******Official Star Citizen / Squadron 42 Thread******

PaulC2K said:
Yeah, im not overly bothered about playing the currently playable parts at the moment, but the flight school is one of those 'babies first steps' type moments. When there are objectives beyond shooting other ships, thats when it'll start pulling me in. I'll look forward to combat within an open universe and because one party decides to open fire on another, but im not interested in cage fighting, and while i like racing sims, 'flight' racing doesnt really do it for me either. I'd do greycat racing though :D

I've been a little surprised that things *appear* to have slowed down though, go back to October & November, and we saw the landing sequence and a walk around. Then the FPS module including zero-g combat. 6 months on and the updates *we've seen* are the the examples/demos of how jump points will look and how mobiglas will integrate, and a version of the zero-g fps (now sataball) . I suspect thats a mixture of expecting too much, wishful thinking, and the difference between having scripted demonstrations and letting the public loose on it. I suspect theres tons of SQ42 stuff which is rightly being held back, as well as similar circumstances for FPS & Social/Planetside modules, where they're close but dont want to spoil a surprise, so it feels like a lull which plays nicely into the hands of those who like to insist CIG's sole focus is ship creation to make more money they dont really need cos they've hit their $20m target etc.

I do wish they were more open with progress of active ships, the new AtV segment 'Ship Shape' is definitely a step in the right direction, and hopefully Friday's look at the Starfarer (yey) will be the start of a regular thing, covering a brief Q&A and an update on its progress, and hopefully the following week its another ship - Xi'an Scout, Herald, Idris, Carrack, 890J etc. Caterpillar & Merchantman should be up there with the Scout IMO, but it seems neither have any updates in a heck of a long time, and it doesnt help when we see animated footage of the Orion, Vanguard & Hull series, and 3D holoviewer models of Reclaimers, Carracks etc, and yet told nobody is even working on these 2 ships announced and sold about 18 & 24 months ago.
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I think because of CR supervising the SQ42 mocap stuff over the next couple of months it might seem like it's a slow patch - once that's all done I think there will be some good stuff coming from end of July onwards.
 
The latest PTU (which is now live) seems to have improved the client a fair bit in terms of optimising load times, hopefully FPS improvements are next.

 
Halfmad said:
Ah it's the the trolls back on the weekly moan, have you actually backed the game or just like writing guff? If we are fan boys why is this thread full of us picking the development of the game apart ? it will come out when it's done rather than half finished like most games these days.
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Yep. Its the reason the 'Ignore List' exists. Tracertong, the MKR of OcUK/Star Citizen ;)

Curunen said:
I think because of CR supervising the SQ42 mocap stuff over the next couple of months it might seem like it's a slow patch - once that's all done I think there will be some good stuff coming from end of July onwards.
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I dunno, i think its more a case of stuff being close but not ready to present, so while things are moving in many areas they're holding things back and so it feels a little stagnant when its far from it.

kablooey said:
So happy I have one! :D
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Same, although with them saying the Star-G/Gemini will go on sale tomorrow too, its now got me conflicted.
I want to see how they compare, what the trade-off is. If its a straight $$$ = more firepower, armor, systems then i might be tempted to greymarket my LTI and use the premium that brings to trade up to the military grade ship.
If theres a haulage sacrifice and cost increase, that'll be a tough call to make.

I think if it becomes Starfarer+ then it'll be more self-sufficient, capable of going on runs without an escort (depending on security status of the area), so if 2 people can go on runs that'd ideally see 2+1 in a Hornet/Gladius, then it could justify itself.
I suspect it'll sacrifice capacity, and some of its benefits will be targetted for combat ops, something my Org is unlikely to be participating in as we're so small. So if im paying more for features i wont need, i'll pass.

I'll always have the option of CCU in the future too, while retaining the LTI. I'd just be looking to cash in on the LTI of a base unit and hope it fetches around the same value as the Star-G would without LTI (its a post-concept variant, like the Cutlass, Freelancer & Constellation).

Are you interested in the Gemini by any chance?
 
iamtheoneneo said:
ummm you sure you dont want to take that back?
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Why would I want to do that? How about you throw some facts our way ? This game is partially in alpha, some parts aren't even that far along yet and it's still got 2 years + at minimum before it's released. They haven't even released a rigid timescale for release, only aspirations as they won't punt it out unfinished.

We're accused of being fan boys on here fairly regularly but in truth we've all been watching this game grow since day 1, we're aware of the progress and that we're only seen 1 module that's in development so far with several entering alpha this year. As an alleged "Fan boy" I find the label rather amusing since I frequently bitch and whinge about the development :p

Alpha - not beta, not gamma but the very first phase. Anyone backing this game now who doesn't realise there's a massive wait whilst they make it is rather daft. Production may be ramping up nicely but that doesn't mean it's coming out anytime soon.

Then again I've put in over 100 hours into playing the first alpha combat and racing module so I'm actually taking part.
 
I liked the concept of what they want to achieve, I have loosely followed the progress and where the game currently sits. Mainly by reading the monthly reports.

They seem to be firing on all cylinders and there is a hell of a lot more going on than what's shown.

If it turns out as they expect then great we have something special. If it fails then so be it, I've got bigger things to worry about in life.

To consistently come in a thread to repeat the same old boring troll comments says more about them as a person than anything.
 
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I'm just wanting a standard Starfarer tbh, Gemini would have to be something special. I'm probably ditching my Vanguard and Hull A's though at some point so may melt for one of them.

Always wanted a Starfarer and Caterpillar so bit annoyed we've still sod all info on the 'pillar.
 
oh dear:

"Starfarer sale news: By popular request, the Starfarer will be available later today. There will be a Q&A on the Starfarer over the next week, à la Hulls. Base Starfarer is still $195, the Gemini will be a standard concept sale with LTI. Price is $240."

Very surprised they've LTI'd it, cos they've never done this with a variant sale. The Cutlass, Freelancer & Constellation didnt get this treatment, even the Mustangs on their first ever sale, didnt (for slightly different, but poor, reasons).
 
Reverse the Verse notes:
http://imperialnews.network/2015/05/reverse-verse-ep46/

Just the relevent news, chit-chat about star wars ep 1, corn, and whatnot skipped...
  • FPS post and Starfarer post will be later today. Waiting on some concept art from Chris Olivia.
  • Subscribers got their Flair this morning. It’s a space rock. But it’s cooler than a space rock sounds.
  • Starfarer sale news: By popular request, the Starfarer will be available later today. There will be a Q&A on the Starfarer over the next week, à la Hulls. Base Starfarer is still $195, the Gemini will be a standard concept sale with LTI. Price is $240.
  • The Gemini upgrades the weapons, engines, and shields over the base model. More details in an official post when the sale goes up. More armour.
  • Question: The military ships that we’re selling – are there going to be access restrictions to stations or planets that might not get along with the UEE so well? Depends on the ship. For the Gemini, it’s not as much military, it’s just… hardier, so there won’t be many restrictions. But if you showed up with a Lightning or something, that’d be like showing up with an F-22, which lots of people frown upon for some reason.
  • You can upgrade the base Starfarer to the Gemini.
  • Will there be an active role for a fuel-specific career aboard the Starfarer? Yes. It can go and collect fuel and refine it. You can go to a gas giant, skim the surface, and refine it.
  • One of the concept images they are waiting for is showing what refueling will look like.
  • FPS post – it is in the works. They’re waiting for some more videos. They’ve got a bunch of art aspects that Chris wanted added. James is setting up tables, which is apparently hard in their CMS. There will be videos, mo-cap stuff in action, how characters have evolved, we’ll hear about the back-end. Hear about stuff from each studio. Weapons from IllFonic, audio from UK, etc… it’s a monster of a post. Equivalent of a monthly report, but just about FPS.
  • Apparently they’re asking if there will be ‘free fly’ weekends for FPS. Ben says yes, probably eventually, but not at the beginning. Paid players will get to play first.
  • There will be fish in the pledge store.
  • Dog tags have not shipped. They are packed and ready to go but the hats needed to ship first.
  • You will see more Rovers. Ben is meeting with David Hobbins in regards to the rovers today! :D
  • How many levels in Hyper Vanguard Force? – 3 in Normal, 3 in Hard, and achievements for each mode.
  • Will the grabby hands make dice games and card games and things possible? Yes. It’s designed to be able to pick things up and throw them, so that’s not out of the question.
  • Will there be a proximity chat for voice in FPS? Ben’s not sure. They’d need Travis for that. Darian says: Not at the moment, because mobile communication would be so prevalent by that point, that proximity chat would be ubiquitous. Unless something’s jamming a signal, you can talk like you’re next to someone.
  • Interstellar communication makes it silly to have proximity communication.
  • They are still planning on moving Santa Monica to a new location.
  • What variant was shown in ship shape this week? – the Standard model.
  • Colours for the Connie? Right now they’re in whitebox – no news if they’re revamping the colour palette for the Connie. Eventually we’ll be picking the colours anyway.
  • Apparently the designers of the Connie are taking a lot of fan feedback for their changes.
  • Can you eject someone if they’re sleeping in an escape pod? Ben: If you have an escape pod… yes?
  • There’s no answer for what the FPS controls will feel like yet.
  • Are we going to be restocking the store with more shirts and hoodies? Alexis and Sandi are working on Hoodies, and they’re in the works with the coffee mug as well. And they’d like to put together decals for computer cases and such as well.
  • There is a giant list of all the events they want to do, but they’re still deciding which they’ll do. PAX Australia is on the ‘maybe’ list. No confirmation either way yet.
  • Hyper Vanguard Force might be in the game. They’ve talked about having all the mini games in the final game somewhere.
  • We’ll see more about the mo-cap for FPS later today.
  • New Starfarer has size up on engines, size up on three manned turrets, a larger double-shield. It loses cargo capacity, maneuverability, and speed. It has more armour too. Clunkier, more protected version that the Military uses versus the less protected civilian variant.
  • Reliant variants – they have ideas, and they’re going to get concept artists started on them next week.
  • Freelancer- no news. It’s being worked on and looking cool.
  • Ship Shape will also talk about pipelines, what it takes to get from step A to step C and such, but Lisa will talk more about the process of creating the ships, not just the ships themselves.
  • Lisa talking about possibly highlighting one part of the development of a ship on Ship Shape.
  • No new weapons for Voyager Direct in the immediate future (next few weeks).
  • Wear and tear. Do ship hulls lose condition over time? They do, but they can be restored to good shape again. It’s not permanent.
  • No official announcement on the Reliant sale, but it’s coming soon. Sooner than we think.
  • Don’t be mean. They’re working on the controllers, they’ll get the CCU’s, just don’t be mean. If you want your stuff read and considered, don’t be a jerk when you make it.
  • Vanguard variants – Gurmukh will start concepting them next week.
  • In the case of both the Vanguard and the Reliant, they know what the variants are, they just have to make the pictures of them.
  • Reliant variants are with an outsourcer.
  • Art has come in recently on the Genesis Starliner and the Endeavor.
  • They have ideas in mind for dates for both the Vanguard and Reliant variants, but nothing final.
  • Different kinds of artists are working on different things. Just because they have people working on concept art for variants, that’s not to say they could be doing something else. Either they’re doing variant concepts, or they’re doing nothing. Not all artists are interchangeable.
  • You’ll be able to upgrade your ships to newer ships without CCU’s eventually.
  • Unsure when Constellation and Merlin updates will be in hangar. Merlin will be ready first.
  • Constellation’s waiting for Multicrew.
  • Assets need to come in before posts go out… but it will happen tonight.

Also "10 years ago, Ben got asked to be part of a Battlefield pitch for Wing Commander. The logline was ‘It’s Battlefield meets GTA in SPACE’. A little part of Ben died that day." F-Off EA.
 
You're right LTI on the variant seems very odd, setting a precedent I guess for future sales too (as far as the whinging community will see it).

Wish they'd get a move on with the CCU/upgrade options, taking far too flippin long to sort that out and it'd be a money spinner.
 
Official explanation from Ben:

I'll go ahead and answer that one before the concern thread: the Starfarer Gemini is significantly 'better' in several ways than the standard Starfarer (there are some tradeoffs, especially in core carrying capacity... but there are enough areas where it's different that people will immediately think it's better.) It's also a ship constructed from the ground up for this purpose rather than modified from an existing chassis. With those things in mind, it seems unfair to only allow early backers to have an LTI version. (Similarly, the folks who are most likely to buy it are the ones who have been collecting lots of ships from the start... and they'll probably also be the ones who want both rather than be forced to upgrade.)
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Its fairly typical stuff though isnt it. They love to tread all over their own toes with this stuff.

Reasons why its stupid giving it LTI:
- Its a Starfarer variant - 'Gemini', Had they simply called it an Aegis Gemini, i could live with it, but while its an Aegis Starfarer Gemini, its still a Starfarer, a variant of the Starfarer.
- The core role of the ships are identical - its not Liquid v Solid, Haulage v Exploration or Mining etc.

Reasons why its fine having LTI:
- It raises more money
- It means people are happier with their new purchase
- Anyone could have bought a $60 Hull A w/LTI (or one of the future starter ships), waited a while and CCU'd to any $75+ ship they like in due course.

The mind boggles at how clever they can be with stuff, and yet so often they line things up to cause tension and frustration within the community.

But hey, we're just fanboys - they can do no wrong ;)
 
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