Star Citizen Con42 Dev Updates – NPC Fleets – Capital Ships – Roads
Welcome to some more Star Citizen, Con42 is a massive player run fanfest that was recently run in Frankfurt and a load of CIG Devs turned up, there is an 8 hour VOD on twitch of the whole event BUT there were various panels from HCS Voice Packs, Brian Chambers, Atmo-Esports as well as a great Dev Q&A… which we are going to focus on here, giving you a summary of the tangible development information and answers that the devs gave:
Ships
How many more ships will there be?! There are going to be many more new ships, they are the heart and soul of the game.
When will we see the bigger and capital ships in players hands? Once the Resource System is completed that allows for engineering and multicrew and these large ships can be brought into the game with that gameplay.
When will we see more weapon / item diversity and balance?
They’ve been going a lot of component, weapon, item balance for SQ42 and want to move it over to the PU when appropriately refined. However, balance is going to continue changing over the development of the project.
Ship Armour Plating?
Still a while out, they’ve got something prototyped on a Gladius.
Will we suffocate if a fire isn’t put on on our ship?
Potentially yes, as the oxygen gets consumed at a faster rate than the Life Support System can keep up with.
Air / Atmosphere / Life Support fuel will be a commodity in the future.
Planets & POIs
Will we be able to affect the planetary surface and build things like roads or tunnels.
Not currently a goal but in the future that’s a possibility.
When Aaron Halo?
Pyro has taken priority currently… we should see it again in the future.
Will we have building and survival, the forest / rust chopping down a tree and building a shelter / fire?
Probably Not, tents and other survival mechanics might be added in the future tho.
Roads? They are using the river tool to kickstart building roads out BUT there is no current timeline on when we will see them in game and connecting POIs.
Will we be able to land on Hero Buildings like the big one on Hurston?
These are typically bespoke so not at the moment, they might build some specifically to be landed on in the future.
Missions & Features
Any Salvage & Mining Updates?
Things like mining and salvage you can work together with a cargo ship to be more efficient and split the profits.
You can Salvage Components from ships in 3.19 using the tractor beam tool BUT this adds a level of loot generation complexity as wrecks / salvageable ships are now loot boxes.
Also there might be interesting cargo in a ships hold.
Mining containers from the Prospector & Mole… might be able to be detachable in 3.19. They are working on it! You could then have a buddy in a cargo ship come and pick these up! Attaching these containers to different mining ships should also work.
Will we have different types of hull scraping tools? There is currently no need for this.
Trade & Trucking Missions? Not currently being worked on specifically BUT Alpha 3.19 will have mining update and new commodity prices.
Some Cargo & Economy Questions were Asked:
You’ll be able to “clean” stolen/hot goods and then sell them full price.
Players will be able to buy empty boxes and containers to then put cargo in.
You will be able to get one specifically for a type of cargo like weapons.
Cargo containers like this will be namable too for better inventory and cargo sorting.
AI & NPC Crew
Will AI pilots be able to fly us everywhere?
We don’t want to make NPC pilots that you will be able to control to fly your ship from A to B because this is not RTS game, we want the players to drive their ship, we want to offer you ways to command your ships with your buddies in your fleet
They don’t want AI to do everything for the player. Removing their agency takes away from playing the game. They want a lot of stuff players need to do on board their ship.
When could we get a fully AI remote controlled (by the player) ship?
They don’t want players to be able to fully remote control ships from a distance.
However they do want you to be able to organise and direct a load of player ships in a fleet.
Those ships could have AI crew members BUT there aren’t plans for you to be able to have a full AI fleet with you.
Some More Minor Answers…
Will Star Citizen move engine? No, they have been retooling lumberyard to suit their needs.
They avoided a question on parachutes and surviving ejecting / crashing on planets.
Org Features & Tools are needed BUT no dates.
They want to improve the friends list, you’ll be able to hide things on the UI like friendly markers.
Quick easy loadout / outfit changes will be a thing in the future.
Chat GPT is interesting tech but there are no plans to add it in Star Citizen.
Dolby Atmos will be supported in the future.
Boom that’s it for your Con42 Dev Panel Summary.