While most of CIG’s employees are still aglow in the aftermath of the latest CitizenCon, not everyone remains convinced.
The Honest Conference
From a Certain Point of View
It has long been the case that decisions that reflect the views of CIG’s marketing team tend to differ from the views of many of Star Citizen’s backers. One such example is the demise of the beloved space station known as Port Olisar. Many of the technology advances CIG has delivered have rendered the space station obsolete. The station is unable to support these new features including those found in the most recent 3.20 patch.
Herein lies a divergence between how CIG choose to portray the space station’s demise and that of how the backers would have chosen to retire the station. Here is the official version of the suspected end of Port Olisar.
Akin to the Trade Center Towers we are led to believe that station fell from the sky with no reasonable explanation. Today’s Star Citizens are having none of it. Here is the true story of the events after the sabotage of Port Olisar that led it to sink toward the gas giant Crusader.
Preview of the Pyro system
For years CIG has teased Citizens with the Pyro system. It’s release has been tied to the new static server meshing efforts, another feature set long ago promised as a critical stepping stone to the beta release. Work on this critical technology was thought to have begun shortly after the PES DB disaster which is still being shored up.
One lucky group got privileged access from CR himself(not) and took an up close and personal tour of Pyro. Here is the inside scoop on what Astro Pub found!
Star Wars vs Star Citizen
Of course, we are talking about the FM. Since the Star Citizen FM was converted to a wasd shooter style of play (face-to-face ToT contests) from the original most beloved WWII dog fighter model(based on the law of uniform circular motion (UCM)) the popularity of PVP has plummeted.
This difference is so stark that dedicated PVPers actually prefer the 3.5DOF FM of Star Wars to Star Citizen’s 6DOF FM. Of course, flying with a gamepad isn’t in the cards for me, but there are a few things to learn here.
Chairman’s Club Wave 1 PTU access
I had submitted a concierge request to ask why Wave 1 PTU access was removed from my account. Having not received a response I submitted a new request and I also published a a new thread in Spectrum which was quickly deleted as it was deemed a legal discussion.
Hello, my last request was to ask why I was removed from Wave 1 PTU, I have since discovered why.
When I paid for my entry into the Chairman’s Club it was explicitly stated(contract) that I would be granted Wave 1 access to the PTU. You have modified the terms of the agreement based on your assessment that your testing is not yielding the results you had hoped for. In addition, you have granted subs access to Wave 1 PTU in an attempt to defray provisioning costs.
It is clear that in most jurisdictions, that you must obtain my consent to alter the contract. You have not. Therefore it is clear that you may be in violation of various laws enacted to prevent this type of fraudulent behavior.
So with all due respect, I demand that you immediately restore Wave 1 rights to my account. In fact, all current members of the Chairman’s Club should be grandfathered in. You are, of course, free to alter the agreement for newly arriving members.
But you are not free to alter our agreement after monies have exchanged hands.
I look forward to your immediate reversal of this illegal policy change.
Sincerely
Space Marshal Christoper Blair
And I am not alone in sharing my disgust and disappointment of putting the PTU behind a paywall. CIG needs to change. And while I normally wouldn’t give this guy a shoutout, this time he deserves it!
Biting the Hands that feed you
My impression is that after 10 years, CIG expects its backers to log in and test the game rather than log in and have fun playing the game.
Today my daily grind with my new alt was interrupted by news that the 3.20 PTU was available for wave 1 and wave 2 backers. So I do the drill, I go to my settings page and low and behold I cannot copy my account to the PTU despite being a Space Marshal concierge member.
“[M]any players only log in once per PTU phase to briefly inspect the latest features or new ships before waiting for the live release. This led to very high player loads in the first hours of each wave release, combined with comparatively high server costs and download provisioning, but not the sustained play testing we would have preferred. As a consequence, towards the end of a PTU phase, we sometimes lacked the necessary numbers of testers to put the servers under pressure once the most significant bugs had been fixed.”
You have to love today’s politicians. Most have failed to come to grips with the fact that anything they said yesterday was immortalized in a vid for all of time. Yet, despite that, they feel free to deny and lie about what they said, sometimes on the very next day.
Precisely, what was said.
So it is sad that it has come to this. Years of promoting Evocati status. Years of providing a ruse that folks should make use of the Issue Council. Years of moderating Spectrum so as to make it nothing more than a sounding board for white knights.
Bottom line, all CIG needs from us is our hard earned cash.
Sharpening the Tools? Seriously? CIG believes that their preferred group of testers are those that play the most or subscribe for $10/month. Most folks qualified for testing have lives a bit more complicated than playing SC 12 hrs/day. Thus they(CIG) have granted this group higher testing rank that those of us that have invested thousands of dollars over the years to back the game.
One should expect the track record over the the past decade of delay after delay to continue on, well into the future.
CIG could start to address its testing requirements(failures) by weeding out the rot in their Evocati group, these folks couldn’t test a wet noodle. Time after time I experienced problems in wave 1 that should have been resolved by the Evocati. It has been that way since Alpha 3.0. Or how about fixing all those known issues before asking anyone to test, dealing with that is a supreme waste of time which discourages many.
I am sure that you and I have lots of thoughts on how to improve things, but we now know that CIG has already thought of everything and anything that we could offer.
So, unless CIG wants to pay for my time I will continue to play the game and try my best to ignore CIGs efforts to grab more than my cash. If they can’t handle the load, too fricken bad.
And oh yeah, go buy another ship!
And don’t forget to join me and sign all your crash reports with ¯_(ツ)_/¯
The GamePad
So I did it, after several decades I finally bricked a computer, my trusty i7-4790k. That beast always ran hot and I bricked it testing out the liquid cooling solution I had been using, pushed it past its thermal limits. Not much of a loss since it pretty much just burned juice since ETH mining ended.
With the disaster that was SC 3.18 it seemed like a good time to work on my first SC alt. The idea is simple, along with creating my alt I would add a second pc to run side by side my current pc so that I could use my alt to pilot my larger ships and then use my main to fly from the base ship. Seems that the mini carrier I’ve had on order, a Liberator, is due to be delivered along with the Pyro system so a second platform to run SC is in order. Until then I’ll try living off my Carrack once I get it stocked for extended service.
After replacing the MB and installing a refurbished i7-9700K along with a daring venture into Win11 I had a new PC ready to roll.
I would also later replace the 10yr old power supply and upgrade my GPU to a RTX 3060 gaming edition.
The question remained, how to incorporate the controllers. My desktop space leaves little room for a new HOTAS/HOSAS setup and I am none to hot on the MK combo. Let’s give the GamePad a whirl. As long as I am not engaging in PVP, racing or low flying the GamePad could be a viable option?
Naturally I turned to Google for some hot tips and low and behold the GamePad Elite came with glowing reports, that yes, you could run SC with it without touching your keyboard! Perfect for today’s thumb based device crowd. Several citizens offered up mappings, at least claimed to offer up mappings but I was not interested in shelling out $200 for one of those so called “elite” controllers which are nothing more than a mini-keyboard sandwiched between the mini-joy ports.
After all I had an XBOX ONE controller stashed around here somewhere…
On my first attempt I setup the GamePad using SC’s bindings editor, carefully weighing what to bind to what. It seemed clear up front that while using the left mini joy port for WASD works on the ground, it does not work well in flight. With only 10 buttons the use of the right(RB) and left(LB) modifiers were mandatory. Much to my dismay it turns out that the d-pad could not be modified using the RB so right away I was short bindings.
As pointed out by daddy Papy, SC uses ALL of the keyboard bindings.
So on my next attempt I added a slight of hand provided by JoyStick Gremlin. When configured with vJoy and HidHide you could in theory setup 9 separate profile modes (max allowed vjoys in SC) and extend those 10 buttons to something usable. So I thought. After a week with fighting with the Gremlin UI I finally had a prototype ready to go featuring a base template which mapped all the function keys, overlaid with a flight mode template and a ground mode template.
Well, OK, that worked! Maybe I am on to something. After all SC is rumored to be going big supporting the GamePad with the someday to be released Squadron 42. I see $$$.
Realizing my GamePad was an older model I ran off to BestBuy to pickup one of the new GamePads. That is when the shit hit the fan and I realized just how old my XBOX GamePad really was. Seems that somewhere along the way Microsoft changed the GampePad to use the XInput API and had tossed the older DirectX protocols. This introduced some problems.
The biggest problem is that up front, the GamePad only works in the currently open window. This works just fine for Window’s XBOX Gamebar, but Gremlin gets blocked. So you are forced to use SC’s limited keybinding tool. A quick DM with Gremlin’s author presented little to zero hope that Gremlin would be modified to support XInput. If it did, then there is a mode in XInput that would allow it to run in background albeit with only 4 templates. If that were not enough, it turns out that when your BlueTooth connection times out you lose your connection ID and Gremlin.
By now I had invested a couple of weeks into this experiment, the best I could do is hook my ancient XBOX GamePad and reconfigure all the software once again. Absent a viable product for the SC community perhaps I could still make use of all the work.
And I did. Gremlin was configured to call out “flight mode”, or “ground mode” when I switched to and fro. Indeed I had a nearly sufficient set of bindings that keyboard use was greatly reduced. By now the 3.18.1 patch had arrived so I set out in my alt flying my space truck starter package, the Nomad.
Progressing from simple takeoff and landings I refined my bindings until I had mastered fairly smooth takeoff and landings. So off to a few box missions. Even with a few tweeks use of the GamePad was janky and prone to errors. This would never be as precise as my trusty VPCs, not even with hundreds of hours of muscle memory training.
The biggest issue is of course the mini joy ports. Extremely course granularity due to the very limited throw inherent with a thumb port. Precise aiming is near impossible no matter how practiced or how damped. Certainly running 4DOF(5 axis total) in a 6DOF world hurts. This is definitely a controller that requires aim assist.
After a few successful box missions I thought well maybe, I could use this for flying larger ships, right? Then I ran into pirates. That was the end of the experiment.
Is the GamePad a better controller option than the standard mouse and keyboard. I’d give it a big fat NO. The lack of buttons and the lack of aiming precision squarely position the GamePad in the worthless category.
A grade of D- at best.
My current solution:
And in the if I had thought of this in the first place I could have saved myself some time, a simple USB switch. Of course, I did learn more than I expected about Joystick Gremlin and the GamePad controller including taking Window’s XBOX Gamebar for a spin. It’s kinda of cool, I was able to tune in Star Citizen radio!
And a big thank you to redlir for his vids on Gremlin!
The Streamer’s Patch 3.18.0
I was really, really looking forward to the release of the PU patch 3.18.0 as my experience in the PTU was lots of fun. As expected, when launched Friday March 10, 2023 we experienced the anticipated log jam trying to access the game. We saw the same ridiculous queue times of over 500,000 seconds(138hrs) during wave 3 of the PTU. So that happened, again.
Finally Saturday morning I cleared the login jam and started jamming! This was going to be great! I had ironed out my starting strategy in the PTU and was eager to start grinding to earn enough creds to upgrade the couple of dozen ships in my fleet.
Then the shit hit the fan as I 30k’d, got UNSTOWED, never to access the game again.
I was reduced to angrily watching twitch streamers whom other than janky gameplay, didn’t seem to have trouble getting into and out of the verse. The only streamer I noticed having issues was Avenger__1 who recently published a vid exposing the NightCity hackers. So it remains.
Mercy me, after two sessions in the 3.18.1 PTU – I checked the PU and I am no longer UNSTOWED banned!
Total banned time was
Yes, players other than streamers have made it into the game only to be met with DB issues affecting inventory services, the ASOP terminals, and the missions. Still, you can eek out a good time if you try hard enough and if you are lucky enough to squeeze through the gates of the current partial outage.
You can’t go back
Didn’t matter what CIG added to the 3.17 PU to stir the pot, those of us fortunate to have fought our way through the 3.18 PTU, well 98% of us, never logged the PU again.
PES is a game changer!
Despite frequent wipes, with a little luck you could spin up some rep and spend hours running the bunker missions on Orison. Collecting enemy armor and guns is a popular hobby with citizens lugging large crates behind their operations to collect the stuff. And yeah, friendly fire is a CS3 offense where GrimHex will be your only shelter to ponder your life choices.
The security terminals at the newly renovated Security Post Kareah are heavy guarded by Crusader and a successful takeover of the station will grant you free and clear of your CS and if you work it, some easter eggs too.
SPK is now the only location where a Crime Stat(CS3+) can be hacked. CS1 and CS2 are resolved via fines.
The Transporter
This role is a nice blend of basic piloting skills and a progressively dicey mix of FPS. Getting started is a snap and can be a lot of fun with just the right amount of challenge for Citizens looking to round out their skills.
PES allows for some interesting emergent game play in the event of your death or loss of ship. You can, after all, go back and cleanup any mess you might inadvertently make.
Anything to save that rep.
- Delivery: Loot your way to a supply surplus while you transport packages from protected POI to protected POI. Any starter ship with some accessible cargo space will work. Work your contracts quickly for the best chance to avoid needless entanglements. Contracts start at 4000 aUEC.
- Derelict outposts: Liven up your deliveries by including derelict POIs where you will need to get past the local “bad mens” to grab the package. Shoot from the sky or land and pick off the guards from the ground. But work quickly as a support cutlass will inbound shortly to check out your incursion. Get caught with your pants down and you will lose your ship. That is when things get interesting. Contracts starting at 4000 aUEC. BONUS: npc loot, cutlass.
- Recovery missions: None of that needless loot here save some npc armor. Get in, grab the package and get out. Enemy Cutlass support craft highly likely. Scenic roof top deliveries! Contracts starting at 4000 aUEC. BONUS: npc loot, cutlass.
- Advanced weapons(protect sites): bolster your merc rep and your armory by signing up for the site protection missions. You’ll have but 15 mics after you clear the facility to collect your loot and run, assuming you avoid friendly fire – a CS3 offense.
- Recommended ship: While any starter ship with cargo space can get you started, the preferred ride is the Avenger Titan. Upgrade to hard weapon mounts(Rhino/Panther), or mount an AD4B ballistic gatling if you want to toss some serious bullets around. The additional upgrades to mil spec shields/power/coolers and an Atlas QD to kit out will add another $110k aUEC.
These upgrades should give you a fighting chance against both PVE and PVP interdictions and allow you to easily quickly travel Stanton end to end with a bare minimum of fuel.
The Transporter
Get your Jason Statham on in Star Citizen’s 3.18 patch. Wave 1 has been in the wind for several weeks now and if you are lucky enough to get a higher frame rate server, things look good. New missions for the delivery profession have emerged into a new profession – The Transporter. Hiring yourself out as a mercenary transporter who moves goods from one place to another. No questions asked.
Dangerous complications ensue.
As a Jr. Runner you can choose between local delivery routes or retrieval ops. Complete 5 of them and you earn Runner status and access to higher paying missions and ops. In order to complete your Jr. level training you will need to settle on two issues. Which ship? Which weapons?
It’s tempting to call up the Cutter, Pisces, or the Mustang Alpha for the deliveries to protected space. It’s all fun and games popping baddies with your blasters from the comfort of your cockpit, that is, until reinforcements arrive – in a cutlass. You’ll want a bit more fire power!
The Cutlass is a solid choice but I found another look at the Avenger was in order. A GT-220 Mantis coupled with a pair of badgers bring it. The all varipuck mounting makes aiming a breeze. And the Avenger can easily pull 20Gs. Aegis’s radar is clearly superior to anything Drake can offer.
Runners can’t avoid FPS, so it helps to equip a gun that works for you. Find a gun that works at the ranges you are comfortable with. As a starter profession you are unlikely to have acquired more advanced weapons, so choose wisely. The P4 works for me. Note, the NPCs on high tick servers are deadly. And don’t forget the loot boxes!