Star Citizen Director Chris Roberts was the featured guest on the latest episode of Reverse The Verse. In the scope of a 45-minute chat, Roberts discussed several topics like free F8 Lightnings, game difficulty and possible Squadron 42 sequels. Here’s a quick recap of the interview.
Squadron 42 Questions
- Players who make it to certain junctures in Squadron 42 will get ships like the F8 Lightning when they’re unlocked in the campaign. Concierge members who’ve already invested $1,000 will get the enhanced military build of the ship for free as soon as Squadron is out. These ships can be purchased in-game if you don’t have Squadron. In other words, Concierge members get a cool cosmetic or tons of currency for their large investments.
- Female player characters and related customization will be in Squadron 42.
- Squadron 42 has basic ending variation like good and bad, but it’s really just a matter of your character living or dying. Choices will impact how your character’s logbook is filled out.
- Squadron 42 is meant to be a trilogy of episodes that take place before the PU. Seasonal stuff will be done in the PU based on episode releases. The team is starting to flesh out 2 and 3 because they want all the motion capture done now. Hopefully episodes 2 and 3 will release much more quickly because they’re built off existing technology.
- Head tracking in Squadron 42 is a “pretty confident yes.” Faceware should be supported too.
- Squadron will have difficulty settings, but it won’t be too easy. Save points will be fairly infrequent to offer an old-school feel.
- Squadron won’t be a co-op campaign, but specific missions may be sectioned off as standalone experiences if they’re co-op appropriate.
- Squadron 42 will have a website timeline eventually, but its updates probably won’t be quarterly.
- There are still more big Squadron 42 cast members that haven’t been revealed.
- Squadron is bigger, cooler and better than Roberts imagined in 2012. The whole game plays in-engine seamlessly.
- The goal is to offer unexpected emotional resonance with NPC conversations.
- Squadron is basically 50-50 split between FPS combat and flying.
- Squadron will likely be in other languages, but it’s way too early to say which ones. English, French, German and Spanish likely to varying degrees.
- It’s unclear if the player will be able to see their character in cutscenes, but you can change angles of in-game conversations and move freely as characters talk. If you totally ignore important chatter, you’ll be thrown in the brig.
PU & Other Stuff
- The Concierge monocle will arrive before 3.1 in March, but you can wear the top hat now.
- As you do things in Squadron, there are certain rewards that will carry over to the PU. These might include special veterans missions for military members only.
- There are still plans to add organizations tied to merchants, UEE or Chairman’s guilds.
- Recent Vanduul ship changes won’t impact other Vanduul ships like the Glaive. The goal is to actually bring everything closer to the Glaive style.
- Star Citizen and Squadron 42 are still being built with VR in mind, but more of the basic foundation has to be finished before resuming work on it.
- Players will be able disconnect their character’s looking direction from their aim direction after 3.0.
- All of the Coil will be in the PU alongside the Odin system.
- Customization interface will be the same between Squadron and PU. The very basics are planned for 3.1.
- The roadmap on the new website is a live variation of the same one Cloud Imperium Games uses.
It’s important to note that, because Squadron 42 is still in the pre-alpha development stage, there’s a lot that could change between now and its eventual release date. Take some of these claims with a grain of salt, but we’d expect most of the high-level stuff to be accurate.
Star Citizen is in alpha for backers on PC. Squadron 42 was showcased as a video vertical slice last month.
What are your thoughts on Squadron 42 after this interview? Will you fall in love with your free F8 Lightning? Tell us in the comments section!
