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

[QUOTE=the_killer24;47457396]tell me your secrets (unless, of course, you mean the avenger or any other actually flyable ship with nose gimbals)[/QUOTE] DURP. I meant AVENGER. Goddammit. I just woke up... [editline]4th April 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=elixwhitetail;47457406]How are you flying a concept ship? And, yes, gimbals are kinda fucked up in the current Arena Commander, partially because of the huge dead zone in the middle and then wild course corrections outside of it. We went through this in detail on pages 31-32.[/QUOTE] Ahh, that makes sense. That's exactly the "feeling" I'm getting when I fly my Avenger. I move my mouse and there's just... no responsiveness. Edit: Apparently I was missing something. You can press "L" to focus your target... It locks your character's head to the target, and even gimballed weapons will vaguely point in their direction. It's a little bit better; but still not great... Also... Goddamned Hornets are INDESTRUCTIBLE.

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/1xFoxu8.jpg[/IMG] [URL="https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/31cgnn/scumbag_sean_tracy/"]Dev shaming[/URL], Sean Tracy edition.

Realized something funny just now. So my current phone notification sound is from the November monthly report [url]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/u5qs84jgph4q4r/source/DI_Objective_Recieved.ogg[/url] I'm weird and unlike everyone I know and actually put my phone just above silent so that it plays whenever I get a text (revolutionary I know). I kind of like getting texts. Just like using the MGS tone as my ringtone has me reaching for my phone whenever I play MGS games, if I ever drive Aegis, I'm going to get a little stab of euphoria and nostalgia every time I get a new objective come 2 years from now. That's kinda neat to think about.

From Reddit [t]https://i.imgur.com/DW3L3rG.jpg[/t]

For the first time ever, I played Star Citizen for more than a half hour in one sitting. Mostly because this is the first time I’ve ever been [I]able[/I] to. Some random thoughts: Multiplayer actually works now. Well, sort of. It works like 65% of the time, which is much better than the 10% when I last tried. Also run the game in the window so you can do other stuff while the game loads. It helps to ease the pain of a false start to a multiplayer match. The game actually remembered my key bindings! That’s neat. Star Citizen’s netcode, once you get past the matchmaking problems outside of the game itself, is actually very solid. I didn’t notice anything indicative of horrible lag or screwed up hit detection. If you want to play deathmatch or team deathmatch and you don’t have or don’t want to use Sledge IIs, don’t bother. Arena Commander has never been balanced to begin with, but yeah. It’s always something. Vanduul Swarm Coop is pretty fun though. Star Citizen plays more like Freelancer than the fanbase will ever admit. The game is all about strafing and mouse aim. The irony of the insane and realistic physics model is that the flight computer effectively turns it into Freelancer anyway. Albeit, a very clunky one with a neato damage model. I wish the hit effects and feedback that you hit something was better. It rarely feels like you’ve actually killed anything and you only know to stop shooting because the game told you so. Missiles are so disappointing to use on so many levels. I think the way the Hornet flies should be the standard in terms of how ships should maneuver. Out of all the ships I’ve flown recently, (everything except Cutlass and 300i) the Hornet is the only one that feels “right.” All the lighter ships are so light, and have such ludicrous thrust to weight ratios in every direction, that they feel more like a 3D FPS and not at all like flying a ship. The Hornet is the only ship I’ve flown that has a feeling of inertia and weight to it.

The way I fly my Aurora, I often end up drifting like fuck. It's not as mass-y and drifty as the Hornet (it's also 50m/s slower), but I've powerslid right into asteroids I didn't see because I didn't notice that my coupled direction of travel was completely sideways while I was trying to shoot Vanduul. I never got Freelancer (comp was well too shit at the time it was current), but if CR's integrating some of the things he loved the most from Freelancer, or he and the dev team are listening to Freelancer fans among backers when taking AC gameplay feedback, it's a matter of opinion over whether that's good or bad. I'd like to see more substantial death effects, for sure. I can't wait for matchmaking to be unfucked.

I actually forgot about the Aurora, so I used REC to get the LN to screw around with again. The Aurora is a weird case. It sucks at generating thrust in the lateral directions, but makes enough thrust vertically that you can black yourself out really quick. If you want to keep your velocity vector aligned you have to basically fly it like a plane and roll into your turns so you pitch up. If you just yaw everywhere, you're going to be flying sideways because the Aurora has such a hard time correcting deviation in the horizontal.

in SE, i put the bulk of my maneuvering thrusters on the bottom. it's pretty economical to have most pointing one direction but does the aurora even have more thrusters pointing down??

[QUOTE=Mbbird;47466266]in SE, i put the bulk of my maneuvering thrusters on the bottom. it's pretty economical to have most pointing one direction but does the aurora even have more thrusters pointing down??[/QUOTE] The LN has 8 thrusters. With the way they gimbal, 6 total can point up or down at the same time, but only 2 can point left or right simultaneously. That's why its vertical thrust is so powerful and its lateral thrust so weak. [del]I think the cheaper Auroras have only 6 thrusters, in which case I wonder how they fly at all because the arrangement of those 8 is like the minimally viable balanced thruster configuration.[/del] Actually, thinking about it, it would work if you lose a pair of the vertical facing thrusters. You can still strafe up/down in a balanced way by using those 4 that can point up/down. Still not a good idea, but it should be functional. Honestly the Aurora's thruster arrangement and design doesn't make that much sense.

[QUOTE=Why485;47464392] I wish the hit effects and feedback that you hit something was better. It rarely feels like you’ve actually killed anything and you only know to stop shooting because the game told you so. [/QUOTE] The crosshair lighting up and audio feedback when you get hits would be nice. In MWLL, ballistic and missile weapons would give you a quick beep if they scored a hit. It was very satisfying to blast an enemy in face with 80 missiles and then hearing about 80 beeps. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjzW6JV80bI[/media] It could be tied into some sort of weapons computer or sensors; if you're firing at an enemy with no sensor signature, the feedback wouldn't play.

You do get audio feedback on both shield-absorbed and damaging hits in AC. At least, I do in an Aurora LX and a 325a. [video=youtube;CwmXAmyIWfQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwmXAmyIWfQ[/video] That sound could be louder, though. At least in the combat-oriented ships (Hornet, 325a, etc.).

By the way, remember that joystick controlled floating crosshair gimballed thing we were talking about the other day? Star Citizen already has that when you press RAlt+M. Technically all that does is make the camera look ahead into turns, but it has the side effect of also aiming the gimbals forward into turns if you have them. If you have a ship with pure gimbals then it affords you slightly more off-angle firing when using the mouse. With the joystick it theoretically gives you a little more precision, probably moreso if you had something even slower than a Hornet, but it's not a huge difference. Looks kinda cool though to have a more dynamic view.

It's been a year since i last tried this. Can you actually play with a mouse and keyboard now? Because last time i tried, the aiming and everything was just horrible.

If you have gimballed weapons, playing with mouse and keyboard is very easy and pretty nice. I have issues with the gigantic flight dead zone when using gimballed weapons, but your mileage may vary. If you don't have gimballed weapons you can use either the virtual joystick (LAlt), which works pretty well, or you can use relative mode (LCtrl+C) and fly the ship like in Battlefield. Control-wise, the current game is like a whole new game compared to when it was first released a year ago.

[QUOTE=Adarrek;47469571]It's been a year since i last tried this. Can you actually play with a mouse and keyboard now? Because last time i tried, the aiming and everything was just horrible.[/QUOTE] Since the initial release they've reworked how the RCS thrusters work; ships now actually look in the direction you're aiming without the godawful jinking motion they had at release. It's very much playable with mouse+keyboard.

[QUOTE=Why485;47469330]By the way, remember that joystick controlled floating crosshair gimballed thing we were talking about the other day? Star Citizen already has that when you press RAlt+M. Technically all that does is make the camera look ahead into turns, but it has the side effect of also aiming the gimbals forward into turns if you have them. If you have a ship with pure gimbals then it affords you slightly more off-angle firing when using the mouse. With the joystick it theoretically gives you a little more precision, probably moreso if you had something even slower than a Hornet, but it's not a huge difference. Looks kinda cool though to have a more dynamic view.[/QUOTE] I did mention this when i found it. It gives you faster aiming and more aim range when turning. There are a few people on the RSI forums that swear by it's effectiveness for what that's worth, but most people dont seem to know it exists. Personally i tried it and it felt a lot better than it did in your prototype, i think its a good solution but the question is, is it worth sacrificing damage for the gimbals on joystick. Hard to say when the best weapon is a size 1 right now.

[url]https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/249391/1-1-0-now-on-public-test-universe[/url] they deleted this post since it was too early, but it used to say: [QUOTE]Good morning all, We’ve pushed a test build of 1.1.1 to the Public Test Universe this morning. We'll have further patch notes later this week, but headliners are: [B]-Gladiator is Flight Ready![/B] [B]-Gunner Seat Functionality for both the Gladiator and the Super Hornet[/B] -Sledge II game balancing -REC adjustments -Various bug fixes, including for the first of many client optimizations, assorted fixes for client crashes, and updates to improve multiplayer stability (though we still have some outstanding items to work on) As soon as we feel 1.1.1 on PTU is stable, we’ll be pushing it out 1.1.1 to the Live Service (as early as tomorrow, but we’ll notify you here with further updates). Instructions for Public Test Universe: Log on to [url]https://robertsspaceindustries.com[/url] with your normal credentials. Click My RSI on the top right, then My Account, then Public Test Universe (in yellow) or go to [url]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/account/ptu[/url]. Click “Copy account to PTU” to start the account copy process over from the Live Service to the PTU Service. This process may take several minutes to complete. Once done, you’ll receive an email with your PTU password and additional instructions for how to access the service.[/QUOTE] basic multicrew functionality coming this week!

Welp, I'm grinding REC tonight, then. :v: But, nice. Especially if Gladiators go into the REC store.

I will never have to farm for REC like the peasant above me. :v: [IMG]http://a.pomf.se/nuqtav.PNG[/IMG]

Just got 66k from my six months of Centurion subscription. Was expecting that you'd need to have a year. Guess they decided to sweeten the pot that much more. Still probably going to farm a few VS matches anyway, since I started the timer on another day for that video above.

How do you get REC anyway?

Play online in not free flight.

The Aurora is actually really growing on me. Like the Hornet, it feels like it has weight to instead of just piloting a high speed first person spectator camera. Although, that has more to do with its dumb thruster arrangement and design than any inherent physical properties of the ship. I used to hate the really quirky handling of the thing, but it adds character and ends up becoming charming in its own weird way. It's a fun ship to fly when you give it top of the line equipment. I've been having fun taking it into Vanduul Swarm Coop and competing with Hornets and Mustangs. [vid]http://a.pomf.se/vwjcjz.webm[/vid] But then I got bisected by a Vanduul blade. I die more to these things than I do their bullets. [vid]http://a.pomf.se/tgnpca.webm[/vid]

The Aurora's also the testbed for the diagetic interfaces, so all of the HUD items are on HUD panels instead of on a helmet (you're helmetless in the Aurora seat). Eventually [I]all[/I] of them will be like that (the more military-oriented ones will likely use the helmet projection tech more than general-purpose consumer ships, I'd imagine). The Aurora has character to it, even though it's not the best dogfighter. I'm definitely holding onto my LX, and I might get an LN, depending on how ship balance goes into the PU. And when you pimp it out with good weapons, it's a reasonably competent dogfighter if you're familiar with fighting in a pressurized coffin. (Spoke a tad too soon, perhaps.) The SH is on the REC store at the moment for subscribers (likely because Imperator subscribers' reward of enough REC for a week's rental of a SH has now kicked in, from the recent subscriber updates). I imagine it'll come to the regular REC store soon enough, but only for temporary periods; either CR or Ben said that limited ships will be in the REC store from time to time like they go back up on the pledge store, only the REC store will have them more frequently than pledging. [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/IOOrar8.png[/IMG] [URL="https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/249553/1-1-1-now-on-public-test-universe"]1.1.1 is now on the PTU[/URL] and [URL="https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/249555/star-citizen-patch-v1-1-1"]patch notes are provided[/URL]. Some highlights, as the list is extensive: [QUOTE]Additions: - Added version control support to the custom control bindings in order to prevent control conflicts - Players can now solve issues where their characters get stuck by opening the console (~), typing in stuck, and hitting enter to respawn the character - Gladiator is now flight ready - [B]Added basic Multiplayer turret functionality to Super Hornet F7C-M, Gladiator, Cutlass[/B] <only in space in free-flight for now, lobby/combat mode support later> - Added custom keybinding options for ESP toggle and to allow toggling between Lag Pips and Lead Indicators[/quote] [quote]Balance/Tweaks: - Tweaked Vanduul Swarm Coop REC amount per wave - Pilots with lower score relative to the average contribute less to the REC pool Ships: - Adjusted rotational thrust on the Mustang Delta and Mustang Beta - Updated Weapon Hard-points on Aurora to reflect brochure specs (2x S1 and 2x S2 guns) [B]<FUCK>[/B] Components: - Balance pass on Sledge 2: Reduced ROF from 125 to 60. Increased Power and Heat pershot to 50. Adjusted Power Regen and Cooling to 25 - Updated Shields on Gladius to reflect brochure specs (S2 to S3 max shield) User Interface - Updated the color of the leaderboard so that it can be seen more easily against bright backgrounds[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]Fixes: Gameplay: - Fix to allow the ability to adjust virtual joystick curves and relative mode sensitivity - Fixed an issue where Matchmaker would match more clients into a game mode than the instance allows - Fixed an issue where the game may crash when loading into a Multiplayer Game Mode - Fixed an issue where players were prevented from connecting to a server - Fixed an issue that could cause G-Force simulation to get out of sync with Black-Out/Red-Out visual effects Ships: - Avenger can no longer equip the Tigerstreik to its wingslot hard-points - Gladius can no longer equip the Scorpion to its wingslot hard-points Components: - Fixed an issue where turrets could not be re-equipped after being removed from a ship Environment: - [B]Fixed an issue where the character's left hand would be flipped when driving the buggy[/B] - Fixed some issues that were causing interacting with the Holotable to be difficult when standing in specific locations[/QUOTE] And then we get to the known issues. Good lord, there are many, but this is a big patch. [QUOTE]Known issues: - Entering or exiting a ship will cause other clients to see the character T-pose - Characters will sometimes fail to animate correctly when exiting the pilot seat after landing - [B]Character will occasionally spawn in as a pair of eyes[/B] - Lateral G-Force head animation is too fast which causes the camera to jerk around while strafing - [I]Client crash occurs when attempting to kick a player from the lobby - Client crash may occur when exiting to the hangar while in an Arena Commander game mode - Client crash may occur when pressing 'x' to respawn after the pilot is killed by flying into an asteroid - Interacting with various elements of a lobby has a chance of causing a client crash for invited players - [/I]Unable to exit the cockpit if one of a ship's landing gear is missing - [B]Multiple ships will sometimes tilt back when landing on landing platforms[/B] - Ladder causes the 300i to wobble once landed - Equipping Longswords on an Aurora's bottom hardpoints will cause the ship to wobble once landed due to excess collision on the weapons - Gladiator's pilot seat deploys and retracts with the landing gear - Gladiator animations for entering the ship are broken - [B]User folder issues can cause weapon ammunition to go missing as well as other ship component malfunctions[/B] <clear the PTU's USER folder whenever something breaks, kids> - Lag pips will drop out with increased distance depending on how quickly a ship is approaching their target (only happens within a few hundred meters) - Shield hardpoint in the holotable is too small for Mustangs and 300 series - Loading back into a lobby will reset the ship selection to its default (sometimes this doesn’t happen visually but still happens on the backend) - Contact List will not refresh with updated adds or removes until the game is reloaded - There are several locations in the hangars where the character can fall out of the world - [B]Wall collision is missing in the upper level of the Revel & York hangar[/B] <if anything funny can be done with this, look forward to the video>[/QUOTE] Well, the REC nerf was coming, and I suppose I should have expected that Aurora nerf to come along and bring it in line with its stats, but two S1 and S2 K&W laser repeaters still tears shit up so I guess I can deal with it. :v: Lots of good fixes. Note that they're not claiming to have squashed all of the matchmaking and multiplayer problems that've been happening, just some of them. [editline]7th April 2015[/editline] Also, so, uh, [URL="https://imgur.com/a/HDW89"]this happened to someone[/URL]. [t]http://i.imgur.com/Wd1O7SR.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/4Wmvcsh.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/DDZ2a8l.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/Zaf2K6A.jpg[/t] [t]http://i.imgur.com/DuSrBek.jpg[/t] If you own an Andromeda, the PTU free-flight lobby will straight up let you select it. Doesn't have any power or thrusters, though, so it just drifts gently until it hits a rock, but it spawns in.

I kinda wish that, (like your video of your Aurora getting bisected), instead of the camera pulling away in 3rd person and text coming up like, "You are Dead" or "Press X to Respawn"; hopefully in the full game you'd still have time to eject or put on your helmet before your ship disintegrates around you, given enough time and enough character health. It just seems kinda cheesy to me right now that, half the time when I die, I have no idea what happened and my camera pulls out to a mashed-up Avenger drifting in a straight line.

how fast do you acquire REC in online matches? I've got 10k and am considering checking out some of the other ships, but I'm cautious of spending it all on a (for instance) a cutlass to dink around with the multiplayer functionality, if I won't be able to make that money back in a reasonable amount of time. Would I be better off purchasing better weapons to play with and earn more REC down the line? also I'd totally be up for joining someone tonight or tomorrow to fiddle with multi-crew stuff, very interesting. Could a second player theoretically have no ship to their account, and just require the dogfight module pass on their account in order to join me?

Pretty fast. Just playing Vanduul Swarm Coop I get 3000-6000 depending on how well I do. So that's like 4500ish about every 20 minutes as a rough estimate. I like it a lot because it lets you experiment with setups and doesn't feel like grinding. You still get the feeling of progression though because the equipment does still cost a good amount, but you can make it up reasonably quick. They're going to nerf it in 1.1.1 unfortunately, which is dumb because grinding in a super buggy game where half the things don't work right or the way they should is pretty ridiculous and the last thing Arena Commander needs.

I'm able to join, although I don't know what the time difference is. I'm able to stay up all night, though. (if you want, I can grab some REC in MP now and get a multiseater)

[QUOTE=Suitcase;47475294]I kinda wish that, (like your video of your Aurora getting bisected), instead of the camera pulling away in 3rd person and text coming up like, "You are Dead" or "Press X to Respawn"; hopefully in the full game you'd still have time to eject or put on your helmet before your ship disintegrates around you, given enough time and enough character health. It just seems kinda cheesy to me right now that, half the time when I die, I have no idea what happened and my camera pulls out to a mashed-up Avenger drifting in a straight line.[/QUOTE] Well, in the full game, there'd be no Press X to Respawn, you'd wake up in the nearest medical unit on a planet. [t]https://cdn.artstation.rocks/p/assets/images/images/000/337/305/large/nicolas-ferrand-medicalunit-nf-v01l-141113.jpg?1417737702[/t] However, the point is that you eject before; on larger ships, like capital ships, the idea is that the ship is probably large enough to not explode all at once, and you'll have a short window of time (potentially very short, depending on the damage) to get from the bridge to the escape pods. This is why taking Vanduul on in the PU is going to be risky -- because you won't be in Arena Commander anymore. AC also more or less requires you to fight to the death, but in the PU, a smart person would fuck right off if they're alone in a swarm of angry Vanduul. I really do wish there was a demo function for playing back matches afterwards with a free camera. I played a VS co-op with a Cutlass pilot last night, and at one point he flew right into my ass (or something) while there was one Vanduul left and he was approaching in from behind me on a run, and I'd really like to be able to see what happened. I did record the match, though; well, up until OBS's encoder crashed 23 minutes in. Maybe I'll find the time and interest to edit it down to a minute or two of highlights. [QUOTE=dai;47475437]how fast do you acquire REC in online matches? I've got 10k and am considering checking out some of the other ships, but I'm cautious of spending it all on a (for instance) a cutlass to dink around with the multiplayer functionality, if I won't be able to make that money back in a reasonable amount of time. Would I be better off purchasing better weapons to play with and earn more REC down the line? also I'd totally be up for joining someone tonight or tomorrow to fiddle with multi-crew stuff, very interesting. Could a second player theoretically have no ship to their account, and just require the dogfight module pass on their account in order to join me?[/QUOTE] At the moment, REC gain is too easy; I got 3.5k in the two-man VS I did with the Cutlass (I outscored him 3:1) in 10 waves, about 30 minutes, and I'd call that average. However, 1.1.1 is going to change the rate REC is earned, particularly in VS co-op, and I don't know exactly how (presumably the gain will be less). Keep in mind that you have 7 24-hour tokens, and you only redeem a token when you log into AC for a new 24-hour period. I'm pretty sure you'd be able to earn, say, 20k REC in 7 days' worth of AC sessions as long as you didn't waste most of them playing offline. At the moment, the multicrew turret stuff is [B]strictly[/B] in multiplayer free-flight. In other words, you have to be able to get into free flight (need a ship package) and land on a platform and then climb into the SH's turret. This is the rawest of raw initial implementations; they intend to have crew slot functionality for the lobby, so you can just be the SH turret gunner and that's your role in the AC match, but that's not here yet (ETA: before or with 2.0, best we got). However, people have asked and CR's commented that they might release fps-only packages, with no ship associated with the account, for people who just want to get into the fps end of things/be crew in the PU. So, in theory, dai, if no-ship packages are available and crew slot lobby functionality is in and working, and you have a buddy who gets in with only the fps and AC passes, he should be able to be your crewmate in Spectrum matches, when (if) that all actually gets added. [editline]7th April 2015[/editline] [QUOTE=Why485;47475534]They're going to nerf it in 1.1 unfortunately, which is dumb because grinding in a super buggy game where half the things don't work right or the way they should is pretty ridiculous and the last thing Arena Commander needs.[/QUOTE] The 1.1.1 PTU patch notes say they added the functionality to be able to set different REC rates for different game modes, so I'm pretty sure they're nerfing coop VS specifically, because people can farm it for REC [I]so[/I] easily. However, what remains to be seen is how hard they nerf it.

solid post, thanks. That also explains to me that the rental "7 cycles of 24 hours" actually means it works on tokens, so it won't expire if you play for one day, then leave for a week. Alleviates my worry about time pretty nicely also from the look of it, my keys need re-binding again. The joys of being a lefty