November 2948 Subscriber Flair

November 2948 Subscriber Flair

Subscribers

In the classic RSI Venture Explorer Suit, one can march into the unknown with fortitude and panache. But to achieve this, one is going to need their legs. That’s where the bottom half of the suit comes in. Made from the same hardened alloy as the rest of the suit, these stylish red breeches will make sure you are comfortable and well-covered below the belt.

Imperator Subscribers

Imperator-level subscriber will also have the option of these slick purple leggings, along with the red version. At the end of the day, it’s never a bad idea to bring a spare change of pants along, especially when plunging headlong into the potentially terrifying realm of the unexplored.

If you’re an active subscriber, these items will be added to your account on November 19th.

If you aren’t a subscriber yet but want to sport these Arms, make sure you subscribe no later than November 18th.

More information about subscriptions can be found here

Source: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/16845-November-2948-Subscriber-Flair

Far From Home: Best Laid Plans

Best Laid Plans

Hey there, folks. It’s me, Old Jegger, calling out across the void. Glad this installment of Far From Home has found you. Here’s to hoping I can provide you some companionship on your journey. Heck, maybe even a smile or two. Those looking for wisdom might be disappointed. Sure, my life has been a crazy trip with more twists and turns than the Defford raceway, and a lot of it I only weathered by white-knuckling life’s flight stick and not letting go. Still haven’t figured out if that makes me ‘wise’ or not. But you know, with everything I’ve been through, it definitely makes me lucky to have survived.

Shana and I are currently in the outer edges of the Charon system, waiting for an old friend. We’re gonna keep them company on a run and reminisce a bit. It sure is a sight out here. Most folks just consider Charon IV a regular ol’ ice giant, but she’s got a special place in my heart. Starlight reflects off her in a way that’s always stayed with me. Glad I made it back here to see her again.

Normally, this is where I answer some questions commed to me, but I was reading through a few and got a bit overwhelmed. If I’m being honest, many of y’all are asking for advice that I can’t provide. Either ‘cause the subject is outta my league or something I don’t feel right weighing in on, and I’m too old to start pretending otherwise.

Guess this is the long way of explaining why I picked the question I did for this show. Among the various inquiries about how to mentally prepare yourself for life on the drift, or pointers on how to avoid grief from unruly types, there seemed to be one simple question at the heart of those being sent my way… why?

As in, why in the hell did I decide to live my life like this. Drifting all alone amidst the vast expanse without anyone but myself, minimal supplies, and Shana. It sure as hell isn’t the life I planned, but I learned a long time ago that you don’t plan for your future, you prepare for it. That might sound the same but trust me, there’s a difference. Planning is aspirational. It’s what you want to happen. But preparing is practical. It’s what’s left of your plans when life knocks you off course, which has happened to me more than I’d like to admit.

This might surprise some of you, but I once lived in Charon. Built a little homestead on Charon III with the plan of putting down some roots. I’d been wandering ever since I left Vann and was ready to return to solid ground and enjoy a nice quiet life.

I found a spot in the Dellin desert that was desolate but beautiful. It was by a small oasis, which sounds more impressive than it actually was. Let’s just say the water was way too salty to drink and not even deep enough to drown if you passed out drunk in it. A few other folks lived nearby. Close enough to create a sense of community but not get in each other’s way. I hadn’t really experienced anything like it before, and I… well, I began to understand the appeal.

I fixed things for my neighbors and developed a reputation that had folks from other parts seeking me out. I even entertained the thought of opening my own repair shop. After growing up in one and watching all the stress slowly drain the life out of my ma, I had always told myself I wouldn’t live that way, but for the first time the idea didn’t seem like such a bad one. Funny how I left home all those years ago searching for something different and somehow ended up in a place that felt familiar. A strange feeling to be sure. That itch to escape had faded and I had begun planning a future for myself that I would never have believed possible.

Then a terrible drought hit Dellin. I knew they occurred from time to time, but I wasn’t prepared for it. Didn’t take long before the oasis evaporated, leaving nothing but a salt flat in its wake. Some folks picked up and left right then and there. They were the smart ones. Leave it to Old Jegger to learn his lessons the hard way.

Water became particularly hard to come by. A hauler hired to bring in regular shipments was ambushed by some desperate folks and the pilot killed. After that no one was willing to make the delivery, at least not at a cost we could afford. Lacking any other options, I began making water runs myself. First I went to Acheron but the second someone got wind I was from Dellin the price doubled. Bastards knew the terrible situation we were in but didn’t give a damn if it meant they could squeeze a few extra creds outta it.

Soon I was making runs out of system to load up on food and water. The experience provided quite the crash course on how to run your ship sigs low enough to not attract attention. Folks desperate for supplies are willing to do just about anything. It wasn’t long before I was spending more time in my ship than at the homestead. Soon, I was justifying extending my hauling runs even further out just so I wouldn’t have to return to Dellin quite so soon. And when I was home, I was missing the drift something fierce. Wasn’t long before I had to admit to myself that the old itch had come back worse than ever.

I chewed on the decision over my next few runs. Returning to my wandering ways wasn’t so easy. People depended on me, and I wasn’t so sure what they would do if I left. Finally, I made up an excuse for Langston, one of the remaining residents, to join me on a run. Didn’t take long for him to figure out that I was showing him the ropes. When we got back I broke the news to everyone else. They didn’t give me no grief and thanked me for all I’d done. They even threw me a little going away shindig. That only made me like ‘em more.

I hadn’t been back until this trip. I kept telling myself that it’d be too dangerous, what with the terrible war between Dellin and Acheron still raging. Deep down I was also worried that going back might stir up thoughts about settling down. The trip definitely triggered some strong emotions but none of ‘em had me questioning my decision.

My old homestead’s still there, barely, but all my old neighbors were long gone. Not too surprising. The water’s still all dried up and the ground as salty as a Snaggle Stick. It was good to be back, but I’m glad it’s not my home no more.

Guess that was the long way of saying that the reason why I live the way I do is because it’s complicated. It’s partly because I’m just a restless soul who prefers his own company, and partly because life pushed me that way. This life isn’t for everyone but it’s definitely the right one for me.

[ Beeping ]

Damn, has it been that long already? Sitting here, recollecting the past and enjoying a slow drift by Charon IV has sure been fun, but it’s time to move on. There’s still so much out there for me to see.

This is Old Jegger, signing off.

Source: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch/16835-Far-From-Home-Best-Laid-Plans

Calling All Devs

Every week, designers, engineers and other developers from our five offices around the world answer backer questions submitted on SPECTRUM and voted on by YOU.

You can submit your questions for consideration in future episodes of Calling All Devs here.

And for info on becoming a subscriber, go to: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/subscriptions

Source: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/16834-Calling-All-Devs

This Week in Star Citizen

Hello everyone,

Last week, we celebrated All Hallows’ Eve across our studios and crowned the winners of our two Halloween themed community contests. Check out the winners of the Pumpkin Carving Contest, and the FOIP Contest, highlighting the most terrifying or terrified expressions.

We welcomed more filmmakers to the annals of Star Citizen cinematic history with our Mustang Commercial Contest. Check out the work of the bold community filmmakers who embraced the maverick spirit of Consolidated Outland to create commercials that Silas Koerner himself would be proud of.

If you haven’t yet, you can also read up on Anvil’s latest bruiser, the Valkyrie. The Q&A on the recently revealed troop/personnel transport ship answers the top-voted community questions.

And with that, let’s see what’s going on this week:

Today we’re re-releasing September’s Squadron 42 Monthly Report as a Comm-Link. It’s important to note that this is a cross-post of the report you already received recently in your email’s inbox, but we wanted to publish it as a Comm-Link as well for convvenience. This is a cross-posting process we plan to continue for future Squadron 42 reports. Check that out here.

On Calling All Devs every week, designers, engineers, and other developers from our five offices around the world answer backer questions submitted on Spectrum and voted for by YOU. This week we talk about ship headlights, moving from planet to planet while offline, the docking functionality of the Merlin, and more!

On Tuesday, the Lore Team will publish another “Far From Home” piece, in which Old Jegger will be visiting an old homestead and reflecting on the reasons why he left. Check out previously published lore posts here.

Thursday will welcome another episode of Around the Verse where we’ll take a look at the latest Star Citizen news.

Tune in on Friday at at 9am PST for another episode of Reverse the Verse, broadcast live on our Star Citizen Twitch channel. This week, we’ll have Environment Art Director Ian Leyland on the show to answer questions following up the variety of CitizenCon presentations related to the “man-made” structures of Alpha 3.3.5, such as “Welcome to Lorville” and “The Mod Squad.” Post your questions on Spectrum and vote on the ones you want to see addressed most.

Ulf Kuerschner
Senior Community Manager


The Weekly Community Content Schedule


MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH, 2018
            Calling All Devs   (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6TH, 2018
            Weekly Lore Post   (https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/spectrum-dispatch)

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH, 2018
            –   

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8TH, 2018
            Around the Verse    (https://www.youtube.com/user/RobertsSpaceInd/)
            Vault Update   

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 9TH, 2018
            Reverse the Verse   (https://www.twitch.tv/starcitizen)
            Roadmap Update   
            RSI Newsletter   


Community MVP: November 5th, 2018


We are constantly amazed by the contributions made by the Star Citizen community. Whether it’s fan art, a cinematic, a YouTube guide, or even a 3D print of your favorite ship, we love it all! Every week, we select one piece of content submitted to the Community Hub and highlight it here. The highlighted content creator will be awarded with an MVP badge on Spectrum and be immortalized in our MVP section of the Hub.

Don’t forget to submit your content to our Community Hub for a chance at seeing it here!

Operation Hammerhead by Gwim


The Black Star Initiative is putting the Aegis Hammerhead to the test. What does the turret say?!

Enjoy the video on the Community Hub.

Source: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/citizens/16833-This-Week-In-Star-Citizen

Squadron 42 Monthly Report: September 2018

Squadron 42 Monthly Report: September 2018

This is a cross-post of the report that was recently sent out via the monthly Squadron 42 newsletter. We’re publishing this a second time as a Comm-Link to make it easier for the community to reference back to, and plan on following this process for future Squadron 42 Monthly Reports.

As the development of Squadron 42 thunders on, the brain trust at UEE Naval High Command has retooled their dispatches.

We aim to bring you the most significant and comprehensive project updates available. However, particularly sensitive details will remain under wraps to avoid unnecessary leaks to the civilian community.

Read on for a look into the work done on Squadron 42 during September and keep a weather eye open on this channel for future briefings.

CitizenCon 2948 saw the first look at the latest Squadron 42 trailer. If you missed it, or want to check it out again, you’ll find the full 4K version on the official Star Citizen YouTube channel.

Cinematics


The Cinematics Team split their time this month between creating content and advancing tech and tools. They had several meetings about where to fit PCAP to reworked props and where to change geometry to fit the specific shot performances; in particular, where to place the Idris and Bengal’s captain’s chairs.

They modified and completed several Trackview master sequences featuring newly-edited PCAP, including camera and lighting. The completed sequences essentially show a conversation or first-person cinematic and all of its branches in a linear fashion. The animators then use these to iterate on pose-matching, while the level designers use them as the blueprint for how the scene will play out once it’s scripted via AI logic.

On the tech side, they worked with tool engineers to improve the navspline for puppeteering ships. The spline now features better ghost vehicle rendering too, allowing its control points to be manipulated as editor objects. General work on the usability of the spline is continuing with numerous improvements. The team also revamped the ability to trigger weapon and turret fire on ships.

A collaboration with the tech teams featured example scenes that contain performances by real-life actors. As the actors were directing their performance to a specific point, the goal is now to guide the player towards that spot via UI. The first tests look promising.

Engineering


The Actor Team made a lot of small improvements to how first-person gameplay feels, such as speeding up weapon swapping, tweaking ADS aiming when moving, and adjusting weapon sway. They also revisited and fixed issues with the jump mechanic before undertaking a more detailed pass using the new time-warping tech to clean up the assets. Progress continues with the Usable Editor Tool, which enables the team to create and amend new usables directly in the editor and simplify the current process.

The new Walk and Talk prototype is making progress, with two characters now walking together while having a believable and dynamic conversation. The EU Gameplay Team has been supporting the cinematics group, fixing issues they’ve been having when creating cutscenes.

Facial animation


The team worked along-side Tech Animation to test the Vanduul facial rig. They also ran the first set of reviews for the new Facial Animation Quality Benchmark, with the goal of establishing a gold-standard for facial performance in a triple-A game.

Gameplay Story


September was a particularly exciting month as the Story Team implemented more scenes than ever before. The aim for Q3 began with around 10, but they managed to get 23 working in-game to a high standard. They also gave more thought to the lighting and positioning of scenes within levels, which has led to considerable improvements to their visual appearance.

Graphics


The Graphics Team worked on several new features as part of ongoing space-crafting improvements. This included adding shadows onto and from gas clouds (with a 75% memory saving), the addition of turbulence and interference when near dense regions of cloud, and a new GPU spline based lightning system. On top of this, they also improved reflections from water and added tessellation to the organic shader, which is mainly used for rocks and terrain.

Level Design


The team is operating at full capacity, with a heavy focus on scene implementation and usables. Making all the locations of the game feel realistic and believable (particularly the way the AI interact and move around on their various schedules) is always a top priority.

All chapters of the game have a single design owner and several support designers who can work on them simultaneously. The numerous feature teams all have S42 technical priorities on their backlogs and have a steady stream of technology and workflow improvements coming in on a weekly basis.

Props


The Props Team shifted priorities slightly this month to focus on getting their templates updated to work with the new usable systems, with the aim to make it easier to scale functionality out across the game.

Work has progressed on junk and scrap piles, with the whitebox assets getting a material pass. The original simpods have been brought up to scratch, staying true to the original concept but being reworked using the custom normal workflow. They were also converted to work with the most current shaders. Finally, the team has been going through the cinematic scenes and have started work on the props with performance capture associated with them.

Ship Art


The Ship Art Team paused for a couple weeks on Persistent Universe work to take care of some pilot-fitting issues on a prominent S42 campaign ship. They raised the pilot position up and refined the interior geo a bit more. Now that it’s done, they’re back in full swing on the 300i grey-box for the PU.

Tech Animation


The Motion Capture Team has been reconfiguring their whole rig to trigger capture on every platform over TCP/IP: reference, facial & body. This made it much easier to match and manage the resulting datasets and has improved workflow across the board.

They put it to the test on a recent shoot in Manchester and worked to implement much of the resulting animation. They have also been refining the pipelines in which they process the data sets from motion capture and bring them together as a whole in their animation DCC of choice, Maya.

Female animation received baseline processing, with retargeting of the core reference databases and basic animation done to make the refinement pass as easy as possible.

They also worked on multiple fixes for the usable system and supported the Combat AI Team with new weapon setups for left-handed combat.

Lastly, the team has been developing the facial rigging pipeline and skinning toolsets, with the Vanduul as the central focus of development.

UI


While UI predominantly provided support for new features in the PU, they also supported various environmental needs for Squadron 42, such as ambient displays in the background of scenes and locations.

VFX


This month, the team focused heavily on a variety of feature improvements, including significantly upgraded lightning effects. This doesn’t just refer to how it looks, but how it can be dynamically controlled and how it interacts with the player. This was all done in close collaboration with the Art and Design teams.

They also worked on various cinematics, as well as several in-game cutscenes. Some have been challenging to work on as they flesh out unique environments and situations that haven’t been seen before in a video game.

Weapons


The Weapon Art Team finished production on the Kastak Arms Sawtooth knife.

Covert Intel


Conclusion

WE’LL SEE YOU NEXT MONTH

Source: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/16792-Squadron-42-Monthly-Report-September-2018

The Hot Air Balloon Update


Up, up and away… Hot Air Balloons are in, along with anti-air missiles to take them down. There’s a new type of Cargo Ship, nerfs, and more. This patch wipes the servers. Enjoy! Source: https://rust.facepunch.com/blog/the-hot-air-balloon-update/

Q&A: Anvil – Valkyrie

Q&A: Anvil Aerospace – Valkyrie

Following the launch of the Valkyrie from Anvil Aerospace, we took your community-voted questions to our designers to give you more information on the recently unveiled troop/personnel transport.

Special thanks to John Crewe and Todd Papy for answering these questions.

If the Valkyrie can´t hold cargo, how are the players supposed to transport small supplies (ammo, food…) and weapons (like mortars or anti-tank weapons, railguns or RPGs etc…) to the front lines?

The Valkyrie’s purpose is to carry troops and a vehicle down to a location, drop them off, and provide close support via its weaponry. It is very much a dropship/gunship rather than a resupply ship. While some dropships may simply drop off the team and jet, the Valkyrie is equipped to provide continued support for drop off and extraction. The troops onboard have a gunrack per seat alongside storage lockers for additional items if the crew are not using them. The combination of troops, FPS weapon racks, vehicle deployment, and the ability to provide close support, all makes the Valkyrie a strong candidate for when you need to get in and out planetside.

What can we expect for drop ship gameplay? Can you give examples of missions or jobs that this ship could perform without having 10+ friends in game.

While the ideal gameplay for this ship is dropping friends off into combat zones, naturally not everyone has that amount of friends available at all times to facilitate this being a common occurrence. Typical gameplay missions for solo or low player counts would be hiring NPCs for combat missions and transporting them to the location or retrieving groups of abandoned NPCs/players from their own missions which may have not gone to plan. At its core, this ship is designed for transporting people and a vehicle from A to B, so missions will revolve around that concept, varying the location, duration and danger of pickups and drop-offs.

What can the ship do when not carrying troops; will it always have rows of empty seats taking up space, or can those be repurposed to better fit a gunship role, or some other third thing?

The ship does not have any modular rooms that can be swapped out by the owner and there are no current plans to add that level of modularity to the ship.

Is there a storage space for weapons, like weapon racks?

Each of the 20 seats has a weapon rack for a single primary weapon up to size 4, for example an Arrowhead sniper rifle. These racks are alongside lockers on the back wall of the vehicle bay.

Does it fit in an Idris/Polaris/Javelin?

It does not fit in any of the above ships – it is too tall and too wide for the Idris to fit without breaking parts off. It is too long and wide to fit in the Javelin’s flight bay, and is too big in every axis for the Polaris.

How is a ‘vehicle pad’, which presumably has either tie downs or a mag-lock grid to keep the vehicle in place during flight ops, different from a ‘cargo grid’, which would use those same mechanics to safely store SCUs of supplies or trade goods. Not every dropship mission is about bringing bodies to the fight – sometimes it’s ammo, fuel, food, medicine, equipment etc etc.

From the very initial design, we wanted the area at the back to be purely for vehicles and not used for storing commercial cargo. Technically speaking, we do not require a cargo grid to store a vehicle for persistence reasons, instead we use the physics grid, so there is actually no technical requirement to have a cargo grid to secure vehicles. In-game, we always require the magnetic cargo grids to store commercial cargo securely in ships, and the Valkyrie does not have this functionality. We’re still finalizing the in-fiction reasons for the differences between securing cargo vs. vehicles.

Will the door gunner arms be moved further center of the door to allow for better range of motion?

We are reviewing the current positioning of them and seeing whether we want to move them further out. However, the restriction being that we still want to allow 2×2 exit of characters alongside the gun and as it is on an arm, the further out it is the more it blocks the exit. It was a conscious design decision to have the guns on that specific side to not allow them to have a full 180 degree arc, which the wing remote turrets cover instead. In addition, the door guns are the very first implementation of manned standalone turrets and we have plans for the future to make better use of blendspaces and IK to give a more natural pose and movement which will allow you to keep a line of sight down the gun regardless of the aim point.

Will the ground vehicle ‘hook’ allow for multiple smaller vehicles (like 3 Noxes or 2 dragonflies) or it is a one vehicle only slot?

Officially the vehicle capacity is 1 vehicle and when you are able to prespawn vehicles inside there will only be one slot to spawn from. However, given our future persistence plans and indeed how it works currently, if you choose to manually load more in after that point then these are saved inside the vehicle in the position they were left at.

Is the ladder to the upper Habitat open to the rover bay? What about planets without an atmosphere, or poisonous/corrosive atmospheres? Will we suffocate in bed?

The ladder hatch and the upper area is indeed open to the rover bay, meaning if you open the doors it will vent all the living quarters. This as an intentional design decision. The ship is designed for operations down to planets with breathable atmospheres with the crew compartment there to make the crew comfortable if they have to wait for troops to return. Obviously, if you are away and dropping into a dangerous atmosphere, you can suit up in advance to prevent injury.

Could this ship be used practically for boarding action in space?

While the ship is designed for dropping troops in breathable atmospheres, provided the troops are suitably equipped for EVA, there is no reason the Valkyrie couldn’t be used for boarding actions in space.

The commercial for the Anvil Valkyrie calls it a “multirole ship”. How is the Valkyrie understood to be multirole?

The Valkyrie is capable of dropping 20 troops plus a vehicle as well as providing a good level of weaponry for close air support to those troops. As mentioned in the trailer, it blurs the line between dropship and gunship.

Real life dropship concepts (Blackhawk/Huey) have very good visibility under the pilot’s feet so they can see where are they landing. The Valkyrie does not have any visibility for below ground. Will it be equipped with some kind of below camera or something to help land it efficiently?

There is actually a window beneath the pilot’s seat for visibility down under the ship. However, given constraints with our character’s movement versus how much you can move around in real life there are limits to how much you can see out of it. We know people are keen to have some kind of external camera that isn’t the third person view for our ships, and we are looking at ways of implementing that.

Will Valkyrie get a medical module for Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR)?

During concept, we looked at potential variants to the Valkyrie and the CSAR one was one of the most liked options. Ultimately, we chose to just create the one ship from the concept phase with no modularity available. In the future, if we choose to do anything, they will most likely be full on variants, but there are no plans to do this at this time.

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Source: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/engineering/16829-Q-A-Anvil-Valkyrie