Star Citizen Megathread - Star Marine isn't doomed after all! - Games

[QUOTE=Grenadiac;49371430]what I really want is a big, mean pirate ship.[/QUOTE] The Caterpillar might be one of your ingame goals then [url]https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14331-Raid-Commander-The-Drake-Caterpillar[/url]

WELL if you want piracy, you may want to consider the (slightly cheaper) Cutlass Black. It's built for decent fighting capacity, you can have 3 active crew (pilot, copilot and turret gunner) along with a handful more friends hanging out with available seating, along with boarding action via a [forcible] port with a cutting jig and plenty of space in the belly to store your loot. [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfUF3LVgWgg[/media] I've got a Caterpillar, which may be more your end goal (but costs a $245 pledge), which is more built out to serve as a larger meaner pirate ship with a decent crew (basically your classic galleon), though obviously it has plenty of non piratey uses. Bunch of modularity for each segment of the ship! [t]http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/starcitizen/images/7/7d/Caterpillar_windowframe_final.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20141201124111[/t] only up-to-date content we've had on that is this vid, which is still pretty exciting [media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eY6nJOLn6dk[/media]

If you want a big mean pirate ship, your long-term goal (i.e. earn in-game) is probably going to be a Caterpillar, or a Cutlass or Connie if the Cat is too much ship for you. These are all multicrew ships, though, so that's an important consideration - you'll either need friends, or put up with less-than-human-skill AI that you have to pay for. ...ninja'd by the_killer24 AND dai now. FUCK :poot: Single-seat fighters can fill the "mean pirate ship" role without taking on the responsibility and overhead of a multicrew ship, but you're missing out on the "big" portion at that point. We don't know how the meta's going to work with the larger ships yet, as we're only just starting to see some of them roll out, and their handling/weapons balance are all very WIP (the Connie handled as well as a Mustang for a while :v:). Sticking with an LN for now lets you avoid making an expensive investment that turns out to be not what you expected later on when the multicrew meta's more solidified. Also, Arch, I would imagine that ballistic penetration would be significantly reduced by shields if they keep up the current design for the meta. I can't imagine ballistics being just OP in the final meta, because the only way to balance that would be to make the ammo counts so ridiculously small that there's no point in fitting ballistics except in an alpha striking configuration, which is [I]not[/I] where you want a game to go. It wasn't that long ago that you were calling the Hornet the worst and most useless ship in the game because of its airhockey-puck handling, and third-order motion/jerk did wonders for that. I'm sure the balance will come eventually.

[QUOTE=dai;49371470]WELL if you want piracy, you may want to consider the (slightly cheaper) Cutlass Black. It's built for decent fighting capacity, you can have 3 active crew (pilot, copilot and turret gunner) along with a handful more friends hanging out with available seating, along with boarding action via a [forcible] port with a cutting jig and plenty of space in the belly to store your loot. - I've got a Caterpillar, which may be more your end goal (but costs a $245 pledge), which is more built out to serve as a larger meaner pirate ship with a decent crew (basically your classic galleon), though obviously it has plenty of non piratey uses. Bunch of modularity for each segment of the ship! - only up-to-date content we've had on that is this vid, which is still pretty exciting -[/QUOTE] Watched that Cutlass video. I think I'll "melt" my Aurora and upgrade to it after a few paychecks - that looks like it'll serve me well to begin with. I can earn the Caterpillar in-game eventually - I don't have the money to buy one straight up, but that's exactly the kind of ship I want. My end goal is to be part of, or run, a multi-player piracy outfit, so requiring human crew is a plus to me. I love co-op aspects. You guys have been an awesome help. I wasn't sure at first but I'll take the plunge (if the game runs alright).

you don't need to melt anything (in fact, don't, since that effectively removes your only game package); instead, use the dedicated upgrade page to do it

[QUOTE=the_killer24;49371592]you don't need to melt anything (in fact, don't, since that effectively removes your only game package); instead, use the dedicated upgrade page to do it[/QUOTE] Oh, haven't looked into that yet. That will probably make more sense to me once I've poked around a little.

Melting is only necessary when you want to scrap something completely for its store credit value. If the only thing you want changed is the ship, and the new ship is more expensive than the one you currently have, an upgrade token will swap it out in-place and leave everything but the ship itself the exact same. The upgrade token costs the exact price difference between the two ships. Like this: [t]http://i.imgur.com/ZDCtQ1V.png[/t] This was a $30 P-72 that had a $120 P-72 -> Khartu-al token applied to it. You'll also notice that the "Gift" button is missing, because I bought the original P-72 with store credit, so it's bound to my account.

I wouldn't suggest going in solely with a cutlass ship as your package, you'll probably be faced with some steep running costs and not enough reputation to take decent missions with it. If you want a bigger ship, keep a smaller one to ease yourself in unless it's confirmed you get a starter ship from the game anyways? I don't recall.

I don't think you get an Aurora ES or something if you already have a pledge ship. As for what retail buyers get, who knows. However, recall that the reward for completing Squadron 42 (possibly not on a hypothetical just-let-me-see-the-content baby mode difficulty, since multiple difficulties have been confirmed) is a ship in the PU as you are honourably discharged from your tour of duty. Or, if you choose the evil way out and mutiny, shoot your CO in the head, and escape the Idris by stealing a ship mid-campaign, you keep whatever you stole and you enter the PU as a wanted criminal.

[QUOTE=dai;49371665]I wouldn't suggest going in solely with a cutlass ship as your package, you'll probably be faced with some steep running costs and not enough reputation to take decent missions with it. If you want a bigger ship, keep a smaller one to ease yourself in unless it's confirmed you get a starter ship from the game anyways? I don't recall.[/QUOTE] I hadn't considered that, you're right. Still, the Cutlass Black will probably be my next ship after whichever starter - Aurora from the looks of it. Do they ever do sales?

Discounted sales, no (excluding the once-or-twice-a-year discounted Aurora MR starter packs). CIG's "sales" are the return of limited-window ships like the Super Hornet, Freelancer MIS, Cutlass Blue, and other ships that are not normally for sale. The reason these ships are limited and not just in the store 24/7 is to have [I]some[/I] limit on them so that the game doesn't start on day 1 with everyone in the most potent variants of ships.

I see - the $100 isn't too bad then, I've got more sunk into Elite, and I guess I'll have the content to show for it. Cutlass Blue looks like it might be a more useful pirate ship - faster and better armed. Will you be able to repaint/personalize your ships visually? I ask that because I'm pretty sure I read that you can upgrade the components but visual representation is pretty important too.

There is a skinning system that is currently rudimentary and restricted to Auroras only, but it's there. It's expected that it will [I]not[/I] extend to a Forza/APB-style "make your own logo with decals" customization system, because the texturing setup for the ships is fucking complicated as hell. But, it's still mostly TBA. [t]https://i.imgur.com/WWXWSk3.jpg[/t]

It would be useful if they let me roam around the hangar module without owning any ships. That would at least let me know if I can run it.

Wouldn't a Stalker also be a good choice for pirates? You can have 1 or 2 people sitting in the cargo bay after you clip the wings off a lone pilot, or board another ship, and take the pilot/surviving crew prisoner with the cells on the ship. Could also use the cargo module version (I believe thats a thing) if you just wanted to haul off loot. This is way down the road when they add those mechanics in, of course.

while the texturing for the ship is complicated, utilizing decals is a completely separate system from the PBR texture setup and is seen plenty across the ships in the form of labels and small additional details. It'd be totally capable of taking an uploaded transparent PNG and applying it just fine, though everyone always complains that'd be a heavy load on your internet. So is browsing a forum with avatars, let it load for 2 seconds while the ship is too far to notice anyways. Apply a system behind it like ArcheAge, where you need a decently expensive item to even do the application, and people can report you for abusing the system and get your ability to use it revoked or have you banned. Problem players get weeded out fast [img]http://i.imgur.com/l2SPI7h.jpg[/img]

Anything interesting in 2.1? I don't have access to this "PTU" which I'm guessing I'd have to invest $50+ (I got the starter pack). I'm not really into the Arena Commander module so for me it's more a case of occasionally exploring what's new, starting with 2.0 which was a bit of fun for a while.

PTU access is attained mostly by invite, which is determined by how active a player you are, and also on how much you report bugs in the proper venue on the forum. There are times where PTU becomes public opt-in, at which point you can choose to play it under the full understanding it's going to be a buggier ride than usual. No extra investment necessary. This "Public Test Universe" is basically the stress test portion of each beta update before it's pushed to everyone, so a small group of players who want to do bug hunting can be helpful to the devs' efforts

Fair enough. I already understood it's a test branch (gotta love my beta opt-ins & Windows Insider builds) just surprisingly couldn't find much on how people got in whether it was through a more expensive backing program or through some other means. Well apparently it may or may not be coming forward by tomorrow so I'll just wait and see until then.

Wow, the P-52 is [I]gorgeous[/I]. Might need me one of them. :v: So guys - if I can run SC I really don't want the game's equivalent of a Sidewinder to start off. I'm tempted to pick up the 300i package instead. Yay/nay?

it can seriously handle itself in a fight if you'd like to test ships out yourself, you CAN earn some 'REC' credit by playing online matches in "Arena Commander", then renting ships and items from [url=https://robertsspaceindustries.com/electronic-access]this page[/url] with the credit. You can earn the 2k REC for the P52 in pretty short order. Rented stuff will have 7 1-day tokens, meaning if you log in and use it in AC, it activates a token, and for the next 24 hours you can use it all you want. The next time after that 24 hours you use it, it eats up another token, etc. oh also note- the 300 series is due shortly-ish for a re-do. They want it to be the BMW of spaceships and it doesn't sit up to snuff with their vision anymore. You'll end up with whatever changes they make, so remember (as with any other ship) buckle up for the ride, no stats or visuals are final until the game ships

Yeah I just got an email saying I was invited today. Probably not going to bother though because downloading this always wipes out my net for a few days and I can't survive without it.

[t]http://i.imgur.com/42Dtrh3.jpg[/t] It's pretty sweet, and this is the standard for what all ships should look like in the new pipeline, this and the new Connie design. Note that the P-52 Merlin is not capable of [I]either[/I] jumping to a new system [I]or[/I] Quantum Drive. It is dependent on the Connie it undocked from. (This doesn't matter in Arena Commander, but in Port Olisar it means you can't leave the station vicinity except the slow, hard way.) The Merlin also has a chemical boost, which means it doesn't recharge. The P-72 Archimedes trades the center gun and other things for more speed and fuel scoops so it [I]can[/I] recharge itself. The Archimedes' concept was a little while ago and it's not currently available, but it will be again sometime. Connies are going to be able to actually dock and undock Merlins sooner than later, but not yet. On the topic of REC, you can probably convince some of us to come with you for some rounds of Vanduul Swarm to help you farm REC (and it's good combat practice). And we could also [del]throw[/del] have some PVP matches that just happen to benefit your REC gain more than ours. :v:

Can it only dock with the Constellation(?) or could I mate it with, say, a Cutlass? (down the road, naturally) I'm nearly done downloading the client so I'll be taking you up on the offer to borrow your account very shortly and shortly after that I'll most likely be purchasing my first ship.

The Cutlass does not have a docking bay in any of its stock or planned configurations [I]yet[/I]. Currently, the Connie, Carrack, 890 Jump, and several really large ships are able to launch snub ships. The Cutlass would have to sacrifice basically its entire rear cargo bay to launch snubs, and that's not its role. However, never say never since the modularity system might enable the Cutlass to launch snubs. The devs' position on things often defaults to "It's probably a bad idea but we're going to enable you to try anyway." Like trying to solo pilot a Javelin and manage all 25+ crew stations yourself. [sp]aka how to be the dumbass who lost his $2,500 ship on day 1[/sp]

Oh - so [I]snub[/I] fighter means it docks internally? I assumed it latched to the outside using the docking collar that video dai linked made a big deal about. Would the Caterpillar be able to carry these?

Well, the Connie's docking bay is on the ass and the Merlin fits right in. Docking collars aren't something you're going to be able to use [I]and[/I] fly, they're for boarding (with or without permission) other ships without having to EVA and go through airlock cycles. It's like having a van that's able to open up to a compatible 'door' in another van, side-by-side, and have people crawl between them without being exposed to the outside. You would not be able to drive down a highway like that. There is also a difference between being able to carry a ship in cargo, and being able to launch a ship into space. The Caterpillar's a completely modular thing so I imagine there will be some way of using it as a mini-carrier at the expense of using those modules for something else, but that's TBA.

[QUOTE=dai;49372025] [img]http://i.imgur.com/l2SPI7h.jpg[/img][/QUOTE] [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/TnXDSqW.jpg[/IMG]

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;49372703]Well, the Connie's docking bay is on the ass and the Merlin fits right in. Docking collars aren't something you're going to be able to use [I]and[/I] fly, they're for boarding (with or without permission) other ships without having to EVA and go through airlock cycles. It's like having a van that's able to open up to a compatible 'door' in another van, side-by-side, and have people crawl between them without being exposed to the outside. You would not be able to drive down a highway like that. There is also a difference between being able to carry a ship in cargo, and being able to launch a ship into space. The Caterpillar's a completely modular thing so I imagine there will be some way of using it as a mini-carrier at the expense of using those modules for something else, but that's TBA.[/QUOTE] Ah, that makes sense. I was 10 minutes away from being ready but my net slowed down so now I'm 20. The suspense is killing me. Do you wanna add me on Steam? You'll probably want to be able to talk me through what I'm doing so I don't break your stuff on accident.

[QUOTE=ScottyWired;49372705][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/TnXDSqW.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] "Welcome to Port Gofuckursel-- Facepunch... ya asshole." -Facepunch Station control