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

[Toyokunari]

[QUOTE=nightlord;47838477]It's a game that's all about immersion and trying to make it seem like it's not just a video game - so things like instant respawns, no consequences etc are not going to happen. There are plenty of features in the game that aren't 'fun' as such but they add to the overall gameplay experience. Permanent ship destruction and the ability to lose ships is a significant gameplay addition, it's a good thing.

The ship insurance is there so there is some explanation for getting your ship back in some form if it's destroyed, and so you don't just end up losing everything all the time. It still gives you a choice and has meaningful gameplay implications - for example, a ship you've taken from another player may not be able to be insured. If you just got things back with no waiting and not much lost, that would break immersion and there wouldn't be much of a risk in certain situations. It's not going to be the sort of game where things can never go badly. Insurance and permanent ship destruction gives a reason to try to not get your ship destroyed and to be more cautious about what you do with it. It means you can't just go "My ship got destroyed, oh well".

I think it actually adds to the idea of a personalized ship, if you just use a default ship because you're worried about losing it then that's your own choice, but having a specific ship that has survived for a while and that has been added to over time will hopefully make it more appreciated and feel more like your own.[/QUOTE]
No its not, you just end up with people not wanting to die or make insurance so mandatory that there is no point going without insurance. Also no where did I say there is no consequences to dying. Considering there are over 60 star systems and travelling in systems are thought to be about 30 mins and more, losing travel lost is already a significant penalty.

And having plenty of features that are aren't fun is not good game design, you don't necessarily need to have features that aren't fun to add to the overall game-play experience, there are plenty of features that are fun that can add to the overall gameplay experience, its not black and white. Your explanation of why there is a need for insurance can be fulfilled without insurance. With insurance you essentially don't have permanent ship destruction so I don't see what you are saying.

Also what you are saying gives big implications to how we earn ships and weapons, its either earn ships and weapons fast or earn ships and weapons slow if we go with the freelancer style death penalty. It will likely be earn ships and weapons slow but with insurance, and insurance people are expecting that it won't be difficult to buy but frankly its tedious, we don't know if buying insurance is cheap or expensive but if its cheap there is no point to insurance and if its expensive it will feel like the game is forcing us to be productive.

[TheVoidDragon]

[QUOTE=Toyokunari;47840295]No its not, you just end up with people not wanting to die or make insurance so mandatory that there is no point going without insurance. Also no where did I say there is no consequences to dying. Considering there are over 60 star systems and travelling in systems are thought to be about 30 mins and more, losing travel lost is already a significant penalty.

And having plenty of features that are aren't fun is not good game design, you don't necessarily need to have features that aren't fun to add to the overall game-play experience, there are plenty of features that are fun that can add to the overall gameplay experience, its not black and white. Your explanation of why there is a need for insurance can be fulfilled without insurance. With insurance you essentially don't have permanent ship destruction so I don't see what you are saying.

Also what you are saying gives big implications to how we earn ships and weapons, its either earn ships and weapons fast or earn ships and weapons slow if we go with the freelancer style death penalty. It will likely be earn ships and weapons slow but with insurance, and insurance people are expecting that it won't be difficult to buy but frankly its tedious, we don't know if buying insurance is cheap or expensive but if its cheap there is no point to insurance and if its expensive it will feel like the game is forcing us to be productive.[/QUOTE]

Just having a slight inconvenience of time and nothing else is not how things are going to be in the game, that is not an immersive thing to have and it is a reminder it's a game - which is not what the developers want. Not wanting to lose your ship/character is how the game should be played. There should be some meaningful reason to try to avoid it, and so it's actually a bad thing when it does happen, rather than just an inconvenience. It will mean you actually have to think about what is going on and what you're going to do, rather than just doing anything at all because it's not going to really have a significant negative side effect on anything if it goes wrong. Even with insurance you have ship destruction - you aren't getting your ship back, you're getting a basic hull of that type. You have to wait for it to be delivered, and there are only so many times you can have a new ship given through it before there are delays, and you also have to pay for it. You can't insure every ship either, for example you can't with ships you've taken from other players or alien ships, so that gives even more things to consider. It's not just a simple case of having a ship instantly given to you after you lose it, there's more to it than that. They've also said insurance won't be overly expensive for a ship.

Good game design does not have to mean fun all the time. Obviously the overall aim is for it to be fun and enjoyable, but losing and negative consequences are not necessarily meant to be like that. There are plenty of things that aren't going to be always enjoyable in Star Citizen - players being able to take your ship or cargo, waiting for items to be delivered to shops, shops being able to run out of things, other players being able to attack you anywhere, being able to permanently lose your character, being stranded in space etc. This is not going to be a game where everything is done easily and quickly and there is no chance of anything bad happening. Those things are there for gameplay reasons however, they aren't being included just because they want bad things, they all add something to the game. It wouldn't be the same if there weren't any possibility of things like that happening. The game isn't aimed at players who want everything done the fastest or simplest way, it's trying to make a full immersive universe that doesn't seem like a game in many ways.

[Toyokunari]

What you said can be done without insurance, if insurance won't be expensive there is simply no point to having it as I have said. If you read between the lines you will find I don't like insurance because it imposes a time limit.

As for your game design response, I may have worded my response wrong because fun is a highly subjective word and does not show whether its good or bad, game design should always contribute to making the overall experience fun and negative consequence have a part in making it fun. Maybe we agree on the same thing? I have no disagreement with that and that the game should not be aimed at the fastest or simplest way, but again my argument is solely on insurance.

[TheVoidDragon]

[QUOTE=Toyokunari;47841074]What you said can be done without insurance, if insurance won't be expensive there is simply no point to having it as I have said. If you read between the lines you will find I don't like insurance because it imposes a time limit.
[/QUOTE]

How can it, though? How can you give players a reason not to want to lose their ships, in a way that doesn't involve a time or money cost (which is what insurance currently is), that stops certain players and ships from getting it? It has to be something with a reasonable in-universe explanation as well to fit in the amount of immersion the game is going for, so it can't just be an obvious game-like mechanic like just having it magically appear again for some reason. The time you have to wait to get a new ship is explained by it having to wait for a new ship to be manufactured and delivered to you, with larger ships taking more time. Just going back to where you took off from does not make any sense and it's not going to be that sort of game, having to go back all that way would be inconvenient but that's it - other than the cargo loss, it hasn't really affected them. Having it be something that isn't automatically given to all players means it's something they have to think about and is something that doesn't apply to everyone or all ships. If it only cost money/cargo instead of there being a wait time for replacements as well wouldn't be as much of a downside for some players if they have lots of money, as it would still be cheaper than just buying a new ship. If it takes say a few days to get your ship back, you're going to be more cautious with it.

There's also other things to consider about it, there are limitations to what you can do even when it's an insured ship:

[quote]Will this Insurance cost a lot?

Like in real-life, insurance should be a relatively small part of your regular in game expenses which will also include paying landing fees, trade tariffs (if in a system with lots of infrastructure and law and order), fuel (if you don’t collect it yourself from a gas giant), buying cargo to trade, hiring help, making upgrades to your ship or even buying a whole new ship.
Some of the additional policies like upgrade or cargo insurance will be rated based on risk levels. Risk level 1 being the safest systems and risk level 5 being the most dangerous system that is insurable for cargo or upgrades. Any risk level over 5 is un-insurable. A risk 3 policy for cargo will cover you for all cargo losses in a risk 3 system or below. The higher the risk level of the policy the more it will cost. As with the base insurance this will not be crippling financially but instead be a reasonable running cost that relates to the risk / reward profile of the systems flown.[/quote]

[url]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/faq/Insurance-FAQ[/url]

[elix]

Also keep in mind that if you've rented some NPC Crew on a multicrew ship, and your ship blows up, RIP those NPCs and now you get to hire new ones.

And, in theory, you may have to pay more if you have a reputation of taking crew into firey deaths (and somehow being the only one to come out alive). This is speculation on my part and not a confirmed PU feature, but it's a logical minor thing to add.

Remember that there are also parts of the universe where insurance is less of a sure thing than others. I'm pretty sure no insurance policy is going to cover my scheduled vacation schedule of spending three weeks playing Freeze Tag with the entire Vanduul camp sitting on and around [URL="http://starcitizen.wikia.com/wiki/Tiber_system"]The Tomb in Tiber II[/URL]. You take on more of the consequences as the baseline risk increases.

[Archangel125]

[QUOTE=Toyokunari;47840295]No its not, you just end up with people not wanting to die or make insurance so mandatory that there is no point going without insurance. Also no where did I say there is no consequences to dying. Considering there are over 60 star systems and travelling in systems are thought to be about 30 mins and more, losing travel lost is already a significant penalty.

And having plenty of features that are aren't fun is not good game design, you don't necessarily need to have features that aren't fun to add to the overall game-play experience, there are plenty of features that are fun that can add to the overall gameplay experience, its not black and white. Your explanation of why there is a need for insurance can be fulfilled without insurance. With insurance you essentially don't have permanent ship destruction so I don't see what you are saying.

Also what you are saying gives big implications to how we earn ships and weapons, its either earn ships and weapons fast or earn ships and weapons slow if we go with the freelancer style death penalty. It will likely be earn ships and weapons slow but with insurance, and insurance people are expecting that it won't be difficult to buy but frankly its tedious, we don't know if buying insurance is cheap or expensive but if its cheap there is no point to insurance and if its expensive it will feel like the game is forcing us to be productive.[/QUOTE]

This won't be Casual citizen. Travel time? Bah. You WANT people to be afraid of dying. Pirates will think twice before attacking merchant vessels. People won't be fighting all the time, they'll actively try to avoid combat with other players unless necessary.

[Mbbird]

this thread

[vid]http://i.imgur.com/GZZivnZ.webm[/vid]

[ithon]

[img]http://cdn.wcnews.com/newestshots/full/hamilltweet.png[/img]
via wcnews.com

I gotta, I gotta believe.

[Korro Bravin]

[QUOTE=Ithon;47845254]
via wcnews.com

I gotta, I gotta believe.[/QUOTE]

... There is no way... [Sp]still want Nathan fillion tho[/sp]

[elix]

I'm holding out hope that one Mr. Stephen Fry is in London for more than QI tapings.

[dai]

officially sanctioned forum poll on which ship we want to see next in ship shape

[url]https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/265010/what-ship-do-you-want-to-see-next-in-ship-shape/p1[/url]

[thisguy123]

I'm seeing the massive capital ships and I gotta say, I don't care if it takes me a MILLION years to get one I WANT ONE!

I would grind my backside off to have one and knowing I could take a tour of my own ship... like ACTUALLY WALK AROUND ON IT, and get into a fighter docked into it's bay, and play an FPS shooter to defend it vs boarders.

I have dreamt of a game like this for years... YEARS I TELL YOU!

[elix]

You'll probably be able to earn an Idris in a somewhat reasonable amount of time (within a year) even working solo, and you'll get that experience with smaller ships than that. A Javelin might be a lot more work.

First person to secure a (non-pledge) capship for FPCorp should get Gold Member. :v

[thisguy123]

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;47847787]You'll probably be able to earn an Idris in a somewhat reasonable amount of time (within a year) even working solo, and you'll get that experience with smaller ships than that. A Javelin might be a lot more work.

First person to secure a (non-pledge) capship for FPCorp should get Gold Member. :v[/QUOTE]

Capships along with mechs(and tanks) and high explosive ordinance(The two former tend to be great purveyors of the latter), preferably a combination of all three is... well there's a fetish and then there's that feeling only Buddhist turbo monks get. It's not a dirty primal feeling of gratification response but a more pure state of mind in that you and the universe are of one mind of this. This universe was born of an explosion, and it is the closest thing I have to a religion in that I worship this universal starting point by attempting to replicate it as frequently and as closely(rad, As big as) possible.

[krail]

[QUOTE=dai;47847366]officially sanctioned forum poll on which ship we want to see next in ship shape

[url]https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/265010/what-ship-do-you-want-to-see-next-in-ship-shape/p1[/url][/QUOTE]

isn't the merchantman currently in limbo? good job community

[elix]

[QUOTE=thisguy123;47848080]Capships along with mechs(and tanks) and high explosive ordinance(The two former tend to be great purveyors of the latter), preferably a combination of all three is... well there's a fetish and then there's that feeling only Buddhist turbo monks get. It's not a dirty primal feeling of gratification response but a more pure state of mind in that you and the universe are of one mind of this. This universe was born of an explosion, and it is the closest thing I have to a religion in that I worship this universal starting point by attempting to replicate it as frequently and as closely(rad, As big as) possible.[/QUOTE]

We've found our Hull E-filled-with-antimatter-bombs pilot.

How good are you at shouting "allah ahkbar" into comms?

[QUOTE=krail9;47848116]isn't the merchantman currently in limbo? good job community[/QUOTE]

Banu MM owners aren't any less antsy now than they were six months ago.

[Capgun]

[QUOTE=dai;47847366]officially sanctioned forum poll on which ship we want to see next in ship shape

[url]https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/265010/what-ship-do-you-want-to-see-next-in-ship-shape/p1[/url][/QUOTE]

(Sigh) 6% on the 300 series...

[deathmog]

:C
I wish I could see the rework, we've been waiting so long

[Zombie]

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;47847787]
First person to secure a (non-pledge) capship for FPCorp should get Gold Member. :v[/QUOTE]

This reminds me of something I was meaning to ask.

What exactly are the ranks in the corp? Is it just "lowest to highest" like a general corp?

[thisguy123]

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;47848126]We've found our Hull E-filled-with-antimatter-bombs pilot.

How good are you at shouting "allah ahkbar" into comms?

[/QUOTE]

I can do a pretty damn good "FOR QUEEN AND COUNTRY!"

[elix]

[QUOTE=Mr. Zombie;47848400]This reminds me of something I was meaning to ask.

What exactly are the ranks in the corp? Is it just "lowest to highest" like a general corp?[/QUOTE]

Jono's out for a couple weeks on military service, and I'm not sure who else would have the answer.

However, with orgs, the titles are mostly roleplay, but there are actual roles that grant rights that are a separate designation (someone could be one of the lowliest of the title ranks but still have the ability to invite people, for example, if an org decided to do that).

[video=youtube;SGHW2e8BCm4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGHW2e8BCm4[/video]

01:11 - Reputation System
04:31 - Eavesdropping on NPCs
06:03 - In-Fiction TV
08:26 - Search and Rescue
10:28 - Player Journal
12:01 - Politics
13:17 - Interactive Conversations
17:08 - Writing Process
19:35 - Approval Process
21:55 - Flashbacks

I like the notion that you'll be able to absorb missions by eavesdropping, and I hope that they figure out the technical feasibility of simply allowing you to decide your own response -- are you going to intercept the hauler convoy during their route, or are you going to try and beat them to it?

I also like that the writers are already laying the groundwork for a virtual media ecosystem within the 'Verse, where different characters and outlets have personal histories and individual biases, and that hopefully there will be ongoing video content from some of these personalities that react to the evolving 'Verse.

Arena Commander is the obvious choice for historical scenario recreations. Better yet, have military-oriented historical scenarios be available on the on-board 'arena commander' sim in your S42 ship. This would also be an opportunity, if they wanted, to show divergence between the official narrative of events and the one the Navy knows to be true (and may have covered up, possibly under Messer orders).

On the topic of humanitarian aid and relief, I think it'd be pretty cool for FPCorp to have organized convoys to deliver humanitarian aid to planets. It'd offset the bad things other members would probably be doing. My Hull B (to start with) would need one or two small ships as escorts, but I'm sure we could get more than just me hauling.

[Links]

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;47858195]Jono's out for a couple weeks on military service, and I'm not sure who else would have the answer.

However, with orgs, the titles are mostly roleplay, but there are actual roles that grant rights that are a separate designation (someone could be one of the lowliest of the title ranks but still have the ability to invite people, for example, if an org decided to do that).[/QUOTE]

It's pretty much exactly that for now, with more powers to come related to your position in-game when it gets to that point.

For example, back when orgs were new and FPCORP was getting affiliate requests, I'm the Marketing Team so I wrote back in sarcastic semi-official lore answers and asked in here for ideas on what to send, and Jono sent it out for laughs. I also wrote up the FPCORP History, Lore, Manifesto, and Charter. When the game comes up, Marketing was described as being able to make the in-game advertisements to fly on sides of ships and screens and stuff among other things but that's a ways off.

The ranks right now don't mean much aside from marking who's available more often and willing to do extra things. I don't think anyone here will go out of their way to fuck with you just because you're a baby rank. There are probably other details that I'm missing or are upcoming as well.

[dai]

for a peek into how ranks/titles work, this is the available settings

[t]http://i.imgur.com/wVpI4MR.png[/t]
[t]http://i.imgur.com/W9suX05.png[/t]

you can assign one rank, but any number of roles, per member.

[dai]

some leaked potential sound upgrades

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLiXS4zEUNk[/media]

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYyZBiyNU54[/media]

bout time they made things a little less 'pew pew'

[Zombie]

Those sound fucking scary.

[alex141]

Don't know if anyone posted this, I came across some nice Gladiator renders on Artstation from one of the artists:

[URL]https://www.artstation.com/artist/trevelyan[/URL]

[IMG]https://cdn.artstation.com/p/assets/images/images/000/765/010/small/matthew-johns-01.jpg?1433271327[/IMG]

[SGT-Spartans]

Just bought me a Freelancer, I'm in the star citizen waiting game.

[elix]

Welcome to the digital spaceship owners' club! Here's your plush seat for the waiting room. You'll be here a while. Also, the leak shows that the Freelancer's going to get bigger and be more ship than it previously was, so prepare for changes to the big ol' space truck.

[video=youtube;GrUFKuxO6so]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrUFKuxO6so[/video]

I'm 99.9% sure that the Genesis Starliner's shape is being teased in the Meridian Transit logo. Basically confirmed during the second bit, about Stanton at 21:49, since it mentions the Genesis by name.
[vid]http://i.imgur.com/TKXNO5Q.webm[/vid]

[video=youtube;TtSK4uoYstk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtSK4uoYstk[/video]

[video=youtube;Qbjv_thchBo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbjv_thchBo[/video]

[video=youtube;VEsblMdcj54]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEsblMdcj54[/video]
This video is of the rework WIP Connie that's in the leaked build, and there's a bunch of looking around in the interior. Skip to about 4:00 if you want to see the front half of the textured, semi-polished-up segment.

I'm not a Connie owner, and now I really want one, because judging by the floor, every surface is going to be Alien: Isolation-grade or better graphics fidelity. However, this should be the standard applied to eventually all the ships, and so I'm [I]really[/I] excited about the ships I already do have -- a Connie is still on my "in the PU" list.

Also, AtV, 26:15 - Travis states that fps access is going to be a phased rollout based on your citizen number, with invites to fps PTU access going out in waves from the earliest up.

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/5rttO7a.png[/IMG]
[I]fuuuuuuuuucccckkkk me[/I]

[Techbot]

Too bad I waited until I had the money to get the Rear Admiral package back then. Should've just got an Aurora or something first.

[t]http://3kv.in/~techbot/ShareX/2015/06/10-25_27.png[/t]

[FlandersNed]

[QUOTE=Techbot;47883112]Too bad I waited until I had the money to get the Rear Admiral package back then. Should've just got an Aurora or something first.

[t]http://3kv.in/~techbot/ShareX/2015/06/10-25_27.png[/t][/QUOTE]

Where does it say the citizen record?

EDIT: Nevermind, found it. I'm #107228.