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

[Red Storm]

The persistent universe is online. I remembering reading that they expect NPCs to be the vast majority of who you see, with like 1 out of 10 being human players. I imagine we'll also be able to limit or remove human players from our instance, similar to Elite Dangerous right now.

I do remember they mentioned that we'd be able to run our own servers/persistent universes, where you can change up the rules, and pretty much have at it and do whatever you want. I do not know if that's still gonna happen, but it would be nice to see.

 

[rivethead]

The persistent universe is online. I remembering reading that they expect NPCs to be the vast majority of who you see, with like 1 out of 10 being human players. I imagine we'll also be able to limit or remove human players from our instance, similar to Elite Dangerous right now.

I'm pretty anti-social. I've never played an MMO for that reason. However, I believe there is no way to completely remove the human element from Star Citizen (SQ42 is completely single player....although you can have friends be your wingman against the AI).

My understanding is that there will be a slider for SC that allows you to adjust the human interactions in your instance. But the best you can do is 10% (humans vs AI). In the game CIG intend to make it very difficult to tell who is human and who is AI.

I guess we'll see but the bottom line here: there is no complete escape from human d-baggery in SC.

 

[rivethead]

I think the Aurora is the best inexpensive multirole, but it's not going to be very good at any one thing without some upgrades. Truly a jack-of-all-trades line, though, and I doubt anyone will regret buying it given how inexpensive it is (and you can always melt it down later if needed).

I'm biased as an Aurora owner, but I think people often overlook one very important benefit to owning an Aurora: insurance replacement time. According to Chris Roberts, the Aurora will be the most mass-produced ship in the universe. Thus if you blow it up, it'll only take minutes to get your insurance replacement. That's good for bad pilots like me.

I think many people buying the bigger, rarer, expensive ships are going to be surprised by insurance replacement time. Own a Glaive and get destroyed? It may takes months of in-game time before you get a replacement hull. Or maybe years.

And supposedly this is going to be built into the persistent universe economy. So that special component built into the cockpit of the 325A.....if the factory that produces it is blow up by a vanduul attack, 325A owners will be waiting even long than normal for a replacement.

Should be interesting (if it truly does work that way....I fear CIG will cave and appease the whines and cries of the ignorant who spent big $$$).

 

[Worthington]

I wouldn't be surprised if they went with something where the first replacement every 6 months (or 1 month, or whatever) is instantaneous. After that, if you keep getting your ship blown up the lead times (and insurance costs) start going up.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I've wondered how the insurance will work with battles. Will you join a battle get killed then spawn with another ship for the same battle. I will say it would suck if you have to travel far to join a battle, get killed immediately then have to travel very far again. Same with the FPS.

 

[rivethead]

I've wondered how the insurance will work with battles. Will you join a battle get killed then spawn with another ship for the same battle. I will say it would suck if you have to travel far to join a battle, get killed immediately then have to travel very far again. Same with the FPS.

As I understand it, if you join a battle and your ship is destroyed, you either: 1) get picked up by a rescue ship (or someone else), or 2) wake up in the nearest hospital.

I don't think there is any spawning. This is supposed to be a space sim, not Call of Duty 🙂

But if you want that insta-spawn action, that's what Arena Commander and Star Marine are for.

 

[Fallen Kell]

I've wondered how the insurance will work with battles. Will you join a battle get killed then spawn with another ship for the same battle. I will say it would suck if you have to travel far to join a battle, get killed immediately then have to travel very far again. Same with the FPS.

You mean traveling to a fight just like any other MMO? I mean, how else will someone actually win if travel time isn't a factor (people who have nothing else to do with their lives will simply keep returning again and again and again until they win simply by being able to be there longer).

A lot of this has been covered by their medical facilities and hospital/medical ships. If your group pulls you out of a FPS battle and gets you to med facilities (depending on your injuries and the facility's capabilities) you can get patched back up and into the fight. If you are left too long and/or injured too seriously and/or no medical facility available, well you are out of the fight and respawn elsewhere (possibly as a "relative" of your old character since he/she is now dead along with much of the reputation/status earned). If you are in a space battle and manage to eject and get your escape pod to a friendly rescue ship the same medical needs may be required as in a FPS fight depending on if you were personally injured or not (assuming player vs player), if your group brought extra ships in carrier ships and the owner of the ship(s) let you reship into one of them, well, you can get back into the fight. If not, you need to travel to your closest base of operations that you have one of your ships (and/or insurance claim location) to get back into a ship.

The whole point is that there are consequences for losing. Without organization, you won't be back in that particular battle that got you killed unless it is a huge battle between equally matched groups. Attrition is real in these battles.

 

[Worthington]

There has been a lot of talk from CIG about Agent Smithing into other player's NPCs as a method of helping out. So if someone you know is in a multi-crew ship that is staffed partially by NPCs you'll have the option of taking one of them over for a temporary time and helping out (turret gunning, running EWAR, etc)

 

[Stringjam]

Anyone else do the free Merlin test drive? I just tried it out, and it's a real zippy little ship. Pretty good deal for $20 standalone, even if it's not a heavy fighter. Almost makes me wish I had a Constellation Andromeda.

Picked one of these up just for the heck of it. I don't know how useful they will be (unless I earn a Constellation, but they come with one anyway), but they're a lot of fun to zip around with. 😉

 

[Sabrewings]

I'm a bit late, to the discussion, but the game isn't P2W. They're selling ships ahead of time to fund development as well as to populate the universe.

How realistic would it be when the universe goes live and everyone is running around in Auroras? If we want the universe to feel alive from day one some people need to be better equipped than others as if this universe has been around for centuries. The best way to decide that is to let people pay for in game items ahead of time.

I don't mind buying it because (like Crono said) I might not have as much time to put into acquiring what I want. I have bigger dreams than my Connie, Tali, and Mustang so I will be working towards a Carrack or larger. I would rather get right into the meat of trade and exploring out of the box than put around in a cosmic gokart for weeks until I can afford a Connie.

 

[rivethead]

I'm a bit late, to the discussion, but the game isn't P2W. They're selling ships ahead of time to fund development as well as to populate the universe.

How realistic would it be when the universe goes live and everyone is running around in Auroras? If we want the universe to feel alive from day one some people need to be better equipped than others as if this universe has been around for centuries. The best way to decide that is to let people pay for in game items ahead of time.

With all due respect, I disagree with part of that. If the PU is 90% AI (like they've told us it will be), then CIG completely controls 90% of the ships floating around the universe on day 1. Everyone could start out with an Aurora (or no ship at all) and there would still be a ton of diversity in the PU.

Yes they're selling ships to fund development. No, they don't need to do this to make the universe more diverse on day one.

 

[Sabrewings]

I don't want a bunch of NPCs to be the only holders of good hardware on launch day. I want a thoroughly diverse universe from the start. CIG has said they want to rely on NPC as little as possible to create the living universe, and this is a way to do that.

 

[JSt0rm]

Does anyone have any idea how the pu is going to be anything but instances? I mean eve kinda has instances with each solar system being a thing and then its broken up into a grid for finer resolution. How are they going to tackle this in the cryengine? Eve can get like 2700 into one system and thats with knowledge before hand.

 

[JSt0rm]

I don't want a bunch of NPCs to be the only holders of good hardware on launch day. I want a thoroughly diverse universe from the start. CIG has said they want to rely on NPC as little as possible to create the living universe, and this is a way to do that.

Me neither. It will be fun to roam with 300 auroras looking for space spergs who spent too much money and kill them.

 

[Sabrewings]

Me neither. It will be fun to roam with 300 auroras looking for space spergs who spent too much money and kill them.

Good luck with that. I have a feeling the game mechanics will be designed in such a way to prevent groups that large. And then all someone has to do is keep their player to NPC ratio slider set such that only a few people they see are real.

 

[Crono]

I hope the universe is large enough that I can do some mining without constant fear of being zerg rushed. 😀 Probably going to need a mercenary force for protection.

 

[JSt0rm]

Good luck with that. I have a feeling the game mechanics will be designed in such a way to prevent groups that large. And then all someone has to do is keep their player to NPC ratio slider set such that only a few people they see are real.

Oh some pussy shit like that exists? lol.

 

[JSt0rm]

I hope the universe is large enough that I can do some mining without constant fear of being zerg rushed. 😀 Probably going to need a mercenary force for protection.

Apparently you can just change the slider so as not to have ot deal with mean people. I hope that is balanced so dangerous areas with large reward cant be carebeared.

 

[RampantAndroid]

Oh some pussy shit like that exists? lol.

Yeah, because EVERYONE wants to live in a PVP world.

Or not. I really have no desire to be taught the "there are many people better at this game than me, so if you enter some more dangerous areas, you instadie."

I want Freelancer. I don't want to be constantly in fear of being blown to bits by someone with an amazing ship that has no life other than sitting near shipping lanes or something.

 

[JSt0rm]

The play offline mode. That does exist (well they say it will). If you want to play online then it should come with risk.

 

[Sabrewings]

Oh some pussy shit like that exists? lol.

The slider already has been said to be a feature.

SC is meant to be a simulation of a real futuristic world according to CR's dream. He's making the game he always wanted to play and inviting the rest of us along. It's not meant to be an outlet for immature angst issues and griefing.

It's mean to be a fun swan dive into a fantasy future. Sure there will be some assholes and that's expected. It's not expected to wander around in gangs destroying other people's ships just because they have something nicer than you. Though, pirating is allowed, but I don't foresee large groups like that working out.

CR has probably played his fair share of games to know what ruins the gameplay of others.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Hasn't it been established that conflict zones will be instanced and they are shooting for up to 64 players per instance?

Rampantandroid I agree open PVP anywhere games are irritating because some asshat makes it miserable.
The only open world PVP game I played that I enjoyed was EQ1 I forgot the server name. They did have some pretty safe areas with the guards and such but I doubt I'd want to do a 90 minute corpse run at 12am again.

 

[Worthington]

This isn't ED.. There will be no "offline" mode. The best you can hope for is that you stick to controlled space and set your PVP slider to minimum.

As you venture further out from patrolled environments the PVP slider will not be a safe-guard against running into aggressors (whether they be NPC or PC).

*edit: No offline mode for the PU. SQ42 can be wholly played by yourself if you so desire.

 

[JSt0rm]

This isn't ED.. There will be no "offline" mode. The best you can hope for is that you stick to controlled space and set your PVP slider to minimum.

As you venture further out from patrolled environments the PVP slider will not be a safe-guard against running into aggressors (whether they be NPC or PC).

*edit: No offline mode for the PU. SQ42 can be wholly played by yourself if you so desire.

Thats good to know. non controlled space = goon space

 

[DeathReborn]

This isn't ED.. There will be no "offline" mode. The best you can hope for is that you stick to controlled space and set your PVP slider to minimum.

As you venture further out from patrolled environments the PVP slider will not be a safe-guard against running into aggressors (whether they be NPC or PC).

*edit: No offline mode for the PU. SQ42 can be wholly played by yourself if you so desire.

Technically if you can host your own PU you can for all intents and purposes be "offline".