{"data":{"id":14184,"title":"Letter from the Chairman","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/comm-link\/transmission\/14184-Letter-From-The-Chairman","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-links\/14184","api_public_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/comm-links\/14184","channel":"Transmission","category":"General","series":"From the Chairman","images":[{"id":8,"name":"ChrisRobertsDirecting-300x201.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/1voadjmwj49znr\/source\/ChrisRobertsDirecting-300x201.jpg","alt":"","size":14938,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2013-07-19T05:30:42+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/8","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/8\/similar"},{"id":2271,"name":"Ghull_reclaimerv14b_140930.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/h1gyyuaujmu67r\/source\/Ghull_reclaimerv14b_140930.jpg","alt":"","size":3964233,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2014-10-01T03:26:29+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/2271","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/2271\/similar"}],"images_count":4,"translations":{"en_EN":"Greetings Citizens,\nOnly a few days ago, I wrote the $54 million letter which is truly incredible. I think everyone should take a moment to appreciate the enormity of what you as a community have achieved. Two years ago, the idea that a group of people who love space sims, PC gaming and the promise of a huge new universe to adventure around in could unite to raise $55 million to fund a game was unthinkable. Every one of you, from single Aurora pilots to those building their own fleets, has been part of something unprecedented. Today, we\u2019re in the Guinness Book of World Records, and not as the largest crowdfunded game of all time, but as the largest crowdfunded anything of all time!\n\nI\u2019m very glad to see that the Reclaimer is so popular! This is a ship that you made possible, and I think it speaks to exactly what\u2019s cool about Star Citizen: we\u2019re going beyond the traditional dogfighting game and building a living universe. The fact that so many players want to take part in salvage ops makes me more hopeful than ever! How many have we sold? Well, in the Reclaimer\u2019s description, we mention that it can store roughly a single Constellation worth of scrap. In the current stats (always subject to change!) a Bengal carrier weighs in at about 1,400 times a Constellation\u2026 meaning that it would take 1,400 Reclaimers to haul it away as wreckage. Well, the UEE had better watch out: we\u2019ve released enough Reclaimers so far to dismantle THREE Bengals! I\u2019ve included a new piece of Reclaimer concept art which has just come in; here you can see the ship\u2019s claw salvage mechanism in action!\n\nI sometimes get asked why continue to raise money. Haven\u2019t you already raised enough to make the game? The answer is that Star Citizen isn\u2019t a normal game. It\u2019s not being developed like a normal game and it\u2019s not being funded like a normal game. I\u2019ve had to toss aside a lot of my knowledge from the old way of developing and embrace a completely new world. There is no publisher. There is no venture capitalist wanting a massive return in three years. There is no need to cram the game onto a disc and hope we got it all right. Star Citizen is not the type of game that will be played for a few weeks, then put on a shelf to gather dust. Instead of building a game in secrecy we can be fully open with you as a community who have made this game possible. We can involve the future player base in the creative feedback loop as we develop and iterate core systems. As a group we are all involved and united in our quest to make the best game possible.\n\nI have a lot of industry friends pat me on the back and say, \u201cWow, it must be so great to be operating in profit even before you ship!\u201d Their look usually turns to incredulity when I explain that my intention is for all the money we bring in before launch to be spent on development. It is the community, from the existing backers who continue to support the game, to new members who join every day who are setting the level of ambition and budget for Star Citizen. Every effort is about enriching the game\u2019s vision. Funding to date has allowed us to go so far beyond what I thought was possible in 2012. You\u2019re still getting that game, no question, but it will be all the richer and so much more immersive because of the additional funding.\n\nLong ago I stopped looking at this game the way I did when I worked for a publisher who gave me a fixed budget to make a retail game. I now look at our monthly fundraising and use that to set the amount of resources being used to develop this game. We keep a healthy cash reserve so that if funding stopped tomorrow we would still be able to deliver Star Citizen (not quite to the current level of ambition, but well above what was planned in Oct 2012). If you combine our in-house staff and outsourced developers, we now number more than 280 people. Your support has created a significant number of jobs in the gaming industry. (And no matter what you might have heard, only a small number of our team is tasked with designing new ships!)\n\nIf we had raised the original amount and no more, we wouldn\u2019t be able to deliver involved capital ship systems or the level of FPS gameplay that we are now planning for planets in the Persistent Universe. Nor would have the time or budget to continually upgrade the game with new features like Physically Based Rendering (PBR), or continually strive to make the art assets better. Just compare the Hornet from October 2012 to the current PBR Hornet in Arena Commander. Our ability to iterate in Arena Commander, to try different flight or targeting schemes, or add new game modes that are test beds for future Persistent Universe gameplay is all due to our increased funding, as is the ability to deliver FPS, Planetside and Squadron 42 as modules or episodic content for the community all before the game is \u201cdone.\u201d And in the process, you\u2019re giving us the time to get it right, and you\u2019re giving us more opportunities to share our work with you.\n\nI know some people are afraid of \u201cfeature creep\u201d and the game never being finished as we keep adding functionality and content to the mix with increased funding. I would say that this would be fair criticism if we were delivering this game at retail and on disc. However, we are online and already pushing out builds, well before Star Citizen reaches what anyone would consider a \u201cfinished\u201d stage. Just because we haven\u2019t implemented a planned feature or built a certain asset yet doesn\u2019t prevent us from sharing the game with everyone right now. It\u2019s this evolved process which gives us the Hangar and Arena Commander and so many modules yet to come. We\u2019re sharing the game as it\u2019s being built and it\u2019s an amazing opportunity for everyone who has backed, to have input on the direction the game is going. You just don\u2019t get this in the traditional game business.\n\nShip sales and new members of our community are the two main fund raising sources. I want to stress that no one has to or should contribute more than the basic amount for a starting package. Everything is earnable in the game with enough time (and skill). However, if you like the direction we are taking and want to contribute more to the development of Star Citizen, then purchasing different ships with diverse roles are a great way to give back for this support. The new ships add interesting new gameplay and populating the future Persistent Universe with a range of different ships, flown by players pursuing all kinds of professions, will only add to the richness of the game once it\u2019s fully live.\n\nThat\u2019s what Star Citizen is about: the creative freedom to build something unlike anything that has been done before and the ability to do it with the support of a community that is as passionate about this game as I am. We want to make the Best Damn Space Sim Ever, and with your continued support I know we will.\n\nNow, on to the stretch goals! This time around, you unlocked a user-voted ship upgrade!\n\nBallistic Gatling \u2013 Preacher Armament Inquisition XXII: Preacher\u2019s Inquisition XXII is the weapon to turn to when you want complete target saturation. Its dual-ammo feed allows you to hotswap feeds without exiting your ship, giving every owner the ultimate flexibility to pick the ammo based on the situation. This Arena Commander upgrade will be given to all players who pledged before we reached the 55M goal.\n\nWe\u2019ll be placing two of these guns on every account that backed before $54 million, and they\u2019ll be available in a future Arena Commander patch! (These guns will be among the first to come off our new component pipeline.)\n\nFor our next series of stretch goals, we\u2019re going to ask you to pick \u2018wave four\u2019 of Star Citizen\u2019s ships! Now that the previous set, also selected by backers, are exiting the concept process, our artists can start on another group. We\u2019ve selected ten ship concepts we think are interesting and which would improve the Star Citizen universe. Some are combat-oriented, others speak to the larger Star Citizen universe\u2026 and the next one we build is in your hands! With each upcoming letter, we\u2019ll select one winner and eliminate the least popular, until five have been chosen. Please vote for your favorite in the poll below.\n\nI\u2019m excited to see what you choose; I know my favorite already. Your input helps create Star Citizen just like your pledges. We couldn\u2019t do this without you; thank you for making the Best Damn Space Sim Ever happen.\n\n\u2014 Chris Roberts","de_DE":"Gr\u00fc\u00dfe B\u00fcrger,\nErst vor ein paar Tagen habe ich den 54 Millionen Dollar Brief geschrieben, was wirklich unglaublich ist. Ich denke, jeder sollte sich einen Moment Zeit nehmen, um die Gr\u00f6\u00dfe dessen zu w\u00fcrdigen, was Sie als Gemeinschaft erreicht haben. Vor zwei Jahren war die Idee, dass sich eine Gruppe von Menschen, die Weltraumsimulationen, PC-Spiele und das Versprechen eines riesigen neuen Universums, in dem sie Abenteuer erleben k\u00f6nnen, zusammenschlie\u00dfen k\u00f6nnten, um 55 Millionen Dollar f\u00fcr die Finanzierung eines Spiels zu sammeln, undenkbar. Jeder von euch, von einzelnen Aurora-Piloten bis hin zu denjenigen, die ihre eigenen Flotten bauen, war Teil eines beispiellosen Projekts. Heute sind wir im Guinness Buch der Rekorde, und nicht als das gr\u00f6\u00dfte Crowdfunded Game aller Zeiten, sondern als das gr\u00f6\u00dfte Crowdfunded Anything aller Zeiten!\n\nIch bin sehr froh zu sehen, dass der Reclaimer so beliebt ist! Dies ist ein Schiff, das du erm\u00f6glicht hast, und ich denke, es spricht genau das an, was an Star Citizen cool ist: Wir gehen \u00fcber das traditionelle Luftkampfspiel hinaus und bauen ein lebendiges Universum auf. Die Tatsache, dass so viele Spieler an Rettungseins\u00e4tzen teilnehmen wollen, macht mich hoffnungsvoller denn je! Wie viele haben wir verkauft? Nun, in der Beschreibung des Reclaimers erw\u00e4hnen wir, dass er etwa einen einzigen Schrott im Wert von Constellation speichern kann. In den aktuellen Statistiken (immer unter Vorbehalt!) wiegt ein bengalischer Tr\u00e4ger etwa das 1.400-fache einer Konstellation.... was bedeutet, dass 1.400 Reclaimer ben\u00f6tigt werden, um ihn als Wrack wegzuholen. Nun, die UEE sollte besser aufpassen: Wir haben bisher genug Reclaimer ver\u00f6ffentlicht, um DREI Bengalen zu demontieren! Ich habe ein neues St\u00fcck Reclaimer-Konzeptkunst hinzugef\u00fcgt, das gerade eingetroffen ist; hier k\u00f6nnen Sie den Mechanismus der Schiffsklauenrettung in Aktion sehen!\n\nManchmal werde ich gefragt, warum ich weiterhin Geld sammle. Hast du nicht schon genug erh\u00f6ht, um das Spiel zu machen? Die Antwort ist, dass Star Citizen kein normales Spiel ist. Es wird nicht wie ein normales Spiel entwickelt und es wird nicht wie ein normales Spiel finanziert. Ich musste viel von meinem Wissen aus der alten Art und Weise, eine v\u00f6llig neue Welt zu entwickeln und zu gestalten, beiseite schieben. Es gibt keinen Verlag. Es gibt keinen Risikokapitalgeber, der in drei Jahren eine massive Rendite erzielen will. Es ist nicht n\u00f6tig, das Spiel auf eine Disc zu packen und zu hoffen, dass wir alles in Ordnung gebracht haben. Star Citizen ist nicht die Art von Spiel, die f\u00fcr ein paar Wochen gespielt wird, dann auf ein Regal gestellt, um Staub zu sammeln. Anstatt ein geheimes Spiel zu entwickeln, k\u00f6nnen wir ganz offen mit dir als Community sein, die dieses Spiel erm\u00f6glicht hat. Wir k\u00f6nnen die zuk\u00fcnftige Spielerbasis in den kreativen Feedbackkreislauf einbeziehen, wenn wir Kernsysteme entwickeln und iterieren. Als Gruppe sind wir alle involviert und vereint in unserem Bestreben, das bestm\u00f6gliche Spiel zu erm\u00f6glichen.\n\nIch habe viele Industriefreunde, die mir auf die Schulter klopfen und sagen: \"Wow, es muss so toll sein, mit Gewinn zu arbeiten, noch bevor man versendet!\" Ihr Blick verwandelt sich normalerweise in Ungl\u00e4ubigkeit, wenn ich erkl\u00e4re, dass meine Absicht darin besteht, dass all das Geld, das wir vor dem Start einbringen, f\u00fcr die Entwicklung ausgegeben wird. Es ist die Gemeinschaft, von den bestehenden Unterst\u00fctzern, die das Spiel weiterhin unterst\u00fctzen, bis hin zu neuen Mitgliedern, die jeden Tag beitreten und das Ma\u00df an Ambitionen und Budget f\u00fcr Star Citizen festlegen. Bei jeder Anstrengung geht es darum, die Vision des Spiels zu bereichern. Die bisherige Finanzierung hat es uns erm\u00f6glicht, weit \u00fcber das hinauszugehen, was ich 2012 f\u00fcr m\u00f6glich gehalten habe. Du bekommst immer noch dieses Spiel, keine Frage, aber es wird umso reichhaltiger und so viel fesselnder sein, wegen der zus\u00e4tzlichen Mittel.\n\nVor langer Zeit h\u00f6rte ich auf, mir dieses Spiel anzusehen, so wie ich es tat, als ich f\u00fcr einen Verlag arbeitete, der mir ein festes Budget f\u00fcr ein Verkaufsspiel gab. Ich betrachte nun unser monatliches Fundraising und benutze es, um die Menge der Ressourcen festzulegen, die f\u00fcr die Entwicklung dieses Spiels verwendet werden. Wir halten eine gesunde Barreserve, so dass wir, wenn die Finanzierung morgen eingestellt w\u00fcrde, immer noch Star Citizen liefern k\u00f6nnten (nicht ganz so ehrgeizig wie derzeit, aber weit \u00fcber dem, was im Oktober 2012 geplant war). Wenn Sie unsere hauseigenen Mitarbeiter und ausgelagerten Entwickler kombinieren, z\u00e4hlen wir heute mehr als 280 Mitarbeiter. Ihre Unterst\u00fctzung hat eine betr\u00e4chtliche Anzahl von Arbeitspl\u00e4tzen in der Spieleindustrie geschaffen. (Und egal, was Sie geh\u00f6rt haben, nur ein kleiner Teil unseres Teams ist mit dem Entwurf neuer Schiffe betraut!)\n\nWenn wir den urspr\u00fcnglichen Betrag erh\u00f6ht h\u00e4tten und nicht mehr, w\u00e4ren wir nicht in der Lage, beteiligte Kapitalschiffsysteme oder das Niveau des FPS-Spiels zu liefern, das wir jetzt f\u00fcr Planeten im Persistenten Universum planen. Sie h\u00e4tten auch nicht die Zeit oder das Budget, das Spiel st\u00e4ndig mit neuen Funktionen wie Physically Based Rendering (PBR) zu erweitern oder sich st\u00e4ndig darum zu bem\u00fchen, die Kunstwerke zu verbessern. Vergleichen Sie einfach die Hornet von Oktober 2012 mit der aktuellen PBR Hornet in Arena Commander. Unsere F\u00e4higkeit, in Arena Commander zu iterieren, verschiedene Flug- oder Zielschemata auszuprobieren oder neue Spielmodi hinzuzuf\u00fcgen, die Testfelder f\u00fcr zuk\u00fcnftiges Persistent Universe Gameplay sind, ist allesamt auf unsere erh\u00f6hte Finanzierung zur\u00fcckzuf\u00fchren, ebenso wie die F\u00e4higkeit, FPS, Planetside und Squadron 42 als Module oder episodische Inhalte f\u00fcr die Community bereitzustellen, bevor das Spiel \"fertig\" ist. Und w\u00e4hrend des Prozesses geben Sie uns die Zeit, es richtig zu machen, und Sie geben uns mehr M\u00f6glichkeiten, unsere Arbeit mit Ihnen zu teilen.\n\nIch wei\u00df, dass einige Leute Angst vor \"Feature Creep\" haben und das Spiel nie beendet wird, da wir immer wieder Funktionalit\u00e4t und Inhalte zur Mischung mit mehr Geld hinzuf\u00fcgen. Ich w\u00fcrde sagen, dass dies eine berechtigte Kritik w\u00e4re, wenn wir dieses Spiel im Einzelhandel und auf Diskette anbieten w\u00fcrden. Wir sind jedoch online und vertreiben bereits Builds, lange bevor Star Citizen das erreicht, was jeder als \"fertige\" Phase betrachten w\u00fcrde. Nur weil wir kein geplantes Feature implementiert oder ein bestimmtes Asset erstellt haben, hindert uns nicht daran, das Spiel mit allen zu teilen. Es ist dieser entwickelte Prozess, der uns den Hangar und den Arena Commander und so viele Module gibt, die noch kommen werden. Wir teilen das Spiel, w\u00e4hrend es gebaut wird, und es ist eine erstaunliche Gelegenheit f\u00fcr alle, die es unterst\u00fctzt haben, Input \u00fcber die Richtung des Spiels zu erhalten. Das bekommt man im traditionellen Spielegesch\u00e4ft einfach nicht.\n\nSchiffsverk\u00e4ufe und neue Mitglieder unserer Community sind die beiden wichtigsten Fundraisingquellen. Ich m\u00f6chte betonen, dass niemand mehr als den Grundbetrag f\u00fcr ein Startpaket beitragen muss oder sollte. Alles ist im Spiel mit gen\u00fcgend Zeit (und K\u00f6nnen) verdienstbar. Wenn Ihnen die Richtung, die wir einschlagen, gef\u00e4llt und Sie mehr zur Entwicklung von Star Citizen beitragen wollen, dann ist der Kauf verschiedener Schiffe mit unterschiedlichen Rollen eine gute M\u00f6glichkeit, diese Unterst\u00fctzung zur\u00fcckzugeben. Die neuen Schiffe f\u00fcgen ein interessantes neues Gameplay hinzu und bev\u00f6lkern das zuk\u00fcnftige Persistente Universum mit einer Reihe von verschiedenen Schiffen, die von Spielern geflogen werden, die alle Arten von Berufen aus\u00fcben, und werden den Reichtum des Spiels nur noch verst\u00e4rken, wenn es vollst\u00e4ndig live ist.\n\nDarum geht es bei Star Citizen: die kreative Freiheit, etwas zu bauen, das anders ist als alles, was zuvor gemacht wurde, und die F\u00e4higkeit, es mit der Unterst\u00fctzung einer Gemeinschaft zu tun, die dieses Spiel so leidenschaftlich mag wie ich. Wir wollen die beste verdammte Weltraumsimulation aller Zeiten machen, und mit Ihrer kontinuierlichen Unterst\u00fctzung wei\u00df ich, dass wir das werden.\n\nNun zu den Stretch-Zielen! Diesmal hast du ein vom Benutzer abgestimmtes Schiffs-Upgrade freigeschaltet!\n\nBallistisches Gatling - Prediger R\u00fcstungsinquisition XXII: Die Predigerinquisition XXII ist die Waffe, an die man sich wenden kann, wenn man eine vollst\u00e4ndige Ziels\u00e4ttigung erreichen will. Sein Dual-Ammo-Feed erm\u00f6glicht es Ihnen, Feeds zu hotswapen, ohne Ihr Schiff zu verlassen, was jedem Besitzer die ultimative Flexibilit\u00e4t gibt, die Munition je nach Situation auszuw\u00e4hlen. Dieses Arena Commander Upgrade wird allen Spielern gegeben, die sich verpflichtet haben, bevor wir das 55M Ziel erreicht haben. Wir werden zwei dieser Waffen auf jedem Konto platzieren, das vor 54 Millionen Dollar unterst\u00fctzt wurde, und sie werden in einem zuk\u00fcnftigen Arena Commander Patch verf\u00fcgbar sein! (Diese Waffen werden zu den ersten geh\u00f6ren, die aus unserer neuen Komponentenpipeline kommen.)\n\nF\u00fcr unsere n\u00e4chste Serie von Stretch-Zielen werden wir Sie bitten, die Welle vier der Schiffe von Star Citizen zu w\u00e4hlen! Nachdem das vorherige Set, das ebenfalls von den Geldgebern ausgew\u00e4hlt wurde, den Konzeptprozess beendet hat, k\u00f6nnen unsere K\u00fcnstler mit einer anderen Gruppe beginnen. Wir haben zehn Schiffskonzepte ausgew\u00e4hlt, die wir f\u00fcr interessant halten und die das Star Citizen-Universum verbessern w\u00fcrden. Einige sind kampforientiert, andere sprechen mit dem gr\u00f6\u00dferen Star Citizen Universum.... und das n\u00e4chste, das wir bauen, liegt in deinen H\u00e4nden! Mit jedem kommenden Brief werden wir einen Gewinner ausw\u00e4hlen und den unbeliebtesten eliminieren, bis f\u00fcnf ausgew\u00e4hlt wurden. Bitte stimmen Sie in der untenstehenden Umfrage f\u00fcr Ihren Favoriten ab.\n\nIch bin gespannt, was du w\u00e4hlst; ich kenne meinen Favoriten bereits. Ihre Beitr\u00e4ge tragen dazu bei, dass Star Citizen genau wie Ihre Versprechen entsteht. Wir k\u00f6nnten das nicht ohne dich machen; danke, dass du die beste verdammte Weltraumsimulation aller Zeiten gemacht hast.\n\n- Chris Roberts","zh_CN":"Greetings Citizens,\nOnly a few days ago, I wrote the $54 million letter which is truly incredible. I think everyone should take a moment to appreciate the enormity of what you as a community have achieved. Two years ago, the idea that a group of people who love space sims, PC gaming and the promise of a huge new universe to adventure around in could unite to raise $55 million to fund a game was unthinkable. Every one of you, from single Aurora pilots to those building their own fleets, has been part of something unprecedented. Today, we\u2019re in the Guinness Book of World Records, and not as the largest crowdfunded game of all time, but as the largest crowdfunded anything of all time!\n\nI\u2019m very glad to see that the Reclaimer is so popular! This is a ship that you made possible, and I think it speaks to exactly what\u2019s cool about Star Citizen: we\u2019re going beyond the traditional dogfighting game and building a living universe. The fact that so many players want to take part in salvage ops makes me more hopeful than ever! How many have we sold? Well, in the Reclaimer\u2019s description, we mention that it can store roughly a single Constellation worth of scrap. In the current stats (always subject to change!) a Bengal carrier weighs in at about 1,400 times a Constellation\u2026 meaning that it would take 1,400 Reclaimers to haul it away as wreckage. Well, the UEE had better watch out: we\u2019ve released enough Reclaimers so far to dismantle THREE Bengals! I\u2019ve included a new piece of Reclaimer concept art which has just come in; here you can see the ship\u2019s claw salvage mechanism in action!\n\nI sometimes get asked why continue to raise money. Haven\u2019t you already raised enough to make the game? The answer is that Star Citizen isn\u2019t a normal game. It\u2019s not being developed like a normal game and it\u2019s not being funded like a normal game. I\u2019ve had to toss aside a lot of my knowledge from the old way of developing and embrace a completely new world. There is no publisher. There is no venture capitalist wanting a massive return in three years. There is no need to cram the game onto a disc and hope we got it all right. Star Citizen is not the type of game that will be played for a few weeks, then put on a shelf to gather dust. Instead of building a game in secrecy we can be fully open with you as a community who have made this game possible. We can involve the future player base in the creative feedback loop as we develop and iterate core systems. As a group we are all involved and united in our quest to make the best game possible.\n\nI have a lot of industry friends pat me on the back and say, \u201cWow, it must be so great to be operating in profit even before you ship!\u201d Their look usually turns to incredulity when I explain that my intention is for all the money we bring in before launch to be spent on development. It is the community, from the existing backers who continue to support the game, to new members who join every day who are setting the level of ambition and budget for Star Citizen. Every effort is about enriching the game\u2019s vision. Funding to date has allowed us to go so far beyond what I thought was possible in 2012. You\u2019re still getting that game, no question, but it will be all the richer and so much more immersive because of the additional funding.\n\nLong ago I stopped looking at this game the way I did when I worked for a publisher who gave me a fixed budget to make a retail game. I now look at our monthly fundraising and use that to set the amount of resources being used to develop this game. We keep a healthy cash reserve so that if funding stopped tomorrow we would still be able to deliver Star Citizen (not quite to the current level of ambition, but well above what was planned in Oct 2012). If you combine our in-house staff and outsourced developers, we now number more than 280 people. Your support has created a significant number of jobs in the gaming industry. (And no matter what you might have heard, only a small number of our team is tasked with designing new ships!)\n\nIf we had raised the original amount and no more, we wouldn\u2019t be able to deliver involved capital ship systems or the level of FPS gameplay that we are now planning for planets in the Persistent Universe. Nor would have the time or budget to continually upgrade the game with new features like Physically Based Rendering (PBR), or continually strive to make the art assets better. Just compare the Hornet from October 2012 to the current PBR Hornet in Arena Commander. Our ability to iterate in Arena Commander, to try different flight or targeting schemes, or add new game modes that are test beds for future Persistent Universe gameplay is all due to our increased funding, as is the ability to deliver FPS, Planetside and Squadron 42 as modules or episodic content for the community all before the game is \u201cdone.\u201d And in the process, you\u2019re giving us the time to get it right, and you\u2019re giving us more opportunities to share our work with you.\n\nI know some people are afraid of \u201cfeature creep\u201d and the game never being finished as we keep adding functionality and content to the mix with increased funding. I would say that this would be fair criticism if we were delivering this game at retail and on disc. However, we are online and already pushing out builds, well before Star Citizen reaches what anyone would consider a \u201cfinished\u201d stage. Just because we haven\u2019t implemented a planned feature or built a certain asset yet doesn\u2019t prevent us from sharing the game with everyone right now. It\u2019s this evolved process which gives us the Hangar and Arena Commander and so many modules yet to come. We\u2019re sharing the game as it\u2019s being built and it\u2019s an amazing opportunity for everyone who has backed, to have input on the direction the game is going. You just don\u2019t get this in the traditional game business.\n\nShip sales and new members of our community are the two main fund raising sources. I want to stress that no one has to or should contribute more than the basic amount for a starting package. Everything is earnable in the game with enough time (and skill). However, if you like the direction we are taking and want to contribute more to the development of Star Citizen, then purchasing different ships with diverse roles are a great way to give back for this support. The new ships add interesting new gameplay and populating the future Persistent Universe with a range of different ships, flown by players pursuing all kinds of professions, will only add to the richness of the game once it\u2019s fully live.\n\nThat\u2019s what Star Citizen is about: the creative freedom to build something unlike anything that has been done before and the ability to do it with the support of a community that is as passionate about this game as I am. We want to make the Best Damn Space Sim Ever, and with your continued support I know we will.\n\nNow, on to the stretch goals! This time around, you unlocked a user-voted ship upgrade!\n\nBallistic Gatling \u2013 Preacher Armament Inquisition XXII: Preacher\u2019s Inquisition XXII is the weapon to turn to when you want complete target saturation. Its dual-ammo feed allows you to hotswap feeds without exiting your ship, giving every owner the ultimate flexibility to pick the ammo based on the situation. This Arena Commander upgrade will be given to all players who pledged before we reached the 55M goal.\n\nWe\u2019ll be placing two of these guns on every account that backed before $54 million, and they\u2019ll be available in a future Arena Commander patch! (These guns will be among the first to come off our new component pipeline.)\n\nFor our next series of stretch goals, we\u2019re going to ask you to pick \u2018wave four\u2019 of Star Citizen\u2019s ships! Now that the previous set, also selected by backers, are exiting the concept process, our artists can start on another group. We\u2019ve selected ten ship concepts we think are interesting and which would improve the Star Citizen universe. Some are combat-oriented, others speak to the larger Star Citizen universe\u2026 and the next one we build is in your hands! With each upcoming letter, we\u2019ll select one winner and eliminate the least popular, until five have been chosen. Please vote for your favorite in the poll below.\n\nI\u2019m excited to see what you choose; I know my favorite already. Your input helps create Star Citizen just like your pledges. We couldn\u2019t do this without you; thank you for making the Best Damn Space Sim Ever happen.\n\n\u2014 Chris Roberts"},"links_count":0,"comment_count":605,"created_at":"2014-09-30T00:00:00+00:00","created_at_human":"11 years ago"},"meta":{"processed_at":"2026-05-08 17:46:49","valid_relations":["images","links"],"prev_id":14183,"next_id":14185}}