Posted: Friday 14 AUG 2020

New Targeting System: 3.10

(Originally aired 14 AUG 2020)

Breaking from tradition for a couple of days here. We just want to share a well put together video from The Space Trough.

This video focuses on the new targeting mechanics that rolled out with 3.10.

If you are curious about how the new pinning system works, how to target nearest enemy, how to cycle targets, etc; then give this video a quick watch.

We will keep this video up for a few days before we switch back to our regularly scheduled content.

If it helps you out with learning the new key-binds, be sure to leave a like on the channel.

Posted: Wednesday 12 AUG 2020

The Next Great Starship: Episode 1.15

(Originally aired on 30 May 2014)

In early 2014, Chris Roberts put together a contest that would give concept artists, graphics designers, and fans of Star Citizen the opportunity to design a ship that would eventually appear in the final game.

Teams were asked to submit concept designs for a ship weapon. From over 200 entries, CIG would select select the 24 best candidates. Starting in Episode 1.1, those concepts would be put in front of a panel of judges, all CIG developers (Sean Tracy, Chris Smith, Chris Roberts, Chris Olivia, David Hobbins and Mark Skelton), to determine which 16 would qualify to compete to win $30,000, several prizes and have their ship appear in Star Citizen

Over fifteen episodes, the teams were given tasks to perform as they worked toward the final versions of their ships. The judges selected the teams they felt were generating the best products until they were left with three teams. From one bracket, the finalist was The Four Horsemen and in this episode we watch as InfiniteXueMonkey takes on The Shard Collective for the other finalist slot and a chance to compete in the finals to see their ship become a reality in game.

While many of us know who ultimately won the contest, most probably don’t remember who the runners up were or what it was that got them this far. Place your bets as you watch IXM take on Shard for the ship that almost was. And if you don’t know who won this contest, click here to watch The Next Great Starship LIVE Finale and find out. This episode gives some great insight into what the senior developers and ship designers look for when they are creating new ships for the Verse.

The last item for today is an interview that aired 16 Dec 2015. It features John Rhys-Davies one of the main characters of Squadron 42. This critically acclaimed actor is well known for many roles, including Sallah, friend to Indiana Jones in both The Raiders of the Lost Ark and more prominently in The Last Crusade; and Gimli the dwarf companion in The Fellowship of the Ring. His relationship with Chris Roberts spans almost two decades and he has played major roles in both the Wing Commander series and Freelancer. Watch the interview to the right as Sandi Gardiner asks Rhys-Davies about his character “Graves” and his relationship with “Old Man” (Mark Hamill) and what it’s like to work with Chris Roberts.

Posted: Sunday 09 AUG 2020

DEATH OF A SPACEMAN

(Originally aired on 21 MAY 2018 and 14 October 2015)

What happens when our character dies in the Verse? Do we lose our ship? What about the armor and weapons that we are carrying? What does PermaDeath mean in Star Citizen? These questions and many more are often asked by Star Citizen backers and they are driven by a source document created by Chris Roberts and posted on the RSI website on 05 FEB 2013, known simply as Death of a Spaceman.

The reason this document is so important and is referenced so often is because this mechanic is what will give weight to our choices in game. For many players, the reputation that their character has earned over time; the money, ships and equipment and even their character’s name and history will progressively have more and more value. As time goes on, it is likely that we may become more adverse to taking life threatening risks with our characters if there is a possibility of losing some of the things that we value. This is the core of what Death of a Spaceman discusses.

As you watch the Calling All Devs episode to the right, keep in mind that Todd Papy continues to reiterate much of what was laid out by Chris Roberts almost five years earlier. This suggests that, while the game has grown and changed since then, the principles of this fundamental mechanic seems to be relatively consistent. Therefore, it is reasonable assume that, while some small details may change for balance or game play purposes, the basic concept is likely to remain pretty much intact. (Click the timestamp to jump directly to Todd’s responses to backer’s questions on this topic @4:26)

The guidelines put forth in Death of a Spaceman lend importance to concepts such as the preservation of life, the freedom to move about the Verse based on our actions with respect to laws and their enforcement, and the ability to pursue goals that make the game enjoyable to play. By consequence, this means that every decision we make with our characters will ALWAYS directly impact the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of our character within the game environment.

A basic understanding of this one, over-arching mechanic, allows for a better understanding of how certain natural control structures will give players the freedom to choose what they want to do and suffer the potentially high costs or enjoy the great rewards associated with those behaviors. Additionally, the information presented here will better prepare us to have discussions on future game play types and ensure we are well grounded within the scope of the game when we are theory-crafting.

Since we went light on “Archive-type” content during Wednesday’s 3.10 Live release, we will also add this call-back to the 2015 CitizenCon event when it looked like we were going to get a Star Citizen inspired HOTAS from Saitek. The video to the right contains a short segment @ 1:01:35 from the event and shows off what might have been an interesting prototype for a bespoke controller for the game. Unfortunately, this particular device will not become a reality as Mad Catz sold off Saitek to LogiTech which subsequently opted not to continue to pursue it’s development. Instead, this will probably end up becoming a long-forgotten chapter of Star Citizen history.

Posted: Wednesday 05 AUG 2020

3.10.0 Released to Live

We were going to post one of the most important aspects of a Persistent Universe: Life and Death. However, CIG decided to drop 3.10 to the live servers today. So we will go light on info today and simply post some of the key informational stuff related to this patch as we don’t expect a ton of traffic to this page today with everyone flying in the Verse.

To the immediate right is a video produced by CIG that helps us visualize some of the major improvements this patch will bring to the backers.

In the lower right, we have a short commercial for the new Graycat Industrial ROC (Remote Ore Collector).

Also, if you follow THIS LINK to the RSI website, you can view the patch notes for the LIVE version of 3.10.0 LIVE.5789362.

Since there some new ships and vehicles up for sale today, HERE’S A LINK to a website that allows you create an authentic looking ship certificate. Additionally, it also has an option to allow you to create Citizen Cards similar to the ones issues by CIG to certain backers early on. Below is a preview of the webpage as well as some examples of the ship certs and the citizen card.

Posted: Sunday 02 AUG 2020

Star Citizen PAX East Presentation: Sataball

(Originally aired on 09 MAR 2015)

If you haven’t heard of Sataball, rest assured, you are probably not alone. However, you should be aware of it’s existence. This FPS style game has just as prominent a place in the Verse as Murray Cup racing, Arena Commander, Star Marine and Theaters of War.

In 2015, Sataball was intended to be a game module in much the same way as the others mentioned above. It’s development was farmed out to the same team (Illfonic) that was supposed to provide CIG with playable versions of Star Marine and Arena Commander. However, it appears the final iteration did not meet the expectations of Chris Roberts and while it did not ship with the other FPS modules, it did not die completely.

Since Sataball plays a substantial role in Star Citizen, there is a significant amount lore created to support it’s cultural relevance. As a sport, it is widely popular throughout the Verse and is even a favorite event within the Banu culture. Additionally, many Sataball players can become some of the wealthiest and most recognizable people in the galaxy.

While not much has been heard on this topic recently, roadmap sightings such as the Zero G Push/Pull Mechanic and the Multi-tool Tractor Beam Attachment are key technical components for making this type of game-play possible.

Just as the other FPS modules are planned to be accessed via the Simpods seen in the FactoryLine at New Babbage, it is not much of a stretch of the imagination to envision this game being added to the list as well. Players should be able to compete in a virtual environment with other players and teams for the highest spots on the leaderboards and could even earn living from the UEC payouts for winning these contests.

At the highest levels, World Cup-like events hosted on resort planets could be broadcast to ships and recreational locations across the galaxy featuring the best Sataball players in the Verse all competing to become galactic champions and take home a king’s ransom.

Among the other FPS content in this video from the PAX East event in 2015, CIG shows off a working demo of Sataball’s predecessor, Astro Arena, being played by two teams. You can click the video in the upper-right to watch the PAX East event in it’s entirety, or click HERE to jump straight to the game action starting at 28:36.

Directly to the right, is a link to TheAstroPub’s Galactic Historian video that goes into even further detail regarding the lore and concept work done by CIG. It’s less than four minutes, so I recommend watching the whole thing by clicking on the video itself.

Finally, here are all the relevant links directly from the RSI website regarding the Lore Builder content that Astropub referenced in making that great summary video:

- Comm-Link:Lore Builder - Three - Racing Events & Sataball
- Comm-Link:Lore Builder - Four - Sataball
- Comm-Link:Lore Builder - Five - Sataball Format
- Comm-Link:Lore Builder - Six - Sataball & Criminals
- Comm-Link:Lore Builder - Seven - Final Sataball Vote & Pirates Galore
- Comm-Link:Lore Builder - Eight - Field - Goals - Barriers
- Comm-Link:Lore Builder - Nine - Squadron Numbering & Sataball
- Comm-Link:Lore Builder - Ten - Numbering and Sataball Wrap-Up

Posted: Wednesday 29 JUL 2020

Subscribers Town Hall: Persistent Universe

(Originally aired on 17 JAN 2017)

In this episode, Erin Roberts serves as a moderator and guides the discussion on the future vision of the Persistent Universe as it relates to several topics. The guests on this show are some of the most important members when it comes to game dev: Todd Papy, Chris Roberts and Tony Zurovec.

Here is the list of questions that are addressed in this episode with timestamps to take you directly to the questions you are interested in (alternatively, click the video to the right to watch the whole episode):

1. Will individual planets have unique terrain? How will this contribute to game-play? 0:37

2. We as backers are obviously all excited for planetary landings in 3.0, but how are you planning on handling on-foot or in-flight exploration of a planet like Arc Corp that is completely covered in factories? 6:28

3. How will the PU work during logouts / ISP disconnects on a multi-crew and player interaction basis? 8:47

4. How will the game handle multi-day or multi-week guild run campaigns in the PU?

5. How will the PU handle the instancing of missions and the NPC enemies that spawn around them? In the mini-PU now we have a direct correlation between the number of players in the area and the number of NPC pirates that spawn. I realize this is just a temporary solution, but will the final PU use a similar process to scale the difficulty of a mission based on the number and quality of the players accepting it? 19:28

6. Could any of you comment on the environmental risks that we can expect to see in the likes of the PU? 20:58

7. Now with farming coming in the distant future, could it be possible in the far distant future to retire with our character and do some farming? Like a mini game ala Harvest Moon and having a small house on Goss, a field and a garden? 29:40

8. Will there be multiple currencies, perhaps used by different races? If so, will there be any variation in the exchange rate between those currencies? 32:01

9. Will people / ships get the ability to activate a distress beacon of sorts that broadcasts their location to nearby ships? This could become a risky thing due to attracting pirates and such, of course. In the PU as it stands, there are missions with ships that have distress beacons, yet players have none as of yet. 33:41

As with any question and answer session, these particular individuals are notorious for taking us far beyond the bounds of the original question. In this case, you can be sure that far more will be addressed than what is asked by the subscribers. It’s absolutely worth the watch from beginning to end if you have the time.

Ever wonder where some of those extra ships in your inventory came from? Check out this link to the Loaner Ship Matrix from RSI.

Posted: Sunday 26 JUL 2020

Around the Verse: Episode 1.50

(Originally aired 25 JUN 2015)

On 27 JUN 2015, CIG introduced the concept for the Genesis Starliner. It was the first offering from Crusader Industries; a ship manufacturer that has gained in popularity with the announcements of the Mercury Starrunner, the Hercules Starlifter and the Ares Starfighter.

While most people are aware of the Starliner as a passenger ship, there are actually a few variants planned for this space-frame according to THIS Q & A and THIS follow-up Q & A from CIG.

The episode of Around the Verse to the right has a great segment on CIG’s plans for the high modularity that this ship will offer players. While there is some great info on the state of the Persistent Universe in mid-2015, THIS VIDEO LINK is timestamped and will take you straight to some early concept work by Randy Vazquez on the Starliner interior.

To the left is some original concept art from CIG for the Crusader Industries Genesis Starliner.

Below, I have included a very handy image that shows the timeline for the concept ships CIG has created. This document will give you an idea as to how long certain ships have been in development limbo.

Posted: Wednesday 22 JUL 2020

INSIDE CIG: The Art of the Asteroid Hangar

(Originally aired 4 JUL 2014)

In 2014, CIG added the Asteroid Hangar as a traversable module that allowed backers to display and view their ships in a static representation of their personal hangars.

As opposed to it’s current iteration, this industrial styled hangar was capable of displaying several ships ranging in size from vehicle to large in a much more cavernous environment.

With the recent update to the Hi-Tech (Aeroview) Hangar that is currently being used in New Babbage, and the Standard Industrial Hangar in use at both Lorville and Area 18, it is likely that this hangar will be getting a refresh in the future as well.

To the right is a video created by CIG that discusses the key design elements and concepts that became the hallmark of the VFG Industrial Hangar. This hangar’s lived-in feel and industrial cues seem to hit just the right notes for salvagers, data-runners, hackers, miners, smugglers and pirates alike.

Below left and below center, you will find a couple of screenshots of this hangar from Star Citizen Version V0.9 (2014) and PTU Version 3.10n (2020).

Also included at the lower right is a walk-through video that creates a historical record of this hangar in it’s original version.

Posted: Sunday, 19 JUL 2020

10 For the Chairman: Professions in 3.0

(Originally aired March 14, 2017)

In this episode of 10FTC, Tony Zurovec and Chris Roberts discuss the topic of professions that are slated to be featured in the “upcoming” release of Star Citizen Alpha 3.0. Here are the questions they answered:

- Will items and cargo on planets be visible in a storehouse or will they “disappear” somewhere? (3:55)

- Are there any plans of cargo loading of the bigger ships such as the Hull series of ships and is the loading at a space station, or even planetary going to be automatic or will we have a specialized small cargo loading ships similar to the Argo to load manually if we choose to? (7:25)

- Can you talk about what is in store for the salvage profession? Will it involve carving up ships for scrap (or resources in the repair profession), specifically seeking out functioning or expensive parts of derelict ships, or some combination of those? Will this be like mining and require good scanning to effectively find salvageable ships and stations? (11:48)

- In both cargo running and mining what types of hazards can we expect? Understandably, there will be pirates, but what other dangers will we run into, i.e., hitting a combustible methane vent while mining, or the consequences of a container malfunction during transport? (16:25)

- With 2.6 and 2.6.1 Star Marine has started to introduce destructible props into the game. Shattering glass, explosive barrels and etc. The most recent monthly report mentioned that the team was looking to add more props and items that can be destroyed in the game. Presumably this work will carry into the Persistent Universe. Have you put any thought into how destroyed props will be restored in the Persistent Universe? Example being, if a player could shatter the glass windows in Port Olisar, how would the game “reset” to the point where the glass windows are replaced. (23:39)

- Regarding cargo hauling, can you clarify how the loading and unload of ships at both the initial launch of the cargo system, and what the long-term vision of the cargo system will be? There has been some confusion regarding manual loading/unloading with all the cool logistics that presents (not to mention all the maglev containers and handjacks!) (28:30)

- Will we be able to move between professions fluidly, or will we have to re-qualify for a profession if we decide to switch to something else? (37:45)

- With the recent progress on the Prospector, is it safe to assume we will have ship based mining to some degree with the launch of 3.0? (40:05)

- To effectively perform a job, will we need to qualify for them beforehand, like earning a certain amount of rep, or will it be as easy to get started as having the right kind of ship. (43:19)

- Will there be an autopilot in ships traveling from point A to Z that will allow me to get up and move around? (45:25)

*** Hover over the image of the Prospector to the right to see the answer ***