Windows The Star Citizen Thread

[Huntn]

Yes, paid $45 for Beta Access.

It is in Early Access on Steam (PC, Mac), and XBox Store (Console w/ Windows 10 version) for $30 (retail will be $40).

The main game is pretty fleshed out. They are working on ships, storyline, other modes of play, etc.

The devs are EXTREMELY helpful and listen to all requests and bug reports.

It is the team that programmed the Galaxy on Fire app.

If you own an XBox One, you can try a 2 hour trial. Steam you can just purchase and ask for a refund within the 2 hr & 2 week timeframe.

Rats, I have a 360. Btw do you or does anyone know, it 360 games will play on a Xbox 1?
Do you use a mouse or joystick?
Is there a compelling reason to pay Steam a $15 royalty when you can buy the game direct?

And could you please answer my question about the pay model for Star Citizen? Yes, no, unknown?

 

[Huntn]

Ok you made me do my own research... or maybe you answered but somehow I did not recognize the answer.

NO SUBSCRIPTION for Star Citizen, but there is a subscription, but not required...

A comment in the following link says to keep the game from being pay to win, group who pay for ships will be seperated from those who earn their ships for equality purposes...at leas in the beginning.

Is Star Citizen “Free to play”? A subscription game?
To play Star Citizen you need only to buy the initial game. There will never be a monthly charge for usage. Some in-game items may be available as microtransactions, but we will NEVER sell anything that can’t be acquired through honest (and fun!) gameplay. To counteract this making the game a pay-to-win game, we will seperate players who have bought items or cash through a micro-transaction from people who haven't bought anything through a micro-transaction. We may slowly integrate those two groups of players several months after release once the majority of players have started getting more high-end equipment, though this is subject to change.

Subscription for goodies, not ships as far as I can tell.

Also: Star Citizen Instanced Space, very interesting, some similarities to Elite Dangerous.
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After you fly for free, you can either spend the $45 for Squadron 42 (which is just the single player game) & Arena Commander (the alpha dogfighting module, single player or against others), or $60 for the full alpha plus both Star Citizen (the mmo) & Squadron 42. No other costs...

I have a referral code: STAR-L7Q3-JFFJ ... if you use that, you get free in game credits, for things like upgrading a ship using the in game currency, and I get a recruitment point which is good for something, eventually. In any event, plenty of people have referral codes, you don't have to use mine, but using any one will get you a small bonus, in game.

I'm running it on a 2010 Mac Pro with a 1060 video card. I just upgraded from a plain 660, the frame rates were acceptable, but it did stutter in dogfighting. I think anything like a 770 or better will get you decent frame rates.

BTW, just saw this video, the gameplay was hysterical:

I'm still thinking about this game, it's sucking at me like a black hole. Question about the referral code, I assume it's good for a discount on a ship upgrade?
Are you using a joystick, if so, what kind?
Ok, it's supposed to be free to play, but my understanding is that everything in the game will cost, like insurance. Thoughts on this? I see the starter package includes only 3 months of insurance. How much would Lifetime insurances cost for a starter ship?
Did you go with the Aurora or the Mustang? (Did I ask that already?)
How solo friendly is the game?
Thanks!

PS- Who is currently playing this game?

 

[gkarris]

Rats, I have a 360. Btw do you or does anyone know, it 360 games will play on a Xbox 1?
Do you use a mouse or joystick?
Is there a compelling reason to pay Steam a $15 royalty when you can buy the game direct?

And could you please answer my question about the pay model for Star Citizen? Yes, no, unknown?

List so far of XB360 games playable on XBox One:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/backward-compatibility/available-games

I use a mouse for Everspace, and sometimes my XBox One Elite Controller. Prefer the keyboard/mouse - will use a joystick when they add that.

I don't get the Steam Royalty - you buy the game on Steam for $30 or on the XBox Store for $30 which will get you the Windows 10 version from the Windows store as well.

EDIT: Oh, I see, the devs are selling Steam/GOG Codes directly. Yes, then, if you buy from the devs, they get more of the money. But you are unable to use money you may have already in your Steam Wallet...

Star Citizen is still Alpha so it is still being fleshed out...

 

[Huntn]

List so far of XB360 games playable on XBox One:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/xbox-one/backward-compatibility/available-games

I use a mouse for Everspace, and sometimes my XBox One Elite Controller. Prefer the keyboard/mouse - will use a joystick when they add that.

I don't get the Steam Royalty - you buy the game on Steam for $30 or on the XBox Store for $30 which will get you the Windows 10 version from the Windows store as well.

EDIT: Oh, I see, the devs are selling Steam/GOG Codes directly. Yes, then, if you buy from the devs, they get more of the money. But you are unable to use money you may have already in your Steam Wallet...

Star Citizen is still Alpha so it is still being fleshed out...

OK thanks for the Everspace info. I watched the video and it did not compel me (no offense). I think I was getting a bit confused with the $45 price which is Star Citizen. Part of me wants to try out Star Citizen. I'm concerned that the prices are ridiculous and that insurance might be a burden. (I was looking at their store) $250 for a ship and wonder how much time an effort it would require to earn such a ship. Yea I know about the $2500 ship and the $15,000 package, lol, right. I can rationalize that if the solo game is good enough then this in itself could justify the $45 +$15 purchase, just to get in there and try it out.

 

[styymy]

OK thanks for the Everspace info. I watched the video and it did not compel me (no offense). I think I was getting a bit confused with the $45 price which is Star Citizen. Part of me wants to try out Star Citizen. I'm concerned that the prices are ridiculous and that insurance might be a burden. (I was looking at their store) $250 for a ship and wonder how much time an effort it would require to earn such a ship. Yea I know about the $2500 ship and the $15,000 package, lol, right. I can rationalize that if the solo game is good enough then this in itself could justify the $45 +$15 purchase, just to get in there and try it out.

Star Citizen is free to play for all until the end of October.
http://www.polygon.com/2016/10/23/13371620/star-citizen-alpha-free-to-play

All the ships in the store can be purchased within the game with in-game currency. You don't need to spend real dollars except for further supporting the game. Once the currency system is finalized, its expected that there will be a cap limit on spending real dollars to deter pay-to-win.

For ship insurance, only original Star Citizen backers have lifetime insurance on their initial ship, everyone else who pledged after original backing closed will have a finite insurance policy on their ship. There will be different tiers such as ship only, ship & cargo, ship, mods and cargo, etc. I don't expect there to be much difference between SC insurance and Elite Dangerous Insurance as far as cost however.

They seem to update their FAQ section quite often.
https://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/12825-Updated-FAQ

 

[Huntn]

Some comments I read in my guild pages:

Oct 2016- Game right now is a test bed, nothing more.
If you only want to buy something fleshed out I would say don't bother right now. Right now there are two types of backers.. Both sets have faith that Chris Roberts will produce the game he and they want. The one group is pledging to support the game and wants to be part of the testing process to make the BDSS ever. The other group is pledging to support the development of the game but do not want to participate in the testing.

If you do not see yourself fitting into either group, and you expect high polish for something you are spending money on right now, I would say pop back in every couple months but do not buy in as you will be disappointed at this point.

As for the store, and how to get involved, there are a few options.

Oct 2016 Getting Started Options
The project that most people refer to as Star Citizen actually includes two game titles. The first is Star Citizen and that is the persistent universe, the large multiplayer MMO that most people think of when talking about SC. The other is Squadron 42, which is the single player story. It is a full single player FPS in its own right, but it is also an introduction story for your character in Star Citizen. It takes place about three years prior to the time period of Star Citizen itself. You are not required to have one to play the other, but typically most people get them together, and plan to complete SQ42 as part of the process of getting their characters into the universe of Star Citizen.

All of that said, there are a couple of ways to buy into both of these games. The first is a simple basic starter package that includes only Star Citizen and a starter ship. There are 2 of these, the Aurora MR and the Mustang Alpha packages. you can find these in the store here (Mustang Alpha)and here (Aurora MR). Each package sells for $45 USD.

You can add the Squadron 42 game to either of these packages at the time of checkout, or you can add it to the cart directly here if you only want to purchase SQ42. Adding it to a package costs $15 or buying it stand alone costs $45.

All you need to start testing the game and getting involved is a starter package listed above. However, that is exactly as it is described, a starter package. Many people here, and throughout the community at large, have chosen to further fund the game by pledging for new ships beyond the starters. Important thing to note here: YOU CAN EARN ANY AND ALL OF THE SHIPS IN GAME USING IN GAME CURRENCY WITHOUT SPENDING ANY REAL CASH BEYOND THE STARTER PACKAGE ONCE THE GAME IS LIVE. Right now many of the ships are not even available in the game as they are in ongoing development. The only reason to spend cash beyond the starter package is to secure one of these ships before launch and to further fund the game.

So, while that will get you in the door, there are some suggested purchases based on the experience of some of us that have been here a while and have flown many of the ships and played the game for hours on end. Here are some suggested purchases above and beyond the starter package based on what you may want to do in the game:

Just a taste of everything plan
This plan will get you in the game and for a minimal price get you a ship that can handle itself well in combat, haul a small amount of cargo, has a bed (important for logging out and "saving your game" in the future) and also has a sleek and sexy look to it. The ship I am talking about is the Avenger Titan. If you are interested in starting the game with minimal funding and maximum return, purchase the Mustang Alpha package and then immediately buy an upgrade to apply to that ship to turn it into a Avenger Titan, found here in the store. The upgrade costs $20 and will bring your package total to $65, around the standard cost of a new game these days. This is my most recommended starter set up because if gives you so many options for so little cost.

Aarrgg, I am a pirate plan
The line of ships manufactured by Drake Interplanetary is known as the favorite of pirates. With that in mind, the best starter ship in the Drake line for any pirate is arguably the Cutlass Black. It is a solid fighter, has room for 2 extra crew members, has cargo room, a turret and is all around a fun ship to fly. Upgrading from the Alpha to the Cutlass costs $70 which makes your total initial price tag $115. This ship is one of the first that was put into the game and is currently undergoing a redesign to bring it more in line with the latest and greatest ship building methods and technologies.

Let me at em! plan
This upgrade will get you one of the best fighters in the game, in my opinion. If you are not interested in piracy, or in flying with others, and you just want to get around in the verse and fight the good fight, then this upgrade is for you. I am talking about the Hornet Ghost. Now you may ask, why the Ghost variant and not the base model? Well, I am glad you asked

With the stealth model you will be able to sneak into places solo, have a slight bit more speed and maneuverability, and look much sexier. The cost to upgrade to the Ghost from the Alpha is $95, bringing your total up to $140. There are other fighter options out there, and some of them are just as good or perhaps better depending on your own skill and style of piloting. But this is a good one for almost anyone.

But I want to bring my friends plan
As you probably have noticed, many of the ships in Star Citizen offer multiplayer, or multi-crew as we tend to call it, experiences. The options here are vast, running anywhere from a small cargo hauler for 2 to a large scale warship for 24. If you really want to buy a ship that is great as a hauler, has nice features as a multi-crew ship and also can handle itself well in combat, there are 2 excellent options for you. The first is the Freelancer, affectionately seen as the trucker of the universe. To upgrade an Alpha package to the Freelancer is a bit more costly (additional $80), but you get a ship designed for 2-4 crew with a nice amount of cargo space and strong combat abilities. That brings your total investment in the game to $125 and you are ready to experience the game with friends.
The second option is a big bigger, and more expensive, but is also popular with players who wish to experience multi-crew game play. That ship is the Constellation Taurus, which is larger than the Freelancer, has more cargo space and more firepower. The cost to upgrade is $120 which brings your total investment to $165, but you are sitting in one of the largest ships that can still be managed by a single player and has room for up to 4 players. It is also open to customization which would allow it to carry a ground transport vehicle, and it comes with a snub fighter attacked that you can launch and use as a single person transport ship.

In each of these upgrades I have listed the Alpha package as the starter to upgrade from. This is intentional. Despite the fact that the Aurora and Mustang Alpha packages cost the same, for some reason the Alpha is valued at $5 more when applying an upgrade. If that doesn't make much sense right now that is ok, just know that if you plan to upgrade your package it is better to start with the Mustang Alpha package as the base to upgrade from.

Now, these are some good starting points and ships that I personally prefer in the game. Like anything, opinions vary and in this game everyone has their favorites. But as a starting point, any of these packages will work well for you.
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Star Citizen is free to play for all until the end of October.
http://www.polygon.com/2016/10/23/13371620/star-citizen-alpha-free-to-play

All the ships in the store can be purchased within the game with in-game currency. You don't need to spend real dollars except for further supporting the game. Once the currency system is finalized, its expected that there will be a cap limit on spending real dollars to deter pay-to-win.

For ship insurance, only original Star Citizen backers have lifetime insurance on their initial ship, everyone else who pledged after original backing closed will have a finite insurance policy on their ship. There will be different tiers such as ship only, ship & cargo, ship, mods and cargo, etc. I don't expect there to be much difference between SC insurance and Elite Dangerous Insurance as far as cost however.

They seem to update their FAQ section quite often.
https://www.robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/12825-Updated-FAQ

Thanks for the info!
For anyone who is currently playing: I'm ok with sandbox, but is there a good guide that directs you were to go and explains the options once you get there?

Regarding ships at this point in the game, is everything on a cash basis or are there convienent options in the game after the starter game purchase to raise in-game currency (UECs) for upgrades?

If there are opportunities now in the game to raise UEC, would they be in the bounty or trading, or just general experience arenas?

I see that the ships being offered in the starter package include 3 months of insurance. My impression based on reading postsis that for new players LTI is not offered. Any clue as to what the monthly insurance would cost on these ships? As I recall in Elite Dangerous, instead of insurance, there was a replacement value and the wise player maintained a cash reserve in case the worst happened. At this point in SC, if you lose your starter ship without insurance, what is the replacement mechanism? I'd assume it would be go to the store and buy it with $ or is there another way?

I assume that somewhere ship loss is a concern and that players can attack and kill you or no, not at this point? In the arena with waves of pirates, is ship loss a concern, or is this just a demo have-fun area? If ship loss is a concern... I'd be a bit concerned if I could not determine if another ship is piloted by A.I. or by a real person.

I remember in ED, I don't think I ended up dog fighting a single real person. When I fought A.I. pirates, in the asteroid zones there were times when I accidentily aggroed one of the A.I. security forces ships and then I'd have one or more of them after me. Usually I was able to warp out and avoid destruction. Are there any such similiar escape mechanisms in SC? Or when you engage in a fight it's tough getting away when you find yourself in over your head?

 

[blesscheese]

Some comments I read in my guild pages:

Oct 2016- Game right now is a test bed, nothing more.

Oct 2016 Getting Started Options

Just a taste of everything plan

Aarrgg, I am a pirate plan

Let me at em! plan

But I want to bring my friends plan

Thanks for the info!
For anyone who is currently playing: I'm ok with sandbox, but is there a good guide that directs you were to go and explains the options once you get there?

Let me answer the first bunch of questions and get back to you on the rest.

Everything I see in your guild pages above sounds spot on for me...those are great details.

Right now, it really is a test bed, but there are a number of things you can do that can make it an enjoyable experience. Right now I enjoy cruising around but if I can get a bunch of friends together, we'll be doing missions and FPS on Kareah.

The concept now is that there are "safe areas" where the comm-links are up that track all player behavior...if you aggress on another player there, you get a criminal ranking, which you can erase but you have to go to Kareah, hack a terminal and survive for about 60 seconds. Which is why a lot of us hang around there, making life miserable for criminals

Also, you start off at Port Olisar, which for now is an "armistice zone" that is, weapons won't even work there, so you can't shoot people. Note, you can still get a crime stat by running into people, even accidentally but that is hard.

Right now, the best videos on what to do are on YouTube, put out by Sausage Fingers and Bored Gamer UK, although Dan Gheesling does a good job of showing a certain play style.

And btw, I'm using dual joysticks. It's a blast. I have my thrusters on the left joystick and the regular directional movements on the right. You can also look up this set up on Youtube, I just have 2 cheap Logitech Extreme 3D pro's...

 

[blesscheese]

Another funny video...the action doesn't really start until about 18:00, the first 18 minutes he spends have his group spell stand in formation and spell out WHP (the initials of his group), at around the 18 min mark the group then boards a Freelancer and ride to Kareah to take over the base on foot...

 

[blesscheese]

the alpha 2.6 release is expected by this weekend...to celebrate, it looks like they will have another 48 hour of *free* play for people who register and sign up for an account. Details are at:

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/promotions/welcome-to-sc

So far, looking at the testers playing in the test 2.6, space flight is more refined, and the FPS module, Star Marine, looks like a hoot.

 

[garnerx]

the alpha 2.6 release is expected by this weekend...to celebrate, it looks like they will have another 48 hour of *free* play for people who register and sign up for an account.

I think I'm going have a crack at that, I'd like to see how it runs on my computer. Hope it's 48 hours from when you start the game and not two specific days. It's Christmas!

 

[blesscheese]

I think I'm going have a crack at that, I'd like to see how it runs on my computer. Hope it's 48 hours from when you start the game and not two specific days. It's Christmas!

There weren't many details on that site. I'm guessing that when 2.6 is released (their current estimate is this Friday), they will open up the trial period, however they work that.

 

[gkarris]

3.0 just released yesterday!!

OMG.... OMG... OMG....

(hits "download" and runs off screaming...)

 

[jeanlain]

The game is not yet released but is already at version 3.0?

 

[Janichsan]

The game is not yet released but is already at version 3.0?

Alpha 3.0.

 

[Huntn]

3.0 just released yesterday!!

OMG.... OMG... OMG....

(hits "download" and runs off screaming...)

Looks amazing as always. It’s the comprehensiveness of the game that makes it stand out. The only problem is you’ll need a dedicated terabyte drive to run it. The author says now is the time to jump into the game. Is it?

Who in this forum is playing it? Sorry, my memory... What is your current appraisal?

 

[gkarris]

Looks amazing as always. It’s the comprehensiveness of the game that makes it stand out. The only problem is you’ll need a dedicated terabyte drive to run it. The author says now is the time to jump into the game. Is it?

Who in this forum is playing it? Sorry, my memory... What is your current appraisal?

I love the game and all it is trying to do - lots of different fun things in a single "Sci-Fi Universe"...

With that said, this version is running "slide show" on my RX 470 4G VRAM (1080p/Low)...

Gotta look into the latest drivers and optimization some how. Gonna be disapointed I didn't spend the extra $75 for that RX 480 8Gig (when GPU's were cheap).

Minimum specs is a card with 4Gigs VRAM - those people with the 3Gig GTX 1060's are gonna be screwed - welcome to 2018...

 

[garnerx]

3.0 just released yesterday!!

OMG.... OMG... OMG....

(hits "download" and runs off screaming...)

Is that video representative of the actual framerate you can expect with a decent graphics card? It looks unacceptable to me, but then I noticed in the comments he's using a 2GB 960.

 

[gkarris]

Is that video representative of the actual framerate you can expect with a decent graphics card? It looks unacceptable to me, but then I noticed in the comments he's using a 2GB 960.

Yeah, the minimum is 4Gig - minimum.

I have a feeling that 8Gig will be recommended, and the game being designed for cards that will have 12Gig in the upcoming year...

 

[CLS727]

I love following the development of this game.

I don’t have a gaming PC so I’ve never spent any money on it yet... but when the day comes they have something ‘finished’ enough to play, I’ll be there.

In the meantime I enjoy their YouTube videos as it progresses.

They’ve obviously blown way past their original scope and have pissed off a lot of early contributors on the process... but if they ever get to their dream, it will be hands down the ultimate game on any platform.

Would love for VR to be mainstream by the time they finish. 2020ish from what it seems like.

 

[Huntn]

I love following the development of this game.

I don’t have a gaming PC so I’ve never spent any money on it yet... but when the day comes they have something ‘finished’ enough to play, I’ll be there.

In the meantime I enjoy their YouTube videos as it progresses.

They’ve obviously blown way past their original scope and have pissed off a lot of early contributors on the process... but if they ever get to their dream, it will be hands down the ultimate game on any platform.

Would love for VR to be mainstream by the time they finish. 2020ish from what it seems like.

VR is the lofty pie in the sky goal, as long as they get the controls under control. Admittedly I’m not up to speed on where they are in the controls dept.

In a related title, I took a quick spin with X Rebirth VR and quickly asked for a refund, primarily because I did not know what I was doing and it lacked in tutorials. The game has been criticized as being half a game compared to it’s predecessor. But as I’ve gotten familiar with X-3 Albion Prelude, I’m having trouble picturing navigating all the menus in a VR environment. My impression is that this is the challenge. Having to memorize dozens of commands on controls you can’t see, only touch would be a hinderance.

 

[blesscheese]

Looks amazing as always. It’s the comprehensiveness of the game that makes it stand out. The only problem is you’ll need a dedicated terabyte drive to run it. The author says now is the time to jump into the game. Is it?

Who in this forum is playing it? Sorry, my memory... What is your current appraisal?

I played the heck out of it when 3.0 was in testing, and now they are getting ready for a 3.0.1 update...with that being said, I would recommend non-hardcore folks to keep hanging back and waiting... I have a blast, but, it does get frustrating with some things not working (interactions during missions) and the odd weird thing (their testing "quantum interdiction", for example). It is fun to go and goof around for an hour or two (more if you get a group of friend together).

In some ways space combat seems to have taken 2 or 3 steps backwards...I attribute this to their continuing conversion from the Crytek engine to their use of Lumberyard, and their continuous refinement to try to get more players in the same server instance.

That being said, if all you want to do is fly a ship from a space port to a planet, land, and then get a vehicle and drive around for a couple of hours...all without any loading screens...then you will have a blast. It is kind of like when I would just load up Skyrim to go to the northern shore and see the snow and hear the wind on my face...

 

[Huntn]

I played the heck out of it when 3.0 was in testing, and now they are getting ready for a 3.0.1 update...with that being said, I would recommend non-hardcore folks to keep hanging back and waiting... I have a blast, but, it does get frustrating with some things not working (interactions during missions) and the odd weird thing (their testing "quantum interdiction", for example). It is fun to go and goof around for an hour or two (more if you get a group of friend together).

In some ways space combat seems to have taken 2 or 3 steps backwards...I attribute this to their continuing conversion from the Crytek engine to their use of Lumberyard, and their continuous refinement to try to get more players in the same server instance.

That being said, if all you want to do is fly a ship from a space port to a planet, land, and then get a vehicle and drive around for a couple of hours...all without any loading screens...then you will have a blast. It is kind of like when I would just load up Skyrim to go to the northern shore and see the snow and hear the wind on my face...

Thanks for the update! Right now I’m enjoying the heck out of X3 Albion Prelude, and looking forward to X4 Foundations, while keeping an eye on SC. I just love AI traders, that I set up to make billions for me.