Another milestone bites the dust

Feel free to sing that title with the music from ‘Another one bites the dust’ in your head, if you’re not already.  :P

Hours after the long awaited Hornet variants went up for sale… Star Citizen has crossed the $24 Million funded mark.  At this rate, I fully expect Scrooge McDuck to request a loan from CIG any day now.

In his announcement comm-link, Chris Roberts gives us a peak at part of the Public Transportation System we unlocked at the $24 million mark.  This is a monorail train, from the system in use on Terra, well, the concept art for it.

Monorail_train_concept_design_revise_1_

So, if you’re stranded on Terra, because you hitched a ride with a buddy who logged out.  You can catch the monorail to one of the space ports.  From the space port, you’ll be able to board a passenger frigate, and get transported to whatever planet you left your ship on.  Definitely more immersive than the ‘hearth stone’ or quick travel system seen in other MMOs.

It does have a potential drawback though.  If I only have one character, and it’s going to take me 2 hours to get back to my ship, unless there is something to do on that passenger frigate while I’m traveling.  It’s going to be ‘not fun’ and ‘not fun’ means people will log out and not play (unless, the travel progresses while logged out.. then it might not be as bad).  As we get closer, we’ll have to see how the CIG team implements it, and tries to keep it fun for the players.

We also got our $26 Million Stretch goal:

  • Enhanced Capital Ship Systems – In addition to the command and control systems we’ve already outlined, we’re going to expand capital ship functions! Lead a damage control team to fight fires and repair key systems during battle, control internal bulkheads to slow boarders and man a number of consoles, like navigation and engineering, that will make commanding a capital ship feel even more immersive.

It’s completely possible that this new goal, can also help address the ‘not fun’ aspect of hitching a ride on a passenger frigate fora couple of hours.  If you’re cruising along on that frigate, and they get boarded by pirates..now you have something to do!  Granted, every passenger frigate can’t get boarded EVERY time it makes a trip.  But, if it happens occasionally, it might be enough to break up the monotony of being ‘stuck’ on a ship you can’t do anything on.

 

And, as further proof that Chris Roberts and crew are good people.  Because of the paycheck delays a lot of people had as a result of the US Government’s partial shutdown for a couple weeks… CIG is extending the ‘limited time’ part of the Super Hornet variant’s availability.  The ship will now be available for an additional week (so, until November 4th).  See? And people said nothing good could come from a government shutdown.. we get an extra week to throw money at CIG!  (I kid… I kid! no real politics talk here!).