Star Citizen Megathread - Fly FREE thru Dec 14th! Link in OP - Games

I'm gonna remain the super skeptic I am and say 2.0 doesn't make it out this year. That said, I hope I'm proven wrong. And considering I have a 600 mile drive on the 20th...we may just see how fast that can go

[QUOTE=Oicani Gonzales;49003588]damn, most of those are blurry as fuck, what gives? and it's not just the jpgrape either[/QUOTE] In MWLL, a CryEngine 2.5 game, some anti-aliasing settings made pictures look blurry as fuck. [editline]28th October 2015[/editline] [t]http://i.imgur.com/UaDNWPx.jpg[/t] This shot reminded me of how awful the turret design is. Ruins the lines of the ship, far larger than it needs to be, and it has struts that will block your vision depending on the pitch of the guns. It's even worse on the Redeemer. [t]http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/starcitizen/images/e/eb/Four_Horsemen_Final.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140608004816[/t] :disgust:

Is that a derelict station in the first photo, and it being entered in the second photo? If so, give it to me right now.

[QUOTE=FlandersNed;49005086]Is that a derelict station in the first photo, and it being entered in the second photo? If so, give it to me right now.[/QUOTE] The derelict station is even on the starmap: [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Ha342eu.png[/IMG] The imgur gallery has a lot more. [t]https://i.imgur.com/XQ48iem.jpg[/t] [t]https://i.imgur.com/CS3siwe.jpg[/t] I really, really hope we'll be able to see dudes milling around inside that building in the background on the right, here, because this is the kind of thing that conventional MMOs would completely cull out, or they'd be super-basic animations. [t]https://i.imgur.com/ULlt8oL.jpg[/t] Late edit: [QUOTE=Oicani Gonzales;49003588]damn, most of those are blurry as fuck, what gives? and it's not just the jpgrape either[/QUOTE] I would not be surprised if these are screengrabs from QA recording their testing sessions, so it's MPEGrape on top of JPEGrape.

They really need to get rid of those ugly black shaders and invisible light sources which produce unnatural reflections and break cube maps inside the ships, especially on the Constellation. Cry engine was a bad decision after all. Also, why can't they fucking reskin the goddamn Use button already? IS SOO UGLY.

[QUOTE=Sourceshift;49007631]They really need to get rid of those ugly black shaders and invisible light sources which produce unnatural reflections and break cube maps inside the ships, especially on the Constellation. Cry engine was a bad decision after all. Also, why can't they fucking reskin the goddamn Use button already? IS SOO UGLY.[/QUOTE] Considering UE4 was not an option in 2011-2012, what would you have them do? If the answer is "build an engine from the ground up", that parallel universe is only just getting to see the first prototypes for the hangar, now. A scratch-built engine would've taken way longer than the three years the project's already had since the end of the crowdfunding. The Use button is hardcoded into Cryengine fairly deeply, according to, oh, a former Crytek engineer who BUILT CRYENGINE and is now at Foundry 42 Frankfurt. They know about it and they're working on it. Keep your pants on, it's an alpha. You're complaining about bits of visual polish and completely failing to appreciate the PU being prepared for near-future release in front of you. [I]This will be playable soon.[/I]

even if they'd waited for UE4 to launch, it was WAY too new to consider as a viable option at the time and they'd probably only be comfortable around the middle of this year. You can't exactly dump years of coding onto a new engine and call it a day having said that, they REALLY fucking need to remove glass glare inside cockpits. There's few (if any) angles you'd see genuine exterior reflections in a majority of the ships, constellation's cockpit being a unique situation with the glass being both top and bottom. I'd rather have a cheaped-out reflection of the cockpit controls or nothing at all.

[QUOTE=dai;49008793]even if they'd waited for UE4 to launch, it was WAY too new to consider as a viable option at the time and they'd probably only be comfortable around the middle of this year. You can't exactly dump years of coding onto a new engine and call it a day having said that, they REALLY fucking need to remove glass glare inside cockpits. There's few (if any) angles you'd see genuine exterior reflections in a majority of the ships, constellation's cockpit being a unique situation with the glass being both top and bottom. I'd rather have a cheaped-out reflection of the cockpit controls or nothing at all.[/QUOTE] military cockpits have solved this issue with no glares for what 10, 20, 30 years? Also cryengine needs to improve their shaders, it was fine for 720p consoles back in the day.

so have my glasses the big problem that needs to go away is seeing a reflection of the sun cast across the entire windshield of my avenger when my belly is flat to the light source and the cockpit is essentially in total shadow

[video=youtube;p-mifFQpeiw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-mifFQpeiw[/video] [QUOTE]00:29 – Intro 03:03 – News From Around the Verse 12:05 – Backer-submitted video of the Tali racing 12:46 – Interview with Pete Mackay and John Pritchett 29:31 – Behind the Scenes: Starmap Audio 37:47 – MVP 38:57 – Art Sneak Peek - #2 in the Xi'An Scout style development pictures (#1 was last week)[/QUOTE] [video=youtube;4O-GOT7dIEo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4O-GOT7dIEo[/video] Sneak peek video by someone on Reddit [t]http://i.imgur.com/HhkmSus.png[/t] A reminder that it was clarified on RtV that these Khartu-al concept pictures are Xi'An style concepts more than redesgning the ship itself; it's the first Xi'An ship to be made playable, and so they're using it as an opportunity to set the standard and decide what Xi'An technology and ship aesthetics look like. The final version of the ship won't look exactly like these concept boards they're showing us now, these are just explorations on the look.

from the reddit- [img]https://i.imgur.com/sdIlceS.jpg[/img] [b]the ultimate game[/b] this is a really not-hilariously-overblown article given the time it was probably written. Pretty fun that they even predicted a VR Cube (which I work with)

The interview segment includes Pete Mackey revealing the three new IFCS modes (well, two, considering one is basically "like Arena Commander now"). - Precision flying mode for landing/delicate maneuvers, max speed is capped and acceleration inputs are scaled down - Dogfighting mode, basically how AC plays. The big difference is that anything that changes your acceleration potential (increased mass from cargo/components, thruster upgrades) will affect your maximum speed. - Supercruise mode (SCM), in which all ships have the same global top speed (current PU testing is 1000m/s), but your ability to turn at that speed is limited to course corrections, not full-on directional changes. Otherwise it's super-easy to black out and it's near-impossible to recover from a 1km/s slide. And there's now an afterburner mode that increases your max velocity, at the expense of giving up maneuvering thruster boost as we have it in AC now. (You can switch between afterburner and maneuvering boost freely.) And the other thing that's being introduced into the thruster system is error, which means thrusters won't behave according to the theoretical maximums with perfect precision and response time and instead there will be variance and third-order motion. The ship is now going to respond not according to what it's theoretically capable of on paper but what it's actually capable of at that very moment in its current condition (damaged thrusters, weighed down with cargo, emergency downshifted out of SCM so you're going 600m/s in an Aurora, etc.). I'm interested to see how rapidly you'll be able to switch between SCM and combat speed.

Just listened to the IFCS interview. Everything they said was music to my ears. I just hope it feels as good as it sounds like it does. [editline]29th October 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=elixwhitetail;49010244]I'm interested to see how rapidly you'll be able to switch between SCM and combat speed.[/QUOTE] Yeah, without some kind of charge up, that seems abuseable to do weird things in combat.

[QUOTE=Why485;49010254]Yeah, without some kind of charge up, that seems abuseable to do weird things in combat.[/QUOTE] Well, it's confirmed that there's an extended chargeup for Qdrive, because as soon as you can punch that you're removed from the encounter, period, but I kind of am not sure about SCM. If it ramps you up to speed quickly, and maneuvering in SCM is as limited as it is, engaging SCM during combat seems like it's just as likely to slam you into an obstacle that you didn't see until it appeared in your draw distance 0.75s prior to impact as get you out of danger so you can reload your missiles and regenerate your shield before burning back in. I kind of get the feeling that popping SCM during combat in anywhere but completely empty space would be near suicidal. If that's the case, I could easily see CIG leaving it as being possible, on the "it's a bad idea but we'll let you try it anyway" principle in the same way that they won't stop a single player from soloing a Javelin with NPC crew. However, it could also be quite abusable, or just plain not practical to switch into during combat, so we'll have to see in the design post/actual implementation in 2.0 to know.

[QUOTE=Why485;49010254]Just listened to the IFCS interview. Everything they said was music to my ears. I just hope it feels as good as it sounds like it does. [/QUOTE] You and I are in perfect agreement there. Here, have a funny, stolen from the forums. [t]http://s8.postimg.org/5ua8et7c5/Aging.jpg[/t]

[QUOTE=Medevila;49010550]Holy shit does he really look like that now? Has it been that long since I watched AtV?? He looks like an older Gaben in that photo[/QUOTE] That was just a shot from a joke reel they had where they pretended twenty years had passed and Star Citizen still wasn't out, and they were still doing those shows.

[QUOTE=archangel125;49010634]That was just a shot from a joke reel they had where they pretended twenty years had passed and Star Citizen still wasn't out, and they were still doing those shows.[/QUOTE] 40 years; there was a special April 1st AtV short where they pretended it was 2055, Arena Commander 1.1a is [I]this close[/I] to being ready, and they're announcing the trout concept sale as well as rebalancing some other fish with too many hardpoints for fins. That day's subscriber vault update was also a gallery of stock photos of fish. Plus every instance of the word "space" on RSI.com was changed to "fish", katamari threads became kalamari threads, and so on. And, of course, if you logged in, your hangar was full of fish. 10/10

Flight model post is up. [url]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/15031-Star-Citizen-Alpha-20-Flight-Model-Changes[/url]

[QUOTE=dai;49010082]from the reddit- [img]https://i.imgur.com/sdIlceS.jpg[/img] [b]the ultimate game[/b] this is a really not-hilariously-overblown article given the time it was probably written. Pretty fun that they even predicted a VR Cube (which I work with)[/QUOTE] It's funny to think that in all of these 'prediction of the future' articles, none of them predicted the rise of the internet.

You know,I just tried dropping into a Squadron battle. My dissatisfaction with the Hornet's performance has increased tenfold. Not only was I torn to shreds within three seconds of engaging someone because every single player was using the Tarantula cannon PVP meta, but I found out that the Badger and Bulldog repeaters I'd purchased were nerfed to the point of near uselessness. No wonder it took me half a minute to kill a single Vanduul scythe, even constantly landing hits with all six of my weapons. I'm done with this crap until they get their shit together. [editline]29th October 2015[/editline] I don't think I'm a bad player. I used to be excellent at using the Hornet before its armor, shields, power plant, and thrusters were nerfed to shit. I would top scoreboards in most Arena Commander matches quite easily, and I didn't care for the Omnisky/Mass Driver meta. Now it's all gone sour.

So, yeah. Reading through the flight model post, it all sounds fantastic. It's the kind of thing I would have done if I was in charge. Like I said before, it all [I]sounds[/I] amazing, but I'm reserving judgement until I play it myself. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how it works.

[QUOTE=FlandersNed;49011398]It's funny to think that in all of these 'prediction of the future' articles, none of them predicted the rise of the internet.[/QUOTE] [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Xanadu"]Project Xanadu[/URL] did, though. And, really, the Internet is a weak, massively-underdeveloped form of Xanadu in that sense. (The technical feasibility of actually realizing Xanadu, on the other hand, is a much bigger question than the feasibility of the Internet as it was presented to its pioneers at inception.)

afterburner change i dont like. They tied top speed to accel but then made it so the afterburner increases top speed but not accel, like, what. First of all, the physics of that make no sense in SC, we're going to go back to "afterburner to top speed then turn off your engines to stay at increased top speed". expending energy just to stop using your afterburner, what kind of management is that. And why would it cost more energy than normal thruster operation to fire an afterburner that doesnt actually do anything but raise the speed cap and let you drift faster by their own lore explanation. So incredibly stupid. They've already had it increasing top speed at an earlier time in AC, it becomes pointless as a combat consideration. The rest seems good, great even, but i'll need to try it out for myself.

[QUOTE=FlandersNed;49011398]It's funny to think that in all of these 'prediction of the future' articles, none of them predicted the rise of the internet.[/QUOTE] the top right thing KIND of had it right. The checker board with radio antennas was hilarious but I realized I casually played goddamn card games and chinese checkers in tabletop simulator with people from australia and the UK at the same time

[QUOTE=Mattk50;49011699]afterburner change i dont like. They tied top speed to accel but then made it so the afterburner increases top speed but not accel, like, what. First of all, the physics of that make no sense in SC, we're going to go back to "afterburner to top speed then turn off your engines to stay at increased top speed". expending energy just to stop using your afterburner, what kind of management is that. And why would it cost more energy than normal thruster operation to fire an afterburner that doesnt actually do anything but raise the speed cap and let you drift faster by their own lore explanation. So incredibly stupid. They've already had it increasing top speed at an earlier time in AC, it becomes pointless as a combat consideration. The rest seems good, great even, but i'll need to try it out for myself.[/QUOTE] I'm not going to argue that it's a bit silly to slow down once you've reached afterburner speed, but the reason the afterburner does what it does is explained in the article. You're not increasing the top speed, you're increasing the acceleration. The acceleration of your ship is what sets the top speed, so it also happens to raise your top speed. Once you're no longer boosting and drop back to your normal thruster powers, the top speed is lowered because that's the level of drift the thrusters can manage. It makes sense under the rules they set, and I'm not opposed to it at all even if it is a bit weird in terms of physics. It's not stated, but decoupling might allow you maintain the speed. That's actually how Elite used to be until they patched that out. What does get interesting and raises lots of questions, is what happens if you go into cruise mode, but stay decoupled the entire time? Does that mean you can fly around fully Newtonian up to ridiculous speeds?

[QUOTE=Why485;49012059]I'm not going to argue that it's a bit silly to slow down once you've reached afterburner speed, but the reason the afterburner does what it does is explained in the article. You're not increasing the top speed, you're increasing the acceleration. The acceleration of your ship is what sets the top speed, so it also happens to raise your top speed. Once you're no longer boosting and drop back to your normal thruster powers, the top speed is lowered because that's the level of drift the thrusters can manage. It makes sense under the rules they set, and I'm not opposed to it at all even if it is a bit weird in terms of physics. It's not stated, but decoupling might allow you maintain the speed. That's actually how Elite used to be until they patched that out. What does get interesting and raises lots of questions, is what happens if you go into cruise mode, but stay decoupled the entire time? Does that mean you can fly around fully Newtonian up to ridiculous speeds?[/QUOTE] Ah, I guess I was going by the description as outlined in the interview - I bet Matt was as well. They describe afterburner as being distinct from boost, in that boost apparently provides higher acceleration but the same top speed, whereas afterburner mode increases top speed without proportionately increased acceleration. Which... is odd.

Oh, I read it at as afterbuner was replacing boost, but they say the opposite here. [quote]Where the current boost mechanic gives you better acceleration and drift control, Afterburner gives you more maximum velocity while maintaining the same relative control. ... Boost as it currently works is still sticking around, but now players will have the choice on how to spend their limited boost fuel: on max velocity to rapidly change distance, or better braking to improve handling.[/quote] The way I recall it described in the interview sounded like what I was saying, but reading the post again that's not the case. I think boost/afterburner should just be merged. If afterburner raises your top speed purely because of the power increase (I imagine is the same power increase as boost), which is how it's described in the interview, it seems like boost would just be a subset of afterburner functionality.

[QUOTE=Why485;49010991]Flight model post is up. [url]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/15031-Star-Citizen-Alpha-20-Flight-Model-Changes[/url][/QUOTE] that's some good shit, for me the two biggest things that would stop SC from being god-tier are the flight model and on-foot control also are they insinuating quantum travel combat in the first part? [img]http://i.imgur.com/XLniOTG.gif[/img]

[QUOTE=Why485;49012059]What does get interesting and raises lots of questions, is what happens if you go into cruise mode, but stay decoupled the entire time? Does that mean you can fly around fully Newtonian up to ridiculous speeds?[/QUOTE] According to the interview, I'm going to guess that you black the everloving fuck out if you manage to get your ship to change its vector in a significant way without totally throwing yourself into an uncontrolled slide. Afterburner put all of the impulse you would normally have on your maneuvering thrusters and directs it out the back to help contribute to your top speed - this is an extension of what the IFCS system currently does, which is that it will attempt to execute an acceleration change with the thruster type that's most appropriate to it (main engine acceleration uses the main engine, roll uses the maneuvering thrusters, etc.) but will fallback to the other systems if it's unable to achieve the desired maneuver with the main thruster type (e.g. several thrusters have been shot out). Hitting boost right now tells IFCS to fire all impulse sources at once to affect what you want. Afterburner is basically this except only things pointing backwards or otherwise able to contribute to your forward thrust fire at a greater effectiveness in trade for being able to boost maneuvering thrusters (until you flip out of AB). I'm not entirely sure I like this afterburner/boost system, but I'm going to see how it plays before I decide if I want it changed/removed.

Seems to me though, in an advanced time as we are talking, that micro gravitational manipulation (there's a fancy term for you) would be a common thing among cockpits. Meaning that when you suddenly slam the spacecraft into an accelerated erratic or polar-opposite trajectory a gravity generator could assist in keeping the G's low and you from passing out.