6:45 Q: When will we be able to transfer fuel or cargo and dock/undock snubs from larger ships?
A: Not in 2.6. Aiming for between 3.0 and 3.1. Working on it with bigger ships like the Idris first as that is needed for Squadron. It’ll come out of that.
7:44 Q: Can I use methods other than brute force (i.e. diplomacy, bribery) to progress through missions?
A: Yes, sometimes. Tying into this are the reputation system which would render the NPCs friendly, or exploiting the sandbox nature of the game and crafting your own solution.
12:10 Q: Will Cutlass update be ready for the Red and Blue in Alpha 3.1.
A: Yes.
12:25 Q: What does the original Orgs 2.0 becoming Spectrum mean for other previously included features like fleet view and management?
A: Existing management and administrative functions on the website will be incorporated along with additional features such as real time notifications in chat. Fleet view is pending further game design and is taking into account privacy controls and previously made tools. All creating an ambient immersive experience even outside of the game.
16:25 Q: What from Citcon demo is going to be in 3.0 - techwise?
A: Everything and more. All the things we saw are going in and other tech will be going in too. Everything we saw will also be built upon.
18:05 Q: What were the specs of Citcon machine?
A: Intel i7, six cores, ASUS GTX 1080, 64 gigs of RAM. Not sure about storage, probably something from their partnership with Intel. They are pushing to make efficient usage of CPU and GPU in all their work - that is part of what refactoring legacy code is doing. They are always looking ahead to make sure everything is solid.
20:00 Q: What is the current status of instancing?
A: Could already do some instancing if they wanted. Short term they can probably get up to 200 players in an instance after code refactor coming with 3.0 which bring improved performance. Long term they will be using server meshing to allow for much larger numbers of players in a given area interacting with each other (i.e. up to 2000).
25:50 Q: Can we quantum jump from atmosphere like the Citizencon demo?
A: No, that was only for the demo to speed up the process, they’ll discuss it possibly in the future.
26:50 Q: Can we integrate chatbots into Spectrum?
A: It’s possible, but they’d like feedback from the community on some useful bots out there.
30:05 Q: Will the mechanic of picking up ammo from destroyed ships in AC come to the PU?
A: No, their idea is to make AC an easy way to get into dogfighting that’s balanced and fun.
32:29 Q: How will the procedural planet tech be applied to the four Stanton System planets? Will they be as originally designed or stand-ins?
A: As originally designed with lots of extreme immersive depth and openness resulting in an “infinite universe of possibility”, not only within just the planets, but within the character occupations and gaming mechanics as well.
39:02 Q: What are some of the things holding you back from going bigger in certain areas.
A: Planetary tech is a big one and getting it to the level they want to is a big undertaking, but the payoff is immense as it opens a huge amount of gameplay potential and allows for a unique experience to be delivered by Star Citizen.
42:14 Q: How is an object on a rotating planet tracked and kept in proper relation to everything else with millimeter precision inside a massive solar system?
A: 64-bit floating point and nested physics grids. A lot of great things flow out of having these two pieces including being able to view things in orbit from a planet’s surface (such as a battle), and not having to fake anything that is off in the distance (it’s really there).
50:13 Q: Will Star Marine have modes that include AI?
A: Yes, but not in the first iteration which is 2.6. You may see a horde mode shortly after 3.0 however.
53:52 Q: Is SataBall still coming?
A: Yes, but not for 2.6 or 3.0, it’s on their roadmap for post 3.0.
56:00 Q: Will sandstorms and other environments cause harm over longer periods of time?
A: Yes. They also want to use hazards to encourage players to use different methods to reach their goals.
58:49 Q: How does the subsumption 24 hour scripting affect AI crew?
A: It won’t be like the sims where you have to micromanage everything, but you’ll be expected to pay your crew, feed them, and if you overwork them they won’t suddenly quit, but they’ll be asked to be paid more or if you overwork them too much, their skills will begin to degrade.
1:02:30 Q: What is the role you won’t allow AI to do for you, because you want to do it instead?
A: Eric Kieron Davies: Turret gunner and not piloting, Eric Roberts: Engineer/Bartender, Brian Chambers: All of them, Tony Zurovec: All of them, John Erskine: Navigation and Chris Roberts: Piloting and exploring.
