Star Citizen - media blowout, Chris Robert's new game

Smoeki said:
I bought that exact HOTAS, while it's a good price, I would never recommend it. The problem is the accuracy of the stick, it's absolutely garbage as far as I'm concerned. IMO I think if you end up using it you'll just get frustrated trying to hit stuff in game and give up on joysticks...

The only stick in that price range I would recommend is the Thrustmaster T.16000M it uses the HALL effect sensors and the accuracy is leaps and bounds better, plus you can use the Target software to adjust curves, modify buttons etc.... Plus if you ever decide to get a better stick you can modify the handle to make it usable for your left hand. Only downside is it doesn't have a real detachable throttle just a slider button on the base of the stick.

I've seen it go on sale for ~$25 but it's been awhile since that happened. ~$40 to $45 seems the normal range for it.

Also the Star Citizen sticks will go on sale soon but you're going to end up paying a premium for them and also they will be made by Saitek/Madcatz so I would recommend waiting to see what the quality control and reviews have to say 4-6 months down the road before I would even consider buying them.
Click to expand...

I'm going to second the recommendation for the T.16000M stick over anything else in the price range. I've got a X52pro and have stopped using the throttle in favor of a T.16000M in left hand config. The extra control over strafe is so nice, was using the throttle hat before.

Really the only downside of the T.16000M is it only has a hat, trigger and 3 buttons on the stick. Two of them is becoming a very popular option for SC as you can get it for less than a decent HOTAS and really, you want two sticks instead of a stick and throttle for SC. You can get two for $70-$100 if you look around.
 
I have the T.16000M as well and its so smooth.

imo if you are getting a cheap stick as a temp solution, the T.16000M is ideal since when you replace it with a more expensive hotas, you can swap the grips on the T.16000M and turn it into a left hand stick for a dual stick set up.
 
I guess I will just look into that then if it's that much better in control vs that Thrustmaster...like I said I am using a really old stick from 2006 and it has a lot of little issues...I still do decent in AC with it but there are times it lets me down.
 
So everyone remember that the official stance was that you would not be able to have your ships piloted by NPCs and act fully unattended running errands for you?

Well there is no longer that restriction and you will now be able to crew as many ships as you own with NPCs as long as you can afford to pay them and they can run any tasks you set them out to do. This is a pretty huge change.

It means the value of the NPCs that come with an extra game package has increased because you can customize them and level them up/groom them to be proficient at a specific task. It also means you can delegate menial day to day tasks to those NPC controlled ships. There is obviously a great component of risk involved because you can not only lose the ship but also the NPC that you have spent time and effort leveling up. I kinda like this change, it'll make it possible to have an extra on the spot wingman(men) whenever you need it(them) to round out your fleet.

Source: Ten for the Designers, October 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pigtF3Xxjfg
 
I am fine with how ever they choose to handle it, Tho for me personally i doubt i would have too many AI running around doing things, and would focus more on having some AI crew from my game packages as "people" that i know and have them work on a multi crew ship with me, sort of like what you see from the firefly crew ect. Rather than have a bunch of autonomous ships going around doing things.

Tho i do hope you can hire some background npc's cheaply for something like the Idris, so it feels more lively since it is such a large ship.

My personal idea for how to handle npc's on a large capital ship would be to have Crew NPC slots and then cheaper background npc slots, Crew slots can actually work crew stations, while background slots are just that, npc's that wander around and do stuff in the background but really do not do anything to benefit the ship other than to add some character to it. But they are super cheap to hire and have no skills.

If a normal crew member dies or gets injured and put out of commission you could then higher one of the background npc's under contract to bring them into full crew mode, increase their pay ect. but they start with total green horn skills so you have to put up with those low skills until you can dock some where to replace them with a more experienced crew member for hire or you can keep the greenhorn and train them over time.

That way large ships have a healthy population as well as replacements for crew that get injured out in the field, but with limits to how many active and helpful npc's you can have on a ship at any given time.

any way that was just something i was thinking about.
 
I still think the best reason to have a few NPC slots on your account will be the ability to have your friends "Agent Smith" into their spots in the middle of a mission. I can see this being especially useful if they start out flying something like a Mustang Delta and you're in a connie (or other big ship), run it dry of missiles/ammo or get killed and then can take over an NPC and grab your Merlin or man a turret.
 
300 series currently being worked on to get a quality and performance upgrade just like the Constellation recently did. Aurora and Hornet will be getting one as well
 
Lorien said:
300 series currently being worked on to get a quality and performance upgrade just like the Constellation recently did. Aurora and Hornet will be getting one as well
Click to expand...

Good. About time.
The 300 series do not live up to their description. Especially after all the newer more refined ships arrived. The last thing I think when I look at a 300 is luxury. The other line I wish would get reworked is the Hornets. After the Gladiator hit, THAT is what they should look like. Ugliest craft in the game at the moment, imho.
 
Well the hornet IS supposed to look dated. Remember this is the longest serving fighter in the UEE and they are being phased out for the F8 Lightning.

But yeah a touchup wouldn't hurt.
58St0fu.png
 
Last edited:
Lorien said:
300 series currently being worked on to get a quality and performance upgrade just like the Constellation recently did. Aurora and Hornet will be getting one as well
Click to expand...

Nice, i've got a 315, i'll be nice to see what they do with the ship.

Hopefully they'll stop slowly bouncing in a circle while landed somewhere like they did in 2.0 and to a lesser extent 2.1

Though 2.1's changes were nice. In 2.0 once I got out it was next to impossible to get back in given the lack of local gravity in the ship, 2.1 fixed that. Though it is still a bit odd to see the guy climbing a ladder like there's gravity when the ship's just kind of floating there. (was doing a comm mission or two just for kicks last week)
 
I still want to see how the F7A differs from the F7C visually so we can kinda see how that F7A upgrade kit is going to play out.
 
I suspect some of the reworks will not happen until after they roll out the full armor, power, pipe and shield systems. The armor system especially seems like one they should get done soon since it has the potential to impact the visuals a lot. The rest are more internally focused but I think they at least need to get moved over to the new standard sized components so they can place the power and shield boxes inside the ships.

I'm also hoping the 300 series gets a nice rework and revamped variants. Bit odd for the Bounty Hunter package ship to not have any versions with a holding cell in it. So much wasted space right now. The mustang beta is smaller but more luxurious for less money. If they reworked the interior there should be plenty of room for a real bed and likely shower & shitter as well. I want my 350r to get back it's tiny cargo space too, I didn't buy it for racing but for everything else where you want a fast ship with a bit of cargo room.
 
yeah, the component system rework is likely the main reason for reworking some of the ships like the hornet. they need to make sure everything fits.

Armor system is also needed to help balance some of the combat focused ships for their intended combat capability, so the Hornet can feel more tanky or the connie can structurally take a hit without popping like a balloon.
 
looks like the vanguard and sabre are no longer available.

edit: grammar fail
 
Last edited:
Have been since 2.1.1 went live since Saber is hangar ready and Vanguard is flyable, the Freelancer variants are also for sale.
 
Official date for SQ42 and Star Citizen split is Valentine's Day, February 14th.
 
Buyback with store credit is now live. You can use store credit to buy back 1 ship right now.
 
Seems like its 1 credit every quarter. They don't accumulate use it or lose it.

Personally I don't understand their reasoning and its starting to bother me to be honest. Half the time it seems CS doesn't have a clue what's happening.
 
I can see why that would bother some people, tho for me personally it is not really an issue since my plans only called for unmelting my LTI $80 Gladius with store credit, and using that as my CCU base for my Orion upgrade. and once i have that i am pretty much at a point where i can't melt something for credits or i would have to give up something important and i likely wouldn't do that any way.

Like i can't melt my Sabre, or Super hornet since they are in Omega packages, so melting those would turn them into dust, not only would i lose the applied CCU's but also the omega package they are attached too lol.

Then everything else is like a big ticket item, Idris-P, or 890 Jump.

Really my only 2 ships i could potentially see me melting would be the Orion and Vanguard and if i did melt them for something big (corvette), i am not sure i would bother trying to unmelt them. or if i did i would need to put fresh money in any way. since i would have nothing else to flip flop around.

So 1 credit un-melt per quarter is not going to hurt my plans.


Tho i am hesitant to get too interested in the new corvette since i already have the 890 and Idris, And the Orion seems like a very valuable ship for its price compared to other ships, And the Vanguard Harbinger offers a heavier combat platform than my Sabre and Super Hornet.
 
Smoeki said:
Seems like its 1 credit every quarter. They don't accumulate use it or lose it.

Personally I don't understand their reasoning and its starting to bother me to be honest. Half the time it seems CS doesn't have a clue what's happening.
Click to expand...

I don't get it either. It's a credit and not a refund, so I really don't understand the panic over abuse here. Seems quite silly.
 
Lorien said:
So everyone remember that the official stance was that you would not be able to have your ships piloted by NPCs and act fully unattended running errands for you?

Well there is no longer that restriction and you will now be able to crew as many ships as you own with NPCs as long as you can afford to pay them and they can run any tasks you set them out to do. This is a pretty huge change.
Click to expand...

Wow, just as it seemed CIG couldn't get any worse. So much skill there will be in that one, a true industry changing game Star Citizen is.
 
2.1.2 and free fly weekend are now live. Con your friends into playing for free until Feb 1st.
 
Not only that but they are bound to your account . It just bugs me they turn something simple into a year long procces for me know. No use complaining about it I guess I just wish they could get it together on the CS side.
 
Island said:
So the thing that put me off about this game was the lame insurance and the fact that the devs were charging hundreds if not thousands for certain game/ship packs that I just thought was complete lameness for an Alpha title. That being said, the game play I have seen on you tube like Frankie1080p look really cool..a lot better then elite dangerous...So, I download play for free all weekend...and then by the starter pack for 45$ which is essentially the price of a new game.....What happens if I do not spend the money for insurance....Does my ship become non-flyable and will my game not work? What does 45$ get me without paying anything else?
Click to expand...

Sup fellas. I posted the above quote in the hot deal section. I am downloading the game now and am getting excited to play on my 4k Samsung! I actually have been doing some reading while the game downloads and I just wanted to make sure I understand the game dynamics and how it works.....So....it's free to play and fly this weekend. If I buy the game with the squadron 42 pack for the 45$ sale price right now, I can play both games when they do split off? Also, I guess I was wrong when I thought insurance was paid with real money? So, you can use in game money to buy insurance and do ship upgrades? I am a total noob to this game and have only seen YouTube videos so any help would be appreciated. I guess I can do missions to get paid in game credits then? If it's only 45$ out of pocket to enjoy this game then this seems more then worth it!
 
Spartan15 said:
Yes only $45 for the base package, would get Aurora LN for the best deal.
Click to expand...

Thanks...Well LOL...I made it to the hangar and actually got inside the space craft...does this game have a tutorial...controls are pretty vast.....I guess its time to take a trip to youtube....
 
Just completed the basic flight sim module. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I hope the game continues development. 45$ seems like a good deal as I should get some fun even with the alpha...and if the game tanks and never gets developed...at least it was a fun space ride while it lasted...:)

So of course, while i'm just about to hit the buy button...I start to look up info on Elite Dangerous on you tube and the comparison between the two......So, I guess Elite dangerous is just another SIM, but is a little more polished then SC, especially since it's not an Alpha....So who here has both? Does it cost more to play Elite, or once you get the expansion along with the base game, you're good to go? Gameplay looks similar albeit, SC is bluish and ED is orange... What's the consensus here??? SC thread, so I assume SC takes the gold?


EDIT-Sorry for the noob questions..... I just purchased the Aurora LN package. I pulled it to my Hanger so I can see it, but what about the other items with my purchase? I got the 5000 free credits when I registered. Why didn't my 1000 credits populate to the 5000 when i purchased the package? Also, how do I access Squadron 42? Sorry for the noob questions..this is my first space sim
 
Last edited:
ED is more of a game atm, while SC is just an Alpha.

But considering SQ42 splits from SC packages on the 14th, in the long run it would be cheaper to buy SC+SQ42 for $45 while you can, instead of spending $100 later if you actually end up wanting both SC and SQ42.

But if actually want to play a more complete game ED is the better choice.

Tho i have never played ED so i can't actually comment on its gameplay.

but SC is far from finished and is still very much early alpha.
 
I thought Squadron 42 was to always be included with Star Citizen. Doesn't finishing the campaign give you some stuff which you can use in Star Citizen? Will Star Citizen be a separate $60 title upon release?
 
Flogger23m said:
I thought Squadron 42 was to always be included with Star Citizen. Doesn't finishing the campaign give you some stuff which you can use in Star Citizen? Will Star Citizen be a separate $60 title upon release?
Click to expand...

They were always planned to be separate, part of the perk to backing early was getting them both at a lower price.

But yes if you own both you will get military pay and likely some trophies as well as likely some rep/contacts for completing the campaign before jumping into Star Citizen's PU, but it is not a requirement to play SQ42 before going into SC's PU.

Backing early (before 6mill) but later moved to everyone that has Veteran status i believe also gets the first expansion for SQ42 free.

There are no pay walls in the PU tho so any content it receives would be free updates, and the content would likely come from the Expansions for SQ42 like new ships and locations put in the expansions would filter into the PU for free.
 
Last edited:
Any idea on how long the main SQ42 is supposed to be? Or the expansions? Just wondering if the main game (before expansions) is full title or if SQ42 is going to be more like the new Hitman game (episodic).
 
It is a full title, well its supposed to be.

It might be episodic in that expansions could play off the events of the first and be more like full sequels, but content wise its supposed to feel like a full game of its own.

So Sq42 would be like a full wing commander game with a complete story arc. But with a bit more freedom with people to talk to and places to walk around between missions and hanging out with your wingmen ect.

I am curious to see how it plays out.
 
Island said:
EDIT-Sorry for the noob questions..... I just purchased the Aurora LN package. I pulled it to my Hanger so I can see it, but what about the other items with my purchase? I got the 5000 free credits when I registered. Why didn't my 1000 credits populate to the 5000 when i purchased the package? Also, how do I access Squadron 42? Sorry for the noob questions..this is my first space sim
Click to expand...

You get the 5000 from referral code, the 1000 credits in the ship package are granted when the games goes final...making sure you have some credits when you start out I guess is the idea.
 
Flogger23m said:
Any idea on how long the main SQ42 is supposed to be? Or the expansions? Just wondering if the main game (before expansions) is full title or if SQ42 is going to be more like the new Hitman game (episodic).
Click to expand...

"We also got to see the size of Squadron 42‘s script. It’s considerably bigger than those of Wing Commander 3 and Wing Commander 4, and dwarfs the script of the average movie even more."

During the last anniversary event the Producer held up the script showing its thickness. Thing was a tome.

They are keeping the story tight lipped to avoid spoilers, but they keep telling us that Squadron 42 should stand on its own as a AAA title.
Squadron 42: Interview - Gillian Anderson
Squadron 42: Interview with Mark Hamill
Squadron 42 - Gary Oldman Interview

In the 59th episode of 10 for the Chairman (a weekly show where Chris Roberts answers 10 questions and should be considered coming from the top.) he opened with the quote "They’re splitting SQ42 into a trilogy, Episode 1 (this year) has ~ 70 Wing Commander style missions, some flying, some FPS, etc etc. These might be a fluid story spanning 3 missions, there are 21 chapters or so that has a segmented mission structure. It should be ~ 20 hours of gameplay with an awesome cast."

So is the script he held up at citizen con episode 1 or all three? Who knows.

Personally as someone who is still waiting HL2:EP3, the word "Episodes" makes me uncomfortable, but the first episode should stand on its own. And when they said "This Year", they ment 2015. As you can tell they missed that date. They got a lot of flack for that so they stopped saying dates for the most part and jokingly say "Soon" for everything. They are taking the "It's ready when its ready" approach and not rushing anything out the door till its finished. This is a big reason I backed this game, because I don't want another half baked console port. So I enjoy what there is to do in the Alpha, and occasionally take breaks and come back to be surprised at all the progress they have made.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top