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Star Citizen Devs On Horror Missions & Alien Threats

May the 4th be with you… today we I have some Star Citizen News with new flashlight attachments for weapons, a summary of some bits that are happening this week BUT also a more detailed look at various answers the Narrative Team gave on Scary Missions, Alien Hatred of Humans, Players Leasing Spaces, Players Competing for Homes & Jobs and passenger transport.

Let’s Start with what’s happening for the rest of This Week in Star Citizen

Later Wednesday, we have the Monthly Reports for Squadron 42 and Star Citizen PU with the work that CI have completed over the last month and what they are focused on now.

Thursday, we have Inside Star Citizen with a special Tools Time episode focused entirely on the internal tools used to create & help game devs, dev better.

Friday 5pm UTC there is a Star Citizen Live about graphics engineering and the Gen12 renderer there is a thread collecting questions still currently the top questions are

  • How is the physical damage work coming along?
  • How is Vulkan integration coming along and what’s the next step after it is implemented?
  • Are you plannig to add DLSS or FSR at some point of development?
  • Will Gen12 and Vulkan improve the visuals of the cloud-tech, specially the pixelated visuals of clouds that are far away?
  • Foliage physics?
  • Can we expect some cool features in the future , like snow or sand deformation when walking or driving over it ?
  • Linux/VR support after Vulkan integration, is this planned yet?

Please jump into that thread to ask your questions or upvote ones you like.

Newsletter – The Sneak Peek from last weeks newsletter appears to be of a market in one of the Pyro Stations overrun by gangs. A place to get supplies and… stuff… if you are in a pinch.

Star Citizen Sub Weapon Mod Flashlights – For this months Sub Flair there are a selection of flashlights that can be attached to any weapon with an under barrel slot.

They come in Red for Normal and Imperator Subs, another in Yellow just for Imperators and a blue one which is purchasable separately from the Sub store.

This is the first time that CI has made a multiuse mod for a flair item and I think it’s a good idea over ship skins that can only be applied to a specific ship.

A Huge amount of the sub flair items are available to find and loot in Star Citizen Alpha 3.17 now… so you don;t have to buy them! There is a 3 month exclusivity for new items such as those scopes before they are added to the loot pool tho.

The Argo RAFT is the Sub ship of the month and is available for all RSI subs to use during May. The 400i is also on sub sale with enhanced insurance and some additional flair items.

JumpPoint – For those of you interested the Jump point Sub magazine looked at the Making of the Hull A, the MISC ship manufacturer, a whitley’s guide to the Starfarer and a look at the narcotic Widow.

Let’s Now take a look at those Questions that were answered by the Star Citizen Lore & Narrative Team… I’ve summarized and highlighted the information but will include a link to the full article below.

Will horror & scary segments/side stories be a part of the game?

We’ve already incorporated elements of cosmic horror into the lore in a number of ways with various lore stories, strange phenomena, disappearances of ships, ghosts of crew, serial killers. 

Now, how does this get translated into the game? These stories lean into situations players will find themselves in, like exploring a dark, drifting derelict or circuitous cave system. So knowing a little lore should enhance that gameplay experience. Was that sound a weird auditory effect when wind whips through this mine or could it by the Prophet of Pyro? A spooky environment, creepy audio effects, and good set dressings can go a long way to setting such a scene, so having such stories established can guide other teams towards specifics that play into what’s established. And, who knows, potentially lead players in the know on some fun, scary adventures?

Does ArcCorp have a major water source that can produce the clouds?

Yes, ArcCorp has oceans and even mountain ranges, even though they don’t yet appear in-game. It took a little work to get the transitions between city and water zones up to Star Citizen standards, so those areas weren’t included with the initial pass of the planet but the plan is to add them at a future date.

Are there groups of Aliens or Orgs that won’t deal with Humans sort of the opposite of XenoThreat?

One such group already exists, the Vanduul. All their dealing with Humans have made it quite clear that they want nothing to do with us (outside of stripping our worlds of resources). While Vanduul are the ultimate anti-Human group, other species would have segments of their population that also don’t really like us, though thankfully not to the same extent as the Vanduul.

The Tevarin have been integrated into the UEE after beating and dissolving their empire. Tho there is a Tevarin settlement in the Branaugh System that isn’t under UEE jurisdiction tho and where human interference is limited (tho they can sometimes still visit)

Humanity still only has limited access to the Xi’An Empire, some of the have anti-human sentiment there.

Banu love everyone.

Have you planned to make the premises of the IO-North Tower available for players? Will we have information about leasing?

While there will be player owned areas, there are no current plans to make rooms within Area18’s IO-North Tower available for players to rent or own. While there has been exploration into procedural tech that builds out rooms, it will first be focused on space stations and underground facilities. Hopefully the tech will expand to office buildings and apartment complexes in the future. At some point, players may be able to go inside the IO-North Tower, but renting or owning a space inside isn’t currently in the plans. So to spin this from a lore perspective, the IO-North Tower is a premier office space that’s currently at full occupancy and has a long waiting list of prospective renters.

Where Do Those Spawn Closets that security and enemies Lead to?

Many locations will probably have rooms or areas that players can’t directly access. Not to say these bunkers are significantly bigger just that there are certain areas that are harder to access, like how in the real world people can’t get into certain areas because they don’t have a key, the right clearances, and so forth. As for the lack of ships on underground bunker landing pads, the lore spin on this is that these outlaws want to remain discreet. Ships are stored offsite and only called in when necessary to reduce the chance of security forces noticing them.

Do you have to serve in the Military to become a Citizen? Or can you obtain citizenship via the CDF (Civilian Defence Force)?

Longtime fans of Star Citizen know that “Citizenship must be earned.”

you must show an active commitment to furthering the interests of the UEE, which can be done through distinguished military service, community service, or application (that’s the least successful by far).” 

Now, while being an active member of the Civilian Defense Force (CDF) is an admirable community service, it’s currently not enough alone to earn Citizenship. Primarily because joining the UEE military is a popular way for many to attain Citizenship, so opening a similar path through the CDF would likely reduce recruitment numbers. If such an option was ever proposed, High Command would probably oppose it. 

That said, working with the CDF would definitely help your character’s cause though, particularly if combined with other community services like hauling aid to areas in need

All that being said, once we start building the actual system for players to gain Citizenship, these things will be solidified.

Can you tell us about how players will compete for homes, jobs and places to live compared to NPCs?

The lore around how players can live and work in such competitive systems starts with players having their own ship, which already elevates them to a special class. Most people in the UEE don’t own a ship and would have to hop a commercial flight aboard a Genesis Starliner to travel between systems. Having a ship alone qualifies players for the wide range of jobs available through the mobiGlas. Also worth noting is that since Stanton is the only system currently represented in-game players have to set a “primary residence” there for inventory management purposes. But, while players may be storing all their stuff at a spot in Stanton for now, whether or not they live there is up to you. The planetside locations where players currently wake up are habs closer to hotel rooms than apartments, meaning short-term rentals over long-term leases. So think of setting your “primary residence” less as a commitment to living at that location but where your character will be basing their operations while trying to make it in the competitive and cutthroat Stanton system.

Will there be passenger transport as a gameplay mechanic and will the Meridian Transit Office (in lore) at Orison be a thing?

Currently, there aren’t plans to add a Meridian Transit headquarters to Orison that players can visit. That means, within the lore, their headquarters is located on a platform off limits to the general public. Once the Genesis Starliner arrives in-game, it would make a ton of sense for Orison to be a major hub for their flight operations. Whether that will be represented by signage or through some other means is still to be seen. They will dig deeper into the Meridian Company in the future too.

The Messers Ruled the UEE for a long time and they can’t of been all bad, were any of them good Rulers?

It’s easy to generalize the rulers of the Messer era as “bad” because many of their policies were authoritarian, anti-democratic, or even outright evil with Linton Messer 11th selling terraforming rights to a planet that had sentient beings living there already. The Messers reigned for 246 years between 2546 and 2792.

Officially, there were eleven Messer Imperators but only ten reigned, as Marius Messer IV received the title as an honorarium after dying in a tragic shuttle crash in 2641. Some believe that crash was orchestrated to bring Corsen Messer V to power and marks a major downturn in the history of the Messer regime as the family kept infighting for power. 

So before all this Deacon Messer 3 is probably best Messer.

Deacon expanded Humanity’s footprint in the universe by pouring funds into exploration and terraforming efforts. He increased taxes on the wealthy and lowered them for the poor and middle class. Deacon also guided the Empire through the chaos of the Second Tevarin War (2603-2610), though he believed the war proved the UEE needed one strong leader and used it as an excuse to implement more authoritarian measures. Another point for Deacon comes from the fact that he didn’t covet power so much that he held onto it until the bitter end. In 2628, he abdicated to allow his daughter Livia to become Imperator, then spent his time as one of her top advisors and a tutor to his grandson Marius, whose death in the shuttle crash devastated him. Which started the turmoiil I previously mentioned.

Boom, that’s it for your Star Citizen Updates today.