“Star Citizen’s ships are some of the most elaborate designs in any space game, but they have a long road of reworks and updates ahead of them still…”
The author discusses the extensive work required to fully realize the vision for spaceships in Star Citizen. While the game already boasts over a hundred ships, there are numerous updates, reworks, and additions planned for the future. One major update is the implementation of engineering gameplay, which will involve internal system connections, power relays, and maintenance and repair. Another significant change is the introduction of Master modes, which will affect ship combat and flight mechanics, including speed, rotation, shield access, and Quantum travel. Various other features such as weapon variety, dynamic destruction, and ship user interface overhauls are also on the horizon.
In addition to these general ship updates, there are specific tasks required for each ship. This includes reworks for ships like the freelancer, constellation, and caterpillar, as well as the completion of capital class ships such as the Idris and Javelin. Some ships have purposes that are not yet built into the game, such as scanning functionality, data running mechanics for ships like the MSR and Herald, salvaging functionality for the reclaimer and vulture, and hauling missions for cargo ships. Specialized ships like bounty hunters’ Cutlass Blue and passenger transport ships like the Genesis Starliner will require their own gameplay loops.
There are also upcoming ships that will introduce brand new functionality and gameplay systems, including boarding ships, ships with drone technology, base building ships, large-scale mining ships, science ships, mine-laying ships, fleet rearming ships, repair ships, and more. The author acknowledges that while they are excited about these features, the amount of work needed to fully realize them is immense. They hope that core mechanics will be prioritized, but recognize the challenges faced by the development team at Cloud Imperium Games.
Overall, the author provides a comprehensive overview of the extensive work involved in bringing the future of spaceships in Star Citizen to fruition. They express both excitement and concern for the ambitious vision, acknowledging the multitude of updates, reworks, and new features that will be required for each ship and gameplay system.