The Glade 4.0

The counter's back up. $600k so far out of $2mill. On the backup site. Lol.

That said, I'm guessing that, since days 2-4 appear to have netted 1/3rd of day 1's take, trying to forge ahead on their own site probably cost them more than a bit of money.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

The pledges at the RSI site ticked up over $1million earlier today, and Chris just launched a Kickstarter after working it out with them (and presumably his traditional investors) to have the two pledge mechanisms running in parallel.

So if the 3rd party pledging site had you leery, Kickstarter's available here.

The counter on the Kickstarter site was taking off, so I guess I was a bit wrong in my disdain for opening up a second venue.

Chris has stated that they'll add anything that comes in from Kickstarter (assuming it hits its $500k funding threshold) to the RSI pool, so even if Kickstarter cuts into the RSI pledging, the project will launch if the total combines to > the $2 million funding goal. And, of course, the stretch goals (such as they are -- they're on record saying they'll complete them regardless, it'll just take longer if they don't hit the stretches to finance the staff expansions) will key off the combined pledge total, as well.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Why did RSI hesitate to use Kickstarter in the first place and why was there an outcry from the masses to have Kickstarter available as an avenue for the pledges?

Also, Oonagh got to buy a bunch of stuff from Bath and Body works as a trade-off for my pledging to this game. I am in. Low tier pledge, would have loved to go for at least the "Make mine a double" but "Early Responder" had to be the choice.

So stoked for this game. 2 years can't go quickly enough.

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This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

The impression I've gotten from following that very issue closely was that Roberts felt that since you'd have to create an account on their website anyways to play the game and participate in their forums and such, by hosting it themselves they could integrate all that and streamline the process instead of forcing fans to maintain both a Kickstarter and an RSI site account.

I think the idea was also that they could maintain and update their own accounts immediately so users could see they had their pledge associated, etc. without having to wait for the Kickstarter to end to get final pledge levels and merge that data with their own account data.

Turns out that maintaining the running pledge backend turned out to be more challenging than they anticipated, and so they were slowing both sides of the coin down and causing intermittent downtimes while they frantically tried to run upgrades to handle the capacity, forcing them to have to do merges with the backup pledge site anyways, and ironically forcing a decent amount of their communication back off-site (to Twitter and Facebook) despite their intentions to keep everything centralized.

The cynical side of me also interjects that 5% of $2+ million is a big chunk of change, but as Chris's latest letter states and they've always maintained, it's a reasonable cut for the service Kickstarter provides and so it was never a major factor in their decision.

As for "only" getting in on the early bird $30 pledge; I wouldn't feel bad about it. Not everybody's single to have the money to throw at their dream projects (and if everybody had a Constellation, who would I get to crew mine with me!?), and honestly, getting what looks to be the contents of the final box copy for half price is a steal.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I wonder if Capital ships will be able to be earned in game?

Imagine a "clan" (for lack of a better term) who owned a Cap ship with, something like a Wave motion gun equipped along with a full complement of fighters ready to take on all who would stand in their way?

If this game is anything like I am hoping he makes it to be...

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This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

It's been stated that capital ships will be earnable, and insinuated that that includes Bengal-class carriers. The only information lacking there is whether they'll be *personally* ownable or more of a guild thing, and how exactly one goes about flying them about the galaxy.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Surely we could go on with speculation forever...

Wonder how the destruction of one's ship is handled. Perma-trashed or will it respawn at your "garage" location.

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This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

They've indicated that your pledge ship will never be lost to you. Presumably people who buy the game post-pledging campaign have the Aurora as their fallback ship, since the $30-40 pledge tiers appear to be consistent with post-release retail purchases at a discounted price.

They haven't been more than vague about other ships, but the implication seems to be that there's potential risk involved with any other ship you acquire, and insurance has been mentioned as a possible mechanic involved.

This rationale also explains why none of the super-high pricetag tiers include actual capital ships -- the cap ships have to stay vulnerable as economic sinks, and nobody'd want to pay $5k for a destructible ship they could lose on day 2, lol.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I am... in love.



Not saying you're wrong here (as it will definitely need some gamin-capable specs), but Space Sims are notoriously easy on the GPU. They can put incredible detail in the ships, because the background is flat and 2D and doesn't suffer for it -- it's space.

I wonder if my flight stick will work.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

It's fair to assume it will. Joysticks are kind of the preferred input method of the majority of players, including Chris himself.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Grrr...no ship specs for pledge levels today.

Knowing nothing about it other than the bit I read on wikipedia yesterday, can someone explain EVE online to me and how Star Citizen will be standing apart from it? From the little I did read, it seems that EVE online is exactly what Star Citizen will endeavor to be.

I've not been following the PC gaming scene as closely, so Star Citizen seems to be filling a void for quality space sims that I assumed existed.

I'm not an MMORPG player, and I don't know if I ever can become one. I just want a game that I can pick up at a moments notice and just do whatever it is that I feel like doing at that moment. I don't want to have to rely on others for a group or a raid or whatever is needed for advancement in MMORPGs.

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This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

EVE online is not a space flight sim.
It's an MMORPG -- a fairly good one, too, but it's not a simulator in the slightest.

Space Sims are the only type of "action" game i've ever really gotten into... ever since X-Wing first came out.

_________________
Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

They're due out today, with art later this week.

As for EVE vs. Star Citizen...

EVE does not feature dogfights, because it's not a "sim." You don't aim your weapons, you tab-target something and press an "attack" button, which then automatically fires upon your target, with hit/miss chances defined by relative skill levels in the RPG sense while you essentially try to stay within certain range bands from your enemy to best benefit your weapons' output vs. his.

In Star Citizen, you'll be maneuvering to get on people's tails, aiming your crosshairs at them, and trying to out-fly each other.

It's the difference between... playing a Dragon Age archer, MMO Spell Slinger, or ranged City of Heroes archetype vs. a traditional FPS shooter, I suppose?

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

What became of Black Prophesy? That was a dog fight sim.

It was... but I found that ultimately, I could never quite get into the universe/story elements enough to carry the combat, was never quite satisfied with the 100% PvP/PvE mix, and there were no alternatives to the combat playstyle to take a change of pace for me. So it got to be very much an equipment treadmill to even play the PvE game because you couldn't take missions in safe areas. I think that's ultimately what burned me out quickly.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Michael Vick liked it a great deal, gave it two thumbs up

I am hoping the "Explorer" role is an appropriately fleshed out and viable role in Star Citizen. Never being one for PvP, I can't wait to see what types of jobs, tasks, etc. will be available to one who would rather roam and discover than engage in combat.

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This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.

^^^This^^^

I am so friggin' picky about the backstory and environments I game in.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to break my F5 key before the day is out. Maybe I should swap in an old spare keyboard so I break that one, instead of the key on my G15...

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Well, the upgrade support has come online. Surely it can't be long, now.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Boom!

Delicious ship information is delicious.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

I hates decisions!

I want the Hornet, but would it be better to get the Freelancer, make some cash hauling/salvaging cargo and then buy a fighter? Will there be enough $$$ in bounties and the like to efficiently purchase a ship for exploration/commerce? The Origin might be the best compromise between the two, plus I'd save 65 bucks.

I have two weeks to figure it out and then two years of buyer's remorse to deal with.

GAAAHHHH!!!

Lol.

I won't touch the 300i vs. $125 pledge-level ships one, since that seems pretty straightforward -- the 300i gives you versatility instead of specialization, and that also gets weighed against real life budget and whatnot... so not touching that with a 10' pole.

Since the Hornet and Freelancer are equivalent pledge levels, though, I think the way I'd approach the notion of pledging for one and then buying the other in-game (there should be plenty of opportunities to make money with a Hornet, by the way, through bounties, escort missions, and the like) is to consider that the ultimate benefit of a pledged ship is the lifetime insurance -- you'll still be responsible for replacing any upgrades and cargo you lose when you die, but you won't have to pay insurance on the chassis itself. So I'd take a look at what I wanted to do with the Hornet and the Freelancer, and try to judge which I felt I would be more at risk to lose to the dangers of space -- the Freelancer because it's a tasty target and a bit less defensible, or the Hornet because I'll be seeking out fights?

Then, pledge for that one, since you'll get more mileage out of the lifetime insurance.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

From my SNES Wing commander days, I've never been sure how IR and FF missiles worked.

What image to IR missiles recognize and what allows a FF missile to know whether a target is friend or foe?

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This must be Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays.