So question, how will upgrading ships work exactly? For instance, I have a Freelancer, would I be able to upgrade that to have more cargo space in the persistent universe (as in, upgrade it to a Freelancer MAX or whatever it's called), or would I only be able to change its hardpoints/upgrade slots?
Actually, no, you won't be able to upgrade the cargo because that's directly tied to the hull of the ship, which is cannot be changed. AFAIK from what the devs have said, Modularity applies to hardpoints, upgrade slots, and interior modules (for example, you can replace some or all of your cargo capacity with a med bay, or a Command/Control center).
Quadrant 42, brilliant lapse (or autocorrect). I'm kinda shocked at how early that is for S42, actually. They must be doing really, really good progress. Of course I don't believe for a second it's coming out before Q1 2016, but to see Roberts so confident about the release date now, after they've been criticized for being way too optimistic about their release schedule and have consequently more or less avoided talking about specific dates ... Well, this is good news indeed.
It's healthy to be skeptical of a release schedule, but they said themselves that the farther along they get, the more accurate the predictions.
But even besides that, what do they really need for the first part of a 5 part campaign? They probably need to integrate the FPS and Planetside into the game, which is coming next month or April. They said that the game will start out on an Idris, which Foundry 42 wants to release around AC 2.0. They already have a working enemy AI in the form of Vanduul Swarm. And finally they need to record voice actors and create cinematics.
Far fewer technical difficulties there than the Persistent Universe, so I can personally believe it when they say they want to release it by the end of the year.
