CitizenCon 2018 Schedule & Expectations

We are less than a week away from CitizenCon, things start Wednesday 10th October. CIG didn’t do a GamesCom presentation so, I am expecting CitizenCon to kind of have a much better presentation because of that. Today I wanted to talk about what we know about it, what they will and may show & everything you need to know about the event.

When & Where to Watch
The Stream Starts at around 6pm UTC. CIG have said that you’ll be able to watch it from their Website, so it’s worth making an account if you are planning on doing that.
It will also be re-streamed on Twitch and Youtube by various content creators.
And later uploaded to the Star Citizen Youtube in Segments. With the Main Keynote Presentation getting priority.
There are 2 Stages, both of which should be streamed, there is a lot of overlap, AND things on at the same time.

Stuff we know
The main Opening Keynote is from around 1pm CST / 6pm UTC and it kicks events off for the Stream, looks like it’s for around 2 hours. This is what we would call the presentation and is the main meat of what they will show. Typically this is Gameplay showcasing new features, future elements.
Things in the past in terms of typical gameplay, presentations have been Procedural Planets, Giant Sandworms, Capital Ships Fights pvp, VOIP/FOIP, Procedural Cities, New Planets and Biomes, & the Squadron 42 VS.
They haven’t shown us much in the way of Squadron 42 recently, so it’s very possible that they will show something on that. Anything of 3.3 onwards seems reasonable too, New Planets, Biomes, Aliens (one of the items on the schedule is Creating Alien EcoSystems).
But we can expect to see new gameplay, what future mechanics might look like (typically in enclosed environment) so the way they are able to show new pieces that are not in the game yet is due them having a special build, that is normally built for LAN or singleplayer for showcasing.
These presentations are almost always LIVE as well, so anything can happen, crashes, bugs.
Because of the Object Container Streaming Delays to 3.3.5 we could potentially, some more refined gameplay of what we are getting with that.

Hopefully they don’t show much of the 3.3 build as we will all be getting that in our hands at on the 10th anyway. I am expecting both new PU & SQ42 stuff.
They are also likely going to give us a brief update on a few things, talk about sponsors like Intel and Amazon, there might be more Optane Drives given out.
Faceware Cameras are very much due to be shown off, so it’s very likely they might show off a prototype and have pre-orders start for them as well as showing off better FOIP for which they are for.

On the Star Citizen Twitter they posted up
“Get into more of our planets and orbits (this might be relevant next week)…”
And Showed a clip from a recent AtV of Luke Presley talking about Planets Orbiting Stars & the scale of the Star Systems, planets and moons being larger to scale, a bit about Sol our Solar System.
It’s possible we could see orbits, stars, even Sol potentially (I mean seeing any planet in our solar system would be amazing)
Another item on the Schedule is The Principles of Flight, Building the NEW Star Citizen Flight Experience. So I expect we may see some of that in the main presentation as well, with a follow up and more detail with this later in the day.

Something else I really wanted to highlight from the schedule is Beyond Content, Exploring the Advanced Tech behind new game Additions, this does suggest there might be something new, feature wise, though is also possible it’s just talking about how they are building out the tech for already announced features. Personally I am pretty happy with the features they have announced & while I can certainly see some supporting modules and features, as well as deeper more complex additions to jobs and roles, maybe building space stations, deeper exploration, manufacture, stuff like that, BUT I don’t want to see a whole new totally unforseen mechanic, I don’t really want any further feature creep personally.

Ship Sale
As is traditional there should be a General Ship Sale, maybe some discount Game Packages  as well as a new Concept Sale, it’s most likely going to be the Drake Kraken the Civilian Ship Carrier, basically a mobile rest stop is what is expected, room for lots of medium sized ships to refuel, repair and rearm, shops and extremely suitable as the centre piece in a large fleet.
But it could be something else, I’d personally also like to see the Titan Armor Suits that they had been working on.

Rest of the Schedule
The rest of the days schedule is split across 2 stages, which you should be able to watch both somehow from the RSI Website
On the Main Stage after the Keynote – after 8pm UTC
Crafting Space – Creating the Visuals of the Verse
Welcome to Loreville – The Art of Hurston
What a Bunch of Characters – Art & Tech bring Players & NPCs to life
The Principles of Flight – Building the NEW Star Citizen Flight Experience.
Beyond Content – Exploring the Advanced Tech Behind New Game Additions
And The Road to Release – Now the Road to release could be extremely awesome, if they give us some major milestones, add the SQ42 Roadmap to the Current one, announce any longer term schedules or release dates.

On The Second Stage from (8:30pm – 1:00 am UTC)
Trophy or Not Trophy and You Call That a Knife – Help Developers Create the CitizenCon 2948 Trophy and Custom Weapon.
By Design – with Tony Zurovec ( I am very much looking forward to this, Game Design Questions are by far the bestest of informations & Tony Z see’s the entire big picture with the game)
Biome on the Range – Creating Alien EcoSystems
The Mod Squad – Creating Modular in Game Elements
The Art of Digital Illusion a VFX Breakdown
The Sound of Violence – Weapon Sound FX
Devil’s in the Dialogue – Voice Over Sound Mixing
Loremaker’s Guide to Alpha 3.3 – The Story Behind the Content

For Those at the event
“get your picture on a Dragonfly Yellowjacket, sample Big Benny’s latest offerings, hobnob with reps from top orgs and ship manufacturers at their booths, and maybe find out what new initiatives they’re dreaming up. Get emotional with motion capture, and get up close and personal with some of our latest tech and gameplay. Premium ticket holders can even relax in style and rub elbows with the ‘verse’s foremost movers and shakers at the Serenity Lounge, hosted by Drake Interplanetary”

We’ve been seeing pieces of a Dragonfly and Large Boxes on their way to CitizenCon from the CIG Twitter.
We are probably going to see interviews and interactions from the event floor as well between the scheduled items.

SataBall?
There was a Lore Post recently on SataBall so potentially we could see something on that, tho it’s a bit of a longshot. This was the Additional Mode / Module in the same vein as Arena Commander / StarMarine with a speedball / Ender’s Game style of gameplay.