Star Citizen Megathread v. procedurally-generated deadlines - Games

[QUOTE=archangel125;52781255] Elite may have tighter combat flight mechanics, but that's because it deliberately and artificially limits what you can do, whereas Star Citizen allows for greater freedom of movement in a dogfight.[/QUOTE] It's more of a matter of how the basic ship flight mechanics are actually implemented. As far as I can tell, in Elite when you start strafing or whatever, it just applies a straight, ramping force in the direction you wish to go, with the strength depending on your particular ship, mass, engines, etc. So if I push the 'strafe up' button, it will apply a force straight through the center of mass of the ship In Star Citizen, movement is done through multiple actual thrusters on the ship, which respond to commands given to it by the flight computer, which is what you actually use to control the ship. They have to rotate into position, but I believe they instantaneously rotate nowadays - It was absolutely [I]shit [/I]when they actually had to spin to position. So if I'm in my 300i and I say 'strafe up', the command gets sent to the computer, which then says that it needs to rotate my port and starboard thrusters 45 degrees down, the nose thruster 90 degrees down, and that it needs to fire them at 30%,30%, and 80% strength, respectively. But if I simultaneously press 'strafe backwards', the thrusters have to redirect, slowing me down. It also used to cause the ship to jiggle like a piece of Jello®, though IIRC that was resolved. All this removes you from [I]direct[/I] control of the ship. It's like the difference between cars with hydraulic power steering, and the (often badly calibrated) electronic power steering on most new cars; even a landbarge hydraulic car has more responsive steering feedback than the tiny city car with electronic steering. Elite's flight physics make much more sense for the game's artstyle. It uses silly Star Wars-esque ships, so it uses simple physics that works well with its ships. Star Citizen uses silly Star Wars-esque ships, and then it uses super-realistic [I]Children of a Dead Earth[/I]-tier physics, so they have to apply ludicrous bandaids to everything about the typically badly-designed ships, leading to insanity like tiny strafing thrusters being more powerful than the main engine, the Mustang being incapable of flying in a straight line without firing its ventral thrusters 24/7, or the Super Hornet being incapable of strafing efficiently in certain directions because its thrusters are all off-balance. One basic, quick change that could fix this would be to replace the gimballed maneuvering thrusters with [url=https://i.imgur.com/xEmgiiS.png]fixed RCS blocks[/url] like those used on the Apollo missions or like what you use in KSP. There's some aerospace engineer that posted about this on the SC forums too. The Star Citizen model is certainly more advanced, but their implementation of it with respect to the ships just feels like crap. If they had designed the ships to work with the physics model (i.e. based on reality), it wouldn't be half the problem it is today. A few ships feel alright like the 300-series, but so many ships have glaring design flaws. There's a multitude of other reasons why Elite just feels [I]nice[/I] to fly, chief among them being the 10/10 sound design and the instantly understandable and [I]legible[/I] heads-up-display. At the moment SC's ships don't sound particularly good except for the Bitching Betty in a few manufacturers (mmm AEGIS Combat Assist), weapons sounds are mostly 'eh', and half the HUD is rendered in squint-o-vision text plastered with acronyms and then often jammed in a MFD you can't actually see without a headtracker. I'm going to steal more of [url=http://why485.tumblr.com/post/81114833610/i-decided-to-build-a-boron-mako-in-kerbal-space]Why485's content[/url]: This is what SC is doing, in hyperbole: [t]http://78.media.tumblr.com/833c16cda1aad51f1fddcc872c469a79/tumblr_n37xbvu8WG1r9waklo2_1280.jpg[/t] You take a silly space ship (X2's Boron Mako) [t]http://78.media.tumblr.com/338de608e61cb9850ee521e087f0b9b4/tumblr_n37xbvu8WG1r9waklo3_1280.jpg[/t] You give it realistic physics [t]http://78.media.tumblr.com/d71d99299d34d71210d5ceedec75e829/tumblr_n37xbvu8WG1r9waklo1_400.gif[/t] And then let it soar in the heavens

[QUOTE=Sgt. Khorn;52781290]At least elite dangerous works with vr, and I liked that part of it. If SC gets vr again, I'm not sure how easy it'd be to switch out of.[/QUOTE] VR support is still very much confirmed. It's a when thing, because framerate is [I]nowhere[/I] near where it needs to be for even barely-acceptable VR. The helmet UI was redesigned earlier this year to work with variable FOV, and that was seen as a huge step towards foundational VR support. Star Engine (CIG's modified CE/Lumberyard) is based on CryEng 3.7.x. I can't remember the exact subversion but it is at least far enough along in the 3.7 branch to include Linux and VR support on the engine level. All that is missing right now is for CIG to build VR support into the interaction and keybind system, set up appropriate user-facing configuration options, make sure all ships/equipment/situations work with VR and don't cause you to fucking die through some sort of physics cockup, and for performance to be increased to the point that it can be played without making everyone puke from laggy response. One big thing in that list is the interaction system. It makes no sense to build in VR before Item 2.0 and the Inner Thought interaction system is finished rolling out to all ships. At best it would be appropriate to begin VR support as Item 2.0 is rolled out in cockpits (which an ongoing effort that'll last past 3.0.0) because at that point there's actually a reason to look between your legs or to the sides, other than looking out the windows. If VR had been implemented before, they'd have to redo a bunch of work to make Item 2.0's interactions work cleanly with a VR-wearing player -- at potentially turbo vomit performance speeds if you dare go into 3.0 PTU outside of a clean empty server. It's the age-old backer mantra: "Is X feature going to be in Star Citizen? Yes! When? :mystery: "

Is 3.0 out yet?

No, Probably mid or end of November Also, its best to ask that when its Thursday night in the US, thats when they post bug count and that shows when.

[QUOTE=Bradyns;52794994]Is 3.0 out yet?[/QUOTE] when in doubt, see thread title tbh

[video=youtube;MGigO-bvOBo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGigO-bvOBo[/video] [IMG]https://i.imgur.com/F9KjRB0.png[/IMG] Burndown: 23 kiosk/commodities blockers last week ->5 fixed, 7 added (3 of them [I]blocker[/I] priority) -> [B]25[/B] blockers as of Thursday end of day [video=youtube;q0HXZSvc96E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0HXZSvc96E[/video] [URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch/16182-TRACKER-Chaos-In-Kiel"]This week's lorepost is how the computers handling bounty hunter contracts in Kiel were hacked, creating tons of false positives.[/URL] This week, posts have been going up about the upcoming ship matrix redo, focusing on different aspects of ship stats and information. - [URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/engineering/16163-The-Shipyard-Careers-And-Roles"]Ship roles and career gameplay[/URL] - [URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/engineering/16170-The-Shipyard-Ship-Mass"]Ship masses[/URL] - [URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/engineering/16172-The-Shipyard-Ship-Technical-Information"]Technical information[/URL] Entries still to come, presumably in the leadup to CitizenCon: Thrusters, ordnance hardpoints, weapon hardpoints, misc hardpoints, turrets, variants and modules, and SCU and cargo.

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;52799982][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/F9KjRB0.png[/IMG] Burndown: 23 kiosk/commodities blockers last week ->5 fixed, 7 added (3 of them [I]blocker[/I] priority) -> [B]25[/B] blockers as of Thursday end of day[/QUOTE] It's amazing thinking about how development never really stops on this game, how they have studios all around the world that pick up the work when another studio puts it down. Friday's production schedule: [t]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/j56kya0yqv9zor/source/Must-FIx-Issues_102017.png[/t] They smashed out 3 blockers, a critical and a moderate within the time between ATV and the Production Schedule update.

The new critical bugs were all ones added in that upswing you see going into Thursday, as covered on Burndown. They all got squashed Friday. That's the thing about $161 million (and counting). Sure, it buys you a space door, but it also buys the best talent available.

can someone explain what a blocker / critical / high / moderate is in reference to? bugs? a blocker being such a bad bug that it needs to be fixed ASAP?

[QUOTE=loopoo;52809784]can someone explain what a blocker / critical / high / moderate is in reference to? bugs? a blocker being such a bad bug that it needs to be fixed ASAP?[/QUOTE] blocker blocks either release or progress, and denotes the highest priority. These have to be done first because sometimes they'll be the cause of critical/high/moderate bugs. Critical means ASAP, drastically affecting quality of the software or causing instability. High/Moderate are just further gradients of that. JIRA tasks for dayzzzz, lads

Yeah, it's JIRA categorization. A blocker is an issue (a bug, generally) that is so severe it makes the game unplayable in some way. If spawning a ship makes the entire server crash, that's a blocker. If the client just straight up crashes within 5 minutes 100% of the time, that's a blocker. If all interaction terminals break and you can't summon ships or open airlocks, that's a blocker because you can't do anything without console commands. :v: Basically what paindoc said.

i wonder how much CIG pays to atlassian tbh

The new UI for Jira is terrible

[QUOTE=archival;52810188]Jira is terrible[/QUOTE] FTFY

we previously didn't have any organization to our software dev at work: people would both be on the same task without realizing it so i don't love jira but its nice finally having actual software dev organization and shit going on [editline]23rd October 2017[/editline] this is not a good thing for spacecraft systems, either... the lack of organization, and all :V

If i use the ship upgrade option on the website to go from a Mustang to an Avenger Titan, is that the only thing that changes? The rest of my package stays the same?

Yes, everything about your package remains perfectly the same except for the ship. Your insurance doesn't change, your package benefits (if it includes SQ42/etc.) don't change, only the ship you receive with that particular purchased package.

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;52813431]Yes, everything about your package remains perfectly the same except for the ship. Your insurance doesn't change, your package benefits (if it includes SQ42/etc.) don't change, only the ship you receive with that particular purchased package.[/QUOTE] Which is very great if the ship you are upgrading from has LTI

Pretty glad I chose to upgrade to the Reliant from an Aurora tbh, was relatively cheap and that ship has quite a bit more character than the space-civic that is the Aurora

So I backed this game during it's Kickstarter. I believe $40, and I got the Aurora package. Will I log on and see any awesome benefits to backing the game so early, or are all these things people talk about stuff you actively had to buy after the kickstarter?

[QUOTE=loopoo;52813788]So I backed this game during it's Kickstarter. I believe $40, and I got the Aurora package. Will I log on and see any awesome benefits to backing the game so early, or are all these things people talk about stuff you actively had to buy after the kickstarter?[/QUOTE] [URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/funding-goals"]Everything on this page[/URL] that is a "back before this tier and get X thing in-game" belongs to you if you backed in the Kickstarter, except for possibly a few of the very first ones depending on [I]exactly[/I] when you paid in. For example, [QUOTE]Exclusive RECORD BREAKER ship skin and 1000 additional credits on launch for all backers who pledge before the $5.5 million stretch goal.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]All backers who pledge before June 28, 2013 will receive a Roberts Space Industries Class II space suit in their hangar.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]Every pledger who backs before $16 million will receive a laser pistol. Keep your ship safe from boarders with a pistol by your side.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]Every pledger who backs before $17 million will receive a ship upgrade package containing an engine modifier.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]Exclusive star system for pre-launch backers. Only players who support the game before its launch will receive the computer coordinates needed to allow their jump drives to access this system.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]Explorer-class mobiGlas Rig – Every player who backs before we hit $42 million will start the game with their own, visually distinctive mobiGlas “ExoGlas” rig which can be used to access the Observist at any time. I’ve charged the mobiGlas team with a very difficult task: creating a realistic interface that will help keep your affairs in order in an expansive galaxy that we hope players will expand in unknown directions. It’s almost like building our own in fiction operating system for an imagined future, and it’s very different task than building spaceships. This backer-exclusive mobiGlas kit will come pre-loaded with additional galactic information that new players would ordinarily need to explore or barter to fill out; it’s our way of honoring the information you’ve collected about the Star Citizen universe through the RSI site and community over the past year![/QUOTE] [QUOTE][t]https://i.ytimg.com/vi/sQZBjaSem-A/maxresdefault.jpg[/t] Towel – And of course, everyone who backs before we hit $42 million will also receive a towel for their hangar. Don’t explore the galaxy without it![/QUOTE] [QUOTE]Xi’An Space Plant – Similar to a bonsai tree, the Centennial Bloom is a very famous Xi’An plant indigenous to Eealus III that blossoms for one night every one hundred years. They sell the plants in sealed terrariums to traders. Ever since their introduction to the UEE, Humanity has been fascinated by these beautiful plants and the wait for them to bloom.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]10,000 UEC – In honor of the goal, we’re giving 10,000 UEC to every backer that you can use for upgrades and flair in the Voyager Direct Store. I’d advise you hold on to the creds: we’re going to have some cool configurable weapons and other upgrades for Arena Commander in the near future! 10,000 UEC may not seem like a lot, but at this stage in the game it actually means we’re giving our backers several million dollars to outfit their ships![/QUOTE] Some of these rewards, like the towel and the space plant, are out there and in peoples' in-game inventories. Others haven't been delivered yet on account of prioritization. Why bother making the custom Exo-class mobiGlas model before mobiGlas is 100% locked in and you know the design specs aren't going to change? If you log into the RSI website and go into your [URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/account/pledges"]My Hangar page[/URL], you should see all the crap you've accumulated from various passive unlocks and rewards, whether or not it's been implemented into the live game yet. You don't get any free ships for backing early.

So I got a Merchantman during the Australia GST sale, it's got a good 60 months insurance, and I also have a Cyclone with LTI. Any way of melting them/etc. to swap that LTI over to the Merchantman?

No. You can't move insurance around like that, and Cyclone CCUs are limited and can't be used as a "get any ship with LTI" token. If there was a way to CCU from the Cyclone to the Banu MM, yes you could, but there isn't. Plus you'd be paying the "full" cost of the BMM when it's next available for sale, meaning whatever its price point at that time, rather than the price you got your current one. e.g. when the Starfarer went up in price by $100. CIG is tightening up the upgrade policy after realizing just how ridiculously it's been abused by a tiny crowd of grey market flippers making tons of money off SC's back. And that's why we can't have nice things like Cyclone->any ship.

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;52815310]No. You can't move insurance around like that, and Cyclone CCUs are limited and can't be used as a "get any ship with LTI" token. If there was a way to CCU from the Cyclone to the Banu MM, yes you could, but there isn't. Plus you'd be paying the "full" cost of the BMM when it's next available for sale, meaning whatever its price point at that time, rather than the price you got your current one. e.g. when the Starfarer went up in price by $100. CIG is tightening up the upgrade policy after realizing just how ridiculously it's been abused by a tiny crowd of grey market flippers making tons of money off SC's back. And that's why we can't have nice things like Cyclone->any ship.[/QUOTE] I think the no Cyclone- ->any ship is due to a decission from them to keep land and space vehicles separate, since you can, no problem, upgrade an X1 to any larger ship, but they mentioned that the Cyclone can only be CCUd into future ground vehicles.

[QUOTE=ulvemann43;52815363]I think the no Cyclone- ->any ship is due to a decission from them to keep land and space vehicles separate, since you can, no problem, upgrade an X1 to any larger ship, but they mentioned that the Cyclone can only be CCUd into future ground vehicles.[/QUOTE] That's probably true, but it's still a restriction on the previously free-for-all CCU system. We had that little incident with you and the Nox where CIG's policy "changes" (not really a change so much as a new rule for a new category of ship) caught us by surprise. CIG announced that there would be reforms and changes to the CCU system because they now need it to be not so wildly flexible for game design planning reasons, and those reforms are still slated to happen. $0 CCUs are going to be expiring from peoples' accounts in some fashion with 3.0, but CIG hasn't yet rolled out the details of how that's going to go down. But if Lord Hayden got hold of a ship that doesn't have CCU restrictions, such as a P-72 Archimedes, yes, the old upgrade rules are still the same and the LTI ship could be turned into a Banu MM with the melted store credit from LH's existing MM -- but LH would have to pay whatever CIG's new price is for the MM, since it's likely to see a price increase when it's reintroduced (it's supposedly being worked on now, per the schedule report, and due to be finished near the end of Q2 2018) unless CIG are sweethearts and bring it back for CCU at the previous price during the upcoming anniversary sale.

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;52815392]That's probably true, but it's still a restriction on the previously free-for-all CCU system. We had that little incident with you and the Nox where CIG's policy "changes" (not really a change so much as a new rule for a new category of ship) caught us by surprise. CIG announced that there would be reforms and changes to the CCU system because they now need it to be not so wildly flexible for game design planning reasons, and those reforms are still slated to happen. $0 CCUs are going to be expiring from peoples' accounts in some fashion with 3.0, but CIG hasn't yet rolled out the details of how that's going to go down. But if Lord Hayden got hold of a ship that doesn't have CCU restrictions, such as a P-72 Archimedes, yes, the old upgrade rules are still the same and the LTI ship could be turned into a Banu MM with the melted store credit from LH's existing MM -- but LH would have to pay whatever CIG's new price is for the MM, since it's likely to see a price increase when it's reintroduced (it's supposedly being worked on now, per the schedule report, and due to be finished near the end of Q2 2018) unless CIG are sweethearts and bring it back for CCU at the previous price during the upcoming anniversary sale.[/QUOTE] I thought the only change they wanted was to remove 0$ CCUs so that people couldn't wildly swap between ships that cost the same. Though, i thought the BMM already got a price increase, i could swear it was worth 350 in the sale alongside the defender, while its original price was in the 200s. Edit: Yeah i just checked. Its original price was 250, but it is now worth 350, given how much mine is worth. And i highly doubt it will see another price increase.

[URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch/16203-DataCache-Hide-And-Seek"]Shit's going down at the Xi'An panel at Citizencon, in-lore.[/URL] We're still getting the Wednesday and Thursday YouTube shows despite CitizenCon being this Friday.

So my best bet for LTI on a Merchantman would be to buy a new ship with LTI during the anniversary sale (if there is one, possibly the Raven?) then melt the MM and CCU the newly purchased ship to an LTI Merchantman? My current MM cost $350 so I don't think I would need to drop more cash into it. EDIT: Also, does a subscription also count towards Concierge?

[QUOTE=Lord Hayden;52821671]So my best bet for LTI on a Merchantman would be to buy a new ship with LTI during the anniversary sale (if there is one, possibly the Raven?) then melt the MM and CCU the newly purchased ship to an LTI Merchantman? My current MM cost $350 so I don't think I would need to drop more cash into it. EDIT: Also, does a subscription also count towards Concierge?[/QUOTE] If the MM gets another sale, I'd bet there will be a increase in price. Almost every other ship so far has gone through a price increase, so chances that the MM gets one. To be honest, I would suggest you don't worry about it. You said you had a ton of insurance already on it, and I would think you'll be smart enough to handle insurance later. Really, I would suggest not to worry at all.

LTI is a nice perk but it's not worth bending over backwards and pretzeling your account over. If the MM comes back at $350 (same as the last sale, [I]after[/I] increasing from the original $250 offering) and there's an LTI ship at [I]any[/I] price below $350 with an upgrade path to the MM, then sure, chuck your existing Banu MM into the melter and buy the LTI ship and CCU the rest of the way using the store credit. If it doesn't, five years of insurance is still practically LTI unless CIG changes their mind again -- the last details on how insurance would work is that it'd only tick down when you're logged in, so 60 months of insurance is [I]60 months of active playtime[/I] spread out across who knows how many years of play. [QUOTE=Lord Hayden;52821671]Also, does a subscription also count towards Concierge?[/QUOTE] As far as I understand it, yes, but there's a wrinkle: it seems that if the transaction that pushes you over $1,000 is a subscription payment (e.g. you were at $995 and you bought a $10 sub for one month), it won't actually be counted in the system as registering you for Concierge, even if it did track you up to $1,000 from the previous year's worth of subscription fees or whatever. This [I]might[/I] be fixed on the RSI site, I don't know since it's a bit hard to test, but if not the workaround was to buy anything for $5 or up that wasn't a subscription and the system would properly notice that you were in Concierge territory. TL;DR subscription payments seem to count towards Concierge but don't seem to count for unlocking Concierge if they're what specifically tips you over $1,000.