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Star Citizen Pre-Alpha: Hangar Module

Shrike Alvaron

Shrike Alvaron

Member
Blizzard said:
Wait, what was running out then? Just the cheapest spot?

If it's only $5 that doesn't sound that bad, interested people would just get the next tier?
Click to expand...

Up until now most game packages (except for the cheapest $30 Aurora) came with an alpha slot to get into the DFM and other future modules. Now that they're out, anyone who wants to get into these modules will have to buy a $5 add-on that helps cover server costs. The initial allotment of alpha slots was already budgeted into the initial funding goal and then one of the earlier stretch goals.

An FAQ was posted about alpha slots last week with more information.
 
M

MrBig

Member
Blizzard said:
Wait, what was running out then? Just the cheapest spot?

If it's only $5 that doesn't sound that bad, interested people would just get the next tier?
Click to expand...

In addition to the staggered release for alpha slots, tokens will be released after the module has hit some prescribed point of stability. A separate token would have to be bought for each module, so if there's the DFM, FPS, Planetside, and PU that's $20 if you wanted to participate in all of them via tokens.
 
S

spindoctor

Member
Daedardus said:
SMH. Chris Roberts nickel and diming yet again.
Click to expand...

Yea I can't shake this feeling either. It seems to handily cross the line between 'support us to make this great game' and a proper money making business enterprise. We know of at least 3-4 modules coming out (DFM, planetside and/or FPS, beta) and each of them will have a separate fee for new backers. Maybe they can do a season pass for it. AAA budget, AAA mentality.
 
Z

Zabojnik

Member
spindoctor said:
Yea I can't shake this feeling either. It seems to handily cross the line between 'support us to make this great game' and a proper money making business enterprise. We know of at least 3-4 modules coming out (DFM, planetside and/or FPS, beta) and each of them will have a separate fee for new backers. Maybe they can do a season pass for it. AAA budget, AAA mentality.
Click to expand...

For two fucking years 40 miserable dollars got you a single player game, a MMO game and access to whatever alpha + beta stuff they release along the way. A true goddamn bargain, whichever way you look at it. Now they will charge new backers 5 additional dollars, which will help cover server costs. Yeah, CIG = EA + Ubisoft, call the AAA police. It's not like 42M$ means they can just go 'FREE PIZZAS FOR EVERYBODY!!!' whenever they feel like it, innit? And it's still a much better deal than whatever the Elite: Dangerous guys came up with. What was it, 200$ for the beta?
 
D

Danthrax

Batteries the CRISIS!
"Server costs" is a reasonable basis for charging an extra $5. Earlier funds had been allocated to pay for running servers for 200,000 dogfighters.
 
Shrike Alvaron

Shrike Alvaron

Member
Zabojnik said:
For two fucking years 40 miserable dollars got you a single player game, a MMO game and access to whatever alpha + beta stuff they release along the way. A true goddamn bargain, whichever way you look at it. Now they will charge new backers 5 additional dollars, which will help cover server costs. Yeah, CIG = EA + Ubisoft, call the AAA police. It's not like 42M$ means they can just go 'FREE PIZZAS FOR EVERYBODY!!!' whenever they feel like it, innit? And it's still a much better deal than whatever the Elite: Dangerous guys came up with. What was it, 200$ for the beta?
Click to expand...

Not to mention that the alpha slots have been ticking away this whole time, and until that FAQ last week there was no guarantee there'd be a way for people to get into the alphas at all after the slots went. What were they supposed to do, take away one of the benefits early pledgers got and give everyone the alpha for free? Block newcomers from getting in completely? Trivialize alpha access by making it too cheap for all modules? I think asking for $5 per module is a fair compromise.

...Of course I think Daedardus' original post may have been sarcasm.
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
Shrike Alvaron said:
Not to mention that the alpha slots have been ticking away this whole time, and until that FAQ last week there was no guarantee there'd be a way for people to get into the alphas at all after the slots went. What were they supposed to do, take away one of the benefits early pledgers got and give everyone the alpha for free? Block newcomers from getting in completely? Trivialize alpha access by making it too cheap for all modules? I think asking for $5 per module is a fair compromise.

...Of course I think Daedardus' original post may have been sarcasm.
Click to expand...
I've been a subscriber for quite a while, and I think I got the $75 package, but I don't think I would really have a problem with either of the bolded suggestions, even though I realize you're sarcastic.

I bought it because I thought it was cool and worth supporting at the time, presumably not because I wanted to have something when others didn't. :p If they get in too that's fine.
 
D

demolitio

Member
Of course I finally get the money and see this...lol.

I hate being broke with doctors bleeding me dry but I hate being late to games even more.

As far as ships go, which is the best value if I did end up getting into it? Are any of the cheaper ships actually decent?
 
R

Raticus79

Seek victory, not fairness
kutthoat5150 said:
https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/comment/2302594/#Comment_2302594

it's Ben approved!
Click to expand...

Ha, someone mirrored it.

INgtu0o.gif
GIVE DOGFIGHTING MODULE
nUYhHJm.gif
 
D

Daedardus

Member
Shrike Alvaron said:
...Of course I think Daedardus' original post may have been sarcasm.
Click to expand...

Yeah of course it was.

I also agree it's the best compromise they can make. They could always keep adding alpha slots but that would piss of backers more than anything they did so far, even though it isn't a bad solution. Crowdfunding rewards are a thin line to walk when it's about new versus old backers.
 
K

KKRT00

Member
MasterOfPastures said:
They got zero-g pilot movement in, whaaaa?
Now I want the ability to leave the ship in space and space walk freely. Would make boarding crippled ships easier.
Click to expand...

Yeah thats totally their goal. When You will be scooping cargo for example, You will have to do it manually with Your avatar :) So leaving the ship in space will be standard gameplay mechanic in SC.
 
M

MrBig

Member
KKRT00 said:
It will be integral part of the gameplay.
Click to expand...

It could depending on what you're doing, sure. Some instances where you'd be under those conditions include salvage ops, repairing ships after a fight, perhaps exploration of some structures.
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
If I were in space or in a space game, I would think I would want some sort of automatic robots to do all the salvage. Otherwise it seems like a way that grinding can be introduced or enhanced. Imagine walking across miles of planet to pick up trash to fulfill a quest! :p

I wonder how the zero-gravity suit navigation mechanics will work in ships. Little rockets?
 
K

KKRT00

Member
MrBig said:
It could depending on what you're doing, sure. Some instances where you'd be under those conditions include salvage ops, repairing ships after a fight, perhaps exploration of some structures.
Click to expand...

1st mission in the campaign will have zero-G FPS combat, FPS combat on station and dog fight.

Sure, You probably will be able to avoid it somehow in persistent universe, but it will be very hard.

-------
Blizzard said:
I wonder how the zero-gravity suit navigation mechanics will work in ships. Little rockets?
Click to expand...
Same as in space by thrusters or by pushing Yourself from geometry with hands and maybe legs or by using magnetic boots.
CR said that they want to give players the same movement feel as in Gravity.
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
KKRT00 said:
Same as in space by thrusters or by pushing Yourself from geometry with hands and maybe legs or by using magnetic boots.
CR said that they want to give players the same movement feel as in Gravity.
Click to expand...
That would make sense, and it's what one would expect in most any zero-gravity scifi environment (I'm reading A Deepness in the Sky at the moment)...but it also seems like it could be really awkward to control and/or super difficult to animate.

Perhaps it's simplified into a WASD scheme, but then someone might push a direction when they have no obstacles near them. Are they stuck? Or maybe it switches to thrusters then. But if you have thrusters, it would be simpler to use them all the time rather than combining it with pushing from environmental obstacles.

Imagine the parkour animation stuff in Mirror's Edge, but requiring that context-sensitivity in zero gravity with any geometry nearby. It might look awesome if it was pulled off right, so maybe that's what they are going for.

A more practical approach might be to only use thrusters for floating around, but allow magnet boots to boost off of walls, so you could basically walljump to do a fast launch. Do you have to spin yourself around midair to make a landing? Fall damage from launching at a wall too quickly? Space is complicated. D:
 
K

KKRT00

Member
You will have to thrusters and magnetic boots to use them. They wont be default option for a suit :)

So for many situations probably You will have to master using arms for pushing from geometry.
I really hope they make very skill driven and fluid. The comparison to Mirrors Edge is good, something like or movement from Dishonored or Crysis 3 with all the contextual animation would be awesome, especially if You could chain it for momentum.
 
B

Blizzard

Banned
KKRT00 said:
You will have to thrusters and magnetic boots to use them. They wont be default option for a suit :)

So for many situations probably You will have to master using arms for pushing from geometry.
I really hope they make very skill driven and fluid. The comparison to Mirrors Edge is good, something like or movement from Dishonored or Crysis 3 with all the contextual animation would be awesome, especially if You could chain it for momentum.
Click to expand...
You could use a force-feedback holodeck with kinect, or dual-wielding mice, or hydras that work better than the ones I own seem to, in order to properly track those arms though. :p

And then we move on to the problem of how you orient your body and feet. QWOP...in spaaaaaace.
 
M

MrBig

Member
SmoothRunningGun said:
So the ship in the video is like $125? I apologize to every game I've ever called overpriced. We don't even know if this game will be any good. No wonder they have 40 mill. Madness.
Click to expand...

The game is $30. Testing access is $10 more. Anything else is a donation with a starter ship attached to it, people can spend whatever they care to but there's no need to at all.
 
Shrike Alvaron

Shrike Alvaron

Member
SmoothRunningGun said:
So the ship in the video is like $125? I apologize to every game I've ever called overpriced. We don't even know if this game will be any good. No wonder they have 40 mill. Madness.
Click to expand...

The Hornet is meant to be the premier dogfighter of the game, top of the line, used by the military, and the go to ship for hotshot aces. It's not designed to be a starter ship, they're just letting you get one if you choose to spend that much money. The current cost to get into the game is just $30, that buys you the cheapest game package (Aurora MR). It does not include alpha or beta access though, so you'd need to add on the $5 Arena Commander pass if you want in the dogfighting module. There's also the $40 Aurora MR+ package which includes beta access (though still no alpha since the slots ran out). You can then earn all ships including the Hornet in game by running missions and saving up the money you earn.
 
Z

Zabojnik

Member
"Our master HUD artist, Zane, has also concepted out some ideas for the HUD of the Freelancer and Avenger for folks to review."
Click to expand...

I wonder what happened to the Iron Man (3) HUD guy. It wouldn't surprise me if they parted ways, he didn't have any game dev experience.
 
kutthoat5150

kutthoat5150

Member
excited to hear about the new changes to the aurora and 300i next week, it also looks like they are going after the grey market with the new gifting system changes. I'm curious to see if the value of LTI ships will go up even more after this takes effect
 
Shrike Alvaron

Shrike Alvaron

Member
Screw the HUD, it's the cargo stuff from Jump Point that really interests me. I don't plan to be a dedicated transporter or anything but do plan to do some "trading" *coughsmuggling* on the side, so seeing how in depth they're looking at it is really cool. Just interested about this external cargo pod the 300i's getting: Jump Point says it'll be the same as Aurora's which will throw off the look, so I expect there'll probably still be some internal space in the redesign for small cargo runs without needing the pod.
 
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