Star Citizen Online - The search for more money

Ah well its your money and your helping to get a game made thats filling a gap as wide as the grand canyon.
So you are not hurting anyone (well besides maybe yourself but there are some out there who even like that, so pff) and what, if not your hobby (and family if you have one) is our hard earned money worth spending for.
I go by not buying virtual stuff ever, so that project was off limits for me, although as a die hard wing commander fan since the series started, even i was tempted, for a short time, to give the Roberts brothers some of my money.

Variise_sl said:

I don't disagree the slightest. I took a leap off a cliff on the promise of pillows. It had nothing to do with being a sound investment. It had everything to do with hopes and dreams. I tried very hard to keep up with their management of expectations but I also realize they might not be able to deliver on everything promised so I stay fairly pessimistic on any grand promises.

My biggest fear is the instancing. CR seemed to suggest that the Crytek engine probably couldn't handle more than a half dozen ships on either side at most or far less. That was one of the motivations for moving it to their own engine but that doesn't mean they can actually get it to work to what he would prefer. There is what CR wants and then there is what they can produce, the two may not come anywhere near no matter how much money they sink into it. Should that happen yeah a fleet of even a half dozen ships may not work at all.

I also agree with your point that no we simply don't know how well any of these systems actually will play out in a game. Will it be fun or dreadfully boring? I suppose a different solution could have been to save up that money and simply buy the ships in game. CR has mentioned that they are likely to allow conversion of real money to in game currency but would limit it to $20 per day/week/month. Not sure exactly. I don't think they elaborated further. That may have been ultimately a more prudent solution and certainly the more safe solution. However I wanted to help fund the production of the game as well. I figured if I spend that kind of money I may as well give it to them when they can use it the most which is during development. That's entirely to their benefit and not to my own. I realize that. I'm not saying I was smart doing that and you can argue it was extremely foolish but there it is.

I also look at it from another perspective. I used the money to fund a very expensive hobby. Some of my friends buy a truck and boat and go fishing. Arguably that's a more worthwhile investment since you have something practical but really it's a hobby. Others spend 3-5 times as much on AV equipment. Again more practical but still a hobby. For me this is my hobby. This is my truck/boat/AV setup.

By the way almost all of them are neck deep in debt and I'm talking well over 200-300k. I may have little money to my name but I'm debt free. I know that's not a real excuse but I'm just comparing myself to others I work with. While they continue that trend and some go under I just quietly play games and not pull a stunt like this again. That's all.

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Ha, don't sweat it. I can not justify it to my family (wife and kids) but if it was just old me then I would most likely buy this:paizo.com - Goblin Squad Tavern OwnerI am considering it even now but I must admit that there is a realistic chance that I will not like this MMO (either). The thing that almost draws me over the line is the fact that only 10 of these Inns will be given out and they are a unique asset in the game, as far as player-owned shit goes. There will be other Inns but those will be owned by in-game Companies and are destructable (and will be destroyed since that is part of the gameplay). Still, they may fall short of giving Inns a truly interesting function, nobody may ever visit the Inn, or your Inn is in an area that happens to see zero activity all the time, or the game may flop hard, or I may still hate all the PvP and such. Too risky. But I totally understand the wish and the dreams and the fact that MEN WANT TOYS!

Variise_sl said:

I may have little money to my name but I'm debt free. I know that's not a real excuse but I'm just comparing myself to others I work with. While they continue that trend and some go under I just quietly play games and not pull a stunt like this again. That's all.

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You win at life. Don't ever apologize for spending money on anything you like. You sound like you budget, and 'get it', unlike some of the Pantheon peeps spending more than they make in a month on a game that has 9 designers and a Vu.

I despise everything Kickstarter, and Roberts got me to pony up $45. I have zero regrets, and I'm a super miserly type.

The only debt I personally keep is my home mortgage and my car payment, but I'm also a tad older than a lot of people. In my 20s I lived paycheck to paycheck and generally had a budget, but it was tenuous at best. I have friends in their 40s like me who've easily dropped a thousand or two on this game. I'll admit I was tempted, but wringing 45 out of my hands early was about as much as I can spend on this.

I think we'll get a good gauge on things with the dogfighting module next month. I'm also extremely happy at the level of transparency and also the persistent world setup. This game will be so much more than the other 'traditional' MMOs with their static content and raids. Really, this in my opinion is the only other game besides EVE that actually is an MMO in the traditional sense of the world. I'm excited for it.

Gecko_sl said:

The only debt I personally keep is my home mortgage and my car payment, but I'm also a tad older than a lot of people. In my 20s I lived paycheck to paycheck and generally had a budget, but it was tenuous at best. I have friends in their 40s like me who've easily dropped a thousand or two on this game. I'll admit I was tempted, but wringing 45 out of my hands early was about as much as I can spend on this.

I think we'll get a good gauge on things with the dogfighting module next month. I'm also extremely happy at the level of transparency and also the persistent world setup. This game will be so much more than the other 'traditional' MMOs with their static content and raids. Really, this in my opinion is the only other game besides EVE that actually is an MMO in the traditional sense of the world. I'm excited for it.

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Well two things. If I had a mortgage/car payment I would fee guilty putting down more than $50 on any game real or not. To me the fact that I was on the hook for that much would make me incredibly uneasy spending almost any money. Hell I remember when I almost got a house how I was working out with the bank how I would pump all of my excess cash into the mortgage to pay the whole thing off in almost 1/3 of the time (25 year). I just felt so guilty about the whole thing I eventually backed out. This day and age it's not easy to convince yourself to take out that much money. Plus I live in Canada so they would take everything from me if I lost my job which is a very real possibility despite where I work. Everything is being outsourced these days.

So to me this was an act of rebellion against my own good sense. lol

As for what to get if you get anything after the DFM.... walk softly. Only get something if you feel super super hooked on an idea of what you want to accomplish and that one ship can give that to you. But to be honest if all I was aiming for as one ship I never would have purchased a fleet.... I wouldn't have purchased anything but the starting ship. That way you feel as though you earned it.

Now just because I own a fleet doesn't mean that's the only thing I want to fly. Maybe if the game economy allows it I will earn a real explorer ship or a real salvage ship. Who knows. A lot depends on how the PU is built out and if that gameplay is fun. In fact one of the reasons I got all the ships I did was because I could make my gameplay conform more to what I find fun. Maybe exploration is too boring. In that case we might sign up with other orgs and go into alien space for battle... who knows. Still my supreme hope at this point is that exploration is fun in a fucking terrifying way ala Alien. I want the empty feeling you get in movies like Alien and Event Horizon as you explore a dead ship/facility. They alluded to wanting that atmosphere so that's good. They also alluded to possibly discovering everything from nothing to some pretty scary shit sort of like in the Alien/Aliens.

I think we all want Alien and not Colonial Marines. This is where they being open to criticism and change is good. At some point we will get to test this system and provide feedback. I will honestly measure exploration on the creepiness/scary factor and present feedback on its pucker scale. If they can make me look behind me uncomfortably while playing they get 1 point. Another point if they force me to turn on another room light. A third point if they make me jump. A fourth point if they give me the urge to go to the bathroom and five points.... well I'm not sure I want five points.

With the multiplayer system they are using you would never have the need to render 1000 player ships in one area. Each instance of the game world would only have a few actual players. Hence, not an mmo. More of a lobby type game.

I can't see how they wouldn't have lower detail models for NPC ships. The number-in-your-instance limitations that I've seen mentioned have always been about players not NPC ships.

You have to take into account how they actually plan to deal with instancing. They have discussed a system in place where everything is its own instance to a certain degree and those instances interact only when they need to. This would allow them to deal with big data in a more bit sized fashion. As an example they mentioned how you could see other ships and missiles and lasers etc in the distance and that is all that would be communicated to you unless there was a need for you to interact such as you firing your missiles from your instance into theirs etc. I don't know the technology behind it exactly but it sounds plausible. Maybe they have abandoned this direction or refined it in some way. We simply don't know at this point. That engine is still being built and re-built as they make the DFM. I suppose we will get to see and experience it first hand as it is being built. It's both exciting and nerve wracking at the same time.

Pax stream.

Twitch

This is a spectacular failure. LMAO

what's happening?

Multiple crashes and horrible bugs galore. Clearly they still aren't ready to show off Dogfighting.

Dam and i missed it, ah well.

What Del didn't mention was that during the crashes hecklers would start flinging insults at the CEO, and I mean, there was a LOT of heckling. Someone was shouting that Cryengine sucks and that's why the game crashed, and then the CEO started defending the game engine. There is something really fascinating about watching an executive sweat in hi definition.

Abefroman_sl said:

Pax stream.

Twitch

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Sounds like they made a mistake playing it on a system it hadn't been tested on. Game looks good visually.

Just took my first serious look at their sales page intending to pledge. Holy cash grabs. Couldn't even see packages to just buy the game.

I'm not sure why anyone is surprised. At least anyone keeping an eye on the game that is. They only put the newest guts of the DFM together a few days before PAX. The fact that they even managed to get all the various pieces somewhat working is shocking. I can see them taking another month and a half before it's actually ready to be played with.

The idea is they can launch the game in 2015 is far too generous. As complex as they are making the flight model just wait till they add all the other elements to it like EVA/Boarding/Cap ships/planet side/worlds/economy etc. We will be lucky to be playing this in 2016.

As a side note. Serving alcohol at presentations is insane. With that many people in attendance you are bound to run into several 2%ers. I have been to other such presentations with a full open bar and it's just embarrassing for all involved. Very stupid idea.

Anyway keep an eye out for a working DFM in about 1-2 months.

Variise_sl said:

The idea is they can launch the game in 2015 is far too generous. As complex as they are making the flight model just wait till they add all the other elements to it like EVA/Boarding/Cap ships/planet side/worlds/economy etc. We will be lucky to be playing this in 2016.

Anyway keep an eye out for a working DFM in about 1-2 months.

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I think the fact they have so many teams working in parallel really will help the overall development timeline, but I do think 2015 is ambitious.

I'll be surprised if the DFM isn't out at the end of this month. It has quirks, but the best way to test it is to release it and get mass feedback.

Flight_sl said:

Sounds like they made a mistake playing it on a system it hadn't been tested on. Game looks good visually.

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Unfortunately, every developer uses that excuse for a rocky expo presentation today. Seems like thatshouldbe priority one, before the DJ... Hope they get their shit together. If this things tanks (I doubt it will, btw) all faith in Kickstarters will be lost.

Variise_sl said:

As a side note. Serving alcohol at presentations is insane. With that many people in attendance you are bound to run into several 2%ers. I have been to other such presentations with a full open bar and it's just embarrassing for all involved. Very stupid idea.

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Agreed. Almost seemed like Mr. Roberts partook, based on that video. Flurry of excuses followed by "Look at the stuff. I think it's the best looking space-thing you've ever seen."