Star Citizen

[Chronocidal]

40 minutes ago, Nightbat said:

I don't think splintering the game is gonna contribute to healthy server population

We're talking niche market here, with a few entrenched competitors to boot

 

I don't think this game is going to adhere to any existing concept of what a "healthy" server population is, because this game has such a massively broad selection of gameplay styles.  There are going to be necessary divisions in the servers, because people are not all going to want to play the same way.  If they try to force everyone to play nicely together, it's not going to go well.  At the very least, you're probably going to see PVE/PVP/RP divisions in the playerbase, and just for the sanity of CIG, it makes sense to divide those up.

The thing about this niche market?  It's still incredibly diverse.  There are going to be a lot of people who want little tweaks to the standard game, and allowing people to build their own variations and enjoy them in smaller groups is probably going to be far more effective than trying to balance the game for everyone wanting to play it.  The idea of building your own content, and running your own universe for people who want to play different ways is a huge draw to a lot of people (I'm absolutely one of them )

I think what this niche market is clamoring for is a return to the days of old where you could buy a game, download the SDK, and just start building your own content for people to enjoy, without having to fork over a credit card just so you can have a fancy hat for your character, or a paintjob for your ship.  No monetization, no cash shop... just content that you enjoy making, and want to let other people enjoy along with you.  Maybe that means not everyone can enjoy it at once.. but I don't see why that's a problem.  Maybe I want to rebuild my universe to operate in entirely Newtonian physics, and use the SC engine to perform a Kerbal Space Program-esque simulation of interstellar travel.. or maybe I just want to take a joyride in the Millennium Falcon.  I'm pretty certain the game would do both easily... just not in the same server instance.

 

Edited December 20, 2018 by Chronocidal

[Sanity is Optional]

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

I don't think this game is going to adhere to any existing concept of what a "healthy" server population is, because this game has such a massively broad selection of gameplay styles.  There are going to be necessary divisions in the servers, because people are not all going to want to play the same way.  If they try to force everyone to play nicely together, it's not going to go well.  At the very least, you're probably going to see PVE/PVP/RP divisions in the playerbase, and just for the sanity of CIG, it makes sense to divide those up.

Nope, everyone's in the same universe. If you want to PvE only, there's supposedly going to be a slider so that your encounters are mostly vs AI rather than people. Also if you play in policed systems, any human that tries to jack you will get crimestat and be hunted down (like oldschool MMO town guards).

There is no way to be 100% PvP free as planned, however the hope is that at some point the AI will be close enough in actions to PCs that the last 5%-10% difference won't matter much.

[Gerli]

I think the "slider" option was discarded a long time ago... now the idea is having some parts of the universe more safe than others... but PvP is not avoidable entirely

[Focslain]

As someone that plays a game that tries to have all players in a single world (Archeage), mixing the player types openly is generally a bad idea unless your death mechanic is really robust (see EVE Online). 

As for the slider, depending on how it fully funictions you can use that to create ambushes really easily. Which will drive the prey into thier own instances and make the hunters bored, poosibly causing both to leave. One from boredom the other from wanting multi-player but can only survive in single. 

I'd like to see this game release in full and the designs look decent, so I'll see about giving it a whirl after it's been up a year.

I have a feeling this might try and go the way of Elite Dangerous, which isn't bad, but the active server population will be really sparce.

Oh and on the note of town guards, hopefully they are OP af cause if not a decent player will tank and care not of them while they hunt easy prey.

[Sanity is Optional]

You still have to actually encounter another person, and supposedly 9/10 times that will just be an NPC instead.

[Chronocidal]

I feel like folks are assuming there isn't a single player option of this game though...  There is.  The official persistent universe could be all merged, but if the base assets all exist in the single player game (as I expect they'll have to for Squadron 42 to run), you shouldn't even have to connect to the online universe to play the game.  I'm hoping it will run very similar to Freelancer, in that the universe exists, and can be played however you like solo, but your solo progress is stored locally, instead of on the main persistent universe server.

It will depend on how they have the universe set to run though, economically speaking.  Elite Dangerous canned their solo play/private server features when they decided it was too hard to make the economy work in single player (or so I understood, at a very simplified level).  If SC has a dynamic economy that depends on player interaction, then playing it single player won't be as interesting, but it should still function.

I think the thing that will play heavily into whether they separate out some servers is that the bounty hunting mechanic will vastly change gameplay between players, and while players interacting with NPCs is one thing, it's also the type of system that could produce extremely frustrating mechanics for players who want to play in different ways.

Edited December 22, 2018 by Chronocidal

[Sanity is Optional]

Squadron 42 is a narrative campaign, not sandbox.

You're a military pilot playing through sequential chapters, last I heard at the end they dump you out into the PU (persistent universe, multiplayer) with some money/starter ship/etc...

However, I'm going to mention that other players shouldn't affect your play much if you stick to policed systems, or exploration where you won't ever meet people anyway. 

[Gerli]

15 hours ago, Sanity is Optional said:

Squadron 42 is a narrative campaign, not sandbox.

Well... there is a OpenWorld / Sandbox component in the mix. Chris Roberts said that you can, between missions, roam the system looking for side-missions or finding characters to know more about the story of the game. I don't think trade or piracy are options in Squadron 42, but maybe you can get side jobs scorting trade ships or miners sometime. 

[Chronocidal]

That's the part I'd love to see more details about, specifically what the game becomes after you finish Squadron 42. 

Dumping your character into the persistent universe doesn't explicitly mean it'll be a multiplayer situation though.  Yes, there will be official servers running that you can load your character into, but if the game truly supports player-run servers like it's been saying since the start, then there's no reason you can't dump your character into a private persistent universe, and just play that way.

I'm not saying the persistent universe is meant to be played solo... but if you have a private server running, and don't give anyone else access to it, isn't that what you're doing?  

[Nightbat]

Well, it seems CIG just sold off 10% of the company to investors

[Hiriyu]

2 hours ago, Nightbat said:

Well, it seems CIG just sold off 10% of the company to investors

Doesn't seem like a big issue to me. The letter to backers which CIG sent out this week explains that ~$46 million has been invested for a 10% stake in the company, with those funds being earmarked for marketing so as not to divert backer funds from development, along with some background info on the investors. 46M for a 10% stake in a company which has raised a little over $200M sounds like a pretty good deal for us backers.

If that sum were invested for a 51% or greater stake there would be some room for concern, but I have a hard time accepting that this investment constitutes any that anybody should be worried about as it implies a company valuation that is more than double the funds raised so far.

Edited December 23, 2018 by Hiriyu

[Gerli]

3 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

That's the part I'd love to see more details about, specifically what the game becomes after you finish Squadron 42. 

I think there are different "endings" for SQ42 and you can finish the game being an hero or a traitor... and that will be transferred to te Persisting Universe where your standing with the different factions will reflect what ending you choose.

 

[Nightbat]

On 12/23/2018 at 4:32 AM, Hiriyu said:

46M for a 10% stake in a company which has raised a little over $200M sounds like a pretty good deal for us backers.

 

...wait, so us backers invested $200m and have 0% stake and you call it a good deal for us?

CIG already had enough money to finish the game, this they stated quite while ago, any surplus went to stretch goals, i'd say marketing could fall under such a stretch goal

Edited December 24, 2018 by Nightbat

[Hiriyu]

49 minutes ago, Nightbat said:

 

...wait, so us backers invested $200m and have 0% stake and you call it a good deal for us? 

Yes, I do. It means that the funds that we pledged are being used for game development rather than for a public marketing campaign. Myself personally, I find that to be a good thing

[Saviant]

The only investment was the hope of a game, we were never getting more than that. Even back in the kickstarter phase Chris did talk about outside investors and I know they had some, even a person from the SA forums who is attacking the project after leaving

[Nightbat]

On 12/25/2018 at 1:19 AM, Saviant said:

The only investment was the hope of a game, we were never getting more than that. Even back in the kickstarter phase Chris did talk about outside investors and I know they had some, even a person from the SA forums who is attacking the project after leaving

 

Initially, the kickstarter was to gain finances to assure potential investors of viability of the idea

That changed after a certain point was reached (I believe even before $25M was achieved in funding)

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2016/09/23/inside-the-troubled-development-of-star-citizen

Those investors Roberts had been hoping to court with a small Kickstarter success and simple prototype? He didn’t need them any more.

“I think it’s for the betterment... not for them, but for the project,” Roberts told me. Without private investors, he explains, “there's no a 'I need my return on the money, I need you to get [the game] out so I can sell my stake' or 'We need you to sell to EA or someone'.”

Edited December 26, 2018 by Nightbat

[Gerli]

On 12/24/2018 at 9:19 PM, Saviant said:

even a person from the SA forums who is attacking the project after leaving

Not a very smart person I guess

Edit: nice article

https://www.businessinsider.com/star-citizen-has-raised-over-250-million-squadron-42-set-for-2020-2018-12?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=topbar&utm_term=mobile&utm_source=reddit.com

 

Edited December 27, 2018 by Gerli

[Nightbat]

I was laughing out loud (warning: strong language):

 

[Gerli]

A very cool video about the project

 

[Gerli]

Hi Guys, a Free Flight Week starts today so all can try the "game" (Alpha, Project, EarlyAccess, Demo... whatever)

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/p...ns/35-Free-Fly

FREE FLY CODE: 
GETINTOTHEVERSE

You can use my Referal Code to gain some extra credits if you buy the game, but is not necessary

STAR-TC2F-JDFV

[Chronocidal]

All snark about money and funding and such aside, I think one of the fan videos posted recently gives a good example of how ludicrously broad the scope of this game really is.

(Early/ugly character models notwithstanding  )

 

 

Edited May 1, 2019 by Chronocidal

[Gerli]

There is a Free Flight Event right now and 100+ ships can be tested in the game.

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/star-citizen/fly-now

You can use my referral code STAR-TC2F-JDFV for extra credits, but is not necessary, creating an account is free.

 

 

[Gerli]

This new alien ship looks amazing

 

[Duymon]

The Talon is gonna be pretty nasty with that small footprint. 2 S4 guns with 4 S2 missiles, or 2 S2 guns and 24 S3 missiles on a stealth ship this size is insane. 

 

Also, it'll be stealthy too O_o

[Gerli]

This is funny too:

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by Gerli

[Sanity is Optional]

Ok, that made me laugh, it truly is the Itano Circus fighter.