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Wingman's Hangar ·
Published on this date.2013-10-25
· 16 Q&As

Wingman's Hangar ep043 . October 25, 2013

The developers cover ship VTOL and wheels, immersion details like toilets and coffee makers, and smuggling, stolen-cargo tagging and citizenship loss. They also clarify the Squadron 42 campaign and its link to the persistent universe, the tablet companion app, and the Caterpillar's hangar.

Transmission log

Full answers

In the 300i commercial, the ship is shown both with its landing gear and hovering. Hovering would suggest it can also take off and land vertically. Is the ship actually capable of vertical takeoff and landing, or does it need an airfield or a strip to take off from?asked by Redlor Fidelonius

Rob IrvingProducer

Well, a lot of the ships have wheels so you can move them around. If you've got a bunch of ships crammed together on, say, a carrier deck or whatever, you have to be able to roll them around easily without lighting up the engines. But all of our ships, with their maneuvering thrusters, have the ability to do VTOL. They don't necessarily always do it.

Ben LesnickLore and community, Forum Feedback panel

If you're exploring strange new worlds, you're not necessarily going to find a place that has a landing strip.

Wingman's Hangar·
Published on this date.25 Oct 2013
ShipsFlight model

There's been a lot of discussion about toilets and other immersion features being a waste of time. I disagree: it's the little things that make the universe feel alive and lived in. What immersion-supporting things do you plan to add to the game? Making tea or reading animations, perhaps?asked by ZRIS

Eric PetersonHost, Studio Director, Austin

What kind of stuff are we going to add immersion-wise, guys?

Ben LesnickLore and community, Forum Feedback panel

I love the toilet. We're adding a lot of stuff. We're actually meeting about that now. We talked about coffee makers and stuff. One of my favorite QA tickets I've seen is someone who wrote in to complain that they could use the toilet but not wash their hands afterwards. So I'm sure that's coming.

Wingman's Hangar·
Published on this date.25 Oct 2013
Ships

If I get caught as a smuggler, could my citizenship be revoked as a consequence? If so, would I have to give up my alibi life as a trader because I'm no longer a trusted citizen?asked by Cold

Ben LesnickLore and community, Forum Feedback panel

Well, yes. We can take away citizenship. We've said that many a time. If you were nefarious, you will not be a citizen.

Eric PetersonHost, Studio Director, Austin

It's not really us taking it away.

Ben LesnickLore and community, Forum Feedback panel

Well, the game takes it away. You earn it, and you can lose it. But that doesn't mean you can't trade just because you don't have a glowing reputation with the UEE. Here's the lesson: just don't get caught.

Wingman's Hangar·
Published on this date.25 Oct 2013
Law & crimeReputation

Will there be non-lethal alternatives in first-person shooter combat, such as stun guns or handcuffs for subduing players?asked by Killthromis

Eric PetersonHost, Studio Director, Austin

Handcuffs. Yes, absolutely. We have a whole company for that kind of technology. Rusimov.

Wingman's Hangar·
Published on this date.25 Oct 2013
Law & crimeFPS combat

Can I smuggle a bunch of people in the trunk of an Avenger or other ships?asked by Ken

Ben LesnickLore and community, Forum Feedback panel

I just want to know why. What are you doing with those people? Where are you smuggling them to, exactly? The answer is yes, you can cram people into the spaces in your ships, but I don't even want to know why.

Wingman's Hangar·
Published on this date.25 Oct 2013
Trading & cargoShips

As an anti-pirate, it is my prerogative to return stolen goods to their rightful owners. Since we know cargo can be identified as stolen or not, can we also identify whom it belongs to?asked by Colonel Pixley

Ben LesnickLore and community, Forum Feedback panel

Yeah, the design of the tagging system as it stands right now does include the ability to identify the owner so you can return it, because otherwise you could get busted for having stolen cargo yourself.

Eric PetersonHost, Studio Director, Austin

I guess we need a messaging system or something to let people know that you've gotten their cargo?

Ben LesnickLore and community, Forum Feedback panel

That'd be a good idea, a lost and found board or something.

Wingman's Hangar·
Published on this date.25 Oct 2013

Will it be possible to gain a neutral or positive reputation with alien races that are hostile to the UEE?asked by Zindo

Ben LesnickLore and community, Forum Feedback panel

Absolutely. The Vanduul aren't cuddly. But if you're going to go off there trading with the Banu or the Xi'an, the UEE may not like it sometimes, but you can do that.

Eric PetersonHost, Studio Director, Austin

So you can up your reputation with the other alien races by dealing with them?

Ben LesnickLore and community, Forum Feedback panel

At least some of them.

Wingman's Hangar·
Published on this date.25 Oct 2013
ReputationOrganizations

Will there be a version of the Constellation that can carry an M50 instead of the P-52 Merlin on its flight deck?asked by Kazi

Rob IrvingProducer

Keep dreaming.

Eric PetersonHost, Studio Director, Austin

Well, you're saying it's not easy to change the geometry of the ship.

Rob IrvingProducer

You have to rebuild the entire interior of the ship to do that. It's not easy. So no.

Ben LesnickLore and community, Forum Feedback panel

Probably not.

Wingman's Hangar·
Published on this date.25 Oct 2013
ShipsShip components

Is the world of Squadron 42 the same as the persistent universe? For example, if I visit the Gauss system in Squadron 42 and build a relationship with an NPC, will it carry over to the player universe?asked by Nojian

Ben LesnickLore and community, Forum Feedback panel

Yes, it is the same world, and your actions in Squadron 42 are going to affect your reputation in Star Citizen. Squadron 42 takes place before the Persistent Universe starts, so it's kind of a prequel in that sense. You may not have a chance to build a relationship with an NPC in that way, but you will absolutely do things in Squadron 42 and change people's minds in certain ways that will show up in Star Citizen.

Eric PetersonHost, Studio Director, Austin

And you're going to be in the military in Squadron 42. You're not going to be out visiting systems.

Wingman's Hangar·
Published on this date.25 Oct 2013
Squadron 42Reputation

My cheaply made truck has a greasy footprint on its ceiling. Can we expect to see little tidbits like that appear randomly on the ships we buy from Drake?asked by Grey Lobo

Ben LesnickLore and community, Forum Feedback panel

Yes, absolutely. The universe is full of scuffs and smudges, and your ships are going to look lived in.

Rob IrvingProducer

Yep, and we've talked about the wear system several times, so ships will get dirtier as you go.

Wingman's Hangar·
Published on this date.25 Oct 2013
ShipsArt & graphics

In episode 42 it sounded like we can only do the Squadron 42 campaign once per account, but a previous episode of Wingman's Hangar said your next of kin could also play through it. Can we please get some clarity on this?asked by Midget

Ben LesnickLore and community, Forum Feedback panel

Okay, so to clarify my answer last week, all I said was that your next of kin did not have to play through the campaign because the benefits only applied once to each character slot. So you can choose to, you just aren't going to get additional benefits from it, since you've already gotten them once.

Eric PetersonHost, Studio Director, Austin

Yeah, you're buying the game. You can play it as many times as you want. We're not going to stop you from playing the game. And you might want to, because you might want to check the decisions you've made along the way and decide whether you want to try something different. Check a different branch out.

Ben LesnickLore and community, Forum Feedback panel

After hearing what the Foundry 42 guys are planning, you are definitely going to want to play another one.

Eric PetersonHost, Studio Director, Austin

Knowing Erin, Nick, and Phil, and Deggs especially, you guys are up for something really special.

Wingman's Hangar·
Published on this date.25 Oct 2013

Among the unlocked stretch goals, the $5 million mark lists a tablet companion application to check your inventory or commissions, find missions and get the Galactic News Feed. Is this going to be an app we can download onto iOS or Android devices, or was it a first look at the mobiGlas feature?asked by Lone Wolf

Ben LesnickLore and community, Forum Feedback panel

The answer is that yes, it is an actual app for your tablets, your iPads, and whatever the ones that aren't iPads are called. And you're going to be able to interact with the Star Citizen universe on the go.

Wingman's Hangar·
Published on this date.25 Oct 2013

Will the Caterpillar be in the asteroid hangar or the deluxe hangar?asked by Fuzzer

Rob IrvingProducer

Asteroid!

Eric PetersonHost, Studio Director, Austin

So that's where it's going to be then? The Caterpillar will be in the asteroid hangar?

Rob IrvingProducer

If you have a bunch of ships, we may have to do some fiddling with it. But yes, the asteroid hangar is the target hangar for the Caterpillar.

Wingman's Hangar·
Published on this date.25 Oct 2013

Will the NPC crew that players can hire always be controlled by AI, or will players be able to give them more detailed commands?asked by Sarah Whiskey Carter

Eric PetersonHost, Studio Director, Austin

Yes. Tell the guy in your turret to go kill that Vanduul or make you some tea or whatever you want.

Wingman's Hangar·
Published on this date.25 Oct 2013
NPCs & AIMulticrew

During boarding and first-person combat inside a ship, do we have to worry about damaging the ship?asked by Natron

Ben LesnickLore and community, Forum Feedback panel

Yes. Don't be carrying the rocket launcher inside your ship. Don't go shooting off that crossbow in any crazy direction.

Eric PetersonHost, Studio Director, Austin

So, yeah, you can worry about damaging the ship, but I imagine little phaser pistols aren't going to be able to damage as much.

Ben LesnickLore and community, Forum Feedback panel

Yes.

Wingman's Hangar·
Published on this date.25 Oct 2013
FPS combatShip combat

When we release something like the Hornet commercial, we partner with somebody to give them a little runway. Why do we do that?

TL;DRGiving a partner site a short head start on a video reaches new audiences who haven't heard of Star Citizen, aiming to bring in more backers; it is standard practice and will continue.

David SwoffordPR Director

That's a great question, and here's why. We're always looking for another audience, another group of readers or another group of fans that maybe haven't heard about Star Citizen. So what we do is I'll line something up with a Polygon or an IGN or one of those familiar sites. And if they're interested, they get it a little bit ahead of when we post it on RSI. And that just gives their fans a chance to see something before anybody else and hopefully brings in more Star Citizen fans, more backers for us. And then we flip it, usually 15 minutes to an hour later, on our own site so everybody else can see what it's all about. It's just a short amount of time, but it's a way for us to maybe get the message out to another group of people.

Eric PetersonHost, Studio Director, Austin

And that's a standard practice. We're going to continue to do that because, even though we're having an amazing amount of people, 280,000 folks out there have joined us, there's still millions out there that don't even know anything about it. And so the more we can get off our site and drive more people to us, the better the game becomes. We have more players to play against and play with. The universe is better and it's just a better game overall.

David SwoffordPR Director

And I think the next step, for what I'd like to see, is to branch out even beyond that core gaming group of media and start getting more consumer-level people to take notice of what we're doing here. So there are my orders probably for the next few months.

Wingman's Hangar·
Published on this date.25 Oct 2013
Community & events