Damn. That’s going to be one sad whale. He’ll probably beach himself in despair when this game goes kablooey.
Just launch SQ42 already.
Same. Hard pass on that. I believe the people buying a Kraken imagine having a large org. They will use it as a floating base in one of the largely unexplored / dangerous systems. But yeah, it’s both way too rich for my blood and it feels pointless (at best!) to be spending that cash on imaginary features and ships. And yet, they sold out. Go figure.
You can make your own fun as easily in SC as in Flight Simulator, I think. With more varied activities than just flying but less interesting places to do it in. In that context, I guess there is enough gameplay to go with the ships for those who enjoy that? They better not enjoy high performance in their games though. :)
First of all, I have to give you props for often knowing more lore and development details than I do. You often teach me things about the project!
The struts tend to be one of my bugbears on a lot of ships too. I would hope for more smooth cockpits. The Connie is actually quite good despite those, as there is so much glass. But I would love it if we could get the clear views we deserve.
Thanks Derek!
I guess the plebs haven’t quite gotten there yet and it’s not going to implode in the next few weeks. Taking into account the source of the reporting (SC project funding page), CIG seems to have earned around 11.9M this Invictus, compared to 12.7M last year (when people were stuck at home and were not coming out of a year with lockdowns and furloughs).
In some ways, the funding was more consistent this year (600K - 1.5M every day), rather than the bigger peaks and troughs last year. The picture below is taken from the daily numbers and is merely a fluff Reddit post declaring a manufacturer a winner because more money was raised on their days on the show floor. But it still gives you a view of the reported funding:
I know that you caution people to take those numbers with quite a few grains of salt. So reader be aware!
I still haven’t played Kerbal Space Program. But it always sounds like so much fun! Didn’t know about the struts and boosters. But yeah, there are similarities in ship design then. :)
I wish.
CIG’s definition of already is a few years down the line. We only got to visit parts of the Javelin that will feature in SQ42 for the first time last week.
And monthly progress reports are still all about gameplay slices, AI behaviour, cinematics, … It’s nowhere near released. Unfortunately.
The problem is that in a few years, it will still be “in a few years”.
There is simply no commercial incentive to actually finish this game.
edit: Oh, thanks for linking the video by the way.
I wonder if CIG will hold a 10 year celebration next year.
Of what?
Of the 'verse!
But not of the underverse?
They only say “the 'verse”, so it could be the underverse for all I know. ;)
Every time I see 'verse used in conjunction with this project, it puts in a mood and I
But they haven’t shipped anything!
The Ponziverse
If you believe in the multiverse interpretation of quantum physics, there is some universe in which they shipped the game. There might even be a universe in which Star Citizen is, indeed, the BDSSE. So, in that sense, “see you in the 'verse” is actually true somewhere, somehow.
Not our universe, though. Not yet, at least.
This week, I decided to gamble my meagre savings. I invested pretty much all my in-game money into renting a MISC Prospector (a space mining ship) and outfit it.
In good space roughneck style, I put on my favourite cap and went staring at drilling lasers and mining modules. Such wonders!
Mining itself involves navigating to an asteroid rich region of the system and pinging for promising rocks. The safety conscious will also try and do it away from normal travel spots. Other ships can detect your pings, turning you into a tasty morsel for pirates.
Once a suitable rock has been found, it is broken down into smaller chunks, the most ore rich of which are harvested.
That’s the theory. I had 3 days to find some ore to help me recoup my money and not much in-game time. So I decided to go for the big ticket item: Quantanium. The source for quantum fuel.
- Day 1: Prospected for half an hour and found mostly junk ores. I gathered some as practice. Enough to pay for my fuel and a meal.
- Day 2: Found a Quantanium rich rock. Jackpot! Flew right at it. Into it. Exploded. Ooops.
- Day 3: Had to look around a while to find only 2 asteroids close to each other, but each with less than 10% Quantanium. Still, my time was running out and I went to work…
Quantanium has an interesting property: it’s highly unstable. From the moment you harvest the first piece, your cargo is a time bomb. You have 15 minutes to extract it all and get it to a refinery. After that…
And so the race was on! With no money left and no more chance to rent consumables, I raced for the station. By the time I reached there, the unstable cargo yellow light had been blinking for a while.
I landed. Jumped out of my seat! Got stuck into it with no way out! (Thanks, known Prospector bug striking at the best ever time). There followed panicked jumping, crouching, crying and clicking everywhere. All the while, the light went blink… blink… blink… ominously.
With only a few minutes to spare, I asked for help: “Kill yourself” said the chat, then run to the ship terminal to store your Prospector and stop the timer. “Dear diary: Today, I died. To escape a seat.”
Still, I made it to the refinery and started a job to process what little I had managed to harvest.
Then came the most dangerous part. With no money left, I loaded the goods I had refined into my cargo hold. I was bound for half way across the Stanton system.
It didn’t look like much in my ship, but it was everything I had. All it would take to ruin me would be one crash (server or ship) or one encounter with pirates. Then I would be back to hauling boxes for a pittance.
I was so relieved when the industrial landscape of ArcCorp and Area 18 came into view. I would live to buy burritos another day!
A quick jaunt on the train to the Trade & Development Division, and I just about recouped my investment into the adventure.
Next time, I’ll try and actually make money. I hope.
Great story!
Do you actually have to eat in the game or is that just for flavor? And stations allow you to dock with a cargo full of dangerous explosive rocks that could blow up at any moment??
Heh, this is the one game where that’s actually sound advice, and not just a hostile suggestion from a troll.
You currently need to eat and drink to fill meters that will kill you if you hit 0. Other than the 1980’s food options I generally don’t follow the food part of the dreams so I am not sure what the promises are on that front.
There are indeed “delicacies” to sample in Star Citizen.
Basically, the food and drink system is a very slooooow survival counter. If you play a 6 hour session, you might want to grab one bite while passing through a station. But you will not be anywhere close to death.
Drink goes a bit faster. You might need to drink once or twice during that period to not hit 0. That said, if you go mining on a scorching hot planet in an exposed vehicle, then your hydration will drop faster. Even the more resistant space suit can not compensate for all of it.
In that case, it’s recommended to grab a few bottles before you leave the station and, like all good Twitch streamers, hydrate regularly.
Good point. I hadn’t thought of that!
I’ll have to test this. I kind of expect my ship exploding on the pad to give me a crime stat and for me to wake up in Klescher prison. But I don’t know whether that counts or not.
Hah! I was wary but did not have much to lose by that point. CIG better sort that kind of issues before death of a spaceman though.