Star Citizen - new project from creator of Wing Commander, Privateer, & Freelancer

**Priran** · 2014-02-26 04:24

rofl this game doesn't even exist yet and people have already paid to win it

**Waraji** · 2014-02-26 08:25

On one hand, I find it crazy to pump so much cash into this project that no one knows wtf it is their money is going to (not really). On the other hand, I'm glad the project is getting as much backing as it needs to fuel w/e the Actual Developer wants the game to be like and not be under the pressure of Traditional Investors and Publishers.

I like what I see, but unless I have a release date I won't ever put money down.

**BaneTheBrawler** · 2014-02-26 08:30

not really. thats not what the purchases do. in pay to win, you get golden ammo and shit; top-tier equipment that you usually can't get normally.

in SC all you're doing is buying the same ships you'll be buying once the game launches. with RL money, to support the game. the actual equipment on the ship is mediocre at best, and will be common as grass once the game launches.

edit: more common than grass, actually, since the equipment we're getting from the ships will be EVERYWHERE and grass will be limited to maybe 2-3 planets.

**Jaybar** · 2014-02-26 09:37

P.sure most of the high-end ships you can buy into can only be obtained through piracy (I mean literal piracy) or rare (like D.ring rare) encounters in spaaaaaace. This info is coming from someone who has invested heavily for one of their low-tier freighters (the ones Bane is definitely talking about) and peruses the dev site a lot.

**BaneTheBrawler** · 2014-02-26 11:42

uh, no. assuming by high-end you mean large (since there isn't a qualitative difference) the largest ship you can buy is the Idris-P, which is a Corvette and (like every other ship they've sold, with the possible exception of the Scythe and Idris military variant, which they only sold limited numbers of) will be available for purchase with in-game currency after launch... though it will probably be fabulously expensive. Since it's fabulously expensive IRL, too.

The largest ships in the game will, yes, only be obtainable through extremely rare events or by pirating them from NPCs. But those ships have never been, and never will be, available for purchase with real money. (from the legit store, anyway. always the grey market)

**The Blackrose** · 2014-02-26 14:15

I really wanted an Idris, but ended up settling with a Constellation.

But like Bane said: right now the largest ship is a corvette. I'm sure the carriers, dreadnoughts and other stuff will be coming later.

**BaneTheBrawler** · 2014-02-26 14:45

later as in playable, yes. later as in buyable, no. they've explicitly said the only way to get them (carriers specifically, i don't recall if they mentioned smaller capital ships) is going to be to either salvage them or board them and take them from the NPC navies yourself. or, eventually, from other players. i suppose once there's been a few recovered you'll be able to buy them from other players, but never from CIG.

it's also worth noting that you can't actually fly the idris (or anything larger) by yourself. doesn't work. you need a crew, as opposed to the other buyable ships where having additional crew is optional. fortunately, you can hire AIs as well as other players, so you could- in pactice- fly it by yourself. But they're setting it up so that having another player is always a better option.

**Jaybar** · 2014-02-26 15:15

Then he was talking out his ass because he said there was a capital ship for $5k or something (not on Kickstarter). Sorry for bringing it up.

**BaneTheBrawler** · 2014-02-26 20:14

well, that actually makes more sense. i was under the impression YOU were the person you were sourcing, but if it's a friend, I think i see where you got mixed up: There's a pretty lively gray market for the rare ships, like the military idris variant, or ships with Lifetime Insurance (Which is a very minor perk).. The devs have established a policy of keeping such transactions off their forums, but have decided not to ban anyone who does it. So it's not an example of pay-to-win, it's an example of nerds being really fucking nerdy. You can't get LTI anymore, since it was a brief "pledge now and you get this!" bonus from early in the kickstarter campaign, so naturally it commands a decent price markup. And the rare hulls, like the military idris, command an even larger markup. So it is entirely plausible that someone bought an Idris for 5k... but that hardly makes the game pay to win.

**Prothescar** · 2014-02-26 20:27

I bought one of those $20 ships, does that make me a StarBro

actually it may have been $40, been so long I don't remember. Think it's one of the Auroras, LN or so

**BaneTheBrawler** · 2014-02-27 01:13

prolly $40. did it come with a copy of the game? because you can buy "packages" which include the desired ship, game copy/alpha/beta access, some starting credits, and some other goodies, depending on the size... but you can also just buy the ships alone, which doesn't get you a game copy or anything else.

if you didn't it's not a big deal- you can melt it down and use the store credit to buy one that does come with a game copy. depending on when you made your original purchase, you may lose out on LTI, but that's a pretty minor perk.

anyway, either way, yes, you're totes a starbro.

**Prothescar** · 2014-02-27 12:42

yea it's the game package, I logged on and checked because it was annoying me that I couldn't remember. by the looks it was the $45 one, maybe i'll upgrade to one of the fancier ones at some point

**BaneTheBrawler** · 2014-02-27 15:13

good deal. i hope you have good self control because thats how it starts.

**Intrinsic** · 2014-02-27 15:31

Are we looking to see Alpha anytime soon? I got in on this for a Freelancer ship during the Kickstarter, but I haven't bothered with the hangar or anything up to this point.

**The Blackrose** · 2014-02-27 17:39

The dogfighting module was supposed to be released at the end of last year, but it was delayed to March/April.

**BaneTheBrawler** · 2014-02-27 21:38

yeah. and there isn't going to be a complete alpha until much later, but we'll be able to test each module as it becomes functional. hangar module last year, dogfighting module in the next month or two. i dont remember what's next after that.

i can't actually do anything with it yet. my PC can barely run the hangar module, and it weeps when i make it try. fortunately i'm getting a new one this holiday season so yeah.

**BaneTheBrawler** · 2014-02-28 21:19

So, those of you who've been following this game are probably already aware, but they're doing a contest called The Next Great Starship. Bunch of teams competing to put a ship in the game. They started with a LOT of teams, and had them submit a weapon design (supposed to be a rapid-fire gun that mixes human and alien technology). They narrowed the teams down to 24 to start with, then started the show itself. They judged each weapon, and among its little sub-group selected which got in and which didn't. The losers then went on to a "Wildcard" slot where the community voted in their favorite. That narrowed it down to 16, and they've moved on to the next phase: concepting the Starship itself.

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/c...great-starship

The first episode of the starship phase aired tonight, and it was really fun. I'm a little disappointed in a couple of the earlier choices made, since both of those choices would have freed up slots for what I thought were more promising designs. Particularly since both the teams I had in mind got eliminated today, and one just got HAMMERED by the judges. Their concept was okay, but the material they submitted was pretty on-par with the kind of sketches I do, which does not speak well for them. They could have done things to alleviate that, and didn't. It also turns out they actually withdrew from the competition a few days after the previous episode, so I'm wondering if something came up IRL for them and the judges just never got the memo or what.

**Asilius** · 2014-04-06 20:13

So apparently Star Citizen will be running on a modified CryEngine (4th generation) which looks amazing if you have seen the demos. I cant wait to see the dogfight module.

CryEngine demo