Star Citizen: Chris Robert`s new space sim (the Wing Commander guy)

[rivethead]

Y'all think there will be another patch released before Citizencon or after?

 

[Sabrewings]

My guess at this point is after. If 1.2.1 is only going to the PTU "soon" and Citizencon is 10 Oct, I wouldn't expect it much before then, if at all. They like to get people excited so they will probably show off what's going to be in the patch at Citizencon then go live with it right after.

 

[Sabrewings]

I'm so bad at MP it's not even funny

It just takes practice. My first time in AC was a disaster. Nothing but flying around frantically and dying.

I've learned that any ship can kill any other ship, so there is that for balance. I've taken down Super Hornets with my Merlin. It's all in knowing your ship and using the right techniques. It helps with the Merlin that by the time something lumbering like the Super Hornet is halfway through its U-turn I'm already lined up and letting fly with that gatlin gun. But, one wrong move on my part or someone sneaks up on me and it can be over before I know it. If I stray into a Super Hornet's full stream of weapons for more than a half second the Merlin is toast. You have to keep moving.

 

[rivethead]

My guess at this point is after. If 1.2.1 is only going to the PTU "soon" and Citizencon is 10 Oct, I wouldn't expect it much before then, if at all. They like to get people excited so they will probably show off what's going to be in the patch at Citizencon then go live with it right after.

But didn't something hit the PTU last week? I thought it was 1.2.1a or something like that. It had balance tweaks and minor bug fixes for the social module (in particular, they were fixing the shimmying through walls/doors issue that was allowing people to run all over Arc Corp).

I kept expecting that to go live, but I don't think it did.

 

[Sabrewings]

But didn't something hit the PTU last week? I thought it was 1.2.1a or something like that. It had balance tweaks and minor bug fixes for the social module (in particular, they were fixing the shimmying through walls/doors issue that was allowing people to run all over Arc Corp).

I kept expecting that to go live, but I don't think it did.

They might have just been testing their fixes and would roll them into the next release. Or, they found issues and postponed it while they fix them.

All I've heard though is that 1.2.1 is heading to the PTU soon and I wouldn't expect that to go live until Citizencon (given their history of releases around events). It's entirely possible that the next release is so minor they will push it anyway and fill Citizencon with FPS and AC2.0 info.

 

[Fallen Kell]

They might have just been testing their fixes and would roll them into the next release. Or, they found issues and postponed it while they fix them.

All I've heard though is that 1.2.1 is heading to the PTU soon and I wouldn't expect that to go live until Citizencon (given their history of releases around events). It's entirely possible that the next release is so minor they will push it anyway and fill Citizencon with FPS and AC2.0 info.

I highly suspect the later in this case, probably with some info on SQ42 - Episode 1 thrown in as well given they still want to get that out in the next 6-9 months timeframe.

 

[Stringjam]

It just takes practice. My first time in AC was a disaster. Nothing but flying around frantically and dying.

I've learned that any ship can kill any other ship, so there is that for balance. I've taken down Super Hornets with my Merlin. It's all in knowing your ship and using the right techniques. It helps with the Merlin that by the time something lumbering like the Super Hornet is halfway through its U-turn I'm already lined up and letting fly with that gatlin gun. But, one wrong move on my part or someone sneaks up on me and it can be over before I know it. If I stray into a Super Hornet's full stream of weapons for more than a half second the Merlin is toast. You have to keep moving.

Good advice. It's true that any ship can take down any ship. Heck, you can look at the leaderboards and see a few 300s flown by joystickers in the top 10...so it's not all mouse / SHornets.

One thing that's really helped me is to stay out of the furball. Pick fights with smaller groups that break away from the main blob.

 

[Sabrewings]

In case the news of impending doom reaches your ears due to personnel changes, CIG have an official statement:

https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/3mdsh5/email_from_director_of_communications/

Not sure who the other person was, but Pugh being let go doesn't surprise me. Whether or not it has anything to do with DS, I never really felt like he was good at his job. His dev interviews were a bit of a drag on the whole AtV. He always seemed uninformed, disinterested, or high.

Not saying he should be fired for that, but it's possible the rest of his performance wasn't up to par, so I won't be jumping to any conclusions. Sucks about Lisa Ohanian leaving. Good luck to her in her new job at Sony. Sounds like a great opportunity.

I do laugh at all the internet commenters saying "this is unheard of for a game company to do this." Rare lost a huge chunk of their staff during Perfect Dark's development, another title that (for its time) was big on scope. Turned out pretty well in the end.

 

[SithSolo1]

Alyssa was an Associate Marketing Producer. She was hired back at the end of April and helped Sandi book and setup various events.

Lisa is leaving some very large shoes for the next person to fill.

 

[rivethead]

In case the news of impending doom reaches your ears due to personnel changes, CIG have an official statement:

https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/3mdsh5/email_from_director_of_communications/

Not sure who the other person was, but Pugh being let go doesn't surprise me. Whether or not it has anything to do with DS, I never really felt like he was good at his job. His dev interviews were a bit of a drag on the whole AtV. He always seemed uninformed, disinterested, or high.

Not saying he should be fired for that, but it's possible the rest of his performance wasn't up to par, so I won't be jumping to any conclusions. Sucks about Lisa Ohanian leaving. Good luck to her in her new job at Sony. Sounds like a great opportunity.

I do laugh at all the internet commenters saying "this is unheard of for a game company to do this." Rare lost a huge chunk of their staff during Perfect Dark's development, another title that (for its time) was big on scope. Turned out pretty well in the end.

LOL. I completely agree with you on Pugh. I stopped watching anything he was involved with because I just didn't like.....him. He had this misplaced sense of arrogance about him.

 

[Stringjam]

Used some REC this morning to rent a 350R. I noticed it had the exact same hardpoints as the other 300s, so I wanted to try it out in combat.

Used my 315p preferred loadout (Mantis / Tarantulas / Marksman1 & Tempest IIs).

Nobody in Battle Royale so I used it in VS. First thing I noticed...wow is this thing fast - can keep up and track down anything in a hurry. What I didn't like, however, was how jumpy the reticle was in a strafe. I had a much harder time keeping a smooth lead on the target while strafing, which pretty much ruined it for me. I got back into the 315p and cleared swarms much more quickly because of that.

The nose is much quicker to point - a lot like a Gladius, but the Gladius is easier to strafe and shoot with to me...maybe I just need to practice more, but I think it's some kind of thruster thing going on with the 350.

Disappointing, because the 350R is a blast to fly. I think with energy weapons it might suck, though...unless you divert a lot of that engine power to weapons. I guess that's the point though, it's a racing ship so it should have some disadvantages when it comes to shielding and weapons.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

Finally finished 1st in a Royale match yesterday after finishing top 50% for like 10-15 matches. Changing the loadout by pulling the gimbals and mounting 3x gatlings made a world of difference.

 

[Stringjam]

Finally finished 1st in a Royale match yesterday after finishing top 50% for like 10-15 matches. Changing the loadout by pulling the gimbals and mounting 3x gatlings made a world of difference.

Congrats. I dream of the day.

What is your handle, btw?

 

[SLU Aequitas]

Congrats. I dream of the day.

What is your handle, btw?

LOL. I'm sure I just got matched with other newbs.

xXAequitasXx

 

[Stringjam]

Has anyone else noticed an increase in ramming?

Seems like the past couple of nights there are a bunch of guys in Avengers just ramming into people every chance they get...seems like those things are almost invincible from the front.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

Has anyone else noticed an increase in ramming?

Seems like the past couple of nights there are a bunch of guys in Avengers just ramming into people every chance they get...seems like those things are almost invincible from the front.

Yep, usually good with strafing out of the way with them. PU respawn and insurance mechanics should deal with greifers and rammers.

 

[Sabrewings]

Has anyone else noticed an increase in ramming?

Kinda hard to ram the Merlin.

Haven't had much time to play anything else lately.

In other news, below is a great article on the low level future development of SC in DX12 and Vulkan.

http://www.gamersnexus.net/gg/2114-chris-roberts-star-citizen-on-dx12-vulkan-and-tech

Second portion posts Friday.

 

[Stringjam]

After over 9 hours of playing BR and three 2nd place finishes, I finally won a match tonight with the 315p (Mantis / Sawbucks).

I've played the last several days with the Gladius because it's supposed to be an awesome fighter, but for some reason I just don't do well with it. Seems really fragile to me, even with an upgraded size 3 splash shield. If a Hornet even sneezes towards it I seem to lose thrusters and end up a spinning duck.

 

[SLU Aequitas]

Why are you using splash?

 

[Stringjam]

Why are you using splash?

I tried the Mark shield and any single hit from a missile destroys thrusters on the Gladius and many times the 315p.

Granted, evading missiles isn't that difficult if you have enough time, but lately in BR a lot of folks are launching Marksmans at close range, and you basically never even see the detection (I'll admit...I have Marksmans loaded on my 315, but I typically only "spam" them on rammers, because well....f* them.)

I honestly can't tell much difference in the direct fire protection between the splash and the Mark, so I just use the splash since it actually does help a bit with missile damage.

 

[Silverforce11]

Is anyone else worried this is all vaporware? My god I was excited a a few years back, but the pace of progress is ridiculously slow. The focus is on such minuscule things that it makes me wonder what is the point if their major focus is not on gameplay?

Anyone here boot up Wing Commander Privateer 1/2 and play those? I still enjoy that massively. It doesn't need everything simulated to the finest details, or multi-layered armor that fragments or react different to different weapons. It had fun, it had soul.

I felt this way for a year or so but with each feature reveal and update, it just seems to be lost. Maybe it's just me.

 

[Stringjam]

Is anyone else worried this is all vaporware? My god I was excited a a few years back, but the pace of progress is ridiculously slow. The focus is on such minuscule things that it makes me wonder what is the point if their major focus is not on gameplay?

I can see the valid reasons for concern, but honestly it's the type of game I really want. There are a lot of typical space sims already out and several more being developed right now that have a smaller scope.

As long as they keep expanding and improving the modules (which I honestly have a lot of fun with, more than a lot of released games) and showing real progress, I'm fine waiting for the end product.

 

[Sabrewings]

Is anyone else worried this is all vaporware? My god I was excited a a few years back, but the pace of progress is ridiculously slow. The focus is on such minuscule things that it makes me wonder what is the point if their major focus is not on gameplay?

If you don't follow the weekly updates, I guess I can see some people being concerned. I'm not. There is a lot of focus on gameplay. Just because they're working on other things doesn't mean they aren't working on the core. They have so many different teams with specific tasks that everything is very paralleled.

CR's recent interview with Gamersnexus (posted above) mentioned getting multicrew (aka baby PU) by the end of October. That is HUGE to shutting people up that worry about progress. It'll essentially be a "mini" solar system map with tons of stuff for people to get into and test. We'll finally be flying around in our Connies, Talis, Freelancers, etc and not just bouncing around a tight map in a battle royal with single seater ships.

Sure, they're still fleshing out certain career paths like mining and exploring, but they have all the basics down and know where they want to go with it. Most of the work up until now has been on building the infrastructure which will scale in the way they need to that they can also quickly put out content on top of. Silly things like ship commercials have been practice for particular teams. In that example, the ship commercials were practice for the cinematics team working with SQ42. They practiced to get a certain quality level and to iron out kinks and have been working on SQ42 since now that the motion capture is setup and the scripts were ready. Creating in game knick knacks and models keep the 3D artists skills varied and keeps them busy if there isn't a ship in need of an art pass at the moment.

Speaking of SQ42, it comes out early next year and we're going to see a lot about it in a couple weeks at Citzencon.

So, no. Not worried. There's been so much going on that doesn't put much into backers hands for a while I can see where some get impatient. Now that most of that is done, we're going to see a fairly quick pace. Social Module 2.0 is coming, FPS module is coming, multicrew is coming, and a bit after all of that SQ42 chapter 1 hits. Very exciting time.

 

[rivethead]

Now that most of that is done, we're going to see a fairly quick pace. Social Module 2.0 is coming, FPS module is coming, multicrew is coming, and a bit after all of that SQ42 chapter 1 hits. Very exciting time.

Completely agree. 4Q15 is going to really be fun. The pace of content output is going to noticeably increase. The infrastructure work behind the scenes is now well established. The foundation is built.

I know multi-crew is a big milestone for a lot of backers, but personally I'm more excited about "subsumption" - giving life to the AI in the various locations within the social module. Looking forward to the day when I can fly my Aurora out of my Selfland hangar and land it on some planet within some system.

I don't think we're too far away from that.

 

[Sabrewings]

Bodes well for SQ42:

http://www.develop-online.net/news/star-citizen-single-player-will-have-top-level-movie-cast/0211861

I can't wait to have a AAA quality space flight sim campaign. Been way too long since the genre was paid attention.