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Can we combine two tractor beams to lift heavier objects than the force limit that you spoke of before?

TL;DRCombining tractor beams isn't possible in 3.12, but it has always been a planned feature for a later tier, with this version focused on easing the looting of destroyed ships' cargo.

Richard TyrerCore Gameplay Director

Not in this tier. So in 3.12, it's a no, but it is a planned feature and has always been a planned feature from the start. So that'll be something that we add in to the next tier. As you're probably aware, if you've played Half-Life or Garry's Mod, tractor beam allows you to do a lot of fun things in a game. It unlocks a lot of possibilities for cargo hauling. It unlocks a lot of possibilities for designers to create missions where you're able to manipulate physical objects in places that you can't necessarily get to yourself. So it gives us a lot of scope. It's a really good ingredient to add lots of different experiences, but it also provides a lot of, I would say, fun, a lot of chance for chicanery. So I think what we need to do is this version is getting out. The main use case for the tractor beam for 3.12 is for trying to improve that flow of when you've taken someone out, or you're being a pirate and you're trying to steal someone's cargo, that at the moment you're having to EVA out, collect every box up individually and then bring it back in. And to be honest, that's actually why those boxes spawn as 50 by 50 by 50 carryable boxes. Because if you look at a ship and you have one SCU sized cargo boxes in the back, which are the standard, the stock size for cargo commodities, then when you destroy that ship, it spawns all of these smaller boxes. And the reason that is is because those smaller boxes are actually carryable. Now, really what should happen is that your ship should break away, and the things that you were visually seeing in the back of your cargo, if they survived the explosion, should now visually be in space. But they're clearly too big for you to go over and handle them with your hands. So that's where the tractor beam is supposed to come in. And it also means that it's less fiddly because we can have larger boxes. Obviously, this is the first iteration where we're adding the tractor beam. So we still haven't done the preceding work. But the goal is to improve that flow of looting in space, shall we say. So not necessarily for 3.12, but it is something coming for the future. It's always for the future if it's not for 3.12. It's 3.12 or future. Those are the two buckets.

Star Citizen Live›All About Alpha 3.12·
Published on this date.11 Dec 2020