Star Citizen Made a Major Shift in 2024 | But It's Not What You Think

[@hollywoodguy70]

These year in review essays need to be called Citizen Space Ketchup

[@kingotime8977]

Amazing!

[@SpaceTomato]

[@JaumeSabater]

Hear, hear!

[@lordicedewd4375]

you ,good sir , need to be in marketing

[@drakedge2000]

I second this.

[@S0HJIN]

"Mobiglapp Asses" haha 20:52 Merry Christmas!

[@FogginNobbers]

I spit out my hard boiled egg because of that beautiful line.

[@humech]

Came here for that lolol

[@SpaceTomato]

¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[@Schnuffi]

Merry Christmas Tomato, I don't mind longer videos, it was perfect.

[@SpaceTomato]

Merry Christmas!

[@gumpthegreat1]

This is why as a long time backer I have not really played much since 3.17. If you have played SC since around 2017 or earlier, then you have likely played every mission type the game currently has to offer many times. With new updates rarely comes new playable missions, so every time my buddy is like "we should drop in, a new ship came out" I am like "to do what? run more bunker missions like we had been 5 years ago? nah." 2025 needs to be the year where I can stop saying this. When 4.1 drops, i need to say "oh, look at all these new MISSIONS AND CONTENT to play!" instead of "here is new ships.... to continue to do the same old content we have been doing for years with..."

[@DJCroBar]

👆

[@FullFledged2010]

Missions are just there to make money. When the economy and basebuilding is in missions don't really matter anymore.

[@BeSk9991]

Why do you even need to do missions? I played for 50 hours this year - 20-30 in June to check out everything (after not playing for 3 years) - and it was amazing. 20-30 hours in September / October to play cargo missions, which were very fun... :D So idk

[@derqatarzan4207]

Agree, 3.18 was a nail in the coffin, has kept adding nails. Loaded in for the first time in a year, couldn't get out of grim hex after moving there because of the same buggy elevators that have been there for years now lol.

[@YamGarage]

@@BeSk9991 Because it's content to do besides the same 5 things you've been able to do for years.... Not sure you enjoyed jumping back in, it was a better project 3 years ago.

[@Velthus]

The thing I hate the most about the MFD's is not the MFD themselves, but the F button interactions across multiple ships that take up such a big part of the screen and sometimes screws you if you want to use an MFD. One example? On a Reclaimer, trying to use the right MFD to go through the buttons will instead make you get out of the seat.. or turn off your ship on other consoles. The placement of those wasn't considered at all and there are more ships where this is very problematic.

[@Doc_Paradox]

some ships even have the EJECTION button interaction key taking up a ton of space which as you can guess is a fun mistake to make

[@rayfighter]

@@Doc_Paradox came here to write exactly that - ejected myself from my single-seater couple of times that way (but it also has to be said that it was always my first ride on that ship... but still, extremely rushed "design", and i get it, millions of "F"s to place all around the game, while some of them call for a different solution)

[@AKARazorback]

It's pretty simple... they went from best space sim, ie: a blend between EVE, DCS, and Escape from Tarkov To: arcade sim, ie: a blend between Planetside 2, COD, and Rust. Feels bad

[@rayfighter]

@@AKARazorback and you deduced all that from F interactions?

[@MrJalasKelm]

Pretty sure I did something similar in a cutter during the expo recently, engines off mid flight when I wanted to move to the Comms screen

[@Joehockey1990]

19:55 I'll add to your minimap point. I LOVE having it. But I want it to be a reward. I don't want to know exactly where I'm going if I've never been there. So, make the minimap something you have to either explore enough to map yourself or make it something you can buy. Meaning, the first time you go to a landing zone, part of your landing fee can be an "optional" minimap charting download for x amount of UEC. OR you can just explore and wander around mapping the new to you landing zone as you go. Even better, make it something you can only buy from other players a.k.a. data running/exploration gameloop. You explore every inch of ruin station and sell a copy of the charted minimap to someone who has never been, is completely lost and just looking to pass through without a headache. Makes exploration feel real and gives players who spend more time in the ground movement category a way to monetize their success on the ground.

[@SpaceTomato]

Yup! The idea of unlocking, earning, buying, or finding POI maps for areas would be amazing. The ability to buy them to supply to others as a data runner of sorts or to take missions to submit those very missions to the local city, space station, outposts. I really hope they go deep with data as a commodity!

[@shueybosman2017]

Wow the quality of this video is actually amazing u deserves more views. It felt like watching a professional documentary about SC. Nice analysis.

[@SpaceTomato]

@@shueybosman2017 thank you! I may have gotten a little carried away with the last few videos. Holiday cheer! Thanks for watching :)

[@dt9233]

Yea, he does deserve alot more views. Very professional content created.... Passion must lie in it...💯💯💯

[@Nero-Caesar]

I know it's not a recent change but the inventory revamp killed a lot of my enjoyment of the game

[@SpaceTomato]

That's a bummer! Any particular reason?

[@dex6147]

No one I've played with even uses the "new inventory." They always just clicked top right for the old inventory. 2024 has been the year of SC downgrades.

[@cwegga]

@@SpaceTomato I'll jump in here because I agree with them. The new system is worse at looting many things from. It doesn't show all the things you can loot, it doesn't consistently move them, and if you try to drag some items it moves the backpack area so you have a changing target of where to drop them. Unless I am only trying to loot 1 mag, the second one usually doesn't work the same, then it's just another window I have to wait for to click the arrow and use the old window. On top of that until the recent backpack buff it had killed carrying loot with you. Nothing significant fit in backpacks, and there was no reasonable timed way to loot gear and get it to your ship, and then a station to keep it for later use.

[@Nero-Caesar]

@SpaceTomato well it's pretty easy to die in-game especially with glitches. Then all that armor and weapons are gone and you have to rebuy everything. I got the expo jacket but I don't wear because if I lose it it's gone till another wipe. I usually by two of everything Incase I die I don't have to go to the shop again

[@PCPAyLOAD]

I did watch until the end and while I am just as hopeful, we've heard this song so many times from Chris in the past..

[@thisSaint]

The GOAT of insight and quality, thanks for staying on top of all things SC over the years. Your content has directly influenced this massive project in the right direction - keeping them honest without resorting to salt. Have a happy holidays :) o7

[@SpaceTomato]

Thanks for watching. Glad you enjoyed it! Merry Christmas my friend 🎄

[@ShanerTheGrey]

Oh Jesus Christ

[@AKARazorback]

It's pretty simple... they went from best space sim, ie: a blend between EVE, DCS, and Escape from Tarkov To: arcade sim, ie: a blend between Planetside 2, COD, and Rust. Feels bad

[@sarthakdixit4834]

P.S two different teams working together to do something that is intrinsically linked is called Dev-ops and is a core in computer-science and anything related to it. So its not suprising that the level designers and the content pipeline team not working together caused big setbacks.

[@Pontiuspilotus-jj4wq]

I'd also be interested to know how CIG actually does their unit and regression testing since the end result of their work does not seem to indicate that they focus much on it. So not a lot of "dev-ops" if any. And how do they handle communications between the different scrum groups? A scrum of scrums? It'd be interesting to be a fly on the wall in one of their stand up meetings.

[@randomuserame]

I had a sneaking suspicion that there was a fundamental operational inefficiency going on. Something as fundamental as Dev-ops not being a thing was something that I overlooked. I originally thought it was just them stretching themselves too thin trying to make 2 games that _each_ require a full studio, but instead they split their 1 studio into 2 focuses and didn't hire/retain enough production staff. I still think that's a huge issue, but actually having dev-ops be a thing will [hopefully] take care of the "disjointed" feeling between plans vs concepting vs production vs delivery vs post-delivery rebalancing

[@Diogenes76]

Dev-ops the term that has a different meaning every time it is defined.

[@avon_c6199]

21:40 Reducing SCM speeds to 250-ish m/s, in space of all places, is quite a dealbraker for me....and while we are more or less force to "just deal with it" based on the cards that CIG deals us, I would hope that we see a bump in speed to around 400-ish some time. 250 is just too slow for general movement.

[@jjnxyz4368]

@@avon_c6199 still 100 m/s faster then starfield

[@Cheesebread42]

yeah I kinda feel this, but am also getting okay with MM. Shields and Weapons aren't as crit to me in a Vulture though as my daily driver, so if I need to scoot faster I just go NAV mode and its all the same to me. Safe Combat Maneuvers TM happening at relatively slower speeds is going to be a non-negotiable, there are player sync/desync reasons for that, to have a good combat experience players cannot be tens of km apart jousting at mach jesus. They still need to keep iterating though on play/counterplay ie. the ability to flee and break away from an engagement. Interdictors still have to feel useful but a freighter pilot still needs to feel as though they have an option if they can apply some of their intrinsic skill to something.

[@SpaceTomato]

400 would be fantastic!

[@KiithnarasAshaa]

@@Cheesebread42 The trouble with that argument is that low speeds aren't better for hit registry, and jousting at mach jesus isn't actual combat; neither of these were ever true even in the old flight model. Hit registry even at 1200m/s was good as along as the servers were running without issue, and when servers perform poorly even today, hit registry and desync is bad unless both sides are perfectly stationary for extended periods of time; CIG have never said that lower speeds were being done for performance or sync issues, to boot. While it was frustrating to deal with players engaging in high-delta jousts, they never did enough damage to you to really be a credible threat, aside from just ramming into you. The combat balancing and TTK now would make that method of engagement even more prohibitive to anything resembling meaningful combat; it's entirely a defensive strategy for rookies and people who don't understand how to fly.

[@T51B1]

250 is fine

[@T51B1]

I miss Todd Papy. If he had the resources that he actually needed to make the PU good then I'm pretty sure he would have done it. Rich's view that the PU needs to be a Rust/Eve mashup is NOT what we were sold for over a decade

[@BoBoZoBo]

What happened is that it was difficult to hide how little real direction or organization CIG has, and the community is tired of it.

[@FullFledged2010]

And yet they have almost finished 2 massive games with tech other game studios can only dream of. Not sure what community you're talking about but me as a 2014 backer am very happy with the direction its going. 😑

[@DragonNectar]

@@BoBoZoBo I like the game. People need to get lives outside of video games.

[@DrunkFool-w2r]

Almost finished bahahaha keep simping

[@BoBoZoBo]

@FullFledged2010 Server Meshing? No. That tech has been around for a while. And they fumbled bringing it together for years until they finally hired somebody who knew what they were doing. Don't get me wrong, I like the game, but the fact of the matter is, it's piss poor management; and it's okay to say that. Even a broken clock is correct at least once a day, and that's a higher frequency than CIG has achieved.

[@Twoflowersx]

@@FullFledged2010 i AM A 2015 backer and the state of the game is joke and the amount of money in development is nonsense talking 700+mils of dollars and the game yes does inovate on new techs like server mashing and gigant maps with no loading screens .. but this is a joke ..the way the company is acting is more like a cult then a game dev company.

[@moriko4134]

Happy holidays Tomato!

[@M4VERICK69]

Congratulations on pulling together such a great recap on what really has been a significant year in the development of our beloved game. Thank you for continuing to produce such high level content and bringing us so much in depth information in one location. Keep up the great work and have an amazing Christmas.

[@SpaceTomato]

Thanks for always tuning in Mav! Merry Christmas!

[@Neurocite]

appreciate all your hard work and the level headed reporting on sc. hope your 2025 is a good one

[@KiithnarasAshaa]

16:40 I think the vast majority of players don't have a problem with physicalized cargo. I think the majority of players have a problem with the _forced manual_ loading and unloading of physicalized cargo, by hand, with a tractor beam, with all of the physics jank and instancing and snapping issues associated with it. An ideal solution might look like a drag-and-drop UI for a stored ship, where you can tell the outpost or station where and how to load your boxes if you don't want them placing them where they feel like it, and implementing a kind of non-instanced Cargo Hangar at surface outposts for Small and Medium ships (and maybe Large hangars at some of the more developed ones) in order to store ships for loading and unloading, as well as being able to manually transfer cargo and containers between stored ships and local inventory. The surface pads and freight elevators can stay as is to allow players the option to load small quantities without having to wait for a hangar and hangar services. Fees and wait timers for all of that would be fine as long as they are reasonable and don't present an _undue_ impediment to gameplay and profit margins. Similarly, I don't think most players have an issue not having access to magic inventory inside every ship and at every landing zone, but the way its been implemented has made more than a few gameloops unnecessarily frustrating, like Gem mining and bunker looting. Their interim solution seems to be Make Backpacks Bigger, but I think a more reasonable solution would be the ability to just open storage containers and inventories and collect items from the world within a short distance, like 5m or so, allowing players to more easily pick what they want to loot and shuffle things between nearby inventories.

[@ThomasD66]

An idea so smart and player friendly CIG would never do it.

[@joshh9857]

I have a blast loading and unloading personally but maybe that’s just me

[@seanchen3496]

I don’t usually finish these long videos but the quality of your video is top notch, keep it up!

[@aitvaras5271]

Yeah, this just doesn't land for me. The whole cargo refactor was a disaster. It felt like an half-assed attempt at making things more physicalized. I don't feel like dragging 20x 1 SCU boxes brings any fun into the game. It just brings more tedium to an already tedium filled profession. The nerfs the tractor guns or the ATLS just felt like they are trying to lock fun gameplay behind a progression wall. The fact that hauling boxes has no feature to automate it, seems like a huge missed opportunity. What people expected from a cargo refactor is so much more. People expected a dynamic economy, with dynamic missions, real risk, but also real opportunity. Missions right now are still static and offer very little meaningful distinction. The mastermodes disaster is another issue where CIG relentlessly goes against the wishes of the community. Ship speeds are far too slow (and that's putting it mildly), inferior to 3.22 and they haven't managed to convince that mastermodes is anything other than a downgrade. It is by far the biggest showstopper, but CIG deliberately ignores this as a serious topic of discussion. They don't even seem to realize how incredibly badly this is hurting their reputation as a company. Even their envisioned attempt to change it, seems to completely miss the primary issue that things are far too slow. Server meshing and general server performance are the only major upsides this year. In terms of content I feel like they delivered nothing that truly progressed the game towards the next phase. Pyro was/is pretty promising, but without minimal regulation of PVP, the community just doesn't seem to embrace it. At the very minimum people want to have the chance to explore a system without being ganked the moment they leave the wormhole or land a ship at the nearest station. The monetization strategy is poor as well. The idea that you nerf a ship like the Corsair or the Redeemer, just to immediately introduce a ship that does the same thing but better, gives the impression that the marketing department is running the game and that like a AAA company they are only in it for the money. It's the exact kind of attitude that they sought to avoid. The idea that CIG nerfs old ships to introduce buffed new ships is the same kind of toxic behavior that Wargaming has with World of Tanks. I wonder if they realize how badly it hurts the longevity of the game. CIG in 2024 deserves a failing grade, as they've made too many questionable or bad decisions.

[@senn4237]

Good summary, my thoughts exactly. They made progress this year, but took major steps backwards, in my opinion. They really need to sit down and figure out what the basic systems of the game are going to be, like the flight model, and get it work consistently before adding in tons of shiny new features to sell new ships.

[@Dragon-Believer]

The flight has gotten slower and slower since 3.0. What is next turn based?

[@countrycraftscustomwoodworking]

So glad I found this channel. I love the chill vibes and the super informed talks. Will continue to follow along for a long time to come. Also thinking about joining the org so we shall see. Happy holidays and Merry Christmas to you good sir, as well as everyone in the community!!!!

[@SpaceTomato]

Would love to see you in GII! Thanks for watching, happy holidays!

[@JagHiroshi]

I think the game is getting over the line, at last, but I do think they got Master Modes wrong and it has impacted some backers enjoyment significantly. CIG need some new hands on that wheel to make sure the revision is something fun and palatable to 99% of players. It's a bit of a gaping wound at the moment.

[@owenmadsen2454]

What a video, just subscribed with enthusiasm unknown to mankind! Here’s to 2025!

[@jful]

People love to hate on managers and for good reason but having a skilled, no bs, get shit done manager who's not afraid to tackle big problems can make a complete night and day difference to whichever part of the organisation they are responsible for. It's great to see that CIG recognised the talent they found in Rich and gave him what seems like as much authority as someone who's not CR can have within CIG. I'm not saying he's solely responsible, but it seems like he is exactly the kind of leader CIG needs right now working directly with Chris.

[@CitizenScott]

In Todd We Trust Miss you Papa Papy o7

[@Turican76]

Todd made nothing. wake up

[@CitizenScott]

@@Turican76 "nothing" lol

[@D0CBEE]

The huge shift happened long ago as far as I'm concerned. Game wasn't pitched initially as "DayZ in space", or an MMO for hoarding collectables. Lets waste a day doing the same sh1tty dungeons just to get this cool armour that I'm never going to wear. Fun...

[@vorpalrobot]

Yes it was pitched that way. CR wants your friend to ask about the alien skull over your bar and you to have a story to tell on how your acquired it. These are some of the earliest parts of the project he laid down

[@T51B1]

@@vorpalrobot It wasn't pitched as Rust and Eve 2.0, which is what they seem to be trying to give us

[@11Rorschach11]

nice video. thank you and i wish u an awesome 2025! :)

[@SpaceTomato]

@@11Rorschach11 thank you for watching. I wish you a happy new year as well!

[@TT-jl1qs]

Would be nice if the server recovery worked after a couple days. Now all the servers have been down all day due to shards being completely screwed.

[@mrgroundhog9790]

Great overview thank you.

[@CaptJackster]

I have watched your videos for years and have backed Star Citizen since early 2015. I just wanted to say you are one of the best with informative content, keeping me up to date with your backed information as I come and go between patches. Thanks.👍

[@SpaceTomato]

Thanks for always checking back in. Hopefully the game has been improving over the years in your opinion!

[@davidhaught-rn1wg]

Physicalization of cargo pretty much killed hauling for me. It’s just so tedious. I can’t imagine having to load/unload a large cargo ship like a Hercules now. I’ve found that paying to have it loaded for me to be kind of hit or miss as far as actually working is concerned. I got rid of all of my big cargo ships.

[@gamerscircle]

As a new person to the game 30+ days [been backing since 2014], I really really appreciate you getting me caught up! Your video was organized and well edited, thank you again.

[@stuartburns8657]

So basically CR deviated from industry standard game development process, only to circle back to the tried and tested method 😂😢😢

[@TKanal3]

Its called innovation. You go were no one went before, and then go back on the things that dont work (for that moment). Progress is always x steps forwards and less than x steps back.

[@stuartburns8657]

@TKanal3 I applaud you trying to defend CIG's years of institutional idiocy. In essence, he was saying that one hand didn't know what the other was doing. Same lesson should have been learned when they disastrously outsourced SQ42. CIG was quick to blame them, but with that revelation, and Chris Roberts well documented history of mismanagement, you are brushing this off as 'innovative thinking' ? 😂🤣 You'd think studios with debacle such as Daikatana and Duke Nukem forever (with the same 'innovative thinking' would be enough of a history lesson, but no, CR has to double down. This is why you still fall through the world, or risk all going in a lift, 10+ years later. When your foundation is poor you'll be forever compensating

[@TKanal3]

@@stuartburns8657 aint reading all that ill be honest

[@_Spacecraft]

I'm happy to see that they're going to focus on making all of the gameplay systems gel together for a better experience now, I'm just sad it probably means exploration gameplay is going to be pushed even further back.

[@dt9233]

Wow! Man, that is a great crafted video and extremely informative. Touched on alot and I learned alot. 💛💯💯💯💯💯💯👍

[@bareloto]

This video was spot on! i think iut will be a good year and my guess is that it will get only better but slow. IT's not so much anymore adding tech but fix the bugs of what already exists.

[@BlackFisssh_]

Great video, thanks Tomato! Merry xmas! Can't wait to see what SC has for us in 2025 !

[@QGoblin]

12 years designing a storefront*

[@SpaceTomato]

It goes without saying, you can design multiple things at once 🤷🏾‍♂️

[@ShanerTheGrey]

@@SpaceTomatojust anything to excuse and enable CIG huh tomato? Jesus Christ dude.

[@SpaceTomato]

@@ShanerTheGrey ? You can build a game engine and s store front at the same time. There's nothing wrong with that sentence lol

[@ShanerTheGrey]

@ how about build the damn game and stop making excuses

[@SpaceTomato]

@@ShanerTheGrey I did not make any excuse for that. I said they can build both a game engine and store front at the same time.

[@lordjerle]

Last couple days have shown how much work they have yet to do, as I wouldn't exactly call the 4.0 servers stable with the holiday traffic.

[@senn4237]

I'd say 5+ years, at least, before 1.0. And that is probably being optimistic.

[@maddogs1989]

Great video space tomato. I know i called out an issue i had with one video of yours on Paul's channel. But this one was great and I 100% agree.

[@sfulweb]

Merry Chris-Must!

[@matthewmorceau8509]

20:50, mobiglap asses! Love the content man, happy new year. 🎉

[@L-vs7fp]

4.0_Preview's performance is genuinely something I've longed for. Actually seeing friends not rubber-banding and performing actions in real time with server meshing gives me hope for the future. Every server, every day is running at 30 SFPS which is something unheard of and I'm actually having a blast just with the massive performance gains I'm currently experiencing. Basically PvP feels like arena commander in terms of performance... just don't have 4 Polaris's out in a dog fight, but we'll get there eventually. This preview was genuinely a nice Christmas gift.

[@vhetinmandadral7545]

The fun in Star Citizen left with Todd...

[@rayfighter]

not literally and not with Todd, but I do believe that now we will get the average gamers pleasers, thanks no thanks Richard.... but dudes like Tomato will be happy I guess. They don't want as much systemic sandbox where stories happen - they want much more written stories created for you. "oh father, who is in heaven.... " or something like that, I don't do that shit since i was 13. I am 54 now.

[@0Metatron]

Completely the opposite, Tyrer is taking it out of the tech demo simulator with no progression or game mechanics and is turning it into a real MMO where your actions have real consequences. Exactly what the game needs

[@0Metatron]

@@rayfighter Great, I don’t want to be spoon fed content with pre made stories, I want heart pounding organic encounters with other players where all my loot is on the line. You know, experiences to remember rather than the same old mission again and again. And I’m 44

[@rayfighter]

@@0Metatron I believe that Todd wanted a systemic game too, like CR. What Tomato here called meandering development. Richard will take it down, to deliver. More mediocre, more like other MMOs, but sooner. I'm getting damn old since 2013 January Aurora LN, but I am not ready to accept the compromise.

[@T51B1]

@@0Metatron You want Rust in space apparently, which is not what the PU was supposed to be for over a decade now

[@Zeoran]

They NEED TO GIVE US BACK SHIP INTERNAL INVENTORY until the replacement systems are even in the bloody game, least of all working properly.

[@AnymMusic]

Imo it would be nice to actually know what their plans are with things like server meshing, their own anti-alias system, etc. Like did they do all this JUST for SC with no plans to do anything else with it? Or do they plan to use it as another means to fund the company by selling (or probably licensing) the tech? Cause especially those who might look at this game from the sidelines, or those who have pledged but don't really keep up, I feel like this can aid in at least making people understand a bit more as well why things take the time they do (aside from management issues and marketing lies)

[@PalisAiruta]

Really well balanced roundup, thanks. I have been playing since 2017 and this last year it has felt SC has grown up. Its now going to build a game. Probably needed someone like Rich to pull this together, we will see. I play far more now than I used to.

[@cedric5947]

To me this year has been bad choices after bad choices from CIG. From MM, to instances, to player driven game and not NPC, the lighting and oversaturation, the overall balancing... Besides the interaction system is still very clunky so is the star map. The inventory management is still bad and more importantly, though it seems like it has changed lately, they didn't listen to their community throughout the year.

[@h.keithent4126]

And here at the end of 2024, we are being visited by the Christmas ghost of 3.18

[@MankiHerNaNDex]

Not rly 3.18, was hell.

[@AKARazorback]

It's pretty simple... they went from best space sim, ie: a blend between EVE, DCS, and Escape from Tarkov To: arcade sim, ie: a blend between Planetside 2, COD, and Rust. Feels bad

[@CitizenGVN]

2024 was the year I actually started playing SC, playing so much to the point where I even purchased a set of flight sticks and then even upgraded those flight sticks lol. The game was/is rough but it's come along way from when I last played several years ago, I haven't played for a few months due to a career change but jumping on 4.0 this week, WOW! The game finally feels alive, I see people walking around cities, stations and even landing zones, I generally see multiple ships when out and about and travelling between Stanton and Pryo is a blast! It's slowly becoming the game I wanted 10 years ago when I made my original pledge and I'm tempted to spend some more coin now to purchase some more ships now because I feel there is now light at the end of the tunnel

[@xkaiser421]

This video really contextualizes why the game suddenly feels like its starting to click together.

[@mrblobby6284]

mr tomato, really enjoyed this very informative video. 30mins is a good length. not so keen on 1.5hrs. also prefer the videos where you talk rather than other people. thanks again for your content

[@oficijalni5713]

Someone got a fat envelope from CIG this Christmas. 🎅🎄

[@northendtrooper]

19:35. How do you change favorite action?

[@SamuelCersosimo]

Great job, man! Nice content.

[@SamuelCersosimo]

And what a VOICE!

[@SamuelCersosimo]

And Merry Christmas

[@LunaMoon0]

This year had the most sales from all. There were no 2 weeks without a sale.

[@Diogenes76]

I guess it makes sense that FPS seems to be the focus of a spaceship game since that is the guy they promoted up. Even though it is not rally what I signed up for, the new space rust direction does at least seem achievable in a reasonable amount of time.

[@JogroartZ]

I think with the number of people who are now working on the game (about 900, right?), version 4.0 should have been released 6 months ago, so that a 4.1 could be shown by the end of the year. Last year, Chris made it sound like we would have 4.0 by spring 2024... I hope everything really speeds up now, and especially that content is released which makes it enjoyable to spend time in the game. Even small things, like being able to set up the hangars exactly how you would imagine them. For the end of 2025, I expect more than what we’re getting in 2024. I also have to say that the SC 42 trailer really did a lot of things right. - a OB since 2013

[@SundayPriest]

Loved this in depth analysis. Well made!

[@BobNotBobOfficial]

Broadly speaking you are right, I think. Except 1.0 will not be "less systemic" at all. Systemic design is a foundational philosophy for Star Citizen, which is something that sets it apart somewhat from Squadron 42. I feel 2024 has been a solid year of underlying improvements and setting the approach for what's to come in 2025 (and beyond). It's interesting that you've identified Rich Tyrer as a key figure in the Direction of both projects now. He's very knowledgeable and passionate. Along with Chris obviously. I'm excited for 2025.

[@Bluewolf1118]

I love this style of video. Keep it up!!

[@dhlcomputers]

Richard Tyrer have been pivotal in this change, right place at the right time, but I suspect it was mainly pushed by Robert who had investors invest money and the investors set out dead lines that had to be met. As CIG and community noticed the decline of player satisfaction and a drop in ship sales. Robert in my opinion was humbled in a way by the MONEY and player satisfaction drop to stop feature development to a degree. Richard mentioned he wanted or was asked to, in my opinion to link features and content together asap and push for better playability. I suspect Robert had his arm twisted by the investors. Great video.

[@StoneCoolds]

How do you select a favorite action to an item for the F interactions?? I dodnt even knew it was in game!

[@pigskinrode0]

As I always say, Pyro is a high-risk, high reward system. I think it's good that it's a more PVP area. Like someone said last week, Pyro is a chess match. If people only want PVE, go play singleplayer games. Pyro is a lawless system... Like the wild west. The only thing Pyro needs add in is the Rep system. Now that server meshing is here, which I feel was a big reason why things were moving not so quickly. Now they have that weight off their shoulders and can now don't have meshing holding them back anymore. 2025, I feel will be a good year!

[@NotYetForsaken]

My God. Tyrer looked so young back then!

[@Antares-A]

A year of shift ... I think you misspoke the last word XD

[@GalacticAbsurdity]

This is a very good video :) If I feel good about the game, yes. Slightly disapointed at how 4.0 turned out, (as a start). But recognizing the work CIG put in to push this patch, is something we all should do. I was more or less expecting something like 4.0 start, to be rough, specially concidering the way 3.24 worked for me, it was awesome. Yea, I can still play that branch. But that does not lead to anything. Besides the updated tech in 4.0 makes it look so much better, it acually runs better. The feel of the game is something else in 4.0. I would not want to "go back" to the 3 branch even if 3.24 is acually the 4 branch. But you get what I am saying here. Just walking around the NPCs now is so cool.

[@TeambitDK]

Great vid and roundup of the year 2024. Despite what I hear, I think it's been a really good year for CIG, and I can tell that the games looks to be coming together ever so slowly. I really hope they'll be able to release within a few years. Have a great New Years Tomato, thanks for keeping us all entertained.

[@DasBullWy]

Sounds like Chris finally got his First Sergeant to his "good idea fairy" tendencies. Very cool pickup on his rise to this position. A great move for both projects

[@GreySix]

Well, the new guy in charge does explain the shift more toward space COD.

[@FlecheDeFer]

Funny how this sounds like last year...

[@nuanil]

So in other words, we have HIM to blame for the shittastic console UI being slapped onto a PC game.

[@AcheliusDecimus]

This year began with the foundations being laid out, and CITCON basically confirms they are now building on that foundation. RT is leading the vision well, and if 4.0 can hold together and release in LIVE LIVE not light LIVE, I will spend more on it next year.

[@Bob-jy6hm]

"This year began with the foundations being laid out" - regarding Star Citizen in year 13 (2024). I joined in ~2020 and this hurts to read. I dare not imagine 2011 original backers of a much simpler, more tangible game who thought it'd be in their hands within 2 to 4 years 😬

[@rickjwilliams]

They been milking that poor cow for so long I'm surprised it can even stand. Economics says that consumers are stupid. Well, I guess this game proves the point. Why do people continue to give this jerk their money for a game that doesn't even work. And never will. 12 years and counting... WOW Chapter 11 on the rise.

[@EvilAnomaly]

But how many people are not given them more $$$ versus how many are NEW that are giving them a little money versus how many just have money to burn versus "consumers are stupid"? There's no way to know the ratio of this but we know that this is NOT a situation where every player is just continuously giving them $$$. I backed the game from day 1 with a mere $45 and have not spent a cent more. So while I play it here n' there today I'm not being a stupid consumer. I'm sure there's a segment that is being stupid via "cope" but there's also those that just have $$$ to burn so it's not really stupid of them either.

[@themalestoic5591]

@@rickjwilliams because no other gaming company would dare to take on a project this big. That’s why it’s getting backed. This only opportunity in our lifetime for this to come out

[@0PsychosisMedia0]

​@themalestoic5591 Here is a wake-up call, It's not even going to be ready in your lifetime. Let that sink-in..

[@DarthSpyro]

Merry Christmas

[@HershelStimsQuA]

HOTTEST TAKE: Stop giving these people money. Goddamn.

[@ShanerTheGrey]

Tomato won’t react to these comments because he’s a gaslighter and enabler. He will only react to positive comments about CIG.

[@BC-vv3ot]

As always, good content

[@mort3346]

I honestly feel betrayed by CIG with Master modes. The game is terrible now. The one thing that was fun, flight, isn't even fun anymore. I would be fine with them firing those behind master modes and starting again from scratch at this point.

[@Ahtalon]

i heard a lot of ppl (basicly only PVPers) saying that, and i get that, but out of simply balancing act it was obvious that it couldnt stay that way. Do you think it was balanced and fair that a hornet stayed at 1-2 km range and was so fast you couldnt hit it with your larger ship while they slowly kill you? Thats bullshit gameplaywise, the fighting speeds were so high that the skill gap was TOO large. Some sort of balancing how every class of ships needs its counter etc. was also long overdue and mastermodes (operator modes) was one way to do that. And lets be real, its still the same, your ships have almost the same acceleration and physics works the same. its just capped at some point (minus the 3 axis throttle cap, but thats simply realistic: your hip cannot provide that much "power")

[@robertlee1497]

4.0 will come out to the P.U. (live, not preview) on January 15th, 2025... :)

[@Ecator594]

Last year I had some hype for the game. It looked like finally the game (tech demo) that you actually play was going to get some improvements. The year came and went and I feel worse about the game than at any other point in time. 3.23 was the turning point. The game available to play for me changed from something I could enjoy in spite of the bugs into a game I couldn't enjoy even if it had no bugs. The tedium of doing things, the general direction and balance for things like multi crew, flight model, combat, pvp/pve, and even ships and their purpose. What looked like a game with the potential to be one of the greatest PC games ever made to me now just looks like it will instead just be an online console game with a visual novel single player PC side game. It is surprising to me that about this time last year I was hyped for the game, but now that is so far removed that I am looking at this comment as I am writing it wondering why I am even bothering to do so because I care so little about the game now.

[@jamieford9391]

They managed it, just in time for Christmas! Never seen in so smooth, so stable and so damn good looking😮 Well done CIG❤. Merry Chrismas!

[@ArchReverend]

They just need to fix all the game launch issues. I'm having the 30005/1275 error preventing me from launching the game since 4.0 launched and thus have not been able to try it out. the only fixes i have seen are to roll back windows updates or involve me altering my security settings in the system registry involving memory integrity so needless to say im not doing that and instead waiting for CIG to fix it on their end as this issue is a windows version incompatibility issue. I see no reason why i should compromise the security and stability of my system just to play a game and i would think with how much the game has raised, windows update issues should not be a thing.

[@delarosa6254]

i don't expect miracles. just a constant moving forward . 3.18 will not be forgotten soon but even with this 4.0 preview frustrating that it is i think its very more playable. im an shift worker and life doesn't give me lot of time to play so when i do it needs meaning

[@donmega5202]

What happened is: We got 4.0, which turned out to be 3.18 in disguise with most contracts unavailable (LOL we have less contracts now than before), less gameplay in salvage as most of it is spent moving cargo and ship guns don't sell for anything, NPCs work with aimbot detection, and a LOT of old bugs got reintroduced. They're gonna need to work pretty fucking hard to clean up that 360+ pages of Issue Council they've got going on right now. edit: Also, the level designers are terrible. The contracts that send you to those distribution centers have you often fight near the Refinery and they decided to put up large cover panels on ALL OF THE RAILING leading up the platform to the very top, where the NPC sits housed ducking behind a wall. It's stupid design with no logic to it, either in gameplay, art, nor even engineering. There's no reason for the panels to be there. The very top of a maintenance platform with grated floors is not a good place to find cover. It doesn't make sense, so they just spammed defensive shielding all over and went to grab a smoothie.

[@theyshouldhavenevergivenme5439]

This literally sounds like a meticulously crafted spin piece.

[@HeliosExeunt]

Todd walked so CIG could start to run.

[@Denizen-X]

You spent more time talking about backpack reloading than you did about master modes, the most dramatic, and arguably worst, change to the game since it's inception.

[@robwoodring9437]

Maybe cuz everyone, everywhere, have talked it to death and back fifty thousand times.......

[@heru_ur6017]

He talks about what he's paid to talk about by CIG.

[@Sheppardsg1]

@@heru_ur6017 prove it

[@Denizen-X]

@@robwoodring9437 So the exact opposite of a reason to not have an opinion or discuss it in a video addressing the changes. lol

[@robwoodring9437]

@Denizen-X more like it's done. 80% of people hate it, and CIG knows full well they hate it. Move on, because there's nothing to add.

[@filipetavares1345]

my question is wats hapening with this black screens

[@JagHiroshi]

I worry that, I'm his drive to make progress, Rich will miss much of what made the game unique and appealing. That said, he's got an incredible task which I don't envy.

[@vliedtke]

I think now that SQ42 is in its polishing phase and doesnt need active artist/feature development work anymore we will see a lot more development resources freed up for star citizen in the time to come

[@senn4237]

I personally don't think this is true, I don't think it was true when CR said it at Citcon 23. I think he said it was in the "polishing" phase expecting the development to be much further along, and in 2024 they realized they have more work to be done and push the date to just "2026".

[@lassikinnunen]

​@@senn4237dude chris said that about sq42 like on 2013

[@T51B1]

lol, no. That's pure hopium.

[@vliedtke]

@@T51B1 why wouldnt it be the case though?

[@TheNerd]

Less ambition and more game is what Star Citizen and Squadron 42 desperately need, especially for publicity. You can add new game loops or technology later on. Tons of old MMOs like WoW and Eve Online have already proven that "we need to overhaul it from the ground up" features are possible even decades after release. Yes, it is hard to do and sometimes you need to remove a lot of features that were in the game for a long time, but at least you have a playable game at this point, instead of "a bunch of stuff thrown into a test environment, because we need people to buy ships".

[@JaumeSabater]

Good leadership is always key in success

[@pheebs8451]

30 min videos are great 🎉

[@horsthorstensen1277]

The shift this year was necessary for funding, but imho it adds a HUGE delay to the road to 1.0. Constantly polishing features, gameplay loops and balance while still developing said systems is a huge drain on time & resources.

[@darqshark3506]

I love the mobiglapp asses reference, that was a great citizencon slip up 😂

[@Redrabbit_studios]

If you build it they will come, if it's playable. 😅

[@Ha1rD1aper]

I think I miss Todd, but I like Rich. He does get shit done. Although, I think Rich might be inside the box a bit. Streamlined workflows aside, being traditional is going to get a traditional game... By that I mean he might be more likely to look for traditional solutions. Which work, however, may prevent solutions that really make some of the out of the box concepts shine... Which could lead to them being deemed not viable. Which happened before when Todd was director as well, but if people can find good outside the box solutions to the issues with outside the box concepts, then I think SC would be way better off for it in the long run

[@ashj8998]

Sorry but picking up items like guns especially in combat sucks soooo hard, oh my god Tomato, try picking up a gun in a fire fight when you already have two or if its near a dead body, its the worst, you get locked into a UI and get shot to death or it just throws the gun you pick up across the room, literally just been through this and its a 3.23 bug in 4.0, oh my...

[@Jtstien]

People that hate just truly don’t understand how ground breaking this game is (already) and what it will be. It’s absolutely the coolest most advanced game ever conceived. I truly don’t see myself playing any other games once star citizen releases to 1.0.