Star Citizen Live Q&A: Alpha 3.23 and Beyond

Guests:

• Richard Tyrer, Senior Game Director
• Rick, Design Director
• JJ, Assistant Design Director

TL;DW:

• No live release today.
• Kopion and Marok were chosen to be the first fauna in game because they were faster to implement than previously announced creatures.
• Next week’s Inside Star Citizen will be about development of Kopion and Marok.
• Economy rebalance (guns, armor, ships, salvage and mission rewards) coming with 3.23.
• They want to start bringing money sinks into the game.
• aUEC and rentals wipe incoming with 3.23.
• New reputation system won’t be fully implemented in Stanton as it’s more aimed towards 4.0 and Pyro. It will be available in some places (GrimHex, settlements).
• Sniper glint is something they wanted to try out as a balancing feature. Some other ideas (including getting rid of it) might be tested in the future.
• Scanning inside your own ship will be handled by FPS scanning tech (it’s in the process of porting from Squadron 42).
• Master Modes were created as a response to jousting. It’s suppose to be easy to pick up but with a lot of depth.
• They’re looking into all the desync/lag/interaction issues in 3.23 EPTU. “We think we’ve got it” but some new issues might always show up.
• They want to avoid another 3.18 situation but still need to release the patch to evaluate the changes with the help of the larger LIVE audience.
• Larger audience will help with debugging some of the issues they are aware of but can’t find the cause.
• 3.23 bringing tons of changes was a deliberate decision so they can move to new features not present in S42.
• Rich wants to make Star Citizen into a “real MMO” as soon as possible.
• Personal hangars had some issues with cargo elevators - some are already fixed.
• We won’t be able to change our home location if personal hangars make it in with an .X patch. It might be possible if you use the “character repair” functionality on the website but that means losing all your progress. Just wait for another full patch.
• GrimHex as a home location still needs more work and considerations.
• State of Arena Commander:
  • It’s not a priority (that would be SC proper).
  • Good testing bed for features.
  • Might get FPS AI (in the nearish future?).
• “Go/No Go” is not a singular moment in time, longer process based on constant evaluation of each feature.
• Bed logging is still planned. In the future they also want to log you back wherever you log out. Also buffs for sleeping in beds.
• They want Pyro to be the main place for the “bad guys” to do their thing. Stanton activities might be easier when “working in the shadows”.
• "Piracy and unlawful gameplay don’t always have to be against lawful players."
• They need more than one system be available before they can work on policing.
• Solo players have their place in the future of SC but some goals might be hard or impossible without other people (for example producing and crewing Idris).
• Hiring NPC to crew ships is still planed, far into the future.
• Night vision is already tested on gun scopes, visor/ship implementation needs more time. Should be more of a scheduling than technical problem now.
• "Not true night vision but light enhancement."
• No Star Citizen Live next week.