Erris and Shiver summarise the highlights in the week of Star Citizen development
Calling All Devs
Escape pods when ejected will find a safe distance from the explosion but the current plans for them means they will not be effectively a ‘mini-ship’ that the player can use. Item System 2.0 is helping with the development of escape pods. The engine can recognise the player in an escape pod or seat in the escape pod, but they are working on the implementation of detaching the player from the object and having all the systems involved work together
The Reliant and variants will have some tweaks and polishing work done to improve cargo capacity and weapons capability to be on par with equivalent ships if and where appropriate, but a full rework is unlikely at the current moment in time. The ability for the player to manually switch between vertical and horizontal flight modes will be implemented at some point in the future when ships can trigger different state modes independently of triggering other state modes, this technology will then be used across a vast array of ships and items in the game.
Due to the way a few certain ships are setup it is currently impossible for a player to physically carry cargo on to them even if there is enough space in the ship for whatever the player may be carrying. The team will fix these issues in the future. For instance with the Aurora the team will remove the need to use an animation on the stairs to enter the ship. The player will then be able to store their cargo where it may fit. 300i will take a few cues from the 100 series and have a folding down entryway into the ship as opposed to the long ladder it currently utilises. As is always the case these are just the current ideas to solve these issues and may change in the future as new tech or solutions come online. Other ships affected will also be given appropriate solutions
Weather will not be active in the first iteration of its release in 3.3, it will be coming out with its associated biomes. Their goal with weather will be to make it something more procedural this will help easing transitions between states and look visually more pleasing to the player, as well as for the player to be able to see what the weather is like while in orbit.
Current thoughts are to not allow the player to instantly teleport across the ‘verse in order to play with friends i.e. Agent Smithing. The player will be able to login and find the location of a friend in the ‘verse and go to them but it will not be an instant fast-travel like system. -Note Disco Lando clarified on RtV that there is no instant teleport for your character however CIG still want to pursue allowing a player to take control of an NPC on another person’s ship but it would remain an NPC and none of the benefits that your player character may have would not transfer over. Although it is worth mentioning that this is all subject to change as and when technology comes online.
AtV
Three characters have progressed in their concepts and animations
RSI flight suit colors are being chosen to fit lore
Further testing on scanning and radar related to mining and its representation as well as how minable assets spawn continues
The Audio Team continues to fine tune both the mining laser and tractor beam cues and effects
Kiosk UI and branding are close to completion
Quantum linking is progressing
A new mission type that requires you to ‘blow stuff up’ is progressing using the first prop from the new ship pipeline
A progressive color pallet along with materials and lighting have been tweaked for the Aegis Hammerhead
The Anvil Hurricane as well as Consolidated Outland's Mustang is now in Final Art Phase
General thruster animation and behavior are getting some attention
The Environment Art Team have improved the tundra biome as well as botanical shading and lighting not to mention Loreville on Hurston
Kastak, the pirate's choice, has lot of exposed mechanisms as a design style
Being made by a few guys in the basement, it doubles as a great war club
Like ship repeaters, the Scalpel features two very large barrels
Being the second sniper rifle in game so far, the Scalpel is different by being ballistic based rather than energy based as well as an ‘archaic’ design style
The Scalpel can fire each barrel independently or in burst mode increasing its stopping power as well as its ammo burn with an offset cycle and recoil
The Scalpel's design also includes a recoil dampener comprised of two pistons and a side-latched ‘doorway’ for reloading with a magazine that pops out at a 45 degree angle
This reload design made it a challenge to prevent clipping and to keep the shooter box clear during its animations
Though it had to be scaled down from the original size lots of care was taken to have just the right look and feel so as the Scalpel makes no apology for anything
The animated recoil and kickback with the topside hydraulic system gives it just the right weight and effect by using a base stock animation that is then augmented by procedure
Disadvantages of the Scalpel include being a bit less reliable with a heavier recoil, longer round cycle times, and a high ammo burn rate in double-shot mode
Possibly the choice of griefers
Associated Science and Development’s DR Model XJ distortion repeaters (S1-3) will be available in 3.2
Associated Science and Development is a new high-tech manufacturer with a very clean and minimalistic style
Fits in the standard upgrade path: upgrade barrel, cooling, firing mechanism and power pack
Drake Vulture
The Drake Vulture is a single person ship
Inspired by the Dragonfly it shares the ‘two arms’ design but these arms are for salvaging
It has a little bit of cargo space to store processed salvage or cargo
To salvage weapons and ordinance the player will have to EVA to the wreck
The scraper beam strips off the hull surface and salvage charges break apart the hull
The second processing stage produces cubes of processed salvage
Designed for maximum visibility so only two struts
Extensive set of animations: front jaw door, grinders, two distinct modes (flattened and salvage modes), and boot sequence (moving chair and unfolding panels)
You climb onto the arm to access the cabin (also accessible through the cargo bay)
Vulture Non Warbond - £134.40, €152.88, $168
Vulture Warbond - £115.20, €131.04, $144.00
Carrion Pack Non Warbond - £528, €600.60, $660
Carrion Pack Warbond - £475.20, €540.54, $594
Carrion pack includes: Drake Vulture, Caterpillar, Dragonfly Black and Cutlass Black
Please note prices may vary slightly in your area due to taxes.