Star Citizen Alpha 2.0

[Tenacity]

For anyone who's interested in star citizen but hasnt given it a try yet, Alpha 2.0 was released about a week or two ago and is now open to all players who have purchased a game package. You can get starter packages with the Aurora or Mustang for 45$, and that package will include the full game on release as well as some cool digital manuals and stuff. The game price is going to be higher than that for sure, so if you get it now you're getting a discount on the final product.

The current alpha 2.0 includes:

1. Access to your personal hangar, where you can see the ships you own. You can move around the hangar and enter/exit your ships. There are several different hangar types currently available, based on which game package or ship you buy. The hangar also includes a holotable, which allows you to change ship loadouts, a flight simulator pod you can climb into in order to access the virtual systems (detailed below), as well as an elevator that can take you to other parts of the game.

2. ArcCorp City, a huge social zone that reminds me of nar shaddaa or coruscant. Numerous buildings and stores you can check out, a bar with TV's that display ship commercials, and a ton of back alleys and hidden gems. This zone is multiplayer, but is really just for socializing, there's no weapons or ship flight here. You can access ArcCorp from the hangar elevator or the main menu.

3. Arena Commander - a virtual flight system that is accessed either from the main menu, pause menu, or the flight simulator pod in your hangar. Arena commander has a few different modes right now:
a) Spectrum Match: Play Co-Op with other players against waves of NPC enemies, or play PvP matches against other players including deathmatch, capture the flag, and other types. This is all ship based. Spectrum also has multiplayer racing maps.
b) Drone Sim: Free flight (to try out ships with no enemies, other players, or objectives), vanduul swarm (solo match vs waves of npc enemies), or solo racing to try out the racing maps or beat your personal time records.
c) Flight training: a scripted mission that will teach you the basics of flight and combat in your ship.

4. Crusader (i.e. "Universe") - this is a single solar system open to multiplayer, and designed to be a test of the 'real world game' that will eventually be released (think of it as a single system in freelancer/disco, but much bigger). This place starts you out on a space station named Olisar, where you can talk to or interact with other players, call up your starship, and take off to explore the rest of the system. Olisar is in orbit of a gas giant named crusader.
Other features of the 'universe' currently include a creepy derelict space station with some audio recordings and a dead-space vibe that you can EVA from your ship to explore (Covalex shipping hub), A security station that you can land on to find rifles and other FPS weapons, and fight other players in First person/ground based combat, a refuel and repair depot if your ship gets damaged, a small planetoid and asteroid belt to check out, and numerous communications relay satellites that you can head to and fight against pirate NPCs, then EVA and reset the satellite arrays for mission objectives.

Not all ships are currently usable, but many are. The website's ship matrix lists which ships are flight ready and available for purchase, though really all you need is one of the aurora or mustang starter packs to check out all the features.

www.robertsspaceindustries.com to sign up and check out the stuff.


They did a live stream yesterday for new features being added, and this video of procedural planet generation was included, I think you'll all enjoy it, super detailed and awesome (and all rendered in real time in the game):

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[Tenacity]

Also, my ship is going to be ready in the next release (2.1), Gawd I cant wait for the freelancer:

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[dirmaster0]

I'm waiting for my Hull-C to finally be hangar ready >.>

[Error]

Still waiting for my Freelancer here too - not that my current desktop would render it well without decomposing into a small pool of molten slag, but that's besides the point. Where/when are those Freelancer screenshots from, by the way? The upcoming remodeling? I can't recall seeing them anywhere before, and that somewhat more utilitarian look to the interior really seems quite a bit prettier and less cluttered (in my eyes) than the current one.

[The.Wizard]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8feGwCc33kQ

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[HuggieSunrise]

Upgraded my avenger to a reliant .. i dunno. just looks neat.

[Tenacity]

Still waiting for my Freelancer here too - not that my current desktop would render it well without decomposing into a small pool of molten slag, but that's besides the point. Where/when are those Freelancer screenshots from, by the way? The upcoming remodeling? I can't recall seeing them anywhere before, and that somewhat more utilitarian look to the interior really seems quite a bit prettier and less cluttered (in my eyes) than the current one.

Those shots are from the live stream they did yesterday. That's the new, reworked freelancer model. They said it should be flight ready by 2.1, which is supposed to be sometime this month, maybe before christmas even.

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[Miaou]

The "game" is buggy, super late, and has network problems constantly. It's a failing project with little to show for it except still screens or pre-rendered stuff. Would not recommend.

[Tenacity]

It's buggy because it's an alpha. It isnt "Late" at all - star citizen has only been in development for 3 years. Compare that to some others:

Starcraft 2: 7 years
Spore: 8 years
Team fortress 2: 9 years
Diablo 3: 11 years
Elder Scrolls 3: 6 years
Dragon age Origins: 5 years
Fallout 3: 6 years

And those were all games that had publishers providing development funds, whereas Star Citizen has relied entirely on crowdfunding from the start.

Nothing failing about it, you just dont understand game development.

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[Miaou]

It is late. They missed every deadline that they set themselves. Let me repeat that. They set themselves.

I'm not some idiot who just follows the crowd of "haters", nor am I a blind white knight who praises CR like the second coming. I've played every version they have put out. They have all been late and terrible, even after months of working on them after release. Star Citizen already has more funding than most major films and their quality, both of the game and how they present it, is laughable. I'm not asking for a full game. I'm asking what they promised at the time they promised it. They have little to show in the terms of work and what they do have is laughable. People are praising them for buggy networking that only allows 16 people in the same instance, even then it fails half the time.

Their art department is outstanding though. They make wonderful settings, models, and artwork that should be put into a different dream and not wasted on this. From rumors of how the actual development process works, it's poorly managed and that's even clear if you watch the quality of anything they do that isn't pre-rendered. Saying someone doesn't understand the game development process when you don't even know the person is funny as all get out.

Star Citizen was originally due to be launched at the end of 2014. They pushed back the game, and have said;

“[Then] an alpha of the single-player game, and then finally a beta of the persistent universe by the end of the year (2014)."
–Chris Roberts, Forbes May 2013 Interview

“Further out is the single player alpha (roughly August 2014) and the alpha for system universe (again, roughly December 2014).”
–Chris Roberts MMORPG.com Interview, PAX East 2013

These are long past due. Hardly anything is of the quality that it should be, and the original pitch has changed drastically. Stop being a white knight for something that can't even keep a promise it makes itself.