Read a Letter from the Chairman about the next steps for Star Citizen. CitizenCon Schedule, 3.0 & Squadron 42 Update October 13th, 2017

Happy Birthday Citizens!



On October 10th, 2012, I walked on stage at the Game Developers Conference in Austin and Star Citizen was introduced to the world. To commemorate the event, developers and Community members held some informal Bar Citizens near each of our studios to share a drink and a cheer for Star Citizen’s fifth birthday. It’s been an incredible journey since, and I want to thank all of you for sharing the journey with me.

Our annual event to celebrate this, CitizenCon, is going to be held in Frankfurt, Germany, on October 27th. Our annual event to celebrate this, CitizenCon, is going to be held in Frankfurt, Germany, on October 27

When we originally conceived of CitizenCon the idea was to create an event similar to BlizzCon, Eve Fanfest or ComicCon, where the fans could get together at an event to share experiences, stories, attend panels and presentations about the game they love. In the early years, we did a one or two-hour presentation, but starting this year, we are going with a new, expanded format that allows attendees more face time with the developers and the ability to dive deeper into different aspects of creating Star Citizen. The event will start at 2pm and run until 10pm UTC+2 with multiple sessions and areas dedicated to hands on demos, one-on-one developer demos and in-depth panels. The full schedule can be found here .



We’re very excited to move CitizenCon towards a more interactive and varied format as it makes it more about you, the Community, and gives attendees the opportunity to get up close to the developers and see what we are working on for 3.0 and beyond.



This week also celebrated another milestone in Star Citizen’s development: the beginning of Evocati Alpha 3.0 testing.



Alpha 3.0 is a major step forward for Star Citizen as it introduces planet technology that delivers first person environments on a planetary scale, expanding the potential play areas exponentially, at a quality level that matches the biggest AAA games. It also has the first use of our scalable and procedural mission and AI system, Subsumption, that will deliver a living universe of opportunity, full of AI as well as players. We have overhauled our ship UI and built the equivalent of an in-game smartphone -- the all new mobiGlas. The item system for ships, clothes and armor has been completely refactored to be modular and mimic real life in terms of function, allowing for emergent gameplay from these dependencies. These mechanics have been engineered for multiplayer and to be scalable, handle players all over space, no matter their location, with proper game persistence. This is all ground-breaking technology that we have built from scratch with your support and far beyond the initial pitch for Star Citizen I had back in 2012.



Having dedicated Evocati testers from the Community tackle Alpha 3.0 allowed us to see performance and network issues we weren’t able to with our internal test group. This feedback gave us good insight on areas we can optimize to ensure that when 3.0 goes Live, it is a smooth, fun experience. Now that it’s in the hands of Evocati, we’re working together to process and fix new bugs, so we can get the build ready for the PTU and then after that go Live.



With Star Citizen Alpha 3.0 in Evocati test phase and a lot of our developers working on wrapping up the remaining features and polish needed to get 3.0 into everyone’s hands, we have decided to focus CitizenCon on Alpha 3.0 and beyond.





Our single player campaign, Squadron 42, shares a large amount of technology and content with Star Citizen and both games fuel each other. Technology built for Squadron 42 allows for a better experience in Star Citizen and technology for Star Citizen opens up opportunities that take Squadron 42 to another level. Subsumption is an example of technology that is critical for both Star Citizen and Squadron 42. The Item 2.0 refactor and the Player Interaction Mode were essential for Star Citizen and it is now allowing new and varied gameplay in Squadron 42. Planet Tech, the Zone System and 64-bit precision allows us to expand the playscape for Squadron 42 to solar system scale.



We have a large team working on Squadron 42 and we’ve been making good progress towards achieving my goal to take the Wing Commander style narrative experience to the next level with first person gameplay that moves between foot, vehicles and incredible locations all rendered with a fluidity and quality that you normally only see in pre-rendered cinematic scenes. I am confident it is going to be worth the wait; a game that can hold its own with any other AAA story game.



I am excited to show you some of this in December. And until then I’ll see you at CitizenCon! -Chris Roberts CitizenCon Event Schedule CitizenCon 2947’s expanded format means there will be over six hours of content to enjoy. Today, we released the show’s schedule so you can plan accordingly. For more details on what will be happening at CitizenCon 2947 and how to watch live, head here. Around the Verse Chris Roberts and Sandi Gardiner host an that episode that dives into the enhancements coming to cockpits. Plus, catch the first “Burndown” since the Evocati got there hands on 3.0. Watch the entire episode here. Citizen of the Stars It’s Alcatraz’s turn in the Citizen Spotlight to highlight his incredibly detailed 3D printed models. Then Bryce Benton discusses the delta patcher and more in his round of Quantum Questions. Plus, we reveal this week’s Top 5 & MVP. Watch it here. Bugsmashers Spencer Johnson steps in for Mark Abent and gets physical with a bug that keeps players from interacting with clothes in Casaba. Watch Spencer smash this bug and munch on Mark Abent’s snacks in this edition of Bugsmashers. Catch it here. StarWatch Callie C digs into the details of Landry Caballero’s disastrous celebrity-filled fundraiser. Read all the scandalous details in this edition of StarWatch. LIVE Version : Alpha 2.6.3 PTU Version : Alpha 3.0.0 PTU Test Groups : Evocati Test Flight ELIMINATION

Angeldust LAST STAND

Lauersau ELIMINATION

MIGHTY LAST STAND

MIGHTY BATTLE ROYALE

Singa VANDUUL SWARM COOP

Sifobal SQUADRON BATTLE

[RS] TemplarOne PIRATE SWARM COOP

Sifo BATTLE ROYALE

UOLTT VANDUUL SWARM COOP

Australian Co-Operative SQUADRON BATTLE

Eleventh Hour PIRATE SWARM COOP

Australian Co-Operative OLD VANDERVAL

B4ckBOne DEFFORD LINK

Vgvirt RIKKORD MEMORIAL

B4ckBOne OLD VANDERVAL

ACESHIGH DEFFORD LINK

RUSTEC RIKKORD MEMORIAL

RUSTEC Poster - DRAKE Caterpillar Olaf_Jaeger with a DRAKE Caterpillar blueprint poster. Make sure to check out his Spectrum thread to see the full collection. Posted by OLAF JAEGER Olaf_Jaeger LEGO Drake Cutlass (3.0 rework edition) Pelcki created the 2947 Drake Cutlass with Lego digital designer. Featuring movable thrusters and a turnable turret, the model uses 1462 bricks. Posted by {COIS} PELCKI JAXOO Old Propaganda Posters Pacha usually draws Manga Comics but decided to give propaganda posters based in the Star Citizen universe go. Posted by PACHA PACHA-CORP Reclaimer Bella Donna This week’s sneak peek, captured from in-game footage, introduces you to a ship you’ll see in Squadron 42 — Bella Donna. This independent Reclaimer's pilot sometimes salvages ships destroyed after venturing too close to the Coil.