Star Citizen: Arena Commander is Live!

[Draconalis]

After many ambiguous release dates, "soon"s, and delays that the Star Citizen community has taken with mixed reactions, the DFM (Dog Fighting Module) otherwise known as Arena Commander has finally gone live.

Star Citizen is the love child of Chris Roberts, creator of the Wing Commander series of games which defined a genre. The game is still in a pre-alpha build, but since the game (which at the time of this writing has 44.5 million dollars in crowd funded, geek loving money) is a kickstarter project which offered complete transparency during its development, backers get to enjoy the perks of extremely early info and access.

The first module released was the Hangar Module, which allowed backers to play around with the ships they backed. The latest module lets us actually fly them... AND IT IS AWESOME!

The controls need some getting used to, but once you get the feel of them, you feel like pre crazy Tom Cruise... but in space. (Cause only crazy Tom Cruise is in space). Which reminds me... I need to play Danger Zone the next time I load the game up.

The purpose of this is to find all the bugs and balance the game, so it's far from ready to be boxed and shipped, but that's all part of the process.

The current build offers a free mode that lets you fly within a confine space, while the Vanduul Swarm mode pits you against Vanduul Scythes in a wave based fashion within that same confined space.

Multiplayer modes to come, but they are going to be be slowly released in order to keep the servers from exploding.

Unfortunately, while I've been watching the game for a while, I only committed and pledged in December... my Citizen number is 350K or so, and from what I understand, people will be rolled into the PvP multiplayer in accordance with their Citizen number.

Sufficed to say... I've got a wait yet till I can kill all my friends in shiny space ships.

Whether you can play Vanduul Swarm Co-op with your buddies remains to be seen, but it's something I'm hoping for as well.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I work in 30 minutes but I only got 2 hours of sleep. Had to play Arena Commander, I was compelled...

o.o

It is a lot of fun as it stands right now and although I'm not the best pilot, practice makes perfect. It had a really long download time for me so I only got to play about 40 minutes of it. In that time I learned that I will be actively avoiding dogfights in asteroids, the controls need refinements (and the ability to rebind commands) and that the Star Citizen forum is still full of whiners who don't understand what a PRE-ALPHA game is going to play like.

Visually it looks great and that can always be tweaked/optimized. I definitely like the cockpit of my Hornet and the weapons mounted on it. The Vanduul are still very hard for me to hit though.

Overall, I'm very happy to be given the game as it stands right now. The multiplayer, as I understand it, is going to be opened up to more people as they work out the bugs with the earliest adopters first. I'm in the 10K's when it comes to my Citizen # so its going to take some time until I can fight real people. I'll need that time to practice though...

I'm very psyched and excited to see the non-combat elements as they are released to us later down the line.

Edit: Tired Redlin now must face the real life consequences of no sleep and a 8 hour shift. Yaaay...

 

[Draconalis]

In that time I learned that I will be actively avoiding dogfights in asteroids

Hahahahah

That honestly made me laugh.

I haven't really had a huge problem running into things... but the AI seems to like to huge the outer parameter.

I keep hearing "You're approaching the simulated boundary" every time I chase a Scythe.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Just out of curiosity, are we still locked into "cockpit only" play mode?

I love Freelancer, and Star Citizen made me have a nerdgazm. (I hope that's not offensive to anyone?)
Being able to experience a new story in the same vein, with all the extras afforded to a newer release...*Drool*.
The thing about cockpit only mode is that it actually lessens my immersion.
I feel constrained, forced, unable to properly judge distances.
Oh well, one can always dream.

 

[Draconalis]

You can enter third person perspective, but you don't really want to do it in a fight, since you lose the HUD. You can't accurately hit anything.

The benefit in the form of how much you can see isn't worth it.

Getting around though? I think Third person is going to be the way to go, simply because the game is beautiful.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

You can enter third person perspective, but you don't really want to do it in a fight, since you lose the HUD. You can't accurately hit anything.

The benefit in the form of how much you can see isn't worth it.

Getting around though? I think Third person is going to be the way to go, simply because the game is beautiful.

Ah, that's to bad.
I've seen posts concerning first vs third person perspective, and most first person people equate it to immersion.
Which is funny since I'm the opposite.

I would have like them to take (another) page from Freelancer, where there is no difference in the FOV, and just let people choose which they are most comfortable with.

Thanks for answering, I'll just have to wait for another Space trading and exploring game. Or mods ^^

*edit* Captcha: "many wishes"
Either captcha is very nice..or it's being ironic. hmmm

 

[Draconalis]

Snip

The reason there is no hud for third person is because You can see more, thus giving you an advantage if you had the hud as well, and the game is really meant to be played in first person.

That being said... this game fully embraces mods, so you might well get your wish.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Snip

Snip

That is indeed the argument I've heard most, though it baffles me.
Again, lets take freelancer as a model. The only difference going back and forth between first person and third person is a more obstructed view, with added cockpit bars to the side and maybe some at the top and bottom.
The FOV is identical. I don't get how you could see more.

If Star Citizen wants to immerse people more with great and detailed cockpits,that's great.
But saying you can see more only muddles the concept.

I would be grateful if you could take a shot at explaining it better to me?

 

[Draconalis]

Snip

I'm only regurgitating arguments I've heard, this isn't my stance, for the record.

But the camera is further back when you're in third person. That's a simple fact.

It's like how in Wow, I used to pan the camera out as much as possible, because it gave the widest field of vision.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

In that time I learned that I will be actively avoiding dogfights in asteroids

Hahahahah

That honestly made me laugh.

...

I got better.

Serves me right for testing out how close I could get to obstacles while dogfighting anyway. Getting better at using the guns to kill now but the missiles are always satisfying.

 

[Augustine]

3-person view topic that was beaten to death and back, and then back again (refer to the SC formus).

3P is intentionally unplayable. It is meant to help admire the views. The promise of Star Citizen always was to LIVE the life in space, not to play a GAME about space. And you experience the whole world through your eyes, directly.
First person view is a feature.

[Paraphrasing devs]

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Snip

Snip

That I would understand, if it had to be true.
Thanks for answering.

3-person view topic that was beaten to death and back, and then back again (refer to the SC formus).

3P is intentionally unplayable. It is meant to help admire the views. The promise of Star Citizen always was to LIVE the life in space, not to play a GAME about space. And you experience the whole world through your eyes, directly.
First person view is a feature.

[Paraphrasing devs]

Well, you know what they say about features. just kidding.
I wont address the rest since I don't want to derail the topic (more).

That's all folks, Thanks for the answers.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

If Star Citizen wants to immerse people more with great and detailed cockpits,that's great.
But saying you can see more only muddles the concept.

I would be grateful if you could take a shot at explaining it better to me?

You can see more when the camera isn't physically in the cockpit of the ship though. I love Freelancer more than most folks here but I understand why there isn't a 3rd person position for combat. Maybe if there was a much more limited HUD provided that only gave the barest of target/position information it would work but I find the immersion of being a pilot is increased when you are placed in the cockpit. In fact, that was one of my few major dislikes about Freelancer. The cockpits were very underwhelming.

We have to accept the fact that the combat is being inherited from the Wing Commander series, not Privateer/Freelancer and that means a far greater emphasis on fighting from the cockpit. What Star Citizen is getting from Freelancer is the vast space civilization concept, with plenty of economics and politics to take advantage of. It is going to be even better in that regard because unlike Freelancer, which was under Microsoft supervision in the latter stages of its production cycle, Star Citizen is actually going to have a lot more work going into its economy system. It will change whereas Sirus's economy was quite dull in all honesty. Still, this is just the combat test of the game. Just one part of an ambitious project. If you're more interested in the trading, I would recommend you hold out until we see how the defense of larger, non-combat orientated type ships works.

However, I do prefer just general cruising around from the exterior view of my ship. If more navigational HUD information was given, I would fly like I did in Freelancer, every so often spinning around the ship with the camera as I flew to an objective. What's more, we don't know how the combat within the Freelancer[footnote]A ship in Star Citizen, not the game for those uninformed. [/footnote] is going to work. It has two unmanned turrets on its side so will we be given an exterior view to maximize their firing arc? We don't know yet, that Dogfighting version isn't out.

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Snip

Snip

Doh! I had completely forgotten you could rotate the camera freely around the ship since I never did that..Gah.
Sorry folks.

Thanks for the very detailed explanation Redlin, but if they stick to cockpit only, It's a no-buy for me.
Even though I LOVE Those types of game. Those and 4X games are my gaming bread and butter.
I just can't immerse myself if I feel artificially constrained within a game.

Again, thanks for the answers!

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Thanks for the very detailed explanation Redlin, but if they stick to cockpit only, It's a no-buy for me.
Even though I LOVE Those types of game. Those and 4X games are my gaming bread and butter.
I just can't immerse myself if I feel artificially constrained within a game.

Sorry to hear it but to each their own! The lore and the lure of creating my own character stories over the course of several careers of different pilots is more interesting to me than the simple combat. I loved the combat in Freelancer but I always found myself wanting more interaction, both as a living person in the universe and as someone gaming the economy or being a victim of it. I think Star Citizen is going to be built in a way that really helps that immersion in a way no other space sim I've played has done. Here's just a few scenarios I imagine cropping up:

Did the Vanduul just destroy the station I was delivering goods to? Now I have to decide whether or not to risk a long run to another place where I can sell for profit or accept I got the short end of the stick and sell for loss where I am right now.

I died too many times in combat, damn. My character has died and I have to make a new one to inherit all his stuff... Who is this person going to be? How are they going to build off the reputation of my last character or will they go rogue and rebel against his methods, becoming an outcast and a pirate instead?[footnote]For context, this is Chris Robert's explanation about how death works in Star Citizen. [https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/engineering/12879-Death-Of-A-Spaceman][/footnote]

There are the discussions on how new areas of space, as they are released, will be discovered. Star Citizen will be updated with new systems, new sentient species and new dangers as time goes on post-launch. It would be awesome to be immortalized in the in-game (and community) lore as the person who stumbled upon new alien life.

I'll be honest, I'm far more comfortable with the combat style of Freelancer but I'll challenge myself to be a better cockpit pilot if it means I can defend myself while experiencing all these other aspects of the game. I did enjoy Wing Commander on the SNES, even though I got my ass handed to me frequently, so being constrained to the reality of a cockpit isn't a big deal for me on an immersion level. It does challenge me as a pilot though.

I'll stop now though, I'm filling this thread with non-released promises and there are Vanduul to kill. I'm just sorry to hear that a cockpit kills all this other fun for you. I'm enjoying the challenge of Arena Commander (although I probably won't play this 'simulation' when the Persistent Universe is launched) and having fun is what gaming is about. Cheers and good hunting!

 

[Vendor-Lazarus]

Thanks for the very detailed explanation Redlin, but if they stick to cockpit only, It's a no-buy for me.
Even though I LOVE Those types of game. Those and 4X games are my gaming bread and butter.
I just can't immerse myself if I feel artificially constrained within a game.

SNIP
Here's just a few scenarios I imagine cropping up:
SNIP

mmmmmmm..oooohh...*drool*
Those are just so...exciting.
I Love it.

But alas, I can imagine myself rage-quitting again and again just because of this single gripe.
I really wish I could do cockpit flying (and EVE style flying as well) but, but...no.

I am really glad that so many people are able enjoy another expansive space sim.
Here's to hoping many more follow suit!


Happy hunting yourself!

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

3-person view topic that was beaten to death and back, and then back again (refer to the SC formus).

3P is intentionally unplayable. It is meant to help admire the views. The promise of Star Citizen always was to LIVE the life in space, not to play a GAME about space. And you experience the whole world through your eyes, directly.
First person view is a feature.

[Paraphrasing devs]

That might not so much be the case.


In one of the communities I'm a member of, there's a lot of talk about how mouse-and-keyboard has much better control than joysticks or similar control rigs. More than a few people have already cancelled subscriptions with complaints about the game being more arcade-y than simulation.

 

[Augustine]

3-person view topic that was beaten to death and back, and then back again (refer to the SC formus).

3P is intentionally unplayable. It is meant to help admire the views. The promise of Star Citizen always was to LIVE the life in space, not to play a GAME about space. And you experience the whole world through your eyes, directly.
First person view is a feature.

[Paraphrasing devs]

That might not so much be the case.


In one of the communities I'm a member of, there's a lot of talk about how mouse-and-keyboard has much better control than joysticks or similar control rigs. More than a few people have already cancelled subscriptions with complaints about the game being more arcade-y than simulation.

AIl I can do is raise an eyebrow at those who expected the Alpha 0.8 (which would make it per-alpha) to be perfect.

 

[Rob Robson]

I just can't immerse myself if I feel artificially constrained within a game.

It's not artifical, it's the opposite. You play a human pilot. You see the world through his eyes. The end.

Nothing more natural than that.

 

[gsilver]

It's really badly optimized, which is pulling me out of it.

It's not even worth trying on my work PC with a Radeon 5870, and my main gaming PC, which is powered by a 280x, dips down to 35FPS at 1920x1080 and medium settings. I run most games just fine at 2560x1440.