Physics

Maelstrom is technically complete in Squadron 42 and is meant to replace the current armor system wholesale in Star Citizen, but still needs network integration and balancing, and is expected among the early features brought over.

The ship has a docking collar and walkable exterior walkways, enclosed behind grated mesh so players are exposed to the elements but shielded from debris and stray shots, needed for repairs and as alternate routes.

No, the Perseus's outside walkway won't get gravity plates using the current physics-grid method, which has too many bad side effects, though other ways to do it aren't ruled out.

With the new flight model, hovering and 6-DOF flight in atmosphere will only work at low speed, since thrusters are weak and aerodynamics dominate at higher speeds, so low flying will need a different approach and vary by ship.

Furniture can be mag-locked so only the owner or credentialed people can move it; ways to disable the lock and PVP implications are planned for a later patch.

They didn't directly address hitbox abuse, saying they like procedural animation and inertialized blending to time stand-ups, while sliding costs stamina and can't fire immediately, being meant mainly as a way to get to cover.

Physicalized damage is the umbrella system, Maelstrom is the destruction and breakup part, and armor is the material values, with piercing a further part; a primer is hoped for around March or April.

Dan says he would first work out how a boat tank moves through water, argue it out with Corentin, then choose a heavy, industrial, percussive sound style based on how the vehicle looks.

Switching at top speed causes a very aggressive slowdown; knocking players out from the resulting G-forces isn't in yet but is planned, so there will be consequences.

More ground speed changes are coming with a new tyre and vehicle handling model; the recent change was a last-minute approximation in the old model, and they balance vehicles based on performance.

The physics team is prototyping physicalised damage, including soft-body deformation and tensile-strength detachment, and is working out how to merge it with the ship pipeline, with material-based mass already in the engine but disabled.

A ledge grab is wanted next but isn't possible yet, known climbing bugs will be fixed when possible, and automatic climb markup is a further-off eventual goal.

The team plans a coordinate system relative to the body you're on, tied to the new star map and radar, at minimum showing your location, with location sharing wanted but undecided.

Cargo can be stolen with the tractor beam after destroying a ship and its boxes spill into space, but not directly from a ship's cargo grid until a future cargo refactor.

No, the 3.12 multi-tool tractor beam is force-limited and can't lift a ground vehicle, though larger tractor beams could, and dedicated stronger tools are planned down the road.

Combining 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.

No, the tractor beam will not replace zero-G push-pull; it is one of several EVA mechanics (with limited fuel and battery) that are meant to be balanced against each other.

Some planets already have mud textures, but slippery or deformable mud is only on the wish list, with just basic friction and possibly some slipperiness for vehicles.

Armor currently exists only as a flat per-damage-type reduction on top of hit points, with physically-based damage planned as a long, ongoing effort, and no armor stat is on the ship matrix yet because it would not be useful.

Physics developers say momentum should already carry between ship and EVA grids, so if it isn't working it's a bug that testers should report through the Issue Council.

The core gas cloud can't swirl because its voxels are far bigger than a ship, but contrails exist and particles may react as ships pass, with a physics-effector approach something they'd like but haven't committed to.

In the new flight model for Squadron they've been told gas clouds give drag, lift and buffeting tied to atmosphere data, with visual and physical density separate, so a cloud could theoretically be thick enough to chew you up.

Physics-enabled props already exist and more are a goal, but the team is still refactoring CryEngine's player-centric updating and networking to make simple rigid bodies efficient before adding more.

Roberts is unsure an asteroid anchor is needed since ships stay put in space, says it wouldn't be technically hard but wasn't considered for the first mining iteration, and notes enhanced key-locks.

The big change in 2.1 is a refactored, physics-based EVA that blends animation with ragdoll, rotates from the center of mass, uses physical thrusters, and fixes aim posing and old EVA bugs.

Some longer-range smart weapons will probably come once the 64-bit Large World tech is in, but not in vast amounts since beyond-visual-range combat isn't very fun.

The default is pitch and yaw on the stick with roll on pedals, but because of g-force effects on pilots it may change to pitch and roll on the stick with yaw on pedals.