Star Citizen is Free to Try for a Week Starting November 23

AlphaAtlas

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In celebration of the game's anniversary, Roberts Space Industries announced that Star Citizen will be free between November 23 and December 1. This isn't the first time the game has had a free trial period, but with the launch of the Alpha 3.3 patch a few days ago, it's probably the first trial that will run well on most PCs. While the patch notes don't particularly emphasize it, users are reporting that 3.3 dramatically improve's the game's previously rocky performance.

To celebrate the release of Hurston, Star Citizen's first explorable planet, and commemorate our anniversary, we're launching a Free Fly event of unprecedented magnitude. From Nov 23 through Dec 1 you'll have the chance to try out every flyable ship and operable vehicle in the game for free. Here's how it works: During the promotion, anyone can join Star Citizen's Persistent Universe for free. You'll be able to experience Star Citizen first-hand, but to get out there and start exploring, you're gonna need a ship. Starting on November 23rd, every day at 8am PST, a different ship manufacturer in the game will make its entire flyable fleet available for a 24-hour test flight period.
 
Writing a comment before I go on vacation so that I'll be reminded to read the comments when I get back.

Anyways, the 3.3 patch was a massive improvement to the Alpha PU. Definitely worth the while of even the most hardened skeptic to check it out while its free.

Star Citizen - 200M. Destiny - 500M. Which would you rather play? Who is really mis-managing their money?
 
So if you see steady improvements and actual work being done...

it's a scam and a pyramid scheme?

From what I understand, it's improvements and work being done on individual components of the game that may, or may not, end up meshing well together on a large scale. It's one thing to make a very good tech demo, it's another to make a game.
 
From what I understand, it's improvements and work being done on individual components of the game that may, or may not, end up meshing well together on a large scale. It's one thing to make a very good tech demo, it's another to make a game.
Well, now you have the opportunity to see for yourself...
 
From what I understand, it's improvements and work being done on individual components of the game that may, or may not, end up meshing well together on a large scale. It's one thing to make a very good tech demo, it's another to make a game.

That is odd.... I thought The Persistent Universe (PU) is where everything *IS* meshed together and playable.
Granted not everything is playable yet, does that make it a Tech Demo?
 
If you can play it then is it not a game? Or do people just like to call it a tech demo cuz its trendy

Let's use EVE is a comparison. Let's say all you could play is one region with a few different ships. There was no economy, skills, crafting system, sov system, or anything else that really makes EVE interesting. Would this still be considered a game? Sure it would. You could play it, fly around, shoot stuff. Have at it.

Does that automatically translate into an actual game of scale at some point? Maybe. Or maybe you run into scaling issues that the core of the game has no way of dealing with. EVE isn't perfect, but it has the largest scale 'real time' battles and after a decade of refinement, time dilation is the only real answer to large scale conflicts. Star Citizen has advertised itself as massive in scale and scope, and massive in players and conflicts as well. Have they addressed what will happen when 1000 people show up for a fight? 5000 people? How about closing in on 10000?

It's a tech demo in respect to what it promises and on a timescale it has been promised.
 
Let's use EVE is a comparison. Let's say all you could play is one region with a few different ships. There was no economy, skills, crafting system, sov system, or anything else that really makes EVE interesting. Would this still be considered a game? Sure it would. You could play it, fly around, shoot stuff. Have at it.

Does that automatically translate into an actual game of scale at some point? Maybe. Or maybe you run into scaling issues that the core of the game has no way of dealing with. EVE isn't perfect, but it has the largest scale 'real time' battles and after a decade of refinement, time dilation is the only real answer to large scale conflicts. Star Citizen has advertised itself as massive in scale and scope, and massive in players and conflicts as well. Have they addressed what will happen when 1000 people show up for a fight? 5000 people? How about closing in on 10000?

It's a tech demo in respect to what it promises and on a timescale it has been promised.

Did EVE have that figured out pre launch? Nope...I remember the snooze fest that occurred in the n00b zones during the beta and again during launch...
 
He doesn't plan on trying it out first hand for himself but already determined he knows everything he needs to know about it!

That's the best part about these free play offers: it really shows people up for the blowhards they are when they aren't even willing to put their money where their mouths are in the form of some space on a drive to test the game out for themselves.
 
Did EVE have that figured out pre launch? Nope...I remember the snooze fest that occurred in the n00b zones during the beta and again during launch...

Sure it did. The content of EVE at the start is the same as it is now, essentially. You either get to nullsec and do nullsec stuff, or you don't and quit. There is more to do inbetween now, but the majority of the content is essentially the same. Until Star Citizen can show me thousand player engagements, in real time, I'm not going to bite.

He doesn't plan on trying it out first hand for himself but already determined he knows everything he needs to know about it!

That's the best part about these free play offers: it really shows people up for the blowhards they are when they aren't even willing to put their money where their mouths are in the form of some space on a drive to test the game out for themselves.

I know you are probably, and quite literally, invested but get a grip. Did you download Hello Kitty Online to give it a fair shake?
 
They have made a huge amount of progress since I played it last, I was genuinely surprised.

My only issue is how slow the development has been in general, it definitely should have been further along by now.
 
Does anyone know how the lawsuit for using the game engine for more than their paid license permitted end up? I think it was about the one original "Star Citizen" game being split into a flight sim and a FPS (which I guess counts as 2 different games vs their original license). I haven't heard anything in a while.

I don't have any money in this yet but was a Wing / Strike Commander fan from back in the day. If it actually gets released, I'd drop some money into it.
 
Sure it did. The content of EVE at the start is the same as it is now, essentially. You either get to nullsec and do nullsec stuff, or you don't and quit. There is more to do inbetween now, but the majority of the content is essentially the same. Until Star Citizen can show me thousand player engagements, in real time, I'm not going to bite.



I know you are probably, and quite literally, invested but get a grip. Did you download Hello Kitty Online to give it a fair shake?
Didn't take you too long to drag the conversation down to insults...and for what? Because I called you out for talking out your ass?

You claim you "hear" it's not a game? You refuse to try it out yourself for free.
You claim EVE Online has basically been static since it's release? The feature you specifically noted, Time Dilation, wasn't introduced into the game until 8 years after release...

So keep blowing nonsense out your ass onto the forums and lashing out at those of us who know better. :D
 
Didn't take you too long to drag the conversation down to insults...and for what? Because I called you out for talking out your ass?

You claim you "hear" it's not a game? You refuse to try it out yourself for free.
You claim EVE Online has basically been static since it's release? The feature you specifically noted, Time Dilation, wasn't introduced into the game until 8 years after release...

So keep blowing nonsense out your ass onto the forums and lashing out at those of us who know better. :D

Mope54, you are the one slinging insults, let me give you a tip, it doesn't make you a good ambassador for the product, in fact you and many other supports attitudes make me quite concerned that SC should it ever arrive will be nothing more than a toxic shit hole like most MOBA's are.

I'd say those that know better, really should act better.
 
Star Citizen is undoubtedly the premier space game screenshot generator. But given the vast amount of artist hours that have been spent on it, it ought to be. When it starts to move, though, that's when it all falls apart. From the atrocious character animation system (unifying first and third person views achieves nothing when the end result looks like ass) to the "AI" which makes Lorville feel like it's the middle of some sort of extra-passive zombie apocalypse, to the awful physics, to the networking shit-show, to the flight model which some fans have defended for years, only for CIG to turn around and decide they're going to start over from scratch, after 6 years.
And Chris Roberts still has absolutely no clue where he's going with the "game play" beyond fetching boxes and waiting for trains.
Sure can look pretty though.
 
Mope54, you are the one slinging insults, let me give you a tip, it doesn't make you a good ambassador for the product, in fact you and many other supports attitudes make me quite concerned that SC should it ever arrive will be nothing more than a toxic shit hole like most MOBA's are.

I'd say those that know better, really should act better.
How am I the one slinging insults?

I'm not even an ambassador for this game, I simply asked the dude if he was going to try the game out for himself or keep being a blowhard about it on the forums. Thanks for the "tip." but if you can't handle that question, buttercup, not sure what to tell yah!

And it really didn't take much to know better about EVE Online...simple google search turned up it was released 2003 and Time Dilation was implemented in 2011. I didn't bother checking anything else out, a little bit of common sense would lead anyone to not argue the game is now exactly what it was upon release. That's on him for making that dumb claim...not on me for pointing it out. But if you think that's on the level of MOBA toxicity and want to lump this convo into that kind of thing, then have at it. Nothing going to stop you from believing whatever you believe, just like this guy I was responding do isn't going to let something as silly as facts get in the way of his beliefs, either.
 
How am I the one slinging insults?

You called me a blowhard? I'm not insulted by it, nor do I even think it's much on an insult, but it's odd to accuse me of dragging this down with insults when it was literally vice versa.

Am I dragging it down with a healthy dose of opinion on why I think it's a waste of time? Sure. Didn't insult anyone.
 
How am I the one slinging insults?

I'm not even an ambassador for this game, I simply asked the dude if he was going to try the game out for himself or keep being a blowhard about it on the forums. Thanks for the "tip." but if you can't handle that question, buttercup, not sure what to tell yah!

And it really didn't take much to know better about EVE Online...simple google search turned up it was released 2003 and Time Dilation was implemented in 2011. I didn't bother checking anything else out, a little bit of common sense would lead anyone to not argue the game is now exactly what it was upon release. That's on him for making that dumb claim...not on me for pointing it out. But if you think that's on the level of MOBA toxicity and want to lump this convo into that kind of thing, then have at it. Nothing going to stop you from believing whatever you believe, just like this guy I was responding do isn't going to let something as silly as facts get in the way of his beliefs, either.

You are an ambassador, if you want to to succeed. You don't have to have a specific job title, you are invested in this game (clearly) so you should want to drive people to it, not away.

You just can't stop throwing around insults, your like my kid having a temper tantrum.

Go back and read what he was writing, sure its i don't like this product, but he isn't insulting anything that I can see.

Lets see:

That's the best part about these free play offers: it really shows people up for the blowhards they are when they aren't even willing to put their money where their mouths are in the form of some space on a drive to test the game out for themselves.

That's nothing but an insult, that doesn't drive someone to try a demo, in fact it drives them away because fuck this mope.

Didn't take you too long to drag the conversation down to insults...and for what? Because I called you out for talking out your ass?

You claim you "hear" it's not a game? You refuse to try it out yourself for free.
You claim EVE Online has basically been static since it's release? The feature you specifically noted, Time Dilation, wasn't introduced into the game until 8 years after release...

So keep blowing nonsense out your ass onto the forums and lashing out at those of us who know better. :D

Do you even read what you write?

literally, people like you defend this game and you would be better off staying quite, because to people like me that want this game to succeed (though doubt it will) see the garbage you spew and think, oh god I remember playing Dota and Overwatch, are these assholes going to pollute a space game now? looks like it.

So pretend that you aren't an ambassador, but you are, you are a walking indicator of the community behind this game.
 
You called me a blowhard? I'm not insulted by it, nor do I even think it's much on an insult, but it's odd to accuse me of dragging this down with insults when it was literally vice versa.

Am I dragging it down with a healthy dose of opinion on why I think it's a waste of time? Sure. Didn't insult anyone.
If you think calling someone a blowhard isn't an insult...and you weren't insulted...then I wasn't insulting you!

LMFAO the conversations in this forum...
 
If you think calling someone isn't an insult...and you weren't insulted...then I wasn't insulting you!

LMFAO the conversations in this forum...

Because I'm not taking something personally and thus, am not insulted by it, doesn't mean you didn't say it? Please cite where I insulted you, though. I will apologize for it.
 
Writing a comment before I go on vacation so that I'll be reminded to read the comments when I get back.

Anyways, the 3.3 patch was a massive improvement to the Alpha PU. Definitely worth the while of even the most hardened skeptic to check it out while its free.

Star Citizen - 200M. Destiny - 500M. Which would you rather play? Who is really mis-managing their money?

Destiny 500 million yes, for THREE games. and they've already delivered 2 full games.
 
I kickstartered this but so far have had no interest in actually playing it. Didn't even try to claim my rewards until it was too late.
I'll wait for X4 Foundations thats coming out in a few weeks. Not exactly the same kind of game but looks more promising than SC.
 
Sure it did. The content of EVE at the start is the same as it is now, essentially. You either get to nullsec and do nullsec stuff, or you don't and quit. There is more to do inbetween now, but the majority of the content is essentially the same. Until Star Citizen can show me thousand player engagements, in real time, I'm not going to bite.



I know you are probably, and quite literally, invested but get a grip. Did you download Hello Kitty Online to give it a fair shake?


Did you even lay EVE? They didnt have massive battles at the start...not the way they do today. It took years to get there. Its also gone through several major content changes....not a very good comparison.
 
Let's use EVE is a comparison. Let's say all you could play is one region with a few different ships. There was no economy, skills, crafting system, sov system, or anything else that really makes EVE interesting. Would this still be considered a game? Sure it would. You could play it, fly around, shoot stuff. Have at it.

Does that automatically translate into an actual game of scale at some point? Maybe. Or maybe you run into scaling issues that the core of the game has no way of dealing with. EVE isn't perfect, but it has the largest scale 'real time' battles and after a decade of refinement, time dilation is the only real answer to large scale conflicts. Star Citizen has advertised itself as massive in scale and scope, and massive in players and conflicts as well. Have they addressed what will happen when 1000 people show up for a fight? 5000 people? How about closing in on 10000?

It's a tech demo in respect to what it promises and on a timescale it has been promised.

Are we lumping all games into tech demo that release less than what is 'promised'? That will be a long list.
 
Did you even lay EVE? They didnt have massive battles at the start...not the way they do today. It took years to get there. Its also gone through several major content changes....not a very good comparison.

I played beta and shortly after release. Played on and off a few months at a time throughout the years. I played in multi-hundred to thousand player battles in 2008 and in multi-hundred to thousand player battles earlier this year when I was playing. There was very little change. I was even flying the same ships. I try some new stuff whenever I resub, try some of the old stuff and log out for a few months or a year.

Are we lumping all games into tech demo that release less than what is 'promised'? That will be a long list.

Games that fundamentally fall dramatically short of promised features or gameplay scope, to me, are nothing more substantial than tech demos. Games that had no real path towards their goals are less than that to me, to be honest.
 
I played beta and shortly after release. Played on and off a few months at a time throughout the years. I played in multi-hundred to thousand player battles in 2008 and in multi-hundred to thousand player battles earlier this year when I was playing. There was very little change. I was even flying the same ships. I try some new stuff whenever I resub, try some of the old stuff and log out for a few months or a year.

Did you even lay EVE? They didnt have massive battles at the start...not the way they do today. It took years to get there. Its also gone through several major content changes....not a very good comparison.


I love Eve, but lets not pretend that its much of a space game, its really a spreadsheet simulator with a very nice looking space theme.
 
And they are working on about 3 games concurrently, single player EP1 and EP2 and the multiplayer universe.

Yep, it's taking too long. Yep, it's got perhaps too many features in the forge. But it's still getting worked on. Last patches were truly massive. More than a few people have said in the last couple of weeks that they can finally start to see a game framework.

I logged in for a bit a few days ago. There's enough going on I'm ready to spend some time with it after letting it be for the last year.

After playing No Man's Sky for a while, and playing ED for very little time (and hating it) it's pretty easy to see the difference between universes with nothing going on in them and games that try to do better. Yeah, this is what it's going to take to try to make what everyone wants. May succeed, may fail.

At this point, I'd tell someone who hasn't ever tried it to try out the free play and see where the game is going. There still isn't end-to-end gameplay but enough to see what the deal is about.

If you don't want to test a partial game world, then just wait for the fist episode of SQ42 and buy it when it comes out. That looks like it'll be fantastic, and not too long from now.
 
And they are working on about 3 games concurrently, single player EP1 and EP2 and the multiplayer universe.

Yep, it's taking too long. Yep, it's got perhaps too many features in the forge. But it's still getting worked on. Last patches were truly massive. More than a few people have said in the last couple of weeks that they can finally start to see a game framework.

I logged in for a bit a few days ago. There's enough going on I'm ready to spend some time with it after letting it be for the last year.

After playing No Man's Sky for a while, and playing ED for very little time (and hating it) it's pretty easy to see the difference between universes with nothing going on in them and games that try to do better. Yeah, this is what it's going to take to try to make what everyone wants. May succeed, may fail.

At this point, I'd tell someone who hasn't ever tried it to try out the free play and see where the game is going. There still isn't end-to-end gameplay but enough to see what the deal is about.

If you don't want to test a partial game world, then just wait for the fist episode of SQ42 and buy it when it comes out. That looks like it'll be fantastic, and not too long from now.

In spite of a certain mope, I'll be trying this Demo. Love space games and if nothing else I'll get a few nice screenshots out of it.
 
So if you see steady improvements and actual work being done...

it's a scam and a pyramid scheme?

If I get halfway to my goal (or move my goal twice as far away) every time I take a step forward, do I ever reach my goal?

It's not a pyramid scheme in any way because it doesn't meet any of the requirements of a pyramid scheme. That doesn't make it not a scam though. And even if it is not a scam, that wouldn't make it a worthwhile way to spend your money. And even if you think it IS a worthwhile way to spend your money, that does not make it an actual game, nor assure that it ever will be an actual game. AAAANND if it ever becomes an actual game, there's really only two ways for it to go: We will either see "reasonable" micro transactions and no actual need for you to buy into parity with all the whale early adopters, in which case we can guarantee a sea of bitching an moaning and player base unrest that will likely make the game a shitstorm of awful, or you will need to buy up to parity, which will make the game essentially unplayable by the vast majority of the potential player base.

So essentially, no matter what, the longer this goes on and the more shit they pre-sell, the less likely this looks to be anything viably fun.
 
If I get halfway to my goal (or move my goal twice as far away) every time I take a step forward, do I ever reach my goal?

It's not a pyramid scheme in any way because it doesn't meet any of the requirements of a pyramid scheme. That doesn't make it not a scam though. And even if it is not a scam, that wouldn't make it a worthwhile way to spend your money. And even if you think it IS a worthwhile way to spend your money, that does not make it an actual game, nor assure that it ever will be an actual game. AAAANND if it ever becomes an actual game, there's really only two ways for it to go: We will either see "reasonable" micro transactions and no actual need for you to buy into parity with all the whale early adopters, in which case we can guarantee a sea of bitching an moaning and player base unrest that will likely make the game a shitstorm of awful, or you will need to buy up to parity, which will make the game essentially unplayable by the vast majority of the potential player base.

So essentially, no matter what, the longer this goes on and the more shit they pre-sell, the less likely this looks to be anything viably fun.

I agree with your assessment. As soon as they start doing syndicated links for space bucks and ship credits to recruit others to do the same, then we can call it a pyramid scheme.
 
it definitely should have been further along by now.

Says who? You? Why? They have a LOT more done behind closed doors. That was obvious with the leak that happened like 3-4 years ago (alien races already being modeled before even being announced, etc).

Hopefully this doesn't come with the unwanted side effect of becoming irrationally attached, fanatical, and overly sensitive.

Let's be honest, this goes both ways with this. Considering the belittling of the pro side I'd say the naysayers are actually far worse in their mouth foaming.

I agree with your assessment.

Shocking.
 
Says who? You? Why? They have a LOT more done behind closed doors. That was obvious with the leak that happened like 3-4 years ago (alien races already being modeled before even being announced, etc).

Calm the fuck down. I've been a backer since day 1, and I'm really rooting for them. But frankly, the development time, scope creep, and just overall lack of what was promised (Squadron 42 was supposed to come first, which is what I really wanted) can't really be denied. I'll defend the game in as much as there is SOME content available and what they have shown so far looks great. But let's not kid ourselves, there have been a LOT of issues with this crowdfunding venture.

To put this in perspective - the original KS deliverable estimate for a COMPLETED GAME was November 2014.
 
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