Mystic Worlds

Star Citizen - Constellation Ship Series

Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of Star Citizens...

Dreaming of space goes back - way back to my childhood. To being 10 years old and running home from school to watch reruns of Star Trek. To seeing every episode a multitude of times.  To reenacting the voyages in our basement, where a row of out dated appliances against the far wall was the Enterprise. Our U.S.S. Enterprise.  I presided over rascally squad from the Captain’s Chair, which was me sitting crossed legged on old washing machine that happened to be in the middle. I would wear my mother’s marigold sweater, the sleeves balled up to my elbows to stop them from dragging. Everyone had to wear the right color sweater cuz – uniforms. 

The memories are still vivid.  Their faces, voices and laughter.  The dust riding on angled shafts of light coming in from the small block windows. A large part of my excitement for Star Citizen is to revive space adventures with my family and friends. It’s the driving force behind my recent ship changes.  It’s why I melted/returned other ships to offset the cost of a Constellation Aquila.

Constellation

The Constellation is one of the most iconic ships in production for Star Citizen. Affectionately called the Connie, it was the first large, multi-function and multi-crew ship announced, that was designed with luxury in mind.  The ship’s design allows it to be customized to fit various roles.  

Star Citizen Constellation

Star Citizen – Drake Herald

I thought I’d do a brief write up on the Star Citizen Drake Herald, as it’s supposedly the next ship that will be hangar ready and made flyable in Arena Commander.  The criteria used for how ships are being prioritized, is whether or not the ship is needed for the single player RPG module, Squadron 42.  Bad news for some in general, even though it make sense. The needs of S42 puts some of the original backer ships like the Constellation and Freelancer behind newer ships like the Herald.  On the plus side for me, I purchased a Herald from the gray market several weeks ago.  My purchase wasn’t related to when it was being made flight ready.  I had no idea at the time.  As a person whose career centers on Business Intelligence, the ship’s role piqued my interest.

The Ugly Duckling of SC

Let’s get how ugly this ship is out of the way first.  It’s not exactly butt ugly.  Compared to many of the other ships with their sleek designs, it does look like the red headed step child. However, at certain points of view, lighting and shading, it’s visually interesting and appealing, in a crooked smile kinda way.  But no one is going to be doing a pin-up of this ship for their wall. The design itself is Drake’s take on infusing alien design aesthetics, Vanduul, into their ships. 

Drake Herald Concept Art

The Herald is a small armored ship, designed to safely deliver information and you, from one place to the next.  Its speed will rival racers but it won’t have the same nimble handling. It has a powerful central engine to support advanced data encryption. It also sports data protection systems, redundant power subsystems, EMP shielding and high capacity broadcast arrays for data transmission.  In a nutshell, it’s spec’d to acquire rare data, encrypt/protect it, escape with said data and/or transmit it to your cohorts. As a fallback, it has a quick method to clear your drives of evidence, in case you get caught in the act or hijacked.

Star Citizen - Updated Ship Status Log

Cloud Imperium Games recently released an updated Star Citizen ship status log.  Yes! They are going to keep the list updated.  This is an excellent addition to available information.  Not only for players who want to know what’s going on with a ship they’ve already purchased, I've personally wanted an easy way of seeing what is flyable right now!

If more friends decide to join the SC community, I’d definitely recommend flyable 1st, hangar ready 2nd.  Only diehards and extremely patient people should pledge for concept ships.  Sure – you’ll get a loaner ship in the meantime.  However, waiting a long time for what is perhaps your only purchase, in my opinion, contributes to the angst some backers are experiencing.

Ships I’ve pledged for but are not flyable:

Reclaimer Salvage ship	Large Multi-Crew	Interior Concept In Progress, Hull Concept Complete
Genesis Starliner Civilian Transport	Large Multi-Crew	Concept Complete, Waiting for resources to start modeling
Cutlass Red Search and Rescue	Multi-Crew	Hangar Ready. Damage States being mapped
Herald Info runner	Single Seat	Concept Complete. Tech Setup (Hangar)
Constellation Aquila Exploration	Multi-Crew	Hangar Ready. Damage States being mapped

 

Star Citizen – What’s New

Arena Commander Alpha Patch 1.1.5

AC 1.1.5 was deployed to the PTU over the weekend – that’s test environment.  I rarely if ever deal with MMO test servers.  I’ll just wait until it’s pushed to production.  Most of what’s coming are balancing changes such as ship durability, weapon damage and improved HOTAS usability.  Along with thruster and flight mechanics changes – see lots of posts about changes in “drift”. The long awaited P-52 Merlin, a short ranged combat support ship that comes aboard the Constellation is flyable.

P-52 Merlin flyable on Test Server

My Interest in 1.1.5

What I care about are any improvements with respect to using joysticks.  I’m still struggling to adjust settings to where my pitch doesn’t make me float all over the place. It’s getting better.  I downloaded a custom XML configuration for people who are experiencing too much “float” when maneuvering and that has helped.  But I’m hoping the patch closes the gap even more.

I don’t have a Merlin and don’t plan to get one.  However, I was interested in seeing the cockpit.  CIG is continuing to refine the cockpit dashboard.  I really dislike the current radar.  It’s more like make myeyesbleeddar.  I need more function and less flash. 

A radar that is a light blue sphere with white indicators superimposed over blue panel (in some ships) is virtually unfreaking readable!!!  Clearly the elements were designed separately from each other (readouts vs. the various cockpit designs) but this one is really annoying. The whole 3D of it is more distracting than helpful in my opinion.

325A cockpit radar - makes my eyes bleed

 

Star Citizen – Coming Soon…

Jokes about the patented “coming soon” from game developers aside, what Star Citizen backers are receiving next is an update to Arena Commander.  AC is the dogfighting module being used to test ships, combat, flight mechanics and the alike, during the SC alpha.

AC 2.0 should have a few notable additions:

• Controller balance changes – trying to improve the disparity between using a mouse vs. all else.
• Ship balance changes – address issues with overpowered ships, missiles, etc.
• Addition of multi-crew ships that have been completed – some of the original multi-crew ships that have been available in the hangar module but not available for flying will be added.
• Ability to have multiple people multi-crew ships – can invite other players to fulfill the roles on the multi-crew ships in AC.
• Redesign on some ship models - make older ships on par with newer and reflect new modular design.
• New playing map – I think.  There’s been talk of a mod called Pirate Swarm being officially added and perhaps a new combat map.  I preferred this reskin of Vanduul Swarm but it’s no longer working after the most recent patch.

Dogfighting isn’t something I have even a small amount of interest in.  I use AC as a learning tool since I'm not a fan of the 1st iteration of the in-game tutorial. In solo modes I practice flight and combat using a HOTAS, as well as getting a feel for flying different ships.  I use the NPC mode - Vanduul Swarm to practice different tactics and defensive maneuvering. Playing every other MMO with a mouse and keyboard is second nature to me. I want to develop the same muscle memory using a HOTAS.

I usually end a session by doing a few laps in the Old Vanderval Speedway to improve maneuvering accuracy.  I try to increase my speed each time as well.  I can now complete laps in half the time it took when I first started.  I've found my own uses for AC. But as far as fighting other players in a tiny space - no interest.  Dogfighting for me feels like the early battleground maps from WOW that were small or structured PVP in GW2. I'm a large map open world PVP type player.

Star Citizen – It’s Enduring Grey Market

It will be surprising to some to hear that Star Citizen has a very active community of players reselling ships, known as the Grey Market.  Ships originally purchased directly from Cloud Imperium Games, are being marked up and sold by third party.  Only a small portion of the ships sold are actually playable in Arena Commander. Many are not even available viewing in a ship hangar.  Yet there’s enough surplus demand that players are buying and trading these digital assets.

What’s Fueling the Grey Market?

There are two major factors contributing to the viability of the GM.  CIG introduces new specialized ships through what is called a concept sale.  This is where the ship being sold is still in the design phase.  Some of the ship designs are further along than others when they’re introduced but none have been physically implemented in the game.  They have however, reached a point where the physical design, role and technical implementation details are known – for the most part.  At this juncture, a LIMITED duration sale is made available in the Pledge store.

These aren’t your run of the mill everyday ships in the SC universe.  There are highly specialized ships suited for very specific roles and as such, player objectives.  If this is a ship you want in your possession at the very start of the game, they only way to acquire it is by purchasing it during the concept sale.  If you miss it, don’t want to pay cash for it or can’t afford the cash price, you will be able to earn/purchase the ship when the game launches using in game currency.  However, we don’t know what the in-game prices will be or how long it will take to earn the amount necessary.  So for a die hard enthusiast, purchasing their dream ship during a concept sale is appealing.

Vanduul Scythe Concept Art

What happens if you missed the concept sale?? They don’t run long – typically 1 to 2 weeks.  If you weren’t following the SC website, too busy, out of town, etc., that’s it.  You’ve now missed your one and ONLY chance to purchase the ship for cash, directly from CIG.  This is one of the major factors contributing to the GM.

Star Citizen – Search and Rescue

 

Player exits a SAR ship looking for survivors

To provide a gaming experience that is more tactical and varied, Star Citizen has devised a limb-based injury system which includes varying degrees of damage severity and permanence.  It's not going to be the more common scenario where after sustaining damage, a player runs and hides until his health magically regenerates to full.

In Star Citizen, various areas of the body go through damage states from Normal (no injury) to Ruined (not usable or gone).  To recover from a state below normal, player intervention is necessary. A detailed overview of the health system can be found here.

What We Know

If a player is incapacitated in proximity to his allies, they can be dragged to safety. Some assistance can be provided on the spot using field tech, such as the ability to stem bleeding.  However, field tech cannot be used to heal a player back to full capacity.

Beyond moderate injury or to be returned to a normal 100% health state, a player must undergo more intense treatments, such as those provided by Medbays and Medstations.  This is where Search and Rescue (SAR) comes into play. Given that Star Citizen has a permadeath mechanic, I expect SAR services to be in high demand.

Star Citizen – Mining Overview

As this will be one of the professions many new players gravitate toward, here’s a quick overview of the mining profession.  It was one of the first career design documents published and is supposedly representative of their philosophy for all careers.  Which is that career associated tasks contain activities that require skill, dexterity and intelligence, where mindless repetition or idle monitoring are explicitly avoided.

This is after all, deep space and although a career isn’t combat oriented there’s danger present.  In the case of mining, the more valuable materials will reside in dense asteroid fields that must be piloted through without suffering serious damage to your ship.  While mining, you can encounter compressed pockets of gas and other volatile materials that can explode in the presence of excessive energy or detonate from seismic activity.  In other words, this isn’t an auto-pilot profession and careless players can die.

Orion - Premiere mining ship unveiled withe the career

Star Citizen Persistent Universe – Are you Prepared for Permadeath?

If you’re late to the Star Citizen (SC) party and still catching up on the encyclopedic amount of published content and videos to wade through, let me draw your attention to the fact that there is permadeath (PD) in the persistent universe. This will be the first MMO I’ve played with PD.  I’ve played the high stakes lose your ship mechanics of EVE Online, where I’ve actually heard men cry on voice chat after losing billions+ ISK ships and their rare implants.  But even in EVE, your character at least, is immortal.  That won’t be the case in SC.

Why art thou Permadeath?

Chris Roberts, founder of Cloud Imperium Games and Star Citizen’s visionary leader, wants to create a world where time moves forward – things are destroyed, people die and history moves forward.  Below are some of his quotes explaining why he felt it important to include PD in the persistent universe design of SC.

“To achieve this sense of a living history, there needs to be a universe where time progresses, characters die, and new ones come to the front.”

“I also feel that if everyone can be cloned easily, it fundamentally changes the structure of the universe. You now have a universe of immortal gods that can’t be killed.  Death is just a financial and time inconvenience that has no further consequences.”

“The life and death cycle of humanity is what has brought us our history, our need to “make a mark” in our time, to push forward. If I want a living, breathing universe that has a lot of the dynamics of a real world and is inspired by the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, immortality for all is problematic.”

Star Citizen Writer's Guide - Audio Version Episode 11

Here's the audio version of the Star Citizen Writer's Guide 11.  This episode is purely for writers and contains no lore. It provides a quick start guide for fiction writing techniques.

Listen via YouTube

 Show Notes:

• Unofficial Star Citizen Soundtrack used as background music
• RSI published version of Writer's Guide Part 11

 

Link to audio version of Star Citizen Writer's Guide Part Ten