Star Citizen - media blowout, Chris Robert's new game

3.15 has really improved stability, and getting in and out of New Babbage is easy now. Now if I could just learn to fly... :ROFLMAO:
 
3.15 has really improved stability, and getting in and out of New Babbage is easy now. Now if I could just learn to fly... :ROFLMAO:
Also broke half the missions- something went wrong there with most of the space combat missions. 3.15.1 already in PTU
 
Ok. So far thoughts with 3.15:
1. Bounties are fucked. Like, good luck - the targets don't flag as a mission target on spawn (if they don't accidentally spawn in an asteroid), so you can't complete them. If you SOMEHOW get past VLRT/LRT levels, the higher ones seem to be more reliable, but on 80% of servers or so, they're not working.
2. Trade works, except scrap. Don't buy scrap. It gets stuck on your ship. FOREVER.
3. HUD disappears. Randomly. Don't swap helmets with a looted one.
4. Ships sometimes explode. Randomly.
5. Elevators in GrimHEX and a couple of other places let you on - but never, ever, let you off. Suicide. Lose your stuff.
6. 3.15.1 PTU already - which tells you something about the quality of this release.

It's not quite unplayable - trading works, and the bunker missions mostly work (don't put on a looted helmet!), but the rest is pretty darned broke.
 
Ok. So far thoughts with 3.15:
1. Bounties are fucked. Like, good luck - the targets don't flag as a mission target on spawn (if they don't accidentally spawn in an asteroid), so you can't complete them. If you SOMEHOW get past VLRT/LRT levels, the higher ones seem to be more reliable, but on 80% of servers or so, they're not working.
2. Trade works, except scrap. Don't buy scrap. It gets stuck on your ship. FOREVER.
3. HUD disappears. Randomly. Don't swap helmets with a looted one.
4. Ships sometimes explode. Randomly.
5. Elevators in GrimHEX and a couple of other places let you on - but never, ever, let you off. Suicide. Lose your stuff.
6. 3.15.1 PTU already - which tells you something about the quality of this release.

It's not quite unplayable - trading works, and the bunker missions mostly work (don't put on a looted helmet!), but the rest is pretty darned broke.
Umm the 3.15.1 patch is not because 3.15 is broken (it's one of the most stable less buggy patch in the last 2 years) it's because of IAE
 

Believe it or not, hes right. 3.15 has been the best patch for me since 3.2 or so in terms of out the gate quality and functions, CTDs, etc

Ive been lucky to not have issues with bounties, as thats most of what I do when Im relaxing. I am well aware of the issues affecting many people, just thankful I dont count myself as one :p
 
Believe it or not, hes right. 3.15 has been the best patch for me since 3.2 or so in terms of out the gate quality and functions, CTDs, etc

Ive been lucky to not have issues with bounties, as thats most of what I do when Im relaxing. I am well aware of the issues affecting many people, just thankful I dont count myself as one :p
Lucky bastard. My org has switched 100% to mining. Nothing else works. We’ve got two trade ships loaded with scrap we can’t sell. Several fighters busted from bugs. Bounties don’t work for any of us (I tanked an Aurora VLRT for 15 minutes before giving up), and we just figured out that if you expend your last missile from any given set, you have to rebuy them. It won’t reload at a station now.

The game itself is stable, sure. But almost nothing works 🤣. I’m literally flying a 325 around scanning rocks for a small fleet of Moles. Nothing else to do; we all can’t stand the current FPS gameplay. The one last herc we have is hauling ore, as are the two car racks. Can’t use them for anything else.

Oh, and the damned MFDs are still broken, which really sucks since they took target info out of the HUD.
 
Believe it or not, hes right. 3.15 has been the best patch for me since 3.2 or so in terms of out the gate quality and functions, CTDs, etc

Ive been lucky to not have issues with bounties, as thats most of what I do when Im relaxing. I am well aware of the issues affecting many people, just thankful I dont count myself as one :p
Well said.

I've not had issues with bounties either but had issues with going to grimhex crashing or quantum jump to a party member
 
Lucky bastard. My org has switched 100% to mining. Nothing else works. We’ve got two trade ships loaded with scrap we can’t sell. Several fighters busted from bugs. Bounties don’t work for any of us (I tanked an Aurora VLRT for 15 minutes before giving up), and we just figured out that if you expend your last missile from any given set, you have to rebuy them. It won’t reload at a station now.

The game itself is stable, sure. But almost nothing works 🤣. I’m literally flying a 325 around scanning rocks for a small fleet of Moles. Nothing else to do; we all can’t stand the current FPS gameplay. The one last herc we have is hauling ore, as are the two car racks. Can’t use them for anything else.

Oh, and the damned MFDs are still broken, which really sucks since they took target info out of the HUD.
Haha did you try server switch?

No doubt there is a lot of bugs and it will continue to be like this until the game Is feature complete.

Once features completed I think it's going to take 2 years minimum to fix the issues
 
So we did a bunch of testing on bounties this morning.

Don't speed in. I'm betting those having luck are running them in larger ships - and taking their time to approach the target. I always start in an Arrow/325A/Warden, and I SPEED in to get to the bounty target marker - 1000M/S till you're within 10km, then drop to SCM.

Much like the spawn system seeming to be overloaded servers taking time to realize you're there, the bounty system seems to be overloaded too - it's taking a LONG time to realize you're there to run a bounty. If you just mosey your way on in at SCM speeds, it has time to figure it out. If you race in to get it done, well - it gets very confused, and the scripting system kinda dies.
 
I fly toward the final marker at SCM out of habit, since theres been many times it takes a while for the enemy to spawn on bounties. No matter the ship, youll rarely arrive before it spawns in going SCM.

You CAN reload missiles...... but you have to find a way to get them transported from where you purchase to where you want to reload from. Missiles are physical, and are stored in the local storage of wherever you bought them until you move them. I dont know how to move them, or if you can at the moment, as I havent really tried to figure it out yet.
 
I fly toward the final marker at SCM out of habit, since theres been many times it takes a while for the enemy to spawn on bounties. No matter the ship, youll rarely arrive before it spawns in going SCM.

You CAN reload missiles...... but you have to find a way to get them transported from where you purchase to where you want to reload from. Missiles are physical, and are stored in the local storage of wherever you bought them until you move them. I dont know how to move them, or if you can at the moment, as I havent really tried to figure it out yet.
Just gonna claim the ships when they run out. I tend to use very specific ones (warden,325,arrow) for space, and others (cutty, etc) for mixed. So no worries about inventory.
 
The big annual "anniversary turned IAE-in-universe show" sale is going on now. https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/18429-Welcome-To-IAE-2951

There are free account badges for anyone who signs in on a given manufacturer's day. Star Citizen is in a FREE FLY event so you don't need a game key in order to have access. Also, just about ALL currently flyable ships are available in game to be rented and flown, but it does come down to the particular day of the IAE which ships are available for rental. You don't have to fly them the same day or whatever, but you do need to rent them during their availability period. https://robertsspaceindustries.com/...galactic-aerospace-expo-2951-faq-visit-us-on- ; info here on FAQs, including limited availability ships and stuff. There's also at least 1 "Warbond Upgrade" discounted per day!

Anvil Aerospace was yesterday (which debuted a new, available-in-game ground vehicle the Spartan heavy troop transport) - https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/18433-ANVIL-Spartan - RSI is today - you can see Anvil's by checking out the schedule listing on the IAE page. Almost all deals except the limited quantity ships (usually capital and other large, rare, or expensive types designed for "orgs/guilds" - for those who may not be aware, these will be available in-game without additional purchase, too)) or each day's Warbond Upgrade will be available throughout the entire event! There are also discounted new "starter" packages (often the cheapest way and best value to get started, save buying a legacy package from another player) and most if not all content now comes with 10 YEAR special promotional IAE insurance, second only to LTI (lifetime), so even buying a common ship or package during the event gets you bonuses compared to another time! Also, there are some pledges or packages where Concierge members get an extra little bonus available for the same price as the baseline package (usually a skin/paint etc) and I'd be happy to purchase them AT COST for anyone who wishes. The same is true for any "concierge" flagged packages or multi-ship packs etc.

Recruit A Friend benefits continue, so anyone checking out the game now feel free to use my key - STAR-NFTL-9K7P - which will grant you 5000 UEC (in-game currency used for everything - there is no typical "premium real money " vs "in game earned" currency like many titles). However, this fall there's a special promotion including a FREE SHIP - " From the RSI Site: "What is the referral bonus? The referral bonus gives you (and me both) a free ship for getting new players into Star Citizen. This time, you and the players you refer get both the Argo MPUV-1C, for FREE. And, since this ship took home the crown at Ship Showdown this year, you and your recruit will also secure MPUV's Best in Show Paint, Argo flight jacket and backpack. " . So yeah, all you have to do is sign up with a referral code during creation and then if you decide you like the game and buy a game package including an account key, you'll be set! I also personally and privately run little bonus give-aways for my recruits / those I do at-cost purchases for (in SC or other games in which I am involved) when possible! If you don't want to use mine for whatever reasons, there are now tons of "recruit randomizer" sites out there but I don't know how legit any individual one of them may be.

Even if you don't end up buying anything, the free fly, in-game event content, chance to demo a bunch of ships , and just see some gameplay mechanics including newly arrived ones in patch 3.15 is open to you!
 
Re-did my two packs mostly because I'm OCD and want them organized. I use Entrepreneur packs as a base, since it gets 5 ships with LTI to upgrade..
I made one my bomber loadout that Ill not likely have to touch again - A2, Harbinger, Retaliator, Gladiator, Shrike.
Other one currently has Polaris, hawk, inferno, vulture and prospector. Not sure what I want to change the vulture to, and Ill keep the prospector so I can mine if I ever feel like it.
Also picked up a warbond Spartan with LTI.
Looking each day at what comes out if anything really tickles me at the moment to upgrade to.
 
Oh I 'doubt' it'll ever "release."

It'll be some rolling thing at best - perpetual beta. Worst case they finally collapse and we pray that the game is dumped online. And yes, I'm clearly a current supporter - because it's entertaining - but I don't think it'll ~finish~.

Star Citizen itself is a MMO (some use the title "live service", but it is closer to a traditional MMO with requisite massive scope player bases, economies, and the like) , so in that way it won't be "finished". It will continue to be updated etc... but I think they're going to have to pick a "1.0 Launch" target that will mean a major change to the gameplay and monetization structure. Thankfully due to open development roadmaps and the like, the qualifications for a 1.0 launch are well known and attempts to skirt around them would be noticed. When this point arrives (and I do figure it will be quite some time as we need both technical improvements and game systems refined and added; they are trying to build something never before seen given the content and immersion after all), it will mean an end to the ability to outright purchase packages, ships, and (most) cosmetics for real money. The idea has been that they are doing this to continue to fund the dev effort prior to launch, but the game's economy depends on a single in-game currency (no "premium real money vs basic in-game earned" stuff) and can't have people basically buying ships that "pop into existence" without respect for the game economy . From capital ships down to a sidearm or dashboard toy, each item in the game is part of an economic system of manufacture between raw materials being found and extracted, processed, refined, built into component parts, aggregated into finished products, and finally shipped for sale. Thus, if pirates take over a key shipping lane and create delays it can mean less stock available for new ship purchases or longer wait time for claiming insurance replacement, wheeras if a refining and smelting station blows up the amount of usable metals will go down, raising the price and lowering the availability etc. With a system like this, they can't simply have someone drop some amount of real cash and pull another ship out of midair, lest it undermine the entire economy with serious market manipulation. Likewise, the 1.0 launch is when certain parameters like in-game insurance contracts start to count down - those that picked up new ships during the IAE sale with a 10 year insurance contract for instance won't have it start counting down until launch.

There are a lot of reasons they need to keep the game moving forward and not simply in perpetual testing. While like most MMOs it won't be "finished", it will reach a point of official launch and from there go through refinement and expansion .
 
Star Citizen itself is a MMO (some use the title "live service", but it is closer to a traditional MMO with requisite massive scope player bases, economies, and the like) , so in that way it won't be "finished". It will continue to be updated etc... but I think they're going to have to pick a "1.0 Launch" target that will mean a major change to the gameplay and monetization structure. Thankfully due to open development roadmaps and the like, the qualifications for a 1.0 launch are well known and attempts to skirt around them would be noticed. When this point arrives (and I do figure it will be quite some time as we need both technical improvements and game systems refined and added; they are trying to build something never before seen given the content and immersion after all), it will mean an end to the ability to outright purchase packages, ships, and (most) cosmetics for real money. The idea has been that they are doing this to continue to fund the dev effort prior to launch, but the game's economy depends on a single in-game currency (no "premium real money vs basic in-game earned" stuff) and can't have people basically buying ships that "pop into existence" without respect for the game economy . From capital ships down to a sidearm or dashboard toy, each item in the game is part of an economic system of manufacture between raw materials being found and extracted, processed, refined, built into component parts, aggregated into finished products, and finally shipped for sale. Thus, if pirates take over a key shipping lane and create delays it can mean less stock available for new ship purchases or longer wait time for claiming insurance replacement, wheeras if a refining and smelting station blows up the amount of usable metals will go down, raising the price and lowering the availability etc. With a system like this, they can't simply have someone drop some amount of real cash and pull another ship out of midair, lest it undermine the entire economy with serious market manipulation. Likewise, the 1.0 launch is when certain parameters like in-game insurance contracts start to count down - those that picked up new ships during the IAE sale with a 10 year insurance contract for instance won't have it start counting down until launch.

There are a lot of reasons they need to keep the game moving forward and not simply in perpetual testing. While like most MMOs it won't be "finished", it will reach a point of official launch and from there go through refinement and expansion .
I'm so glad we have people like you around to mansplain how economies, game development, and MMOs work. I'd be so lost otherwise.
 
Star Citizen itself is a MMO (some use the title "live service", but it is closer to a traditional MMO with requisite massive scope player bases, economies, and the like) , so in that way it won't be "finished". It will continue to be updated etc... but I think they're going to have to pick a "1.0 Launch" target that will mean a major change to the gameplay and monetization structure.
This is where I wonder. I totally agree that it'll have a stream of updates forever, but why give up the money train? I'm not complaining - mind you - just pointing out that as a monetization technique, macro-transactions is apparently bringing in "@%#!@%-you" levels of cash, so why change it? If you keep it in "beta" forever, you can keep building new things, selling them for cash, and giggling all the way to the bank. Any decent company manager would see that profit line and strongly hesitate to ever give it up - especially since (devils advocate here) that would let you keep doing MAJOR updates (engines/etc) without worrying about revenue streams.
Thankfully due to open development roadmaps and the like, the qualifications for a 1.0 launch are well known and attempts to skirt around them would be noticed.
Would they? Some folks are WAY too far down either side of the fence on this one (I doubt the release, but I play regularly, and still buy pledges - I'm in the middle). I suspect a whole group would shrug and buy the next mega-kraken.
When this point arrives (and I do figure it will be quite some time as we need both technical improvements and game systems refined and added; they are trying to build something never before seen given the content and immersion after all), it will mean an end to the ability to outright purchase packages, ships, and (most) cosmetics for real money.
That was the plan... but as the old saying goes, "the plans of mice and men gang oft..." and so on.
The idea has been that they are doing this to continue to fund the dev effort prior to launch, but the game's economy depends on a single in-game currency (no "premium real money vs basic in-game earned" stuff) and can't have people basically buying ships that "pop into existence" without respect for the game economy .
I'm fiddling through a few ways to make this work, if they wanted to - long delays on LTI insurance returns, etc. There are ~ways~ you could make it work if you really wanted to - things that try to balance it (and economic sinks - paying for hanger space for all "owned" ships, etc)... it's possible, but will they do it? No idea. I could SEE it though.
From capital ships down to a sidearm or dashboard toy, each item in the game is part of an economic system of manufacture between raw materials being found and extracted, processed, refined, built into component parts, aggregated into finished products, and finally shipped for sale. Thus, if pirates take over a key shipping lane and create delays it can mean less stock available for new ship purchases or longer wait time for claiming insurance replacement, wheeras if a refining and smelting station blows up the amount of usable metals will go down, raising the price and lowering the availability etc. With a system like this, they can't simply have someone drop some amount of real cash and pull another ship out of midair, lest it undermine the entire economy with serious market manipulation. Likewise, the 1.0 launch is when certain parameters like in-game insurance contracts start to count down - those that picked up new ships during the IAE sale with a 10 year insurance contract for instance won't have it start counting down until launch.

There are a lot of reasons they need to keep the game moving forward and not simply in perpetual testing. While like most MMOs it won't be "finished", it will reach a point of official launch and from there go through refinement and expansion .
Yep. Agreed. BUT... they could. And given the money flow, damned if I wouldn't be tempted were I the investors behind the program (not Chris - I actually believe him on this one, but he's not the initial money source).
 
Star Citizen itself is a MMO (some use the title "live service", but it is closer to a traditional MMO with requisite massive scope player bases, economies, and the like) , so in that way it won't be "finished". It will continue to be updated etc... but I think they're going to have to pick a "1.0 Launch" target that will mean a major change to the gameplay and monetization structure. Thankfully due to open development roadmaps and the like, the qualifications for a 1.0 launch are well known and attempts to skirt around them would be noticed. When this point arrives (and I do figure it will be quite some time as we need both technical improvements and game systems refined and added; they are trying to build something never before seen given the content and immersion after all), it will mean an end to the ability to outright purchase packages, ships, and (most) cosmetics for real money. The idea has been that they are doing this to continue to fund the dev effort prior to launch, but the game's economy depends on a single in-game currency (no "premium real money vs basic in-game earned" stuff) and can't have people basically buying ships that "pop into existence" without respect for the game economy . From capital ships down to a sidearm or dashboard toy, each item in the game is part of an economic system of manufacture between raw materials being found and extracted, processed, refined, built into component parts, aggregated into finished products, and finally shipped for sale. Thus, if pirates take over a key shipping lane and create delays it can mean less stock available for new ship purchases or longer wait time for claiming insurance replacement, wheeras if a refining and smelting station blows up the amount of usable metals will go down, raising the price and lowering the availability etc. With a system like this, they can't simply have someone drop some amount of real cash and pull another ship out of midair, lest it undermine the entire economy with serious market manipulation. Likewise, the 1.0 launch is when certain parameters like in-game insurance contracts start to count down - those that picked up new ships during the IAE sale with a 10 year insurance contract for instance won't have it start counting down until launch.

There are a lot of reasons they need to keep the game moving forward and not simply in perpetual testing. While like most MMOs it won't be "finished", it will reach a point of official launch and from there go through refinement and expansion .
It's pretty obvious that in this context, "being out", "finished" or "released" means v1.0 rather than "no more updates of any kind ever".

And there's certainly no sign that v1.0 is going to appear any time soon. God only knows how much more cash they will have milked from the userbase by then (if it ever happens) - assuming, of course, that you believe the official CIG figures in the first place.
 
One other thing - given that I'm not 100% sold they'll ever stop releasing real money stuff, I'm also not sure that'd be a good ~idea~. Right now, the economy is FUCKED - my org, with 14 people, has 3 Idris, 2 Pioneer, 2 Kraken (soon to be a third), 3 Polaris, 2 Perseus, 5 Moles, god knows how many light and medium fighters, a dozen prospectors, and literally scads of various cargo ships/etc. When the game releases - sure, we'll pop with 20k in cash or whatever, but ALSO the ability to literally shit money within a few hours - It's about 200k to equip a mole, and it prints cash. Orgs like mine - or the second org I'm part of (50 people with gods only know what ships) are going to rapidly unbalance the game for newbies with the base packages.

Cash is a way to compete - since they've been using it as a way to compete since the beginning. With out that, how do new groups get started, OTHER than allying with big orgs that are fully equipped? That means drawn up battle lines - think Eve 15 years in - but at the BEGINNING of the game, vs, well, later on. You can't easily buy your way up to winning in Eve or WoW, but you sure as heck can in SC. So how does a new player; someone who's young now, but a serious gamer when it finally releases, going to compete on their own? Sure - I can't man a perseus solo, but I can a Connie, or a Warden, or an Ion - but I've got all those to pick from. Newbies have a Nomad or Aurora...

I'm honestly debating if this is a GOOD thing overall - it terrifies me - but ... given how unbalanced we're going to ~start~ already, it might be required?

effectively -
1. Game is currently unbalanced in favor of whales or whaleorgs.
2. Newbies without whale capabilities or whale friends are f@$%@
3. Cash purchases at least gives them the ability to compete if they wanted to - to form new orgs/etc at the get go? Maybe? This is the part I'm fiddling through.
 
One other thing - given that I'm not 100% sold they'll ever stop releasing real money stuff, I'm also not sure that'd be a good ~idea~. Right now, the economy is FUCKED - my org, with 14 people, has 3 Idris, 2 Pioneer, 2 Kraken (soon to be a third), 3 Polaris, 2 Perseus, 5 Moles, god knows how many light and medium fighters, a dozen prospectors, and literally scads of various cargo ships/etc. When the game releases - sure, we'll pop with 20k in cash or whatever, but ALSO the ability to literally shit money within a few hours - It's about 200k to equip a mole, and it prints cash. Orgs like mine - or the second org I'm part of (50 people with gods only know what ships) are going to rapidly unbalance the game for newbies with the base packages.

Cash is a way to compete - since they've been using it as a way to compete since the beginning. With out that, how do new groups get started, OTHER than allying with big orgs that are fully equipped? That means drawn up battle lines - think Eve 15 years in - but at the BEGINNING of the game, vs, well, later on. You can't easily buy your way up to winning in Eve or WoW, but you sure as heck can in SC. So how does a new player; someone who's young now, but a serious gamer when it finally releases, going to compete on their own? Sure - I can't man a perseus solo, but I can a Connie, or a Warden, or an Ion - but I've got all those to pick from. Newbies have a Nomad or Aurora...

I'm honestly debating if this is a GOOD thing overall - it terrifies me - but ... given how unbalanced we're going to ~start~ already, it might be required?

effectively -
1. Game is currently unbalanced in favor of whales or whaleorgs.
2. Newbies without whale capabilities or whale friends are f@$%@
3. Cash purchases at least gives them the ability to compete if they wanted to - to form new orgs/etc at the get go? Maybe? This is the part I'm fiddling through.
It's so deep in effective pay-to-play / pay-to-win already that they can't unfurl it easily. It's going to be interesting to see if and how they attempt to tackle it. Right now I don't see a viable and balanced path forward for CIG.
 
the obscene cost of the pay for ships always guaranteed this game will be an insane and unfun grind for anyone that didn't pop down insane levels of cash.
 
It's so deep in effective pay-to-play / pay-to-win already that they can't unfurl it easily. It's going to be interesting to see if and how they attempt to tackle it. Right now I don't see a viable and balanced path forward for CIG.
I’m wondering if pledges will have to be claimed and take time to unwind in the game? Eg- a timer and on day 1 everyone has just their starters till 5 days in then tier 2 ships drop, etc
 
This is where I wonder. I totally agree that it'll have a stream of updates forever, but why give up the money train? I'm not complaining - mind you - just pointing out that as a monetization technique, macro-transactions is apparently bringing in "@%#!@%-you" levels of cash, so why change it? If you keep it in "beta" forever, you can keep building new things, selling them for cash, and giggling all the way to the bank. Any decent company manager would see that profit line and strongly hesitate to ever give it up - especially since (devils advocate here) that would let you keep doing MAJOR updates (engines/etc) without worrying about revenue streams.
Would they? Some folks are WAY too far down either side of the fence on this one (I doubt the release, but I play regularly, and still buy pledges - I'm in the middle). I suspect a whole group would shrug and buy the next mega-kraken.

That was the plan... but as the old saying goes, "the plans of mice and men gang oft..." and so on.

I'm fiddling through a few ways to make this work, if they wanted to - long delays on LTI insurance returns, etc. There are ~ways~ you could make it work if you really wanted to - things that try to balance it (and economic sinks - paying for hanger space for all "owned" ships, etc)... it's possible, but will they do it? No idea. I could SEE it though.

Yep. Agreed. BUT... they could. And given the money flow, damned if I wouldn't be tempted were I the investors behind the program (not Chris - I actually believe him on this one, but he's not the initial money source).

I share your concerns, absolutely. One of my greatest fears about the project is that they'll do the thing that is "easy" to justify, the thing that is common to the rest of the gaming industry, the thing that (sadly, I realize how I old I feel when seeing this) nearly a whole generation has grown up seeing exploitative monetization as normal. However, the ENTIRE PREMISE of Star Citizen is that it is NOT intended to be a normal game, a normal project, or like the rest of the gaming industry. From day 1 it was crowdfunded because publishers at the time would not fund even a more midding, limited "common in the 90s-esq but modernized" space sim like those Roberts' used to make. When the project grew from there the community was asked and answered both in writing and with their wallets they wanted something unprecedented, as this chance was an unusual one. As the funding kept coming in until the scope became locked down at the current (basically the scope of the game was not even really set until the first 100M came in, studios and assets to support them were built for this scope etc) people realized this was a rare chance to do something that would likely for better or worse not come along for a long time.

It wasn't just the game and immersion or crowdfunding, but lots of the early business decisions that were pivotal in getting people to back were absolutely unusual - and I say that even as someone who has backed a LOT of crowdfunding projects at higher values. The typical idea for crowfunding something ambitious was to put FOMO stuff in place for the "whales" , harp on exclusivity and more. Star Citizen didn't do that - they walked a hell of a tightrope. Saying that just about every ship AND cosmetic would be unlockable in game without having to pay has been a core reason people backed. Star Citizen basically proved that the common monetization justifications of the industry were bullshit - people didn't have to be "forced" by restriction, exclusivity, tedium etc.. to pay, they'll back regardless if they want to support the project and believe in it. There's a lot of other things that SC has done differently and were core values of Roberts and the early team when it came to monetization - open-handed policies over restriction, at just about every level - it was wonderfully balanced for many different types of backers all at the same time. I've said before that in recent years there are definitely some concerns I have and I hate to see this waver. I worry that an influx of new, younger talent from elsewhere in the industry will try to do what is "normal" and new bean counters will just nod along. However, if this happens it will undermine what makes Star Citizen so unique. They'll also try the patience of backers of all sorts if they keep dragging things on only for profit - some have made that accusation since day 1, and much the same way the depth and immersion of the game world makes people more understanding oft the long arc to development, were they to give up those features people would become angry all around ; some because they gave them up, others because they could have made a "meh" game without all those features much faster etc... nobody will be happy! The same will be true for monetization vs the amount of support for the project. If they start acting like a Korean Item Mall MMO with their policies, you can bet that people like me who backed on their open handed policies will vehemently protest and they're likely to turn supporters into PR opposition. This will also haave technical effects like the in-game economy described being disrupted and no longer viable, which then becomes a cascade of policies ruined seeking short term "typical" monetization gain in a project that is by design "atypical", among other issues.

So yes, while it is understandable for people to worry about them taking that course (its right to be pessimistic about watching the rest of the industry) , hopefully enough of the upper management know they cannot let the festering pathogen of exploitative monetization slip in lest it undermine support for the project and what makes it unique. Oh and its worth mentioning there are very, very few outside investors on the core game itself thankfully. Probably the only reason they've had this kind of autonomy and haven't slipped into traditional industry behavior thus far (much like how Valve is privately owned and Gaben has a controlling interest). There' was some very limited investment prior to the start of crowdfunding and then over the years they've taken some small amount of investment for things that are not related to development (ie a loan for marketing stuff, events, fabrication of some physical items etc... because Chris stated he didn't want to put crowdfunding money towards things like marketing or advertising etc. ) but generally they're pretty well set in this regard last I checked, unless something has changed.

It's pretty obvious that in this context, "being out", "finished" or "released" means v1.0 rather than "no more updates of any kind ever".

And there's certainly no sign that v1.0 is going to appear any time soon. God only knows how much more cash they will have milked from the userbase by then (if it ever happens) - assuming, of course, that you believe the official CIG figures in the first place.

Well, considering how some people (not the one I was replying to) think that the "secret plan" from the start would be to never come to 1.0 and that failure to do so would not have any negative ramifications from the backers or be noteworthy in the way the game was stuctured, I just wanted to clarify.
 
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