Star Citizen - 10 for the Chairman Episode 52 (video and text)

Erillion

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/14476-10-For-The-Chairman-Episode-52

Questions covered in Episode 52:
2:28 – Custom Crew Uniforms.
3:24 – Banu & Xi’An embassies.
4:30 – Missions for more than one ship.
5:04 – How inventories work.
7:22 – Purchasable voice packs.
8:27 – Org contracts.
9:42 – Planetary quarantines.
10:50 – FPS dungeons/instances
13:19 – Tevarin update
14:21 – Organization leader tools

 

http://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/2ukjr2/10_for_the_chairman_episode_52_february_2nd_2015/

"Regular Intro and Thanks

Tidbit: Chris will be talking to DICE this week, likely live-streamed. Releasing FPS in March, Social module shortly thereafter.

- On to the Questions! -

Bear Asks: You've discussed various ship skins and customizations, but has there been any consideration for custom crew uniforms? Possible something that's organization exclusive?

Part of our plan is to have different outfits that you can wear or buy, part of that would be changing the colour of various items, like a different colour of the same jacket etc. We're looking at having some decal support here too, so one of the things that's pretty cool would be you'd have an Org jumpsuit of jacket, specifying colour and decal type/placement. Orgs can have their own uniforms or outfits for sure, as long as people want to wear them.

Nostromo1977 Asks: Would CIG ever consider adding Banu and Xi'An Embassies in UEE space? This way we could talk to consulates from the different races on planets such as Prime?

We're definitely going to ultimately have these embassies in the PU, I'm hoping for V1.0 though I'm not 100% sure. You're probably not going to be able to interact with them initially, but we'd definitely ultimately expand to that, as well as being able to go deeper into Banu and Xi'An territory. We're already planning to have some Banu and Xi'An fringe worlds that you as a trader can go to and land on, so you'll be wandering around and there will be members of that and other races wandering around on the streets. You'll get a sense of it being not just a human universe in Star Citizen for sure.

Marius Asks: Will there be missions designed for more than one ship? For instance, the same job offering a cargo delivery mission and that also requires an escort ship.

Yes. Definitely there could be a corp that puts missions out there, saying they need a trader to take, say, 20T from this planet to that planet, and they may put out another mission saying they need 2 mercenaries to escort that trader. Those could be taken by AI or players. So yes!

DarkMyth Asks: How will inventories work? Will we have to buy warehouses throughout the verse to store our fuel, weapons and goods or will there be a console where you can access your inventory anywhere and pull items out of it? Also will there be a cap on inventory?

Inventories are going to work like proper, physical inventories. You're not going to have some kind of global-hold-all inventory that you can store everything in and take stuff out of from wherever. Everything works like a real inventory would, so your ship has a cargo hold, that's an inventory, that you can only store so many things in. You as a player will have your own inventory, which is an amalgamation of the clothes you're wearing, so if you're just wearing jeans and a jacket, you might have 4 small pockets worth of storage. You could get a backpack, which would add to your inventory space, or a suit of armour might have attachment points for weapons/grenades etc, which is an inventory allowance again. Hangars are inventories as well, and you can store other inventories within them. We're going to have a deep-dive into the cargo system where we explain our container system and all the aspects of it. Items go inside containers, they can go into your ship's cargo hold, which is inside your hangar. An inventory inside an inventory inside an inventory. It'll all be physically constrained to the dimensions of the item as well as the weight. So if you're half way across the galaxy and you want to use stuff you have all the way back at your home-hangar, you'll have to buy new stuff, or have taken that stuff with you say in your ship's hold or whatever.

Manic Asks: Cosmetic purchases for future revenue streams have been discussed before; are there any plans for purchasable voice packs for our ships/hangars/etc? I am sure a Mark Hamill, Nathan Fillion, or GLaDOS voice pack would sell well.

We're definitely planning to do in-game/in-fiction voice packs you can buy and use, just like you'd choose a voice pack on your GPS. You'll be able to have certain packs, so either a Female or Male voice for a nav computer for example, which you can customise beyond you ship's standards. I don't know if we'd get celebrities voices into the game, but you'll definitely be able to buy additional voice packs, so there you go.

Jomanda Asks: In order to give the huge investment of time and effort obtaining that goal meaning, what gameplay do you envision where orgs can utilize their capital assets? For example, can orgs be hired by system or state governments to perform military for long term contracts, just like present day private military companies? Can orgs be contracted for both specific targets and more open, time based contracts?

Interesting question, I think we'd definitely have stuff that involves Orgs, which is higher-end stuff, potentially you could have a mission spawn saying "I need an org that has at least 10 mercs in it to protect the space-lanes and ensure my goods get through" and either a player org or an AI org could sign up for that. So there will definitely be missions that are generated by the universe and economy system, and sometimes game-masters, that specifically apply to Orgs.

Couger Asks: Will there be quarantines placed on planets, and if so will those who take a Medic type position be called in to serve? Could smugglers who break quarantines pass plagues onto other planets?

It's a pretty cool idea, quarantines and medical disasters are all something we plan for the PU, so we've got AI built around that. So if there's an outbreak of something on a planet there would be a high demand for medical supplies to help fight it, and there might be a blockade on that planet to prevent others from landing there. I don't know about smugglers breaking through and spreading it around would be included as such, but we could definitely do it ad-hoc on the game-masters side, as they'll have the tools to create these events around the universe and see things, adjusting play cases based on things they see. I do think it'll be fun, and so a very good idea.

Apocraphon Asks: Will there be something to the effect of FPS dungeons/instances? Something like taking a five man FPS team into a Vanduul mining station or arms factory and either steathing or killing everything that moves on your way to the objective?

Yes. Absolutely, that's actually a core part of the PvE FPS gameplay mechanic we're designing for the PU. We're coming up with a really cool mission building system for the PU, Tony talked a little about it earlier, but missions won't necessarily be stand-alone, some will interlink, or drive into other ones. We've got an awesome NPC/Boss-NPC system, if anyone has player Shadow of Mordor and liked their nemesis system, this takes it another level beyond that, it'll add a much more personal level of interaction, your actions will effect those NPCs and those around you etc. Plus, global ones that affect all the players, so some pirate that might be your nemesis could gain enough infamy that he becomes the pirate lord in that system, where all players can go after him. We've got a really cool system worked out for all of that, blending into the economy. Part of this is to create encounters, such as going to a set of ruins, where graverobbers might attack you, or a derelict mining station that might have pirates that'll attack. There are going to be a whole bunch of that gameplay both on the ground and in space that'll allow for solo or co-op play that stretches beyond the PvP or general PvE gameplay that you can do. We will definitely have the ability to do the "dungeon raid" with your friends, but it'll be more reactive/interactive/spawned by the PU and integrated into it more than you'd see in other games.

Sam Corwin Asks: Hi Chris, how are the Tevarin coming along? Can we expect to see them anytime soon?

No, they're not coming along at the moment, we did some early concept work, and I want to do more work on them, they feel too close to the Xi'An at the moment. Because they're not a big part of SQ42 we've got them on the back-burner at the moment, it's something that once we've got the Vanduul and Xi'An finished (both in SQ42). We have early designs for the Banu and the Tevarin of course, but I'd like to do much more work on them after we finish the Vanduul and Xi'An for SQ42 and PU.

Staffa Kartherma Asks: I was wondering what tools both in and out of game will Organization leaders have to manage their members and fleets?

You're definitely going to have a suite of tools from the web-platform, which will also be able to be used from a mobile phone platform, so you can manage new members, tithes and payouts etc from outside of the game, but you'll also be able to do all of that in-game from your Mobi-Glas interface. You should be able to run your Org like a business, and it'll be treated as a business too. The tools for management would probably be first on the web, second in-game, then third on the iPad or whatever.

Usual Extro and Thanks"

 

Have fun