Info from the PAX event.. mention of EWAR

Asp · 13 Apr 2014

Officer

So I got to chat with a friend of mine that did get to go to PAX East and ask the devs a few questions and here are some of the things he learned that isn't entirely common knowledge to all.

1) A variant ship sale possibly will happen at the end of the month including a new ship commercial and he suspects it to be the Freelancer.

UPDATED: The Freelancer commercial will likely be late May, followed at some point by the Connie and Cutlass. The Freelancer commercial will be the first to use their facial capture system, and it looks great.

2) The Idris Frigate will have a red alert alarm system where crew will certainly know to be at their battle stations.

3) Asking further about the Idris he says the ship will be a game changer in space and a force to reckon with. That it will not be a "flying coffin" in space for 20+ possible occupants but rather a ship that will be difficult to take. Expanding on this he says the Idris WILL BE FLYABLE SOLO but that NPC crew will not be nearly as good as players will be of course. He did say NPC's gain experience over time and do get better but if they die they lose that experience and start over. The Idris will be a slow ship in comparison to others ships.

4) Interestingly enough he was told that players are almost essential in certain areas of the Idris when in combat especially in areas like electronics and engineering. Why? Players will be able to hack your ship through electronic "cyber" warfare and possibly blow airlocks in certain compartments or even lower your ship's shields just before missiles are about to impact. Your only countermeasure will be someone actually watching for these hacks and counter hacking. These hacking techniques are not only unique to the Idris but rather can be used against ALL SHIPS of ALL SIZES.

For more on this see this interview with Erin Roberts about the minute 30:17 mark at this link:http://www.twitch.tv/geekdomo/b/519001941

5) Idris captains can hire crew in 2 ways. One is through the UEE where those that are hired are guaranteed a portion of earnings for their services. This seems to be the most secure way to hire because the hired crew through UEE can't mutiny and kill crew or take your ship. The second way of hiring is risky but rewarding in the sense that if you hire randomly outside the UEE you decide what they should earn. That said if your random crew decide to mutiny they CAN kill the crew and overtake your ship.

UPDATES: Another thing worth mentioning about espionage and infiltration. People worry about getting a bad reputation, and rightfully so, but FAKE ID's will be a thing in Star Citizen. You can literally purchase a false new identification and get past security measures that would normally pick up someone up to no good.

They are planning different kinds of suits that could allow the pilot to withstand more Gs before blacking out. Also, the UI might be tied to the specific helmet you are wearing! A post from vsTerminus on Reddit:http://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/22wmbz/i_spent_four_hours_at_the_pax_booth_today/

Is there any more information or rumors floating about that can be added to this small but sweet list I gathered? Please post here!
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Asp · 13 Apr 2014

Officer

Chad (CIG AI Developer) was there explaining the controls for everyone and keeping things running. He showed me everything I needed for the joystick ad stuck around while I failed miserably at flying, aiming, and shooting. After my first attempt I just stood aside and watched others take turns playing. Some were as bad as I was, but a few seemed to know what they were doing.

My second attempt went a little better, but I overheated my gattling gun and it blew up. When you completely overheat your guns, they don't cool down. They just explode. Also, as you fire on enemy ships, pieces will break off and fly at you. I was really impressed by this. After this turn, I handed the controls to someone else, but Chad was busy elsewhere so I just explained to him what Chad had explained to me. And then I did the same for the next person, and the next, and the next....

Before long I was spending most of my time just explaining the controls to players and giving them some tips. I got to meet new fans and long time backers alike.

At this point, Chris Roberts was talking to a small group of people just a few feet away, so I went over to see what I could learn. Chris was really friendly and open about everything. He seemed to have no issue at all talking about things they were planning, even though they are likely to change entirely before we see them in a playable form.

One of the most common questions was about the G-Forces and what was planned for mitigating / modifying them. The answer today was that they were planning different kinds of suits that could allow the pilot to withstand more Gs before blacking out. Also, the UI might be tied to the specific helmet you are wearing!

I asked him how much he follows the reddit community and he told me much the same thing that Riot (League of Legends) has to say about traditional forums vs reddit's format. On traditional forums it's very easy for one or two users to derail a thread with back and forth bickering. Their constant posting keeps the thread at the top where it is visible, even though the original topic is no longer being discussed. Meanwhile on reddit, that sort of stuff is downvoted (or at least not upvoted) and never gets much visibility. Usually the more discussion-worthy topics make their way to the top, and for this reason reddit is a great source for player feedback and ideas.

I also asked about the player creation system - specifically about how in-depth they wanted to go. Chris seemed very interested to know how far I as a player wanted them to take it. Personally, I tend to get quite attached to my characters, and I spend a lot of time trying to get all the little details right. The more connected and attached to my character I am, the longer I am going to play a game, so I encouraged Chris to take customization as far as he thought they reasonably could, given the limitations they might face with this type of game. I also suggested that it have both "basic" and "advanced" modes (or just extra sliders or something), so that the players who don't actually want that much control wouldn't feel overwhelmed, while those of us that want to get picky could still do so.

After Chris got pulled away by his PR people for interviews and signings, I went back to the game for a third attempt. This time I made it through all four waves, though I was totally out of missiles and my guns were just barely functioning. I kept showing people the controls and getting opinions from people as they played.

My fourth and final shot at the demo went extremely well. By now I had the joystick controls down pretty well and could fly with reasonable confidence. I didn't waste my missiles unnecessarily, and didn't overheat a single gun. Someone commented that I made it look easy (And when you step back for a moment and think about it, it'sdefinitely on easy mode)

The DFM demo at the booth has four waves: 1 enemy, 1 enemy, 2 enemies, and finally 3 enemies, then it resets. We had a couple crashes, and a couple infinite spins, and one freeze. Otherwise pretty much bug-free! Unfortunately, the joystick layout was assigned incorrectly; Leaning the joystick left and right controlled Yaw, while twisting controlled Roll. Usually these are the other way around, and it was throwing a bunch of us for a loop until we adjusted.

The UI has lots of useful information on it already, including all of your weapon statuses, range to your targeted enemy, as well as rate of approach (which is cool). One thing it seems to be missing is a shield indicator for your own ship. I also didn't see anything relating to my current velocity. There were placeholders for what looked like other tabs, and there was a non-functioning screen that will eventually allow you to control shield strength on each side of your ship.

Chad said that we should have a playable DFM in "about a month". As always, this could get pushed back and is by no means set in stone.

Oh! I asked the Logitech guy at the booth about the possibility of Logitech creating a new HOTAS controller for Star Citizen. He just grinned and declined to comment. I'd say there's a pretty good chance that they've got something in the works

I was the tall guy in the blue shirt. I have short hair and a beard.

Overall impression:

Very impressed. The game is beautiful. I had a ton of fun switching out into 3rd person mode between waves, hitting the afterburner and going into a slow roll. The graphics are incredible for being in such an early state. Flight felt good, but I'd like to try it with a proper HOTAS (The booth has a Logitech Xtreme 3D Pro joystick), with proper roll and yaw layout. UI is still missing a few things, but what is there so far looks really good. Performance was good, but the demo machine was running dual GTX 690s, so yea...
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NuclearMessiah · 13 Apr 2014

Cool info! Disappointed they gave into the solo crowd, but they at least threw us a bone that we can use EW against them.

Sentrosi · 13 Apr 2014

Officer

Ok, things just got a little more exciting. EWAR rigs. I'm liking this. A lot.

antedoX · 13 Apr 2014

Wow, that's awesome.

StickMan9000 · 13 Apr 2014

I was wondering why my gatteling guns just exploded. Guess I overheated them

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Info from the PAX event.. mention of EWAR

Asp Administrative Officer Officer

Asp Administrative Officer Officer

NuclearMessiah

Sentrosi Protocol Officer Officer

antedoX DragonWolf

StickMan9000 DragonWolf

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