Another year, another CitizenCon. This time CitizenCon 2954. Definitely the highlight of the event was the live gameplay reveal for Squadron 42. Yes, after declaring feature coding complete last year, we finally got to take a peek at what many have been waiting for over a decade.
One critical mistake was made, something I learned decades ago while demonstrating CAE schematic capture software. Always test the software on the hardware you will use, no exceptions. Lando is simply all wet behind the ears on that one. Of course, we wanted it live.
Despite a couple of crashes the demo was superb as we witness the prologue of the game and witnessed the battle of Vega. The prologue is lengthy, over an hour, much longer than any other motion picture prologue . The game play from beginning to end is reported to take 30-40 hours to complete. The transitions between the video monlogues and actual game play were entirely seemless. And we were treated to what future fleet battles could look like.
Enjoy!
Such a juicy tease! Makes you want to fire up SC and play. But in doing so, you are quickly reminded that we are still years away from a polished verse which is slated to come to us as release 1.0. Squadron 42 is currently scheduled for, no not soon(tm), but in 2026! No word on when we can expect to see the release 1.0 of the verse but it appears to be on the horizon in the next 2-3 years with CR claiming the features revealed in this year’s Citizencon should be released in 18-24 months.
Keep up to date on all Star Citizen events including sc-news, sc-patches, sc-updates, and rsi-status on our Discord server.
The latest 3.24 patch recently released featuring physicalized cargo and personal hangars has once again reminded us we are still in alpha. The initial weeks have been marked by several hoftix releases. Apparently there were a number of cargo hauling issues. Not sure how that passed review. (recently attributed to citizens abandoning cargo missions, ie entity garbage collection)
Regardless I have had spent some time learning to move cargo containers and stack them neatly in various locations and ships. Not bad. Your new hangar does take some getting used too. The hangars do make it a snap to get a close look at many of my ground vehicles since I no longer had to fly off to a special POI. And wow, staging a ship is now a breeze.
New tools
I also looked at a couple of tools I had previously ignored. The Cambio SRT (Salvage and Repair Tool) by Greycat Industrial and The MaxLift Tractor Beam, a handheld tractor beam also manufactured by Greycat Industrial. The MaxLift is a must have in your hangar with its increased range and ability to move larger objects. The distance between your ships’ cargo grid and the storage hangar can easily be 50m or more. Using The TruHold Tractor Beam Attachment for the Pyro RYT Multi-Tool can be more than tiresome.
Emergent Ground Salvage Operations
To check out the Cambio SRT I queued up some low level bounty missions hoping to track my soft kills to the ground. I say queued up due to the many vulkan crashes occurring at the start of combat. The DirectX option messes with my browser windows something fierce. It was during one of these attempts I experienced the dream first hand.
After downing my targets I lost site of my prey as they fell to the ground. Scanning did reveal some unknown targets. As I approached one of them I noticed a connie illuminating what appeared to be the wreck of catepillar, similar to some of the mercenary missions. Except there was no apparent ground PVE.
So landed my F7A MKII at the far end of the wreck SITE opposite the connie and headed to the wreckage to explore. While inside one of the cargo bays I heard gun fire. Oh shit. Outside I noticed some a-hat trying to poke holes in my fully charged shields with his pop gun which turned out to be a P4. Damn, why won’t my trusty arclight equip?
My Revenge
While that fool did not look to be making any progress downing my shields I needed it to stop. Without use of my sidearm I took advantage of that citizen’s backside and pushed ready to mash my middle mouse button. Ha! I was soon looting his Artimex gear and moving the boxes closer to my ship. The hornets look to be one of the few fighters that have local storage so I loaded up my loot with room to spare. He could keep the p4🤣.
Time to go check out that connie I thought to myself. After about 50 meters I again heard weapon’s fire and a cutty buzzed overhead. It was jousting my landed position 🤔. I assumed this was my prey’s rescue party and that cutty did have bigger guns! Running back to my ship I could see that dead citizen’s body flying through the air. If he wasn’t dead before, he was now. I was able amid the rain of fire to hop in my cockpit and takeoff.
Once airborne that cutty did not stand a chance in hell. My F7A lit him up. Must say, it has been a while since I really smiled playing. I hope to smile more in the future.
Today a post on Spectrum complained about the lack of persistence for the weapon groupings of your spaceship. Those of us using dual stage triggers know the problem well. Depending on your weapon loadout you may want weapon group 2 as your first stage trigger with weapon group 1 as your second stage trigger. And of course, this assignment differs between the various ships.
As part of the reply, out of the blue Yogi stated that “they were quite satisfied with MM”. As you might expect, that drew howls of laughter from many of us including me.
Which Citizens?
The comment has backers asking exactly who is this group of citizens? Seemed that the comment singularly included the MM devs. I of course, took the opportunity to make a few suggestions which immediately drew a couple of likes. But when I went back to review the thread my comment was no where to be seen and I was only able to view my post by clicking on the notifications icon.
Fortunately I only use Spectrum from time to time as it often goes on and on with citizens talking past each other. From time to time citizens are castigated by self appointed white knights. We all know who they are. Similar to many social media platforms, it/they are generally useless cesspools.
The Post
Yogi walked right into this.
As I said before we’re pretty happy with the MM changes.
Yogi
My reply
Seems like a singular point of view considering how obtuse MM is to use. Some suggestions for 4.0:
Engaging NAV mode should be made more user friendly by the following:
a] Engaging NAV mode should not engage the QD as the drive is not needed to go Mach 3. b] Shields, weapons, and counter measures should remain active in NAV mode but should not recharge in the case of both weapons and shields. c] When you activate QD THEN AND ONLY THEN weapons, shields, and counter measures should be disabled. You absolutely do not need the QD HUD overlay just to go Mach3. d] The time to switch in and out of NAV mode from/to SCM should be greatly increased.
The other annoying issue is boost should not engage if already at max velocity/acceleration, it feels like a 1st year engineering student designed the system as your boost is drained for no reason. And for the life of me can you get rid of space drag????
The deceleration that occurs when engaging the landing gear is cartoonish at best.
I have not and do not enjoy MM in its current state and my views are shared by a great number of citizens I have had the pleasure of flying with.
So please, go back to the drawing board and make MM something that is more realistic and does not smack of a 90’s era nintendo game.
And while I am still playing I am trying my best to avoid any of this so called WWII dog fighting in space. It feels like it belongs in a cartoon and is not realism dialed back to fun. It is not fun at all and it is just annoying.
By now most of you have run mission chains that including downing an idris or two. Most of you know these are usually long drawn out battles often times requiring several torpedo bombers running multiple missions. While the grind may seem a bit much, it is all so satisfying when you grab that kill shot!
The promise for and of the last decade has been to create a believable game play experience flying in a variety of futuristic spaceships. IN OUTER SPACE! Master Modes has turned this vision on its head.
With the release of MM, CIG is headed in an entirely different direction.
An Engineering Company
CIG has been and primarily is an engineering company. It is clear that internal forces are steering the company toward a sales and marketing slant. A clear sign that CIG is experiencing these internal forces is demonstrated with the advertising proclaiming their game “playable now”. Advertising that coincided with the release of patch 3.18. Of course, 3.18 was unplayable by most.
The introduction of PES in 3.18 fell flat on it’s face and introduced 6 months of delays in some important CIG time tables.
This generation’s Wing Commander
Chris Roberts expressed his hopes that SQ42 will become this generation’s Wing Commander. Granted, MM as a FM is head and shoulders above that found in Wing Commander. But it is a far cry from the advances in technology of the last 30 years and the FMs already found in a variety of currently available games.
When engineering companies reach a certain pinnaclethey encounter forces determined to grow the company. These forces are not based on what got them there. They are based on a misguided notion that sales and marketing are the keys. In practice, those keys unlock the doors of death.
In practice, the easiest sale is for products not available, thus basing real life decisions on this erroneoussales data can have extreme derogatory consequences. When an engineering company stops being an engineering company and caters to every shred of promises of sales and riches, they shrivel and die. If sales and marketing are telling you how high to jump, then you know you have the disease.
Master Modes: The Only Right Answer by Leschath
Problems with Master Modes
1] With lower SCM velocities and near infinite jerk profiles, ships attain maximum velocity quickly and then lose further acceleration. This renders them as nearly stationary targets. This is the feeling of being “locked in” and makes the game feel like it is on rails while also limiting evasion.
I don’t need accurate PIPs to hit stationary targets
2] Dog fighting becomes DPS/Hull dependent because time on target generates the biggest advantage. The biggest ship with the biggest guns will win any dog fight. This is a strict FPS model that would NOT ring true in the depths of outer space.
3] Promotes intentional ship ramming by trying to limit unintended ramming.
4] Paints an inaccurate picture of space flight.
5] Rather than follow CIG’s ethos of solving a technology challenge with innovative engineering solutions, they have resorted to limiting game play.
With all the chatter about provisioning costs, Amazon may have CIG by the balls.
6] Weapon damage is RNG based.
7] Multi-crew dependencies are reduce to an almost meaningless level negating well honed strategies of the past. A big loss for the turret gunner role. And surely a damper on distinguishing various classes of ships from each other.
8] Hit and run tactics will no longer be viable rendering ships like the Ion and Inferno useless.
9] The boomerang effect. Many of the acclaimed benefits of MM have actually had the opposite effect compounded with additional unintended consequences. Certainly jousting, kiting, and increased ranges of engagements are all observed in AC.
10] Grandiose talk of lowering the skill ceiling for new players has not been realized for those new players buying starter packages. These single pilot ships don’t stand a chance in PVP engagements as experienced pilots will pair and group up.
MM will impact our solo playing citizens
11] MM eliminates all the really cool flight mechanics that a lot of us love and enjoy. That is, the absence of an arcady and a limiting flight model. The immersion of flying a futuristic spaceship amongst the stars is completely lost and with it, any realism that the verse might have for each of us.
12] It is clear that the DEVs at CIG have yet to learn the laws of unintended consequences. I tried to point this out as an evocati for the 3.0 release when they last tested reduced SCM velocities. Even if MM did solve the problems as advertised, it has created a shit storm of new issues which will indubitably consume much time and resources.
Where is the OFF switch?
“MM is unnatural and constantly reminds you that you are just playing a game”
The flight model(FM) is the game. MM offers nothing new over the competition and eliminates what has been the best feature of Star Citizen.
Telling folks they should go play some other game that does feature Newtonian flight is an insult to those of use that have invested thousands of dollars, for this game.
Wait, another patch update snuck by me? Oh well, a chance to take my Avenger Titan out to shake off the rust. Located Ghazi in a asteroid belt flying a Defender, strange for a VLRT. Asteroids can be tricky, best not to drift too much. I merged right into the slot and without much effort stayed there. Ghazi’s shields soon failed for a much too easy kill.
As I sauntered away Ghazi’s wingman flying a M50 intercepted me and despite my turn rate disadvantage a few shots on target was all she wrote.
For a starter ship the avenger is a strong contender in the lower ranks of bounty hunting.
It’s not often, if at all, that I get into the business of recommending a starter ship. There are probably tons of utube and tictok vids all vying to be your influencer when it comes to recommending your best cash outlay to get started.
And certainly, there are a large variety of starter ships to choose from. By far and away the easiest path to early success in Star Citizen is the vaunted role of a transporter. Here you can start out small running box missions to earn aUEC and stock your inventory with loot. In fact, the creds you earn selling excess loot gathered on these missions far exceeds the payments you will receive.
Once you’ve mastered the role of a transporter you can easily step into mercenary work. Tackle those underground bunker missions to collect “modified” armor and an array of more advanced weaponry.
The ship that best fits this game play is hands down the Avenger Titan.
With a size 4 nose weapon along with a size 3 weapon under each wing you will command enough fire power to take down the majority of the resistance you will meet, including medium sized ships like the Drake Cutlass. The cargo area is easily accessed and is ideal to load up all the road kill from the bunker missions for easy looting. It is one of the few ships that has two hatches. Upgrade the components and you can also use the ship for beginner bounty missions.
FEELING LUCKY? AVENGER TITAN STARTER PACK
For a limited time CIG is offering a feeling lucky 25% discount on the Avenger Titan making it one of least expensive options and by far the most versatile starter ship available. CIG is also adding a Gemini Sniper rifle plus a generous 20,00 starting UEC.
Never say never to box missions, you know, those tedious missions you run on your way to becoming “the” transporter.
CIG offered one last chance to mine a gold ticket for obtaining the legendary F8C Lightining so off I went to MicroTech to curry favor with Unified Distribution Management. On the very last run for Courier Status (lvl 3), and on the vary last loot crate – I found one!
Two other citizens had landed so I dropped everything, jumped in my STV and headed back to my ship to quickly dock with Port Tressler. No sooner than had I landed and exited my seat – 30K!
So I tested this beast out on a Tracker Beginner’s Permit Certification bounty(LTR) and it is easy to see why this ship is so special. Cole appeared to be the eyes in the sky for their op and while Cole’s eyes were glued on his radar my Lightning’s one two punch was lights out. A leisurely circle around and splash.
CIG media is chock full of employee testimonials proclaiming pride in a work product that exceeds the expectations of the current AAA genre. Employees are proud to polish their work to increase the quality and efficiency of each workflow. Indeed, there are some extraordinary events unfolding as the code base from Squadron 42 finds it way into the verse.
Master Modes
Based on currently available MM tuning it is unmistakable that the speed caps have impacted the ability of pilots to generate sufficient rotational accelerations to enable pilots to increase or decrease the distance between each other at a rate that allows pilots to execute a number of common maneuvers.
So pilots be forwarned, Master Modes is a FM on rails.
So, this is the best you can do?
ya know, ya know, ya know, physics, ya know, ya know, ya know, mathematics, ya know, ya know, ya know, …
