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Star Citizen Pre-Alpha: Hangar Module

I hope we get a few more 'rounded' ship designs, with more width to them. At the moment all the ships are shuttle-like.

Something like the Owlship from Watchmen:

WatchmenShip_WEB_MASTER_Compressed.jpg
 

MrBig

Member
Someone figured out how to load up their old test level with flyable hornets.
It's really rough and the control over the ship is awful but at least it's interesting.

starcitizen-2013-10-1g4uxn.jpg


starcitizen-2013-10-121unt.jpg


Just swap the two folder names in "...\StarCitizen\CitizenClient\Data\Levels" and it will load the level. +/- control throttle, wasdqe control direction
 
Someone figured out how to load up their old test level with flyable hornets.
It's really rough and the control over the ship is awful but at least it's interesting.

starcitizen-2013-10-1g4uxn.jpg


starcitizen-2013-10-121unt.jpg


Just swap the two folder names in "...\StarCitizen\CitizenClient\Data\Levels" and it will load the level. +/- control throttle, wasdqe control direction

I just tried this. WOnderful even for such a primitive and buggy state. I can only imagine what it will be like when the real time comes along. Man.
 

MrBig

Member
Someone else found a way to put all the rest of the current ships on the pad.

The auroras, 300 series, and hornets can be flown. You can tip the avenger around and it has its stairwell floating with it.

starcitizen-2013-10-1bnuf7.jpg


Had a bit of a collision with a constellation
starcitizen-2013-10-1cszyi.jpg


Beware performance issues, I was barely able to keep 20-30 on my 670 with all those full-res ships on screen.

Hey guys,

Thank you for the support. We're working on finishing up something else cool to release tonight, which you'll see in a few hours. We'd obviously like to have the Hornet ready to go, but we ran into technical issues that would have taken us into the weekend.

Hope this early messaging helps -- there'll be an official Comm-Link post a little later tonight.
https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/comment/1098904/#Comment_1098904
 

Zabojnik

Member
I can't believe some people have the "courage" to bitch about delays, when we get to see new stuff every fucking day. This is totally unprecedented and still they complain.
 
1280x768


1920x1080




If I view them side-by-side, I can really see the edges in the background become more sharp, as well as more vibrant lighting. For some reason there's a ground texture that seemingly disappears in the higher resolution.

Would the difference become more pronounced if I ran it on a TV that runs 1920x1066 natively?
 

MrBig

Member
More pixels means less detail is obfuscated and aliasing becomes less of an issue, nothing else should really change.
 

Zabojnik

Member
Would the difference become more pronounced if I ran it on a TV that runs 1920x1066 natively?

Looking good, Hitch.

You mean 1920x1080 natively? It doesn't matter what resolution your TV runs at, all that matters is the resolution you set in Star Citizen. Fraps captures off your graphics card, not your TV.
 
More pixels means less detail is obfuscated and aliasing becomes less of an issue, nothing else should really change.

Looking good, Hitch.

You mean 1920x1080 natively? It doesn't matter what resolution your TV runs at, all that matters is the resolution you set in Star Citizen. Fraps captures off your graphics card, not your TV.

Cheers. You can really see the difference with the ladders when looking at them from an angle

Would you say the second shot is around the quality I should be looking at from a GTX 670?

In Layman's terms, why is the vibrancy of lighting effected by pixel count?
 

MrBig

Member
Cheers. You can really see the difference with the ladders when looking at them from an angle

Would you say the second shot is around the quality I should be looking at from a GTX 670?

In Layman's terms, why is the vibrancy of lighting effected by pixel count?

The quality is determined by the game, and sans any form of AA that's as good as the hangar is going to look atm.

What you're describing as vibrancy may be chromatic aberration affecting the hue of edges, which could be exaggerated with resolution.
 

MrBig

Member
So trying to add a custom resolution in the game.cfg but it when I try to save it it says access denied.

Did you change the install location? The default location should not have any permission restrictions. You can change the permissions manually but it'd be better to install somewhere that wont cause issues in the future since the patcher will need permission to do its thing.
 

Daedardus

Member
I'm curious how the 2944 models will work. Will they gradually release them over time? Or if you pledge now do you get a 2944 model?

Is there actually even a difference between the 2994 and 2993 models aside from the Legionnaire?
 

Zabojnik

Member
I'm curious how the 2944 models will work. Will they gradually release them over time? Or if you pledge now do you get a 2944 model?

Is there actually even a difference between the 2994 and 2993 models aside from the Legionnaire?

I don't think every ship will see a 2994 model. Much like it happens with cars, some will, while others will get upgraded later on, if ever. They should definitely keep doing it though, as well as releasing new commercials / brochures, especially during the ongoing pledging period, as it puts Star Citizen in the news and brings in new backers / fans.
 

Daedardus

Member
I don't think every ship will see a 2994 model. Much like it happens with cars, some will, while others will get upgraded later on, if ever. They should definitely keep doing it though, as well as releasing new commercials / brochures, especially during the ongoing pledging period, as it puts Star Citizen in the news and brings in new backers / fans.

I think they should prioritize brochures for new ships though rather than new models, but this game is godly based on commercial/brochures alone so I won't say no to new ones :).
 
There's a community poll going on at the official forums -

https://forums.robertsspaceindustri...t-and-other-interesting-qs-sc-demographics/p1

It's to determine demographics of the people pledging for the game. Average age, geographical location, what ships they're buying, what ships they'd like to buy/earn, what roles they want to play etc. Worth filling it up to get more accurate data.

Some stats - The bell curve for age of pledgers peaks at almost exactly 30 years old. Exploration is by far the most desirable profession or way to play the game. Constellations and Freelancers are very popular ships. 83% of players are looking forward to the persistent universe more than the single player. And my country of a billion only represents 0.5% of the community :(
 

Irobot82

Member
Did you change the install location? The default location should not have any permission restrictions. You can change the permissions manually but it'd be better to install somewhere that wont cause issues in the future since the patcher will need permission to do its thing.

Yeah I changed the install location, it wants to put the game in My Documents I mean come on! I guess that's borks things then huh?
 

Grief.exe

Member
I think the problem with the ship numbers is the people who buy Constellations and Freelancers are obviously more invested in the game anyways and will tend to peruse the forums more frequently.
That is why you see the Constellation as the most popular ship, when in reality, that cannot be the case.
 
I think the problem with the ship numbers is the people who buy Constellations and Freelancers are obviously more invested in the game anyways and will tend to peruse the forums more frequently.
That is why you see the Constellation as the most popular ship, when in reality, that cannot be the case.

Precisely. The devs themselves have mentioned that the Aurora is by far their best selling ship and it stands to logical reason too since it's the cheapest one. Still, within the parameters of this poll, it's interesting to see how Constellations and especially Freelancers seemingly dwarf out the other models.
 

Daedardus

Member
I think the problem with the ship numbers is the people who buy Constellations and Freelancers are obviously more invested in the game anyways and will tend to peruse the forums more frequently.
That is why you see the Constellation as the most popular ship, when in reality, that cannot be the case.

This guy was actually awake during his statistics class.
 

Zabojnik

Member
Actually, I'm an Engineering Major and never had to take a statistics class!

Ah, good to know. How would you feel about serving aboard my Tali? That "AMX-1 Repair Bot" I got as a reward probably won't cut it. I plan on living on the edge.

*cue obligatory Aerosmith song*
 

Grief.exe

Member
Ah, good to know. How would you feel about serving aboard my Tali? That "AMX-1 Repair Bot" I got as a reward probably won't cut it. I plan on living on the edge.

*cue obligatory Aerosmith song*

Engineering is an in demand skill in this game apparently ;)

What?! Where did you study?

I'm an engineer student too, and I do have to take statistics :(

University of Colorado.

It depends on what field of Engineering you are going into. I can see it being more useful in certain studies.
 

Daedardus

Member
University of Colorado.

It depends on what field of Engineering you are going into. I can see it being more useful in certain studies.

Oh yeah. I'm still in this 'general course' for engineering, which means I have to take up stuff like programming, electronics, materials science, (organic) chemistry, thermodynamics, mechanics and the usual math ofcourse. Next term I can finally do full electronics :)
 

Smiley90

Stop shitting on my team. Start shitting on my finger.
There's a community poll going on at the official forums -

https://forums.robertsspaceindustri...t-and-other-interesting-qs-sc-demographics/p1

It's to determine demographics of the people pledging for the game. Average age, geographical location, what ships they're buying, what ships they'd like to buy/earn, what roles they want to play etc. Worth filling it up to get more accurate data.

Some stats - The bell curve for age of pledgers peaks at almost exactly 30 years old. Exploration is by far the most desirable profession or way to play the game. Constellations and Freelancers are very popular ships. 83% of players are looking forward to the persistent universe more than the single player. And my country of a billion only represents 0.5% of the community :(

So many Russians, I'm honestly surprised. Was expecting Germany/USA to be the biggest. Also Canada so smaaaaaaall lol.

Origin best company, happy to see the community agrees with me. Dat commercial.
 

Zabojnik

Member
Somehow I missed this:


Also this:

stxtch (SC forums) said:
Not sure if anyone has seen this yet but I believe this confirms a recon variant of the Hornet.

Found this ship component in the SC directory. "f7c_r_hornet_tracker_rotodome." It seems like it replaces the ball turret with an AWACS system and it looks AWESOME!

P13M3YD.jpg
 

Zabojnik

Member
If anyone here has seen BSG, can you imagine a recreation of appolo's time in the vacuum? So lonely, so beautiful.

That would awesome.

The fact that we'll be able to exit our ships in space and perform EVA or just float pointlessly around a bit still feel like magic to me. Space is awesome, don't know if you knew that.

It looks like we'll be able to fit most Anvil Aerospace ships will that rotodome.

From Jump Point #3:

Anvil also produces the Gladiator, a carrier and port-based bomber used throughout UEE space. Gladiators carry torpedoes needed to pierce heavier capital ships and installations, and are also (if increasingly rarely) used as dive-bombers in space-to-ground strike missions. With a defensive turret and drop tanks capable of unmodified cross-system travel, the Gladiator is an excellent battle platform. A high degree of configurability, rare in a military model craft, means that Gladiators can be retrofitted aboard carriers as SWACS craft, S&R ships or even trainers and target-tow craft. In spacedock, Gladiators can be fitted with everything from a jump drive (reducing bomb load) to a holo-targetting emitter. A true “where you need it” spacecraft, the Gladiator, like the Hornet, is among the UEE Navy’s most favored tools.
 

Echo Six

Neo Member
Somehow I missed this:



Also this:
I'd love to be part of a recon/elint/awacs picket of rotodome Hornets or Gladiators scouting for a clan's Idris or Bengal, or vectoring their fighter escort to targets. Very cool. I wonder if the recon/elint/awacs mechanics will be deep enough to make it necessary to have a Gladiator's gunner acting as a RIO instead of being handled solely by the pilot.
 

Blizzard

Banned
I'd love to be part of a recon/elint/awacs picket of rotodome Hornets or Gladiators scouting for a clan's Idris or Bengal, or vectoring their fighter escort to targets. Very cool. I wonder if the recon/elint/awacs mechanics will be deep enough to make it necessary to have a Gladiator's gunner acting as a RIO instead of being handled solely by the pilot.
For people who don't know this stuff, such as myself, I looked up some things:

recon = reconnaissance (scouting)

elint = electronic intelligence (electronic communication over radio, maybe intercepting stuff)

AWACS = Advance Warning and Control System (a ship with big sensors scanning for enemies)

radome = radar dome

rotodome = rotating radome

vectoring = either giving friendly fighters directions, or spotting enemy fighters and telling your allies about their path?

RIO = Radar Intercept Officer
 

Echo Six

Neo Member
The one thing I dislike about the Hornet is that it doesn't really seem like a space superiority fighter. Its design language just feels more to me like a 'ground pounder' gunship a la the Warthog or Apache, rather than say a Hornet or Tomcat. Like it should be doing low level strafing runs, or pop-up attacks from behind terrain with that big lift fan. I think its the boxy airframe and stubby chainguns (not that the aerodynamics actually matter in space). Not a big deal at all but it just doesn't click with me. By comparison in the Gladiator you can really see the WWII dive-bomber/70s-80s carrier jet DNA shining through while still maintaining the Anvil aesthetic. For that matter I also love how the Retaliator design simutaneously evokes the B17's bristling turrets and the B-1 Lancer's variable geometry wings.
 

Zabojnik

Member
I've always liked this early AI combat video. You can see the Hornets pulling off some crazy maneuvers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y2cKSUNkVA

I imagine a superior dogfighting ship will come along sooner or later. It'll be interesting to see how CIG plan to insert it into the universe. It would be kind of unrealistic if, say, players could go to a dealer and buy the amazing new Wasp, while the military continues to rely on the aging Hornet. Having the military and civilian version come out at the same time kinda solves that, but I think I'd actually prefer it if the UEE got it in advance, say by a couple of months. During that period you'd only get to fly it if you got called back into service. They've talked about this in the latest WH, btw.
 

Daedardus

Member
I do not like the design of the hornet at all. It just looks so... cheap.

Also, why does it have air intakes? There isn't much air in space if you ask me.
 

Grief.exe

Member
I do not like the design of the hornet at all. It just looks so... cheap.

Also, why does it have air intakes? There isn't much air in space if you ask me.

I'm sure the military uses them for combat in space as well as ground-based engagements. You don't have room for a bunch of different fighters on a transport ship, or the specialists to pilot each individual ship.

There are a lot of stations that seem to be in atmosphere as well.
 

Daedardus

Member
The big intakes and the design of it is for atmospheric flight, the smaller intakes are ramscoops

I'm sure the military uses them for combat in space as well as ground-based engagements. You don't have room for a bunch of different fighters on a transport ship, or the specialists to pilot each individual ship.

There are a lot of stations that seem to be in atmosphere as well.

But if it can fly in space, wouldn't it be able to fly in air too without the intakes? I mean, from a 'technical' viewpoint, these spaceships generate electricity out of fuel which is magically converted into some weird thrust coming out of the thrusters. Even if there is a direct combustion (can't find it now), it's obvious it wouldn't require air. So why does it need air?
 

MrBig

Member
But if it can fly in space, wouldn't it be able to fly in air too without the intakes? I mean, from a 'technical' viewpoint, these spaceships generate electricity out of fuel which is magically converted into some weird thrust coming out of the thrusters. Even if there is a direct combustion (can't find it now), it's obvious it wouldn't require air. So why does it need air?

Unless this was explicitly explained in their "what makes up a ship" docs we can only guess. Air and space are completely different environments, perhaps they can't extract enough hydrogen in whatever atmosphere they're in for the ramjet but they can use traditional jet propulsion, or maybe the engine needs additional cooling for how it operates in-air, or maybe they just thought they looked cool when designing then ship.

skimming the article all I noticed was this:
Intake: Allows you to scoop free hydrogen in the vacuum of space or in the extreme upper atmosphere of gas giants to refill your working mass tank.
 

Daedardus

Member
Unless this was explicitly explained in their "what makes up a ship" docs we can only guess. Air and space are completely different environments, perhaps they can't extract enough hydrogen in whatever atmosphere they're in for the ramjet but they can use traditional jet propulsion, or maybe the engine needs additional cooling for how it operates in-air, or maybe they just thought they looked cool when designing then ship.

It's most likely this. Ship design and gameplay mechanics come first, finding a scientifical explanation for everything isn't needed for the game imho. If they could come up with one, Chris Roberts should build an actual spaceship and earn a Nobel prize instead of making this game. :)
 

Mindlog

Member
It's most likely this. Ship design and gameplay mechanics come first, finding a scientifical explanation for everything isn't needed for the game imho. If they could come up with one, Chris Roberts should build an actual spaceship and earn a Nobel prize instead of making this game. :)
I remember another post where it's also another take on a Bussard Ramjet. Here's one person's take on the subject. If I wanted to rationalize it I just imagine a much bigger field projected out of those dual purpose scoops.

Really I just ignore it though :p
 

Echo Six

Neo Member
It's most likely this. Ship design and gameplay mechanics come first, finding a scientifical explanation for everything isn't needed for the game imho. If they could come up with one, Chris Roberts should build an actual spaceship and earn a Nobel prize instead of making this game. :)

Yeah I remember stumbling across the Project Rho website a while back and being absolutely horrified by the sheer implausibility of virtually any form of space-based warfare or interstellar (and even intrasystem) travel in any reasonable timeframe. I like hard scifi as much as the next guy but it's of limited use if you want space combat that doesn't involve trying to fly a cross between a space shuttle and a jet fighter while simultaneously trying to kill an enemy who is also trying to kill you, managing your systems so you don't overheat and die horribly and advanced orbital mechanics. Physics is just a big killjoy sometimes!
 

Zabojnik

Member
New Hornet(s) inbound!

There have been some questions about why it has taken so long to launch the Hornet when the military version appeared in Star Citizen’s very first trailer. The answer is that this is a completely new Hornet. In the last two months uprezzed and remodeled the ship to our new, higher game standards. Take a look at this comparison shot, with the original F7A Hornet on the left and the fully rebuilt version on the right. All of that had to be done before we can even begin producing the commercial or creating individual parts for variants or rigging the ships in the game engine! We’re constantly improving our game assets to make sure they’re the best in the business; in this case, that meant rebuilding every virtual nut and bolt on the Hornet! Building a ship like the Hornet is a labor of love: we don’t churn out spacecraft en-mass like a factory, we work to perfect them like artists.

NewHornet_screen26.jpg


NewHornet_screen29.jpg


NewHornet_screen48.jpg
 
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