Given the level of fidelity shown in the recent Gamescom demo and the Social Module v0 release, I was wondering what the road map for developing 100 complete star systems looks like. Could you provide some idea of how star systems will be rolled out to the community in the long term?asked by Fastball115

Even though you've just seen ArcCorp, we've got quite a few other locations that we've been working on. More importantly, we've been working on these base architecture sets which we've talked about before. We use this architecture style in ArcCorp that we call Structuralism. Structuralism is one of the five or six fundamental architecture sets that we're going to have in the universe of Star Citizen. Other examples would be Super Modernism, which you've kind of seen in the high end sort of luxury hangar, also sort of stuff you'd see on Terra. We'd have Monumentalism, which would be the big edifices, big, sort of huge imposing buildings. Our own version of Monumentalism would be the kind of stuff you'd see in Rome, with the Colliseum, these big imposing monuments of civilization. So that's monumentalism.We have Colonialism, which is more of like frontier outposts, ??Hannowism??, which is sort of more like this bunker style stuff. So we have these various differenty styles of architecture, and they are built of modular pieces called the tier sets, and so a good example is in the Stanton system which will be the first system that you will be adventuring around, we're putting you in the large world map, a sort of fictionalized version of Stanton, not the proper Stanton, that will come online separately, and then we'll just activate it. But Stanton has four main planets in it, and each of the main planets has a distinct feel. You're on ArcCorp, and you know, the big thing with the Stanton system is that the planets were sold off to various corporations, so ArcCorp owns one, Hurston Dynamics owns another one, Microtech owns another one, and Crusader Industries owns another one. Crusader are the guys that built the Starliner. So each one of those places is quite distinct, Crusader sort of these floating buildings around the gas giant that allows them to build these bigger ships, not constrained so much by gravity. Then you have Hurston Dynamics which is sort of like this industrial world, an industrial wasteland where it's full of smog and foundries, it looks like something from the beginning of Joe Versus the Volcano. And then we have ArcCorp which is this whole world covered by this city essentially. And then we have Microtech which is the company behind the mobiGlas and sim stuff, and they are on a perpetually cold snowy planet, so they've all got very different feels to them, but they all fundamentally underneath it all use this structuralism set with some modifications and styles, so they have some sort of unique bespoke aspects for each one of these locations, but they all use this common building set and then materials, colors, and stuff change out. So we're building these sets, and they are interchangeable, and modular and can be built on top of each other to allow us once we've got those building blocks in place, to be able to deliver a lot more of these locations. One of the first things we'd deliver would be the Stanton system with these four different planets you can travel between and get missions, do business, and trade. And then, we'd ultimately open up some jump gates to go to other systems and that's kind of our plan. You know right now we're going to give you this large world map which comes with multi-crew which will be a baby version of Star Citizen. You'll be able to do a lot of the things you'll be able to do in Star Citizen, but missing a bunch of the functionality we plan and full time proper persistence. Being able to buy and sell different stuff in game will be coming pretty soon, landing and taking off from different planets won't be there, but will be something we'll be rolling in, but that will be our test bed, I think I mentioned this before, as a multi-crew. And then we'll be building these systems, in parallel, when we have our first one ready to go, BAM! We'll drop you in it, and then we'll be flying around our very first system which will be Stanton. And then some more systems which will come online and we'll open up jump points between them and we'll slowly expand out. The plan is, we're laying a lot of track, with these pieces that we're putting together and you're going to start to see the benefit of all that coming towards the end of this year and through next year where all these pieces have been built, and then it is quite quick for us to lay out the environments where you'd land. Yes, there's a lot of crafted stuff, but we're also using some systematic or procedural tools to populate stuff. So there will be like – you put a bar in there, and there will be all sorts of rules with a bar, like I can just populate NPCs around and they'll be like, "Oh, there's a bar nearby. I'll go there to have a drink after work and then after that I'll go to my home". We'll set all that up, that's what subsumption is, as mentioned in Tony's plan, but people would have their lives and all this other stuff that we've talked about. So, that's kind of the plan, we're planning to deliver more systems. Just to let you know, when it says 100 complete star systems, we don't mean we're delivering 100 complete star systems tomorrow or all in one day because you know, we got to a bunch of our star systems in our stretch goals, and also some of these star systems are to be explored and found. So, our focus is to get the core UEE space and the surrounding systems. The ones that you see will be on the star map, which we'll be revealing and sharing on the web next month, you'll have the first couple of key systems where you'll be able to adventure in, in more detail on this star map and then the other ones will be more high level, and then as we get into them, we'll build them up. But, that's the plan is to start with one system and then move our way out. We're sort of laying the groundwork for that. So that's our plan, that's how we'll roll them out, but not committing to specific dates though cause I've learned that issue.