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Star Citizen Pre-Alpha: 'Arena Commander' Dogfighting

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I doubt anybody here has. I'm not even sure the thing works at all with the game. The thing can emulate a mouse, but I don't know if it can emulate a standard game controller. If not, you'd need to have support baked into the game directly.

If it was baked into the game directly (unlikely given the niche audience), it could have another interesting function though. The force feedback could alert you to where your ship is being hit. Have the control interface kick in the same direction that the ship would.

Cryegnine has default support for it actually (Crysis 1 was one of the first game s with native support for it). I am curious if it carries over to SC as mouse control.
 
For anyone interested in the Vanguard/Bulldog long range fighter, concept art is available.

Around%20the%20Verse%20Episode%2037%20-%20YouTube%20-%20Google%20Chrome_4_zpsq5rdsi8g.jpg~original




Personally, I think it looks fabulous and will be melting down my Freelancer, Gladius and M50 for it. I only wanted three ships anyway..
 
I was gonna say, it looks a lot like an aegis ship. I love that you can identify similarites among the various manufactures. :]

I most certainly agree. It's a nice little touch of immersion that you don't expect to see very often. It's nice that it's supposedly a newer ship as opposed to the nearly 500 year old Retaliator design or the "nearing the end of its service life" Avenger design... even though they're both gorgeous looking ships.
 

Let me in

Member
Looked at the official forums and FAQ and I can't seem to find an answer. How do I get into Arena Commander? I am an original backer. Seems like they want me to pay another 6 bucks, but there's also something about an alpha pass? The two options in game are greyed out.
 

Zeknurn

Member
Looked at the official forums and FAQ and I can't seem to find an answer. How do I get into Arena Commander? I am an original backer. Seems like they want me to pay another 6 bucks, but there's also something about an alpha pass? The two options in game are greyed out.

Did you move your ship into a hangar slot on the website?
 

Zalusithix

Member
Cryegnine has default support for it actually (Crysis 1 was one of the first game s with native support for it). I am curious if it carries over to SC as mouse control.

All the talk of this stuff has me looking into rigging up a custom multi-axis controller. I was already going to start modelling an offset shaft extension for the warthog stick this weekend. I need to stop looking into this stuff lol.

I was gonna say, it looks a lot like an aegis ship. I love that you can identify similarites among the various manufactures. :]

As far as similarities go, the segmented roll out turret armor reminds me of Anvil's Carrack cockpit armor.

That said, that beautiful, ugly bastard is mine come tomorrow. :)
 

Daedardus

Member
Meh, the only thing I hate about Engineering at University is that I don't have time to even catch up with 10% of Star Citizen news. Seems like I'm on a kind of unwanted media blackout. Good thing is that in ten years I know how to make such space ships myself though (I wished).

Also, those are some bad layers Sandi's got. I like the bob though. Had to lol at the sneak peek, too :p.
 

KKRT00

Member
Meh, the only thing I hate about Engineering at University is that I don't have time to even catch up with 10% of Star Citizen news. Seems like I'm on a kind of unwanted media blackout. Good thing is that in ten years I know how to make such space ships myself though (I wished).

Also, those are some bad layers Sandi's got. I like the bob though. Had to lol at the sneak peek, too :p.

Bad thing is that You will be, probably, work so much that You will miss university and 'free' time there.
At least i'm in that situation ;p
 
For anyone interested in the Vanguard/Bulldog long range fighter, concept art is available.









Personally, I think it looks fabulous and will be melting down my Freelancer, Gladius and M50 for it. I only wanted three ships anyway..

God, those animations are just awesome. I can't watch ATV now, but it really looks like the guy they hired from the Skyguard Fabrications TNGS team worked on this. Really tempted to try and sell my LTI Super Hornet package for a Vanguard...
 

Geist-

Member
God, those animations are just awesome. I can't watch ATV now, but it really looks like the guy they hired from the Skyguard Fabrications TNGS team worked on this. Really tempted to try and sell my LTI Super Hornet package for a Vanguard...

If you have a package and it's LTI don't bother. The Vanguard is being fast-tracked to flight ready in anticipation of SQ42 so a Cross-Chassis upgrade will be coming very soon.
 

lacinius

Member
Looked at the official forums and FAQ and I can't seem to find an answer. How do I get into Arena Commander? I am an original backer. Seems like they want me to pay another 6 bucks, but there's also something about an alpha pass? The two options in game are greyed out.

It depends on what you originally backed... for the alpha pass you would have had to pledge for a ship package that had the alpha pass as part of the pledge package... plus, you have also not since "melted" the ship that was part of the original package. The alpha pass is tied to the ship package, not your account, which means that ship package has to remain intact right up until the alpha launch of the PU. The alpha pass also allows access to Arena Commander. If your ship package does not have an alpha pass, then you also have to purchase the $5 Arena Commander pass. This is the FAQ on the Alpha slots and AC pass.

With the latest patch v1.1, the AC module of the game is now called up by sitting in the "simpod" located somewhere on the hangar floor, usually near the holotable. Once the FPS shooter module drops, sitting in the simpod will allow the choice between either launching AC or the FPS module... I will just go ahead and guess they will have a $5 FPS pass at that time as well.
 

Zalusithix

Member
It depends on what you originally backed... for the alpha pass you would have had to pledge for a ship package that had the alpha pass as part of the pledge package... plus, you have also not since "melted" the ship that was part of the original package. The alpha pass is tied to the ship package, not your account, which means that ship package has to remain intact right up until the alpha launch of the PU. The alpha pass also allows access to Arena Commander. If your ship package does not have an alpha pass, then you also have to purchase the $5 Arena Commander pass. This is the FAQ on the Alpha slots and AC pass.

With the latest patch v1.1, the AC module of the game is now called up by sitting in the "simpod" located somewhere on the hangar floor, usually near the holotable. Once the FPS shooter module drops, sitting in the simpod will allow the choice between either launching AC or the FPS module... I will just go ahead and guess they will have a $5 FPS pass at that time as well.

Or just hitting the escape key anywhere in the hanger. Quite a bit faster.
 

inky

Member
Hey guys, I have a newbie question about packages.

As someone who hasn't bought anything yet, what's the difference between buying an Aurora LN game package for $45 and a CCU to a Mustang Beta for $5 (total = $50) vs straight up buying a Mustang Beta package for $55?
 

Zalusithix

Member
Hey guys, I have a newbie question about packages.

As someone who hasn't bought anything yet, what's the difference between buying an Aurora LN game package for $45 and a CCU to a Mustang Beta for $5 (total = $50) vs straight up buying a Mustang Beta package for $55?

None as far as I can see. Probably just a pricing mistake on their part.
 

ASTROID2

Member
So I made a post in a thread on the forums on the way speed works for racing and I'd like to get your guys thoughts on my idea. I'm not sure it will get seen so I might make my own thread on the forum about it.

Here's the post:
There's a major flaw with the way speed works in the game right now from a racing perspective. Right now if someone uses a 350r if they are good at the track they cant lose to any other ship. Even your M50 can't beat it. If they want to make racing something to do in the game they have to fix this so it's just not all 350r or whatever the fastest ship would be at that time. According to the lore a M50can supposedly be competitive to a 350r when we know that can't happen. There's also supposedly a really fast Aurora. Even if with tuning of engines you could get a M50 to be faster than a 350r, the 350r would just tune itself to be faster too.

That's why I propose a set speed limit that all ships can get to. Lets say for example that was 500m/s. I think this would make racing much more enjoyable and skillful. Instead of just throttling to 100% and keeping it there you would have to see how fast you could go in a straightaway as well as when to brake for turns so you don't black/wipe out. You know, like real racing. Ships would be balanced more with acceleration speeds. So even though the M50 and 350r would accelerate much faster than say an Aurora it would still be able to reach those speeds.
 

Zalusithix

Member
The Vanguard is available now! Now to wait for hanger ready status to see it in person...

I must say, I love the absolutely massive center mounted gimballed gatling gun (freaking S4 on a gimbal). A homage to the A10 indeed. The power plant is interesting in that it's 2xS2 making it one of the few dual power plant ships out there in addition to being a dual primary engine. Shields are a bit weak at S2, but I think it's more reliant on armor than shielding. (Nope, scratch that, apparently it'll have 2xS2 shield generators as well as 2xS2 power plants.) Actually now that S levels are relational to true size, and not a measure of functionality, comparison is useless. Still, redundancy is cool. I have no idea how those tracks are going to work though for the rear landing gears. The support structure goes through the track lol...

Looking at the holo viewer, the torpedo bays use a similar mechanism to the Retaliator. Each side has two rotating structures that switch in the new missile after the previous one is fired. Pretty neat to see the same Aegis tech being reused.

With those torpedoes, this is going to be brutal to anything unlucky enough to be caught dead nuts in front of it. Four lasers, one massive gatling gun, 2 of whatever you want to mount on the manned turret, up to 8 missiles, and 4 torpedos being able to be fired in one salvo. It'll be the bane of mid sized multi crew ships.
 

lacinius

Member
Hey guys, I have a newbie question about packages.

As someone who hasn't bought anything yet, what's the difference between buying an Aurora LN game package for $45 and a CCU to a Mustang Beta for $5 (total = $50) vs straight up buying a Mustang Beta package for $55?


The Aurora "starter" package includes an Arena Commander pass... so you can jump right in and start flying. The Mustang Beta package does not include the Arena Commander pass, so you would be shut out of playing that unless you then also bought the $5 AC pass as well. So Aurora "starter" --> CCU --> Mustang Beta is a good deal.

My guess at the obvious price discrepancy is that the "starter" packages are priced to get as many people in the game so that they can "fly now"... then many will become hooked and will start eyeing other ships to pledge for ^_^

That, and the CCU functionality is something they offer for all flight ready ships, so other ship packages are priced with that in mind depending on the CCU path you can take. The Aurora CL is a $60 package, so the Mustang Beta --> CL is --> $5 CCU. (55 + 5 = 60)

The Mustang Beta is a sweet little ship, and as a small exploration craft, it will be able to travel through any sized jump point... which will be an added bonus when looking to take the shortest path between two points, rather than having to make multiple jumps to arrive at some destinations by the larger ships. Something not to be overlooked if you don't have much free time available for gaming.

**edit to add... I probably explained that CCU thing horribly. :\

**2nd edit... here's a good video tour of the Mustang Beta... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6_6VEjQvxY

**Final edit... yeah, don't read that, it's mostly all wrong and not even possible because I can't read. Just watch the video tour of the Mustang Beta and enjoy.
 

Zalusithix

Member
The Aurora "starter" package includes an Arena Commander pass... so you can jump right in and start flying. The Mustang Beta package does not include the Arena Commander pass, so you would be shut out of playing that unless you then also bought the $5 AC pass as well. So Aurora "starter" --> CCU --> Mustang Beta is a good deal.

My guess at the obvious price discrepancy is that the "starter" packages are priced to get as many people in the game so that they can "fly now"... then many will become hooked and will start eyeing other ships to pledge for ^_^

That, and the CCU functionality is something they offer for all flight ready ships, so other ship packages are priced with that in mind depending on the CCU path you can take. The Aurora CL is a $60 package, so the Mustang Beta --> CL is --> $5 CCU. (55 + 5 = 60)

The LN Aurora isn't the AC starter package though. The MR is, and he was asking about the LN. Both would require the $5 extra for AC module bringing the Beta AC ready combo to $55. (LN vs MR) Going from the MR to the Beta is impossible. You have to go MR->Alpha->Beta. Alpha CCU is free, but the Beta CCU is $10 in which case it'll end up being the same price.

Still doesn't change the fact that the Beta package is cheaper to get via CCU from the LN than outright purchase if you don't care about or need the AC module. (Don't want access till beta, or buying packages for AI pilots.)
 

inky

Member
Thanks for the answers guys.

Yes, I was talking about the Aurora LN because I figured I could save $5 on the Mustang Beta that way*, but I wasn't really sure if there was a restriction to the CCUs or something else I was missing that explained the $5 difference. I understand AC access is not included in either package. I guess the price disparity is just an oversight on their part.

*The M Beta seems like the perfect starter ship for someone like me (exploration focused, solo play, sleek design), and it's my first choice atm, but I've been jumping back and forth for a while now and haven't made a decision yet.
 

lacinius

Member
The LN Aurora isn't the AC starter package though. The MR is, and he was asking about the LN. Both would require the $5 extra for AC module bringing the Beta AC ready combo to $55. (LN vs MR) Going from the MR to the Beta is impossible. You have to go MR->Alpha->Beta. Alpha CCU is free, but the Beta CCU is $10 in which case it'll end up being the same price.

Still doesn't change the fact that the Beta package is cheaper to get via CCU from the LN than outright purchase if you don't care about or need the AC module. (Don't want access till beta, or buying packages for AI pilots.)

Whoops... I'm sorry, I mis-read what was being asked... so thanks very much for clearing that up!!!
 
Oh man.... my issues with self control. Melted a hanger, and the super hornet and got the vanguard for $35. At least it has LTI. I am not sure why I got it though because I didn't plan on blowing stuff up. But it is a sexy beast.

Soooo, is anyone getting the vanguard. ?

uhh.... yeah. I swear this is my last pledge for SC.

Why are you looking at me like that? You don't believe me?!?!
 

Zabojnik

Member
*The M Beta seems like the perfect starter ship for someone like me (exploration focused, solo play, sleek design), and it's my first choice atm, but I've been jumping back and forth for a while now and haven't made a decision yet.

YES INKY!

Mustang Beta? Oh my sweet summer child. Prepare your anus wallet, for you are now hooked.
 

Zalusithix

Member
Soooo, is anyone getting the vanguard. ?

Hell, I was waiting the whole day for the thing to go on sale. Refreshed the page probably a hundred times at work lol.

Oh man.... my issues with self control. Melted a hanger, and the super hornet and got the vanguard for $35. At least it has LTI. I am not sure why I got it though because I didn't plan on blowing stuff up. But it is a sexy beast.



uhh.... yeah. I swear this is my last pledge for SC.

Why are you looking at me like that? You don't believe me?!?!
There's no end to this rabbit hole, and you know it! ;)

The Vanguard was the last of the known unreleased ships that I had any real interest in, so I should be relatively safe from here on out pledge wise. I reserve the right to crack and get the Gladius or Redeemer in the future though. I have no need for them (already have 9 ships now), but these damn things are like Pokemon. Really expensive Pokemon.

Thankfully the 'Tali is going back off sale within the next couple days. Can't be tempted by what can't be bought!
 
Cross between F-14 and P-38.

The funniest thing to me is all the crying on the official forum about that. "It looks too much like a jet/plane, it should look like this picture of a wedge with guns and a cockpit".

Absolutely beautiful ship(like everything else from Aegis Dynamics) that I'm sure will keep me on the radar of people looking for an escort. I couldn't have bought it harder. Now I'm just waiting on Avenger variants..

I'm still playing with the idea of melting my Super Hornet for a Gladius, but I really don't think I will, even with the nerfs it still chews up most of its competition.
 

Danthrax

Batteries the CRISIS!
Absolutely beautiful ship(like everything else from Aegis Dynamics) that I'm sure will keep me on the radar of people looking for an escort. I couldn't have bought it harder. Now I'm just waiting on Avenger variants..

I don't think the Vanguard will be good at escorting anything, except in the niche role of intercepting targets at long range. It's not supposed to be very maneuverable, just very fast and very loaded with munitions. I mean maybe you'll be hired to be that initial BARCAP, but your employer still probably will want some more maneuverable escorts flying alongside the VIP in case anything gets through your missile screen.

and that's where me and my Hornet or Avenger come in =P
 

acksman

Member
Thinking of selling my Vanduul Scythe. My gaming time is just getting more scarce and I still have no clue what it will be like as its not in my hanger yet.
 

Zalusithix

Member
I don't think the Vanguard will be good at escorting anything, except in the niche role of intercepting targets at long range. It's not supposed to be very maneuverable, just very fast and very loaded with munitions. I mean maybe you'll be hired to be that initial BARCAP, but your employer still probably will want some more maneuverable escorts flying alongside the VIP in case anything gets through your missile screen.

and that's where me and my Hornet or Avenger come in =P

What you have escort you depends on what you're escorting and the threat you expect to face. Escorts wont even necessarily be monolithic in makeup. Large escorts are going to be comprised of both light and heavy fighters. Alternatively if you're escorting something deep into space, a light fighter wont even be an option due to fuel constraints.

At any rate, the Vanguard likely wont be a great escort vs small nimble fighters given the comparatively lesser agility and mostly forward facing weaponry, but it should be a good counter to the mid sized multi-crew ships that'll be abundant in the PU. Those larger ships have more armor and shielding along with many turrets and small missiles which work well against multiple smaller threats. (See Connie vs multiple Hornet demo.) If all you had was light fighters escorting you and a couple of those ships showed up, you'd be screwed. The Vanguard, however, is heavily armored itself and is capable of delivering massive damage to whatever is in front of it. I expect a Vanguard equipped with torpedoes will be capable of ripping a Connie apart by itself. Come in all guns blazing to open her up and then stuff a few torpedoes in the wound.

It's all conjecture though until we get multi-crew ships in AC and all the other flight/combat systems in place. We need armor and ship g-forces working. Without those it's hard to set the baseline of how exactly the counters are going to fall. Armor is needed to further differentiate between the ship sizes when it comes to durability, and ship g-forces are needed to limit the maneuverability of the larger ships to balance that increased durability.

We also need the updated ship information for pretty much everything. It's hard to get a feeling for how ships compare when so many ships are using the outdated sizing method.
 
I don't think the Vanguard will be good at escorting anything, except in the niche role of intercepting targets at long range. It's not supposed to be very maneuverable, just very fast and very loaded with munitions. I mean maybe you'll be hired to be that initial BARCAP, but your employer still probably will want some more maneuverable escorts flying alongside the VIP in case anything gets through your missile screen.

and that's where me and my Hornet or Avenger come in =P

Want to start a fighter escort company? :p

I think that's one of the better things about the ships in this game, there doesn't seem to a "ship of all trades", you can make your ships fit different roles than they were intended, but a Hornet won't be going out into deeper space and a Vanguard won't be zipping through smaller fighters.
 

Zalusithix

Member
Someone posted this image on the forums.

Dem eyeballs.

It's obviously not the focus here tech wise, but it's rather disjointed to have such realistic eyeballs, and and yet have no eyelashes. Then there's the low resolution paint on eyebrows above them. It's like you took human eyes and shoved them into a mannequin. Kind of creepy to look at.
 

KKRT00

Member
It's obviously not the focus here tech wise, but it's rather disjointed to have such realistic eyeballs, and and yet have no eyelashes. Then there's the low resolution paint on eyebrows above them. It's like you took human eyes and shoved them into a mannequin. Kind of creepy to look at.

Because eyes are from CryEngine Ryse tech.
 

Daedardus

Member
The painted Vanguard does look good hmm... Aegis is by far the most consistent ship designer in the universe they also seem to be getting the biggest output), now if they only had some sort of exploration ship. Would be an instant buy for me.
 

Zalusithix

Member
The painted Vanguard does look good hmm... Aegis is by far the most consistent ship designer in the universe they also seem to be getting the biggest output), now if they only had some sort of exploration ship. Would be an instant buy for me.

Nah, there's enough Aegis ships for the time being (8!), and we already have an excellent dedicated exploration ship in the Carrack. Other manufacturers need their portfolio filled out more. Most others only have about 3 ships or less if we cut out the variants. Variants are fine and all, but they still look and act mostly the same. The PU will need more diversification of ship designs - without them all being Aegis.
 

KKRT00

Member
Ryse doesn't have eyelashes?

EDIT: I guess it did. So they just important the eyeballs alone?! :D
Eyes are practically identical across the board, so its element thats included in CryEngine SDK, its not really something You create seperately for every character.
Eye lashes etc are part of the model You want to create, so they depend on the artists. Star Citizen has placeholders models for characters, so they dont have everything they should, in the quality they should have :)

About Ryse, this is good shot for showing faces. Expect better from SC :)

ib0JBuZkhdi3ai.png
 
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