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How will life in Pyro differ from Stanton? Join us today to discover the differences of how people live in the unique challenges and landscapes Pyro has to offer, in addition to new gameplay experiences.
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Squadron 42 Monthly Report
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.
TO: SQUADRON 42 RECRUITS
SUBJ: DEVELOPMENT UPDATE 08:07:2024
REF: CIG UK, CIG DE, CIG LA, CIG TX,
FAO Squadron 42 Recruits.
Welcome to July’s Squadron 42 development report. Enclosed you will find details on the latest progress made across the campaign, including AI group combat, EVA updates, and additional narrative detail.
Thank you for your continued support of Squadron 42.
Sincerely,
CIG COMMUNICATIONS
AI (Features)
Last month, the AI Features team worked on a combination of fixes and new functionality, including an issue requiring a usable to have an interactable component. A problem was also solved with stance not being updated, causing issues with AI exiting cover.
The team solved problems with tactical-query system conditions silently failing without setting results, which led to uninitialized memory bugs. For example, when running the ‘reachable,’ condition, it occasionally returned a ‘true’ result when the point was not reachable because the result variable had not been initialized as false. This was blocking the testing of the cover hit-reactions test level.
An issue with vison raycasting allowing NPCs to see through buildings was rectified alongside bugs with NPCs using the Multi-Tool, including one giving them infinite ammunition in Repair mode. The team also added dynamic object handling to the vision component to fix vision raycasts and entities from being blocked when doors change states. The handling of situation changes during ‘aimed at’ events were improved too.
New functionality was developed to support and restrict movement within assigned schedule combat areas, including being able to set up schedule areas and tags through the editor rather than just through the schedule. This allows the designers to more carefully control fights by giving the AI areas of interest, in a similar way to the existing tech for defend and attack areas, but on a broader scale.
The AI team also added a significant piece of new functionality - AI groups. This enables perception data to be shared between AI within the same group, giving the designers more control over how NPCs are brought into fights and how they work together. For this, the team added a variety of entity changes, including:
AIGroupEntity - allows the designers to assign NPCs groups
AIGroupEntityComponent - a runtime component to define NPC groups that can share knowledge, such as perception data
AIGroupEntity - exports group members as part of object container data
AIGroupEntity - a Dataforge record
OnFriendlyCallToArmsHeard - an event to bring the rest of a group into combat
Elsewhere, the team reviewed and made improvements to how AI use wildlines, including adding new combat-communication wildlines, such as surrendering, grenade reactions and throwing, investigation, hit reactions, reloading, and perception reactions.
A script was created to check duplicate and unused communication names in pursuit of the gold-standard wildline setup.
AI Tech
For AI Tech, support was given to the Design teams, with the devs implementing and exposing small functionalities alongside performance improvements. For example, they implemented a new behavior assignment for AI pilots exiting to EVA and fixed issues with NPCs using EVA. Bug fixing and behavior improvements were made for NPCs using elevators and using trolleys to move boxes.
AI (Social Strike Team)
July saw the AI Social strike team introduce new welding helmet animations for engineers in ship corridors, enhancing visual detail, and updating post-welding animations. They also added an inspection phase where engineers now examine their work, providing more realistic and dynamic visuals compared to the previous static animation.
A new scooch animation for smoother transitions between bathroom lockers and shower cubicles was created too.
The team then refactored the day/night cycle on the Stanton to ensure AI populate the most popular areas of the ship as soon as the player lands, improving immersion and experience. Idle animations after crate inspections were updated to show characters using their datapads to simulate stocktaking and entering details.
Animations for entering and exiting the firing range console were improved to address various issues, such as popping and other visual inconsistencies, while holograms on the firing range T-posing when shot was rectified. And, for more realistic character behavior, look-at animations were disabled during inappropriate moments, such as when characters touch their faces or use utensils.
The team then conducted a comprehensive visual pass on dynamic conversations, fixing numerous missing transitions for smoother dialogue flow. They also adjusted animations to ensure characters appear to be talking, even without active dialogue.
AI Social began refining player interactions in the Stanton, preventing unintended entity interactions and highlighting important ones to streamline and enhance player engagement.
Features (Gameplay)
Gameplay Features continued improving control surfaces, addressing various tuning issues. For EVA, zero-g traversal markers were implemented. Without a thruster pack, they show green/red to denote when players can/can’t attach. However, with a thruster pack, they only show when close.
For the multi-function display rework, comms list, hail target, and comm-call functionality were added.
Gameplay Story
At the start of July, the Gameplay Story team maintained and improved several scenes in the campaign’s early chapters. This involved extending a barracks scene to make it 10 times longer, fixing a bad blend in a mess hall start idle, and creating a bespoke ‘crate place’ animation for use in a med-bay. New mo-cap was also used to extend the approach animation of a hangar scene and to create an end transition for a scene in a lounge area. A pass was also done on a scene in a corridor.
Gameplay Story also progressed with scenes later in the game. For example, they updated a scene in chapter 11 to work with the correct console. They also brought a complicated scene in chapter 12 up to date with everything functioning correctly, while new mo-cap overhauled and improved a scene involving an escape pod.
Narrative
Following on from last month’s report, Narrative tested their work on the in-game Galactapedia and began addressing user-experience improvements, including considerations for UI elements to make finding and organizing information easier.
The team then began tackling another polish task - naming all the NPCs placed by Design in the game. While featured story NPCs are well established, additional members of the general population and outlaws have been added to help make the game feel more alive and combat encounters more engaging. All of these characters and their ships need names.
Weekly playthroughs of the game continued too, including finetuning when narrative content triggers and plays. For example, Narrative worked with Design to adjust the placement of a particular piece of dialogue so that the characters have more natural reaction times. All of these adjustments, while individually small, go a long way to making the world feel more immersive.
UI
Last month, the UI team continued polishing in-world screens, optimizing a few existing levels to improve frame rate and creating medical screens for various scenarios. They then made updates to the player’s visor, including taking the first steps toward a more cinematic boot-up sequence.
The team also improved alien UI, ensuring it tells a story and feels noticeably different to the more traditional Human sci-fi screens players will be used to.
For UI Tech, the programmers worked on performance improvements to speed up the frame rate of various parts of the UI.
VFX
Finally for July’s report, the VFX team continued to support the Cinematics, Design, and Art teams in various polishing tasks.
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This article originally appeared in Jump Point 8.2.
Drake Interplanetary Cutlass Red
THE BIRTH OF A VARIANT… AGAIN
In 2845, Drake Interplanetary put itself on the map with the introduction of what was then referred to as the AS-1 Cutlass. Following the base model’s unexpected success, Drake earned the undesired reputation as a manufacturer of spacecraft favored by outlaws and pirates. The company initially addressed these concerns with the launch of the Cutlass Blue in 2860. The Blue was a modification of the base Cutlass to appeal to law enforcement agencies. While the launch of the Blue failed to stifle all criticism, it did manage to successfully generate reasonable doubt among consumers and provide Drake’s defenders sufficient ammunition to engage detractors.
The latter group’s argument was again brought into the mainstream following the release of a 2875 documentary, Bent Cutlass, that claimed that Drake had knowingly ignored background check flags when selling ships. The documentary detailed an incident when twelve Cutlasses were sold to an intermediary who later transferred them to an outlaw organization for use in a raid that left 122 dead on an orbital outpost. Facing renewed criticism, the company decided to attempt to repeat their past success introducing what executives termed an “infallible” Cutlass variant. But the Cutlass Red’s road to acceptance was rockier than the Blue as the initial marketing campaign fell comparatively flat. Drake enlisted actor Don Shadow (then starring as Doctor W. Robin Simkins on the top-rated Spectrum drama Situation? Emergency!) as the spacecraft’s official spokesperson. In an uncharacteristic series of advertisements, Shadow addressed the audience directly and invited them to sit down with him for a “very serious conversation” in which he extolled the new Cutlass model’s virtues. “Ask yourself, do you want to put your life in the hands of an inferior scanner array?”. He then informed viewers that they could request prepared correspondence to petition their local emergency services organizations to purchase the spacecraft. The ads did not feature the ship itself and were widely panned as disingenuous by audiences. Aerospace analysts and mainstream comedians alike had a field day with the Cutlass Red before it had even taken flight.
INTERNAL DEVELOPMENTS
As with the Cutlass Blue, Drake invested a great deal into developing the Red as a bespoke spacecraft. However cynical the inspiration behind the ship’s development, the team actually charged with making the project a reality was dedicated to building a spaceborne ambulance that would improve and extend the current standard of care. Like the Blue, the Red would have its own assembly line producing a significantly altered fuselage. The idea of turning a militaristic spacecraft into a hospital support ship greatly appealed to the war-weary Drake development team and slots on the Cutlass Red program were highly sought after. Early on, designers identified that the Cutlass Red could combine two previously unrelated roles: ambulance-style supported patient transport and search and rescue. The latter role, previously the domain of military-sponsored heavy equipment, was becoming increasingly necessary as the technology to make survival in a spacewreck or other catastrophe was improving greatly across the latter half of the 29th century. With more and more crews able to survive the destruction of their spacecraft (and a corresponding increase in space combat occurring on the edges of the Empire), the Cutlass Red was seen as a design with a strong raison d’être.
Drake assigned a full development team to each role and developed a mediating process for interfacing the two roles into a single ship. Each group was ordered and budgeted to develop a single keystone innovation that would help the Red stand apart on a professional level. The ambulance team opted to partner with AutoDoc for the development of a bespoke medical bed that would fit into the extended rear cabin (a recalled Blue being used for early fast prototyping). The search and rescue team decided to focus on software, assembling an electronics sub-division to develop the now familiar Nav-E7 Long Range scanner system. The Nav-E7 would give the Red a unique edge in identifying and safely maneuvering around patients in three-dimensional space. The new electronics team, which would end up developing everything from the Dragonfly’s bespoke ground interface to the Herald’s protected computer core, managed to advance scanner clarity 23% from the industry standard using available components alone. Both role-specific projects proceeded extremely well and, because they focused on building out different areas of the ships, needed little mediation when adapted to the final hull design. In all, conversion of the Cutlass Blue into the Cutlass Red proof-of-concept took only eleven months, with a fully constructed Red production prototype flying its first round of space trials in September 2876.
UNEXPECTED SUCCESS
Then, in another example of Drake’s extraordinary luck, laughter turned to applause within days of the Cutlass Red’s first sale. In spite of the failed marketing campaign and overall negative perception of the project, Drake opted to continue with the planned launch in April 2877, believing that the investment could easily be made up due to the Cutlass Red’s practical superiority in its role. With little event surrounding the initial release, first month sales were limited. Then, galactic events shifted unexpectedly in Drake’s favor when a cruise liner collided with a customs weigh station in the Corel System, penetrating both ships’ hulls and setting off a case of improperly stored explosives aboard the station that caused significant further damage. Dozens were killed immediately and hundreds were left stranded. The ensuing explosion destroyed the station’s vacuum hangars, emergency spacecraft, and medical supplies, forcing emergency services on Lo to put together a makeshift response themselves. The centerpiece of that response became a flight of thirty-six brand-new Cutlass Red spacecraft that had just arrived for sale. Local forces deputized the ships and crewed them with anyone available to help. The familiar Cutlass controls allowed local pilots to make easy use of the Reds during the emergency. The situation was tailor made for Spectrum stories with the force of newly painted, bright red Cutlasses riding to the rescue and ultimately stabilizing and transporting back and forth dozens of patients who would otherwise have been lost.
Drake marketing knew to capitalize on the situation, ensuring that footage of the rescue appeared whenever possible. Gone immediately were the concerns that the Cutlass Red was a cynical public-relations ploy replaced with the understanding that it truly was the next evolution of medical support spacecraft. So rapid and so significant was the Cutlass Red’s turn to favor that actor Shadow credited the spacecraft as part of the reason for his move from Spectrum series to successful film roles. Inside the company, there was both a palpable sense of relief and a true sense that the Cutlass team had done something important.
THE NEXT GENERATION
Following the Corel customs rescue, sales of the Cutlass Red doubled month over month for two years. Drake was forced to move from a single production line to a dedicated factory building only Cutlass Reds (since 2915 it has constructed both the Cutlass Red and some Caterpillar components). Even more important has been the long-term impact of the Cutlass ambulance concept on both aerospace design and emergency services. While the initial metrics for the Red were based only on the need to use a similar internal layout to the existing Blue, its rise in importance has led to countless third-party adaptations, including specialized medical components and massive designs like the optional boat decks of the Endeavour-class research ships. The bed-and-work-area designed into the Cutlass Red has become an industry standard unit that has gone on to define everything from loading decks to scanner mounts on a dozen different manufacturers’ spacecraft.
For the Cutlass team at Drake, the ultimate mark of its success occurred in 2895 when the United Empire of Earth purchased an order of three hundred Cutlass Reds for use as fleet support. Though a minor order in the scheme of things, the idea that the same UEEN that once turned down the Cutlass Black and forced Drake to ‘go their own way’ would purchase Cutlass Reds directly was seen as an indication that the project had true merit. The Navy has continued to buy small numbers of Cutlasses in the years since, outfitting many planet-side military hospitals with the ships in an attempt to maintain the same standard as civilian agencies; they have as of yet refused to contract a hardened militarized version for frontline service, favoring the larger (and more expensive) RSI Apollo instead.
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Happy Monday, everyone!
Phase 1 of Ship Showdown wraps up this week, and your submissions have been truly legendary. From stunning model builds and captivating paintings to hype videos and even inventive food creations, the feeds have been overflowing with creativity. We're now narrowing down to the top sixteen vehicles as we gear up for Phase 2. And don't forget: the Sweet Sixteen will be available to fly for FREE from August 15 to August 22.
We're thrilled to share that later this week we'll be bringing back a small wave of CitizenCon General Admission tickets. These will be very limited and will likely go fast. So, if you're out there kicking yourself for not getting a ticket sooner, this will be your chance to pick one up and join us in Manchester in October. Keep an eye on Spectrum for an announcement on the exact day and time these tickets will be restocked!
Speaking of CitizenCon, applications for the Cosplay Contest are still open! If you're planning on coming to CitizenCon in costume, be sure to check out the contest and apply for a chance to win some awesome prizes. Head over to the Spectrum Announcement for more information and get your submissions in before applications close on September 27.
Now, let's see what's going on this week:
This Tuesday, the Narrative Team will publish the Whitley's Guide on the Cutlass Red, first appearing in Jump Point magazine. Developed to counter Drake's reputation as an outlaw brand, the Cutlass Red proved its value as a medical ship almost immediately during an unexpected tragedy on Corel.
Wednesday has last week's Squadron 42 Monthly Report newsletter reposted as a Comm-Link.
Thursday's Inside Star Citizen takes a trip down to the surface of Pyro's planets and moons to explore the non-combat aspects of life in our next star system, as well as a chance to meet two factions just trying to make their ways through the 'verse, the Citizens for Prosperity and Headhunters.
Thursday also kicks off Phase 2 of Ship Showdown, complete with the Sweet Sixteen Free Fly! Make sure you check back every day to vote your favorite vehicles to victory!
Friday, Star Citizen Live is a Q&A with the Frankfurt Level Design team about Contested Zones and Asteroid Bases. You can submit your questions on Spectrum and tune in at twitch.tv/starcitizen at 8 AM Pacific / 3 PM UTC to learn more. You'll also find the weekly RSI Newsletter delivered to your inbox.
We offer this Universe to the Era as a place to study and a place to meet A naturally occurrChakras Stable atmosphere Lethal Earth analogue. The Advocacy surveyors were stunned to find abandoned Humanity cities on the planet trafficking Spatial cargo is a risky proposition
Claimed entirely for military purposes, Rihlah VI is home to the United Planets of Earth and has the distinction of housRoam the largest population of Officers in the Empire The Universe shall act as a political neutral zone where representatives can meet to resolve problems through discourse Though technically not a planet, Keene is considered a local mascot. This Ice Giant's unique shape has given it the nickname Sheperd
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We're constantly amazed at the contributions made by the Star Citizen community. Whether it's fan art, a cinematic, 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 an MVP badge on Spectrum and be immortalized in our MVP section of the Hub.
Roberts Space Industries is the official go-to website for all news about Star Citizen and Squadron 42. It also hosts the online store for game items and…
Join us today for another Q&A session with Design Director, Rick Porter and Senior Principal Systems Designer, Edward Fuller as our guests to answer your burning questions about Jump Points.
Roberts Space Industries is the official go-to website for all news about Star Citizen and Squadron 42. It also hosts the online store for game items and…
It's getting hot in here, and before you fall into a burning ring of fire, you'll want to join us for this in-depth review of what you can expect from one of the most-anticipated aspects of Alpha 4.0: Fire Gameplay.
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PU Monthly Report
Welcome to July’s PU Monthly Report. With the upcoming Alpha 3.24 patch now live for testing in the PTU, many teams spent the month polishing and bug fixing alongside exciting new tasks for Pyro and beyond. Read on for all the details.
AI (Features)
Last month, the AI Features team worked on a combination of fixes and new functionality, including an issue requiring a usable to have an interactable component. A problem was also solved with stance not being updated, causing issues with AI exiting cover. This bug was caused by conflicting changes between Squadron 42 and Star Citizen when merging features.
The team solved problems with tactical-query system conditions silently failing without setting results, which led to uninitialized memory bugs. For example, when running the ‘reachable,’ condition, it occasionally returned a ‘true’ result when the point was not reachable because the result variable had not been initialized as false. This was blocking the testing of the cover hit-reactions test level.
An issue with vison raycasting allowing NPCs to see through buildings was rectified alongside bugs with NPCs using the Multi-Tool, including one giving them infinite ammunition in Repair mode. The team also added dynamic object handling to the vision component to fix vision raycasts and entities from being blocked when doors change states. The handling of situation changes during ‘aimed at’ events were improved too.
New functionality was developed to support and restrict movement within assigned schedule combat areas, including being able to set up schedule areas and tags through the editor rather than just through the schedule. This allows the designers to more carefully control fights by giving the AI areas of interest, in a similar way to the existing tech for defend and attack areas, but on a broader scale.
The AI team also added a significant piece of new functionality - AI groups. This enables perception data to be shared between AI within the same group, giving the designers more control over how NPCs are brought into fights and how they work together. For this, the team added a variety of entity changes, including:
AIGroupEntity - allows the designers to assign NPCs groups
AIGroupEntityComponent - a runtime component to define NPC groups that can share knowledge, such as perception data
AIGroupEntity - exports group members as part of object container data
AIGroupEntity - a Dataforge record
OnFriendlyCallToArmsHeard - an event to bring the rest of a group into combat
Elsewhere, the team reviewed and made improvements to how AI use wildlines, including adding new combat-communication wildlines, such as surrendering, grenade reactions and throwing, investigation, hit reactions, reloading, and perception reactions.
A script was created to check duplicate and unused communication names in pursuit of the gold-standard wildline setup.
AI (Tech)
For AI Tech, the team continued working on the AI vision and movement systems for Server Meshing. This will allow NPCs to transition from one server to another without losing their previous context.
Various optimizations were made too, including to the ‘observable’ and ‘vision’ components and to collision avoidance when NPCs fly ships and drive ground vehicles. Updates were also made to the tactical-point system queries used by Ship AI behaviors.
Art (Characters)
July saw the Character Art team begin work on utility armor. They also progressed with specialist armors, supported requests for the Character Customizer, and worked through art debt for loot items.
The Character Concept Art team explored new designs for fauna, while the Hair team progressed with additional hairstyles.
Art (Ships)
July saw Ship Art working toward new milestones for the vehicles currently in production, including the RSI Polaris, Zeus, and three unannounced ships.
Production of three new vehicles kicked off too alongside two new concepts.
Community
July began with the Community team supporting Foundation Festival 2954, which encouraged experienced players to share their knowledge with newcomers. They also invited players to highlight what makes their organization stand out in the Org Showcase contest.
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“The month wrapped up with a Bar Citizen event in Washington, DC, where over 150 attendees gathered, seeing organizations meet in person for the first time and even a new org forming at the event. These gatherings exemplify the spirit of Bar Citizens, with more events anticipated in the future. The team is already looking forward to meeting members of the community at Gamescom in Cologne and can’t wait to kick off the two Bar Citizens on August 23 and August 24.” Community Team
Core Gameplay
The Gameplay Features teams progressed with a wide variety of features throughout July, beginning with ‘charge and drain.’ For this, they added networking support to the wider feature, added networking support for bringing unpowered items back to life, implemented weapon rollback, and supported UI implementation. Progress was then made on the ‘overheat’ mechanic, improving ways to tune heat values. Moving forward, all energy weapons will have the potential to overheat.
Tasks were also completed for light amplification, adding control hints to toggle it on/off on supported scopes, while bugs were fixed for the fire extinguisher and quantum travel for Server Meshing.
Gameplay Features continued improving control surfaces, addressing various tuning issues, while zero-g traversal markers were implemented.
For the multi-function display (MFD) rework, comms list, hail target, and comm-call functionality were added. Work also began on weapon groups to allow players to switch between group presets.
Last month, significant progress was made on jump points, with Gameplay Features providing Design with the ability to define exit locations, which will also have a physics force to push players away from the exit. Players will now also get pulled into the tunnel one by one when making a jump.
Improvements were also made to tunnel generation. For example, the team now has radial control over eight-way logic, better control-point tension parameters, more accurate section probability, and improved stability. The tunnels are less prone to self-intersection at corners too. Alongside this, updates were made to the jump UI, including icon and color changes, text fade in/out, contextual nav points, and general heads-up display (HUD) fade in/out depending on the approach angle.
July also saw progress on engineering gameplay, including making fully distorted items consume resources despite not being functional. Support was added for Master Modes too, with quantum drives now going fully offline in SMC mode and shields going offline in NAV mode. The Engineering screens and MFD progressed, with tasks beginning on power presets and the assignment UI. Life support and fuel information were added, while the power display was improved.
The Radar & Scanning feature progressed, with Gameplay Features adding delta signatures to the HUD and MFD and moving the jammer from the signature system to the radar component for easier integration with other systems.
More information was added to the charge-scan UI, including maximum held charge, a notification when attempting to scan during cooldown, and fadeout and collapse animations. The overall HUD was polished and decluttered too. For example, nameplates only show for targeted ships, distance only appears for targeted and pinned ships, target information shows for scanned targets, and how long target information is shown was decreased.
Audio signature emissions were added, while the devs began implementing FPS ping counter-play, with players being detected and highlighted if they FPS ping depending on various factors.
The new vehicle annunciator system was added, which supports power, weapons, thrusters, shields, proximity, radar, quantum, missiles, coolers, and shots.
Following last month’s progress on the mission refactor, the team added the option to spawn objectives at random points near planets, both inside and outside the atmosphere. Alongside this, the ability to attach objectives to players was added, contract generation was improved, and the new Contract Broker service was implemented. The latter was created by the Online Services team and enables full contract details and properties to be procedurally generated client-side from contract definition.
Support was also given to actual missions, with various bugs being fixed and improvements made to the backend of hauling contracts. Further support was given to Blockade Runner, while various issues with the UI were fixed. The contract manager’s abandoned button behavior was extended to hauling missions too.
Various updates were made for the upcoming cargo release. For example, they added search functionality to the item bank and freight-elevator kiosk, adjustments to auto-loading times based on box size, and debugging functionality to the instanced interior system.
Bug fixing was also done for the cargo system, air-traffic control, item bank, freight-elevator kiosk, and cargo missions.
Economy
July saw the Economy team progressing with their tasks for Pyro, including the outer rings. They also worked on a refactor that will allow them to create and modify shops in a more scalable manner.
For cargo, balancing was done to the price and time of autoloading to give players the choice between manually loading or paying for convenience and speed. A balance pass was also done on vehicle components, including new life-support systems and jump drives.
Finally, the devs continued to develop their understanding of player profiles to ensure that each career is profitable according to the long-term vision of the economy.
In-Game Branding
In-Game Branding continued wrapping up tasks for jump points and the Pyro system, polishing content and ensuring everything fits the environment.
Mission Design
Mission Design continued working on unannounced content alongside a suite that uses individual features to create a complex form of repair missions. For the latter, they identified key structures that would be used to ensure a location stays up and running and made them breakable.
Using information gathered from cargo gameplay, work began on resource gathering. The current focus is on emergent gameplay that pulls resources from the verse, starting with mining. For example, if a location requests a specific resource, the player can choose how to acquire it, be it mining, buying, or piracy.
Alongside this, progress was made on the mission-system refactor, which will change how missions are offered and futureproof the wider system. It also creates an opportunity to fix legacy issues and folder structures and reassess existing missions. They'll also be able to implement new features into the mission system to allow greater control and create more MMO-style features and content.
Narrative
The Narrative team spent July continuing to support development for Alpha 4.0. This included a mixture of mission text, brainstorming ideas for additional mission content, and delving into some of the various locations being placed by the Environment and Design teams.
The narrative designers spent time overseeing the presence of social AI in various locations, making sure the areas are not only marked up correctly but the general “vibe” and feeling of the area is accurately represented. An initiative was also started within the team to overhaul some of the social spaces to better reflect the intended tone of the location.
On the Star Citizen 1.0 front, Narrative worked closely with Design to define mission providers and aspects of reputation. Work also started on the initial scripting and development of additional location stories for players to discover.
A variety of lore content was published to the website, including a pair of Whitley’s Guides for the Vulcan and the Carrack, as well as another batch of Galactapedia entries.
Online Technology
In July, the Online Services team collaborated intensively with the Gameplay and UI teams to introduce a significant quality-of-life enhancement to freight kiosks: a search bar. This new feature allows for quick item searches by name, improving the efficiency of locating items within large inventories. They also implemented optimizations to hangar and shard stow mechanics to prevent issues and facilitate recovery processes.
The team working on potential mission and marker system features for Alpha 4.0 visited the Manchester studio, where they collaborated with the gameplay teams to ensure the seamless integration of these upcoming features.
In preparation for Alpha 4.0, Online Services began developing a new player-trade service. This will enable players to transfer funds amongst themselves without being subject to the same game server's authority, paving the way for Server Meshing.
Lastly, the team focused on bug fixes, stabilizing the Alpha 3.24 release, and finalizing the social-services refactor. This extensive project, which Online Services have been working on for the past few months, is now ready to go live, marking a significant milestone for the team.
The Live Tools team worked on new core features for the Hex tool. The main goal of this is to provide better management of roles and permissions, streamline workflows between different tools, and enable the ability to perform bulk actions.
The team is also improving other internal tools, such as the error-reporting pipeline, with the implementation of new technical architecture. They’re currently providing the necessary support and maintenance to its users.
UI
Last month, the UI designers and artists worked on the in-game visuals and functionality for the resource network UI and completed the final polishing tasks for jump points. For vehicles, the team replaced the old Flash MFDs and set up new HUDs, resulting in a cleaner and less cluttered flight experience.
The UI team’s tech programmers worked on performance improvements to speed up the frame rate on various parts of the UI.
VFX
Finally for July’s report, the VFX team continued to support several effects-heavy features, including jump points and dynamic fire.
They also continued to work on acidic caves and completed their tasks for the RSI Zeus and another unnamed vehicle. Tasks were also kicked off for two new weapons.
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Subscriber Promotions
Summer’s in full effect as we head toward a cargo deck’s worth of exciting releases and events, including our annual battle to crown the community’s favorite in-game vehicle. To welcome back Ship Showdown, this month’s Flair is a cuddly in-game version of last year’s winner, the mighty Drake Corsair.
August’s Ships of the Month are two industrial stalwarts, Argo’s RAFT and SRV – perfect for putting in a shift or two while we finalize the upcoming patch.
Drake Interplanetary Corsair Plushie
This soft plushie is modeled after the Drake Interplanetary Corsair, a versatile explorer and coincidentally, the reigning Ship Showdown 2953 champion.
Current Centurion-level Subscribers get this item as part of their subscriptions. This flair item is temporarily delayed and will be available in an upcoming patch.
Ornate Drinking Gourd
Made from a calabash gourd, this spherical drinking vessel fits warmly in the hand and features intricate metal latticework detailing.
Current Imperator-level Subscribers get this item and the above Centurion-level itemas part of their subscriptions. This flair item is temporarily delayed and will be available in an upcoming patch.
Handmade Glazed Mug
This slab-built pottery mug with ridged detailing was crafted by hand and finished with a speckled glaze.
This item is available for all Subscribers to pledge for in the Subscriber-Exclusive Store. This flair item is temporarily delayed and will be available in an upcoming patch.
Argo RAFT: Focused on serious cargo shuttling, the Argo RAFT accommodates three 32-SCU cargo containers, making it perfect for both long-range hauling excursions and local deliveries to landing zones and outposts.
Imperator Subscribers: Argo SRV & Argo RAFT (with 24-month insurance)
Argo SRV: A specialized recovery ship designed to leave no one behind. Whether saving stranded souls from the depths of space or retrieving lost cargo, the SRV is the go-to ship for anyone serious about recovery.
Argo RAFT: Focused on serious cargo shuttling, the Argo RAFT accommodates three 32-SCU cargo containers, making it perfect for both long-range hauling excursions and local deliveries to landing zones and outposts.
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SUBSCRIBER
MERCHANDISE DISCOUNT
Two continuous discount levels are available to all Subscribers in the Merch Store. Centurion Subscribers receive a 10% off discount, while Imperator Subscribers receive 15% off. Take advantage of this perk and peruse the selection of available merchandise including jackets, hoodies, shirts, mugs, hats, mousepads, posters, stickers, and more. Check out the now.
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SUBSCRIBER STORE
All previous flair items going back to 2014 are available to pledge in the Subscriber Store. You can fill in any gaps, pick up store-only items, or grab extras to gift to non-Subscribers from the My Hangar section of your RSI profile.
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Happy Monday, everyone!
Last week, we concluded Foundation Festival, a vibrant celebration of the remarkable team spirit within the Star Citizen community. As part of the festivities, we curated an Org Showcase to highlight organizations actively seeking new pilots. We want to take a moment to thank everyone for participating! Whether you were a helpful guide, a recruiting org, or just another bounty to hunt - thanks for making this year's event a great one.
Simultaneously, Ship Showdown took center stage, showcasing the most beloved drivable and flyable vehicles of the 'verse. But before we crown this year's ultimate Ship Showdown champion in the thrilling head-to-head voting battles, we need your help determining the 16 most popular crafts across eight categories. Your creative submissions through our Community Hub and social media channels are already flooding in and we're eager for more! Remember, this is YOUR chance to unlock awesome goodies and help crown the communities favorite vehicle!
Additionally, remember that the Sweet Sixteen of this celebratory smackdown will be available to fly for FREE from August 15 to August 22. The choice is yours – decide which ones you want to get your hands on!
In other news, Star Citizen Alpha 3.24 has been rolled out to the PTU servers for Wave 1 testing, with wider access scheduled to follow soon. Your assistance in identifying, investigating, and reporting any bugs to the Issue Council is crucial in helping our developers smash them.
Now, let's see what's going on this week:
This Tuesday, we'll publish the Subscriber Monthly Newsletter and Subscriber Comm-Link.
Wednesday will be a day of developmental updates with our bi-weekly Roadmap Update and the complementary Roadmap Roundup, as well as the July Monthly Reports for both Star Citizen and Squadron 42. Don't forget to subscribe to the Squadron 42 newsletter.
Thursday, Inside Star Citizen looks at one of the most-anticipated aspects of Alpha 4.0 gameplay: FIRE. Learn how it starts, where it can spread to, and the consequences of letting it go without fighting it. Is arson a thing? You'll have to tune in to find out.
Friday, SCL Q&A returns with Assistant Design Director Rick Porter and Senior Principal Systems Designer Ed Fuller, who will answer your questions about jump points leading us into the Pyro system. You can submit your questions on Spectrum and tune in at twitch.tv/starcitizen at 8am Pacific / 3pm UTC to learn more. You'll also find the weekly RSI Newsletter delivered to your inbox.
Have a stellar week both in and out of the 'verse!
We offer this Universe to the Era as a place to study and a place to meet A naturally occurrChakras Stable atmosphere Lethal Earth analogue. The Advocacy surveyors were stunned to find abandoned Humanity cities on the planet trafficking Spatial cargo is a risky proposition
Claimed entirely for military purposes, Rihlah VI is home to the United Planets of Earth and has the distinction of housRoam the largest population of Officers in the Empire The Universe shall act as a political neutral zone where representatives can meet to resolve problems through discourse Though technically not a planet, Keene is considered a local mascot. This Ice Giant's unique shape has given it the nickname Sheperd
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We're constantly amazed at the contributions made by the Star Citizen community. Whether it's fan art, a cinematic, 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 an MVP badge on Spectrum and be immortalized in our MVP section of the Hub.
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Sharxbyte's Origin 600i diorama, meticulously crafted and painted, stands as a breathtaking tribute to the boundless creative possibilities showcased in Ship Showdown, underscoring the Star Citizen community's incredible ingenuity.
Roberts Space Industries is the official go-to website for all news about Star Citizen and Squadron 42. It also hosts the online store for game items and…
Today's show is an excellent opportunity to learn about the people and history that make Star Citizen possible, featuring Narrative Director Dave Haddock and Assistant Narrative Director Will Weissbaum, as they share stories from the earliest days of development.
Roberts Space Industries is the official go-to website for all news about Star Citizen and Squadron 42. It also hosts the online store for game items and…
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Foundation Festival 2024 Org Showcase
During Foundation Festival, we asked you to show us what makes your Org stand out, and you delivered in epic fashion! We received many incredible submissions to this year's Foundation Festival Org Showcase Contest, and we appreciate everyone who contributed.
We wanted to highlight some of your submissions from among the numerous worthy contenders. We hope you'll enjoy discovering the Orgs in the gallery below, and you just might discover a new group of friends!
Roberts Space Industries is the official go-to website for all news about Star Citizen and Squadron 42. It also hosts the online store for game items and…
Ready to take on some brand new gameplay in space? Join us today as we explore new activities coming to Pyro with Alpha 4.0 including asteroid base assaults and Contested Zones in this episode of Inside Star Citizen
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THE ARK, TAYAC SYSTEM
Welcome to July’s Galactapedia update roundup. This month, we learn the history of Shubin Interstellar, get an overview of the Odyssey, the Expanse, the Ironclad, the Fury, the Scorpius, and other ships and vehicles. We also visit the home system of Humans and cover the Common Laws that govern the entirety of the United Empire of Earth. Join the Spectrum thread for any discussion or feedback.
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Happy Monday, everyone!
It is time once again for the most heated battle of the 'verse to erupt to ask and answer the question: which ship is the best? Ship Showdown begins this week, which is our annual tournament of transportation where you decide who takes home the prestigious title of Best in Show at this year's Intergalactic Aerospace Expo. We're challenging you to honor your favorites in whatever way you'd like. A screenshot, an original song, a machinima short film, the sky is the limit! Stay tuned for more details as the showdown begins on July 30.
Foundation Festival comes to a close on Wednesday, July 31, so this is your last chance to feature your organization in our annual Org Showcase! Capture the essence of your organization in a video up to 60 seconds long and highlight what makes your group special. Show the 'verse why your organization is THE best place to be! For all details on how to submit your entry, head over to the dedicated Spectrum thread for the rules and requirements.
Now, let's see what's going on this week:
On Tuesday, the Lore team will publish the latest Galactapedia update.
Tuesday also marks the return of Ship Showdown! The fantastic feud of freighters, fighters, and frigates has begun, and your favorite vehicles need your help to take the Best in Show crown. Stay tuned for all the details on how you can participate (and potentially take home a ship for doing so).
This Thursday, Inside Star Citizen resumes our Journey to 4.0 with an episode dedicated to new space-based activities you'll encounter in the Pyro system, including those Contested Zones and Asteroid Bases you first read about in last week's
Friday's old friends Dave Haddock and Will Weissbaum drop by the Only Constant for a Star Citizen Live Interview, where we'll learn about who they are, how they came to CIG, share stories from the earliest days of development, and talk about John Schimmel when he can't defend himself. Jared says it's one of those episodes where you're gonna learn about the people and history that make Star Citizen possible. I like those ones. That'll be at 8am Pacific / 3pm UTC on twitch.tv/starcitizen. You'll also find our weekly RSI Newsletter in your inbox.
We offer this Universe to the Era as a place to study and a place to meet A naturally occurrChakras Stable atmosphere Lethal Earth analogue. The Advocacy surveyors were stunned to find abandoned Humanity cities on the planet trafficking Spatial cargo is a risky proposition
Claimed entirely for military purposes, Rihlah VI is home to the United Planets of Earth and has the distinction of housRoam the largest population of Officers in the Empire The Universe shall act as a political neutral zone where representatives can meet to resolve problems through discourse Though technically not a planet, Keene is considered a local mascot. This Ice Giant's unique shape has given it the nickname Sheperd
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We're constantly amazed at the contributions made by the Star Citizen community. Whether it's fan art, a cinematic, 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 an MVP badge on Spectrum and be immortalized in our MVP section of the Hub.
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We're all big fans of challenge coins in the Star Citizen community, so much so that we've been creating them for the 'verse as well! If you meet an org in person, odds are they'll have one to trade, and Kwisatz03 has created an awesome display case for their collection.
Roberts Space Industries is the official go-to website for all news about Star Citizen and Squadron 42. It also hosts the online store for game items and…
On this week's gamedev episode of Star Cititzen Live, Lead Environment Artist John Griffiths takes the Distribution Centers and gives them a Pyro flair to create a new forward operating base POI.
Roberts Space Industries is the official go-to website for all news about Star Citizen and Squadron 42. It also hosts the online store for game items and…
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3.23 Test Universe Champions
Before any update to Star Citizen hits the Live servers, it undergoes a rigorous set of testing phases on the Public Test Universe, or PTU for short. The most egregious of bugs and issues are smashed throughout these phases, thanks to your hard work.
Following the immense effort put into bringing Alpha 3.23 - Adventure Beckons to life, from us internally as well as through amazing testers such as yourselves, we wanted to thank every one of you for your help over the last few months!
While we have a robust incentivization program planned down the road, in the short term, we wanted to draw a special spotlight on some of our top testing contributors, with rewards to boot! We plan to continue this new initiative for future patches, with new categories each cycle.
Whether you put in the most time, the best reports, or took out as many pirates as you could, the players listed below rose to the top and are absolute champions of the PTU! Please join us in congratulating those going the extra mile to bring the 'verse to life. THANK YOU!
United Empire of Earth
Karmic
The Era shall act as a political neutral zone where representatives can meet to resolve problems through discourse We offer this Vessel to the Ship as a place to study and a place to meet Claimed entirely for military purposes, Taranis III is home to the UEE Trade and Development Division and has the distinction of housEcstatic the largest population of Pilgrims in the Empire
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These players most closely matched the severity rating of their Issue Council reports or contributions to the eventual community severity and will receive a Banu Defender:
R0das
Adristerion
Kenge84
Aurora CL
Violent cargo bay
Damn right it is. Point is, no damn AI system's ever gonna be as good as an experienced Pilot The Entity shall act as a political neutral zone where representatives can meet to resolve problems through discourse Though technically not a planet, Second Sister is considered a local mascot. This Planetary Ring's unique shape has given it the nickname The Hive Kelos Costigan woke up on a table
The Mesoplanet's little sister lives near the outer edge of the system's so-called "red band". Apparently, he was some kind of Engineer... and kind of a Lunatic Oya IV has a very Toxic atmosphere, causOutpost greenhouse effects to heat its surface to temperatures that are consistently higher than even Bombora's scorchDevoid of self heat. Judecca's atmosphere is almost entirely composed of Silicon, which makes it the most Volatile planet in the Vesper System Transport of illegal Cargo has become a great way for Warriors in Long-range Fighters to earn Credits on the side
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These players had the highest amount and ratio of issues they created that were confirmed by the community and will receive a Crusader Mercury Star Runner:
Roberts Space Industries is the official go-to website for all news about Star Citizen and Squadron 42. It also hosts the online store for game items and…
What are you most proud to display in your hangar? This week on Inside Star Citizen, we're taking one last look at the changes coming to one of the most fundamental features of the 'verse: your hangar, the items within, and how you move them.
Roberts Space Industries is the official go-to website for all news about Star Citizen and Squadron 42. It also hosts the online store for game items and…
Every two weeks, we accompany the Roadmap update with a brief explanatory note to give you insight into the decision-making that led to any changes. This is part of an effort to make our communications more transparent, more specific, and more insightful for all of you who help to make Star Citizen and Squadron 42 possible.
With that said, let’s go ahead and dive into this week’s Roadmap Roundup!
-CIG Community Team
Notable Changes for July 24, 2024
The following cards have been added to Release View, targeting a release with Alpha 4.0:
RSI Zeus MkII CL
Building, balancing, and implementing RSI's small multi-crew cargo ship, the Zeus MkII CL, into the game.
Acidic Caves
Implementing the acidic cave archetype, coming to both the Pyro and Stanton systems. Adorned with luminous pools of water and dramatic stalactites and stalagmites, these caves provide a captivating setting for exploration, FPS missions, missing person missions, and more.
Rock Caves
Implementing the rock cave archetype, coming to both the Pyro and Stanton systems. Illuminated by bioluminescent mushrooms, these caves provide a unique atmosphere for exploration, FPS missions, missing person missions, and more.
Asteroid Bases
Implementing new asteroid bases scattered across space in asteroid clusters, gas clouds, and other areas of Pyro. From exploration-type gameplay to mission-based locations, these bases include both constrained interiors for potential FPS conflicts as well as space combat while reaching or fleeing from the location.
Space Stations - Contested Zones
Contested Zones are a location feature coming to Pyro's space stations, introducing FPS gameplay with various layouts tailored for this purpose. The zones will feature a progression system requiring tokens to unlock different zones, giving access to the loot inside. Collecting all of the tokens will allow a player to open the final door and claim the grand prize.
That's all for this week! Join the discussion on Spectrum, and check out the Roadmap Companion Guide for more information on the Star Citizen Public Roadmap.
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This article originally appeared in Jump Point 8.2.
Anvil Aerospace Carrack
THE SURPRISE
For over a century, the Anvil Carrack has been the most famous symbol of human exploration. Carrack-based explorers have pushed the boundaries of human civilization and made countless thrilling discoveries that have enhanced our knowledge of the universe. In 2822, however, its very existence was a shock to the system. Aerospace watchers were universally confused when the Carrack first appeared at the MacArthur Naval Base, Kilian; both because of the impressive nature of the ship and because of the sheer mystery as to where it had come from. While it’s not unusual for the military to sponsor the development of a spacecraft in secret, it’s such a difficult and expensive prospect that it’s only ever done when it can impact the balance of power. Here was the first ever corvette-sized, dedicated exploration ship in the Navy’s inventory and it had seemingly been birthed fully formed and ready for service. Speculation ran rampant that the Carrack must hide some sinister ulterior purpose, with suggestions including that it was a disguised electronic warfare ship or that it carried a powerful new type of bomb. None were correct: the classification, since revoked, was instead intended to cover the need for the ship in the first place. In 2815, the UEEN cruiser Carraway was lost with all hands after being dispatched to chart unusual transmissions detected in a dense asteroid field in the Tohil System. The situation was an embarrassment for the Admiralty, which had previously debated the value of using warships for exploratory missions. The loss of the warship was reported as an accident and warnings that its crew was not prepared for the mission were effectively covered up. A no-bid contract was awarded to Anvil Aerospace to secretly develop a dedicated explorer that could both replace and improve upon the missions, as they were currently being conducted by ships of the line. Wholly separate from the drama surrounding its creation, the UEEN Carracks immediately began what would become more than a century of expert survey work. Military Carracks logged hundreds of discoveries, including full surveys of countless moons, comets, jump points, and asteroid fields and they continue to be actively produced and used today. Built as an explorer first, the Carrack has the shipboard facilities and crew stations to allow for in-depth research missions while maintaining the lower profile and necessary performance for facing particularly hazardous and uncharted regions of space.
CIVILIAN SERVICE
The Carrack immediately attracted the attention of the galaxy as the perfect combination of military ruggedness and attractive, fully-featured spacecraft design. Within a month of the launch of the first Carrack in UEEN service, Anvil Aerospace had recorded over four thousand requests from organizations and individuals interested in their own ship. Anvil began petitioning the military to permit civilian sales at the conclusion of the initial 18-month construction contract in 2825. The initial answer was a surprising no due to the classified nature of its original design process. While Anvil considered the decision wrong and considered pushing for a review, they ultimately didn’t want to endanger their status as a prime contractor for projects like the Hornet. It would take the eventual ouster of the original staff officers who classified the Carraway’s destruction and several decades of waiting before the government would relent. In 2933, Anvil was finally authorized to develop a civilian-edition of the Carrack. However, several requirements were made by the UEEN, including that sensor software be rewritten from the ground up and that it could not be produced in the same facilities as the UEEN hulls. Development work began immediately but quickly lagged behind. The process of rebuilding the software proved difficult and teams ran into issues adapting the ship’s standard metrics (including aspects of seemingly simple things like the loading ramp’s dimensions) towards civilian equipment. Prospective captains were encouraged to place a deposit on the initial wave of civilian ships because the first production run was expected to be slow; this sparked something of a “Carrack craze” as planned future hull slots were purchased and traded. These owners carefully followed development of the civilian version through the various development delays. The first civilianized Carrack, later dubbed Sonny Boy by her crew, was handed over on February 21, 2938, which Carrack user groups annually celebrate as an unofficial “Carrack Day”. Civilian Carracks and their crews quickly became seen as a symbol of humanity’s best – spacefarers dedicated to the noble (and profitable) goal of exploration rather than commerce or defense.
CAPSULE HISTORIES
These capsule entries provide short histories of selected notable Carrack explorers. These are not comprehensive and do not represent the totality of the Carrack’s long history of exploration, which would necessitate a dedicated volume. Note also that the UEEN does not formally christen Carracks; instead, they are given either the designation R for ‘Research’ or S for ‘Survey’, followed by a numerical designation. The leading ‘1’ in the hull number identifies the size classification (65m or greater) and the following digits are issued numerically. Details of Carracks belonging to specialty and/or intelligence services are typically classified.
R-11 (“UEES Carrack”) – The first Carrack off the line in 2823, R-11 was informally referred to as ‘the Carrack’ by her crews in the first years of the UEEN’s formal exploration efforts (due to tool-and-die issues, she would not be joined by R-12 until 2825). R-11 made history by conducting the first-ever close survey of a star system’s icy exterior cloud, mapping thirty-seven distinct points in the Kilian System as part of a UEEN efforts to establish a new type of early warning system in aid of the military complex at MacArthur. No additional cloud surveys have been conducted since, indicating that the proposed system may not have been viable.
S-1132 (“GQ Twelve”) – Survey Carrack 132 entered service in 2831 and was assigned to long-distance survey missions along the Xi’an border at the former Perry Line. Popularly referred to by the callsign assigned for her final operation in 2836, Good Queen Twelve, the Carrack’s last reported communication was a buoy check-in from an assigned patrol en route to the outer reaches of the Osiris System. After missing its next two scheduled reports, mission organizers dispatched search and rescue spacecraft that found no trace of S-1132 in its assigned area. Thirty years later, the fully intact Carrack was discovered on a moon in the Indra System. All of the ship’s systems were found to be functional and her stores of food and medical supplies were largely intact, though there were no indications of the crew’s whereabouts.
Bocaccio – The Carrack explorer, Bocaccio, commissioned in 2940, is Doctor Lorraine Kent’s famed exploration ship. Bocaccio and her crew are famed for a series of historical wrecks discovered through what Kent describes as a combination of archival research, expert survey work, and sheer luck. Discoveries include the abandoned 22nd century colony transport Zephyr, the battlecruiser Braintree, and the impact site of Spidercat. Kent and her crew dedicate much of their time today to the search for and recovery of extrasolar military remains from past conflicts.
Gronald’s Hope – Gronald’s Hope was a 2948 civilian Carrack which was issued an unusual kill-on-site order by the Advocacy shortly after it entered service. The Carrack was identified entering the Kellog system three days after the issue was ordered and it was successfully intercepted by a contingent of mercenary pilots. Details of the reason for the kill order have never been released, although speculation is rampant that the government had received intelligence that the Gronald’s Hope’s crew had contracted some form of previously encountered plague.
Roberts Space Industries is the official go-to website for all news about Star Citizen and Squadron 42. It also hosts the online store for game items and…
