Star Citizen

I haven't been this excited for a ship in a while.

To me it completely replaces the MOLE, even for undercrewed operations, and potentially even for occasional solo use, since most of the functionality is centralised on the bridge, so you won't have to run down ladders and elevators to reach the mining heads, plus they are on rails now so no need to swap back and forth to the pilot seat to make small adjustments. Of course, it really depends on how engineering gameplay impacts large ships with small/solo crews.

And 500+ scu of cargo? Crazy. It's even got a tractor beam for loading/unloading.

For me it was an instant buy (well, upgrade). Anyone else?

Hey there citizens! I've updated my #starcitizen #voiceattack macros for version 3.21 and posted a video about the updates.

For the anniversary this year, CIG is giving players the ability to purchase the F8C finally!

Just loot a golden ticket in game and take it to a ship rental kiosk. You'll get a 24 hour rental and you will be able to purchase the ship on the store ($260 warbond 😞)

Citizen Kate explores the other new jump gates accessible in PTU 3.21

Citizen Kate explores the new jump gate to Pyro that was added to 3.21 PTU. It's not complete, but gives a taste of what the jump gates will look like when they go live.

It's been a while since CR spoke up on Spectrum.

I don't think he really addressed anything that Terada brough up about quality of life issues, but there are some insights into other issues that are interesting.

Star Citizen 3.20 VoiceAttack Macros Updated - Resolution independent macros that dovetail perfectly with HCS Voice Packs! Navigate Quantum Jumps with your voice!

https://youtu.be/9OYW4fixIBE

This weeks episode details the future of cargo, where we explore freight elevators, hangars, cargo boxes, and more!

oops, I mean Ship

It's super close today, so make sure to get your votes in!

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/ship-showdown2023/live-showdown

The 400i has a bunch of paints already, but it's such a sexy ship that it should have more!

We're going through one of those rough patches and the community is getting riled up again. Progress has been extra slow recently and it's unlikely to pick up. There are rumors that the PU teams have been stripped down to barebones crew to prioritize SQ42 development. This movement to not spend any more money until 4.0 is picking up steam and I was wondering what people felt about all that.

I've bought my fair share of ships in the past, but I'm not really looking to pay the prices that CIG are asking these days. I might join in on this just because I sort of agree with the statement. Progress is going far too slow and SQ42 is almost a decade behind "schedule". At some point we have to force CIG to finish it.

CIG has implemented major changes in the combat flight model with 3.20 to bring it more in line with what their vision of combat should be. They've told us these changes are coming for a long time and they're finally here!

Per 3.20 PTU patch notes, these modes are currently restricted to the Arena Commander Experimental Game sessions, and CIG will be fine tuning them there until they are ready for Live release.

More details can be found in the 3.20 patch notes:

Experimental Mode: Master Modes

Experimental Versions of Free Flight, Duel, and a special Endless version of Vanduul Swarm will play host a collection of features that update our flight model – the original game modes will be unaffected & remain playable. Dubbed “Master Modes” this feature encompasses many changes to our flight systems, detailed below.

Note below will detail default keybinds.

“Master Modes” includes several new features: Aiming v2 (New gimbal behaviours, new aiming UI for pips, auto-gimbal, crosshairs etc), Targeting v2 (New targeting behaviours with new keybinds, auto-targeting, targeting brackets), Flight tuning, and a newly updated UI that comes with that.

• Speed is now limited when in SCM mode

• Use of afterburner can push slightly beyond SCM speed as long as players have boost capacitor, with greater "push" in the forward vector

• New "NAV" mode that disables weapons and shields, but gives access to higher top speed. Swapping between modes has a spool up period.

• Gladius has updated ship tunings to go with this mode

• Weapon capacitor pool is increased in baseline but regen is less impacted by priority triangle

• Ammo for the Mantis is higher

• Old gimbal system of weapon size going down one to accomdate gimbals has been replaced with a flat 20% reduction in firerate on the same weapons, allowing fixed and gimbal on size 3 for the Gladius

• Targeting bracket has been updated

• Central HUD symbology for targeting has changed including boresight, orientation arrow, gimbal designation, and PIPs.

Flight Model changes:

• Trichording is not possible anymore, the strongest acceleration axis is forward
• Pitch and Yaw cannot be combined anymore
• Gladius agility was increased
• Boost and regen were adjusted

Master Modes:

• Master Modes added (press B to swap) between NAV and SCM
• SCM allows high capacitor regen rates, shields and weapons but restricts max speed
• Thruster boost / afterburner will temporarily allow you to extend beyond the SCM boundary
• NAV allows high speed but no shields and weapons. It also heavily restricts regen rates.
• Swapping between master modes in not immediate
• Shield face health is stored in a buffer up to a certain ratio when going from SCM to NAV. When going from NAV to SCM that buffer will be quickly pushed back into the faces. The shield face generation from that buffer cannot be interrupted by incoming fire.

Make sure you get your votes in today!

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/ship-showdown2023/live-showdown

On all the matchups that happened up to now, the winner was always the one I expected to win... But I never talked about it too anyone so I can't claim being right about it!

So here are my predictions for the current round. (Predictions have emphasis on them.)

Fury vs Arrow (I would have been right)

Scorpion vs Redeemer (I almost called it in my last post)

Reclaimer vs Vulture (Result is almost decided already)

Terrapin vs Carrack: I see comments about the Carrack having won enough already, but I still think most players will vote Carrack.

Corsair vs Mercury: The Mercury was underwhelming, while the Corsair is popular in the verse.

Constellation vs Cutlass Black: I perfer the Connie, but Cutty is way more popular.

400 vs 600: They are similar, but 600 is bigger... I've also seen comments that the 600 is better than the 890, so it seems quite popular.

Cutter vs 890: This is my most uncertain prediction...

Audience: Waves 1 and 2

Database Reset: Yes

Server Regions: US/EU (Please select one of these instead of BEST or loading will fail)

Long Term Persistence: Enabled

Pledge Copy: Enabled

Starting aUEC: 15,000,000

Contents of the goodies pack:

• Frontier Undersuit
• Frontier Helmet
• CitizenCon 2953 Trophy
• Outlaw Shotgun
• Headhunter Gang Relic Collectible
• Pyrotechnic Amalgamated Multitool & Case
• [REDACTED] Ship Plushie
• [REDACTED] Ship Challenge Coin
• CitizenCon 2953 Dragonfly Paint
• Pyrotechnic Amalgamated Spectrum Badge

There's a note that CIG will also be doing the 3D sculpting for some of these items live at CitizenCon!

Arrived at CRU-L1 and noticed this great use of medical gown boxes. Nicely done, citizens!

On top of the racing updates that will be coming in 3.20, the community has created a series of race tracks in the PU. XGR made some really cool interactive maps of them in 3D and posted them on SketchFab!

Some of these are official tracks in the PU, while others are XGRs competition tracks:

The Snake Pit - PU Track

• https://skfb.ly/oEDsx

Yadar Valley - PU Track

• https://skfb.ly/oELGq

The Icebreaker - PU Track

• https://skfb.ly/oFvDW

Beautiful Glen Circuit - XGR Track

• https://skfb.ly/oJDAQ

Baijini Blitz - XGR Track

• https://skfb.ly/oKxvS

This comes from a reddit post by MrBlackMaze:

https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/15x2s14/interactive_race_track_guides/

I may not have followed this closely enough, but I just learned that the top 8 (which means winners of the first round) will be available in game for free-flight in the first week of September. This will definitively affect how I will vote in the first round!

I’ll let you look at the full match up on the official page, here are some that I thought were interesting:

Today is Fury vs Arrow: I have no doubt that the Arrow will win, but I voted Fury because I want to try it in game.

Reclaimer vs Vulture: Big vs Small. The Vulture was iconic this year with the new mechanics, but the Reclaimer is bigger which is always a win in my book!

Terrapin vs Carrack: Sorry Terrapin, you don’t stand a chance!

Corsair vs Mercury: Hmm, hard choice. I love the look of the Mercury, but the Corsair is a crowd favourite!

Connie vs Cutty Black: The Connie is always underappreciated, it’s an awesome ship. I know Drake is popular, but it was never my style. I think the Cutty will win.

400i vs 600i: Bigger is better? Doing a ship showdown during the free-flight will be interesting!

Cutter vs 890 Jump: Both ends of the ship spectrum. The Cutter should win ship of the year because it’s an awesome starter, and we need new players to have fun. But considering the free flight, I’ll vote 890 just so I have a chance to free-fly it!

No ISC or SC Live this week 🙁

Monday

• Ship Showdown - Phase One ends

Tuesday

• Lore Post - Life/Labor: The Secret History of Hurston Dynamics

Wednesday

• Roadmap Update
• Roadmap Roundup
• Ship Showdown - Top 16 Announced

Thursday

• Ship Showdown - Phase Two begins
• Bar Citizen World Tour @ Gamescom - Cologne, Germany

Friday

• Jump Point - August 2023
• Bar Citizen World Tour @ Gamescom - Cologne, Germany

Saturday

• Bar Citizen World Tour @ Gamescom - Cologne, Germany
• XGR Division Pro Series 3 (https://www.twitch.tv/extremegracing)

Kind of a rocky start, but matches are going fairly quickly now!

I don't pay a ton of attention to star citizen but I keep hearing about a "stat crunch" or "normalization".

Can someone explain that to me in basic terms?