The Future of PC Gaming: Star Citizen

I just wanted to share this really cool and revolutionary game with all of my readers. It’s called Star Citizen.

Chris Roberts and His Masterpiece

Chris Roberts, the founder of Cloud Imperium Games, is the mastermind behind Star Citizen. Along with the help of his very experienced team of devs and artists, he is aiming to create an online single-server space sim game. Roberts was the man behind Wing Commander, Freelancer and other projects. Mostly space sims and sci-fi games.

For Star Citizen, think of EVE Online, but better in every way possible, at least according to myself. IT is being developed using the famous Cry Engine 3. This will allow for top notch graphics quality. This game will be completely moddable. We can compare it with Team Fortress 2 and how it is based on Half-Life 2.

Well with this game, expect some people to put out Star Wars or even Star Trek variants based off of Star Citizen in the future. Also, the official Star Citizen server will have rules already set by Roberts and CIG. If you would rather play alone, with a few friends or create your own rules, you can. You just need to set up your own server for the game.

What makes Star Citizen so special?

The game means to simulate life in space. You can be whoever you want to be. Space merchant, pirate, mercenary, scavenger, explorer, etc. You don’t select a pre-set class and you don’t level up skills or attributes. This game is so realistic that you’ll need to buy insurance for your ships, hangars and any other valuable high risk possessions. If you choose a life of crime, you may be hunted by mercenaries or police. You can create your own Organization which is like a clan, guild or corporation. Depending on your goals as a player, your organization can serve as your business company, your group of pirates, your list of mercenary contacts, your network of merchant allies, etc.

 
The Star Citizen Economy

This aspect of the game is my personal favorite. Basically everyone will be able to complete missions and trade to get UEC (United Earth Credits). What I really love is how dynamic the economy of the game will flow.

Let’s say you’re a merchant; you notice that selling materials and components to a certain planet which sells missiles is very profitable. You decide to do business with this planet. Once this said planet has a short of materials, you will notice a notification telling you “Planet X needs you to bring it Aluminium.” Your job is to get Aluminium, hopefully at a low cost and sell it to that planet at a higher cost.

Now, let’s say you keep doing business with this planet. Eventually you might meet pirates who start taking over your trade convoys one by one. You will need to deal with these pirates or the lack of Aluminium will cause the planet to sell its missiles at a higher price.

You hire Mercenaries to escort your trade convoys. So now, you, the merchant, mercenaries who escort your convoys and pirates who steal your convoys are all involved in the commerce of missiles. You all have your jobs, you all gain money and depending on the skill of the mercenaries versus the skill of the pirates, you might lose money.

This next video might explain things better than I.

The UEE and the Universe

The UEE (United Empire of Earth) is the universe’s government and political power, at least at the time of release. I say this because Chris Roberts mentioned that players have the power to change many elements of the game including political elements. The universe, comprised of over 100 planets, is just as dynamic as the economy. As a Citizen, you have the power to go to the outer reaches and take your chances at discovering a new system, planet or civilisation.

Chris Roberts mentioned that once this is done by a player, he has the opportunity to name said system or planet. Warp points are also to be discovered. And these warp points are also to be named by the explorer. You can either keep the coordinates for your own personal use or sell it to the UEE so that everyone may use it. If you decide to keep it for yourself and someone else discovers it, they may sell it and take the credit for the discovery.

Crowd-Funding Records And Pledging

Star Citizen has broken the record for the most crowd-funded game ever. Receiving, at the time of this article, $39,538,233 and having 400,387 Star Citizens (people who pledged for the game). Pledges receive rewards based on the amount they pledged. There are pledge packages available on the Star Citizen Website here. As a pledge, the smallest rewards you can receive are the following:

1. Star Citizen Digital Download
2. Squadron 42 Digital Download (Single Player Story)
3. Starting Money: 1,000 UEC
4. 2 Month Insurance on your ship
5. Digital Star Citizen Manual
6. RSI Aurora MR Ship
7. Starting Hangar: Discount

This is the RSI Aurora MR package. It has a value of $30 and is only available on the Star Citizen website.

Obviously, the more you pledge, the more they reward you, either a bigger/better starting ship, more starting credits, access to the Alpha and Beta tests for the game (Beta and Alpha access requires a pledge of $40 or more starting with the Aurora MR+ package). You can even get real physical 3″ to 10″ models of your ship. For those who really want to invest in the game, you may buy the Wing Commander game package which is valued at $10,000. Here is what these pledges receive:

1. Star Citizen Digital Download
2. Squadron 42 Digital Download
3. Starting Money: 20,000 UEC
4. Lifetime Insurance on your ships
5. Digital Star Citizen Manual
6. Hardback Squadron 42 Manual
7. Name Your Spaceship
8. Beta Access
9. Alpha Access
10. Electro Skin Hull
11. Custom Skin
12. 1 Million Mile High Club
13. Spaceship-shaped USB Drive
14. CD of Game Soundtrack
15. Glossy Fold-up Star Map
16. 5 Spaceship blueprints
17. 10″ Model of Spaceship
18. Hardback Making-of Star Citizen
19. Hardback Engineering Manual
20. A Day with Chris Roberts (Game Director/Chairman)
21. Deluxe Silver Collector’s Box
22. RSI Aurora MR Ship
23. Origin 300i Ship
24. Anvil Aerospace Hornet F7C Ship
25. MISC Freelancer Ship
26. RSI Constellation Ship
27. Starting Hangar: Deluxe

But that’s understandably out of my, and many other people’s, price ranges. The pledge packages range from $30 to $125 to $275 to $1,250 to $5,000 to the $10,000 package. They all feature different ships or a few of them in the same package. More ships are being developed. Pledging gives you access to updates on the game and on the community.

The Alpha and Beta Access are to be released during 2014. Squadron 42 and Star Citizen are to be released 2015.

There is much to be said about this game and still much to be explained. I recommend visiting the Official Star Citizen Forums at https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com.

If you have any questions about the game and you con not find the answer for whatever reason, I want to hear about it. Leave me a message in the comments, I read them all!

On that note, I am really excited for this game to be released.

---