CIG's Genesis Starliner Q&A II has been posted. I’m going to discuss the elements that stood out to me as emergent gameplay options for the ship and career.
Licensed Pilot for Hire
Owning a Genesis isn’t the only way to make use of your newly acquired commercial pilot license. You’ll be able to hire yourself out to NPC managed transport businesses. You’ll be paid a salary that has a performance modifier which reflects customer service ratings. Good performance will yield better payout. Bad performance equals less pay. Horrible performance will get you fired.
The profession that was announced alongside the Genesis is getting better and better. One of the reasons stated for pricing this concept ship at a whopping $400 USD, is that it’s considered an end-game goal for a licensed commercial pilot. They don’t want thousands of these flying the universe. Pilots and commercial airlines are relatively SMALL in number, with only few notable carriers. They want it to play out similarly, in Star Citizen.
It’s great to know that you can still participate in the profession without owning a Starliner. You can work for another player or more reliably, for one of the NPC corporations while saving up for a Genesis, if owning one is desired. They fully expect this profession to be good at generating income.
Visual and Cockpit Alerts for Customer Service Needs
If your onboard flight attendants are other players, they will have visual cues alerting them to passenger needs and in-flight service issues. If you’re flying solo and using NPC flight attendants, you will monitor service and direct/interact with your NPC flight attendants, using a holo information system in the cockpit. You can also have the ship on auto pilot and interact with passengers yourself.
This is excellent news. As much as I hope to engage real players to assist me, undoubtedly there will be situations where this isn't possible and I’ll pilot the ship alone. I’ve also been known to have moods where I prefer playing solo. Happy to know that I can when I want to.
Pre-Boarding Security
Security is still a concern in the 30th century! Us sentient beings clearly can’t get it together and control our baser needs to kill one another. *sigh* Passengers will be required to submit to security scans. The current direction is that it will be similar to the scan demonstrated at the end of Around the Verse #47. This introduces a new set of questions.
Who handles accepting tickets and allowing passengers to board? It seems like that's who'd be responsible for denying access to a passenger who has failed the security scan. So is that me/my crew or members of an official security force at the gate?
What happens to someone who fails the security-check? In the real world, you're taken into custody if your caught attempting to bring contraband on a flight. The Devs have mentioned that players can be sent to jail and will be detained for a certain period of time depending on the crime. This sounds similar to the criminal mechanic in ArcheAge which I thought was fun and engrossing to watch play out. I wonder if the same will be true in SC when you fail a security scan?
Flight Routes will be Multi-stop
Don’t expect your destinations to be from Point A to Point B. This is luxury transport designed for efficient LONG DISTANCE travel. I’m sure there are short-hop options but in those cases, a smaller ship is probably more cost effective.
In the current design direction, the thought is that Genesis pilots will plot a course with consideration for refueling the ship, replenishing supplies and dropping/obtaining passengers at interim destinations. By default, this will require a combination of manual and auto-pilot. However, the captain can override auto-pilot at any time to take control of the ship.
Prisoner Transport Variant Planned
There’s another variant being planned that wasn’t part of the initial announcement. Con Air in space is coming to a verse near you. A Genesis variant specifically configured for prisoner transport will be a reality at some point. However, it will not be available during the Genesis pledge timeline and may have a concept sale of its own. If you are interested in one of the variants mentioned in this announcement, this is the only time you can purchase the base Genesis for those and obtain Lifetime Insurance.
Medical Uses
While there is no plan to design a variant of the Genesis as a medical ship, the modular configuration of the chassis should be sufficient to support players doing so. If for some reason I want to take a break from passenger transport, this is the configuration that would interest me next. I can see the Genesis as a combination of troop transportation and an onsite medical facility, close to the conflict area. An operations support vessel.
So that’s it. That’s probably the last consolidated piece of information we’ll get on the Genesis and commercial transportation career for quite some time. I love it, love it, love it!
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