give it up, I don't think so.

 

Could I be wrong? Possibly but not going to happen this year.

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I agree with a lot of the reasoning for an Alderaan stronghold. On that note, though, I think I have to say the same reasoning would apply to *other* planets as well; for instance, if you've completed the Voss story on a satisfactory note as an individual character, or attained a high rank with their particular faction, it could still make sense for the Voss to offer that particular character... as long as it was "based" in a plot-appropriate location (so in the Voss example, within the confines of the alien enclave for outsiders).

 

Alternatively, if a stronghold lacks access to the outdoors for walking around or whatever, what would prevent us from being able to purchase holograms to cover the "windows" - something we could activate with a click, like the noise-producing decorations? Then it wouldn't matter at all about the story, though it wouldn't be quite as cool as being able to roam around in the environment you'd prefer to look at. I would love to be able to turn on an illusion of an underwater realm on my Dromund Kaas windows, and if I could choose between underwater and a lovely woodsy scene, I would have a really difficult time choosing. It's possibly a tangential suggestion, but maybe it would be less intensive (and possibly less expensive) than offering an entirely new stronghold that must then be fully unlocked and decorated? *shrugs sheepishly*

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I find it very well to include new strongholds, especially for those who have finished the stories and we are bored and waiting the next expansion, We would be entertained get credits to buy, extend them and decorandólos.

 

Respect to Voss, Manaan and where its inhabitants do not allow to have houses, you have to keep in mind that they are planets and where we travel there is only a small part of the whole planet, on those planets they could be stronghold in a place apart from their civilization where they do not intervene.

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  • 7 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

/signed.

For all the reason mentioned, by OP......

While Manaan might nice, there's only 2 occasions to go there (the rep vendor) and entering the flashpoint manually, which aren't needed frequently enough imo.

 

I'd rather have ease of access to a planet that I might actually need to visit after leveling a character. Yes I know you can grab a heroic, but there are occasions when I've done all the heroics and still need to get to Alderaan.

There's a world boss, the rakghoul event, dread seed and bounties.

 

Also when I'm in other strongholds I often utilize the planetary chat; whether it's to respond to someone's question, or join a group for killing a world boss or doing heroics. No real possibility of doing these things on Manaan. Hoth would also make a lot sense for an SH planet, as many of the same reasons I've mentioned and that were stated by OP would also apply.

Edited by CyorReco
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  • 5 months later...
A stronghold on Alderaan would be a great asset. It would add even more color to the game, forAlderaan is one of the most sophisticated creations among the planets of the whole game. As you play the storylines of the different classes you have the opportunity to experience as well the beauty of the planet as the complicated and fragile political structure of Alderaan. I was always a bit sad when I had to move on from Alderaan to the next stage of my class story.
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I'm shocked to see an OLD Alderaan stronghold thread without me voicing an approval for it.

 

I mean... Alderaan. Can you think of a better world to just give us a straight up "manor" style stronghold?

 

Do It. Do It Now.

...and by "now" I really mean, asap.

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Frankly, I don't care what planet a stronghold is on. I just want them to STOP...

* Putting starship hooks where you can't get to them without doing something insane.

* Making wide floorboards/wainscotting that prevents items from being placed against walls.

* Making low ceilings or dangling overhead cables that cut through tall objects.

* Placing hooks in a sloppy way, IE: slightly rotated, unevenly spaced, sticking out from the wall, etc.

* Putting few floor covering (rug) and ceiling hooks.

* Placing floor covering hooks in such a way that you can't put them under furniture arrangements.

* Grouping hooks so that the "room" reset feature works in unexpected and unhelpful ways.

* Putting Centerpiece hooks in tiny rooms where massive decorations don't fit or make any sense.

 

I would be overjoyed to have a high quality stronghold anywhere. Alderaan would be fantastic!

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Alderaan. Can you think of a better world to just give us a straight up "manor" style stronghold?

Perhaps, perhaps not, but that does presuppose that more people than just you *want* a "manor" style stronghold. It's not high on my list. Not least because strongholds are pitched as, well, strongholds. In French, they're called Forteresses, which is equally well translated to English as fortresses.

 

That said, in their origin, a "manor house" (i.e. where the lord of the manor lived) would have resembled one of two things: a monastery or a castle. Some manors were held by the local monastery's abbot ("Church lands") while most were held by a knight, earl, baron, duke, or even the king, and the lord's residence would have been fortified.

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