In the live stream, the host tests Star Citizen’s new Graer MDC ground vehicle, highlighting its modular point defense cannons and autonomous turret capabilities but revealing significant issues with targeting logic, inconsistent AI behavior, and server performance dependency. While showing promise as a defensive tool against bombs and missiles, the MDC currently requires multiple units for effective protection and needs further refinement to become a reliable asset in ground combat.
In this live stream, the host excitedly introduces and tests Star Citizen’s new ground vehicle, the Graer MDC (Mobile Defense Center), which is designed as a point defense system equipped with interchangeable PDC (Point Defense Cannons) turrets—ballistic, laser, and missile variants. The MDC aims to provide protection against incoming bombs, missiles, and small ships, especially useful during ground operations and events like Jumptown. One of the unique features highlighted is that the MDC can continue to operate autonomously as a turret even when unmanned, allowing players to set up defensive perimeters.
The initial tests on the MDC revealed significant issues, primarily related to the vehicle’s targeting and firing logic. The PDCs only engage ordinance dropped by ships that are already hostile (red) to the MDC, meaning fresh bombers who have not yet been attacked can drop bombs without the MDC responding. This limitation severely reduces the effectiveness of the MDC as a reliable anti-bomb defense. Additionally, the turrets demonstrated inconsistent behavior, often locking onto unintended targets like nearby ground vehicles (nursers) instead of bombs, and sometimes failing to fire at all.
Server performance and backend issues were identified as major contributing factors to the unreliable behavior of the MDC’s PDCs. On servers with low frame rates or high latency, the turrets would fail to respond promptly or accurately to threats. However, when moved to a server with better performance, the MDCs showed a marked improvement in functionality, successfully targeting and shooting down bombs, though still requiring multiple MDCs to reliably neutralize a single bomb before it impacts. The streamers also tested the MDC’s turret functionality against missiles and small ships, noting limited damage output due to the small size of the ballistic guns.
The missile variant of the PDC, known as the pepper box, was tested separately and found to be primarily effective against ordinance rather than ships, with no consistent evidence of it engaging enemy vessels. The pepper box’s utility remains somewhat uncertain, though it could serve as a specialized countermeasure against incoming torpedoes and missiles if properly integrated and reliable. The host and participants also discussed the current limitations of ground vehicles in Star Citizen, emphasizing that the MDC is not a game-changer but rather an auxiliary defensive tool that requires further refinement before becoming a dependable asset.
In conclusion, while the Graer MDC represents a promising new addition to ground combat in Star Citizen with its modular PDC turrets and autonomous defense capabilities, its current implementation suffers from significant bugs, inconsistent AI behavior, and server dependency. The vehicle performs better on stable servers but still demands multiple units to provide effective protection against bombs. The stream ends with the host acknowledging the vehicle’s potential but expressing disappointment in its present state, hoping future updates will improve its reliability and usefulness in ground combat scenarios.