cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16955620

> Committed for 3.24: > - Storage Access > - Freight Elevators > - New Missions - Cargo Hauling > - Personal and Instanced Hangars > - Dynamic Event: Blockade Runner > > Still no update on the progress tracker.

Starting today, until June 20th every backer can test out Xi'an vehicles for free.

Available craft:

• Gatac Syulen
• Aopoa San'tok.yāi
• Aopoa Khartu-al
• Aopoa Nox

Tap for Highlights by Hencaric

Q&A: ➣ Q: What are the Ironclad and Ironclad Assaults main competitors and how does it compare? ㅤ ✦ A: The closest competitors in the role are the Hercules for the base and the Liberator for the assault variant whereas the closest on paper are the C2 and M2 Hercules respectively. With the base having more cargo capacity than the C2 and the assault having more turrets than the M2. ➣ Q: Can the Ironclad be used as a carrier? ㅤ ✦ A: Yes but the cargo bay is built around cargo metrics, not vehicles so some may not fit height-wise. ➣ Q: Does the assault variant retain the retracting roof? ㅤ ✦ A: Yes. ➣ Q: Do they have VTOL thrusters? ㅤ ✦ A: Yes. ➣ Q: Does the assault variant have an armory? ㅤ ✦ A: The images we were shown did not have one but it will be added before release. ➣ Q: Can the bay repair more than just vehicles and vehicle components? ㅤ ✦ A: There will not be restrictions around vehicle vs ship components, only volume and resource restrictions. ➣ Q: How does self-destruct work in the Ironclad? ㅤ ✦ A: The Ironclad has two self-destruct modes, one to destroy just the main hull and one to destroy both it and the command module. They will be triggered from their respective "control rooms". ➣ Q: Is the command module compatible with the Caterpillar? ㅤ ✦ A: Yes although they have slight design differences. ➣ Q: What functionality will the main hull have while detached from the command module? ㅤ ✦ A: The main hull retains all functionality except its ability to fly when the command module is detached. ➣ Q: How will insurance work when the command module is detached and the main hull is lost or destroyed? ㅤ ✦ A: Still TBD. ➣ Q: Does the command module have a QD? ㅤ ✦ A: Yes. ➣ Q: Is the armor actually "heavy"? ㅤ ✦ A: The Ironclad has heavier armor relative to ships in its class. ➣ Q: Is the interior turret tractor or defense? ㅤ ✦ A: Defense, similar to the BMM. ➣ Q: Does the assault have tractor beams? ㅤ ✦ A: No. ➣ Q: How will gravity work in the cargo bay and does it have an air shield for the retractable roof? ㅤ ✦ A: There is no air shield and the cargo bay is exposed to space when open.

From the RSI Weekly email update:

> June 8\ Lyon, France (CIG ATTENDANCE)\ San Antonio, TX, USA\ Colorado Springs, CO, USA\ \ June 14\ Montréal, QC, Canada (CIG ATTENDANCE)\ \ June 15\ Austin, Texas, USA (CIG ATTENDANCE)\ North Hollywood, CA, USA (CIG ATTENDANCE)\ Manchester, UK (CIG ATTENDANCE)\ Frankfurt, Germany (CIG ATTENDANCE)\ Arlington, TX, USA\ Jönköping, Sweden

Source: https://mailchi.mp/cloudimperiumgames/cmty-weeklyfridaynewsletter672024

Addd to release view:

• Argo MPUV Tractor
• RSI Ursa Medivac
• Aegis Sabre Firebird

Committed for 3.23.2:

• Item Banks
• Freight Elevators
• New Missions - Cargo Hauling
• Personal and Instanced Hangars

Update 5/25 - Manchester and Frankfurt were added to the site recently, so I updated this list to reflect that.

Lyon, France Saturday, June 8, 2024 at 6 PM

  Montreal, QC, Canada Friday, June 14, 2024 at 6 PM

  Austin, TX, USA Saturday, June 15, 2024 at 5 PM

  Los Angeles, CA, USA Saturday, June 15, 2024 at 5 PM

  Manchester, United Kingdom TBD

  Frankfurt, Germany TBD

  SongShan District, Taipei, Taiwan Saturday, June 22, 2024 at 10 AM

  Bao 'an District, Shenzhen, China Saturday, June 29, 2024

  Washington, D.C., USA Saturday, July 20, 2024 at 4 PM

  Cologne (Gamescon), Germany TBD

  Seattle, Washington (PAX West), USA Friday, August 30, 2024 at 7 PM

  San Diego, California (TwitchCon US), USA Friday, September 20 at 6 PM

  Marinha Grande, Portugal Saturday, September 7, 2024 at 2 PM

Guests:

• Eliot, Lead Mission Designer
• Yogi Klatt, Principle Vehicle Programmer
• Richard Towler, Lead Designer on Vehicle Experience
• Thorsten Leimann, Lead Systems Designer

TL;DW:

• Yogi is happy they managed to squeeze Master Modes into 3.23 but is aware "there's couple balance issues".
• Rearming:
  • For ballistics we'll be able to buy ammo containers to use them to reload the guns.
  • On bigger ships those containers have to be put in a dedicated slot (might change in the future).
  • Ammo sizes will be unified between all guns.
• Firebird and Retaliator will be adjusted in 3.23.1a patch, check this post on Spectrum for details.
• Mission team wants to create missions for refueling, lots of problems needs to be figured out first.
• First version of mining missions might happen "soon", will focus on resource gathering (can be mined, bought, pirated).
• After mission team finishes enough "mission modules" (bounty, mining or any other tasks) they'll start chaining them into longer missions.
• Power plants will consume hydrogen fuel in the future (as in, you won't be able to keep your ship powered forever as it is now). This won't come online with the initial resource update in 4.0 but sometime later.
• Team knows exactly what they want to do with space-combat, now will try to tweak things based on player data.
• Lots of future additions (engineering, armor) will affect balance and will have to be re-tweaked again.
• "There will always be some intentional imbalance."
• Distortion damage will have a counter to drain it and make the ship work again.
• Teams are currently discussing how to move away from ships exploding on reaching 0HP to mostly soft death scenario. Check engineering experimental mode in Arena Commander if you want a sneek peek at the current progress.
• There will be some additional info on what kind of content is awaiting you for each mission (FPS, space-combat, requires multi tool, etc.) but no 100% clear distinction as some missions can change when playing (flying target might land and hide in a building for example). This won't come until mission app refactor.
• "Call to Arms" was balanced by the Mission Team in the past, now it's handled by the Economy Team.
• "Master Modes is doing better than what we had in 3.21 - 3.22 before."
• "K/D ratio flattened out a lot."
• ESP needs to be improved, 1v1 dog-fighting needs to be improved, more ideas to avoid backstrafing.
• Both Yogi and Rich are pretty happy with the changes so far.
• Dupe exploit is fixed internally, will go out when possible.
• Racing is important and has a future.
• "MM will allow us to give racing variants more freedom."
• With the old system some of the racing ships "with all their guns" could be the best fighters.
• Yogi is thinking about a potential "racing operator mode".
• Mission team is investigating ways to speed up the process of getting back to the track in case of death.
• They also want to add open access to the racing tracks in PU (no rewards but your laps will be timed) and other race types (on-foot, ground vehicle, played around with race to get out of prison - just for fun, don't think it fits).
• Tank handling was impacted by some back-end changes, issue is fixed internally and will release when possible.
• Ground vehicle physics were also fixed (to how they worked until now).
• CIG is aware of the problems with cluttered HUD, no info since this isn't a UI episode.
• Devs are still investigating problems with gravlev vehicles, aren't sure what happened yet.
• Lots of discussions on how to encourage players to use ground vehicles. Currently investigating environment (no place to land), weather and other features.
• Engineering plans for 4.0:
  • Life support (fire system, room atmosphere propagation, atmo maintenance, new life support generators).
  • Power management.
  • Relays (connections between items) and fuses.
  • Rebalance of items (bigger differences between item classes for example, clearer info about those differences).
  • Batteries (most likely won't make it into 4.0).
  • Repair of components.
  • Distortion counter.
  • Malfunctions (initially 3: fire, damage and distortion to the item).

MotD Update 2024-05-24T15:39:00Z: > 🕹️(Frjádagr) We are continuing to work through the remaining blocking issues for 3.23.2 which currently contain hangars, cargo updates, and more. Since these changes have huge, widespread effects to how almost every system in our game operates, our goal is go through with an accelerated Evocati to Waves 1-5 system when ready. We are expecting multiple different PTU builds next week starting Tuesday with 3.23.2 hopefully Wednesday. Will update more here next week!

So it seems that CIG decided to cease selling the F7C Hornet Mk1 in favour of the F7C Hornet Mk2. It kinda makes sense from an in-universe Lore and I like that they just don't replace all Hornet Mk1s with the Mk2s like they did previously with the reworks of several Ship Classes (freelancer, Mustang, Constellation) and that they continue working on it, getting it to gold pass and keeping the specs up to date.

When I look at the stats of the Hornets it dawned on me that the Upgrade between Mk1 and Mk2 isn't that significant, its wing hardpoints were upgraded from S3 to S4 and its body got slimmer (less Hydrogen Fuel and less Ordnances), so why not continue flying that old lady?

Do you think this Marketing Stun is just for FOMO? Several citizens in the linked Spectrum FAQ regarding the out-phasing think it is.

Guests:

• John Crewe, Vehicle Director
• Ben Curtis, Vehicle Art Director

TL;DW:

• Drake Ironclad introduction
  • 6 person crew.
  • Armored cargo ship.
  • Cargo access through a front ramp and retractable roof.
  • More firepower than Caterpillar.
  • Detachable command module (like Caterpillar).
  • Smaller secure cargo room for more valueable stuff.
  • Military variant for ground operation support is also planned (smaller cargo space, repair facility).
• RSI Polaris status update
  • "Exterior is pretty much the final art."
  • Decal and smaller details still need some work for the exterior.
  • Interior is at a greybox stage (few rooms at whitebox).
  • Turrets wil be upgraded in the future.
  • Targeted release date: this year's Intergalactic Aerospace Expo (November).

Inside Star Citizen will be on break until June 20th.

Patch 3.23 released a week ago. It brought quite a bit of features, fixes and adjustments which touched many different parts of the game.

I know we didn't have similar threads for previous releases but this version seems to be quite divisive so I'm curious how you guys feel about what we got.

Do you like it? Do you hate it? Is there any specific criticism or feedback you have about certain features?

Just so we're clear, I'm not trying to cause a "CIG is trash" drama here - this stuff can stay on Spectrum. I'm genuinely curious about your opinions about the patch.

> Characters in this new environment will be built from LTP data so items such as medpens, ammo, rentals, and refinery jobs will be lost.

• Long Term Persistence: Enabled
• Replication Layer: Enabled
• Server Crash Recovery: Enabled
• Starting aUEC: 20,000

Changes:

• Launcher 2.0
• Ship AI Pilot Balance Pass
• NPC Locomotion Polish
• Medical Bed Respawn Update
  • T3 medical beds will allow respawning up to 20km away
  • T2 medical beds (which previously allowed respawning up to 20km) will now allow respawning up to 50km away
• AEGIS Saber Raven Gold Standard
• Made Further Gamewide Client Performance Optimizations
• Interior Map Materials Optimization
• Water Caustics Visual Polish
• Added Character Creator Validations
• VFX Visual Improvements and Fixes

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed - PU - Stanton - UI - Oversized active Armistice Zone icon (STARC-108910)
• Fixed - PU - Stanton - Actor - Respawning - Players who die and then get disconnected before respawning become stuck in a dead state and are unable to respawn
• Fixed - PU - Stanton - UGF - Locations - Bunker elevator does not return up when called (STARC-111250)
• Fixed - Multivehicle - PU - Vehicles / UI - QT effects are breaking HUD UI (STARC-104656)
• Fixed - PU - Gamewide - Using a medpen causes you to drop your weapon
• Fixed - PU - Distribution Centres - Elevators - Several elevator transit carriages created & destroyed immediately
• Fixed - MULTIVEHICLE - PU - Vehicles / Components / Locations - It is possible when vehicles are spawned from fleet manager that radar components and elevator panels can detach from the ship and float permanently in a hangar, causing issues with collisions (STARC-101070)
• Fixed - ARGO Mole / ROC - PU - Vehicle / UI - Vehicle HUD - Mining Mode UI has a variety of defects obstructing gameplay (STARC-88859)
• Fixed - Drake Cutlass Black - Vehicles - Drake Cutlass Black is unable to liftoff from landing pads
• Fixed - PU - Fleet Week 2024 - Actor / UI - Physical Shopping - Physical shopping AR Card is flickering when approached, impacting functionality
• Fixed - Aegis Reclaimer - ALL VARIANTS - Ships / Salvage / Master Mode / UI - Players are unable to access claw in the copilot seat and the UI changes to QT / NAV master mode without any feedback to the copilot (STARC-111581)
• Fixed - Anvil Hornet - ALL Variants - PU - Vehicles - Flight controllers have pitch and yaw rotational max speeds reversed
• Fixed - PU - Stanton - ARC L4 - Locations - Lobby elevators cannot be called (STARC-109845)
• Fixed - Community Localization - PU - Character Customizer / UI - Some labels cannot be localized (STARC-110101)
• Fixed - PU - Law / Infractions / Notifications - Players cannot press charges against another player if they commit infractions against them
• Fixed - PU - Stanton - Locations / Inventory - Users are able to place Hangar flare items in public areas where they cannot be picked back up
• Fixed - MISC Prospector - PU/AC - Vehicles/Balance - Misc Prospector has invulnerable spot for its nose leading to no damage taken (STARC-109000)
• Fixed - PU - Stanton - microTech - Creatures / AI - Kopion are jittering and teleporting when running
• Fixed - PU - UI / Upscaling - Shopping Kiosk UI missing elements when Upscaling is enabled
• Fixed - PU - Stanton - Mission Content / Law - Trespass timer will go to negative numbers (STARC-95347)
• Fixed - PU - Option Menu - UI - "Water - Number of Simulated Regions" going back to Medium between sessions (STARC-104172)
• Fixed - Origin 400i - PU - Vehicles - Life Support / Room System - Two room volumes are missing in the technical deck causing players to suffocate in the 400i (STARC-106700)
• Fixed - Stanton - PU - mobiGlas / Visor Chat - Visor Chat messages remains visible over the mobiGlas
• Fixed - PU - Physical Shopping - Locations - Multiple Locations - Items on display at multiple shops will end in 'Transaction Error' when attempting to quick buy
• Fixed - PU - Stanton - Mission Content / UI / mobiGlas - Completing a contract while the mobiGlas is open on the contract does not open the specific contract in the History tab
• Fixed - PU - Runtime Cubemaps - Graphics / Lighting - Runtime cubemaps are taking an excessively long time refresh and / or not refreshing at all
• Fixed - PU - Stanton - Distribution Centers (DC) - Locations / AI - The worker NPCs sometimes use tractor beams to shoot at the player
• Fixed - PU - Actor - EVA - Depending on orientation, player places weapon through their head and neck when ADS
• Fixed - RSI Ursa - PU - Vehicles / Design - Cannot enter Remote Turret
• Fixed - Greycat ROC - Stanton - ROC Mining Laser Not Activating
• Fixed - Crosshair not showing on GRIN_ROC
• Fixed - PU - Character Customizer - Clicking the Character Customizer screen after reviewing your model and going back to it will show T-Posed models
• Fixed - AC - UI / Scoreboard - The Grav Race mode does not show or update player score
• Fixed - AC - Free Flight - UI - It is possible to select ground Vehicles for AC Free Flight mode, which can cause UI problems once in game lobby

Technical Updates:

• Fixed 8 Client Crashes
• Fixed 6 Server Crashes
• Fixed an Out of Memory Crash
• Fixed 2 Vulkan+Upscaling GPU Crashes
• Made Further Entity Graph Stability Improvements

Guests:

• John Crewe, Vehicle Director
• Ben Curtis, Vehicle Art Director

TL;DW:

• Sabre Raven gold standard
• Sabre Firebird introduction (new missile ship)
• Ursa Medivac introduction
• Return of respawning at all med beds (distance based, varies by bed tier)

Added as targeting 4.0 release:

• Server Meshing V1
• Mission System Refactor
• Transit System Refactor
• Pyro planets:
  • Pyro I
  • Pyro II - Monox
  • Pyro III - Bloom
  • Pyro IV
  • Pyro VI - Terminus
• Pyro moons
  • Ignis
  • Vatra
  • Adir
  • Fairo
  • Fuego
  • Vuur
• Pyro Space Stations
• Outposts - Colonialism
• Jump Points (working ones, between Stanton and Pyro)
• Solar Burst
• Life Support
• Engineering
• Charge/Drain
• Multi-Tool Updates
• Fire Hazard
• Fire Extinguisher
• MFD Rework and New Displays
• Quasi Grazer (Space Cow)
• Additional Player Customization (additional hair and facial hair options, face piercings)
• RSI Zeus MkII ES

Added as released in 3.23.0:

• Mirai Pulse
• Mirai Pulse LX

Commited for 3.23.1:

• Aegis Retaliator - Gold Standard
• Vehicle Modularity

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/15647506

Version 2.17 of the Star Citizen Linux User Group helper tool has been released. Wiki and quick start guide: https://starcitizen-lug.github.io

• Add Kron4ek wine runner source
• Environment variables to support Open Wine Components umu proton in Lutris 5.17+
• NVIDIA and AMD Environment variables for Star Citizen Vulkan renderer
• Remove un-needed winetricks steps and DLL overrides

Source: https\://x.com/erkulgames/status/1789428050263732419

Currently only works on the Retaliator, but hopefully this means other ships will start to see this soon.

Lots of people having issues getting into queue for download, but it's finally live! Let's goooooo!

>Hi everyone, > >The Overdrive Initiative was the first event of its kind, and it's been incredibly rewarding observing everyone dive into the various Missions with such enthusiasm. Beyond just the increase in engagement, we've gained valuable insights that will guide the development of future narrative events. With a wealth of feedback in hand, our team is already planning how to enhance future experiences and rewards in a way that resonates even more with our community. > >To ensure clarity, let's take a moment to recap key aspects of the current Overdrive Initiative's status. > > >The XenoThreat menace has been repelled for now, and it’s unlikely the planned incursion will happen until after Invictus Launch Week (invading during a military expo is clearly a bad idea). As such, Overdrive Initiative Phases 1 - 5 will still be available for all volunteers right up until the XenoThreat assault begins. > >If you’ve completed missions 1 - 5, you’ll receive a mission titled ‘Overdrive Initiative: Reward.’ Once accepted, you’ll be granted your F7A Hornet Mk II upgrade token and a seven-day day ship rental. To use the F7A Mk II rental during XenoThreat, hold off on accepting the ‘Overdrive Initiative: Reward’ mission until the event begins. > >XenoThreat armor will be awarded once you’ve completed all Overdrive Initiative missions and the Overdrive-specific XenoThreat missions. > > >Alpha 3.23 also includes fixes to help those who have been struggling to complete Overdrive Initiative: > >► A fix has been implemented to support volunteers who couldn’t complete Phase 5 > >► A temporary CVAR has been added to allow players to check their mission completion progress: > >- Login and enter Star Citizen >- Open the console by pressing the ` (grave accent) key (to the left of ‘1’ on your keyboard, though it may show a different character depending on your layout) >- In the box, type mission_log_all_completed_missions and press enter (make sure you include underscores and don’t capitalize) >- You will then be able to view your Overdrive Initiative mission completion information. If you’re missing anything, check the Priority tab in the Contract Manager to see any incomplete missions >- We hope you’re enjoying Overdrive Initiative, and we appreciate your feedback on this first-of-its-kind event in the 'verse! > > >Once again, we want to thank you all for your participation! See you in-game!

TL;DR:

• Final phase of The Overdrive Initiative moved until after Invictus.
• Still possible to finish the missions if you didn't,
• 3.23 will bring fixes that should make this easier.
• You can check your progress using mission_log_all_completed_missions command in the console.

Link: https://twitter.com/RobertsSpaceInd/status/1788662358652440894

Guests:

• Zac Oreece, Senior System Designer I
• Adam McEwen, Principal Animator
• Camil St-Pierre, Lead Character Artist
• Andrew Davies, Lead Gameplay Programmer/AI Programmer
• Michael Clarke, Sound Designer III

TL;DW:

• Marok:
  • Flies around as a flock.
  • Skin differs depending on the biome they spawn in.
  • They couldn't really use feathers due to tech constraints at the moment.
  • They are implemented as boids - a stupider and less resource intensive form of an "actor".
• Kopion:
  • Is intended as a combination of dog and a cat.
  • Has a few variants to better blend in with the environment, like Marok.
  • They usually run around in a group of 10-14 (number at the time of recording, subject to change).
  • Not a boid, fully fledged "actor".
  • Will not T-Pose on a chair.
  • Faster than a sprinting player.
  • Attack in formation.
• We should be able to hear the creatures from a distance.
• Both creatures can be looted when dead ("pearl" from a Maroks, horn from Kopions).
• They have a decent plan and a pipeline for creatures they'd like to add for 1.0, should be easier to implement future ones.

Limited TL;DW since it's mostly a design episode. Lot's of nice shots of environments and both creatures. There's also a sneak peak at light amplification on a scope, space whale and space cow as well as lots of animal murder.

Bonus reminder: there's no SCL tomorrow.

MotD: > 🌊 (Tuesday) Today, we're holding off on releasing 3.23 on LIVE as we finalize a few crucial updates, one of which addresses STARC-52845. Our goal is to roll out a new EPTU, possibly later tonight, as a LIVE Release Candidate. This version will undergo rigorous monitoring to ensure readiness for a full deployment to the live environment in the coming days.

Guests:

• Richard Tyrer, Senior Game Director
• Rick, Design Director
• JJ, Assistant Design Director

TL;DW:

• No live release today.
• Kopion and Marok were chosen to be the first fauna in game because they were faster to implement than previously announced creatures.
• Next week's Inside Star Citizen will be about development of Kopion and Marok.
• Economy rebalance (guns, armor, ships, salvage and mission rewards) coming with 3.23.
• They want to start bringing money sinks into the game.
• aUEC and rentals wipe incoming with 3.23.
• New reputation system won't be fully implemented in Stanton as it's more aimed towards 4.0 and Pyro. It will be available in some places (GrimHex, settlements).
• Sniper glint is something they wanted to try out as a balancing feature. Some other ideas (including getting rid of it) might be tested in the future.
• Scanning inside your own ship will be handled by FPS scanning tech (it's in the process of porting from Squadron 42).
• Master Modes were created as a response to jousting. It's suppose to be easy to pick up but with a lot of depth.
• They're looking into all the desync/lag/interaction issues in 3.23 EPTU. "We think we've got it" but some new issues might always show up.
• They want to avoid another 3.18 situation but still need to release the patch to evaluate the changes with the help of the larger LIVE audience.
• Larger audience will help with debugging some of the issues they are aware of but can't find the cause.
• 3.23 bringing tons of changes was a deliberate decision so they can move to new features not present in S42.
• Rich wants to make Star Citizen into a "real MMO" as soon as possible.
• Personal hangars had some issues with cargo elevators - some are already fixed.
• We won't be able to change our home location if personal hangars make it in with an .X patch. It might be possible if you use the "character repair" functionality on the website but that means losing all your progress. Just wait for another full patch.
• GrimHex as a home location still needs more work and considerations.
• State of Arena Commander:
  • It's not a priority (that would be SC proper).
  • Good testing bed for features.
  • Might get FPS AI (in the nearish future?).
• "Go/No Go" is not a singular moment in time, longer process based on constant evaluation of each feature.
• Bed logging is still planned. In the future they also want to log you back wherever you log out. Also buffs for sleeping in beds.
• They want Pyro to be the main place for the "bad guys" to do their thing. Stanton activities might be easier when "working in the shadows".
• "Piracy and unlawful gameplay don't always have to be against lawful players."
• They need more than one system be available before they can work on policing.
• Solo players have their place in the future of SC but some goals might be hard or impossible without other people (for example producing and crewing Idris).
• Hiring NPC to crew ships is still planed, far into the future.
• Night vision is already tested on gun scopes, visor/ship implementation needs more time. Should be more of a scheduling than technical problem now.
• "Not true night vision but light enhancement."
• No Star Citizen Live next week.

Buy up what you want while you still can!

Highlights thanks to nerdgasm

Notable Information 3.23 included features ➣ New Character customizer ➣ New MobiGlass   ✦ Revamped layout   ✦ New Health App   ✦ New Contract Manager App   ✦ New Starmap with a new Mini Map ➣ PIE/PIS   ✦ New Interaction system   ✦ Default item interaction binding   ✦ New Shopping interface   ✦ New looting screen   ✦ Backpack reloading   ✦ ADS tuning   ✦ Dynamic Crosshair ➣ New EVA ➣ Precision Targeting ➣ Master Modes ➣ New Maps and Modes to AC ➣ Distribution Centers ➣ Added new AI Fauna   ✦ Kopion   ✦ Marok ➣ Vulcan ➣ DLSS, FSR, TSR Upscaling ➣ Water rendering and simulation ➣ Replication layer Implementation ➣ Mirai Pulse straight to fly

3.23.X included features note: "coming this quarter" ➣ Personal Persistent Hangers ➣ Item Banks ➣ Vehicle platforms ➣ Freight elevators

Still no update to the progress tracker, "will be updated in the coming weeks".

Release View changes:

• Arena Commander: Grav Royale removed from Release View until critical issues are resolved
• Changed to committed:
  • Distribution Centers (will only contain surface areas initially, underground parts will be added later)
  • Vulkan Graphics API Support (new graphics option in 3.23)
  • Water Simulation & Rendering Improvements
  • Volumetric Clouds Update
  • Image Upscaling (DLSS, FSR, in-house TSR)
  • Replication Layer Update

Guests:

• Gabriel Hector, Systems Designer
• David "BONE" Gill, Technical Director for UI
• Zane, UI everything man
• Emily, UI Programmer

TL;DW:

• If you're sitting in a ship map will zoom out to a system level, if you're standing around it'll zoom in to local one.
• Map will start zoomed out a bit more than it currently is while on foot.
• Separate keybind for local map is coming.
• There will be map filters for easier POI selection in the future.
• Map will feature more info about POIs in the future (icons, type of location).
• All the PU map improvements will be ported back to Squadron 42.
• Persistent map pins will come in the future, not ready yet due to server meshing.
• Map pins will be sharable with your party.
• We should be able to plop pins anywhere on the star map.
• Plans for landing UI:
  • Hangar door brackets.
  • Ladder/track to help guide to the hangar.
  • Ship and ground display when landing.
• They got a little too excited when trying to make the UI cool and holographic and dialed it back after the feedback. There were (and are) some bugs that caused additional issues with readability as well. Trying to find a balance between super plain and movie UI.
• Sometimes work gets released before it's ready - in regards to UI readability and polish.
• "Readability isn't as straightforward to solve as we thought it would be."
• Trying to figure out the best way to deal with exposure compensation.
• They want to implement settings for color blindness and font sizes.
• Building Blocks still requires a lot of optimization.
• Main cause of readability issues is UI being diagetic instead of drawn on top of everything.
• Planned mobiGlas updates:
  • Org app (comms and other "grand plans" for that).
  • New inventory app.
• Looking into how to solve the issue of UI clutter.
• Chat is slightly improved but more work to be done in the future.
• Compass and altimeter will be improved.
• Ship HUD will be cleaner and will get more options to toggle info.
• In the future planets in the star map will be renders of actual locations rather than just generic models.
• Animation for activating the mobiGlas will be sped up but won't be instant.
• Routing between zones is fixed with a temp solution for now, proper fix will come after transit refactor.
• Ability to keep track of your ship over longer distances will come in the future.
• Widescreen support will be based no an aspect ratio slider, can be changed by user.
• They want to make the lens UI the best they can before they start looking into customizability (like moving widgets around).

Guests:

• Duncan Bunting, Lead Gameplay Programmer
• Thornsten Leimann, Lead Systems Designer

TL;DW

• 5 new race tracks coming to Arena Commander (some already existing in PU)
• Experimental modes focused on engineering:
  • Duel (A2 vs A2)
  • 1v6 (A2 vs Gladius x5)
  • Free Flight
  • Not a full engineering loop, focus on time to kill of ships and components, player actions
• Custom Lobbies (previously Private Lobbies) are coming back
• VOIP (with mute option) coming to AC
• Can use your customized character
• Multiple weapons lists for Gun Rush
• Pirate Swarm will have Idris x2 instead of Javelin
• Achievement updates:
  • "Vanduul Agressor" - reach wave 25 in Vanduul Swarm
  • "99th Test Squadron" - play every experimental mode throughout the patch

Guest: Chad McKinney, Senior Lead Gameplay Engineer

Personal hangars:

• Main reasons for the delay were:
  • Incorrect estimation of the finish date due to the size of changes.
  • Additional work required for some of the features.
  • Various stability issues making the game unplayable.
  • Some things happening outside the features (team restructuring, changes to direction)
• Tasks planned for 3.23 are "really close to completion".
• They don't know whether cargo changes will be released before or after Invictus.
• Previous episode (two weeks ago) didn't happen because Jared got a concussion.
• At the moment people not in your party will be treated with the "impound" mechanic when accessing your personal hangar. This will be changed in the future for a "less gamey" solution.
• Personal hangars will be inside armistice zone so no shooting.
• Unwanted guests can steal your stuff if they manage it before the trespassing timer runs out.
• Party members have access to your personal hangar even if you're not there. They can use all the available features there (cargo elevator, item kiosk etc) but only to access their own inventory.
• You'll only see your personal hangar and ones belonging to your party members when using space port elevators. No more access to all of the hangars at your location.
• Kicking people from your party will remove their access.
• If you buy a bigger ship after getting your personal hangar you won't be able to spawn it there, you'll be assigned a public hangar when you do it. This will change in the future.
• Don't leave any of your stuff in the public hangar as it will be deleted after leaving the location.
• They want to add an option to pay for "temporary storage" to retrieve the stuff you left in public hangars.
• There will be a warning about the stuff you're about to lose.
• Plan for the future includes the ability to upgrade your hangar size as well as renting hangars at other locations.
• Team started working on party member access to your local inventory however this will require more security/permissions systems.
• Only one personal hangar at the starting location for the initial release. No changing.
• Criminals will have to live with their personal hangar being on one of the main planets for 3.23.
• Long term plan is to allow players to acquire personal hangars in any location that has hangars.
• There might be different hangar prices depending on the location in the future.
• No player limit for personal hangars, feel free to invite the whole server.
• Bed logging in hangar initially, they do want to look into this option in the future.
• You'll be able to use your tractor beam in your hangar, not weapons.
• Many classic hangar decorations won't be a thing on initial release as they need to be reworked. We'll be able to buy and set up furniture.
• "If you can pull it out and manipulate in the game today, you'll be able to use it to decorate on initial release."

Cargo changes:

• "If there's no hangar you won't have the auto loading as an option. That's a feature, not a bug."
• Small locations (without hangars) not intended for large scale trading.
• Freight elevators will be attached to the landing pads, no need to move cargo at long distances.
• Auto loading times will be adjusted.
• "We want people to engage with manual loading."
• Auto load time and cost will take cargo volume and number of boxes into account (transfer values of the same amount of cargo will differ based on container size for example).
• Cargo weight is still planned to affect flight characteristics. Not implemented yet as cargo not attached to the cargo grid isn't currently counted towards mass of the ship.
• Ability to attach objects other than boxes to the cargo grid is coming but not yet ready.
• They aren't sure what they'll do with cargo decks since they were designed before current cargo implementation was decided upon. They do want them serve a bigger role beyond being a store for boxes and tractor beams.
• Stolen loot brought to the personal hangar can be stored, can't be sold. You won't be arrested.
• Trying to sell mission cargo net you a fine. Doing it in places like Grim Hex means selling for much lower price since the cargo is treated as high-risk.
• There are plans for customizing (naming/labeling/tinting) boxes/containers for easier organization. No specific solution as of yet.
• Cargo elevators come in 4 sizes (small, medium, large, extra large) with different max SCU values they can hold. All should be able to fit stuff like vehicles.
• No option to spawn multiple vehicles at the same time using the ship elevator on initial release.
• Fauna brought to personal hangars should persist, needs testing.

Next week's stream will be on UI (inventory, Star Map, etc.).

Added to 3.23.0:

• Vulkan API support
• Water Simulation & Rendering Improvements

Changed to Commited for 3.23.0:

• mobiGlas Rework
• FPS:
  • Loot Screen
  • Map System
• Visor & Lens HUD Rework
• Player Interaction Experience
• EVA T2
• Starmap Rework
• Master Modes
• New Missions - Creature Hunting
• Fauna:
  • Kopion
  • Marok
• Arena Commander:
  • Grav Royale
  • Custom Lobbies
  • New Flight Map - Miner's Lament

Moved to 3.23.x:

• Item Banks
• Personal and Instanced Hangars
• New Missions - Cargo Hauling
• Freight Elevators

This seems to be a pretty controversial topic so if you have any thoughts on Master Modes make sure to pop on Spectrum and let the devs know. As long as you had a chance to test the changes that is.

Notable Information: ➣ The Overdrive Initiative was known as Hex Penetrator internally before its release to hide the real details from dataminers ➣ Overdrive Initiative was an attempt for CIG to dip their toes in new questlines and stories ➣ The goal was to experiment with ways to increase player engagement ➣ 5 phase mission meant to prepare the player for the primary Xenothreat incursion event ➣ It is meant to be a very narrative driven mission ➣ Players support the CDF through different tasks to work against Xenothreat ➣ These tasks range from fighting Xenothreat in bunkers to stop tasks, to engaging in space combat with them to retrieve keys and restore comm-links ➣ This event has allowed the team to examine numerous bugs across the mission playlist as well as let players experience new features like improved AI behaviors ➣ The ability to do phase 3 while not having done the previous phases is due to it being a public event, its meant to be something happening "right now" ➣ The comm-array phase is meant to be more difficult in a space-combat sense compared to the others, to give players a unique challenge ➣ Phase 5 is a more direct lead-in to the primary Xenothreat event which tasks you with starting to collect the gear needed to take on Xenothreat alongside the UEE ➣ The primary Xenothreat event features changes that the team implemented as a result of the recent Capture Idris event ➣ This chain of events is meant to be repeatable, adaptable, and engagement-building as the game grows

Summary thanks to Hencaric - /r/StarCitizen Discord

Here's a "short" version, read the post for complete info.

AI (Features):

• continued to fix bugs and make improvements to Human combat and other AI behaviors

AI (Tech):

• focused on finalizing and polishing features for Alpha 3.23 alongside optimizations for existing systems
• work on planetary navigation was completed allowing the team to generate navigation mesh over entire planets
• continued to implement new rules and finalized synchronization between the server and clients for boids
• iterated on new ship behaviors with Design, improvements to the aiming-control system for ships and turrets
• load reduction to AI navigation system
• improvements to Apollo tool

Animation:

• team has been working on the “Space Cow”, a medium-sized bird, a predator wolf-like creature, as well as several new vehicles entrance animations

Art (Characters):

• completed a range of branded racing flightsuits
• continued working on outfits for the Headhunters gang
• began exploring specialist armors and worked on handoff sheets

Art (Ships):

• progress on the RSI Zeus (greybox was completed and all functionality has been validated)
• Anvil Legionnaire is whitebox complete
• work on the Resource Network began, 10 ships nearing completion
• update work on a legacy ship continued

Community:

• Community team support for the Overdrive Initiative and Stella Fortuna
• banner design contest for the latter
• spent time helping prepare the RSI Launcher 2.0 for live release
• supported various community events

Core Gameplay:

• Gameplay Features team successfully passed the go/no-go gates for procedural recoil, new scopes, dynamic crosshairs, and reload improvements
• progress on ammo repooling
• preproduction for base building
• added different colored loot screens depending on whether the player is looting an enemy, friendly, or neutral entity
• added a button to go from the inventory to the loot screen and a pop-up window when an item swap can’t be performed
• allowed for separate loot-screen styles between the visor and lens
• conversion of on-screen chat to Building Blocks was completed
• converted more markers to the new system
• unblocked animation content to support weapon customization and two-handed carry to work with the new EVA system
• improvements to how shop items are highlighted when players look at them
• completed buy and rent interactions for physical shopping
• improvements to prone locomotion
• improvements to aiming and targeting for the gunnery system for Master Modes
• temporary solution for ship-hull penetration was added until Maelstrom is ready to support physical ship armor
• optimized the dynamic room atmosphere system and made it network compatible
• more work on cargo elevators and instanced hangars
• updated radar zone queries to use new zone query time splice tech
• work began on ‘signature categories’ (different signature detections based on emitters)
• Arena Commander:
  • improve to multi-crew experience by adding access selection
  • refactored the team-balancing system
  • improved loadout definitions
  • support for the Engineering Experimental Modes and a selection of new maps and modes
  • support for a new system for Gun Rush
• progress on reputation-based hostility
• changes to the trespass behavior
• UI:
  • work continued on the redesigned Contract Manager
  • completed payment validation for beacons
  • made Journal compatible with the new mobiGlas and updated the Home screen
  • support for the legacy Comm-Link and VMS Flash apps
  • visual updates to the Wallet and Assets apps
• provided new data structure to Mission Design so they could start setting up hauling missions
• progress on hangars, including the Instanced Interior Manager
• improvements to the freight elevator and commodity kiosks

Economy:

• continued rebalancing commodities
• mission rewards are being rebalanced according to the difficulty and time required to complete them
• team is involved in the design of reputation and org progression
• starting to balance the time and cost of autoloading freight elevators

Graphics, VFX Programming & Planet Tech:

• bug fixing the various deliverables for Alpha 3.23
• added performance-scaling options to the water simulation
• Vulkan team worked through several performance issues as they moved closer to matching D3D performance
• reworking shaders to reduce the total number of PSOs (shaders) that need compiling when the game starts
• work on Global Illumination continues
• Planet Tech team started work on Planet Tech v5
• VFX team continued with networking support for the fire simulation

In-Game Branding:

• preparations for Invictus Launch Week
• work for cargo containers and additional signage for various locations

Interactables:

• item banks (now called gear storage) were finished
• explosive containers were reworked and now replace static meshes in levels
• fire extinguisher recharge cabinets progressed through greybox
• cargo hover trolleys are being finalized

Lighting:

• worked on instanced hangars, freight elevators, distribution centers and Invictus Launch Week
• supported the upcoming Character Customizer

Locations:

• polishing content for Alpha 4.0
• closed out the upcoming distribution centers
• kicked off preproduction for new mandates officially beginning in Q2
• Landing Zone team finalized art for instanced hangars

Mission Design:

• Mission Feature team was restructured, becoming the Mission Design team
• following feedback on the Overdrive Initiative event, the team is revisiting the standard data heist missions
• progress on the upcoming cargo hauling missions (lawful stores across Stanton will not buy your cargo, got to use a fence if you want to sell them)
• began working on wildlife related missions (Kill ‘X’ Amount, Clear Location, Kill and Collect)
• some older mission modules were refactored
• further testing of Blockade Runner

Narrative:

• revising existing missions like the New Player Experience
• outlining new missions
• discussions with gameplay teams on ‘lorification’ of upcoming systems
• various posts on the website and Galactapedia updates

Online Technology:

• refactoring of social services backend
• work to reduce EAC Anti-Cheat false positives in preparation of enabling sanction enforcement
• finished off long-term persistence work for the Character Customizer

R&D:

• work continued on the temporal render mode
• supported the Gen12/Vulkan work

Tech Design:

• support of preparations for Alpha 3.23 and beyond
• support for hangars and ship flight
• polish work on Master Modes

UI:

• development of the new freight elevator kiosk, commodity kiosk, and item bank
• preparing mandates coming later this year, including the Resource Network and jump points
• added new player-facing UI, new mobiGlas
• new visor and lens improvements
• polished the new shopping UI and Character Customizer

VFX:

• finished work on distribution centers and freight elevators
• completed tasks for several upcoming vehicles
• progress on jump point effect

For those fans of Dune and Star Citizen out there.

This video is from the same guy who made the Star Gear teaser a few months back.

>Hey all, just to provide a heads-up on a few things we're doing to address the legibility issues with the Starmap. This list is not extensive, and there's quite a few more things being worked on to improve the UX. > >>particularly on microtech, the text disappears behind the planet sometimes while rotating the planet model. > >That is exactly what is happening unfortunately due to a render bug. The marker and text will render behind the planet, making it very faint. We have a fix in the works. > >>there is a weird curved jittering rainbow lcd screen effect on planet surfaces > >The color banding is probably due to a shader effect on the planet. We're investigating what the cause of it is. > >>the location markers are too hard to see on the sunny side of microtech. >> >We have a fix in the works that will adjust the brightness of the lighting in the Starmap and are also working to make the surface of planets have more contrast. > >>sometimes the text becomes blurry for a couple of frames. > >We have a tentative fix for this in the works. > >>the auto brightness adjustment when leaving mobiglas after looking at microtech sunny side view for a while takes a long time for the brightness to adjust > >The eye adaptation kicks in due to the relative brightness of microTech compared to the rest of the screen when you zoom in. >Adjusting the brightness of the lighting, the shader of the planet and tweaking the camera settings when the mobiGlas / Starmap are open are currently in the works to improve on this behavior. > >Rest assured, we're aware of those issues and are actively working to fix them. >Please, keep the feedback and IC reports coming if you find other issues that affect the functionality / UX of the Starmap. > >Thanks!

>Hi all, > >Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, we will have to cancel this week's episode of Star Citizen Live with Team Chad. We know many were looking forward to it, so we are already working on rescheduling for a later date.

Today's episode was supposed to be about cargo changes.

TL;DW:

• Complete overhaul of mobiGlas, moved to "Building Blocks" & "Cards" system
• New home panel displays:
  • Tracked missions
  • Notifications
  • Reputation & crime stat
  • Status of connected ship (ammo, fuel)
  • Environment data (gravity, atmo, pressure, temperature, radiation)
  • Health data (overall %, temperature, heart rate, suit fuel & oxygen)
• Some app updates won't make it to 3.23 (chat, vehicle customization)
• Health app displays everything home screen does as well as:
  • Conditions effects (injury status)
  • Active drugs
  • Hunger & thirst
  • Blood drug level
• Contract manager changes:
  • Toggle between legal/illegal missions instead of separate tabs
  • "Mark all as read" button
• Star map changes:
  • Now responsible for everything (space and locations)
  • Local map has a clickable list of available points of interest (shops, transit, hospitals etc)
  • GPS routing
  • Custom markers
  • Mission markers
  • Will be able to navigate between zones (ex. needing to travel via trams) but there are some issues that require fixing first
  • Space part contains all the info available until now, plus
  • Clicking on a space location (like space station) displays info about available POIs (stores, landing options etc)
  • Improved feedback when routing between space locations
  • Search bar
  • Marker list
• HUD shows level of injuries to each body part

CIG asked for feedback on HUD readability, drop by on Spectrum if you have something to add.

Added to 3.23.0 release:

• Fauna - Kopion
• Fauna - Marok
• New Missions - Creature Hunting

Added to 3.23.X release:

• Vehicle Modularity (torpedo and cargo room modules for the Aegis Retaliator)
• Aegis Retaliator - Gold Standard

Can be bought here: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/19819-MISC-Raptor

(Don't forget to at least add it to your cart for a new Display Title).

Happy Triggerfish Day!