Dive into the live release of Alpha 3.3, see what’s happening over at ArcCorp, and tool around with Greycat in this week’s update.
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/tran…round-The-Verse
Dive into the live release of Alpha 3.3, see what’s happening over at ArcCorp, and tool around with Greycat in this week’s update.
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/tran…round-The-Verse
Alles anzeigenThis Galactic Guide originally appeared in Jump Point 4.11.
For spacecraft enthusiast Audrey Timmerman, Lo was the ideal place to grow up. Every day, a wide array of ships would make the trip into atmosphere from the bustling spacelanes above. Family members recalled Audrey spending her nights staring out the window of their flat in the Walden Towers housing development and identifying ships as they flew past solely on the configuration of their running lights. In an interview with the Terra Gazette, Timmerman couldn’t recall what first got her interested in aviation: “I don’t remember one specific ‘ah-ha’ moment. That love was just always there.”
Timmerman came from a family of modest means who couldn’t afford to own a ship, but her parents indulged her passion by taking her to New Junction’s bustling trade port to watch the ships take off and land. In 2656, Timmerman eagerly joined the Navy with dreams of becoming a pilot. Unfortunately, her piloting skill lagged behind those who already had years of flight experience.
Still, her vast knowledge of ships and eye for detail did not go unnoticed. She became a mechanic and rose through the ranks to became a pit chief aboard the frigate UEEN Solis. Assigned to patrol the Perry Line, the Solis spent its time as a mobile support ship for UEE strike fighters that monitored the Xi’an jump points. She described it as ‘long stretches of boredom punctuated by moments of terror,’ but that changed one day when a flight of fighters brought back something from their patrol: wreckage of a Xi’an ship. While Timmerman was intimately familiar with Banu ships from her childhood in Corel, seeing the Xi’an’s unique design approach was both fascinating and inspiring for her.
After ending her Naval service, Timmerman returned to New Junction and opened Intergalactic Aerospace Repairs in 2667. The shop quickly garnered a reputation for being able to fix just about anything. In her off hours, Timmerman devoted herself to her true passion, trying to reverse engineer the Xi’an tech she had seen in the Navy. Relations between the two species were antagonistic at the time, so it was impossible as a civilian to get her hands on Xi’an tech, leaving her nothing but memories and ingenuity to work with.
Humble Beginnings
In 2670, Timmerman finished installing Xi’an-inspired maneuverable thrusters on Poby, an old Aurora she named after her cat. Afraid to test fly the ship on a heavily populated planet, Timmerman and fellow aerospace enthusiasts loaded Poby and a number of other heavily modified ships onto a transporter and flew to the nearly desolate planet of Castor to test fly them. Though it was an informal gathering, historians now considered it to be the very first Intergalactic Aerospace Expo.
Poby’s first flight was a disappointment, as a power surge fried a number of her experimental thrusters. Timmerman wasn’t deterred by the failure — quite the opposite, she was energized by the process, and it wasn’t long before this group of experimental spacecraft enthusiasts were meeting regularly to discuss and examine various mods they were building. The annual test flights on Castor became a tradition and grew in popularity over the years.
One of the members of the group was Steffon Dillard, owner of Steffon’s Ship Emporium in New Junction. He recognized the popularity of the annual gathering and approached Timmerman about sponsoring the event. He would provide the latest ships for the enthusiasts to check out in person, and hopefully make some sales in the process. Timmerman agreed and, needing a name to put on the ads Dillard was creating, decided to borrow from her own company to get the name Intergalactic Aerospace Expo (IAE).
Over the next decade, the event became large enough that other retail outlets and parts manufacturers were eager to show off their own goods at the expo. Once that happened, it wasn’t long before the major ship manufacturers took notice. In 2683, RSI became an official sponsor of the IAE and has been one ever since. Each year, more and more sponsors and booths appeared at the event.
Purists decried its corporatization, but Timmerman vehemently justified the expansion. To her the Expo hadn’t sold out; it had adapted and improved. Her final act was to create a nonprofit to officially manage the event, and ensure a large percentage of the revenue went to a charity Timmerman created called Simpod Pals, whose mission was to give underprivileged children the opportunity to learn how to fly.
Spooling Up
In 2847, the board of directors made the decision to rotate the location of the IAE each year. The public explanation was that it would give more people the chance to experience the universe’s premier aerospace event.
Numerous systems clamored to host the event and enjoy the economic windfall that came with it. The event hopscotched from planet to planet for the next few decades until the 2913 event in Ferron was almost canceled due to Asura’s inability to meet the minimum hangar and power standards outlined by the IAE’s contract. Shortly after this scare, the IAE board was contacted by Governor Joona Tzur of Severus about bringing the event to the Kiel System. IAE officials were impressed with his presentation, but more so with the facilities his planet could offer. Severus contained numerous hangars (initially built and used by the military), plenty of available landing pads, and more than sufficient accommodations for visitors. After impressing the IAE board with Kiel’s facilities, Tzur went in for the kill. He offered to make vast upgrades and improvements to the existing facilities if the IAE agreed to make Severus the event’s permanent home. Still reeling from the Ferron controversy, the board of directors took a vote and approved the proposal. The IAE has been based in Kiel ever since. UPDATE: In 2948, the IAE hosted their first ever satellite Expo from the Desmond Memorial Convention Center in Lorville, Hurston. The inaugural event was scheduled to run concurrently with the main Expo in Kiel and feature many of the same ships and vendors.
The Intergalactic Aerospace Expo has come a long way since its humble beginnings on Castor. Due to insurance and legal issues, it’s no longer about amateurs test flying experimental ships. Instead, renowned pilots like Chelsea Yan and members of the Navy’s famed ‘Wreckless’ Squadron 999 dazzle attendees with impressive flight maneuvers, while ship and component manufacturers unveil their latest wares. At its core though, the Intergalactic Aerospace Expo is made for those young dreamers who find themselves staring up at the sky to count running lights.
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spec…-Aerospace-Expo
Alles anzeigenExterner Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Hello everyone,
Last week, we released Star Citizen Alpha 3.3 to the live servers! If you haven’t had a chance yet, make sure to check out the patch notes, download the latest patch, and jump into the game. We’re also happy to announce that Alpha 3.3.5 has been published to the PTU for our Evocati testers. So far, things are looking really good, and we’re excited to open up the PTU to more backers in the very near future.
Thanksgiving is next week so prepare your fleet and keep a weather eye out for more information regarding some fun celebratory contests.
And with that, let’s see what’s going on this week:
Every week on Calling All Devs , designers, engineers, and other developers from our five offices around the world answer backer questions submitted on Spectrum and voted for by YOU. This week we talk about unwanted guests, voice commands, death of a spaceman w/ Scramble Races, and more!
On Tuesday, the Lore Team will publish another Portfolio piece, taking a look at some of the history behind the Intergalactic Aerospace Expo. As a reminder, you can check out previously published lore posts here.
Thursday will welcome another episode of Around the Verse where we’ll take a look at the latest Star Citizen news.
Tune in on Friday at at 9am PST for another episode of Reverse the Verse, broadcast live on our Star Citizen Twitch channel. This week, we’ll have Senior Graphics Programmer Ben Parry, Senior VFX Artist Michal Piatek and Visual Effects Director Mike Snowdon on the show to answer questions following their presentations at CitizenCon. Post your questions on Spectrum and vote on the ones you want to see addressed most.
Tyler Witkin
Lead Community Manager
The Weekly Community Content ScheduleMONDAY, NOVEMBER 12TH, 2018
Calling All Devs (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13TH, 2018
Weekly Lore Post – Portfolio (https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch)WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14TH, 2018
Monthly Subscriber’s NewsletterTHURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH, 2018
Around the Verse (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)
Vault Update
Monthly Concierge NewsletterFRIDAY, NOVEMBER 16TH, 2018
Reverse the Verse (https://www.twitch.tv/starcitizen)
Roadmap Update
RSI Newsletter
Community MVP: November 12th, 2018Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.We are constantly amazed by the contributions made by the Star Citizen community. Whether it’s fan art, a cinematic, a YouTube guide, or even a 3D print of your favorite ship, we love it all! Every week, we select one piece of content submitted to the Community Hub and highlight it here. The highlighted content creator will be awarded with an MVP badge on Spectrum and be immortalized in our MVP section of the Hub.
Don’t forget to submit your content to our Community Hub for a chance at seeing it here!
3.3 vs. 3.2 Comparison by NarayanN7
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Narayan has taken the time to create an incredibly detailed video highlighting the differences between Alpha 3.3 and Alpha 3.2.
Enjoy the full video on the Community Hub.
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/citi…In-Star-Citizen
Breaking news about upcoming releases and an inside look at cloud tech development in this week’s update.
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/tran…round-The-Verse
Alles anzeigenExterner Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Hello everyone,
Last week, we celebrated All Hallows’ Eve across our studios and crowned the winners of our two Halloween themed community contests. Check out the winners of the Pumpkin Carving Contest, and the FOIP Contest, highlighting the most terrifying or terrified expressions.
We welcomed more filmmakers to the annals of Star Citizen cinematic history with our Mustang Commercial Contest. Check out the work of the bold community filmmakers who embraced the maverick spirit of Consolidated Outland to create commercials that Silas Koerner himself would be proud of.
If you haven’t yet, you can also read up on Anvil’s latest bruiser, the Valkyrie. The Q&A on the recently revealed troop/personnel transport ship answers the top-voted community questions.
And with that, let’s see what’s going on this week:
Today we’re re-releasing September’s Squadron 42 Monthly Report as a Comm-Link. It’s important to note that this is a cross-post of the report you already received recently in your email’s inbox, but we wanted to publish it as a Comm-Link as well for convvenience. This is a cross-posting process we plan to continue for future Squadron 42 reports. Check that out here.
On Calling All Devs every week, designers, engineers, and other developers from our five offices around the world answer backer questions submitted on Spectrum and voted for by YOU. This week we talk about ship headlights, moving from planet to planet while offline, the docking functionality of the Merlin, and more!
On Tuesday, the Lore Team will publish another “Far From Home” piece, in which Old Jegger will be visiting an old homestead and reflecting on the reasons why he left. Check out previously published lore posts here.
Thursday will welcome another episode of Around the Verse where we’ll take a look at the latest Star Citizen news.
Tune in on Friday at at 9am PST for another episode of Reverse the Verse, broadcast live on our Star Citizen Twitch channel. This week, we’ll have Environment Art Director Ian Leyland on the show to answer questions following up the variety of CitizenCon presentations related to the “man-made” structures of Alpha 3.3.5, such as “Welcome to Lorville” and “The Mod Squad.” Post your questions on Spectrum and vote on the ones you want to see addressed most.
Ulf Kuerschner
Senior Community Manager
The Weekly Community Content ScheduleMONDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH, 2018
Calling All Devs (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH, 2018
Weekly Lore Post (https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch)WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH, 2018
-THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8TH, 2018
Around the Verse (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)
Vault UpdateFRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH, 2018
Reverse the Verse (https://www.twitch.tv/starcitizen)
Roadmap Update
RSI Newsletter
Community MVP: November 5th, 2018Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.We are constantly amazed by the contributions made by the Star Citizen community. Whether it’s fan art, a cinematic, a YouTube guide, or even a 3D print of your favorite ship, we love it all! Every week, we select one piece of content submitted to the Community Hub and highlight it here. The highlighted content creator will be awarded with an MVP badge on Spectrum and be immortalized in our MVP section of the Hub.
Don’t forget to submit your content to our Community Hub for a chance at seeing it here!
Operation Hammerhead by Gwim
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.The Black Star Initiative is putting the Aegis Hammerhead to the test. What does the turret say?!
Enjoy the video on the Community Hub.
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/citi…In-Star-Citizen
Alles anzeigenSquadron 42 Monthly Report: September 2018
This is a cross-post of the report that was recently sent out via the monthly Squadron 42 newsletter. We’re publishing this a second time as a Comm-Link to make it easier for the community to reference back to, and plan on following this process for future Squadron 42 Monthly Reports.
As the development of Squadron 42 thunders on, the brain trust at UEE Naval High Command has retooled their dispatches.
We aim to bring you the most significant and comprehensive project updates available. However, particularly sensitive details will remain under wraps to avoid unnecessary leaks to the civilian community.
Read on for a look into the work done on Squadron 42 during September and keep a weather eye open on this channel for future briefings.
CitizenCon 2948 saw the first look at the latest Squadron 42 trailer. If you missed it, or want to check it out again, you’ll find the full 4K version on the official Star Citizen YouTube channel.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Cinematics
The Cinematics Team split their time this month between creating content and advancing tech and tools. They had several meetings about where to fit PCAP to reworked props and where to change geometry to fit the specific shot performances; in particular, where to place the Idris and Bengal’s captain’s chairs.
They modified and completed several Trackview master sequences featuring newly-edited PCAP, including camera and lighting. The completed sequences essentially show a conversation or first-person cinematic and all of its branches in a linear fashion. The animators then use these to iterate on pose-matching, while the level designers use them as the blueprint for how the scene will play out once it’s scripted via AI logic.
On the tech side, they worked with tool engineers to improve the navspline for puppeteering ships. The spline now features better ghost vehicle rendering too, allowing its control points to be manipulated as editor objects. General work on the usability of the spline is continuing with numerous improvements. The team also revamped the ability to trigger weapon and turret fire on ships.
A collaboration with the tech teams featured example scenes that contain performances by real-life actors. As the actors were directing their performance to a specific point, the goal is now to guide the player towards that spot via UI. The first tests look promising.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Engineering
The Actor Team made a lot of small improvements to how first-person gameplay feels, such as speeding up weapon swapping, tweaking ADS aiming when moving, and adjusting weapon sway. They also revisited and fixed issues with the jump mechanic before undertaking a more detailed pass using the new time-warping tech to clean up the assets. Progress continues with the Usable Editor Tool, which enables the team to create and amend new usables directly in the editor and simplify the current process.
The new Walk and Talk prototype is making progress, with two characters now walking together while having a believable and dynamic conversation. The EU Gameplay Team has been supporting the cinematics group, fixing issues they’ve been having when creating cutscenes.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Facial animation
The team worked along-side Tech Animation to test the Vanduul facial rig. They also ran the first set of reviews for the new Facial Animation Quality Benchmark, with the goal of establishing a gold-standard for facial performance in a triple-A game.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Gameplay Story
September was a particularly exciting month as the Story Team implemented more scenes than ever before. The aim for Q3 began with around 10, but they managed to get 23 working in-game to a high standard. They also gave more thought to the lighting and positioning of scenes within levels, which has led to considerable improvements to their visual appearance.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Graphics
The Graphics Team worked on several new features as part of ongoing space-crafting improvements. This included adding shadows onto and from gas clouds (with a 75% memory saving), the addition of turbulence and interference when near dense regions of cloud, and a new GPU spline based lightning system. On top of this, they also improved reflections from water and added tessellation to the organic shader, which is mainly used for rocks and terrain.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Level Design
The team is operating at full capacity, with a heavy focus on scene implementation and usables. Making all the locations of the game feel realistic and believable (particularly the way the AI interact and move around on their various schedules) is always a top priority.
All chapters of the game have a single design owner and several support designers who can work on them simultaneously. The numerous feature teams all have S42 technical priorities on their backlogs and have a steady stream of technology and workflow improvements coming in on a weekly basis.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Props
The Props Team shifted priorities slightly this month to focus on getting their templates updated to work with the new usable systems, with the aim to make it easier to scale functionality out across the game.
Work has progressed on junk and scrap piles, with the whitebox assets getting a material pass. The original simpods have been brought up to scratch, staying true to the original concept but being reworked using the custom normal workflow. They were also converted to work with the most current shaders. Finally, the team has been going through the cinematic scenes and have started work on the props with performance capture associated with them.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Ship Art
The Ship Art Team paused for a couple weeks on Persistent Universe work to take care of some pilot-fitting issues on a prominent S42 campaign ship. They raised the pilot position up and refined the interior geo a bit more. Now that it’s done, they’re back in full swing on the 300i grey-box for the PU.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Tech Animation
The Motion Capture Team has been reconfiguring their whole rig to trigger capture on every platform over TCP/IP: reference, facial & body. This made it much easier to match and manage the resulting datasets and has improved workflow across the board.
They put it to the test on a recent shoot in Manchester and worked to implement much of the resulting animation. They have also been refining the pipelines in which they process the data sets from motion capture and bring them together as a whole in their animation DCC of choice, Maya.
Female animation received baseline processing, with retargeting of the core reference databases and basic animation done to make the refinement pass as easy as possible.
They also worked on multiple fixes for the usable system and supported the Combat AI Team with new weapon setups for left-handed combat.
Lastly, the team has been developing the facial rigging pipeline and skinning toolsets, with the Vanduul as the central focus of development.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.UI
While UI predominantly provided support for new features in the PU, they also supported various environmental needs for Squadron 42, such as ambient displays in the background of scenes and locations.
VFX
This month, the team focused heavily on a variety of feature improvements, including significantly upgraded lightning effects. This doesn’t just refer to how it looks, but how it can be dynamically controlled and how it interacts with the player. This was all done in close collaboration with the Art and Design teams.
They also worked on various cinematics, as well as several in-game cutscenes. Some have been challenging to work on as they flesh out unique environments and situations that haven’t been seen before in a video game.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Weapons
The Weapon Art Team finished production on the Kastak Arms Sawtooth knife.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Covert Intel
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Conclusion
WE’LL SEE YOU NEXT MONTH…
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/tran…-September-2018
Alles anzeigenWriter’s Note: Phantom Bounty: Part Two was published originally in Jump Point 3.2. Read Part One here.
Devana lifted through the sky, and the gleaming towers of Tevistal faded away beneath the cloudline. Exhilaration raced through Mila at the feel of the Freelancer moving through the air, her back pressed against the well-worn pilot’s seat, all of the heady power of the ship under her command.
This was the one place she always felt free and in control, as if she could be anyone and do anything. But open space was a double-edged knife, filled with the promise of both endless possibility and danger. And today it was danger she and Rhys were headed toward: their last chance to catch the Phantom. To catch the terrorist who called herself Elaine.
“Did I ever tell you I love watching your face when you fly?” Rhys smirked at her from the co-pilot’s seat.
Mila warmed at the look in his eyes and lifted a brow. “I think you love watching my face when I’m doing . . . lots of things.”
Rhys grinned at her, and Mila knew they were both recalling the quick fun they’d just had in the bunk while waiting for clearance. She wasn’t going to try to label this relationship as anything other than business . . . for now. But being business partners with benefits sure was nice for the built-in stress relief.
When they finished their ascent and hit the emptiness of space, Rhys brought up the system map on the HUD and set a course for Mila to follow. She altered their path to follow a trajectory that would take them to the orbital platform at the edge of the system.
“If that dock snitch told the truth,” Mila said, “the Phantom’s headed to the orbital platform to meet her contact. But what do we know about this Septa platform?”
Rhys brought up the system map and searched for available data. “Septa’s owned by a company called McGloclin, but it looks like they haven’t been active out there for a while. Not sure what we’ll find on the platform. Maybe company workers, probably vagrants. No Advocacy agents there or any law officers at all since the corporation is supposed to be in charge. There’s a pretty large debris field drifting a few klicks from the platform.”
“Great.”
“Here, give me that tag number so we can scan.”
Mila pushed up her sleeve, and Rhys held his mobiGlas up to hers to grab the tag data the WiDoW addict had given them. It transferred over, and he ported it into Devana’s system. “Activating the long-range scanner.”
They both tensed as the scanner completed its initial search.
No hits.
A twinge of disappointment hit Mila, but it didn’t do much to dampen her excitement. “Well, we’re still too far from the platform, if that’s where she is. I’m sure the scanner will pick up something . . . soon.”
She and Rhys rode in comfortable silence born of months of flying together, but as they approached the platform, Mila recalled how Rhys had acted back on Tevistal. How she had acted.
He’d been controlling and had tried to keep her out of harm’s way when he’d needed back-up. And she’d acted hotheaded, violating their agreement about her handling tech and him dealing with contacts.
And now, this was probably it — the end of this mission, whether they caught the Phantom or not. If Elaine escaped, they’d have to find a new bounty, and that would take time and more creds they didn’t have. They needed to keep clear heads if they had any chance of succeeding today.
“Hey,” she said softly. “We’ll play this by the book this time, yeah? I take care of tech. You haggle and get info. We work together once we get close.”
“Agreed.”
“Just one thing.” Mila swallowed and met his eyes from across the small space. “You have to allow me to do my job. If there’s danger, we handle things the way we always have. This . . . this thing we have can’t get in the way of that.”
Rhys’s jaw tensed, and he didn’t answer right away. “I just want to keep you safe.”
“We keep each other safe.”
Rhys shifted in his seat and looked out at the nothingness ahead of them. “I’ve lost people . . . people I cared about before.”
So have I. But Mila didn’t say it. “We can’t let anything get in the way of our judgment. The mission comes first.”
He gave her a stiff nod.
“Mission comes first.” Mila bit her lip. His agreement was the outcome she wanted in this conversation, wasn’t it? So why the hell did she feel so disappointed?
Because you’ve fallen hard for him, idiot. Her cheeks heated at the thought. Now was not the time to be thinking about this.
She kept her eyes straight ahead, afraid the look in them might give her real feelings away. “I’m glad we agree then.”
The scanner beeped, and Mila’s heart rate picked up as she looked over at what it had found.
They’d located the Phantom’s ship. Tentative ID: a Cutlass.
“She’s heading away from the platform,” Rhys said urgently. “We might lose her on the scanner with all the debris.”
“Map a new trajectory. Maybe we can cut her off before she reaches it.” Mila throttled up, her breath coming more quickly as she followed the new course.
In minutes, they came up on the tangle of floating junk. It loomed before them, hunks of twisted metal and dead ships in the distance, sprawled out in a mess that would be tough to navigate.
Just as they reached the edge of it, the Phantom’s ship winked out of existence on their scanner.
“Kak.” Rhys fiddled with the scanner, trying to manually find the ship. “We’re gonna have to go in there. That debris won’t be easy to fly through —”
“We’ll be fine.”
Mila searched ahead, seeking any sign of a ship where the Phantom had disappeared from their scanner.
“There. The only one moving!” Mila pointed to a glint of metal in the distance, weaving through the debris. “I’m taking us in.”
“Let me check where she might be headed.” Rhys zoomed in on his map.
Mila gritted her teeth and directed the Freelancer into the debris field, cutting around a half-destroyed freighter. “Do you think she knows we’re here?”
“I don’t think so. She hasn’t changed her speed.”
Mila edged Devana around a hunk of twisted metal, trying to keep the distant glimmer in view.
“We should get above this mess. It’s safer.”
“No,” Mila responded. “We risk being detected, and then we’ll lose her if she goes deeper into this floating pile of kak. We need to go in and flank her. Catch her by surprise.”
Mila sped up, darting around small pieces of junk. Sweat popped up on her forehead as she tried to watch the debris and keep an eye on the glint of the Phantom’s ship ahead of them.
They were flying straight for the center of the junk pile.
“Shutting down unnecessary systems to increase shielding,” Rhys said. “Elaine’s not gonna let us catch her without a fight.”
“I know.” Mila killed the main engines, relying on maneuvering thrusters. “Hold on.”
As Devana slipped through the detritus, it swayed from side to side, avoiding most of the scrap metal and decommissioned ships.
Rhys grunted and shook his head as small pipes and bolts bounced off their hull.
Mila’s pulse pounded, buzzing in her ears with the thrill of the chase. Then the distant ship suddenly made a hard right and disappeared between two massive cargo hulks.
“Did she make us?” Mila pushed Devana to the limit to catch up.
“Maybe. She could be waiting for us on the other side of that ship.”
Just before they reached the Hull-C where the Phantom had disappeared, Mila rotated the Freelancer to starboard and slowed.
The massive skeleton of the Hull-C blocked their line of sight. She couldn’t see the Phantom’s ship, but it could be hidden just on the other side.
She tapped the thrusters and coasted beneath the cargo ship.
Mila barely breathed as they reached the far side of the dead ship’s hull.
“I got her on the scanner. Hanging right above us,” Rhys said. “A Cutlass, all right. Weapons ready. She knows we’re here.”
As they emerged, Mila’s heart thumped wildly. She rotated the ship in a deft motion to face the Cutlass. Devana was momentarily bracketed between the Hull-C and another freighter — a terrible place to be in a gunfight.
The Cutlass took a shot but missed, instead damaging the Hull-C above them. It was a straight shot; had the Phantom just missed on purpose?
“I gotta get us out of here.” Mila dropped the ship lower, trying to escape the narrow choke point they’d found themselves in.
“Use the freighter for cover!”
The Phantom fired again, this time a steady fusillade that still missed Devana, striking the hulk they were slipping toward.
“Mila, wait!” Rhys yelled, just as the Cutlass’s barrage triggered an explosion in the Hull-C. It burst in a wave of shrapnel, generating a force that sent Devana flying sideways.
Mila gripped the controls tighter as the Freelancer slammed into the other cargo ship with a hard shudder. The shielding held, but barely. Alarms sounded in response to the shield loss, and Mila felt the balance of the ship shift beneath her.
“Maneuvering thruster?” Mila asked, struggling to regain balance.
“Dammit. Yes. We lost one.”
From above them, the Cutlass rained shots down on their weakened shield.
“Shields at quarter power,” Rhys reported.
Another explosion sparked near the second cargo ship, and a new wave of debris headed toward them. Mila watched in horror as a jagged metal panel flew straight at the nose of Devana.
Rhys squeezed the trigger. Half the panel shot off in the opposite direction, but the rest of it stayed on course.
It slammed straight into them, and Mila’s head snapped back against her seat. Alarms blared as the ship rotated wildly, and she gripped the stick firmly, trying to steady them. A thin crack spread across the cockpit, slowly widening, and the temperature instantly dropped.
“Kak.” She and Rhys both said it at the same time.
“Gotta patch the screen. Now.” Rhys moved, grabbing their helmets from the storage compartment, and took the controls as Mila latched hers on.
She took the controls back as he got his helmet on. Rhys stumbled out of his seat.
“Getting the repair foam.” He said, his voice crackling over the helmet comms. He hurried toward the cargo hold as Devana banked through a fractured Starfarer. When Mila came out of the turn, she spotted the Cutlass as it ducked behind a blackened hull that was too far gone to identify. Angling the thrusters, she turned tightly to follow.
Rhys stumbled back into the cockpit and applied the foam to the crack, temp-sealing it.
“This’ll hold until we get to a repair dock,” Rhys panted. “But not if we take another direct hit.”
Mila keyed up the guns, her breath coming quickly now and frosting up on the interior glass of her helmet, as the Phantom danced in and out of sight ahead.
“It could have been far worse.”
Rhys smirked at her tone and strapped back into his seat. “Fine. I’ll say it. You were right about that extra armor.”
“That always does have a nice ring to it.” With Rhys back on weapons, Mila narrowed the distance to the Cutlass.
“Take her out, Rhys.” Mila focused on keeping the Freelancer steady as Rhys targeted the Cutlass’s engines.
Devana’s twin Kronegs opened fire.
The Cutlass jerked sideways, off course, and a small, bright flash told them they’d gotten a hit. Mila darted a glance at the scan. It updated, showing the Cutlass’s left engine had been damaged.
“Targeting her jumpdrive,” Rhys said. As the Phantom regained control of her ship, Rhys fired off a series of rapid shots, targeting the armored drive.
The Cutlass lurched and then took off again, swinging from side to side, this time heading for a half-scrapped Orion nearby. It disappeared on the far side of the ship, and Mila adjusted course to go after it.
“Not giving her a chance to drop another mine,” Mila said.
“I think we got her,” Rhys replied quietly. “She’s not getting out of here.”
Mila suppressed a smile and tried to ignore the giddy feeling in her stomach. “Good shot. But we still have to catch her.”
The Freelancer’s lights illuminated the torn-apart ship the Phantom had disappeared behind. Tangles of pipes and dozens of storage levels were partially visible where armor had been ripped out. The ship was a veritable warren of half-enclosed corridors.
Mila slowed as their lights found the Cutlass. It was stopped dead near the front of the ship, hugging close to the hull. Mila searched along the hull as Rhys activated the comm and hailed the Cutlass.
No response.
He checked the scan again. “I think her systems are failing. Maybe life support. We got some good hits in.”
A white spacesuit floated out between the Cutlass’s far hatch and the freighter’s hull. The Phantom flailed as she hurtled into the freighter and disappeared.
Mila pulled the Freelancer closer to the Cutlass and looked at Rhys. “We have to go in after her.”
“She’s setting a trap.”
“She’s running. She has nowhere to go. We have her.”
“She could have called for help. What if reinforcements show up? What if she met someone back at the platform and commed them? This freighter’s a death trap.”
Mila edged the ship closer to where the Phantom had disappeared and unstrapped her harness. “I’m going in.”
Rhys grabbed her arm. “Don’t. She can’t stay in there forever. We can wait her out. This is what she wants.”
Desperation surged through Mila, mingling with her adrenaline high. She pulled her arm away and headed back to suit up.
Rhys followed her and watched as she pulled on her armored suit and strapped her pistol to her hip.
“She always manages to slip away,” Mila said. She slammed a fist against the locker, frustrated. Knowing the Phantom was so close. . . right next to them in that ship. It was making it hard to think straight. But Mila was sure of one thing. She was going in after her.
“We’re so close this time,” Mila continued, trying to keep her voice steady. “Too close to risk losing her, and you know this could be our only chance. I’m going in. You can come if you want to.”
Rhys wrapped a hand around Mila’s arm and turned her to face him. She reluctantly looked up at him.
“I should be the one to go in there after her,” he said gruffly. “You watch the ship. If she comes back out or anyone shows up, you can comm me.”
“No.”
Rhys narrowed his green eyes at her, clearly worried.
Mila took a labored breath. “We should go in together.”
“Mila, someone needs to stay with Devana, and you’re the better pilot. Let me try to chase her back out here. The mission comes first.”
Mila’s stomach clenched at the thought of Rhys going in alone, but he was right. Someone needed to stay. And the mission had to come first.
Rhys took her silence as agreement, quickly suiting up and holstering his Arclight.
She kept her spacesuit on — just in case she needed to go in after him. Her throat tightened as she returned to her seat and pulled the Freelancer closer to where the Phantom had disappeared.
Rhys came back up to the cockpit and squeezed her arm lightly. “Keep the commlink open. Stay on guard.”
Mila nodded and took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. This could go sideways so easily.
She depressurized the cargo hold and lowered the ramp for Rhys. He pushed off and drifted into the dark body of the freighter.
She very nearly commed him to tell him to come back, that they could wait until the Phantom gave up, but she hesitated. Her feelings for Rhys battled with her need to capture this terrorist. Her need won out. This was their last chance to capture the Phantom. Rhys would be fine. He was a great shot.
Several moments passed, and Mila forced herself to check the scanners again. No sign of any other moving ships.
A dull thud sounded from somewhere on the hull, and Mila’s heart rate sped up as she pulled her gun from her holster.
She glanced back at the cargo hold door in time to see the light flash. The alarm sounded — a warning that the door was being opened from the other side while the hold was still depressurized. Mila turned back to the console and scrambled to lock the door, but she failed. It was too late to raise the ramp, too late to repressurize the hold.
Mila got to her feet, her pistol tight in her grip, and trained it on the door to the cargo hold.
At that moment, Rhys’s voice came over the comm. “There are too many places to hide.” His voice rose. “Mila, close the ramp! I just found an empty spacesuit. It wasn’t her.”
“I know. She’s here, Rhys. I repeat, she’s on the ship.”
The door slid open, and Mila’s body lifted off the floor as the artificial gravity systems were deactivated. She reached out to grab her seatback with one hand, and her pistol arm swung wide.
The Phantom floated through the door, weightless, and took a shot. It tore through Mila’s suit, and she cried out.
A terrible burning pain ripped through Mila’s shoulder, and her oxygen began to vent. She shot back desperately, but the Phantom pushed off the ceiling toward the floor in a well-practiced zero-G evasive movement, and Mila’s shot missed, taking a hunk of wall panel out instead.
Adrenaline flooded her. They’d cornered the Phantom and now she’d fight to the death to take Devana. Mila wouldn’t let that happen.
She took another shot, but missed again as the Phantom pushed off the floor. She hurtled forward and slammed into Mila’s injured arm.
Mila gasped and caught a glimpse of herself in the dark reflective glass of Elaine’s helmet, at the bloodied torn shoulder of her suit.
Elaine slammed her pistol directly into Mila’s helmet, then knocked her gun from her grip.
Mila recovered, grappling with the Phantom, and managed to slam a fist into her arm, making her lose her grip on her own gun. Both pistols drifted away, floating toward the far wall.
Mila tried to push off the wall toward the pistols, but Elaine grabbed her in a tight chokehold.
“Almost there.” Rhys sounded panicked, and Mila didn’t have the breath to respond. “Hang on.”
She fought against Elaine, trying to throw her off, but the two of them just spun in weightless rotation, bouncing off the walls. Mila finally got her feet planted on one of them and pushed hard, slamming herself and Elaine back against a cockpit seatback.
Sweat dripped into Mila’s eyes as they struggled, and blackness crowded around the edges of her vision as the oxygen escaped her suit. The cargo hold was wide open, all their oxygen gone. Soon Mila’s suit would be just as empty.
Elaine kicked off the seat, propelling them both down the aisle, sending them flying toward the floating pistols.
Mila was still in a tight chokehold as she reached for the nearest pistol, but the gun spun out of reach. The Phantom punched Mila in the ribs, hard, and squeezed the bloody wound on her shoulder.
Mila nearly blacked out.
Without warning, the gravity came back on, slamming Mila and Elaine to the floor. The pistols clattered to the floor with them. Mila scrambled away from Elaine and closed her gloved fist around the nearest one. She flipped over on her back, pointing the gun up at the Phantom just as she was about to attack.
The Phantom froze and slowly lifted her hands, palms out, in a gesture of surrender. Mila’s pale, stricken countenance reflected back at her from Elaine’s dark glass visor.
Rhys ran through the door, pistol out.
“Cuff her. Throw her in the pod. I need oxygen,” Mila gasped. The pistol wavered in her grip as she fought to stay focused. She was suffocating.
Rhys slammed the Phantom into the wall, then dragged her into a restraint pod.
In moments, he was back, reestablishing oxygen levels from the cockpit. Then he lifted Mila’s helmet from her head, and the dark spots clouding her vision faded. She could breathe again.
She tried to smile up at Rhys, but the stabbing pain in her shoulder made it come out in a grimace. “We got her.”
Rhys took off his helmet and lightly touched her cheek, his brow furrowed with worry. “Yeah, we got her. But it looks like she got you.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.” Rhys grabbed a medpen and plunged it into her arm. The healing agent took over, easing Mila’s pain.
Then Rhys leaned down and gently pressed his warm lips to hers. As they kissed, relief flooded her. She hadn’t allowed herself to admit how worried she’d been for him when he went into the freighter.
She lifted a hand to the rough stubble of his cheek, and Rhys laid his hand over hers. “You were right,” he said. “I think my professional judgment’s been compromised . . . by this. By us. I never should have agreed to that plan. We should’ve waited. But I saw that stubborn look on your face, and . . .”
Mila shook her head. “If you’re compromised, so am I.” She gave him another kiss. “We’ll figure this out. The important thing is that we both made it out okay. We completed the mission.”
Rhys finally cracked a smile and helped Mila to her feet. “We did it. Are you ready to unmask our Phantom?”
“I’ve never been more ready in my life.”
Rhys typed in the pod’s code, and the door slid open, revealing the Phantom cuffed to the interior bar.
This was the woman they’d hunted for months, the woman who had nearly killed them on more than one occasion. And they’d never even known what she really looked like.
Rhys raised a brow at Mila. “You want to do the honors, or should I?”
Mila lifted a brow in return, and he stepped out of her way. She winced as she used both hands to unlatch the Phantom’s helmet. She pulled it off with one swift movement and took a step back.
She and the Phantom met eye-to-eye for the first time.
And Mila’s heart nearly stopped. She lifted a shaking hand to her mouth, covering it.
Rhys gave her a confused look.
“Evony Salinas,” the Phantom said. “Who knew a Salinas would ever go into bounty hunting?”
Rhys’s eyes widened. “Who? What’s going on, Mila?”
The Phantom stared at Mila intently. “Going by your middle name now?”
“You know the Phantom?” Rhys’s voice was low, incredulous.
Mila dropped her hand from her mouth and finally found her voice. She backed up another step. “Her name is Casey Phan.”
“Phan? As in Phan Pharmaceuticals?”
Mila nodded. “The same. But . . . Casey Phan was murdered ten years ago.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/seri…Bounty-Part-Two
Alles anzeigenExterner Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Hello everyone,
We hope you have been enjoying the daily CitizenCon panel uploads on our YouTube channel. There’s still more panels being released through the end of the month, so keep an eye out for those!
Last week we also kicked off two equally haunting contests. Get into the Halloween spirit with this year’s Pumpkin Carving Contest, or show us your best in-game screenshots depicting your character’s most terrifying or terrified expressions, using the newly introduced FOIP technology! As a reminder, both of these contests end tonight at 11:59 PM Pacific.
Lastly, for the chance to get your hands on a Constellation Phoenix, or other exciting prizes, check out our Mustang Commercial Contest. Similar to the Halloween contests, you only have until tonight at 11:59 PM Pacific to submit a video focusing on one variant of the Mustang lineup for a chance to win!
And with that, let’s see what else is going on this week:
Calling All Devs is back! Every week, designers, engineers and other developers from our five offices around the world answer backer questions submitted on Spectrum and voted for by YOU. This week we talk about inner thought animations, the Banu Defender, and more!
Wednesday will bring the answers you’ve been looking for in our latest Q&A, this time for the Anvil Valkyrie.
Thursday will welcome a new episode of Around the Verse where we’ll take a look at the latest Star Citizen news and dive further into the tech behind the CitizenCon mission playthrough.
Tune in on Friday at Noon Pacific for another episode of Reverse the Verse, broadcast live on our Star Citizen Twitch channel. This week, Sean Tracy and Josh Herman will follow up on the “What a Bunch of Characters” and “Breathing Life into Content with Physics” panels from CitizenCon. Post your questions on Spectrum and vote on the ones you want to see addressed most.
Tyler Witkin
Lead Community Manager
The Weekly Community Content ScheduleMONDAY, OCTOBER 29TH, 2018
Calling All Devs (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)
CitizenCon 2948 Panel (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30TH, 2018
CitizenCon 2948 Panel (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31ST, 2018
Anvil Valkyrie Q&A
Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contest Winners Announcement
Halloween FoIP Contest Winners Announcement
CitizenCon 2948 Panel (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1ST, 2018
Mustang Commercial Contest Winners Announcement
Subscribers – Ship of the Month: Origin 600i
Around the Verse (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)
Vault Update
CitizenCon 2948 Panel (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND, 2018
Reverse the Verse – Characters and Content Physics (https://www.twitch.tv/starcitizen)
Roadmap Update
RSI Newsletter
CitizenCon 2948 Panel (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)
Community MVP: October 29th, 2018Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.We are constantly amazed by the contributions made by the Star Citizen community. Whether it’s fan art, a cinematic, a YouTube guide, or even a 3D print of your favorite ship, we love it all! Every week, we select one piece of content submitted to the Community Hub and highlight it here. The highlighted content creator will be awarded with an MVP badge on Spectrum and be immortalized in our MVP section of the Hub.
Don’t forget to submit your content to our Community Hub for a chance at seeing it here!
Star Citizen Screenshots by Nikita
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Nikita has captured a collection of stunning vistas in the Star Citizen universe in his 21:9 screenshot gallery.
Enjoy the full gallery on the Community Hub.
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/citi…In-Star-Citizen
Alles anzeigenExterner Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Hello everyone,
We hope you enjoyed the daily CitizenCon panel uploads on our YouTube channel last week and there’s still more to come, with more panels being released through the end of the month. Let us know in the comments below which has been your favorite panel so far.
We also released the Kraken Q&A last week, which included answers to your top-voted questions, regarding its refuel, restock, and repair capabilities, and more. Make sure to check it out here.
Did you attend CitizenCon and mount up on the back of the Drake Dragonfly? The complete gallery of attendees riding the to-scale bike was also published last Friday. Find your pictures and share them with the ‘verse.
Lastly, for the chance to get your hands on a Constellation Phoenix, or other exciting prizes, check out our Mustang Commercial Contest. You have until October 29th to submit a video focusing on one variant of the Mustang lineup for a chance to win!
And with that, let’s see what else is going on this week:
Calling All Devs, will be on hiatus this week, taking a well-deserved break as we head back into our regular schedule next week.
Thursday will welcome a new episode of Around the Verse where we’ll take a look at the latest Star Citizen news and dive into the tech behind the CitizenCon mission playthrough.
Tune in on Friday at 9am PDT for another episode of Reverse the Verse, broadcast live on our Star Citizen Twitch channel. This week, we’ll be following up on the New Flight Experience panel from CitizenCon with David Colson and Andy Nicholson. Post your questions on Spectrum and vote on the ones you want to see addressed most.
Finally, Halloween is just around the corner, and we’ve got two different but equally chilling contests kicking off Friday to ring it in. If this interests you, we recommend picking up a pumpkin or two from your local store, and downloading the latest PTU build so you’re equipped with the full power of FoIP in preparation.
Ulf Kuerschner
Senior Community Manager
The Weekly Community Content ScheduleMONDAY, OCTOBER 22ND, 2018
CitizenCon 2948 Panel (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23RD, 2018
CitizenCon 2948 Panel (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24TH, 2018
CitizenCon 2948 Panel (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25TH, 2018
Around the Verse (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)
Vault Update
CitizenCon 2948 Panel (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26TH, 2018
Reverse the Verse – New Flight Experience (https://www.twitch.tv/starcitizen)
Roadmap Update
RSI Newsletter
Halloween Contests
CitizenCon 2948 Panel (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)
Community MVP: October 22nd, 2018Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.We are constantly amazed by the contributions made by the Star Citizen community. Whether it’s fan art, a cinematic, a YouTube guide, or even a 3D print of your favorite ship, we love it all! Every week, we select one piece of content submitted to the Community Hub and highlight it here. The highlighted content creator will be awarded with an MVP badge on Spectrum and be immortalized in our MVP section of the Hub.
Don’t forget to submit your content to our Community Hub for a chance at seeing it here!
Citizen SØ #3 by Tolky
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.The third episode of the sci-fi series inspired by Star Citizen with English subtitles!
Watch it on the Community Hub.
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/citi…In-Star-Citizen
Alles anzeigen
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Galactic Guide: Leir System
This Galactic Guide originally appeared in Jump Point 4.10.
Leir is an unclaimed system that some once thought would develop into a major hub for Humanity. Discovered by an ICC scanning team canvassing Banshee in 2677, the pathfinders were thrilled to discover an A-type main sequence star with three mineral-rich and potentially habitable planets. The system’s initial assessment sparked interest in both the public and private sectors. Imperator Illyana Messer VI, still tightening her grip on the reins of power, decided not to commit resources to the system, leaving Leir’s official status in limbo.
Small time miners still went in droves. Many of them didn’t come back. Strange stories circulated and the system soon had a bad reputation both for danger and for its lack of basic services. There was only one settlement with any kind of longevity in the system. Located on the second planet, the settlement of Leir was a nexus of shiftless travelers, greedy miners, fugitive criminals and cold mercs looking to make a cred. Though the settlement was subsequently wiped out by the terraforming process, the name had been so firmly established in the public imagination that it became synonymous with the entire system.
In 2743, Galor Messer IX decided to capitalize on the still unclaimed system and opened the floodgates of commercial progress. He authorized the auctioning of a terraforming permit for Leir II, the system’s clear crown jewel, in an effort to fund his legacy, a complete foundational redesign of UEE government buildings. The winning bid was so high that many assumed it was a mistake. Turns out, it wasn’t.
The aggressive bid was the UEE’s introduction to Hatfield & Harding, a new venture between Clarence Hatfield, an eccentric trillionaire from Lo, and Olive Harding, a selfmade mining baron. The two had big plans for the planet. Now all they needed was someone to carry them out.
THE NEW DOCTORHatfield and Harding scoured the universe and eventually found Dr. Marcus Fayel. A terraforming expert at UPARQ, his peers subsequently described him as brilliant, charismatic and ideal for the position. Dr. Fayel secured the job by the end of his initial interview.
Once operations began, Dr. Fayel established Leir II’s first terraforming colony atop the planet’s largest mineral mother lode. It wasn’t long before a clandestine mining operation was up and running. For years, Dr. Fayel hid the operation from Hatfield and Harding and funneled the profits to himself and a close cadre of associates who oversaw the operation. No one knows exactly when, but the stress of overseeing a massive terraforming project and hiding an illegal mining operation got to Dr. Fayel.
In 2803, the Hatfield and Harding board of directors named Dr. Fayel the company’s “Employee of the Year.” He declined an offer to receive the award in person, and instead sent a vid to the banquet. In it, Dr. Fayel consistently repeated the phrase “purity of purpose” and spoke in grandiose terms about the world “I am creating.”
No one batted an eye, though. According to multiple banquet guests, Dr. Fayel was hard to hear over the roar of company board members, who were more focused on advancing their own inebriation than hearing Dr. Fayel.
On May 3, 2812, the company abruptly lost all communication with their operations on Leir II. A few hours later, a looped message was broadcast from the planet. Dr. Fayel, dressed all in white, stood in the foreground while rows of workers stood in perfect order behind him. He announced that the planet’s “purification” was accomplished, but control of it would remain in his hands. He spoke at length about Humanity’s hubris and declared his intention to separate his believers from the rest of society. Dr. Fayel ended by declaring his intentions were peaceful, but that his followers would defend the planet to their death if anyone attempted to overthrow their authority.
Hatfield and Harding were furious. The company had been hemorrhaging money for decades and were in desperate need of a revenue stream. Quietly, they scrounged together credits and hired mercs to retake the planet. Archival records would later reveal that the company’s executives doubted the workers would stand with Dr. Fayel when push came to shove. They had no idea how wrong they were.
Though no one knows exactly what happened the day the mercs struck, scattered comms between them paint enough of a picture. The invading forces entered atmosphere and landed to find the population center deserted, only to be ambushed after they separated into teams to search for Dr. Fayel. The attack was designed to draw the mercs away from their ships and allow the craft to be taken intact. Some believe those ships constitute the backbone of the fleet that still patrols and protects the planet to this day.
Word of the failed operation spread fast, and Hatfield and Harding were brought before a Senate subcommittee to discuss the events. Investor confidence plummeted along with their stock price. It wasn’t long before the company folded and the fate of Leir II was left in Dr. Fayel’s hands.
Meanwhile, the UEE kept their distance since the system was officially unclaimed. Hatfield and Harding’s attempt to retake the planet only proved that the residents were willing to fight to the death to protect their new home. And after only recently ousting the Messers from power, the UEE had no stomach to use military force to impose their will upon more people.
To this day, many have theorized, but little is truly known, about Dr. Fayel’s tactics to convince the workers to stand by him for this grand experiment. Some believe it was decades of masterful information manipulation and brainwashing. Others have wondered if some unknown event triggered a mass psychosis upon the workers operating in an extremely stressful environment. Records turned over by Hatfield and Harding did show that no workers had requested to leave the planet in the project’s final five years. It is unclear whether everyone truly believed Dr. Fayel or whether dissenting voices were imprisoned or faced a worse fate. Following the merc invasion, Dr. Fayel and his disciplines were effectively cut off from the rest of the universe, earning the name that is still used to describe them — the Outsiders.
So the Leir System has subsequently languished. It doesn’t receive updated infrastructure and still lacks traditional trade routes and opportunities, all of which makes Leir one of the most fascinating systems around.
LEIR IThis small, rocky planet is naturally habitable, but not an ideal place to live due to its lack of infrastructure and amenities. A small mining population does call it home and is happy to trade with haulers.
LEIR II (Mya)Descendants of the original Outsiders still control Leir II, though they call it Mya. Some of Dr. Fayel’s hardline stances have been softened since his death, but most residents still treat visitors with contempt and most of the planet is deemed ‘off limits’ to visitors. Some are willing to sell items, but all refuse to buy anything.
Some visitors find the lack of commercial hustle and bustle unsettling, while others see it as soothing. Even without the appeal of trade, the planet is worth a visit solely for its stunning mountain ranges. It’s easy to see why so many believed this was a paradise worth protecting from the greater universe.
Purporting to be a “pure” planet, its population centers are unique. Due to the lack of building supplies from the greater universe, many structures use the same type of rocks, or are even cut directly into the mountainsides.
LEIR IIIExterner Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.The third planet in the Leir System is a rocky orb teeming with resources. Early scans detected an abundance of graphite and crystals, encouraging many miners to risk landing on the planet despite the deadly storms that plague the surface.
Today, the planet has no permanent settlements since the large indigenous sandworms, known as Valakkar, seem to have a predilection towards destroying them. Some brave miners and outlaws do live in temporary encampments around the planet, but most embrace a nomadic existence and move regularly to stay ahead of the storms and worms.
TRAVEL WARNING
Though the Outsiders shun external influences, don’t assume they aren’t equipped to protect themselves. A local militia patrols the planet in reliable yet aging ships, and they are not afraid to engage those seen as a threat.
HEARD IN THE WIND“As I stood, gazing upon what I had perceived to be Humanity’s magnificence, a thought struck me, piercing my skull like a nail of light. It is only through purity of purpose that a planet such as this can be created to not only survive but thrive. I had been led astray. I had believed that I was righteous. I was not. But I will be.”
– Dr. Marcus Fayel, Hatfield and Harding “Employee of the Year” acceptance speech, 2803
“There’s a potential for greatness in this system. The second world, in particular, features stunning landscapes, appears to be overflowing with resources, and is ripe for terraforming. If easy access to the system is ever attained, the UEE needs to ensure everything is done to bring it into the fold.”
– Katherine Oliver, ICC Stellar Surveyor’s initial assessment, 2677
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spec…ide-Leir-System
Alles anzeigenExterner Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Hello everyone,
Last week, Star Citizens from around the globe descended upon Austin, Texas for our biggest CitizenCon yet. We had an incredible and unforgettable time meeting all of you in attendance. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: having the opportunity to engage with you all on such a personal level is truly amazing. The interactions at CitizenCon recharge our batteries for the remainder of the year and beyond.
This year’s format featured a wide variety of activities to choose from throughout the day. In case you missed anything while you were outside riding the life-size Drake Dragonfly, or in your kitchen restocking your watch-party munchies, we’ll be releasing a different CitizenCon 2948 panel to our YouTube channel every day, so you can still catch everything that went down over the coming weeks.
Speaking of the Drake Dragonfly, we’re also excited to release a full gallery of attendees riding the to-scale bike at the event, so look out for that Comm-Link in the very near future.
Also last week, Star Citizen Alpha 3.3 was made available to all backers on the PTU. Looking to put OCS up to the test? Interested in providing feedback on some of the latest features? Get in the game and try it all out. And if you’re looking to bolster your fleet, also make sure to check out the 11 new and updated flyable ships coming in 3.3.
We also surprised the crowd at CitizenCon with a special reveal of the Anvil Valkyrie. The Valkyrie ups the ante on troop transport. Designed to safely deliver and extract up to twenty fully-outfitted soldiers (as well as vehicles) to and from the most hostile locations, this conflict-ready mil-spec craft is a formidable force. Both offensively and defensively dominant, it’s dependable to the end.
If you have more questions about the Valkyrie or Kraken, make sure to submit your questions soon for our upcoming Q&A’s.
Lastly, as we’ve all witnessed countless times on the Hub, our Star Citizen community has a wealth of talent and passion in delivering amazing videos, highlighting the beauty of the ‘verse. Last week, we sent out a call to all producers, editors, and camera operators to create a commercial for the Consolidated Outland Mustang Series. We can’t wait to see what you create.
And with that, let’s see what else is going on this week:
Every week on Calling All Devs, designers, engineers, and other developers from our five offices around the world answer backer questions submitted on Spectrum and voted on by YOU. This week we talk about the ship pipeline, weapon reloading, mountains, and more. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and turn on the notifications to be among the first to watch!
On Tuesday, our Lore Team will publish another in-fiction gem to help immerse you deeper in the Star Citizen universe.
Thursday will welcome another episode of Around the Verse. Expect a lighter than usual episode due to much of the team still recovering/traveling home to their respective studios.
Lastly, for the reasons just mentioned, Reverse the Verse will be taking the week off as we get back into the swing of things. Fear not though, we’ll be back next week, and we’ll see you in the verse!
Tyler Witkin
Lead Community Manager
The Weekly Community Content ScheduleMONDAY, OCTOBER 15TH, 2018
Calling All Devs (https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link)
CitizenCon 2948 PanelTUESDAY, OCTOBER 16TH, 2018
Lore Post (https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch)
CitizenCon 2948 PanelWEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17TH, 2018
Monthly Subscribers Newsletter
CitizenCon 2948 PanelTHURSDAY, OCTOBER 18TH, 2018
Around the Verse (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)
Vault Update
CitizenCon 2948 PanelFRIDAY, OCTOBER 19TH, 2018
Roadmap Update
RSI Newsletter
CitizenCon 2948 Panel
Community MVP: October 8th, 2018Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.We are constantly amazed by the contributions made by the Star Citizen community. Whether it’s fan art, a cinematic, a YouTube guide, or even a 3D print of your favorite ship, we love it all! Every week, we select one piece of content submitted to the Community Hub and highlight it here. The highlighted content creator will be awarded with an MVP badge on Spectrum and be immortalized in our MVP section of the Hub.
Don’t forget to submit your content to our Community Hub for a chance at seeing it here!
Synchronizerz PTU Org Event by Xenthorx
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Xenthorx has managed to capture some stunning moments from an in-game Org event on the Alpha 3.3 PTU.
Find all the details on the Community Hub.
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/citi…In-Star-Citizen
Passend zur diesjährigen CitizenCon gibt es einen neuen Story-Trailer des Weltraumspiels Star Citizen: Squadron 42 zu sehen. Darin erfahrt ihr etwas mehr über die groß angelegte Invasion durch Außerirdische und den Kampf der Menschen gegen sie. Dank…
Quelle: http://www.pcgames.de/Star-Citizen-S…railer-1266898/
Alles anzeigenExterner Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.We are only a few days away from CitizenCon 2948 and the air is positively electric, as Citizens from around the globe descend upon Austin, Texas.
There’ll be exciting things happening all week long, so keep a close eye on the website for updates. Whether you’re in town, or watching at home, we’ll have all the details for this year’s event on our dedicated CitizenCon website here.
We’re also looking forward to following your CitizenCon adventures on social media, so make sure to utilize #CitizenCon when sharing your exploits.
We can’t wait to see you in Austin, back where it all began.
Tyler Witkin
Lead Community Manager
The Weekly Community Content ScheduleWEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10TH, 2018
CitizenCon 2948 – Austin, Texas (https://robertsspaceindustries.com/citizencon/livestream)
Community MVP: October 8th, 2018Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.We are constantly amazed by the contributions made by the Star Citizen community. Whether it’s fan art, a cinematic, a YouTube guide, or even a 3D print of your favorite ship, we love it all! Every week, we select one piece of content submitted to the Community Hub and highlight it here. The highlighted content creator will be awarded with an MVP badge on Spectrum and be immortalized in our MVP section of the Hub.
Don’t forget to submit your content to our Community Hub for a chance at seeing it here!
Star Citizen SQUADRONS by ThomasArkani
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Since mid-2016, Thomas Arkani has been building a card game to help enrich the Star Citizen universe.
Find all the details on the Community Hub.
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/citi…In-Star-Citizen
Breaking Alpha 3.3 and OCS news, chatty Cathys, scanned and deliver, leg work, and back-end bolstering in today’s update.
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/tran…round-The-Verse
Alles anzeigenWelcome to September’s monthly report from Cloud Imperium Games. This month we’re adjusting our Monthly Reports to be focused on each specific project.
This project-based approach to our monthly reports stands to provide a more detailed look at the development of both games going forward.
So, pop open a Smoltz and settle in for all the details on Star Citizen from around the Cloud Imperium empire.
For all you fans of the 2nd Fleet, a dedicated Squadron 42 Monthly Report will be released separately in the very near future.Star Citizen Monthly Report: September 2018
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.AI
The majority of the AI Team’s focus this month has been on the Alpha 3.3 release. They’ve been working on multithreading the execution of the Tactical Point System, which allows a large number of environmental queries to be processed simultaneously. To achieve this, they focused on making several subsystems safe, such as the Usable Query System, Navigation, and Cover System. The result will give a big boost towards full multithreading of the Subsumption Component execution.
For human combat, they implemented several strategies used during combat activities and completed tasks to remove existing glitches and visual bugs.
They’re making progress on the Usable Builder tool, with the aim to give the designers proper visual feedback when creating objects so that they can immediately see issues or problems. Being able to preview a usable and adjust the position of its use slots, alignment slots, and all the elements associated with it will vastly speed up production.
In addition, they worked on caching entry/exit animations of the usables and the related animations to speed up runtime calls.
For the mission system, they introduced new functionalities, first of which is the ability to provide restrictions on the availability of a mission based on location. They also introduced UI binding variables that easily connect data provided by the mission logic to the user interface so that data can be easily displayed on screen.
They’re currently working on a first pass to simulate incoming and outgoing city traffic so that large cities feel more alive.Animation
The Animation Team has been working on refining the first-person experience, including tweaking weapon movement and recoil values. Work continues on ship sequencing, with the aim of increasing animation asset efficiency, while player actions were added to the bar stool to enable drinking from both standing and seating positions.
The Facial Team developed animations for the bartender and bar patrons off the back of a PCAP shoot. They also partnered with Tech Animation to test a new facial rig and ran the first set of reviews for the Facial Animation Quality benchmark. The goal here is to establish a gold-standard of facial performance on all characters throughout the Persistent Universe.
They also cleaned up the player locomotion sets and fixed bugs in preparation for the Alpha 3.3 release. The team is showing off motion capture at CitizenCon, so have been running tests to ensure everything runs smoothly.
Audio
Audio continued to support Alpha 3.3. They’ve also been prototyping new systems to allow the audio experience to scale as the project expands, with the intention to maintain the established quality bar and ensure a constantly immersive experience.
Backend Services
Backend Services has been looking into adding the S3 service, which is used to store and retrieve larger static datasets for various parts of the game.
They also finished up the NoSQL database API (which gives more fluid datasets) and finished the new Entitlement Processor to greatly optimise the processing of platform-purchased items.
As needed, they provided live support for Alpha 3.3 gameplay features to ensure everything is working as it should.
Build Engineering
A while ago, groups were formed to work on parallel branches for 3.3, with variable and control branches set up to investigate the benefits of streaming object container tech for Alpha 3.3 – this work was a success and is now complete.
Validation checks for the animation pipeline have been cemented to ensure assets intended for building and releasing align with internal file-content references. Logic is now in place to identify 3D vector field textures from regular compiled DDS textures. These 3D textures are now being welcomed into our existing asset pipeline. The releasing process received an upgrade, with additional checks put in place to help keep an overview of the final released files for Alpha 3.3.
Character Art
After completing the Odyssey Flightsuit, Virgil TruDef Pro Armor, and Hurston Collection, the team will move onto bug fixing and polishing. This content comes with material variants designed to give Hurston a varied and realistic setting.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Community
The Community Team has already hosted more contests this year than ever before, with September’s MISC Prospector commercial contest spawning some unbelievable videos.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Also this month, Bounty Hunters rallied across the ‘verse to take down criminal scum and shared their victories in a screenshot contest on Twitter. Within 24 hours, the team had received over 500 entries, showcasing that the hunt was most definitely on. More fun contests are just around the corner, so keep an eye on Spectrum for more chances to win.
A community-organized convention, Con42, took place in Germany this month, with a strong attendance from both backers and developers alike. The event included informative panels, a treasure hunt to keep people on their feet, and stories from across the ‘verse.
France’s own fan convention, Pari’Verse, is coming up on the 12th and 13th of October. So, if you’re in the area and looking to connect with other Citizens, make sure you check it out. You can find more info and get tickets on the official Pari’Verse website.“We can’t wait to celebrate CitizenCon 2948 with you on October 10th. It promises to be a full day of revelry, discourse, and fun. This event has always been about celebrating the current and future developments in Star Citizen, but at the same time also honouring the incredible community that continues to evolve around the game. We’ll see you in Austin!”
This year, Star Citizen orgs had the opportunity to apply for a booth at the event, where they can celebrate their own unique history and recruit the next generation of aces to join their ranks. Furthermore, CitizenCon ticketholders had the chance to create a unique in-game emote by recording themselves and submitting their best ideas. The four winners will direct a live motion capture shoot in front of an audience at the event.
The team also updated the CitizenCon website with the latest details, including a breakdown of what to expect throughout the day.
Design
Design added new behaviors to give NPCs and Mission Givers an extra layer of ability and are currently retroactively applying them to Miles Eckhart and Ruto. They have also been diligently working towards getting Recco Battaglia and Clovus Darneely fleshed out and fully-functional for the upcoming release.
Tuning for the Economy continues, with new minable resources and updated inventories at the new outpost and truck stop locations.
The home stretch is in sight for believable bartenders and patrons in the PU, with work being done to ensure they both offer an experience that you might have at your own local establishment. They’re currently polishing their everyday behaviors, including cleaning glasses, carrying drinks to tables, and telling the player they’re busy when in the middle of an action.
Finally, the team had a clean-up and bug-fixing push to ensure that, when the players get their hand on the next build, it’s as bug-free as it can be.
DevOps
This year, the team has been able to accomplish much more internally due to recent tool and process improvements. The build system has been running 24 hours a day, churning out more independent build branches than ever before. At the same time, they’re now able to publish and maintain several times more branch targets than before. They also added a few more engineers, which has paid dividends across the board.
“We’re super excited to see the results of all our efforts throughout summer pay off as we close in on the last steps for CitizenCon and the game publishing cycle.”
Engine
This month’s focus was on the upcoming Alpha 3.3 release along with the ubiquitous Object Container Streaming. Several improvements and bug fixes were made to water volumes so they can be used in ships and on planets as designed. They continued progress on improving planetary terrain soft shadows – a lot of optimizations and tweaks went in to get a natural look at a minimal runtime cost, though additional work is still needed on blending shadow cascades. They continued progress on the physics queue (to move physics from dedicated threads to a job model) and made progress on new soft-body simulation and cloth rendering, adding support for explosions and bullet impact. In addition, they worked on numerous bugs and optimizations tasks.
Engineering
The Gameplay Team has been working on Asteroid Mining along with implementing Render-to-Texture (RTT) support for in-game shop item previews. On the tech front, the team worked on the new Transit System, which provides easier setup for elevators and supports trains that travel to schedule around larger planetary locations.
Work also continued on ongoing dynamic elements, such as ropes and soft-body simulation. The Core Engine and Network Teams focused on Object Container Streaming.
They also improved the Group System to support multiple chat groups, a feature that paves the way for Spectrum integration along with VoIP and FoIP. They also continued their efforts on scanning/ping gameplay and added support for scan/ping detection of minable rocks inside asteroid fields and other detectable entities, such as derelict ships.
Quantum Travel was improved to include routing in the Star Map. This will allow players to simply select their final destination and have the QT route plotted for them. The vehicle specialists continued to improve turret gameplay as well as support the new ships releasing this quarter.
Engine Tools
The Engine Tools Team worked on general usability improvements and game editor stability with a strong focus on supporting the needs of Alpha 3.3. The team also grew by two Tool Programmers; they’ll focus on improved tool development for Subsumption and internal profiling to gather and analyse global telemetry data. This will make it easier to enhance the general workflows for improving the overall game performance.
Environment Art
The Environment Art Team has been finalizing all the new locations going into Alpha 3.3, including graphics, navigational signs, final prop placements, dressing, optimizations, and bug fixing.
The Organics Team made the final polish on the surface of Hurston and its biomes, which will be the first-time players are able to explore lush vegetation covered biomes. With work on the planet wrapped up, they’re now supporting the Locations Team on closing out Lorville and its surrounding areas. Other than polishing and tweaking the existing areas, work involved making final art for Hurston Central, finalizing artwork on the Transit System and transit routes through the city, as well as creating and embedding the outer city gates into the planet.
Next up is the closing down of any remaining art tasks, then focus can move on to stabilisation and performance optimisations.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Gameplay Features
Gameplay Features coordinated with Backend Services to improve the Comms Chat App while in mobiGlas, and in the Visor when mobiGlas has been put away. This includes the ability to create multiple groups and invite players to join them.
“You will be able to chat with fellow players no matter how far away everyone is from each other.”
Voice Over IP is actively being developed to allow you to communicate with any group members using your own voice. Face Over IP is also in the works, allowing you to see the real-time expressions of those around you, adding nuance and emotion to your conversations.
Graphics
The Graphics Team has been working to make light and particles support multi-threading to enable them to load in the background for Object Container Streaming. It’s almost complete and will remove a stall that testers are currently seeing when they load a new location. When it’s live, players will enjoy seamlessly transition around the whole PU.
The glass shader has also been updated so that interior ship canopies no longer show distracting reflections from the exterior which, in reality, wouldn’t be visible due to the shadowing of the cockpit geometry. As usual before a major release, there have also been a number of visual issues in the new environments that have been investigated and fixed.
Issue Council
The ‘Issue Council v1.1.0’ was deployed to PTU at the start of the month before reaching Live a few weeks later. This version features a new profile section where users can see their own reports, contributions, specs, and bookmarks. Reports now feature Technical Repro and Workaround fields.
The new version received a positive response from backers.
Level Design
While expanding the Stanton system from one to two planets, the question of where to place rest stops to best support refueling came up. After some research, it was decided they would be placed at Lagrange points – naturally occurring pockets of space where two gravitational fields overlap and balance each other out. They’re the ideal place for rest stops, as they allow spacecraft to remain static without the need for additional force.
A couple of new missions have been created that take place in Security Post Kareah: Crusader Security wants the abandoned station cleared of outlaws, and occasionally criminals will want the leaders of competing factions assassinated. Kareah itself has had some big improvements to its layout, with the opening up of new routes and more cover to make firefights in the station more enjoyable.
As well as creating the Scramble Race logic, the team spent time improving the foundations of driving on planets, including headlight brightness, vehicle durability, handling, and obstacle collision. Several new asteroid clusters were added around Grim HEX in which the races and other missions can occur.A large portion of the month has been spent on Lorville and its surroundings. The team is currently adding trains and trams, setting up schedules, configuring hangars and garages, and adjusting level markups. They’re also working on the signage and general player-guiding throughout the playable areas of the city to make sure the various Points of Interest are easy to find and that visitors don’t get too lost. Progress on the Transit System is substantial and they have the first version of the system in place, allowing the team to efficiently set up elevators as well as adding in trains and trams that run to schedule.
“All of this will help bring the cities to life, even though you might have to run a bit to catch the train or accept waiting for the next one!”
They’ve started looking ahead to the upcoming areas of Stanton – ArcCorp, microTech, and Crusader. However, there’s a large amount of planning and prework that needs to be done before the teams can move onto them full time.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Lighting
The Lighting Team focused on finalizing content for the upcoming Alpha release. This involved lighting many of the locations in and around Lorville, such as the bar, admin office, and stores. In addition, they’ve also been starting optimization work across all Lorville locations to ensure better framerates while maintaining a high visual quality.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Player Relations
“The Player Relations team is busy preparing for the epic CitizenCon week in Austin, Texas!
In addition to all of the planning and work that goes into running an event in your own city, we’ve been hustling away with the Evocati to test both the ‘No OCS’ and ‘OCS’ branches. Thank you Avocados!
We’d like to point all players to our growing Knowledge Base which now has over 100 articles and seen almost 150,000 visitors since its inception. We will continue to grow this by adding new ‘How To’ articles, patch notes, and live service notifications there as well as on Spectrum.”
Props
Work continued on the utilitarian props for the Lorville landing zone, including infrastructure, furniture used to dress the main routes through the city, and smaller-scale dressing items for shops and bars. A polish pass on some older dressing assets was completed, with visual modelling improvements made to the meshes. Older assets using outdated glass shaders were also converted over to the new version to improve both the performance and visual quality.
The team delivered a set of animated signage, cameras, and interactive dressing props to add life and movement to the city. Finally, the team began work on a new mission set prop that will be going live soon.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.QA
The QA Team heavily focused on testing Alpha 3.3. The EU and ATX QA teams have been working closely to run various playthroughs and smoke-test builds for specific features. Alongside this, they worked on various QA Test Requests, one of which will bring significant changes to how the upcoming AI performs in-game. The AI change to Tactical Point System Query (TPSQuery) will allow for increased control over the number of queries that can be executed at the same time. This should reduce the amount of AI characters a player sees standing around doing nothing. They also made a test request for new physics changes that will reduce issues, such as physics collision detection buffers overflowing due to too many objects overlapping, objects getting pulled into random interior grids, objects missing, objects appearing with initial damage, etc. These changes also affect the new transit system.
Testers have been working with the Level Design and Gameplay teams to ensure that the new elevator system and metro rail are functioning properly, as well as setting up test levels to be used by Physics Engineering to investigate any new issues that may arise. They also increased support for the AI Actor Feature Team to now include testers across all studios as opposed to only having support from the UK.
Part of the team was busy testing upcoming features like Asteroid Mining and Rest Stops, new vehicles like the Mustang revamp and Cyclone variants, as well as preparing for CitizenCon.
On the Leadership side, it was business as usual as they coordinated testing priorities for all the new builds. They also continued updating the TestRail software as new features came online along with adding some new QA testers to the team.
Ships
The bulk of artwork done this month has been towards supporting Alpha 3.3. Outside of that, the team made strides with the glass shader, fixed bugs in preparation for Alpha 3.3, and finalised the Aegis Hammerhead.
On the design side, support was given in the global push towards Alpha 3.3 along with the groundwork for ships in Alpha 3.4 and beyond. They also spent a fair amount of time working on item balance and reacting to the internal and external feedback on the cannon changes that have just hit Evocati.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Ship Art
The Ship Art Team had to pause for a couple weeks on the 300 series updates to take care of some pilot-fitting issues on a prominent Squadron 42 campaign ship. Now that it’s done, they’re back in full swing on the 300i grey-box.
They also recently completed the long-awaited Constellation Phoenix, finishing the last few LOD tasks, and polished the conference table and piano (not literally). Once the final Phoenix bugs are worked out, they’ll move onto the Banu Defender:
“We’re very excited about this and are already doing the preliminary work to ensure the visuals match everyone’s expectations.”
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.System Design
The System Design Team was primarily occupied with tasks for the 3.3 release. They made progress on FPS combat AI, with improvements to perception and reaction to stimuli. Cover selection was modified to enable enemies and allies to more intelligently choose when and where to seek cover. They now also give increased vocal feedback, so players understand more clearly what they are thinking and what is happening during encounters. The next step will be to get the same functionality working in multiplayer.
The gameplay features for asteroid mining are complete, with the team now moving on to bug fixing, polishing, crunching numbers, testing, and generally making sure players will have an enjoyable experience.
“Expect new minable elements, more searching through the rubble for golden nuggets, and more time spent using your radar finding the right rocks.”
They also completed work for an upcoming release, with the focus on getting NPC ships to properly take-off, land, and quantum travel so that the universe can be populated with traveling NPCs.
Tech Animation
Tech Animation continued their work on the weapon batch exporter, which will enable the animators to iterate faster over their weapon animations. They also fixed various bugs in the animation tools set and added some new functionality with the goal of improving the way animators work.
Tech Art
The Tech Art Team continued work on the next-gen character cloth and softbody authoring pipeline and toolset. The data interchange format between Maya and the engine has been re-factored to enable various additional global and local ‘per-vertex’ dynamic attributes to be authored, transferred, and stored efficiently. These attributes enable complex dynamic effects such as friction, air lift, drag, and collision softness. They also allow fine-grained control over the various cloth-internal properties such as stretch, compression, and bend stiffness (and even volume preservation in the case of volumetric softbodies) on a per-asset basis as needed. They also added the ability to author so-called collision proxies together with the character animation rigs and meshes in Maya. Since full-on polygon mesh-based collision detection and resolution is still fairly costly to achieve in realtime, simple geometric primitives such as spheres, boxes, ellipsoids, or capsules are used to approximate the objects that cloth and other softbodies are supposed to collide with. For example, in order to let a skirt collide with the (approximated) legs of a character.
Turbulent
Turbulent has been hard at work this month providing support on all fronts in preparation for CitizenCon! Spectrum is now on release v.8.2 this month, with several bug fixes made, including the addition of emojis.
Quill, the new Spectrum editor, is in the QA stage of development. It’s set to replace the old editor and will resolve various bugs linked to Android. Due to the development work for Alpha 3.3, Spectrum progress will be picked up again the following month.
CitizenCon Merchandise is here! Ticket holders can purchase t-shirts and wireless chargers in advance to be picked up at the event. Backers who have purchased a Digital Goodie Pack can purchase t-shirts to be shipped to their address. Turbulent supported the release of the event merchandise on the platform side.Turbulent undertook the badge printing for CitizenCon, which will display a QR code unique to each ticket holder’s account as well as details such as their name, avatar, and main org. The QR code is linked to our ticket-scanning app made for the event.
After the CitizenCon microsite update last month, the team has been working on building out the Livestream pages. While watching the event, you’ll be able to chat live with other Citizens.Turbulent also helped with this month’s Pirate Promotion, which included sales of the Aegis Gladius, Aegis Sabre, Aegis Hammerhead, Anvil Super Hornet, and Freelancer MIS.
UI
This month, UI supported the Mission Team by creating a persistent objectives widget on the HUD and crafted the pickup and delivery interactive displays utilizing the new UI authoring tool (which is still in early development). They began building the branding, identity, and fictional advertisements for truck stops and landing locations in the PU.
Vehicle Features
The Vehicle Features Team improved the manned turret experience by:
- Adding an interface to turn gyro-stabilization on/off.
- Finalizing the 1:1 input-to-rotation techniques for mouse and joystick, including properly adjusted input options for both.
- Adding head look smoothing for a less jarring view from within turrets.
- Programming automated turrets to now use the criminality system to determine whether or not to fire upon you.
Scanning vehicles was also extended to include stats such as vehicle status, owner, pilot, and onboard cargo.
Discovering entities on planets, asteroids, and deep space has been improved by allowing for much greater ping results, more informative blob aesthetics, and separate blob generation based on whether entities are on a planet’s surface or in deep space. Finally, the technique in which mineable rocks are spawned on asteroids and planetary bodies has been made more efficient.Vehicle Content
The Star Citizen Alpha 3.3 release was the primary focus for the Vehicle Content Team throughout September. Tech Art completed their release prep passes on all of the vehicles going out in the update: the Aegis Hammerhead, RSI Constellation Phoenix, Tumbril Cyclone variants, and the rework of the Consolidated Outland Mustang. Both the Art and System Design teams completed their release prep passes on the Mustangs and Cyclones, while Systems Design also completed their pass on the Phoenix. All teams have been working on polish tasks and bug fixing to get these vehicles into great shape for the backers.
Additionally, the teams were involved in an ongoing process of creating sequenced animations for vehicles, in particular the Cyclone TR and Mustang Beta.
The Art and Systems Design teams also continued to move forward on the Anvil Hawk, which is whitebox complete on the design-side and into the final art stage.Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.VFX
VFX worked on several new biomes surrounding Lorville that are continually being iterated on, which will be included in an upcoming patch. They also continued to fine-tune the multitude of effects seen in and around Lorville, with a particular focus on optimisation. They also finalised VFX for several new vehicles, including the mighty Hammerhead’s interior and exterior damage, and exhaust misfires for the Tumbril Cyclone.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Weapons
The Weapon Art Team finished production on the new Hurston Dynamics ship weapons.
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Web Platform
This month, work focused on supporting the new features that gravitate around the Groups System. The new version is the primary component responsible for orchestrating chat lobbies and voice channels. A new group type made its entry in the system for supporting Instance and Server groups. The team also spent time fixing a few bugs related to the timing of incoming events and improving observability of the service by adding stats and reporters.
A new service called the Group Coordinator entered the network this month. This is in charge of tracking dedicated game servers entering/exiting the pool and creating the proper group resources needed to power a server-wide group, lobby, and voice channel. This service is isolated but uses the current network resources to achieve this automation while still notifying game clients about the changes, which then get replicated to the mobiGlas.
The lobby service work this month focused mainly on hardening and dealing with a few edge cases related to how events are processed. A few major bugs were fixed on how the player identifiers are carried across messages and observability improvements were made to Quality of Service.
Voice service work was completed this month allowing the sharing of voice channels across a fleet of voice servers as well as improving the scalability and reliability of how channels are created. Voice streams carried over the network are now properly attached to the player entities in the game space. Proper audio treatment gets added as players connect and disconnect from channels via the mobiGlas. Additional work was done to address issues identified in face-sync. Observability improvements were made for Quality of Service.
Major infrastructure work was advanced this month in how we store and process the Domain Events submitted to the Event Bus. A new set of clustered resources are now used and the orchestration of our game services containers got a big upgrade by moving to a Kubernetes based orchestrator. This gives Turbulent the ability to scale and easily orchestrate the game service resources. This is the first step in this new direction which we hope will allow for faster deployments and more reliable services all around.
Conclusion
WE’LL SEE YOU NEXT MONTH…
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/tran…-September-2018
Alles anzeigen
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.ALAN: Welcome to Empire Report. I’m Alan Nuevo.
BECK: And I’m Beck Russum. Today’s trip across the Empire takes us to New Austin where Victoria Hutchins has the latest details on preparations for CitizenCon 2948.
ALAN: But first, an update to the ongoing controversy in Fora. Marcus Carino, the leader of a local militia group known as the Defenders of the Free, spoke publicly for the first time since being accused of running an unofficial Customs checkpoint that led to the near-fatal shooting of four civilians. We go now to a vid of his comments from earlier today in Shoel.
[ Marcus Carino stands amidst a scrum of reporters before his Drake Buccaneer outside the Shoel Advocacy office. ]
MARCUS CARINO: The Common Law Initiative enacted in 2526 guarantees ‘fundamental personal freedoms’, which includes the right to defend yourself. That’s all we’re doing here, because the government sure isn’t. Look at the system’s crime data. Look at the current threat level. Fora’s getting worse each and every year, and I’m not waiting any longer for the UEE to do something about it.
Far as I’m concerned, the government’s guilty of dereliction of duty for not defending the residents of this system. More contraband passes between the UEE and Banu Protectorate here than anywhere else in the Empire. Known criminals and smugglers openly break the law each and every day, and none of them face justice. All they get is a damn smile and a wave coming through Customs.
It’s clear that the current enforcement mechanism in this system is broken, and the Defenders aim to fix it. I stand by our right to operate these checkpoints to defend the interests of Fora’s residents.
[ Back to Alan and Beck. ]
BECK: The alleged incident occurred last Thursday around 16:30 SET. Carino and other members of the Defenders of the Free were patrolling the area around the jump point when Giorgio Hwang’s ship emerged from interspace. According to witnesses, Carino and other militia members opened fire on Hwang’s ship without provocation, leading to the death of two crew members and seriously injuring Hwang himself. When local law enforcement arrived to secure the scene, they discovered that Hwang’s vessel was carrying several crates of stolen military weaponry in smuggling holds.
ALAN: The aggressive actions taken by Carino and the Defenders of the Free have been widely criticized by some but defended by others. Both the Advocacy and Customs Bureau claim to be monitoring the situation and weighing their options as an investigation continues into the legality of the attack. Carino claims that they scanned Hwang’s ship and found signs of contraband which led to the attack, however they have been unwilling to produce proof. We will continue to update this story as it develops.
BECK: Sataball fans across the Empire were stunned today when an anonymous source leaked comms between Terra Gryphons’ superstar Benedetto Bodie and members of a New Babbage drug syndicate. The messages explicitly discussed both the purchase of illegal drugs and how to beat drug tests administered by sataball’s Banned Substance Task Force. Here to discuss the developing situation is Colt Legrande.
COLT: Sad day for sataball, Beck. Benedetto is a certified superstar in the sport. To hear this news came as quite the shock to a lot of people.
BECK: What has Bodie’s response been so far?
COLT: Bodie has released a statement vehemently denying the allegations and the authenticity of the comms. It seems, though, that the Gryphons are approaching this whole thing cautiously. Bodie was missing from practice today, and Gryphons’ manager Maiko Shapiro refused to comment on either Bodie’s status or his participation in Sunday’s big match.
BECK: How is the league handling the allegations against Bodie? Is there any indication that disciplinary action may be imminent?
COLT: I spoke with Eldon Agawa, head of the league’s Banned Substance Task Force, who said that they will be opening an investigation into the matter to verify the facts of the case and determine if any league rules have been violated. Not only that, but word is the Advocacy will also be investigating this is a criminal matter. You really hate to see this happen to a player in their prime.
BECK: Is there anything we do know for sure?
COLT: One fact that I can currently verify is that Bodie did spend time in New Babbage this off-season. On the books he was there discussing a potential sponsorship deal with microTech, but that leaves a whole lot of room for what he may have been doing off the books. In the wake of this story breaking, several vids have surfaced of Bodie reportedly dancing at an exclusive club rumored to be popular with a less than savory crowd.
BECK: This wouldn’t be the first time that a vacation in New Babbage became a problem for a sataball player. The Stanton Knights’ Myles Mason was suspended for part of the 2945 season after being found in a New Babbage hotel lobby riding out an intense maze trip.
COLT: That’s right. The city’s growing popularity as an up and coming tourist destination for the young and wealthy has definitely drawn its fair share of players looking to blow off some steam. Unfortunately, it seems a few too many are crossing a line and partying just too hard.
BECK: Back to Bodie, if the comms turn out to be authentic, what kind of punishment could he face?
COLT: As far as the league is concerned, if Agawa’s investigation determines that Bodie both used a banned substance and tried to hide it, then he could be looking at a full season suspension.
Of course, talking about something versus actually doing it is a very different thing. Even if these comms prove to be authentic, Bodie could argue that he never went through with it and force the league to prove that he did. If he chooses to take a combative stance with the league, who knows how long this could drag out. Really though, it may end up being his teammates and fans that are punished if he’s not able to play.
BECK: Thanks, Colt.
ALAN: We need to take a quick break. Don’t go anywhere, because when we return Victoria Hutchins will join us from New Austin with some exclusive details about next week’s CitizenCon 2948 celebration, including a sneak peek at two new exclusive Big Benny flavors that will only be available at the event.
BECK: That and more when Empire Report returns.
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spec…ataball-Scandal
Alles anzeigenExterner Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Hello everyone,
We are only 9 days away from CitizenCon 2948! As we get closer to our largest event yet, the team is focused on final preparations. If you’re heading to CitizenCon, or watching at home, make sure to check out the official website here for all the event details. As a reminder, CitizenCon is 100% free for anyone to stream – Simply sign up for an RSI account, and keep an eye out for the official viewing page coming soon.
Last week, we also announced the winners of our CitizenCon Emote Contest. Curious which emote they’ll be directing live in front of an audience? You’ll find out next week.
And with that, let’s see what’s going on this week:
Every week on Calling All Devs, designers, engineers, and other developers from our five offices around the world answer backer questions submitted on Spectrum and voted for by YOU. This week we we talk about coordinate systems, fuel salvage, the Banu Merchantman, and more. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and turn on the notifications to be amongst the first to watch!
On Tuesday, the Lore Team will publish their weekly lore post, this time an Empire Report you won’t want to miss. You can also find all previously published lore posts here.
Thursday will welcome another episode of Around the Verse where we’ll take a look at the latest Star Citizen news with our weekly project update.
If Around the Verse wasn’t enough, fear not! Thursday will also welcome the Monthly Studio Report for the month of September
Finally, make sure to tune in on Friday at 12pm PDT/7pm UTC for another episode of Reverse the Verse, broadcast live on our Star Citizen Twitch channel. This week, we’ll be taking it easy with a more relaxed show than usual, as a majority of the team is busy and heavily focused on preparing for CitizenCon.
We’ll see you in the ‘Verse!
Tyler Witkin
Lead Community Manager
The Weekly Community Content ScheduleMONDAY, OCTOBER 1ST, 2018
Calling All Devs (https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch)TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2ND, 2018
Lore Post – Empire Report (https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch)WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 3RD, 2018
-THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4TH, 2018
Around the Verse (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)
Monthly Studio Report
Vault UpdateFRIDAY, OCTOBER 5TH, 2018
Reverse the Verse LIVE (https://www.twitch.tv/starcitizen)
Roadmap Update
RSI Newsletter
Community MVP: September 24th, 2018Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.We are constantly amazed by the contributions made by the Star Citizen community. Whether it’s fan art, a cinematic, a YouTube guide, or even a 3D print of your favorite ship, we love it all! Every week, we select one piece of content submitted to the Community Hub and highlight it here. The highlighted content creator will be awarded with an MVP badge on Spectrum and be immortalized in our MVP section of the Hub.
Don’t forget to submit your content to our Community Hub for a chance at seeing it here!
50-Man Space Battle by SKAINET – Cinematic by TriEye
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.The Spanish Community has done it again with another epic event. Shoutout to TriEye for creating a stunning video that captures the event.
Check out the full video on the Community Hub.
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/citi…In-Star-Citizen
Evocati invocation, scramblin’ in the dark, Lorville sanitation, and mo-cap madness in this week’s update.
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/tran…round-The-Verse
Alles anzeigenWriter’s Note: Phantom Bounty: Part One was published originally in Jump Point 3.1.
Two hundred and sixty-five days. That’s how long they’d been hunting the Phantom. It seemed like they’d entered a thousand of these tiny, dark, hole-in-the-wall taverns, seeking leads from shifty informants, always just too far behind. Mila leaned against the metal prefab wall and tried to breathe through her mouth, but the scent of stale alcohol and vomit flooded her nostrils anyway.
Rhys stood at the bar, towering above the other patrons, his broad back all she could see as he haggled with the owner for information, likely bribing away the last of their meager credits. Her stomach churned just watching him. They had to be close this time. Because if they didn’t land that massive bounty soon, they wouldn’t be able to afford so much as a mug of this dive’s swill.
Mila ran a hand through her straight brown hair, and a toothless patron leered at her from his stool at the bar. She crossed her arms and shot him a challenging glare, which unnerved him enough that he looked away and took another swig of his drink.
A younger man with a ripped synth liavold-skin jacket and questionable hygiene inched his way up to the bar and stood off to the side, pulling on the silver hoop in his ear. Typical.
There was usually at least one lowlife in a place like this — wearing synth-skin of nearly extinct creatures. They thought it made them look badass, like they didn’t fear the law, like they were above it. Mila’s nails bit into her palms, and she forced herself to unclench her fists. He probably didn’t even know it was a fake. Real liavold skin never came in that shade of grey.
The lowlife stepped closer to Rhys, clearly trying to eavesdrop, and Mila pushed away from the wall to go run him off. But Rhys finished haggling before she made it to the bar, and he gestured at her toward the exit. Relieved, she followed him outside.
The yellow-white sun had finished its descent while she and Rhys had been inside the tavern, and one by one the century-old light globes running the length of Tevistal’s streets flickered on. A loud murmur echoed down the alleyway, voices in the night, evidence of the crowd that had been gathering a few streets over in the square to celebrate the new year.
Damn Traveler’s Day. Sure, the huge crowd afforded her and Rhys an easy way to blend in, but that went both ways. If they could stay low profile, then the Phantom could do the same, slipping away like always.
Rhys grabbed Mila’s arm as the tavern doors swung closed behind them, and she gazed up at him: at the sharp angles of his face, his tousled brown hair, at the rough beard he’d allowed to grow in as they’d chased the Phantom from system to system, barely sleeping.
Rhys’s green eyes were bright, glinting in the light of the globes as he leaned down close. Mila warmed at the look in them. If she was being honest, their recent sleepless nights had less to do with the Phantom and more to do with . . . other things. They had been sharing a bunk for almost a month now.
“Good news,” Rhys said. “Maybe.” A familiar smirk appeared on his face.
She cleared her throat. “Oh yeah? What did he say?”
“That we might actually catch our Phantom this time.”
Mila’s pulse quickened, and her hand involuntarily dropped to the laser pistol holstered beneath her jacket. “She’s here? Still in Tevistal?”
Rhys’s smirk faded, and he took Mila by the arm and led her down the alleyway toward the main street. “I want to believe it,” he said, keeping his voice low. “I paid the fixer his fee and . . .”
“And what?”
“He gave me an address to a hostel. RoomTab’s still clicking. Said he saw the Phantom yesterday.”
Yesterday. “Why do I hear a ‘but’ coming?”
Rhys halted as they exited the alley. “But I’m not sure we can trust him. It was all . . . too easy.”
Pressure grew in Mila’s chest, and she blew out a breath, surveying the crowd at the end of the globe-lit street. Rhys had solid instincts — one of the many reasons Mila had charmed the successful bounty hunter into forming a partnership with her. With his hunches and her tech skills, they made a great team.
“Well, what do you want to do?” she asked, a note of the desperation she felt seeping into her tone. “I think we should check it out. We need this.”
“I know.”
She met his eyes. “We don’t have a choice.”
“There’s always a choice.”
“We’re too close. I say we check this out.”
Rhys worked his jaw and finally nodded. He pushed up the sleeve of his jacket, revealing the mobiGlas strapped to his forearm, and swiped his finger along the flexible clear screen to bring up a street map of Tevistal. After a moment, he concluded, “The address isn’t far from here. Travel advisory says it’s a high crime area.”
Mila snorted and swept her arm around. “And this isn’t?”
Fetid pools of water had gathered in potholes from the last rains, and the low prefab buildings here were dirty and dented, nothing like the tall, sparkling skyscrapers that had grown up further from the docks as the city matured. If Tevistal had an armpit, this was it.
Rhys laid a heavy hand on her shoulder. “Doesn’t matter. Because you’re heading back to the ship. I’ll scout this out to see if it’s legit.”
“Like hell I am. No way.” Mila flared her nostrils and shrugged off his hand. “It’s dangerous. You need back-up.”
The Phantom had single-handedly attacked seven Phan Pharmaceutical research facilities in the past year and had managed to evade every agent of the law since. The UEE wanted the saboteur — dead or alive — on charges of terrorism, murder and armed robbery. Dangerous was an understatement.
“Let me scout it out,” Rhys repeated, his voice rough.
“We go together,” Mila responded through gritted teeth.
Rhys let out a low growl, but when it was clear Mila wouldn’t back down, he shook his head and started walking.
Mila released a breath and caught up to him. Rhys never would have suggested going alone before. He’d grown more cautious, more protective since they’d taken things to the next level. Controlling, even. It needed to stop, but right now wasn’t the time to address it.
The mobi directed them away from the crowds and deeper into the dockside slums. One cramped alleyway led to another, and the scent of burning garbage wafted over them as they passed homeless transients tending fires in front of scrap-metal lean-tos.
Hovers flew overhead, their lights illuminating the dark night as they ferried those who could afford it between the docks and the gleaming towers in the more affluent sections of the city. The soothing hum of their engines reminded Mila of another life, where she’d have been the one headed for better lodgings. But that old existence on Terra was long gone. And this — the chase, the hunt, taking down criminals with Rhys by her side — this was her life now. No regrets.
When Rhys’s mobi beeped to tell them they’d reached their destination, he deactivated it and drew his Arclight. “Down that alley. Building Two. Apartment Nine.”
Mila readied her own pistol and followed him into the dark alley. The prefab self-service “hostels” that filled this area were owned by investors who probably never set foot here. If you wanted to do something shady, this was the place for it.
Adrenaline flooded Mila’s body, making her pulse thrum faster. A cracked globe flickered above the low buildings, barely illuminating the letters engraved in the walls. She activated her pistol’s nightlight, but it didn’t help much.
A slow drip echoed from somewhere, and the only other sound was the pad of their boots on the pavement. Mila pointed her light at the nearest building and found the number etched in the side.
“One,” she said quietly.
A low rustle emanated from where she’d cast her light, and she and Rhys tensed. Metal hit metal, and Mila swung her weapon toward it. A skap tore out of the darkness and skittered across their path. Another dark shape, a blur of claws and fur, raced after the rat-like creature. As the predator and prey disappeared into the gloom, the skap let out a brief, interrupted shriek.
Mila released her breath with a shaky laugh. Maybe it was an omen. Maybe this would be the night she and Rhys finally caught their prey.
“Building Two,” Rhys said, shining his light on the building where the animals had headed.
Mila barely breathed as Rhys pushed open the outer metal door. It swung in on rusty hinges, creaking in the silence.
Dim globes lit up the space automatically, revealing a narrow corridor that was strewn with litter and stank of piss.
Mila darted a glance at Rhys. His eyes were narrowed, and that hint was enough for Mila to know he was worried.
“It’s too quiet,” Rhys murmured.
“Maybe it’s pickpocket-the-pilgrims night,” Mila responded, but her sarcasm didn’t ease the tension. Rhys was right. These prefab buildings had paper-thin walls, yet the place was dead silent. Not a good sign.
They walked a few more paces, and Rhys pointed his weapon at a door on the right. “Nine. Watch my back. I go in first.”
As he turned the knob, every muscle in Mila’s body went tight. The door swung open, unlocked, and the bright lights inside flooded the dimly lit hallway.
Rhys stepped through the door, and Mila’s jumpsuit suddenly felt too tight. Sweat dripped down her back as she scanned the other doors and kept an eye on the one they’d come in.
Rhys returned, finished with his sweep of the small space. His face was a blank mask. “Empty. RoomTab’s been hacked.”
Heat coursed through Mila. She let out a grunt and shoved past him and into the room. So close. Her throat thickened, and she fought the urge to punch a hole through one of the thin walls.
The room contained a low mattress and a metal folding table and chair. A partition separated the sink and toilet from the rest of the room, but other than that, the room had been stripped bare.
Mila whirled around to face the hacked payment scanner. Wires had been ripped out and reconnected in a knot, forcing the RoomTab system to keep the water running and the lights on without payment.
“Search the room,” Mila said, her voice hard. “You find so much as a hair, you save it.”
Rhys gave her a pained look. “You know we won’t.”
“I’ll check the scanner.” Mila clenched her jaw as she rolled up her sleeve to activate her mobiGlas and access the payment scanner.
She brought up the program she’d written to hack basic systems. Technically it was illegal to use a program like this, but she’d written it so she could bring criminals to justice, hadn’t she? She’d never use one of her programs to break the law.
“This was rigged less than twenty-four hours ago. We just missed her.” Mila disconnected her mobi and slammed a hand into the room’s thin metal wall. The whole thing shuddered in response. “We need to —”
“Mila.” Rhys’s sharp voice was a warning, and she turned to face him. The heat drained from her as she saw what he held in his hands. He’d turned the folding table over and part of it rested on his thighs. A small bundle was taped to the underside of it. It let out a low beep. Then another.
Explosives.
Mila’s pulse skyrocketed, roaring in her ears. She kept her eyes glued to Rhys, to the thinly masked fear on his face, and reluctantly backed out the door. It had happened too fast. They should have listened to Rhys’s gut on this.
She paused for a moment outside the unit’s door, indecisive, then turned and took off running down the corridor.
Reaching the outer door, she threw it open and glanced back to find Rhys hurtling toward her. They stumbled into the alleyway together as a deafening blast rocked the flimsy structure, and the shock wave knocked them both to their knees. Heat rushed over them and stole Mila’s breath away.
Mila stared down at the pavement, ears ringing as the shock faded.
Rhys recovered first, panting, and pulled a shaking Mila to her feet. He held her close and searched her face. “Are you all right?”
It took Mila a second to find her voice. “Yeah. You?”
“Fine.” Rhys glanced back toward the building. “Do you think anyone else was in there?”
“You know it was empty. We gotta get out of here. If we get stopped here, we’ll be wrapped up for a day or more in questioning.”
Rhys nodded, looking as dazed as she felt, and they jogged down the alleyway and back out to the street. The explosion had summoned a small group of the transients, and they openly gaped at Mila and Rhys as they ran by.
Red crowded the edges of Mila’s vision, and her anger mingled with an old, dark pain. They needed to bring the Phantom to justice. Had to. It was a need that overwhelmed logic, a need she couldn’t deny, and Mila probably would have chased the Phantom even if the bounty had been far lower.
It was all because of Casey, even if Mila tried to pretend it wasn’t. Casey Phan, kidnapped and murdered when they were sixteen. The inept police force had just let the killer get away. Watching that crime go unpunished was the reason Mila decided to work for justice. The reason she abandoned her family to become a bounty hunter.
Casey’s father owned Phan Pharmaceuticals, and seeing the Phantom blow up the facilities, kill Phan Pharm workers, steal research . . . it had rekindled all of Mila’s old memories. She’d take out the Phantom the way she’d never been able to take out the screwed up person who had stolen Casey away.
When Mila and Rhys were almost to the crowded square, she halted and wiped the sweat from her face, still breathing hard. She was dangerously close to losing it, and she wasn’t about to have a breakdown in front of all the revelers between them and their ship.
Rhys stopped when she did. “What is it?”
“That was a set-up,” Mila said, her voice breaking. “That fixer knew he was sending us to die. Everyone must have known it. Someone warned the rest of the tenants to get out.”
She swung her body around, seeking something, anything, to take her anger out on. She slammed the toe of her boot into a piece of scrap metal and sent it flying. A sharp pain coursed through her foot, but she gritted her teeth against it and tried to ignore the burning sensation in her eyes.
She let out a little guttural scream and turned back to Rhys, her hands clenched into tight fists. “We need to beat the kak out of that fixer until he gives us the truth.”
Rhys grabbed Mila by the shoulders and leaned down so his eyes were level with hers. “Calm. Down.”
“No!” Mila pushed him away with both hands, but he held her tight and didn’t let go. She blinked against the continued burning sensation in her eyes. “We need this bounty.”
Rhys shook his head. “If that fixer knowingly sent us to a trap, I’m not about to advertise we survived it. This is his turf. We’re at a disadvantage here. You should know that.”
“We were just so close,” Mila replied, her voice shaking.
Rhys loosened his tight hold on her. “I’m calling it, Mi. This isn’t worth getting blown up over. There are plenty of other bounties to go after.”
But none like this one. Hot anger lit a fire in Mila’s chest, and she shoved Rhys away. “Coward.”
Surprise flashed across his face, and he stiffened. “Don’t be an idiot. This isn’t about bravery, it’s about survival. You wanted to hunt this one, so I agreed. For you. It was always a long shot. We’ll survive off less until something else comes along. We’re done.”
“No,” Mila shoved Rhys again, and he stumbled back a step. “We’re finding the Phantom. And if you won’t help, I’ll keep searching by myself.”
“What is it about this case that you’re not telling me? You’ve never been this stubborn about any of the others. It’s like you’re not thinking clearly.”
Mila swallowed the lump in her throat and pushed past him so he couldn’t see the look on her face. She’d have to tell Rhys about her past someday . . . when she was ready. And today wasn’t that day.
“Mila.” Rhys was by her side again. “Tell me what’s going on.”
She took a deep breath as she turned toward him, struggling to get her roiling emotions under control. He really thought he was making the right choice. But he was wrong.
“The trail was cold before,” she said, trying to keep her voice even. “Whispers of the Phantom passing through, week-old transactions. Twenty-four hours, Rhys. Twenty-four! The Phantom was in that room a day ago. We can’t stop now. We need food. Devana needs maintenance and upgrades. And maybe . . . maybe after we finish this, we can take a break, right? Go to some pleasure planet, maybe Cassel . . . together.”
Her cheeks flushed at how her own words sounded, but Rhys’s eyes grew dark, and he cupped her chin in his callused hand and tilted her head up until their eyes met.
“One more time. We’ll try to find one more lead,” Rhys conceded, his voice rough. “But if we don’t . . . we can’t afford to keep ignoring other work for this bounty. So if the next lead doesn’t work out, promise me you’ll give it up.”
Mila pushed his hand away. “I’m sorry. But no. I can’t promise you that.”
The low hum of an approaching hover caught their attention, and they both looked up. Flashing lights. Local police.
“Let’s get lost in the crowd,” Rhys said. “But this conversation isn’t over.”
Mila pushed down her irritation and followed him. She’d convince him. Because they were not quitters.
They kept up a brisk pace until they were well into the main square, where the mass of people had gathered outside the Journeymen Hall. It was an interesting spectacle — a mix of normal-looking civilians and people dressed for the occasion. Some of these Travelers liked to mimic old Earth customs, more-so than those on Terra.
A cluster near Mila and Rhys wore silken cloaks and fantastic masks adorned with feathers. Another dozen had forgone the costumes, but their walking sticks were intricately carved and inlaid with gems and smooth stones. Another pair wore gold robes with masks carved to resemble predatory animals.
Rhys pushed through the crowd, carving a path to the far edge of the square where vendors had set up booths filled with all the goods and trinkets a crowd of pilgrims could want on Traveler’s Day.
The scent of roasting meat made her mouth water and her stomach growl, reminding her she hadn’t eaten since this morning’s breakfast on Devana. Rhys seemed to be of the same mind, because he led her to where the nearest food vendor had set up a grill.
“What kind of meat?” Rhys scoffed.
The middle-aged woman winked and waved the skewer at Rhys. “Special. Is a secret.”
“Ah, right. Might that be some special skap meat from dockside?”
The woman’s face soured. “Insults! I no sell skap.”
Mila wandered over to the next table, zoning out Rhys’s haggling. He was so tight-fisted with their creds. How could he not see how important catching the Phantom was to their bottom line?
The table Mila found herself at was strewn with trinkets. Incense burners, Christian crosses, Wiccan pentagrams, Buddhist statues, and a wide range of other eclectic-looking jewelry.
A bronze-toned pendant on a long chain caught Mila’s eye. She picked it up without thinking and turned it over in her palm. It resembled the shape of an infinity symbol, and small pearlescent stones in all different shapes and sizes dangled from the end of it.
“That piece is almost as beautiful as you.”
Mila started and felt her cheeks redden as she met the vendor’s gaze. The colorfully dressed woman looked to be in her early thirties and had pale skin and ice blue eyes like Mila’s, but that’s where their similarities ended. The woman’s space-black hair was styled in dozens of tiny braids, and she wore a nose ring that glinted beneath the sparkling lights hanging from the metal awning above.
“Um . . . thanks,” Mila said. “It is a nice piece.”
“Better than nice, girl. It’s the ideal gift to celebrate the new sun. That is, if you want to have good luck. That pendant’s been blessed by Cassa.”
Mila glanced back down at the pendant, at the way the twinkling lights overhead made the colors on each stone warp and change, like tiny rainbows. She wasn’t superstitious or religious, but the pendant reminded her of a ring she’d owned as a child. She wanted to try it on, hold the stones closer to the light and see them change, but she resisted.
“What kind of stones are these?” Mila asked.
“Those stones were collected from the null point between two binary stars. Only travelers with great luck and persistence can thread the needle to reach that point.”
A low laugh sounded from behind Mila, and she whirled to find Rhys standing there, two skewers of meat in hand. “Stones collected from between paired stars, eh?”
The woman’s serious expression didn’t change. “That’s exactly what they are.”
Rhys shook his head. “Maybe you should get off this rock some time. Because nothing hangs between binary stars; one or the other pulls everything in.”
The woman leaned across the table, and a slow smile spread on her blood-red lips. “The journey can teach us much, my friend. But build a life on false beliefs, and you’ll soon find your ship has drifted into a minefield.”
“You done here, Mi?” Rhys’s question came out like a command, and he looked like he was trying hard not to respond to the woman. He didn’t have a lot of patience for religious types, Journeywomen or otherwise.
The merchant ignored Rhys and looked at Mila expectantly. “The colors in that piece really do suit you.”
“It’s gorgeous. But maybe some other time.”
Mila sighed and reluctantly dropped the necklace into the woman’s waiting palm. Mila grabbed a meat skewer from Rhys without meeting his eyes and strode toward the center of the square. Why did he always have to be such a buzzkill?
She stopped at the edge of the crowd, watching an unfamiliar ritual unfold at the center of the square, and gnawed at the stringy meat. Skap meat or not, it was a thousand times better than the bland nutrition bars on their ship.
She finished it, tossed the stick, and started searching the crowd for Rhys. Time to convince him to continue their search for the Phantom.
She found him only a few yards away, watching her intently, and despite her earlier annoyance, a smile budded on her lips. He knew when to give her space, and he knew when she really needed him not to. His solid presence in her life had been the best part of these past months.
A flash of grey in her peripheral vision drew her gaze, and it landed on a man wearing a silver hoop earring and a fake liavold skin jacket. It was the lowlife from the tavern.
Mila’s pulse quickened, and she pushed past the people surrounding her to get closer. The lowlife was staring at Rhys, but when he noticed Mila heading for him, his eyes widened and he scrambled away, disappearing into the crowd.
Mila shouted and sprinted after him, shoving people out of her way, ignoring the obscenities they yelled in her wake. She was vaguely aware of Rhys falling into step behind her. That dock scum knew something, she was sure of it. He might even be a spy for the fixer. She couldn’t let him escape.
The cries of anger erupting in front of her let her know she was on the right path, and as she exited the main press of the crowd, she caught sight of a grey jacket disappearing around the corner.
She ran faster, a stitch growing in her side as she caught up. When the man faltered ahead of her, trying to decide which way to turn at the end of an alleyway, she launched herself forward, knocking him into the wall. They both hit hard and slid toward the grimy pavement.
Rhys was there an instant later, hauling Mila out of the way and pinning the man’s arms behind his back so he couldn’t pull a weapon. The man’s bloodshot eyes were wild, darting between Mila and the alley’s exit.
Rhys raised a brow. “Care to explain?”
Mila sniffed and wiped the dust off her pants. “What? Didn’t you notice him back at the tavern? This snake was eavesdropping on you. I bet he works with the fixer. And he was definitely watching you back there.”
“Is that so?” Rhys pulled his pistol and shoved the man against the building to frisk him. He pulled out a slide blade concealed at the man’s waist, then retrieved a small black case from his jacket. He tossed Mila the case, and she opened it, her heart still beating a staccato rhythm against her ribcage.
Inside lay a syringe and a vial filled with black, viscous liquid.
“Show us your arm,” Mila demanded.
The man was shaking as he pushed his sleeve up, revealing a web of veins stained black from his habit.
Rhys whistled. “Got ourselves a WiDoWer, eh?” He adjusted his Arclight so it lined up with the man’s face. “Now why were you following us?”
The man’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, and he held his hands palm out as a drop of sweat slid down his forehead and into his eye. “I followed you ’cause I got info. I’ll trade for it.”
“What kind?” Rhys asked, his eyes hard. “The last info we got wasn’t worth much.”
“Harris — he set you up. But I know the truth.”
“No trades.” Mila closed on the addict, still holding his drugs in her grasp, and wrapped her other hand around his throat, squeezing. “If you knew about the trap, you should have told us before. We could have died.”
“Mila.” Rhys’s low warning did nothing to calm the rage buzzing in Mila’s head.
“No trades,” Mila repeated, squeezing tighter. The lowlife gasped for air.
“Mila.” This time Rhys’s voice broke through, and Mila dropped her hand from the man’s throat, then forced herself to step back.
Rhys narrowed his eyes at her, then turned back to the addict. “What do you want for the info?”
“Creds,” the man said, wheezing. “Ninety creds.”
“For drugs.” Mila opened the case and held the vial high so the addict could see it. “How ’bout this? You tell us everything you know, or I feed your precious sludge to the pavement.”
“No. No no no.” The man was sweating more freely now, and the desperation in his voice made Mila nauseous with sudden self-loathing. But she wouldn’t back down. She was done with haggling. With the trades. Done with all the lies and dead leads.
She placed the vial on the ground and positioned her boot over it. “You get one second to decide.”
“I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you! Don’t. It’s my last one. The Phantom was here. She was callin’ herself Elaine. Harris hooked her up with new tags. I got a shot of ’em on my mobi.”
“Show us,” Rhys demanded.
The man revealed the mobi beneath his sleeve and brought up the data. Mila swiped her arm across his screen and her mobi captured the tag numbers. Then she placed her boot back over the vial of WiDoW. The lowlife seemed to turn green in the dim light of the globes overhead.
“Where was Elaine headed next?” Rhys asked.
“Septa — she had a meeting on the platform. She’s got a way into Xi’an space. Someone powerful is helpin’ that girl. Musta paid off Harris big, ’cause I ain’t never seen him help set up a bounty hunter like he did to you two.”
Mila’s mind raced, considering the implications of what this snitch was saying. If the Phantom truly had a way into Xi’an space, they’d never find her again. She’d reach Rihlah, and the Xi’an wouldn’t do kak to help them catch a terrorist. They’d just pretend to, acting diplomatic while the Phantom got to live out her life, with the Advocacy and the rest of the UEE stuck waiting for her to voluntarily cross into Human-controlled space again.
“He could be lying,” Mila said. “Describe this Elaine.”
“Uh — red hair. I think it was a wig. I followed her back to that hostel and saw her leave with black hair. Dark skin. Late twenties. Kept her face all covered up. Never got a good vid.” The addict tapped his mobi again and brought up an image of a woman, covered up as he’d described.
All Mila and Rhys had ever seen were blurry images of this woman, no better than what this man was showing them. But what else did they have to go on?
She exchanged glances with Rhys, and Rhys gave her a slow nod.
Mila picked up the vial and shoved it back in the case. She wanted to destroy the drugs, force this scum into withdrawal, but the withdrawal could kill him. And Mila was no murderer and never would be.
She dropped the case back into the man’s hands and flicked his jacket with her finger. He flinched at the touch.
“If you need creds, you should start by demanding a refund from whoever sold you this knock-off.”
His brows went up in surprise, and he glanced down at his jacket, then back to Rhys, who still held his weapon. “Can I get my blade back?”
“Get out of here,” Rhys barked.
The man flinched again, then pocketed his drugs and took off running.
“What the hell was that?” Rhys’s face was red, his voice so low Mila knew he was pissed. “That’s not our agreement. I do the haggling. I handle the contacts. Not you. That’s our deal.”
Mila put her hands on her hips. “Well, it worked, didn’t it? We need to get back to our ship and get to Septa before our phantom disappears for good.” She turned heel and walked off without waiting for a reply.
Rhys didn’t speak a word as they made their way back to the docks, and his anger hung in the heavy silence between them, ruining what should have been a celebration and leaving her to her own thoughts. When they finally reached the well-lit entryway that led up to their Freelancer, Mila turned to Rhys.
His expression was blank again, showing nothing of what he might be feeling. Sometimes he was so damn hard to read. She pressed a hand to his chest, and his eyes softened slightly at her touch.
“I’m sorry. For how I acted back there. You’re right. I broke our agreement. I promise I’ll try to keep it together from now on —”
“Don’t. You got what we needed. But if this lead doesn’t pan out?”
“Fine. If it doesn’t pan . . . then we’re done searching.”
It didn’t matter. Because if the Phantom really was headed for Xi’an space, and they missed her one more time, it was as good as over anyway.
A look of relief passed over Rhys’s face. “Good. Then we agree. We’ll follow this lead, but if we lose her, we move onto something else.”
He hesitated, then reached into his pocket and drew out a small velvet bag. Mila’s lips parted as he pulled out a length of chain, the Cassa pendant hanging from it, its gorgeous pearlescent stones shimmering in the light of the dockside globes.
Rhys fastened the good luck pendant around Mila’s neck.
“But our credits . . .” Mila warmed at his light touch. “We didn’t have enough to waste on this.”
He shrugged. “Could be that Journeywoman was right about this thing after all. All we needed was a little luck. And it seems we got it.”
His voice came out husky, and Mila stood on tiptoes to kiss him. He responded with intensity, pulling her close, pressing her body to his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and lost herself in him.
When he pulled away, his eyes were dark. “Flight plan first. But while we’re waiting for clearance . . . ”
Mila gave him a small smile. “Meet me in the bunk?”
He smirked and pulled her close for another kiss. “And after that . . . we catch our phantom.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/seri…Bounty-Part-One
Alles anzeigenExterner Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Hello everyone,
Last week on Around the Verse we announced that Object Container Streaming and 3.3 were split into multiple development branches, and that we’ll deliver Alpha 3.3 for all on October 10, with OCS coming with a later patch currently titled 3.3.5. The roadmap update made last Friday now also reflects those changes and displays a 3.3.5 column featuring OCS and its dependent cards.
Also last week, Bounty Hunters rallied across the ‘verse to take down criminal scum, highlighting their victories in a screenshot contest on Twitter. Within 24 hours we received over 500 entries, showcasing that the hunt was definitely on. A big thank you to everyone who participated, and congratulations to our winning entries.
Alongside the screenshot contest, we also brought back a handful of the verse’s most devastating brawlers, available for all your mercenary needs. As a reminder, this promotion ends tonight!
One of the heavy hitting ships we made available during this promotion is the Aegis Hammerhead, scheduled for release in Alpha 3.3. You can find everything you need to know about this turret enthusiast’s dream in our latest episode of Ship Shape, with a follow-up RTV featuring Designers Adam Parker, John Crewe, and ship artist Calvin Williams.
Lastly, big shout-out to everyone who attended Con42 this weekend. Team members fortunate enough to attend had loads of fun. Congratulations to the organizers who put on such a successful community event.
And with that, let’s see what’s going on this week:
Every week on Calling All Devs, designers, engineers, and other developers from our five offices around the world answer backer questions submitted on Spectrum and voted for by YOU. This week we we talk about mining on foot, stealing data, the RSI Lynx Rover and more. Subscribe to our YouTube channel and turn on the notifications to be amongst the first to watch!
On Tuesday, the Lore Team will publish their weekly lore post. This week, we’ll see part one of “Phantom Bounty”, a story previously released in Jump Point 3.1. You can also find all previously published lore posts here.
Thursday will welcome another episode of Around the Verse where we’ll take a look at the latest Star Citizen news with our weekly project update.
Finally, make sure to tune in on Friday at 12pm PST for another episode of Reverse the Verse, broadcast live on our Star Citizen Twitch channel. Stay tuned for further information about who our special guests will be and keep an eye on Spectrum for the Questions Thread!
We’ll see you in the ‘Verse!
Ulf Kuerschner
Senior Community Manager
The Weekly Community Content ScheduleMONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24TH, 2018
Calling All Devs (https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch)TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25TH, 2018
Lore Post (https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch)WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26TH, 2018
CitizenCon Emote Contest Winners AnnouncementTHURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27TH, 2018
Around the Verse (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)
Vault UpdateFRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 28TH, 2018
Jump Point – September Issue
Reverse the Verse LIVE (https://www.twitch.tv/starcitizen)
Roadmap Update
RSI Newsletter
Community MVP: September 24th, 2018Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.We are constantly amazed by the contributions made by the Star Citizen community. Whether it’s fan art, a cinematic, a YouTube guide, or even a 3D print of your favorite ship, we love it all! Every week, we select one piece of content submitted to the Community Hub and highlight it here. The highlighted content creator will be awarded with an MVP badge on Spectrum and be immortalized in our MVP section of the Hub.
Don’t forget to submit your content to our Community Hub for a chance at seeing it here!
Hammerhead 4K Wallpaper by STARMEDIC
Externer Inhalt robertsspaceindustries.comInhalte von externen Seiten werden ohne Ihre Zustimmung nicht automatisch geladen und angezeigt.Starmedic’s latest wallpaper features the Hammerhead, a ship equally suited to support larger capital ships or act as a flagship for fighter groups. Decorate your desktop while waiting for 3.3 and the ships’ introduction the ‘verse.
Check out the post on the Community Hub for even more wallpapers from Starmedic!
Quelle: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/citi…In-Star-Citizen