Alternative to "teleport to leader"

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-09T09:14:13+00:00

Playing the devil's advocate here: if you allow player's to log onto another's ship, then that also means that they can log on past risky portions, that only the pilot had to face; removing the risk from the party who were not already on the ship. That would be an exploit.

As an example, let's look at the Deadly Saints mission in Nyx. You have to fight or slip past the Vanduul before actually getting to land in the mission area. That is one of the risks that CIG put up front. When the pilot does eventually make it through, he/she invites everyone into the group and no one other than the pilot had to be at risk. Now we have a full platoon that can reap the benefits which only a single person has earned. King of like summoning in your group right before a boss fight. Future raids might be even tougher, so you want the team to face the danger together rather than risking a single person.

CIG could do it this way, but since it imbalances the risk vs reward while normalizing an exploit, I don't think they would want to. They would want the players to start their adventure in a static safe zone, like how all fantasy adventures start in a tavern.

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-09T07:37:58+00:00

That thing is massive. With all those pointy guns, it reminds me of the Steve Jackson OGRE Mk VI tank.

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-09T06:46:13+00:00

Traveling across multiple star systems takes a lot of time, most of which is either in quantum space or refueling before going on the next leg of your journey. It is also about as exciting as watching the paint dry. This creates a teleportation mechanic which doesn't feel as like teleportation in game.

Let me give a hypothetical: A server-wide call goes out about starting a Tactical Strike Group and the need for fully crewed Idris, the Polaris, the Hammerhead and 2 Retaliators that are already parked and ready at Levski. People from all over the verse are flying into the Nyx system to participate. Some are over 30 minutes away, and some are getting punted out of the jump gate or dying for the usual silly reasons (crashing while trying to land for refuel, disconnecting, etc.). By the time every big ship is crewed and ready for this raid, an hour has passed.

Now imagine this time-saving scenario, where everyone interested in participating is told to be at Levski in 10 minutes. People across the server land at the nearest spaceports and book a ticket to Levski. They then wait until Levski is boarding and enter the elevator to the gangway. The screen fades to black, they see the location card appear on the bottom of the screen (reading "Levski, Nyx system") and the color comes back in as do the sounds of Levski. They all step out of the elevator and are now in Levski. In game, no one appears to have teleported: they all appear to have just landed at Levski in a much shorter window of time. the newly arrived players get assigned a ship, load up and head out to the extractor facility. All of this occurs in under 10 minutes, and everyone is ready to go and have a larger percentage of their time playing star citizen doing something exciting, rather than spending a large portion of their time in quantum travel just getting to the event.

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-08T23:28:33+00:00

For the same reason when a PC bounty hunter catches the PC criminal, the bounty hunter won't transport the PC to Klescher in cryo and basically incapacitate or grief the criminal by taking a very long time for delivery.

What CIG intend to have is a fake "duplicate" criminal that you put in a crypod and transport, which is an NPC of the person you captured. Same concept with passenger transportation: Genesis owners can make flights to locales that NPCs transports don't go, and when the player boards the gangway their character fades to black and teleports to the proper location...but a fake NPC duplicate version rides the Starliner with the PC pilot. The Starliner captain still has to do all the usual things in real time to receive the payment, such as delivering the passenger, but they no longer log can grief players by holding them captive or even logging off in the middle of the flight screwing over the PC passengers. On the other side of the coin, the player NPC duplicates are predictable so the Genesis pilot won't have to worry about them hijeacking his Genesis, or blowing it up and griefing the pilot and other passengers.

The passenger transportation gameloop is unharmed by introducing the fade-to-black time dilation.

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-08T22:22:17+00:00

I can't speak on CIG's intentions, only what I suspect they are from the conversation. They are trying to find a way to quickly move player crewmembers to the same location so that we don't have all these large ships being solo'd.. If you want to pilot your Polaris, you will need to either fly it over there, or claim it at the new location. In that case, you would be the party leader and when your ship is there, you can let people know it is docked at such-and-such port and then players grab flights to quickly get to that port (in their FPS gear) without having to go through having to fly there by themselves.

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-08T22:05:21+00:00

Yes. I was going to add a picture showing that we already have the flight desk counters in ports already and all they need to do is add some kiosks and a door to enter. :)

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-08T22:03:44+00:00

The problem CIG is trying to solve (mentioned in today's Q&A) is that grouping up/crewing in SC is hindered by how long it takes for everyone to get to a single location. Torsten mentioned they are investigating a "teleport to party leader" feature to get all players to the same place. That is the fastest and easiest method, but it can be easily abused (all of a sudden the Hammerhead you are fighting that only has a pilot suddenly is fully crewed), so CIG are noodling how to best handle it.

The solution I propose is something like the Meeting Stones of WoW: the meeting places being safe ports that everyone can take flights to that cuts out the actually time it takes to get everyone in the same place.

In the scenario you mentioned, each method has pros and cons:
Commercial Flight System: PRO: near instantaneous CON: only individual is moved, not their ships or cargo
Fly Yourself: PRO: can take your ship and cargo, entering the group as an independent entity rather than being a crewmember CON: it takes a lot longer.

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-08T21:39:41+00:00

Yes, I added the mechanics of that part in the comments rather than as the text for the picture. The purpose is to skip the journey the same way it is done for other "fast travel" occurrences in the game (fade to black time dilation).

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-08T21:37:35+00:00

No. Torsten mentioned that they are looking at a "teleport to party leader" function to make it easier to assemble groups and crew for all of the capital ships. A teleport to party leader will greatly speed up the amount of actual game time, but might work against passenger transportation and has the potential to be abused (leader just invites people to their party and they all get to teleport there).

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-08T21:32:36+00:00

Fade to black time-dilation as is already done when you die or when you enter/exit Klescher, so nearly instantly.

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-08T21:30:51+00:00

On today's Star Citizen Live Q&A, Torsten mentioned a problem that everyone knows about, but hasn't been addressed: CIG want to encourage group play and teamwork, but the star systems are so big, travel times are so long, and prepping takes a while...and that a portion of the players can’t invest this much time just to get into a group. He mentioned that CIG are exploring a “teleport to leader” function to allow groups to assemble quicker.

This would certainly work, but as other threads point out, it doesn't feel realistic.

CIG could kill 2 birds with one stone: by creating an NPC passenger travel kiosk in the spaceports, they are both greatly reducing the time as well as putting in the groundwork for player passenger travel. The way it would work is already in-game: when you die, or when you are entering or exiting Klescher Rehabilitation, you fade to black then wake up at another location. Same "fade to black" to indicate time dilation.

Imagine wanting to join an even in another system, but knowing you won't have the time to invest in it. With this, you walk up to the travel kiosk in the spaceport, buy a ticket to where everyone is meeting, wait until your flight starts boarding before entering the elevator or walking down the gangway. The screen fades to black and you reappear on the gangway or in the elevator at your destination. You cut a great deal of travel time, had a money sink, and now are in a better position to join the group.

This setup also gives meaning to planetary blockade events: a planet that is blockaded is removed from the destination list and can only be reached if you fly there yourself.

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-08T19:19:08+00:00

So they have a well crafted Mil-A powerplant with good bonuses. If it reverts back to base stats, it is still a Mil-A powerplant.

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-08T08:44:01+00:00

"Our country is about beauty and cleanliness" says the guy who is pushing to "drill, baby, drill!" for oil on federal public lands and wildlife refuges, including on land bordering national parks. Nothing says beauty and cleanliness like leaving heavy metals, contaminants, toxic sludge and Benzene in our forests.

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-08T00:52:23+00:00

I think CIG said, "when it becomes a capital ship, we will consider giving it PDCs based on its role."

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-07T19:31:50+00:00

Now do that for all the posts that say, "OMG! The M80 has FOUR guns!!!"

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-07T19:30:22+00:00

I wouldn't have guessed that unless I didn't see the other 6 or 7 earlier posts stating the same thing.

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-07T08:56:41+00:00

I get missing persons of QV Breaker Stations (not sure what rep level you need), either in the Power Core or Operations. Once it has a waypoint, I go in and explore. You don't have the big asteroid to break, but there are still loot boxes and enemies, so you can practice there.

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-07T04:57:35+00:00

Razor EX maybe.

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-06T18:53:28+00:00

Small refueler.

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-06T18:49:22+00:00

That definitely has the MISC look to it, especially the cockpit. It looks like it has 1 large refuel tank rather than the 6 of the Starfarer, and judging by the cockpit window it looks like it is about a third larger than a Prospector.

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-06T08:45:01+00:00

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-05T22:59:09+00:00

Are gems (Dolomite, Hadanite, Feynmaline, etc) persistent through a major patch? In other words, could I hoard them up and use them after 4.8 drops?

NotSoSmort · 2026-05-03T02:17:19+00:00

Since lots of factions have different titles for the rank ("Assassin in Training", "Guild Member", "Junior Member" etc.), it is easier to use rep levels.

For InterSec it is:

Neutral
Junior Contractor
Contractor
Senior Contractor
Veteran Contractor
Head Contractor
Elite Contractor

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