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[Zalusithix]

Why did they remove that?
Are the ships in your hanger just for display then?

Yes, they're just display until the PU hits. Eventually you'll be able to get into a ship and really boot it up and fly off. The previous functionality to get into AC - if you want to call it that was kind of silly as it brought up a video game screen inside the ship that was independent of the actual ship UI. As the ship UIs and control schemes have gotten more and more differentiated, they probably gave that up.

Edit: There's also a sim pod in the hanger that should allow access to AC, but that seems kind of pointless when the escape key method is far faster and more convenient. It'll have a point when the PU is there and AC will be a part of a larger whole. Right now, however, it's kind of a "well isn't that nice" sort of thing.

 

[KKRT00]

To be fair Evochron Mercenary is about as hard a sim as you can get for space flight/ combat etc.

Probably meant more in depth flight model and characteristics as a whole.

You will be able to turn off IFS in the final game, but i doubt anyone would want to play like that.

About depth, everything is simulated here, so it cant be more indepth than that. Its all about amount of assist You use in the end.

 

[Zalusithix]

You will be able to turn off IFS in the final game, but i doubt anyone would want to play like that.

About depth, everything is simulated here, so it cant be more indepth than that. Its all about amount of assist You use in the end.

I rather doubt they're going to simulate orbital mechanics. ;P

 

[GearDraxon]

Nobody trusts CIG when they say its next to meaningless. Can't blame them for capitalizing on people's refusal to believe it.

Oh, I agree - I honestly believe that a) LTI was something of a throwaway line during the initial Kickstarter / pledge run, and b) they wish they could just go back on the whole thing. Although I think if they really wanted to take advantage of people's desire for it, they'd do more LTI-included sales.

It's also a big point of confusion for many would-be pledgers. I've heard more than one person think that, combined with the misunderstanding that pledging is buying that *one* ship, CIG is using insurance as a way to ensure further cash purchases.

 

[KKRT00]

I rather doubt they're going to simulate orbital mechanics. ;P

I meant around the ship physics. But yeah there are no gravity relations between objects

 

[Zalusithix]

Oh, I agree - I honestly believe that a) LTI was something of a throwaway line during the initial Kickstarter / pledge run, and b) they wish they could just go back on the whole thing. Although I think if they really wanted to take advantage of people's desire for it, they'd do more LTI-included sales.

It's also a big point of confusion for many would-be pledgers. I've heard more than one person think that, combined with the misunderstanding that pledging is buying that *one* ship, CIG is using insurance as a way to ensure further cash purchases.

It certainly is a mess for people just starting to look at backing the game. The system is already more complex than average with the packages vs standalone ships, module passes, subscriptions, etc. The concept of LTI is just another layer of confusion over the entire thing. They'd be infinitely better off without LTI - and the grey market it creates.

That said, I'd be lying if I said LTI doesn't cross my mind as a feature when a concept sale pops up. I know it doesn't mean much. Doesn't stop the less rational part of my mind from using it as a factor though.

 

[th4tguy]

so I backed this game on kickstarter in the beginning. I think I have lifetime insurance on my ship (not even sure what that means). Is there actually a module that I can play now or is it still mainly just a hanger?

 

[Zalusithix]

so I backed this game on kickstarter in the beginning. I think I have lifetime insurance on my ship (not even sure what that means). Is there actually a module that I can play now or is it still mainly just a hanger?

You have access to Arena Commander, and will have access to everything else when they come out. Social module and Star Marine will be up next.

 

[Dictator93]

so I backed this game on kickstarter in the beginning. I think I have lifetime insurance on my ship (not even sure what that means). Is there actually a module that I can play now or is it still mainly just a hanger?

You can play the dogfighting module at the moment. It has wave based PvE, PvP, and racing.

In a month the planetside social module will launch and you can hang out and act like an idiot with your friends on a planetside location. Then after that, the long delayed FPS module should come out in September now.

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

You will be able to turn off IFS in the final game, but i doubt anyone would want to play like that.

About depth, everything is simulated here, so it cant be more indepth than that. Its all about amount of assist You use in the end.

IFCS is more of flight configuration to allow the ships to fly more like aircraft. Whether turning it off can be of any benefit remains to be seen, and is another point of the lack of depth in the flight mechanics. CIG has a bunch of assists (smoothening and flight in IM, ESP) meant to defeat the stuff that is allegedly simulated in the game. Whether they will eventually have any trade-off for not using assists remains to be seen, or even discussed by CIG.

 

[tuxfool]

You can play the dogfighting module at the moment. It has wave based PvE, PvP, and racing.

In a month the planetside social module will launch and you can hang out and act like an idiot with your friends on a planetside location. Then after that, the long delayed FPS module should come out in September now.

I think that is still up in the air, judging from their latest SM update.

 

[Dictator93]

I think that is still up in the air, judging from their latest SM update.

They apparently have some automated tool that Austin scratched up for them last week that aids the retargeting process greatly (AtV).

Make of that what you will.

 

[Daedardus]

I'm consoling myself with the idea that by the time the 2 year insurance on my Orion is up, I'll have enough money to not care about monthly hull insurance costs.

Or you don't care about Star Citizen at all.

 

[lacinius]

Do you know whats there in the Delta? Is it for cargo? I used to have a Beta and loved the little living space, its a shame the Delta dosent have it.

The back of the Delta is still closed off, and you can't even see inside... so it seems to be unused space at the moment. I had not seen the concept art in message #5690 for storing cargo/extra munitions in there before... so maybe that still might be a future plan, but have no idea if they will ever revisit stuff like that on these ships.

 

[KKRT00]

IFCS is more of flight configuration to allow the ships to fly more like aircraft. Whether turning it off can be of any benefit remains to be seen, and is another point of the lack of depth in the flight mechanics. CIG has a bunch of assists (smoothening and flight in IM, ESP) meant to defeat the stuff that is allegedly simulated in the game. Whether they will eventually have any trade-off for not using assists remains to be seen, or even discussed by CIG.

IFCS is for making efficient use of all the thrusters.
Normally You would never be capable enough to handle them manually, You need computer assistance for that. But this doesnt mean there is not depth, it means that controlling 8 independent thrusters would be pain in the ass by any human and there are also other factors like g-force limits in which IFCS helps.

 

[Daedardus]

IFCS is for making efficient use of all the thrusters.
Normally You would never be capable enough to handle them manually, You need computer assistance for that. But this doesnt mean there is not depth, it means that controlling 8 independent thrusters would be pain in the ass by any human and there are other factors like g-force limits.

Pretty sure Wario64 would have no problem with it. Then again, I'm not sure if he really is human.

 

[Raticus79]

Pretty sure Wario64 would have no problem with it. Then again, I'm not sure if he really is human.

https://twitter.com/wario64/status/259464410916069377

Spoiler

Ninth tentacle...?

 

[demolitio]

Great, all my x52 settings are gone. Anyone have a good SC profile for it? I know it's a little different to set up than most flight sims due to the extra axis, but can't remember what I did before to make it feel decent enough to choose over kb+m.

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

IFCS is for making efficient use of all the thrusters.
Normally You would never be capable enough to handle them manually, You need computer assistance for that. But this doesnt mean there is not depth, it means that controlling 8 independent thrusters would be pain in the ass by any human and there are also other factors like g-force limits in which IFCS helps.

You wouldn't control each individual thrusters, rather on planes like aircraft in lieu of ailerons and elevators. With proper control implementation you should not *need* assistance to do simple flight and maneuvering.


G-forces right now are arbitrary at this point varying on the current balance pass. People have done calculations on the RSI forums figuring around 20-25gs in lateral movement alone.


Edit: If my space-fu is right, MAV thrusters are controlled in relation to the location. Groups are in terms of lateral, dorsal, ventral. Without IFCS you would rely more on movement and counter movements to make smooth turns.

 

[Pachimari]

Can I interact with the HUD in my ship in some way?
And wow is this hard to control with a mouse.

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

Can I interact with the HUD in my ship in some way?
And wow is this hard to control with a mouse.

There are some basic HUD menus currently, but you can't click around the cockpit like DCS.

 

[Zalusithix]

There are some basic HUD menus currently, but you can't click around the cockpit like DCS.

And given the differences between cockpits, you'll likely never be clicking around like in DCS. Functions will be simple and key bound with the game playing animations for that particular ship if needed for immersion.

Secondary UIs will be interactive in multi-crew, but that's not quite the same thing.

 

[Dictator93]

So how about that free Merlin week?
The thing is craaaazy pretty - some shots I took.

Some detail shots:

It appears to be using some new ship pipeline techniques, like extensive use of POM (or perhaps PADM) for extreme micro detail (the screws) and what appears to be tesselation on the one panel (which is kind of messed up though).

 

[viveks86]

So how about that free Merlin week?
The thing is craaaazy pretty - some shots I took.

Some detail shots:

It appears to be using some new ship pipeline techniques, like extensive use of POM (or perhaps PADM) for extreme micro detail (the screws) and what appears to be tesselation on the one panel (which is kind of messed up though).

When I spend money on this game, I'm probably getting the Merlin as my first ship.

 

[Daedardus]

I love PBR.

 

[Dictator93]

When I spend money on this game, I'm probably getting the Merlin as my first ship.

The free week is going on right now and you can actually try out the merlin if you wish (for free).

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

And given the differences between cockpits, you'll likely never be clicking around like in DCS. Functions will be simple and key bound with the game playing animations for that particular ship if needed for immersion.

Secondary UIs will be interactive in multi-crew, but that's not quite the same thing.

DCS and sims with actual planes being recreated is a different function.

There are still a lot of systems yet to be implemented weapons grouping et al, but the current design is good.

 

[viveks86]

The free week is going on right now and you can actually try out the merlin if you wish (for free).

I somehow don't feel like playing the game until SQ 42 is out. Is it free through the weekend? Might try if I get tempted.

 

[wsippel]

When I spend money on this game, I'm probably getting the Merlin as my first ship.

It's super awesome and really fun to fly, but not the ship you'd want to start with. In fact, you can't start the game with just a Merlin in the first place. There's no Merlin package.

I somehow don't feel like playing the game until SQ 42 is out. Is it free through the weekend? Might try if I get tempted.

If you're even remotely interested, make an account and buy the cheapest thing available. I believe you have to buy something to have a fully qualified account, but the system doesn't care what you buy or how much you spend, so a $5 paint job is sufficient. A fully qualified account allows you to participate in all free flight events, and we have free flight events all the time. And should you ever want to commit and buy a package, your money isn't lost. You can melt down your purchase for store credits, add more and buy a package whenever you feel like it.

 

[Zalusithix]

So how about that free Merlin week?
The thing is craaaazy pretty - some shots I took.

Some detail shots:

It appears to be using some new ship pipeline techniques, like extensive use of POM (or perhaps PADM) for extreme micro detail (the screws) and what appears to be tesselation on the one panel (which is kind of messed up though).

Really looking forward to it's more advanced brother, the P-72 Archimedes turns out looking like. With the P-52 is as sexy as it is... The P-72 is going to be one hell of a looker.

 

[Shy]

Really looking forward to it's more advanced brother, the P-72 Archimedes turns out looking like. With the P-52 is as sexy as it is... The P-72 is going to be one hell of a looker.

Yep. Can't wait

 

[Raticus79]

I somehow don't feel like playing the game until SQ 42 is out. Is it free through the weekend? Might try if I get tempted.

It's for a week:
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link//14901-Test-Drive-The-Merlin

Oops, I've been ignoring my Merlin all along since I was focusing on Vanduul swarm with the Hornet C. Guess I could try out racing.

Does anyone know what currently works out best for REC/hour grinding?

 

[CyberPunked]

Never mind

 

[The Dear Leader]

The Merlin is a really pretty ship, I used some REC points to rent it and really like the look of it, it also has the cool new destruction tech that the Gladiator(?) has.

 

[viveks86]

It's for a week:
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link//14901-Test-Drive-The-Merlin

Good to know. Thanks!

Damn that ship is gorgeous!

 

[tuxfool]

The Merlin is a really pretty ship, I used some REC points to rent it and really like the look of it, it also has the cool new destruction tech that the Gladiator(?) has.

All ships made after the Gladiator do.

Personally, I find the Merlin to be too skittish. It is fast and manoeuvrable but I prefer heavier feeling spacecraft.

 

[Zalusithix]

Unless I'm losing it, it's the Gladius, not the Gladiator that started the whole new destruction tech.

 

[The Dear Leader]

Unless I'm losing it, it's the Gladius, not the Gladiator that started the whole new destruction tech.

That's right, I thought I was misremembering the name.

 

[Raticus79]

Posted a new thread for the free trial period:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=175460394

 

[GearDraxon]

Sooo... if someone (a foolish person, of course) were to look into buying a Merlin (a bad idea, they're foolish, as mentioned) and they didn't have a Constellation to launch it from (this is just crazy talk), what would be the point, in the PU? Do we think other ships will have ways to launch the snub fighters?

Asking for a friend.

 

[Dictator93]

I was just fooling around with the tutorial a second a go to try out my new GPU bios, and I realized it is completely broken. Perhaps it is just my rig... but my missiles lock onto the training drone, but after they are fired they NEVER even track it. They just kind of go in a generally forward direction and do not work. Am I missing something? They used to work every other time when I played it before patch 1.115.

 

[Zalusithix]

Sooo... if someone (a foolish person, of course) were to look into buying a Merlin (a bad idea, they're foolish, as mentioned) and they didn't have a Constellation to launch it from (this is just crazy talk), what would be the point, in the PU? Do we think other ships will have ways to launch the snub fighters?

Asking for a friend.

Well considering the Merlin is only known to be dockable to the Constellation so far, and the fact that it doesn't have a quantum drive - let alone a jump drive... I'd say it'd be a waste of money outside of having it usable in AC and to look at in the hanger. That said, at $20, it's not exactly a wallet breaking waste of money.

 

[Arulan]

I haven't been following every update, and I'm curious if anyone knows how they're handling player movement inside of a moving vehicle. In a lot of games it comes across as jittery, or in worse-cases causes sliding. This often results in the developer creating fixed areas to impede movement such as a turret gunner, sitting in a chair, etc.

 

[Raticus79]

I haven't been following every update, and I'm curious if anyone knows how they're handling player movement inside of a moving vehicle. In a lot of games it comes across as jittery, or in worse-cases causes sliding. This often results in the developer creating fixed areas to impede movement such as a turret gunner, sitting in a chair, etc.

They talked about it in their gamescom presentation. Apparently multicrew ships have their own local physics reference frames players transition in and out of when boarding the ships, so it's pretty smooth. We won't see it until we can try multicrew ships though.

I was just fooling around with the tutorial a second a go to try out my new GPU bios, and I realized it is completely broken. Perhaps it is just my rig... but my missiles lock onto the training drone, but after they are fired they NEVER even track it. They just kind of go in a generally forward direction and do not work. Am I missing something? They used to work every other time when I played it before patch 1.115.

Yeah, guess it's been broken for a while.

By the way, I just realized we can all use that gamescom code too to get access to the ships. It doesn't need to be a new account.

 

[tuxfool]

By the way, I just realized we can all use that gamescom code too to get access to the ships. It doesn't need to be a new account.

And you probably have to remove your ships from the hangar, for the free ships to show up.

 

[epmode]

I haven't been following every update, and I'm curious if anyone knows how they're handling player movement inside of a moving vehicle. In a lot of games it comes across as jittery, or in worse-cases causes sliding. This often results in the developer creating fixed areas to impede movement such as a turret gunner, sitting in a chair, etc.

You can see an early version of this system in the recent Gamescom demo.

It's a legit demo. Not pre-recorded or pre-rendered or whatever.

This is from the live presentation in front of an audience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9rqPp_Cyk4

This is the another playthrough without any of the commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZtEEAdEihg

 

[viveks86]

It's super awesome and really fun to fly, but not the ship you'd want to start with. In fact, you can't start the game with just a Merlin in the first place. There's no Merlin package.

D'Oh! Hope it shows up eventually.

If you're even remotely interested, make an account and buy the cheapest thing available. I believe you have to buy something to have a fully qualified account, but the system doesn't care what you buy or how much you spend, so a $5 paint job is sufficient. A fully qualified account allows you to participate in all free flight events, and we have free flight events all the time. And should you ever want to commit and buy a package, your money isn't lost. You can melt down your purchase for store credits, add more and buy a package whenever you feel like it.

Gonna test drive it with the free trial week. Let's see

 

[Dictator93]

By the way, I just realized we can all use that gamescom code too to get access to the ships. It doesn't need to be a new account.

woh

 

[Raticus79]

woh

Seriously.

Trying out the Super Hornet now. Man, I didn't know the ball turret slots were size 2 - thought they were size 1 like the canard turret. Explains why those were kicking so much butt in PVP, that's nearly twice the damage from the base hornet.

It's going to be a good time for earning REC.

Edit: Just loaded up a super hornet with two Suckerpunch cannons in the canard turret by taking them off the Cutlass. yesss

 

[Arulan]

They talked about it in their gamescom presentation. Apparently multicrew ships have their own local physics reference frames players transition in and out of when boarding the ships, so it's pretty smooth. We won't see it until we can try multicrew ships though.

You can see an early version of this system in the recent Gamescom demo.

It's a legit demo. Not pre-recorded or pre-rendered or whatever.

This is from the live presentation in front of an audience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBkNdj8q4uc

This is the another playthrough without any of the commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZtEEAdEihg

Thanks. Looks like a good solution to the problem.