Cargo Elevators are coming to Star citizen Alpha 3.23… this is a major cargo and logistical change to the way items are bought, moved around, stored and sold. I want to go thru what we are getting in the patch for this feature and the various Dev Responses that have touched on this topic already.

Persistent Hangars and Freight Elevators…

When you purchase cargo you will now need to load that onto your ship.

Go to your hangar, go to the freight kiosk, load up what you want and it will come up in the nearby elevator. You’ll then be able to load this onto your ship.

It will no longer auto spawn / despawn.

When you want to sell cargo you will have to bring it to the LZing you want to sell it at.

Call up the cargo elevator and take your cargo from your ship and put it on the elevator.

That will store it at the LZ.

Vehicles can also be called up and put into storage via this method. Solving the issue of vehicle in ship spawning to some degree.

Cargo on your ship is saved between sessions (as long as it’s safely stored in a hangar).

Obviously reclaiming a ship wipes the cargo / ships stored within.

This should all work pretty well with the LTP database and be saved between patches that don’t received full wipes.

This is a monumental change to cargo gameplay but also general prep for players / groups before missions. Time is now a big factor with loading and unloading and sensible loading will save you time later. Cargo prices hopefully will reflect this in game… we do know there is a big economy update in 3.23 besides this as well, pricing updates & new shopping app.

Intrerestingly CIG have already shown off a Freight Elevator at an Outpost on the Surface of a Moon in a Sneak Peek… 

That makes sense as the mechanics will want to be as normalized as possible… want to buy cargo from an outpost… you got to load it… how will that work at other settlements… I don’t really know yet… BUT this brought up some questions about Pad Ramming and concerns about griefers ruining your day… not pirates… but people that just want to blow you both up. 

Rich Tyrer was on SaltEMike’s stream chatting a little abount this in the chat…

Let’s jump into some spectrum threads and dev responses with Cargo Elevators in mind…

New Cargo Elevators

Saw that the new cargo elevators are likely coming in 3.23, how will that work with the Hull-C? if we need to manually load the Hull-C by hand would we get access to things like the MPUV Cargo’s ability to carry the big boxes? or the RAFT?

Chad McKinney

The Hull C loading system is unique in the game, and unfortunately because of the immense scope of what we are trying to achieve for 3.23 we’ve pushed back manual loading support for the Hull C (and similar docking only style ships, Hull E etc) to a later patch, but the current automated loading for the Hull C will continue to work as it is

But doesn’t the Hull C loading not even work now? So how would it continue to work? Maybe I’m out of the loop.

I assume you’re meme’ing here, but I’ll bite. We’re well aware of some stability issues with the Hull C loading system, and we look to harden the system where possible, though as you will see the scope of the upcoming changes so we’re constantly having to make hard decisions about when and how to spend resources. My point isn’t that the system is bug free, but rather the current cargo transfer methodology used in game for the Hull C in 3.23 won’t be augmented or modified.

3.23 ANVIL Carrack Cargo Pod Access? [Q.3.23 Freight Elevators]

Hey there CIG, just wondering with the upcoming release of 3.23 containing the first implementation physicalizing cargo/freight, freight elevators, and an overall overhaul to the “Cargo Loop”; what will happen to the Anvil Carrack?

Currently, there is no way to physically access the Carracks cargo as the Pods do not open – So I’d like to know, with this first implementation of the of physicalized cargo/freight will we see Cargo pod access for the Carrack?

or should we maybe just prepare ourselves for the upcoming update making the Carrack unusable for cargo/hauling in 3.23?

Chad McKinney

There’s a lot of decisions made about ships over the years which did not anticipate these changes in cargo. We’ve been working closely with the vehicle teams to raise issues, but there will be ships in 3.23 which won’t be able to fully benefit from the new cargo system until revisited later. That said it won’t be that they’ll be unusable, just less efficient for manual loading. You’ll be able to haul smaller boxes, but obviously find issue with the larger 8 SCU+ type boxes. Additionally working on support for automated loading options for all ships (for locations that support it) so while you won’t be able to fully utilize it for manual hauling there will still be a path for you to get your space trucking on.

The original concept of the carrack already had cargo pods able to be opened from the side for the manual loading. How could you say the changes on cargo was not anticipated when the concept idea itself perfectly fit these changes?

I can understand that you are not able to deliver all ships compatible for 3.23 due to the workload even if carrack owner asked since months an update, but this quote looks unbelievable to me.

I said decisions, that doesn’t necessarily mean just original concept or design, but also covers development decisions about functionality currently operational or art decisions about metrics. My point is as you said, not everything in 3.23 is going to be the best experience we want and like many things it comes down to time and just trying to make the decisions we think for now will have the most impact. Work will continue on from here though.

Freight Elevators and the Reclaimer

I’ve got a number of concerns regarding the planned release of the freight elevators system and the continued use of the Reclaimer. Instead of selling at a terminal, my understanding is that each box will have to be individually loaded onto the reclaimer’s small and slow elevator, brought out of the ship, and loaded onto a freight elevator. If the Reclaimer had large bay doors like a Hercules, this would not be an issue, but loading a dozen 16 scu boxes out of a Reclaimer is a process that would no doubt take tens ofminutes of frustrating tractor beam usage. Are there plans to further develop the Reclaimer to address these issues?

Chad McKinney

My answer for the Carrack (here) is the same for the Reclaimer:

That said, one thing I will add is that not all ships should be great for cargo, and part for 3.23 is to further differentiate the ships and locations in the game in the cargo loop. That means some ships won’t be as effective as others, especially those which were intentionally designed for cargo.