ARENA COMMANDER IS OUT

Whiplash said:
AAARGH, it's painfully slow! I should be getting 1MB/s at peak speeds, but it's hovering around 150KB/s. Will take a full day at this rate.
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I'm past the first 10GB patch, now its being applied at a surprisingly slow speed. 5MB/s, funny how its actually recording the speed it takes to install the file.
I just hope the last patch is much smaller!
 
Played for a bit last night.

Overall, pretty enjoyable given the stage of the game. Flying is a tad different, and takes some getting used to, but is fun once you start to figure it out.

The graphics are drop dead gorgeous! Seeing your ship lose sections, get banged up, and fly like the good old Privateer "maneuvering jets are gone" days was one of my favorite aspects.
 
Yeah, the damage modeling really adds to the experience, though sometimes it leads to some pretty hilarious-looking situations. Scythes look really odd once you blow off their right wings, and if anything they get even more annoying after that - even faster and more maneuverable. I guess when that much of the ship's mass is in the right wing...

It also makes me wonder what damage repair and maintenance is going to cost in the persistent universe. On the one hand, winning a tough fight can be exhilarating. Then you take a look at your ship and realize that about half of it needs to be rebuilt and you wonder what it's going to cost you. (Particularly upsetting when you see debris go sailing off into the distance and you recognize that it's a huge chunk of your own ship).

"Is that mine? Yeah, it's mine. I'm the only one flying a 300i in this dogfight."
 
Ijuin said:
Good thing you have insurance . . . :D
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Remember, though - it doesn't necessarily work everywhere when it comes to upgrades and equipment! The hull's fine, but it sounds like it's going to be like Privateer - the greater portion of the expense of your rig... I mean, ship... is in all of your upgrades and equipment.
 
I really hope its more of a monetary loss then a farming to regain all equipment however . One of the things I hated in Jumpgate. Ok, I died, so thats 10% loss. ok... What - I have space to go to the space I just dies in to get that best radar again? Where the pirates are still waiting? Ugh...
 
I also tried it last night and there are some things I like, and some things I don't. Here's what I didn't like, since that list is much shorter.

- auto-aiming: It was overdone IMO. And sometimes I would like to deactivate it, since it keeps shooting wrong, missing the target with two guns. I suggest letting the player decide, give me a lead indicator and let me decide whether I want to shoot at it or let the computer do it.
- fat HUD elements: seriously? Why does everything have to be that big and animated? I would have preferred a cleaner style. Still I admit it looks pretty awesome. It is just horribly impractical.
- the Radar. WTF? I don't need pictures there, just blue and red and green dots or something would be much clearer.
- no strafing without going into decoupled mode? Why? This way the glide mode works like in WC3 or Saga, which is ok, but I want DC mode to simply be full newtonian. Let me control all axes, please! I even noticed that if you boost in DC mode you accelerate in your glide direction, WTF....
- You don't notice someone is hitting you, the shield display is crap. It has to be simpler, like in any Wing Commander or Freespace game, really any of the existing space sims. Plus add a flashing light when someone hits you. Or even the direction the hit came from.
- Damage: IMO shields are too weak, they usually fall from 100 to 0 in just a few seconds, and then the ship gets damaged before you can even react.
- Bitching Betty: Annoying, just annoying. I want simple beeps or something if a shield is low, a red light or text blinking, but not a voice that says "My dear pilot and commander, I'm speaking up to inform you that the wonderful, shining shields on the back of this beautiful fighting ship flying through space have just decreased to 25 percent", followed by "Oh no, you have to allow me to correct myself, dear pilot, I wanted to say that your shields in the back have indeed fallen to zero percent now." Especially if that all happens in a second or two, so much faster than Betty can talk.
Also it doesn't have to tell me that my shields are recharging, I expect them to do that all the time.
I don't need "Oh no, dear pilot, you are about to crash into some space rock in front of you, do something", either, just have the collision warning HUD element and some beeping sound.
Those warnings would be appropriate for a battleship or something, where it takes 30s+ to go from 25% to 0%. But not for a fighter. There is a reason why such acoustic warnings are really really short in modern fighter planes.
- Sensors: I crashed into asteroids at least twice because I could see the HUD elements showing enemies through it. Does it have to be this way? It would also add to the tactics if it weren't possible to see through everything with simple fighter scanners.
- lack of TrackIR support. I'm used to it, and it's really useful.
- lack of configuration tools. Those are far more important for the alpha test than a LOT of stuff that's already ingame.
 
Aginor said:
I also tried it last night and there are some things I like, and some things I don't. Here's what I didn't like, since that list is much shorter.

- auto-aiming: It was overdone IMO. And sometimes I would like to deactivate it, since it keeps shooting wrong, missing the target with two guns. I suggest letting the player decide, give me a lead indicator and let me decide whether I want to shoot at it or let the computer do it.
- fat HUD elements: seriously? Why does everything have to be that big and animated? I would have preferred a cleaner style. Still I admit it looks pretty awesome. It is just horribly impractical.
- the Radar. WTF? I don't need pictures there, just blue and red and green dots or something would be much clearer.
- no strafing without going into decoupled mode? Why? This way the glide mode works like in WC3 or Saga, which is ok, but I want DC mode to simply be full newtonian. Let me control all axes, please! I even noticed that if you boost in DC mode you accelerate in your glide direction, WTF....
- You don't notice someone is hitting you, the shield display is crap. It has to be simpler, like in any Wing Commander or Freespace game, really any of the existing space sims. Plus add a flashing light when someone hits you. Or even the direction the hit came from.
- Damage: IMO shields are too weak, they usually fall from 100 to 0 in just a few seconds, and then the ship gets damaged before you can even react.
- Bitching Betty: Annoying, just annoying. I want simple beeps or something if a shield is low, a red light or text blinking, but not a voice that says "My dear pilot and commander, I'm speaking up to inform you that the wonderful, shining shields on the back of this beautiful fighting ship flying through space have just decreased to 25 percent", followed by "Oh no, you have to allow me to correct myself, dear pilot, I wanted to say that your shields in the back have indeed fallen to zero percent now." Especially if that all happens in a second or two, so much faster than Betty can talk.
Also it doesn't have to tell me that my shields are recharging, I expect them to do that all the time.
I don't need "Oh no, dear pilot, you are about to crash into some space rock in front of you, do something", either, just have the collision warning HUD element and some beeping sound.
Those warnings would be appropriate for a battleship or something, where it takes 30s+ to go from 25% to 0%. But not for a fighter. There is a reason why such acoustic warnings are really really short in modern fighter planes.
- Sensors: I crashed into asteroids at least twice because I could see the HUD elements showing enemies through it. Does it have to be this way? It would also add to the tactics if it weren't possible to see through everything with simple fighter scanners.
- lack of TrackIR support. I'm used to it, and it's really useful.
- lack of configuration tools. Those are far more important for the alpha test than a LOT of stuff that's already ingame.
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I agree with some of this. Have you posted your feedback on the forums (as hazardous as that can be)?

All three of the ships in AC right now rely on gimbaled Class-2 'turret lite' weapons. Even thought the Aurora and the 300i are supposed to have fixed weapons, presently even their 'fixed' hardpoints have little turrets pasted on top of them, resulting in an Excalibur-like "auto tracking guns" feeling, and I think it may be too much. Certainly the rigor of the physics models makes aiming your weapons a lot harder, since the ships have lots of inertia, but this is a skill-based game, and having fixed weapons is a big differentiator between the different ship hulls. The devs mentioned that totally fixed guns were very hard to use - and I grant that's a possibility. I just hope that at some point they go back to Class 1 fixed weapons in order to get some community feedback so that people have a chance to play with both and report on whether they really do think that it's too hard to use fixed weapons in this game.

Right now, I'm actually finding the Hornet to be the least effective ship in Vanduul Swarm, at least for me, entirely due to control issues. The ship has powerful maneuvering thrusters but it also has a lot of apparent mass, so it turns quickly but not precisely (resulting in lots of oscillation and/or overshoot when trying to draw a bead on a target). Add to that the half-second spin-up time for the gatling guns, and you end up with relatively small firing solution windows, so it's difficult for me to put a lot of damage on target even though the Hornet packs plenty of firepower otherwise. The 300i is a lot more precise in its handling, which makes it much easier to get kills with roughly equivalent armament. The Aurora may be light on firepower, but I'm finding its survivability to be excellent, as it's tiny and not much fire lands on it. While the shields are weak, the frame itself is really, really tough, and the little thing survives plenty of collisions and impacts that would have broken huge pieces off the 300i.

I also agree that the radar sphere is difficult to read; I can't tell if a blip is "in front of" or "above" me when reading it, but these things could be addressed by more indicia, scaling, or fade/contrast on the indicators. I don't think it's optimal as it stands right now, but I also don't think it's impossible to fix.

TrackIR is coming at some point, and so is configuration. The devs have said as much. Clearly all of these things would make for a better game, and I think they know it. This is release v.8, and it's far from "perfect". At least it's playable. Looking forward to the improvements! There's still a long way to go.
 
Yes, I posted the same thing at the RSI forums, but with all the chaos that is going on there I doubt someone reads it.
I hate those forums, everyone makes their own thread every damn minute, and most of them have no clue what they are talking about. Really annoying.

As for the ships: I don't have the 300i, but both the Hornet and the Aurora are well playable IMO. My best results were when I took the Behring Mk3 lasers from the Aurora and mounted them on the Hornet. They have a fast projectile speed, so you can hit your enemies quite well with them.

I was very surprised about the Aurora's afterburner. You can use it all the time.
So the Hornet can fly 200 for a short time and 120 normal, while the Aurora flies 100 normal and 150 with Boost, but for much longer periods of time.
I just wish I could fly my Aurora LN, with the four guns. That one could be a match for the Hornet if flown right.
My best score at Vanduul Swarm was level 10 in a Hornet though. It's just the tougher ship, and dodging the Vanduul is quite hard when they all come for you at the same time.

The Mk4 lasers from the Constellation are also usable, but they overheat (at least Betty says that, I can't see any difference in their behaviour) and they have a bug, they never run out of power.
 
Toast said:
All three of the ships in AC right now rely on gimbaled Class-2 'turret lite' weapons. Even thought the Aurora and the 300i are supposed to have fixed weapons, presently even their 'fixed' hardpoints have little turrets pasted on top of them, resulting in an Excalibur-like "auto tracking guns" feeling, and I think it may be too much. Certainly the rigor of the physics models makes aiming your weapons a lot harder, since the ships have lots of inertia, but this is a skill-based game, and having fixed weapons is a big differentiator between the different ship hulls. The devs mentioned that totally fixed guns were very hard to use - and I grant that's a possibility. I just hope that at some point they go back to Class 1 fixed weapons in order to get some community feedback so that people have a chance to play with both and report on whether they really do think that it's too hard to use fixed weapons in this game.
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Apparently you can mount different guns on the hornet nose and they are acutally fixed guns, and when you do that you get a lead target indicator (can't test it myself, just going off of this thread which is a pretty cool read https://forums.robertsspaceindustri...a-commander-what-amazing-details-did-you-find)
 
I just reached wave 12 in Vanduul Swarm flying an Aurora.
More boost = more fun and less getting hit.
I did lots of powerslides all over the place.
 
So, I'm a bit confused. I pledged at the Vice Admiral level a long time ago. So I have the really big ship, Constellation?, in my hangar and a Hornet. Should I have an Aurora too? I've just been flying the Hornet in AC.

I got the last big patch which made my hangar huge with the ultimate ships or whatever (can you get inside them? I couldn't figure it out in a quick look last night).

So I see 4 ships in total. I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything. My bad for not paying as much attention to this stuff as I should have been.
 
Dundradal said:
So, I'm a bit confused. I pledged at the Vice Admiral level a long time ago. So I have the really big ship, Constellation?, in my hangar and a Hornet. Should I have an Aurora too? I've just been flying the Hornet in AC.

I got the last big patch which made my hangar huge with the ultimate ships or whatever (can you get inside them? I couldn't figure it out in a quick look last night).

So I see 4 ships in total. I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything. My bad for not paying as much attention to this stuff as I should have been.
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No problem, that's why we share :) There's a lot of temporary stuff going on because the game is still in development.

You made one pledge for one ship, and that would be the Constellation. However, only three ships are presently sufficiently implemented to use in Arena Commander: The Hornet, the Aurora, and the 300i. Because Arena Commander is a single-player, combat-focused module, all the ships have a standard default simulated loadout meant for Arena Commander specifically.

Since the Constellation is not yet ready for released gameplay testing, you've been given a "loaner" simulator Hornet to enjoy while your ship is being worked on. If things proceed on the current testing track, that Hornet will likely disappear once the Constellation is fully ready for use in Arena Commander for testing.

The basic rule is that you get to test fly the ships you pledged for, and if you have ships that aren't yet implemented, you get loaners to tide you over until that precise ship is ready.

Substitutions; if you have a:
- M50, 350r, Cutlass, or Avenger, you get a 300i simulator/trainer for the time being
- Freelancer, Constellation, or other pledge ship of a higher pledge 'level', you get a Hornet simulator/trainer for the time being

Examples:
If you pledged for a Hornet and an Aurora; you will have simulator ships in your hangar corresponding to the Hornet and the Aurora, but not the 300i.
If you pledged for an Aurora and a Cutlass, you will have simulator ships corresponding to the Aurora and the 300i, but not the Hornet
 
Ahhh ok. I figured that's why the Hornet was in there.

So can we go in those other two ships? Or just walk around them? It's not always the easiest to find the use points on them.
 
Dundradal said:
Ahhh ok. I figured that's why the Hornet was in there.

So can we go in those other two ships? Or just walk around them? It's not always the easiest to find the use points on them.
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Those are the two finalists for The Next Great Starship competition. They're there to help you vote for the winner of the competition if you're so inclined:

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13932-The-Next-Great-Starship-Finale-LIVE

The interiors aren't really accessible in the Hangar, even though they've done some work with it. They'll be in the Hangar for a little while, then they'll be gone, unless and until the winner's ship is made available for actual pledging. I don't know if there's been any decision made about that one way or the other.
 
We can still go into the existing Constellation at least. Take a few screenies because after CGBot finishes PBRing the ship it's going to look a lot different. Some design optimizations including better living quarters.

It's said to be Chris Roberts' favorite so I'm really curious where he'll take it.

I must confess I've never watched an episode of TNGS. Didn't really grab me like Wingman's Hangar and 10 for the Chairman.
 
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Until the Video is upload...
here is the Freelancer Commercial.

WOW. This Video and voice put it in the Serenity of Star Citizen.

1:04:50

And GZ to 4 Horse. I was fan of IXM but 3Dingo make some good changes and GZ again :D
mhvhb8.jpg

The big bad brother of the Hornet.
 
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