State of the Empire, #10

Hey look.. double digits!

This was our first week with the full ‘regular’ broadcast schedule for the three CIG shows (I joked about needing one last week, but CIG has put up a ‘TV Guide’ for the shows).  This means the week started off, with Episode 7 of 9.. I mean, 10 for the Chairman:

Overall, I think most of this week’s questions for Chris were pretty good, and here they are:

Q: Command & Control, RADAR/Scanning/Detection have all been mentioned as parts of the game. Will a ship like the F7C-R Hornet Tracker be able to relay it’s data back to a C&C ship?
A: Yes. Tracker has a bigger/more powerful radar array, so it can send that data back.

Q: What happens when I fly to a Banu world? Will it have space ports to land at? space stations to dock? Will they be alien, or have the same stores as human worlds?
A: Yes, they’ll have space ports (not all of Banu space will be mapped out), different architecture, trying to give each race a distinct feel/personality.

Q: Class 4 turrets manned or remote control?
A: Remote, Class 5 and up are manned.

Q: Will I be able to make credits with a cruise line, or will public transport make that obsolete?
A: Looking for ways to get people involved in that aspect of the economy. Would be fun to have someone run a cruise line.

Q: How can a player who only has 2 or 3 hours a week to play, hope to get any enjoyment out of Star Citizen, when the competition has 10-20 hours to play?
A: That question assumes there is only one way to play SC. Depends on your definition of ‘win’, lots of different things to do. Just like the real world.

Q: You still have the complete OoB (order of battle) for the Battle of Austerlitz in “glorious 15mm hand painted miniatures.” How many men per figure/figures per regiment, did you paint yourself?
A: Most painted in UK, and shipped to U.S, CR did paint some of them. Hasn’t had time to play since he had them built.

Q: Will SQ42/SC have SMAA (Enhanced Subpixel Morphological Antialiasing) in the Cry Engine?
A: Pretty much all the AAs should be supported.

Q: Own an Idris, and several Super Hornets. I want to base the Hornets full time in my Idris, all ships are on the same account will there be a way to park and leave fighters in the fighter bay of the Idris?
A: Yes, Idris is designed to have a complement of ships on it. SQ42 has decided it’s a 2 ship standing complement.

Q: When are Christmas decorations coming down?
A: Hangar update coming in the next week or so, should be coming down then.

Q: Plan is to have things added/updated over time, does this include graphics updates?
A: Yes, long term plan is to never be done adding content/updates to SC.

Not sure where the question about 10mm figures came from, but Chris seemed pretty happy to talk about it.

This week’s Wingman’s Hangar (Episode 56), moved into a new studio near the Austin office, and it resulted in a show that sounded much better than the previous ones from the new office.  Looks like they expanded the ‘airplane part’ set, to include chairs, and a coffee table.. looks pretty good!

Highlights from this week:

• Animation summit taking place in Austin, folks from Denver, Manchester, LA, all the studios in town.  Going over proper animation in game, expect a ‘behind the scenes’ video next week.
• David Ladyman has joined CIG full time.  He’ll be working on the economy, game design, and….I’m guessing still on Jump Point for the Subscribers.
• More PBR (Physical Based Rendering) information, including showing how they can take the same material and ‘weather’ it to make it look older/damaged.

Forum Feedback for this week brought us these questions/answers:

Q: Will organizations in the PU have more of a role/function to the daily contribution of the universe? or just remain a shell/name for players to gather under?
A: Won’t be able to destabilize the entire system, could impact individual systems/sectors (blockade, monopolize a resource)

Q: Latest on instancing, and how it will impact the game? Is the cap going to be ship-based, or player based? do you have any idea how big the cap will be?
A: Don’t know cap size yet. Combination of player and ship in the cap number.

Q: Status of Voyager Direct store revamp?
A: Plan is to release it shortly after the DFM

Q: When is DFM?
A: Unveiling at PAX East, if all goes well, will be released shortly after that.

Q: Logout mechanics on multi-crew vessels. For example, if you logged off on a friend’s Constellation, and then he logs out before you come back.. where will you be when you log in?
A: If you physically place your character on someone else’s ship… you’re signing up for the whole trip. So you should come back on that ship. Some details still being discussed, may end up back on last planet..or, if you have permission, you may be able to fly the ship.

Q: If pilot of multi-crew ship gets disco’d, does AI take over (and fly back to hangar?), or can another member of the crew take over?
A: AI will take over, try to get you to your destination. If someone else on board has permission to fly, they can take over for the AI.

Q: How will discovery of jump points be handled? Once discovered, is it automatically uploaded to the verse? or will we be able to share it with Organization members first, then upload the JP later?
A: You can hold JP information for yourself/friends…and upload it later if you want to.

Q: Medical oriented services players can provide?
A: There are mechanics around rescuing players/helping them heal…, don’t know what ships will be medic ships.

Q: Power systems management in first few iterations of DFM?
A: Full system won’t be online, but they are trying to get some basics in.

Q: We’ve seen spaceships/the buggy.. will there be other types of vehicles/machinery in the game?
A: Yes. Cargo-sled concept art being worked on, repair bot was one of the early, early rewards.

Q: Owners of Scythe be able to fly them in the first DFM release?
A: Planned to be AI opponent in DFM, as necessary systems get implemented, it’ll be available to players.

Yes, you read that right.. we’re getting the Dog Fighting Module revealed at PAX East (Reveal would be on April 10th, at the event they’re putting together.  Much like the original Hangar reveal over in Germany).  Once the team got back from PAX East, they’d kick the DFM out the door to us!   Very excited! Only a couple months left till we get to make the PEW PEW PEW PEW in our spaceships!

Chris Olivia stopped by to talk about the Scythe redesign/History (He also talks about TNGSS briefly).

As the Vanduul culture has gotten more fleshed out, the Scythe needed to be updated to match the current look (plus, they had to add PBR).  Some of it is just adding additional details/higher poly counts, so it looks good when people are walking around/in it via the Hangar.  Some animation updates as well though.

Based on the short video (posted here), the PBR (just like it did for the Avenger) really makes the Scythe look good.. I think the ‘new’ version also looks bulkier, and meaner than the original version (at least, in my opinion).  I don’t own one, but, I’m looking forward to making one (or two) go boom in the DFM.  CIG has posted a small gallery of art for the new (WIP) Scythe here.

 

 

Friday brought us Episode 3 of The Next Great StarShip the judges selected their final 5 to move on, including a team that submitted their entry 1 minutes prior to the deadline!  This was also the first time the judges had seen that team’s submission.  As we’ve seen in the prior two episodes, there are a lot of talented people, making good entries for the contest.  The judges are going to have their work cut out for them once it’s narrowed down to the final 16.

The full list of WildCard teams are:

• Damage Association
• Raging Vertex
• Team Zeus
• AEM
• To The Stars and Beyond
• Sakura Moon
• Prosimian Productions
• Dragons of Nirvana
• Infinite Xue Monkey
• Archon

Sadly, the CIG team only gave the Community roughly 48 hours to vote.  All votes had to be in by midnight Sunday the 16th (PST).  So, CIG guys, if you’re reading this… please allow more time next time the Community is voting on something…especially when it’s over a Holiday Weekend.  I’m sure that quite a few people didn’t get to watch TNGSS (on Friday) because of Valentine’s Day plans with their Significant Other.  We’ll find out who the Community voted for (Hint:  It’s not the team I wanted to win), on the next episode of TNGSS.

 

That pretty much wraps up the news for Star Citizen this past week, nothing major, no funding milestones, not even any real forum drama over the DFM release plans!  So, till next time.. keep one eye on your six, and I’ll see you in the ‘verse!