In a new Round the Verse video, CIG is showing off more Star Citizen. This time around, we’re seeing more new planetary vehicles as well as a basic overview of the trading kiosks for the game. We get a good look at the free town of Levski, visual effects, weapons, weapon skins, missions, AI, planetary roads, gravity conditions and cinematics, followed by an extensive glance on the new kiosk system, that will be at the base of the game’s economy.
These kiosks will allow players to trade items across the game with each other in real time. Restocking ship supplies and weapons, refueling, buying new equipment; all of that and more will be available once the Kiosks hit the game in 3.0. There’s also some discussion of the Recipe system in Star Citizen that governs the deisgn of item manufacturing in the game. So expect the economy of various planets and systems in the game to have theme-appropriate commodities available due to the Recipe system.
The interesting design choice with this system is that the initial stocking of shops in Star Citizen will be handled by hand, rather than algorithmically. The price balancing of raw commodities and finished goods will be an interesting point to watch as development progresses. Mostly because of the human element, because as any designer knows, the people playing the game will manipulate or break it in unexpected ways. The level of economic complexity will likely see a lot fo player speculation and manipulation when the economy goes live.
The new Tumbril Cyclone Buggy is front and center in this new update, with new screenshots as well, which you can check out below. Also included below is the video update itself. The buggy has five variants with different armaments, and is priced between $40 and $70 depending on the options you choose. All of these vehicles and starships will be purchasable with in-game currency when the persistent universe launches. This kind of pre-purchase has the purpose of allowing players to support development if they so wish.
Speaking of funding, CIG have passed another record in funding. As if anyone is really surprised at this point. But the truckloads of money Star Citizen has earned overall have surpassed $154 million in total. With the game having a total of 1,845,000+ backers.
Aside from new vehicles, Star Citizen is also showing off new locales and some of the work on moon landings for the game. Weapons, graphics effects and starship modeling and polish are also hgihlighted in this update. The office in Frankfurt has included more streamlining of AI functionality in Star Citizen.
