Pledges & business

Zac Preece confirms the crossbow is coming this year, with versions in loot for everyone and a specific skin for Shroud of the Avatar backers, and claiming details to come later.

Ships are already set up to support names, but the exterior visuals don't satisfy the artists and the reservation process is very manual, so it needs feature work and a more scalable approach, with no timeline given.

Big parts of the online team are working on it, but it needs robust back-end testing and no date is given; a ship-only mitigation from an earlier patch will probably be reused meanwhile.

The Aurora was removed from starter packages because it still needs a gold-standard pass and other starters are a better start; it remains buyable and may return once brought up to standard.

Backlog ships are a constant balancing act against new ships; after roughly the next 18 months a couple per year may remain, and many are held up by missing gameplay features rather than ship work.

All armors, including subscriber and legacy ones, will get roles and specializations, though most will be generalized with small advantages, and a comprehensive list is planned as a FAQ when the time comes.

Rewards are currently simple Spectrum badges, with hopes for better challenges, in-mode skins, and progression and persistence linking Arena Commander to the Persistent Universe, once fundamentals are in place.

In 3.15, looted or destroyed subscriber items are lost to you but stay on your account and are re-entitled in 3.16; a longer-term way to recover stolen items is intended but unresolved.

Nothing super rare is believed to be in the current loot boxes, some items there shouldn't be (like the two-handed tractor beam, to be removed), and rarer exclusive items are intended for the future.

Recovering lost special items like subscriber flair is in the plan, possibly by returning found items to a home location, but no schedule exists and it depends on priorities.

Star Citizen is meant to be a live game that keeps being improved as long as there is an audience, with community-driven content as part of that.

The company took an investment intended to secure independence and fund marketing and other business needs, so crowdfunding money can keep going to development rather than a publisher deal.

The Battlefield Upgrade Kits are still removed, but owners will get the same contents as separate swappable items (turret, livery, internal room) instead of one bespoke kit, so it works slightly differently.

The piano is a setup item swapped with the conference table via the mobiGlas VMA loadout, owners without a Phoenix are intended to use it in hangars, and whether it returns for purchase is undecided.

Roberts says the UEC cap was dropped so players can melt items bought at old arbitrary prices as the economy is rebalanced, and argues launch inequality matters little because the game is a long-term, mostly PvE and AI-populated sandbox.

The team is currently updating the ship matrix with data for all announced ships and variants, building a tool for it, and intends to have it ready in the next month or two.

He thinks the Argo is cool and is most excited to see emergent, unintended uses of it in cargo and combat, rather than its intended roles.

New merchandise is coming next year, including the Saitek joystick and keyboard/mouse combo with pricing to be announced, and the team is looking at posters and prints for subscribers, still working out fulfilment.