Chris Roberts Back in your wallet - STAR CITIZEN

[Dark_MadMax]

Also, $26 Million hit.

curiouser and curiouser

[Samprimary]

There's just something a little bit magical about this. Not like, good magical. Like when you did a sort of a daemonic summoning and didn't think out the radius of your warding circle quite right.

A lot of these people who are going nuts and are sinking multiple hundreds of dollars into the game are impressing me with their ability to theorycraft miles of text and gooniness over the sparsest possible details of a game that is not out yet. I'm sure that roberts is legitimately glad that he's getting all this money and the studio has totally gone down the right path by successfully monetizing the promise of future fantasy starship, but reading the forums might already just scare them a little bit.

[jakonovski]

There's just something a little bit magical about this. Not like, good magical. Like when you did a sort of a daemonic summoning and didn't think out the radius of your warding circle quite right.

Totes, the last time I tried summoning it resulted in D3 greater daemons and 4D6 lesser daemons wreaking havoc all over the place.

[Samprimary]

Like really I have already seen multiple instances where people who have made multi hundred dollar spaceship purchases are already FREAKING OUT about their investment by joining into colon-cleansingly pervasive theorycrafting vortex holes that indicates a.. I don't even know how to describe it, I'll call it, conceptually, a "possible potential implemented future-retroactive nerf" of their ship that hasn't been made yet for a game that hasn't been made yet that neither they nor anyone else has really flown yet.

As a specific example someone will do a 'visual analysis' of the size of ship engines in some promo pictures and do some sort of vague measurement and say it indicates that the ship must have had its engine specs toned down. And lo shall come a cry of consternation and concern.

[Stormwaltz]

I looked at the Hornet in the store and came away confused. There's a "Ghost" and a "Specter" variant, which both appear the same and have the same description, but one costs $15 more. Likewise there's a "Tracker" and a "SWAC" which look the same, have the same description, and one costs $15 more than the other for no apparent reason.

What.

[ajax34i]

First thing learned from EVE is anything that's promised to be "rare" or "limited edition" or even "different" will be valued at millions by the players, just because.  There are ships in EVE that are worse* than the "common" variant that are way more expensive.  Most of the time, though, it's just a different paint job, or maybe a camouflage overlay.

Edit:  *I think the situation was the common variant was buffed by CCP as part of their "tiericide" effort but the repainted limited editions were not.  Not sure if that's still the case.

[Dark_MadMax]

monetizing the promise of future fantasy starship

This is imho the core. Roberts knowingly or not hit the goldmine right there.  The promise of the fantasy is a powerful thing , sometimes much more so than a finished product (after all fantasy is perfect and no real life thing is)

[Venkman]

It's also the lack of any competition, the lack of any pending competition, the lack of attention this kind of game has gotten in a very long time, and the audience for such a game that has a long memory who also have a lifestyle that can afford frivolous hope-based investment.

Right place, right time, right message, right audience.

[rk47]

Cyanide shd do this for Blood Bowl 2.

[Miasma]

I looked at the Hornet in the store and came away confused. There's a "Ghost" and a "Specter" variant, which both appear the same and have the same description, but one costs $15 more. Likewise there's a "Tracker" and a "SWAC" which look the same, have the same description, and one costs $15 more than the other for no apparent reason.

What.

Hmm, that is confusing.  Buried underneath a graphic you have to click on for some reason it tells you what is contained in each.  Basically the cheaper one is just the ship itself while the one for $15 more is an actual package that gives you alpha/beta, some in game credits, starts to unlock the pledgre rewards, insurance and so on.

[5150]

I looked at the Hornet in the store and came away confused. There's a "Ghost" and a "Specter" variant, which both appear the same and have the same description, but one costs $15 more. Likewise there's a "Tracker" and a "SWAC" which look the same, have the same description, and one costs $15 more than the other for no apparent reason.

What.

Hmm, that is confusing.  Buried underneath a graphic you have to click on for some reason it tells you what is contained in each.  Basically the cheaper one is just the ship itself while the one for $15 more is an actual package that gives you alpha/beta, some in game credits, starts to unlock the pledgre rewards, insurance and so on.

There are 4 Hornet versions

Basic - has a cargo bay!
Ghost - Stealth version with low emission systems and stealth armour
Tracker - AWACS version with uber scanning shiney
Super - 2 man, highest legal civillian spec (comes with the top turret as standard for example) - removed from sale last week.

What you're seeing with the pricing is the various ways you can purchase the ship

For people without a Hornet there are the Colonel, Spectre and SWAC packages which include the ship and the game
For people who already purchased a Colonel package there are the upgrades from the basic Hornet to either the Ghost or Tracker

The price differences between those options are to do with the loadout you get on each Hornet (you need to look at the Hornet PDF to get that level of detail) but other than that the packages will be the same

[Mrbloodworth]

Stunning.

[Speedy Cerviche]

umm is that a painting or ingame footage?

[Mrbloodworth]

Concept painting by Elijah McNeal, who I am quickly becoming a fan of.

http://elijah.cghub.com/

[Yegolev]

Are those in game pictures?

[Mrbloodworth]

Concept painting

This gentleman, who also works for the project, is also awesome.

http://itchynick.cghub.com/

Some others by http://hazzard65.cghub.com/

[Hoax]

Are those in game pictures?

No but I bet they will sell them to you. Or better yet make a stretch goal where they will create more concept art, which they will then sell to you.

[Miasma]

Are those in game pictures?

No but I bet they will sell them to you. Or better yet make a stretch goal where they will create more concept art, which they will then sell to you.

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/voyager-direct/hangar-posters

[Mrbloodworth]

Yep, Please try to keep up. 

[Yegolev]

Nah, I'm good.

[Sky]

Cyanide shd do this for Blood Bowl 2.

Mantic should do this for Dreadball and take a giant dump on GW/Cyanide.

[schild]

$26MM has to be a record for not having to deliver anything.

[Miasma]

$26MM has to be a record for not having to deliver anything.

Not even close.

[schild]

Twitter is less of a scam than fake spaceships.

[WayAbvPar]

When Chris Roberts tears off his mask to reveal he is actually Brad McQuaid, the Internet will break.

[Lucas]

While we wait for the unmasking, here's a new interview with him over at "Rock,Paper,Shotgun" (more details about S42, dogfighting module, development schedule):

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/11/08/chris-roberts-details-squadron-42-takes-on-doubters/

About the dogfighting module:

The dogfighting module, for instance, will launch at the end of 2013 no matter what, but it might not include multiplayer until early next year. Reason being, RSI has the option of either running CryEngine’s stock multiplayer code or implementing Star Citizen’s full MMO-ready backend. At the moment, Roberts is leaning toward the latter, as it’ll allow stress testing pretty much from the get-go. So long, launch day server troubles – at least, in theory.

“That’s the decision that, if you go for the proper system, it’s much better for the game long-term,” he said. “But that means people aren’t playing multiplayer dogfights by Christmas. They’ll be able to play against AI or fly their ships around, but I think that may be the choice that I make. It’s better for the final game.”

Good enough, at least they will show that a portion of the game actually exists :P

Plus, Gamasutra just wrote up an overview of Roberts' presentation at GDC Next:

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/204192/Beyond_crowdfunding_Chris_Roberts_urges_you_to_turn_backers_to_fans.php

(EDIT: LOL, just read my title for the first time...Err, thanks, I suppose  )

[UnSub]

If only other companies had thought to test their network code before launch day, they too could have avoided launch day issues. 

[Samprimary]

If you guys were going to rank the ships, which ones are your aesthetic favorites and least favorites? I'm noting this extreme variety in what the ships look like, and some are ugly as sin (like the basic one) and others show promise.

[Miasma]

That's interesting, I don't think there is enough variety, they all look sort of the same to me.  They're pretty good but I haven't seen one that has really caught my eye yet.  Most people think the 300i is the best looking.  EvE had four different factions and each had its own style like utilitarian, graceful, asymetrical junkers, curvy.

They are hinting that two of the alien ships will be released on the 26th, hopefully those have completely new styles.  One might be a vertical focused ship.

Giant image of some EvE ships.

[Lucas]

I like the bulky MISC Freelancer, the aggressiveness (well, mostly due to its red/black combination) of the Origin 325a and, I'm very curious about the Origin M50 which, as far as I understand, it's undergoing a heavy revision. Aegis Retaliator is quite good looking too.

Not a fan of the Hornet.

I think they're trying to develop the ships so that they "make sense" and fit in how they're developing the SC universe and the ship manufacturers, not unlike today car ones (you know, some aesthetic extravaganza here and there, personalization, but nothing THAT wildly different from car to car) but they already hinted at some different and original designs when it comes to alien ships.

[Pezzle]

Is PVP consensual for the public server?

[Lucas]

Is PVP consensual for the public server?

Still unclear.

Here's a lenghty and technical post, again by Chris Roberts, on the flight physics model of SC:

https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/comment/1275295/#Comment_1275295


Follow-up posts (replying to other users):
https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/comment/1275724/#Comment_1275724
https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/comment/1275939/#Comment_1275939
https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/comment/1276033/#Comment_1276033

[Lucas]

27 Million reached:

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13368-Letter-From-The-Chairman-27-Million

So, Banu merchant ship unlocked, now onward to the new beginner ship, the Mustang.

29 Million goal:

We’re going to devote the $29 million stretch goal to more resources for the single player game, Squadron 42. With Erin Roberts and the other veterans at Foundry 42 hard at work on the game, you can trust that it’s going to be great. Now we’d like to give them some extra resources to work with!

Enhanced Mission Design for Squadron 42 – The team at Foundry 42 has big plans for Squadron 42, and we’re going to provide extra funding to make it a true spiritual successor to Wing Commander! Squadron 42 can go above and beyond anything you’ve seen before. From opening with an epic battle instead of a training patrol to missions that seamlessly combine boarding and space combat, we aim to put you right into the action! Additional funding will let the team realize this, with enhanced mission design and more resources and animations to enhance fidelity.

So, basically, they'll use the FPS part to its full extent in the single-player game as well: in the Wing Commander saga, you might remember some missions that ended in telling you that a "ground unit" was dispatched in an enemy base; or, for example, there was a mission in WC4 where you infiltrated a Black Lance base, but you could only watch Mark Hamill doing his thing in glorious FMV  . Hopefully, in S42, stuff like that will be much more involving and interactive :)

First look at a Xi'an capital ship concept art (see the $23M goal, although they're only talking about scout ships there):

[Teleku]

Man, I know almost nothing about this game or the people making it, but I feel like I should also give them money for a fake spaceship I will never see just so I wont feel left out.  

Hmmm, what bank note should I light on fire ship should I get....


Edit:  NM, Jesus fucking christ these prices!

[Lucas]

Man, I know almost nothing about this game or the people making it, but I feel like I should also give them money for a fake spaceship I will never see just so I wont feel left out.  

Hmmm, what bank note should I light on fire ship should I get....


Edit:  NM, Jesus fucking christ these prices!

Well, like myself and others previously said in other posts, you can get the simplest and cheapest (but of course it depends on your wallet) package for $40, that will give you access to alpha, beta, standalone modules and the digital version of the proper products (S42 and Star Citizen itself):

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/store/69-digital-mercenary