Cult Citizen

[icycalm]

Very quietly, less than a day after 3.20 dropped, we got a megaton announcement that has almost gone unnoticed: the Argo SRV with associated ship tractor mechanics are coming in a 3.20.X patch, meaning in a matter of weeks!

Roadmap Roundup 09/20/2023 - 1:00 PM
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm ... er-20-2023

Argo SRV
Building, implementing, and balancing Argo's tugboat, the SRV, as a game-ready vehicle.

Vehicle Tractor Beams
Implementing tractor beams attached to ships, either remote-operated or a turret-like attachment. This allows players to move and tow bigger objects, including other ships.

This is a whole new profession in its own right (towing), not to mention its implications for other professions including the combat possibilities it opens up.

We had been speculating that this would be the headline feature of the Q4 patch, but now it's just been stealthily added to the Q3 patch after release, so I am expecting even greater things for Q4. Possibly the new law mechanics (with suspect apprehension), or even Pyro itself (note that a tugboat would be useful in Pyro with ships running out of fuel due to the system's size and lack of refueling infrastructure, so maybe that's why they're rushing it in).

So we might get the SRV as soon as end of October with the CitCon patch, or at the latest in November with the IAE patch.

Price is $150 ($130 Warbond), but it might rise, so start saving if you're interested. I am absolutely getting one.


P.S. In related news, they just added the ability to move snubs with your multitool tractor, but that's temporary until the rifle-size tractor tool goes in: https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/co ... eath_snubs

[icycalm]

Doesn't look like there's an SRV commercial, but the first part of this recent ISC episode highlights the ship very nicely.

Inside Star Citizen: Arrasted Development
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cfBijqlULM



And a fun discussion I found on Reddit to get the creative ideas flowing: https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/co ... eir_size_1

Would anyone be interested in having their Size 1 ships with a slow QT drive be transported across system by an SRV to save time and fuel?

Considering the SRV comes with a Size 2 QT drive, with an XL-1 drive which is one of the fastest drives in the game, you could theoretically tow people across planets to save them time and fuel right? Cutting a 16 minute qt time to like 3-4 minutes seems nice for smaller ships. Thoughts?

Intriguing idea, especially for older gamers with kids.

A poor man's Liberator. As a person that enjoys non standard space ships I'm worried about fitting in UEE standard landing pads, the idea of being ferries by a srv is a fun idea.

Interesting idea for a service to offer. I think some people might take you up on it. But you would basically have to have somebody standing by at every planet for it to be useful. If the person has to wait for you to travel to them, they could just fly to their destination in the same length of time instead.

But I'm cheap, so I would spend the extra 10 minutes in quantum rather than paying for the taxi :P

Could spin up a quick Web service for people to request tows at specific places. Then use the harvested data to predict where the next request is most likely to be. Basically Uber for Star Citizen. When's the Series A?

This will probably be viable once Pyro is in!

In fact... I'd almost guess this is why they released the SRV now, cause actual carrier ships (and associated mechanics) like the Liberator, Idris and Kraken won't be in game when Pyro goes live and smaller ships, especially fighters are going to need help getting around Pyro. Probably even industrial ships like Prospector and Vulture too.

I am glad we have 2 SRVs and can't wait to get them to work, especially in Pyro.

We also need to go over our entire fleet and find out which of our ships have had their tractor beams activated, now that the mechanic is in the game. It will make some ships more useful for having it, and others less for not having it. And we need to experiment with each to find out exactly what they can and can't do.