Feel free to sing that title with the music from ‘Another one bites the dust’ in your head, if you’re not already. Â :P
Hours after the long awaited Hornet variants went up for sale… Star Citizen has crossed the $24 Million funded mark. Â 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. Â This is a monorail train, from the system in use on Terra, well, the concept art for it.
So, if you’re stranded on Terra, because you hitched a ride with a buddy who logged out. Â You can catch the monorail to one of the space ports. Â From the space port, you’ll be able to board a passenger frigate, and get transported to whatever planet you left your ship on. Â Definitely more immersive than the ‘hearth stone’ or quick travel system seen in other MMOs.
It does have a potential drawback though. Â 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. Â 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). Â 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. Â If you’re cruising along on that frigate, and they get boarded by pirates..now you have something to do! Â Granted, every passenger frigate can’t get boarded EVERY time it makes a trip. Â 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. Â 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. Â The ship will now be available for an additional week (so, until November 4th). Â See? And people said nothing good could come from a government shutdown.. we get an extra week to throw money at CIG! Â (I kid… I kid! no real politics talk here!).