What is needed tech- and resource-wise before we can start adding larger capital ships like the Polaris or the Idris to the game?
TL;DRCapital ships need optimization work, must go through Squadron 42 first, and should only arrive with worthwhile gameplay supported by systems like Resource Network, refueling and player-controlled ATC, not as big, slow empty ships.
There's a bunch of optimization work. Naturally, ships of that size, they have a cost to them. And as they are, the Idris and Javelin specifically, they are going into Squadron first and being adjusted to Squadron's needs, where they can be a bit more generous with performance than Star Citizen can. So aside from that, we're obviously somewhat at the mercy of those teams. We don't want to have the PU Idris and the Squadron Idris. Just to use a wild example that is not true: say Squadron want to make the Idris 50 meters longer for whatever reason. We then have to take that on the PU side. So we want to be absolutely sure nothing else is changing on those ships before we bring them into players' hands, because otherwise it's just a waste of time for both teams internally. From a gameplay side, we don't want them to just feel like, hey, this is just a ship that is big and handles slowly, and I sit in the pilot seat and I can fire all the Idris's guns from my pilot seat, but I move at 10 meters a second and I rotate at five degrees a minute.
Which is all it would be if we put it in today. It would just be a big, fat, slow Connie.
Yeah. So things like Resource Network are critical to having a fun multi-crew experience on board a ship like that, because that gives you all that engineer gameplay that everyone loves. Then there's other supplementary systems that really gel. We have refueling. Refueling is an advancement on the docking system that we put in game. Player-controlled ATC is a refinement on top of refueling, and you need that for Idrises and Javelins for bringing ships in. And we want to put these ships in game, in players' hands, when they bring worthwhile, noticeable gameplay with them. We don't want to just treat it as a box-ticking exercise and go, hey, Idris is done, shove it in game.
I think also these ships are a big investment of internal art and design resources and all the other teams that it takes to make a ship. And like you say, if all that investment is going into just making a big, empty experience, it's kind of not great.