A group of pilots in Star Citizen have achieved the kind of dramatic take-down that showcases the possibilities of the controversial title, blowing up an Aegis Idris-M frigate - and they seem as surprised as we were by the results
Star Citizen's Free Fly week hasn't been without issues - going live with both it and the Invictus Launch Week on a Friday seemed to be asking for trouble. And trouble there was, as thousands of eager pilots found themselves unable to get into the game at all, or got stuck on the character creation screen.
It wasn't the best start for such a well trailed event, and an event designed to show off the best Cloud Imperium Games had to offer in their sprawlingly ambitious space title. We, like many others kept trying and were eventually able to gain access the next day.
We're yet to see an explanation, but the most likely culprit does seem to be a failure to prepare for the numbers of players trying to log on to Star Citizen in a smallish window and insufficient upscaling of server capacity. Which is a shame.
There's an old piece of developer wisdom - never go live on Friday. CIG should maybe take note. Especially during this COVID lockdown.
However, so far we've had fun checking out and flying the ships on display in the Area 18 Convention Centre as well as watching the UEE Navy flypast, which features big warships such as the Aegis Javelin class destroyer and Aegis Idris-M class frigate, as a well as some Anvil F8A Heavy Fighters, cruising around in formation and docking at space stations.
Players can fly right up close to these vessels - unless they have a crime stat, in which case you'll get engaged. And that engagement results in your rapid vaporisation.
Players are players of course, and if there's a way to do something naughty, they'll find it. So it was when streamer DTOX_TV and his mates decided to see if they could shoot down an Idris-M frigate, seemingly isolated from the UEE Navy fleet.
The results, which can be seen here were spectacular to say the least. Be warned, the language does get a bit strong, but it only servers to illustrate the players' surprise at what they'd just done.
We particularly enjoy the detail of the frigate's quantum drive exploding, which momentarily warps the space around the white-hot explosion.
And yes, that solid beam being fired at it is a mining laser, from a MISC Prospector mining vessel. That just adds insult to injury.
There's other naughtiness out there too - the theft and flight of a UEE Navy F8A by these gentlemen is also enjoyable:
We understand this involved attacking the F8A, exiting the attacking ship as it was blown up by the F8A and then EVAing over, killing the pilot of the Heavy Fighter and flying off in his ship.
On the whole'we enjoyed the event so far. However, a promised video from CIG on the Squadron 42 single player campaign mode for Star Citizen has yet to emerge, at the time of writing despite being promised several days ago and then delayed for "editorial" reasons.
Squadron 42 is apparently the focus of CIG's development efforts, and is really the thing that will get a wider audience playing Star Citizen. Still, it's CIG, so anything could happen.
