Space, er, I mean, Star Citizen

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sat Jun 22, 2013 4:36 pm

I was about to buy one as it apparently comes with lifetime insurance, but in looking at the specs, I will most likely need a new PC to run the game. Though...I should have a new PC by November of 2014, right?

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Sun Jun 23, 2013 8:44 pm

I showed that video to my kids. "Why can't we have it NOW?" they said. I had to explain development times.

Vorret · Post by **Vorret** » Mon Jun 24, 2013 10:10 am

Great video!

JonathanStrange · Post by **JonathanStrange** » Mon Jun 24, 2013 10:57 am

The video: One could imagine living there; Star Citizens.

Grafvolluth · Post by **Grafvolluth** » Fri Jul 05, 2013 5:31 pm

Exceeded 13 million today for crowdfunding total - current goal is to get to 21 mil and be purely crowd funded i.e. no private investor money.

Tomorrow is the last day to get veteran backer status and LifeTimeInsurance(LTI) on pledge ships Grace Period Ending

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Fri Jul 05, 2013 5:59 pm

Since I'm in a hurry, would someone be so kind as to explain how buying this game actually works? What is all this about lifetime insurance and melting your unplayed ships and what happens when and whatnot?

How much does the game cost? Is it a "base + DLC" model or is it a subscription?

How is what they're doing like a Kickstarter-style crowd-funded project? If I buy in now, do I get a refund if it never appears?

Grafvolluth · Post by **Grafvolluth** » Fri Jul 05, 2013 6:14 pm

Holman wrote:Since I'm in a hurry, would someone be so kind as to explain how buying this game actually works? What is all this about lifetime insurance and melting your unplayed ships and what happens when and whatnot?

How much does the game cost? Is it a "base + DLC" model or is it a subscription?

How is what they're doing like a Kickstarter-style crowd-funded project? If I buy in now, do I get a refund if it never appears?

I will try to answer to the best of my ability

The cheapest pledge amount is $35 - that will get you the game and a basic ship - its more like Guild Wars - no subscription just the up front game cost

The Kickstarter is already over - the original goal was to get 2 mil and that would be enough for investors to throw their money in for Chris to make the game - at the end of the kickstarter they were around 7 or 8 million I think - Since then they have raised an additional 5 million - so the game is very much a go and funded at this point and 'should' appear - the first bit - a hangar module should be released this year yet (August I think) - Anticipated Release Schedule

LTI is basically insurance on the hull you buy - if that ship done gets blowed up you get a replacement - insurance can be bought in game but as a backer you get it for lifetime of that hull for free. LTI FAQ

The melting thing was basically something the implemented with new website that allowed you to return old pledges for credit if you wanted to pledge for something else

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Fri Jul 05, 2013 6:17 pm

Grafvolluth wrote: I will try to answer to the best of my ability

Thanks for the answers!

LTI is basically insurance on the hull you buy - if that ship done gets blowed up you get a replacement - insurance can be bought in game but as a backer you get it for lifetime of that hull for free.

This is what confuses me. Let's say I don't have insurance: if I lose a ship in the game, do I have to pay with real-world money(!) to get a new one (as in some sort of nightmare MMO scenario), or just in-game money? If the latter, does "lifetime insurance" not threaten to unbalance the game?

Sorry to be dim--I haven't yet done my background reading.

Grafvolluth · Post by **Grafvolluth** » Fri Jul 05, 2013 6:22 pm

dupe post

Grafvolluth · Post by **Grafvolluth** » Fri Jul 05, 2013 6:27 pm

Holman wrote:
Grafvolluth wrote: I will try to answer to the best of my ability
Thanks for the answers!

LTI is basically insurance on the hull you buy - if that ship done gets blowed up you get a replacement - insurance can be bought in game but as a backer you get it for lifetime of that hull for free.
This is what confuses me. Let's say I don't have insurance: if I lose a ship in the game, do I have to pay with real-world money(!) to get a new one (as in some sort of nightmare MMO scenario), or just in-game money? If the latter, does "lifetime insurance" not threaten to unbalance the game?

Sorry to be dim--I haven't yet done my background reading.

Okay so the game has 2 pieces - Squadron 42 which is single player and then the Persistent Universe (PU) which is multiplayer - if you chose to play Squadron 42 at the end of it you will be a 'Citizen' and from what I understand be able to rent or buy a ship (possibly with a loan) - the same holds true if you jump directly into the PU - this part is a bit fuzzy yet - you might be even given a beginner ship not really clear

If you were to lose that ship and you have no in game money the way I understand it is you can a)Do jobs for NPCs or PCs to get some more cash to buy another ship or b)use real world cash to buy in game credits (which will be capped) - You will be able to buy insurance in game as well for in game credits and it is suppose to be 'cheap'

LTI is just a nice bonus at this point and basically a way to entice people to pledge(or preorder or however you want to look at it) now instead of waiting for release

As far as it unbalancing the game - There has been plenty of discussion around this on the forums - things like Komikazing and such (which I guess is being addressed by limited monthly production of each ship and possibly longer turn around on each successive claim) - I am not sure what things in particular you are concerned about but I think the expectation is that everyone will probably run with insurance (its a money sink) the LTI FAQ I linked in the previous post is probably a good place to start to understand it

The game is still in reality probably 2 years out so plenty of details are yet to be totally worked out - here is a good intro video from chris

ibdoomed · Post by **ibdoomed** » Tue Jul 09, 2013 11:45 pm

$14 million and counting... scary... please don't end up like broken age.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 9:38 am

People can't stop throwing money at this thing -- 19 million in funding reached, goals for 20 and 21 million revealed FPS combat on planet surfaces ($20 million) and a Salvage Mechanic career path ($21 million).

What's interesting is that if you read through the Chairman link, they actually need $23 million to reach their original funding goal of $20 million -- because of the various transaction / website maintenance fees.

I have to believe somewhere, a group of suits are wondering why they didn't believe there was a market for a space-themed MMO.

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 10:15 am

Smoove_B wrote:I have to believe somewhere, a group of suits are wondering why they didn't believe there was a market for a space-themed MMO.

Expect a flurry of spacecraft hangar sims in the next few years from suits who didn't quite comprehend what was happening with Star Citizen.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Sep 17, 2013 12:11 pm

Done right, I'd take a Sim Crew Chief.

Vorret · Post by **Vorret** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 7:54 am

I expected people to post about the alpha hangar module (note that I haven't pledge anything yet).

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 8:50 am

Vorret wrote:I expected people to post about the alpha hangar module (note that I haven't pledge anything yet).

We did. It's a hangar. What do you want?

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 9:01 am

Yeah, there wasn't much you could do - walk up to your ship and get in and walk about. The fact that you could walk about inside your ship was nice to see for once.

Edit: I can't believe they had a pirate ship on sale and I think they want $250 for it. On sale. Man, they must be raking in the cash if people are buying those.

Vorret · Post by **Vorret** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 9:46 am

coopasonic wrote:
Vorret wrote:I expected people to post about the alpha hangar module (note that I haven't pledge anything yet).
We did. It's a hangar. What do you want?

Video! Is it under NDA?

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 10:06 am

Vorret wrote:
coopasonic wrote:
Vorret wrote:I expected people to post about the alpha hangar module (note that I haven't pledge anything yet).
We did. It's a hangar. What do you want?
Video! Is it under NDA?

There's a ton of video out there, and it looks fantastic. I thought we'd all be making fun of the hangar module when it released--like it was useless Space Horse Armor--but man, it's the first thing I've seen that makes me really jealous of the early-access people.

The ships exteriors look amazing, as you'd probably already expect from ship model shots they've released, but what really blew me away was the level of detail and animation they've put into the ship interiors. I love all the little gizmos and whatsits that are involved with the cockpits, and I love how different the cockpit designs are for the different ships. Sometimes you squeeze into an awkward cabin, sometimes you sit in a backwards chair that rotates into place, and sometimes you actually have some breathing room to walk around.

The hangar videos made it clear to me what makes a modern Chris Roberts space sim an exciting event, compared to just a new big no-name space sim. All this absurd detail they're putting into the cockpits, control panels, and ship interiors? This is the modern extension of the detailed Wing Commander cockpits and the flavor animations of boarding & exiting your ship pre/post mission.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Sep 24, 2013 8:30 pm

I'd rather have Freespace 3 but Ill take this.

Vorret · Post by **Vorret** » Wed Sep 25, 2013 7:56 am

Checked a couple of video... I LOVE the scale, the ships actually feel big. They're also beautiful. Can't wait for some gameplay footage.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 4:50 pm

If they can pull this off it will be super mega awesome. But you know..honestly I'd be happy with a new single player Privateer. I'd love to have a game just like the first one just updated.

Am I the only one that sees $26 million and thinks they are screwed? Thats just insane and cannot turn out well. I hope it does but I really have low expectations for this release.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 5:04 pm

Daehawk wrote:Am I the only one that sees $26 million...

$27 Million

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 5:22 pm

Geez, I think 27 million is a failure before it even started.

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 5:22 pm

Daehawk wrote:Am I the only one that sees $26 million and thinks they are screwed? Thats just insane and cannot turn out well. I hope it does but I really have low expectations for this release.

An absurdly large budget for a crowdsourced title can be cause for alarm, as we've certainly seen kickstarters where the developers shoot way too high and then don't realize until the end that they've squandered all their money instead of playing things safer.

In this case, though, Chris Roberts already had a giant budget in mind, it's just that he originally planned to have some sources of private funding to supplement the crowdsourced funds. Now he's just eliminating the other sources of funding instead of just gleefully diving into a Scrooge McDuck vault and wondering what to do with it all.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Nov 13, 2013 5:30 pm

im sure they have tons of people on it but I see in my head no higher up stepping back and seeing 27 mil and thinking uh oh.

But I hope it makes it..I look forward to it a lot. but how much better can a game be in current tech even if you threw a billion at it?

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 4:07 pm

They just hit $28 million.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Tue Nov 19, 2013 8:17 pm

The FMV cut-scenes will be *awesome*.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 12:14 pm

They've passed $29M and are well on their way to $30 million which they will likely hit and surpass this weekend.

Each donor has submitted an average of just over $95 per person. (I know I have.)

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Fri Nov 22, 2013 12:36 pm

Here are all the funding goals met so far.

I'm looking forward to the $30M goal myself.

Origin 890 JUMP – The rumors are true: Origin Jumpworks has a larger ship in the works! The Origin 890 JUMP is an interstellar super-yacht with exquisite styling and an array of high quality upgrade options. Travel the stars in style with multiple decks, high visibility windows and a small boat bay. Whether you’re outfitting it to explore new worlds or to take a pleasure cruise through Terra, the 890 JUMP is the epitome of luxury, class and refinement!

It will be interesting to see what that will look like.

They are also planning variants to the Freelancer which is one of the ships I own and am planning to use as my primary.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Sun Nov 24, 2013 12:16 am

And they just keep rolling. $30 Million Hit

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 4:41 pm

So I've been watching the live update for the last few minutes and happened to catch it as it rolled over.

$31 Million raised so far.

This thing is a Juggernaut.

Matrix · Post by **Matrix** » Mon Nov 25, 2013 7:25 pm

It seems they making even more money now then before.

between 250-650 k daily?! that's insane.

I have no idea how the hiring is going, but they must be hiring like crazy right now.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 12:05 am

The huge numbers the past week have been primarily due to the anniversary sale they have been running.

I expect things will slow down again since today was the last day of the sale.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 2:22 pm

Brian wrote:I expect things will slow down again since today was the last day of the sale.

I was wrong. They just passed $32 Million.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 3:38 pm

Well, looks like Saitek has stopped producing the X65F, so I'm left waiting for the reveal of the X55 or picking up an X52 Pro. Per posts, the X55 was already supposed to be revealed last week and taking orders for Christmas delivery. Depending on the X55 spcs and price point, it might save me a bit from the $400 recommended price on X65F.

Arkon · Post by **Arkon** » Tue Nov 26, 2013 10:13 pm

Isgrimnur wrote:Well, looks like Saitek has stopped producing the X65F, so I'm left waiting for the reveal of the X55 or picking up an X52 Pro. Per posts, the X55 was already supposed to be revealed last week and taking orders for Christmas delivery. Depending on the X55 spcs and price point, it might save me a bit from the $400 recommended price on X65F.

That is likely the route I am going to take.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Nov 27, 2013 12:06 am

Haven't donated. Dont really see a reason other than getting the game a little cheaper or something.

Are his donations like a kick starter where if it doesn't get made you get a refund? Or does he just take it and run?

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Wed Nov 27, 2013 8:47 am

And they rolled right on past $33 Million last night.

The anniversary sale was still going on last night with rare (and expensive) ships being offered, including the Idris-P Corvette which was made available in small batches several times throughout the day each one selling for $1250 so that really spiked the numbers.

Daehawk wrote:Haven't donated. Dont really see a reason other than getting the game a little cheaper or something.

Are his donations like a kick starter where if it doesn't get made you get a refund? Or does he just take it and run?

First, at more than $33 million and constantly rising, there isn't any question about this getting made.

Second, you're not just donating, you are buying a ship that you will use in the Persistent Universe. There are many ships to choose from ranging from one man fighters and small exploration/cargo ships all the way up to 10 man crewed vessels like the Idris Corvette with many other choices in between.

Once you have made your initial pledge you can also buy additional ships to fit whatever roles you would also like to pursue in the game.

Currently I own a Freelancer and an Origin 325A. The Freelancer will be my primary ship and will be used for freighter (smuggling?) duty and possibly some light exploration/salvage operations. The 325A I am planning to use when playing with others (Any OOers interested in forming a group?) as an escort or other protective service.

Many ships have a base model and optional variants (The 325A mentioned above being a variant of the base 300i). The Freelancer is due to get some variant packages in the near future.

The big sale this weekend introduced limited editions of not normally available ships and also made some Lifetime Insurance packages available which I, sadly, could not afford at the time.

The first purchase/pledge you make gets you the game plus a ship plus additional items like starting credits, limited insurance, etc. My Freelancer was purchased as a pledge package and netted me the following:

MISC Freelancer
Business Hangar
Starting Money: 5,000 UEC
6 Month Insurance
Digital Game Soundtrack
Digital Star Map
Digital Star Citizen Manual
Digital Engineering Manual
Squadron 42 Digital Download
Star Citizen Digital Download
Beta Access
Alpha Access

The 325A was purchased as a single ship with no additional add-ons.

Also, when you purchase a ship package you will also be able to download the Hangar module which will let you walk around and inside your ship so that you can get acquainted with it prior to playing. There are many hangar videos on YouTube that showcase ships in the hangars. Like the Freelancer, 325A, and the Constellation among others.

Next month they will be releasing the Dogfighter Module which will let you actually fly your ships and try out a bit of combat.

So, yeah, they aren't just going to take your money and run.

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Wed Nov 27, 2013 10:56 pm

It looks like basically Eve Online with IAP. Not sure what I think, but I'll definitely give it a try.