Star Citizen Megathread v. procedurally-generated deadlines - Games

[url=http://i.imgur.com/AOJ0tm8.jpg]the thing from tngs forever ago[/url] cutlass, probably

I don't know if a full instance of 2.6.3 still does this, but it at least used to be the case that if the server lags enough and you're going fast enough, you can collide with objects and take no damage because I guess your physics proxy isn't in the location of the impact when the server catches up and calculates impact. :v: [t]https://i.imgur.com/RH7vnwc.jpg[/t] My deathcam from when I once stole a Mustang Alpha and me and Korro rammed his LN together with it. His LN was 100%, not even shields down. :ok:

[QUOTE=archangel125;52857554]Fuck me, I just realized what they mean by 'tasks'. Their build of 3.0 isn't even feature complete yet, 'tasks' refer to things that still need to be finished, each of which may introduce a slew of new bugs. I think it's pretty safe to say we may not get 3.0 live until well into Q1 or early Q2 next year. That or they'll release a broken, supremely buggy build right before they leave for their Christmas break.[/QUOTE] tasks aren't always features in JIRA, and each task can be huge or it could be as little as a few hours. i wouldn't read too much into their quantity of tasks, blocker-level bugs are a much better metric plus, keep in mind how software branching usually works. there will be a dedicated branch for the release of 3.0: there is almost certainly a good chunk of devs working just on that, but a handful of devs working on other feature branches completely detached from the release. so no new features breaking the release. that's why smart version management is so nice :v: so i wouldn't fuss too much

I've kept my self out of the loop intentionally for the last half year and I just watched the newest demo. I was most impressed by how much their presentation skills improved this time as well as the tech :v: Easily one of the best demo's they did.

[QUOTE=Saxon;52865745]I've kept my self out of the loop intentionally for the last half year and I just watched the newest demo. I was most impressed by how much their presentation skills improved this time as well as the tech :v: Easily one of the best demo's they did.[/QUOTE] I've noticed how keeping yourself out of the loop for a year means you don't miss the launch window or a significant stable playable portion of the game

[video=youtube;FNv8yyqmd-Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNv8yyqmd-Y[/video] [video=youtube;LRsgW0UAsds]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRsgW0UAsds[/video] Yesterday on Reddit an Evocati leak claimed that CIG was testing [B]60-player instances[/B] (facilitated by the bug fixed in Bugsmashers, probably) and performance was 30fps and up. Today, during a Newegg stream to promote the Intel Optane shit and SC at the same time, Sean Tracy [I]confirmed[/I] that Evocati have been testing that this week and performance "is good". [t]https://i.imgur.com/ExjGbrW.jpg[/t] Evocati leak, that's a good 30 ships at least. :hypeisreal: [URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch/16238-New-United-War-On-Water"]This week's lore post is about water smugglers on drought-stricken Yar.[/URL]

[video=youtube;hE2bL30E8n8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE2bL30E8n8[/video] [twitch]GlamorousWittyDonutNomNom[/twitch] :ok: [URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/schedule-report"]Weekly schedule report update is out.[/URL] [QUOTE]This week in closing out Alpha 3.0.0, we released fifteen internal builds and three more to the Evocati for testing. [B]On Wednesday, the team coordinated several 60-player Evocati tests, which went well.[/B] The test was to gauge increasing the maximum number of players on a server that may now be possible thanks to some recent network and game code optimizations that are part of the engineering team’s performance and stability drive. We wanted to thank all our testers who participated and also give a big thanks to everyone who contributed to the Spectrum thread. We took your feedback into consideration and continue to welcome your thoughts here. A big thanks to everybody who contributed their feedback to the Spectrum thread. We took your feedback into consideration and continue to welcome your thoughts here. [B]One question that came up often was the difference between a ‘task’ and a ‘bug.’ A task can be anything from crafting a feature to refining a game mechanic to improve the player experience. A bug is an unintended result that occurs while using a functioning mechanic/feature. To use an example, getting the physical shops and the ability to buy items into the game is a task, having item names and descriptions not appear in the mobiGlas while shopping is a bug.[/B] Finally, as you may have heard during the final presentation at CitizenCon, we are going to switch over to a quarterly release schedule for the PU in order to provide content drops on a more consistent basis. To that end, we will be modifying the Beyond 3.0 Overview section to a new PU Roadmap that will show you exactly where the various features and additions will fall in our quarterly release schedule. If a feature requires more work, then it will transition into the next release. This roadmap will be posted once 3.0.0 goes Live.[/QUOTE] 60-player Evocati tests confirmed in writing. Last week This week [img]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/ziykumtohq51er/source/Shopping_11_03_17.png[/img] [IMG]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/bdllgtrls58j7r/source/Shopping_11-10-17.png[/IMG] [img]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/3v28rnrhutks8r/source/Missions_11_03_17.png[/img] [IMG]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/g9fqckn12r146r/source/Mission_11-10-17.png[/IMG] [img]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/691psommbhot5r/source/Ships_Vehicles_11_03_17.png[/img] [IMG]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/ulsc7hqoraevrr/source/Ships_vehicles_11-10-17.png[/IMG] ruh roh [img]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/p8f8ebbo761s3r/source/Traversal__11_03_17.png[/img] [IMG]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/uhn44fazsdap9r/source/Traversal_11-10-17.png[/IMG] [img]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/93cixuz2us1xlr/source/Mobiglass__11_03_17.png[/img] [IMG]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/04fd84go7a543r/source/Mobiglass_11-10-17.png[/IMG] [img]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/tirqxqfnca2qlr/source/Performance_Stability_11_03_17.png[/img] [IMG]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/1f9i4w9ts4kyir/source/Performance_11-10-17.png[/IMG] Additionally, this week's update removes the image of the 2017 roadmap. However, this is because they're switching to quarterly releases after 3.0 comes out, and until that actually happens they won't know when to start the quarterly interval. They're also likely reprioritizing some people towards helping with 3.0 (where it makes sense) and that invalidates the 2017 roadmap image's last month or so. [t]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/6vb0wqzttanr8r/source/Back-34PNG.png[/t] [t]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/3i5j30pcxanpmr/source/Alderin-Manufacturing-1.jpg[/t] Pioneer WIP

apparently, they're running some pretty promising tests with 60 players in the PU with evocati atm [t]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/krg7h954s47thr/source/Evocati_Tests_11-09-17.png[/t]

it's nice they got to seemingly playable standard of 60 players but still it's just fraction of what's needed for really immersive MMO so i hope for more, way more as i hate limits even on maxplayers ;)

60 players in the same instance doesn't feel all that low to me, there can still be way more players in the PU.. we'd still need more for capital ship battles, but it's a good start I'd say.

The plan is to get single-instance performance and stability into a good place before they start trying to mesh instances together. CR's goal is to have "thousands" of players together in one system via instance meshing. Info on how this instance meshing is supposed to work and how CIG plans to spend two years pulling it off has not yet been shared.

idk if any of you have been on Jita 4-4 on EvE, but too many players and things just become a clusterfuck. same happens when tons of people undock at once for a fleet op :v: 60 players will feel nice, I think

[QUOTE=paindoc;52880248]idk if any of you have been on Jita 4-4 on EvE, but too many players and things just become a clusterfuck. same happens when tons of people undock at once for a fleet op :v: 60 players will feel nice, I think[/QUOTE] I don't think it'll be enough if capital ships are thrown into the mix.

[QUOTE=Saber15;52880331]I don't think it'll be enough if capital ships are thrown into the mix.[/QUOTE] 60 is just what they're testing [I]right now[/I]. Even before CR started his crazy talk about dissolving the borders between instances and having "thousands" of players together, CIG's goal was to get at least a hundred players in an instance. However, CIG didn't commit to any specific number as a goal because their intent was and still is to push the tech as far as it'll go and have as many slots as can be accomodated. Maybe that number's 100, maybe it's 250 after some fucking miracles in netcode rewriting, nobody can know how far they go before the fun police step in with hard limitations and ceilings. They may not even put 3.0 out to live PTU with 60 but a lower number. However, that's not where they're going to stop pushing the limits, either. It's telling that even CR acknowledges that he can't commit to a final number because it's just that much of an unknown. I'm fairly neutral on this topic because there's really no point in trying to forecast the wholly unpredictable, and CIG hasn't yet given any credible explanation on how they intend on fuzzing the walls of instances to give players the illusion of existing in a single unified star system instance with thousands of other players.

Traffic is going to be such a nightmare, just like real life :v:

[QUOTE=ZestyLemons;52880828]Traffic is going to be such a nightmare, just like real life :v:[/QUOTE] I've never experienced virtual traffic jams until I played Planetside 2. 100 tanks, trying to squeeze through a 2-tank wide doorway, all while infantry are crawling over them.

[QUOTE=Saber15;52880958]I've never experienced virtual traffic jams until I played Planetside 2. 100 tanks, trying to squeeze through a 2-tank wide doorway, all while infantry are crawling over them.[/QUOTE] I only ever got friendly fire citations on PS2 because some dipstick didn't look both ways before crossing the road. That being said more players = more fodder to enhance the "bangbus assault strat"

this actually isn't going to be that huge problem with traffic jams mainly because this new procedural cities/structures placement technology allows them to expand the outposts if needed w/o much work also there is one major difference inbetween the Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen for example in ED when you land your ship, you occupy the landing spot even while inside hangar you need to log out so anyone else can use the landing pad in SC the developers (ChR) already said that the ship will be moved to 'invisible' hangar after some timeout so the players aren't blocking the landing pads in air, i'm sure there will be something like local air traffic controls and lot of AA weapons to clear the sky clutter :)

Have they said anything about Star Marine getting any improvements or changes or should we just expect the general backend stuff that 3.0 is coming with?

No statements on gameplay enhancements specific to Star Marine, but there was a mention a few weeks back of a planetary-based SM map (presumably using the outpost set). I'm hoping for some Arena Commander enhancements and adjustments that take advantage of the expanded space and features of 3.0 in post-3.0. Leave the existing modes with their existing map sizes for the arcade meta, but maybe add a "free flight" for ground vehicles on one of Crusader's moons or something. Ground racetracks, too.

[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxBdyyGx7vM[/media] [img]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/media/sfn33paxmtznor/source/Nov17Update.png[/img] Coorrrrrrr thatsa lotta bugs, however I think that once these (and any other bugs that might crop up in the meantime) are squashed, they're gonna be moving to PTU, which is very exciting news indeed

nice episode of AtV i like the mention at end about how it would be cool to play crime scene investigator and stuff to decay over time one can dream ;)

[video=youtube;OTORCpCz4OE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTORCpCz4OE[/video] [video=youtube;efq71DNVKzg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efq71DNVKzg[/video] [video=youtube;Q0KmHVzSIxo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0KmHVzSIxo[/video] [URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch/16250-Congress-Now-Torral-Aggregate-Testimony"]This week's lorepost is about some of the tricky bits to work out in the Human-Xi'An trade agreement.[/URL] The anniversary sale schedule has been posted. They're back to doing a single day highlighting each manufacturer and then a free-for-all on the weekend where all the manufacturers are on at once. [QUOTE]Throughout the special we’ll have fun activities, bring back some of your favorite ships, and include a couple of new ones. Tune in for our daily AtV videos at 12:00 PM Pacific where we’ll highlight a different manufacturer each day, kicking off a new sale.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]November 24th – Anvil Aerospace November 25th – Aegis Dynamics November 26th – Ground Vehicles and Alien Ships November 27th – Origin Jumpworks November 28th – Consolidated Outland November 29th – Roberts Space Industries November 30th – MISC (Musashi Industrial & Starflight Concern) December 1st – Drake Interplanetary December 2nd-4th – All Manufacturers On Sale[/QUOTE] This may be the time they decide to reveal the new Tumbril vehicle, whatever it is.

I really hope the Anvil Carrack goes on sale. Gladly melt down my Starfarer Gemini for that.

Still 22 blockers on the schedule, which mean 22 areas of the game that can't be tested or bugs cataloged from. I honestly don't see us getting 3.0 this year. Late January, [i]maybe[/i].

For the anniversary sale, do ships that are always available become any cheaper? I kind of want to upgrade to a Cutlass before it goes up in price.

[QUOTE=Raidyr;52902345]For the anniversary sale, do ships that are always available become any cheaper? I kind of want to upgrade to a Cutlass before it goes up in price.[/QUOTE] The only time there're any price [I]drops[/I] is if they bring out discounted starter packages in limited quantities, or there's a promo code for a discount on Aurora starter packages or something (like there was at Citizencon). What makes it a "sale" is not that prices are cut, but ships that are not normally available come into store for a brief period.

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;52902415]The only time there's any price [I]drops[/I] is if they bring out discounted starter packages in limited quantities, or there's a promo code for a discount on Aurora starter packages or something (like there was at Citizencon). What makes it a "sale" is not that prices are cut, but ships that are not normally available come into store for a brief period.[/QUOTE] Thanks for the info. Is there going to be a Christmas holiday sale or is this the last one for awhile? If it is I think I'm going to compromise and just upgrade to an Avenger Titan.

[QUOTE=Raidyr;52902422]Thanks for the info. Is there going to be a Christmas holiday sale or is this the last one for awhile? If it is I think I'm going to compromise and just upgrade to an Avenger Titan.[/QUOTE] The anniversary sale is the [U]B[/U]ig [U]S[/U]ale of the year, as it were. There will probably be [I]something[/I] put up for sale with the holiday stream, but it could be anything from a single concept sale to a best-of run of the anniversary sale ships plus others. I don't know what's planned for the end-of-year stream in terms of sales, but it's unlikely to be better and more wide-ranging than the anniversary sale. There'll almost certainly be a sale when 3.0 goes live whenever that happens, but that should include any price increases for new/reworked ships. The holiday livestream has been designated for when they'll show us SQ42 and give us the roadmap for its release, so it's important for other reasons. If you want to hedge your bets, you can buy [URL="https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/Upgrades/Gladius-To-Cutlass-Black-Upgrade"]a Gladius to Cutlass CCU for $10[/URL], and then a CCU from your ship to the Gladius if and when you want to pull the trigger. And if you change your mind the chances are that the Avenger Titan's CCU value probably won't increase this year, so you can melt the $10 Gladius->Cutlass CCU and use that for a yourship->Titan CCU. that is, of course, if you decide to do anything.

[media]https://twitter.com/dsmart/status/933354625247432706[/media] Chris Roberts [video=youtube;oEsSpr80e64]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEsSpr80e64[/video] 3.0a testing on PTU expanded, no NDA.