Is the Star Citizen Dream Dead? | CommLink Podcast 023

Is the dream of the best damn space sim ever slowly dying? In this week's episode of the CommLink Podcast, Silvius and Stubb discuss the community woes and worries surrounding 3.23 and how they impact the game moving forward. How do these changes align with the original pitch for the game? Will Star Citizen 1.0 still be a space sim or something more arcadey? Will Buttholearmpit be able to name their own jump point some day?
Silvius and Stubb also discuss their own long term hopes and dreams for the game including things like a more player-driven economy and empty star systems to be colonized by players.
Let us know your own thoughts on the current direction of the game as well as some of those wishlist features you hope are added to the game in the long term!
Our Cutter Rambler giveaway on Twitter/X: x.com/commlinkpod/status/1743...
Don't forget you can also find the CommLink Podcast on Spotify!
open.spotify.com/show/3WYISNF...
Check out Stubb on Twitch
/ therealstubb
If you are a new Star Citizen player, don't forget to use a referral code for extra in-game credits!
STAR-FW24-N2N9
STAR-4S3Q-W74L
#starcitizen #squadron42 #starcitizennews

[@CommLinkPodcast]

Enter our giveaway for a Cutter Rambler with LTI here o7 x.com/commlinkpod/status/1743727527187623950

[@sporkwitch]

Earliest description was that Squadron 42 would be the single-player campaign (named later, it was just "single player" portion of Star Citizen). It was also stated that it will have a branching story, failable missions, and that completing it would grant UEE Citizenship and give some other bonuses at start of open world.

[@sozilla]

I'm shit at PvP. I also firmly believe that flight should be deep and very rewarding for highly skilled operators. Then, to balance it, you should be able to run away

[@CommLinkPodcast]

Right there with ya! Hope you enjoyed the show despite me fumbling the timeline of when SQ42 and SC were both announced at the start of the episode. Thanks for tuning in o7 -Stubb

[@sporkwitch]

I don't see why jumppoint naming would be a no-go. I'm sure they'll enforce a review process so it's not totally ridiculous stuff, but it's absolutely feasible.

[@Shakalakahiki8]

They've injected a ton of fun into combat with Master Modes. It's only in the 1v1 area that things have regressed a bit. This is a multi player game though and the fleet combat, with a variety of ships, Master Modes is already a big step in the right direction of fun.

[@CommLinkPodcast]

Really can’t wait to get my hands on it and try it for myself in the PU! Masters Modes in AC is just a tease now! Hopefully open PTU soon™️ 🤞 - Silvius

[@nuanil]

Just curious what your control scheme is, because it's been anything BUT fun for me. Especially everything BUT combat is terrible now. It feels like I'm playing a 1990's rails shooter. And they aren't going to iterate on this model, because they didn't on the 3.14 model which is what we have in 3.22. The current model only needed tweaks. Most of the issues with Jousting and the Light Fighter meta had to do with weapon ranges not befitting the weapon sizes.

[@Shakalakahiki8]

@@nuanil nav mode should feel similar to the old model. You can't strafe as much, but other than that what feels different?

[@nuanil]

​@@Shakalakahiki8 Feels NOTHING LIKE IT. For starters if you are above 150m/s even when you are decoupled, you CANNOT deviate your boresite/crosshair/nose more than 10 degrees off your flight path vector without waiting for your velocity vector to adjust to be within that 10 degrees again. Then there's the part where you exit quantum, your ship forgets you were in quantum and NAV mode, goes back to SCM mode, then goes back to NAV mode all the while sitting stationary for 15-30 seconds, and then it doesn't adjust anything back to what it was before, your speed limiter is stuck at the midpoint on the line, which is 33% of your max speed. I have an entire wall of text I could create, but I don't want to write a Tolstoy novel.

[@Shakalakahiki8]

@@nuanil it sounds like these are bugs and not indicative of the flight model. It's pretty snappy and smooth in my experience and friends I've watched stream.

[@jgrizz7943]

So why is it that the Star Citizen Kickstarter that is still up with the last update in 2013 Call it Star Citizen & not sq42? it says something about sq42 but is not called sq42 kickstarter & is only a minor part of what is talked about on the kickstarter.

[@CommLinkPodcast]

That’s my bad. I was misremembering it as SQ42 being announced first and then SC. I conflated the huge growth in scope that SC saw shortly thereafter with the actual initial announcement. Thanks for the clarification and for tuning in! -Stubb

[@jgrizz7943]

@@CommLinkPodcast gotcha i was thinking i had missed something lol.

[@cyberg_war]

I've been raising some of the same concerns since 3.23 hit EPTU. Some of these new development choices are extremely immersion breaking and feel like a console game. I suspect since SQ42 was created in a vacuum and many of the new devs grew up playing tablet and console games, these choices seemed normal, but in a space sim PC game that is supposed to be cutting edge and trail blazing, they are glaring absurdities and facepalm worthy. I hope the ship can be righted.

[@Jewifer333x2]

What makes it feel like a console game?

[@nuanil]

​@@Jewifer333x2 -The radial selection menus for one, which do not play nice with mice -Breaking shit out into modes in order to be able to reuse your 16 buttons on a gamepad for multiple bindings -Assuming people won't upgrade to joysticks so you dumb down the flight model to prioritize playability for gamepads and keyboard and mouse which quantifiably lack precision due to either being all digital inputs, or have an actuation point so close to the pivot point that any analogue inputs are ham fisted at best, while gimping number of allowed inputs from joysticks because they allow a high level of input precision simply because there's several inches between actuation points and pivot points, compared to the centimeter or two on a gamepad analogue stick -Having 400 keybinds, but don't bother adding another 400 to allow for directly keybinding all the functions hidden in the MFD's like Suppress All IR

[@nuanil]

@@Jewifer333x2 If you need an object lesson, play Starlancer, and Freelancer and tell us which one felt more like a PC Game, and which one felt more like a Console Game.

[@Jewifer333x2]

@@nuanil the radial menus not playing well with KBM is as simple as lacking refinement. I actually prefer radial menus on KBM for quite a few games as oppose to having to reach all the way across my keyboard to do something or hold several keys to press one (arma 3 comes to mind) As far as master modes and the flight model. I somewhat agree those need to go. I very much like the old system. It felt more comprehensive and deliberate. I understand they don't want anymore jousting/ramming, but I feel like combat speed is pretty much dictated by weapon behavior and physics anyways.

[@nuanil]

@Jewifer333x2 radial menus only exist because they are easier to use than lists for a d-pad, which means you've designed your game for consoles. Lists are what you use if using a mouse and designing a PC game. And sure a radial menu can be used, but it's far from ideal for a mouse, and if we're going to play the "you just lack refinement" angle then why are we bothering to cater to new players with the flight model instead of just telling them to "git gud"

[@rtek777]

If we don't get NPC crews, I'll be done with the game. Been a backer since 2014 too. Too much hassle to get people to run around a ship replacing relays. I hear people complain of being bored from just being gunners on a Hammerhead.

[@nuanil]

We were promised the ability to buy game packages, and get an NPC pilot to add to our crew.

[@rtek777]

@@nuanil Chris has also said on multiple videos that we would be able to fly and maintain our ships with an NPC crew because it's not always possible to get the required friends together to crew a big ship. He said in a 10 for the Chairman that is how friends would be able to join you by taking control of NPCs on your ship remotely from their hangar or station. The Agent Smith model.

[@WobWobWobbly]

The dream was dead from the start. This game is never happening

[@hollywoodguy70]

What game are you talking about? The scope of 4.0 has more features and gameplay loops than any other game out there. I guess the goalpost will keep moving until there are more star systems than Elite Dangerous.