Star Citizen Dogfighting Alpha - IT'S FINALLY HERE

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/...13883-Arena-Commander-Weekly-Report-May-12-16

ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod.

Welp, it got delayed. So CIG decided the best course of action was to tease us some more:



Oh and I uploaded the music that plays when they show off the DFM:

You forgot your face:

I'm within 50k, so I should get the Multiplayer DFM pretty quickly(hopefully). But we'll see what happens Monday.

WOOOOOOOO!!!!

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13909-Arena-Commander-Launched

Well? We are eager to hear your thoughts, and it's been nearly 24 hours.

Oh I've been very busy, I'll try play a little tonight though. I managed to get a quick five-minute peak after I downloaded it. All I can say right now is that PBR looks amazing.

I've heard people say that DFM aims to use a realistic flight model (relatively speaking).

Any veracity to that?

Hmm... I'l have to login to my account and see if I can download the alpha yet. Of course, I have no decent flight stick at the moment.. /ponder

Yes and no. The ship's computer will use the manoeuvring thrusters to balance out your momentum etc so it flies like an aircraft. However you can turn that off and go full Newtonian.

Haven't tried it with my flightstick yet, but you'd better get started on that 10 GB download .


PS: It runs pretty darn well, if anyone's concerned. Also another trailer with awesome music (the awesome starts at ~0:40)

Don't bother. From what I gather, controls are REALLY sloppy right now, and keyboard and mouse are the way to go. Hotas won't be feasible for a few patches, but when the time comes, I HIGHLY recommend springing for the CH fighterstick, CH pro throttle, and (if SC will make good use of them) CH pro pedals. I've had mine for 10 years. Best setup you can get.

As for AC, the flight model really worries me, as it's very much like freelancer, which, as a space sim, was garbage. Sure that can eventually be fixed, as this is only the first playable release, but the problem is that too many SC players are praising it, and those offering critique are being shot down. Chris Roberts has always shown he's more interested in the cinematic side of space sims, so there's a good chance he might just stick with the current implementation if a majority of the fans like it.

I hope I'm not the only one that thinks a game should be fun even if the graphics are wireframe. F*** PBR, give me a good flight model. (Also those cockpits take up sooo much screen real-estate. Like, dang!)

Not really:

Aurora:


300i:


Hornet



I'd love to try the other ships but I don't own them (hopefully someone can do a mod like with the hangar module). But as far as the Aurora goes, I've never been in a situation where I was left thinking "Oh gee if only that thing wasn't there".

You're right, the 300i is acceptable.

If full-Newtonian was the norm. then I'd be very interested in playing.

You can change it with literally one button press.

Yes, but it's pointless to give yourself such a disadvantage like that in a competitive situation.

It's not necessarily a disadvantage.

Now you have my attention!

It's not really full Newtonian. Decoupled mode allows you to orient your ship in a direction other than your flight path, but at the moment, only orientation is affected. (No x/y strafing.) You also have some inertia in your movement, so you continue on your flight path slightly when turning. This can be accentuated by disabling another control. That's about as far as it goes. There is a speed limit (it's already too easy to fly to the borders of the map in a short amount of time) and counter thrusting is nonexistent right now.

The speed limit is unlikely to change, which is fine, since Elite Dangerous proves that it makes combat more fun and tactical when done right. (Comparing it to something like Evochron, which has no speed limit.)

I would like to see them flesh out inertial flight, though. There's a lot that can be done to make combat more compelling, while keeping i it balanced. ED does a fantastic job of balancing the advantages and disadvantages of Newtonian movement. (For example, Newtonian maneuvers can potentially double your turn rate, but since you have to manually counter steer, it's a lot harder to aim.)

Either way, neither game will do full-Newtonian, and that's probably a good thing. As Chris Roberts said, it would make the game more work than fun.