{"data":{"id":20377,"title":"Star Citizen Monthly Report: November & December 2024","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/comm-link\/SCW\/20377-API","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-links\/20377","api_public_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/comm-links\/20377","channel":"Undefined","category":"Undefined","series":"None","images":[{"id":26651,"name":"STARCITIZEN_WHITE.png","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/y1f0boj8fak5rr\/source\/STARCITIZEN_WHITE.png","alt":"","size":73278,"mime_type":"image\/png","last_modified":"2021-02-03T06:54:29+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/26651","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/26651\/similar"},{"id":37888,"name":"aigdt-navigation-graph.webp","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/i\/2d7e367f6180e15c5aeb9fece3d07d8d45d39c80\/ADdPNihJzmPbNuTnFsH1DqUeqBRpXdSXVVtgJTyDDgscGKrzJuoFjReseurCKtfBCY46NKeKJ8SccpCy7mzs4BEFg\/aigdt-navigation-graph.webp","alt":"g-illustration","size":223432,"mime_type":"image\/webp","last_modified":"2025-01-22T23:15:21+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/37888","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/37888\/similar"},{"id":37889,"name":"jadestarwatcher.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/i\/bf10faa8fc25308c0d6bc942d91b7b94254209fd\/ADdPNihJzmPbNuTnFsH1DqUeqBRpXdSXVVtgJTyDDgscGKrzJuoFjResj1xF7avLUgRUfNCmTLepSucefB9g32nBg\/jadestarwatcher.jpg","alt":"g-illustration","size":9904619,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2025-01-20T18:17:41+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/37889","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/37889\/similar"},{"id":37892,"name":"pyrowinningsubmissionfullframe.webp","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/i\/62584ea558f3df3c8e92db9cadd1c72ccf8d2819\/3jpR3paJ37V8qwqMfJpRb6a9mqDPn6Smk1eWBrp7izt8WJEAZhFnthANVPjzThgAvbV1QvLHHqqMgK4zmunTuuxvdtFEh2PMLsNbKckA8FqfnyhA8XMGDEGM7rhU1XmESYuM8\/pyrowinningsubmissionfullframe.webp","alt":"g-illustration","size":151332,"mime_type":"image\/webp","last_modified":"2025-01-22T23:15:24+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/37892","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/37892\/similar"},{"id":37894,"name":"monthly-report-banner-november-december-2024.webp","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/i\/76c2cd2bbc8327be205b91c3388c9de6423ec7e8\/ADdPNihJzmPbNuTnFsH1DqUeqBRpXdSXVVtgJTyDDgscGKrzJuoFjResjCdbBjV7oeqUDY8HUm9T5bMXC1RZAb13L\/monthly-report-banner-november-december-2024.webp","alt":"g-banner-advanced","size":666294,"mime_type":"image\/webp","last_modified":"2025-01-22T23:15:25+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/37894","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/37894\/similar"}],"images_count":10,"translations":{"en_EN":"PU Monthly Report\nNovember\/December 2024\nIt\u2019s the first Monthly Report of 2025! To kick off the reporting year, we\u2019re looking back to the end of 2024, detailing everything done for the Persistent Universe in November and December. Read on for all the details behind Alpha 4.0\u2019s development and beyond.\n\nAI (Content)\nThe AI team ended 2024 progressing with tasks for Alpha 4.0. This involved adding and validating social AI behaviors across the new stations and outposts to ensure NPCs are positioned and path-find correctly through each space. This involved playing through the various stations and discussing where it was or wasn\u2019t appropriate to place characters and what type of story is intended to be shown there.\n\nAs many players noticed, dynamic conversations have started to appear in-game, which began with tech from Squadron 42. To improve the experience, a small capture session was undertaken to enable new conversations specific to Pyro and Stanton.\n\n\u201cThis is definitely something we want to leverage more in the future, potentially even allowing us to reference in-game events.\u201d AI Team\n\nThe team also looked back at Stanton\u2019s landing zones to upgrade their behaviors to the standard set in Pyro. For example, they tested population numbers to see how many NPCs could fit in a location without compromising performance. Though the numbers still aren\u2019t where they would like, particular in the bustling metropolis of Area18, it provided valuable insight as they begin to experiment with creating environments with denser populations.\n\nAI (Features)\nIn November and December, the AI Feature team progressed with combat for Pyro, particularly for Alpha 4.0\u2019s Contested Zones. This led to improved server framerate and stability. For example, ammo-management spoofing is now functional in locations where ammo crates are yet to be balanced. As such, NPCs will reload, run out of ammo, and search for more from downed combatants to provide much-needed ebb and flow to the combat without needing to wait for a full looting rebalance.\n\nTime was also put into polishing reloading and ammo-management animations and behaviors to ensure they\u2019re ready for Alpha 4.0.\n\nAI Features also improved the medic behavior that allows MedPen-equipped NPCs to revive their squad mates, providing an extra challenge to players. This also creates gameplay opportunities by allowing players to bait enemies into the open to heal their comrades.\n\nThe team also fixed issues when cover is compromised to ensure NPCs respond quickly when ambushed. Bugs in \u2018defend areas\u2019 were fixed too, which are used to shape the flow of combat and set up areas where enemies wait in cover to ambush players.\n\nWork was then done to simplify and refactor the \u2018investigate\u2019 behavior, giving it additional fallback options and enabling it to work more sympathetically with the perception system. This functionality is used to drive searching behaviors across groups when the AI has not fully perceived something or has lost its target.\n\nSignificant work was also done to ensure that perception (particularly vision) checks using client calculations are efficient and correctly distribute checks to characters present at different LODs.\n\nIn addition, AI Features worked alongside Animation to introduce a new creature to the Star Citizen universe, the Quasi grazer.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been working on this for some time now and are so happy to see the positive reaction from players to our bovine friend.\u201d AI Features Team\n\nWork also progressed on animation stances, which are used by the Quasi grazer when sleeping and grazing. These are particularly relevant to the day\/night sleep cycle. A new charge attack type was also introduced.\n\nAI (Tech)\nAI Tech spent the last two months making performance improvements to AI systems and progressing with new features.\n\nThey began by enabling dynamic cover generation for planets and some locations chosen by the designers (this was part of the tech presented at CitizenCon). They also implemented a new exporter for dynamic cover generated as part of a location\u2019s object container. For dynamic cover, fixes were made when reusing cover locations after a navigation tile regenerates without NPCs.\n\nThe StarScript design tool received numerous updates. This new tool inherits the logic from Apollo Subsumption and will be used by the designers to define and represent mission behaviors, NPC behaviors, and other design scenario scripts. It also has a modern UI and better functionality for debugging behaviors.\n\nMultiple improvements were made to the \u2018tactical point system\u2019 to provide faster results when searching for usables, cover, or points on the navigation mesh with less impact on the frame-time budget.\n\nThe navigation system received numerous improvements for the Alpha 4.0 release. For example, the team updated how they compute navigation islands by utilizing more threads and splitting the navigation volume tiles into island groups. For planetary navigation, the devs optimized the way they send events that trigger navigation regeneration requests alongside the ability to link navigation area exclusion and navigation cost areas to planetary navigation mesh.\n\nFor boids tech, crashes were solved and the volume of synchronized data used between the server and client was optimized. For scripting reasons, new functionality to easily convert conversation behavior into a flowgraph node was implemented. Updates were made to audio propagation and how NPCs perceive audio events too.\n\nShip AI behaviors received a lot of attention, including improvements to quantum travel to better handle failures and updates to reinforcement behaviors and collision avoidance logic.\n\nFinally, the team began implementing movement requests for chasing targets. This will include updates to how Pathfinder requests are solved and patch existing paths.\n\nAI (Game Intelligence Development Team)\nThroughout November and December, the Game Intelligence Development team continued to close down StarScript 1.1, updating the old Apollo documentation to the new UX and adding documentation to the new features. They also defined a QA testing process to detect and address crashes and bugs as early as possible. A \u2018cheat sheet\u2019 was then produced to highlight the differences between Subsumption\/Apollo and StarScript, including using filters and smart query to quickly obtain results, how to use custom groups, and working with notes.\n\nFollowing this, the game designers began using Starscript 1.1 and made requests for features and visual additions. The navigation graph was implemented for StarScript v1.5 alongside a selection of icons to represent key elements, such as the event system, external system, and sub-activity selector.\n\nAnimation\nNovember saw the Animation team create player-interaction animations for hacking and door panels. They also worked on various creature animations for the kopion, Quasi grazer, and Valakaar, and prepped for upcoming creatures.\n\nThe devs then undertook several performance-capture shoots before solving the data and facial animations.\n\nThe end of the year was spent developing various animations for existing and upcoming creatures, while Facial Animation continued to create animations from the captured performances.\n\nArt (Characters)\nThe Character Art team supported StarWear art debt and fixed bugs for the live releases. They\u2019re currently working on two new armors alongside upcoming armor variants.\n\nArt (Ships)\nThe Ship Art team spent the end of 2024 putting the finishing touches on upcoming vehicles that will be revealed or released this year.\n\nAlongside unannounced vehicles, several upcoming vehicles progressed through the white and greybox stages, including the Consolidated Outland Pioneer, Drake Ironclad, Anvil Paladin, MISC Starlancer TAC, Argo CSV-FM, and RSI Apollo and Perseus.\n\nCommunity\nThe Community team began the busy months of November and December with a recap of CitizenCon 2954 and by making all presentations from the event available on YouTube. They also supported IAE 2954 with an FAQ and manufacturer schedule for this year\u2019s event, as well as the Intergalactic Photography Awards screenshot contest featuring nine unique categories.\n\nThe team published a Spectrum guide to support the Save Stanton Global Event as well as providing Q&As for the Crusader Intrepid, RSI Polaris, Anvil Terrapin Medic, Anvil Paladin, and MISC Starlancer TAC. November also saw the introduction of Star Citizen Comms-Dive, a new series designed to dive into hot topics and ongoing discussions within the community (more of these to come soon!)\n\nDuring December, Community helped spread the joy of Luminalia 2954 with a calendar of daily gifts, a referral bonus, and a Gift that Keeps on Giving video contest. They supported the release of Star Citizen Alpha 4.0 preview with a Beauty of Pyro screenshot contest highlighting the planets and moons of this new system, and by publishing three Patch Watch posts, which offered deeper insights into the updated economy, new mining opportunities in Pyro, and more.\n\nRegular updates were also published for the community, including Roadmap Roundup, This Week in Star Citizen, and the Arena Commander Schedule.\n\nAnd lastly, the team spent time focusing on event planning and upcoming activities being planned for the year.\n\nCore Gameplay\nAll Core Gameplay teams were heavily involved in addressing stability and performance issues found during Alpha 4.0 PTU.\n\nAlongside this, the programmers worked on jump points, which are critical to connecting Stanton with Pyro (and, later, other star systems). A lot of effort went into creating a strong visual experience and the feeling of controlling the spaceship inside the tunnel.\n\nThe new mission system received the final critical changes to prepare it for the new server-meshed environment. This overhaul is important to ensure missions persist as players cross between server boundaries, on server-crash recovery, and between different servers. As the system was completely overhauled and most of the scripting logic rules changed, all mission archetypes needed to be rewritten. A lot of teams supported the transition and setup of this content by helping locate and identify problems.\n\nAs the number of territories or regions served by one dedicated server increased, more features were found to have issues with authority transfer (unique problems caused by ownership of the entity moving from one server to another). These issues proved challenging to address, but the benefits of more territories made it worth the time investment.\n\nThe teams were also heavily involved in new content, including Contested Zones, and took the opportunity to begin making changes to the PU login flow, including allowing players to spawn directly into their persistent hangars at their home locations.\n\nWork was done in support of an upcoming ship, fixing quality-of life issues with personal hangar and freight elevators, and a lot of bug fixing.\n\nEconomy\nThe end of 2024 saw the Economy team adjust the prices of quantum and hydrogen fuel to account for new tank sizes. Prices of vehicle components and ordnance were rebalanced with the aim of turning the use of a Size 10 bomb into a serious financial decision.\n\nVehicle repair costs were also rebalanced taking into account the new prices for components and commodities. For example, repairing a ship\u2019s hull should now be a lot cheaper than replacing missing components.\n\nGraphics, VFX Programming & Planet Tech\nFor the graphics department, the end of 2024 largely involved making significant performance and stability improvements to Alpha 4.0.\n\nThe team also finalized internal support for Vulkan and rolled it out as the default renderer for developers. This includes many stability improvements alongside multi-threading improvements to increase CPU performance on multi-core machines. These improvements are in the main branch, so they will reach the PU when the next major pull of the main code branch takes place.\n\nR&D for global illumination, reflections, and Planet Tech v5 all progressed and will continue at full pace now that the team\u2019s work on Alpha 4.0 is complete.\n\nInteractables\nInteractables developed assets for Contested Zones, such as keycards, server blades, and fuse slots, and completed a performance and bug pass.\n\nLocations\nThe Locations team spent the end of 2024 supporting the Alpha 4.0 build, including polishing, optimizing, and bug-fixing Pyro\u2019s Contested Zones and outposts.\n\nMission Design\nThe ongoing mission refactor continued, with bugs being prioritized and triaged. While analytics show high completion rates for missions, some users are still coming across issues. The team are currently attempting to reproduce and fix exactly what is causing them.\n\nAlong with this, Mission Design kicked off new content planned for 2025, more of which will be shared in the coming months.\n\nNarrative\nOver the past two months, the Narrative team focused on finishing mission content text for Alpha 4.0. The addition of Pyro meant that there were dozens of mission archetypes with different complexities and steps that needed to be applied to all mission providers in the system. Narrative also worked closely with the mission designers to support the Save Stanton missions.\n\nOutside of that, evergreen work continued, including generating names and descriptions for items, liveries, weapons, and armor. The team also planned storytelling and character initiatives beginning in the new year.\n\nOn the website, the team released a fascinating Portfolio on the history of Luminalia, which gave insight into the Banu culture, and answered the community\u2019s questions from the Ask a Dev forum in Loremakers.\n\nOnline Technology\nIn November and December, Online Services finalized the backend services crucial to several key features, including the mission-system refactor, the entity-subscription service\/marker refactor, the scenario service, and various social services updates. Each of these enhancements played a vital role in the overarching goal of making Server Meshing a reality.\n\nThe team also devoted a considerable amount of time and resources to assist in unblocking accounts experiencing various issues. Furthermore, the team successfully released hotfixes to address these issues over the holidays.\n\nThe Live Tools team continued rolling out new features for Hex that had been in development for several months. The latest includes a tool to manage access and permissions in a more granular way and a new module to help manage in-game events and missions.\n\nExisting modules continued to be improved to provide a better user experience. The team also worked on significant improvements for the error-reporting pipeline and other internal development tools.\n\nR&D\nIn November and December, the R&D team continued to finalize the core system components for the first version of dynamic weather. The previously implemented weather-map support was extended to also include a rain accumulation map with physically plausible evaporation and percolation model. This uses a planet's temperature, humidity, and wind map (which also drive terrain and biome generation) as input. Support for rain clustering was added to limit rain to specific regions and types of clouds.\n\nSimilar controls were added for lightning and the quality of lightning event locations extracted from the weather map was improved. The temporal stability of weather was improved, while diffusion in the rain accumulation map (due to re-sampling historic data) was reduced.\n\nVolumetric cloud shadow rendering was stabilized to further improve occasional stepping artifacts when the camera moved, especially with the sun at low angles above the horizon.\n\nAdditionally, various backend changes were implemented. This included introducing a dependency chain so that runtime-generated cloud and weather maps and their dependencies can update lazily. Also, weather animation states now propagate to all systems and threads working with them, so related gameplay and physics effects should be consistent with rendering.\n\nTech Art\/Animation\nThe Technical Animation team continued with a range of long-term tasks to facilitate improvements across the board. For example, despite technical challenges, they made substantial progress toward finalizing several creatures, ensuring they\u2019re ready to be deployed across various planets.\n\nOne of the team\u2019s major milestones was the successful integration of new heads into the Character Customizer. This enhancement will offer players more variety and customization options, further enriching personalization.\n\nA contingent of the Tech Animation team is currently invested in the development and upkeep of player interactions.\n\n\u201cMost recently, this included the fuse puzzles, which were trickier to implement than you might expect!\u201d Technical Animation Team\n\nTech Design\nThroughout November and December, Tech Design primarily focused on the Contested Zones. Support ranged from setting up new entities, implementing gameplay and reward logic, fixing doors, hooking up lights and sound effects, and playtesting and iterating on the above.\n\nThey also set up entities for the CitizenCon Digital Goodies Pack and identified and resolved small and large workflow issues for themselves and other teams.\n\nVFX\nIn November, VFX supported the Vehicle teams with the Mirai Guardian and the Locations teams with a variety of Pyro location work.\n\nDecember saw further work on Pyro, including Contested Zones, rundown stations, asteroid bases, and the VFX-heavy jump points.","de_DE":"PU-Monatsbericht\nNovember\/Dezember 2024\nDas ist der erste Monatsbericht des Jahres 2025! Zum Auftakt des Berichtsjahres blicken wir auf das Ende des Jahres 2024 zur\u00fcck und berichten \u00fcber alles, was im November und Dezember im Persistent Universe passiert ist. Lies weiter, um alle Details \u00fcber die Entwicklung von Alpha 4.0 und dar\u00fcber hinaus zu erfahren.\n\nKI (Inhalt)\nDas KI-Team beendete das Jahr 2024 mit der Bearbeitung der Aufgaben f\u00fcr Alpha 4.0. Dazu geh\u00f6rte das Hinzuf\u00fcgen und Validieren des sozialen KI-Verhaltens in den neuen Stationen und Au\u00dfenposten, um sicherzustellen, dass die NSCs richtig positioniert sind und den richtigen Weg durch jeden Raum finden. Dazu mussten die verschiedenen Stationen durchgespielt und diskutiert werden, wo es sinnvoll ist, Charaktere zu platzieren und welche Art von Geschichte dort gezeigt werden soll.\n\nWie viele Spieler\/innen bemerkt haben, sind dynamische Gespr\u00e4che im Spiel aufgetaucht, die mit der Technik von Squadron 42 begonnen haben. Um das Erlebnis zu verbessern, wurde eine kleine Aufnahmesitzung durchgef\u00fchrt, um neue Gespr\u00e4che speziell f\u00fcr Pyro und Stanton zu erm\u00f6glichen.\n\n\"Das ist definitiv etwas, das wir in Zukunft noch st\u00e4rker nutzen wollen, um vielleicht sogar auf Ereignisse im Spiel verweisen zu k\u00f6nnen. KI-Team\n\nDas Team hat sich auch Stantons Landezonen angesehen, um deren Verhalten an den Standard von Pyro anzupassen. Sie testeten zum Beispiel die Bev\u00f6lkerungszahlen, um herauszufinden, wie viele NSCs an einem Ort Platz finden, ohne dass die Leistung darunter leidet. Obwohl die Zahlen immer noch nicht so hoch sind, wie sie es gerne h\u00e4tten, vor allem in der gesch\u00e4ftigen Metropole Area18, lieferten sie wertvolle Erkenntnisse, um mit der Schaffung von Umgebungen mit dichterer Bev\u00f6lkerung zu experimentieren.\n\nKI (Features)\nIm November und Dezember hat das KI-Feature-Team die K\u00e4mpfe in Pyro weiterentwickelt, insbesondere in den umk\u00e4mpften Zonen der Alpha 4.0. Dies f\u00fchrte zu einer verbesserten Framerate und Stabilit\u00e4t des Servers. Zum Beispiel funktioniert das Spoofing des Munitionsmanagements jetzt auch an Orten, an denen die Munitionskisten noch nicht ausbalanciert sind. So laden NSCs nach, wenn ihnen die Munition ausgeht, und suchen dann bei gefallenen K\u00e4mpfern nach neuer Munition, um den Kampf zu beleben, ohne dass sie auf ein vollst\u00e4ndiges Rebalancing der Beute warten m\u00fcssen.\n\nAu\u00dferdem wurde an den Animationen und dem Verhalten beim Nachladen und Munitionsmanagement gefeilt, um sicherzustellen, dass sie f\u00fcr die Alpha 4.0 bereit sind.\n\nDie KI-Features haben auch das Verhalten der Sanit\u00e4ter verbessert, so dass NPCs mit MedPen ihre Kameraden wiederbeleben k\u00f6nnen, was f\u00fcr die Spieler eine zus\u00e4tzliche Herausforderung darstellt. Dies schafft auch neue Spielm\u00f6glichkeiten, da die Spieler\/innen Feinde ins Freie locken k\u00f6nnen, um ihre Kameraden zu heilen.\n\nDas Team hat auch Probleme behoben, die auftreten, wenn die Deckung gef\u00e4hrdet ist, um sicherzustellen, dass NSCs schnell reagieren, wenn sie in einen Hinterhalt geraten. Au\u00dferdem wurden Fehler in den \"Verteidigungsbereichen\" behoben, die dazu dienen, den Kampfablauf zu gestalten und Bereiche einzurichten, in denen Feinde in Deckung warten, um Spieler\/innen aus dem Hinterhalt anzugreifen.\n\nAu\u00dferdem wurde das Verhalten \"Erkunden\" vereinfacht und \u00fcberarbeitet, so dass es zus\u00e4tzliche Ausweichm\u00f6glichkeiten bietet und besser mit dem Wahrnehmungssystem zusammenarbeitet. Diese Funktion wird genutzt, um das Suchverhalten in Gruppen zu steuern, wenn die KI etwas nicht vollst\u00e4ndig wahrgenommen oder ihr Ziel verloren hat.\n\nEs wurde auch viel Arbeit geleistet, um sicherzustellen, dass die Wahrnehmungspr\u00fcfung (insbesondere die Sichtpr\u00fcfung) mit Hilfe von Client-Berechnungen effizient ist und die Pr\u00fcfungen korrekt auf Charaktere mit unterschiedlichen LODs verteilt werden.\n\nAu\u00dferdem arbeiteten die KI-Funktionen mit der Animation zusammen, um eine neue Kreatur in das Star Citizen-Universum einzuf\u00fchren: den Quasi-Weideg\u00e4nger.\n\n\"Wir haben schon seit einiger Zeit daran gearbeitet und freuen uns sehr \u00fcber die positive Reaktion der Spieler\/innen auf unseren bovinen Freund. AI Features Team\n\nDie Arbeit an den Animationspositionen, die der Quasi-Weider beim Schlafen und Grasen einnimmt, wurde ebenfalls vorangetrieben. Diese sind besonders f\u00fcr den Tag-Nacht-Schlafzyklus relevant. Es wurde auch eine neue Angriffsart eingef\u00fchrt.\n\nKI (Tech)\nDie KI-Abteilung hat in den letzten zwei Monaten die Leistung der KI-Systeme verbessert und neue Funktionen entwickelt.\n\nSie begannen damit, die dynamische Deckungserzeugung f\u00fcr Planeten und einige von den Designern ausgew\u00e4hlte Orte zu erm\u00f6glichen (dies war Teil der auf der CitizenCon vorgestellten Technologie). Au\u00dferdem wurde ein neuer Exporter f\u00fcr dynamische Deckung implementiert, die als Teil des Objektcontainers eines Ortes erzeugt wird. F\u00fcr die dynamische Deckung wurden Korrekturen bei der Wiederverwendung von Deckungsorten vorgenommen, nachdem eine Navigationskachel ohne NSCs neu erstellt wurde.\n\nDas StarScript-Entwurfswerkzeug erhielt zahlreiche Aktualisierungen. Dieses neue Tool \u00fcbernimmt die Logik von Apollo Subsumption und wird von den Designern verwendet, um Missionsverhalten, NSC-Verhalten und andere Design-Szenario-Skripte zu definieren und darzustellen. Es hat au\u00dferdem eine moderne Benutzeroberfl\u00e4che und bessere Funktionen zum Debuggen von Verhaltensweisen.\n\nMehrere Verbesserungen wurden am \"taktischen Punktesystem\" vorgenommen, um schnellere Ergebnisse bei der Suche nach nutzbaren Objekten, Deckung oder Punkten auf dem Navigationsnetz zu erzielen, die sich weniger auf das Frame-Time-Budget auswirken.\n\nDas Navigationssystem wurde in der Alpha 4.0-Version mehrfach verbessert. Das Team hat zum Beispiel die Berechnung der Navigationsinseln aktualisiert, indem es mehr Threads verwendet und die Kacheln des Navigationsvolumens in Inselgruppen unterteilt hat. F\u00fcr die planetarische Navigation optimierten die Entwickler die Art und Weise, wie Ereignisse gesendet werden, die Navigationsregenerationsanfragen ausl\u00f6sen, sowie die M\u00f6glichkeit, Navigationsbereichsausschl\u00fcsse und Navigationskostenbereiche mit dem planetarischen Navigationsnetz zu verkn\u00fcpfen.\n\nF\u00fcr die Boids-Tech wurden Abst\u00fcrze behoben und die Menge der synchronisierten Daten zwischen Server und Client optimiert. F\u00fcr die Skripterstellung wurde eine neue Funktion implementiert, mit der das Gespr\u00e4chsverhalten einfach in einen Flowgraph-Knoten umgewandelt werden kann. Auch die Audioausbreitung und die Art und Weise, wie NSCs Audioereignisse wahrnehmen, wurden aktualisiert.\n\nDas Verhalten der Schiffs-KI erhielt viel Aufmerksamkeit, einschlie\u00dflich Verbesserungen bei der Quantenreise, um Ausf\u00e4lle besser bew\u00e4ltigen zu k\u00f6nnen, und Aktualisierungen des Verst\u00e4rkungsverhaltens und der Kollisionsvermeidungslogik.\n\nSchlie\u00dflich hat das Team damit begonnen, Bewegungsanfragen f\u00fcr die Verfolgung von Zielen zu implementieren. Dazu geh\u00f6ren Aktualisierungen, wie Pfadfinderanfragen gel\u00f6st werden, und das Flicken bestehender Pfade.\n\nKI (Game Intelligence Development Team)\nIm November und Dezember setzte das Game Intelligence Development Team die Arbeiten an StarScript 1.1 fort, indem es die alte Apollo-Dokumentation auf die neue UX aktualisierte und die Dokumentation zu den neuen Funktionen hinzuf\u00fcgte. Au\u00dferdem legten sie einen QA-Testprozess fest, um Abst\u00fcrze und Bugs so fr\u00fch wie m\u00f6glich zu erkennen und zu beheben. Dann wurde ein \"Spickzettel\" erstellt, der die Unterschiede zwischen Subsumption\/Apollo und StarScript aufzeigt, z. B. die Verwendung von Filtern und intelligenten Abfragen, um schnell Ergebnisse zu erhalten, die Verwendung benutzerdefinierter Gruppen und die Arbeit mit Notizen.\n\nIm Anschluss daran begannen die Spieldesigner mit der Verwendung von Starscript 1.1 und \u00e4u\u00dferten W\u00fcnsche zu Funktionen und visuellen Erg\u00e4nzungen. Die Navigationsgrafik wurde in StarScript v1.5 zusammen mit einer Auswahl von Symbolen implementiert, die wichtige Elemente wie das Ereignissystem, das externe System und den Unteraktivit\u00e4tsselektor darstellen.\n\nAnimation\nIm November erstellte das Animationsteam Spielerinteraktionsanimationen f\u00fcr das Hacken und die T\u00fcrfelder. Au\u00dferdem arbeiteten sie an verschiedenen Kreaturenanimationen f\u00fcr den Kopion, den Quasi-Grazer und den Valakaar und bereiteten sich auf kommende Kreaturen vor.\n\nAnschlie\u00dfend haben die Entwickler mehrere Performance-Capture-Shootings durchgef\u00fchrt, bevor sie die Daten- und Gesichtsanimationen gel\u00f6st haben.\n\nDas Ende des Jahres wurde damit verbracht, verschiedene Animationen f\u00fcr bestehende und zuk\u00fcnftige Kreaturen zu entwickeln, w\u00e4hrend die Gesichtsanimation weiterhin Animationen aus den aufgenommenen Performances erstellte.\n\nKunst (Charaktere)\nDas Character Art Team hat StarWear Art Debt unterst\u00fctzt und Fehler f\u00fcr die Live-Ver\u00f6ffentlichungen behoben. Derzeit arbeiten sie an zwei neuen R\u00fcstungen sowie an kommenden R\u00fcstungsvarianten.\n\nKunst (Schiffe)\nDas Schiffskunst-Team hat das Jahr 2024 damit verbracht, den kommenden Fahrzeugen, die dieses Jahr enth\u00fcllt oder ver\u00f6ffentlicht werden, den letzten Schliff zu geben.\n\nNeben unangek\u00fcndigten Fahrzeugen durchliefen mehrere kommende Fahrzeuge die White- und Greybox-Phasen, darunter der Consolidated Outland Pioneer, der Drake Ironclad, der Anvil Paladin, der MISC Starlancer TAC, der Argo CSV-FM und die RSI Apollo und Perseus.\n\nCommunity\nDas Community-Team begann die arbeitsreichen Monate November und Dezember mit einer Zusammenfassung der CitizenCon 2954 und stellte alle Pr\u00e4sentationen der Veranstaltung auf YouTube zur Verf\u00fcgung. Au\u00dferdem unterst\u00fctzten sie die IAE 2954 mit einer FAQ und einem Zeitplan der Hersteller f\u00fcr die diesj\u00e4hrige Veranstaltung sowie mit dem Screenshot-Wettbewerb der Intergalactic Photography Awards, der in neun verschiedenen Kategorien stattfand.\n\nDas Team ver\u00f6ffentlichte einen Spectrum-Guide zur Unterst\u00fctzung des Save Stanton Global Events und stellte Q&As f\u00fcr den Crusader Intrepid, RSI Polaris, Anvil Terrapin Medic, Anvil Paladin und MISC Starlancer TAC zur Verf\u00fcgung. Im November wurde au\u00dferdem Star Citizen Comms-Dive eingef\u00fchrt, eine neue Serie, die sich mit aktuellen Themen und Diskussionen innerhalb der Community besch\u00e4ftigt (mehr davon in K\u00fcrze!).\n\nIm Dezember half die Community dabei, die Freude \u00fcber das Luminalia 2954 mit einem Kalender mit t\u00e4glichen Geschenken, einem Empfehlungsbonus und einem \"Gift that Keeps on Giving\"-Videowettbewerb zu verbreiten. Sie unterst\u00fctzte die Ver\u00f6ffentlichung der Star Citizen Alpha 4.0 Vorschau mit einem Beauty of Pyro Screenshot-Wettbewerb, der die Planeten und Monde dieses neuen Systems hervorhob, und durch die Ver\u00f6ffentlichung von drei Patch Watch Posts, die tiefere Einblicke in die aktualisierte Wirtschaft, neue Bergbaum\u00f6glichkeiten in Pyro und mehr boten.\n\nAu\u00dferdem wurden regelm\u00e4\u00dfige Updates f\u00fcr die Community ver\u00f6ffentlicht, darunter Roadmap Roundup, This Week in Star Citizen und der Arena Commander Schedule.\n\nUnd schlie\u00dflich widmete sich das Team der Eventplanung und den kommenden Aktivit\u00e4ten, die f\u00fcr das Jahr geplant sind.\n\nCore Gameplay\nAlle Core Gameplay-Teams waren intensiv mit der Behebung von Stabilit\u00e4ts- und Leistungsproblemen besch\u00e4ftigt, die w\u00e4hrend der Alpha 4.0 PTU festgestellt wurden.\n\nAu\u00dferdem arbeiteten die Programmierer an den Sprungpunkten, die f\u00fcr die Verbindung zwischen Stanton und Pyro (und sp\u00e4ter auch anderen Sternensystemen) entscheidend sind. Wir haben uns viel M\u00fche gegeben, um ein starkes visuelles Erlebnis zu schaffen und das Gef\u00fchl zu vermitteln, das Raumschiff im Tunnel zu steuern.\n\nDas neue Missionssystem erhielt die letzten kritischen \u00c4nderungen, um es f\u00fcr die neue serververnetzte Umgebung vorzubereiten. Diese \u00dcberarbeitung ist wichtig, um sicherzustellen, dass die Missionen bestehen bleiben, wenn die Spieler\/innen zwischen Servergrenzen, bei der Wiederherstellung nach einem Serverabsturz und zwischen verschiedenen Servern wechseln. Da das System komplett \u00fcberarbeitet wurde und die meisten Regeln der Skriptlogik ge\u00e4ndert wurden, mussten alle Missionsarchetypen neu geschrieben werden. Viele Teams unterst\u00fctzten die Umstellung und den Aufbau dieser Inhalte, indem sie halfen, Probleme zu finden und zu identifizieren.\n\nAls die Anzahl der Gebiete oder Regionen, die von einem dedizierten Server bedient wurden, zunahm, traten bei immer mehr Funktionen Probleme mit der \u00dcbertragung von Befugnissen auf (einzigartige Probleme, die dadurch entstehen, dass das Eigentum an einer Entit\u00e4t von einem Server auf einen anderen wechselt). Die Behebung dieser Probleme erwies sich als schwierig, aber die Vorteile einer gr\u00f6\u00dferen Anzahl von Gebieten lohnten die Zeitinvestition.\n\nDie Teams besch\u00e4ftigten sich auch intensiv mit neuen Inhalten wie den umk\u00e4mpften Zonen und nutzten die Gelegenheit, um \u00c4nderungen am PU-Loginfluss vorzunehmen, z. B. die M\u00f6glichkeit, dass Spieler\/innen direkt in ihren persistenten Hangars an ihren Heimatstandorten spawnen k\u00f6nnen.\n\nEs wurde an einem neuen Schiff gearbeitet, Probleme mit der Lebensqualit\u00e4t in pers\u00f6nlichen Hangars und Frachtaufz\u00fcgen behoben und eine Menge Fehler behoben.\n\nWirtschaft\nEnde 2024 passte das Wirtschaftsteam die Preise f\u00fcr Quanten- und Wasserstofftreibstoff an, um die neuen Tankgr\u00f6\u00dfen zu ber\u00fccksichtigen. Die Preise f\u00fcr Fahrzeugkomponenten und Munition wurden neu ausbalanciert, damit der Einsatz einer Bombe der Gr\u00f6\u00dfe 10 zu einer ernsthaften finanziellen Entscheidung wird.\n\nAuch die Kosten f\u00fcr die Reparatur von Fahrzeugen wurden unter Ber\u00fccksichtigung der neuen Preise f\u00fcr Komponenten und Rohstoffe neu ausbalanciert. Zum Beispiel sollte die Reparatur eines Schiffsrumpfes jetzt viel billiger sein als der Ersatz von fehlenden Komponenten.\n\nGrafik, VFX-Programmierung & Planet Tech\nF\u00fcr die Grafikabteilung ging es Ende 2024 vor allem darum, erhebliche Leistungs- und Stabilit\u00e4tsverbesserungen an Alpha 4.0 vorzunehmen.\n\nDas Team hat au\u00dferdem die interne Unterst\u00fctzung f\u00fcr Vulkan abgeschlossen und es als Standard-Renderer f\u00fcr Entwickler eingef\u00fchrt. Dazu geh\u00f6ren viele Stabilit\u00e4tsverbesserungen und Verbesserungen beim Multi-Threading, um die CPU-Leistung auf Multi-Core-Maschinen zu erh\u00f6hen. Diese Verbesserungen befinden sich im Hauptzweig, so dass sie beim n\u00e4chsten gro\u00dfen Pull des Hauptzweigs die PU erreichen werden.\n\nDie Forschungs- und Entwicklungsarbeiten an der globalen Beleuchtung, den Reflexionen und der Planet Tech v5 wurden vorangetrieben und werden mit voller Kraft fortgesetzt, nachdem das Team die Arbeit an Alpha 4.0 abgeschlossen hat.\n\nInteractables\nInteractables hat Assets f\u00fcr Contested Zones entwickelt, z. B. Keycards, Server Blades und Fuse Slots, und einen Performance- und Bug-Pass abgeschlossen.\n\nStandorte\nDas Locations-Team verbrachte das Jahr 2024 damit, die Alpha 4.0 zu unterst\u00fctzen und die umk\u00e4mpften Zonen und Au\u00dfenposten von Pyro zu polieren, zu optimieren und Fehler zu beheben.\n\nMissionsdesign\nDie laufende \u00dcberarbeitung der Missionen wurde fortgesetzt, wobei Fehler priorisiert und behoben wurden. Obwohl die Analysen hohe Abschlussraten f\u00fcr die Missionen zeigen, sto\u00dfen einige Nutzer immer noch auf Probleme. Das Team versucht derzeit, die genaue Ursache f\u00fcr diese Probleme zu finden und zu beheben.\n\nAu\u00dferdem gab das Missionsdesign den Startschuss f\u00fcr neue Inhalte, die f\u00fcr 2025 geplant sind und \u00fcber die in den kommenden Monaten mehr bekannt gegeben wird.\n\nNarrative\nIn den letzten zwei Monaten hat sich das Narrative Team darauf konzentriert, den Text f\u00fcr die Missionsinhalte der Alpha 4.0 fertigzustellen. Durch die Einf\u00fchrung von Pyro gab es Dutzende von Missionsarchetypen mit unterschiedlichen Komplexit\u00e4ten und Schritten, die auf alle Missionsanbieter im System angewendet werden mussten. Narrative arbeitete auch eng mit den Missionsdesignern zusammen, um die Missionen zur Rettung von Stanton zu unterst\u00fctzen.\n\nDar\u00fcber hinaus wurde die Arbeit an den immergr\u00fcnen Gegenst\u00e4nden fortgesetzt, z. B. bei der Erstellung von Namen und Beschreibungen f\u00fcr Gegenst\u00e4nde, Farben, Waffen und R\u00fcstungen. Au\u00dferdem plante das Team f\u00fcr das neue Jahr Initiativen zum Geschichtenerz\u00e4hlen und zu den Charakteren.\n\nAuf der Website ver\u00f6ffentlichte das Team ein faszinierendes Portfolio \u00fcber die Geschichte von Luminalia, das einen Einblick in die Banu-Kultur gab, und beantwortete die Fragen der Community aus dem Ask a Dev-Forum in Loremakers.\n\nOnline-Technologie\nIm November und Dezember stellten die Online-Dienste die Backend-Dienste fertig, die f\u00fcr mehrere wichtige Features entscheidend sind, darunter das Refactoring des Missionssystems, das Refactoring des Entity-Subscription-Service\/Marker, der Szenario-Service und verschiedene Aktualisierungen der sozialen Dienste. Jede dieser Verbesserungen spielte eine wichtige Rolle f\u00fcr das \u00fcbergeordnete Ziel, Server Meshing Wirklichkeit werden zu lassen.\n\nDas Team hat auch viel Zeit und Ressourcen investiert, um Konten mit verschiedenen Problemen zu entsperren. Au\u00dferdem hat das Team \u00fcber die Feiertage erfolgreich Hotfixes zur Behebung dieser Probleme ver\u00f6ffentlicht.\n\nDas Live-Tools-Team hat die Einf\u00fchrung neuer Funktionen f\u00fcr Hex fortgesetzt, die bereits seit einigen Monaten in der Entwicklung waren. Zu den neuesten geh\u00f6ren ein Tool, mit dem sich Zugriff und Berechtigungen detaillierter verwalten lassen, sowie ein neues Modul, das bei der Verwaltung von Ereignissen und Missionen im Spiel hilft.\n\nBestehende Module wurden weiter verbessert, um die Benutzerfreundlichkeit zu erh\u00f6hen. Das Team arbeitete auch an wichtigen Verbesserungen f\u00fcr die Fehlermeldungs-Pipeline und andere interne Entwicklungswerkzeuge.\n\nF&E\nIm November und Dezember arbeitete das F&E-Team weiter an der Fertigstellung der zentralen Systemkomponenten f\u00fcr die erste Version des dynamischen Wetters. Die bereits implementierte Wetterkartenunterst\u00fctzung wurde um eine Regenansammlungskarte mit einem physikalisch plausiblen Verdunstungs- und Versickerungsmodell erweitert. Diese Karte verwendet die Temperatur-, Luftfeuchtigkeits- und Windkarte eines Planeten (die auch das Terrain und die Biome generieren) als Input. Die Unterst\u00fctzung f\u00fcr Regencluster wurde hinzugef\u00fcgt, um Regen auf bestimmte Regionen und Wolkentypen zu beschr\u00e4nken.\n\n\u00c4hnliche Kontrollen wurden f\u00fcr Blitze hinzugef\u00fcgt und die Qualit\u00e4t der aus der Wetterkarte extrahierten Blitzereignisse wurde verbessert. Die zeitliche Stabilit\u00e4t des Wetters wurde verbessert, w\u00e4hrend die Streuung in der Regenansammlungskarte (aufgrund der Neuabtastung historischer Daten) reduziert wurde.\n\nDas Rendering des volumetrischen Wolkenschattens wurde stabilisiert, um gelegentliche Schritt-Artefakte bei Kamerabewegungen weiter zu verbessern, insbesondere wenn sich die Sonne in einem niedrigen Winkel \u00fcber dem Horizont befindet.\n\nAu\u00dferdem wurden verschiedene \u00c4nderungen am Backend vorgenommen. Dazu geh\u00f6rt die Einf\u00fchrung einer Abh\u00e4ngigkeitskette, damit die zur Laufzeit erzeugten Wolken- und Wetterkarten und ihre Abh\u00e4ngigkeiten langsam aktualisiert werden k\u00f6nnen. Au\u00dferdem werden die Zust\u00e4nde der Wetteranimation nun an alle Systeme und Threads weitergegeben, die mit ihnen arbeiten, sodass die damit verbundenen Gameplay- und Physikeffekte mit dem Rendering konsistent sind.\n\nTech Art\/Animation\nDas Team f\u00fcr technische Animation hat eine Reihe langfristiger Aufgaben \u00fcbernommen, um Verbesserungen in allen Bereichen zu erm\u00f6glichen. Trotz technischer Herausforderungen hat das Team zum Beispiel erhebliche Fortschritte bei der Fertigstellung mehrerer Kreaturen gemacht, damit sie auf verschiedenen Planeten eingesetzt werden k\u00f6nnen.\n\nEiner der wichtigsten Meilensteine des Teams war die erfolgreiche Integration neuer K\u00f6pfe in den Character Customizer. Diese Erweiterung bietet den Spieler\/innen mehr Vielfalt und Anpassungsm\u00f6glichkeiten und bereichert die Personalisierung.\n\nEin Teil des Tech Animation-Teams ist derzeit mit der Entwicklung und Pflege der Spielerinteraktionen besch\u00e4ftigt.\n\n\"Dazu geh\u00f6rten zuletzt die Sicherungsr\u00e4tsel, die schwieriger zu implementieren waren, als du vielleicht erwartest!\" Technisches Animationsteam\n\nTechnisches Design\nIm November und Dezember konzentrierte sich das Tech Design Team vor allem auf die Contested Zones. Die Unterst\u00fctzung reichte von der Einrichtung neuer Objekte, \u00fcber die Implementierung von Spiel- und Belohnungslogik, das Reparieren von T\u00fcren, das Anschlie\u00dfen von Lichtern und Soundeffekten bis hin zu Playtests und Iterationen.\n\nSie richteten auch Entit\u00e4ten f\u00fcr das CitizenCon Digital Goodies Pack ein und identifizierten und l\u00f6sten kleine und gro\u00dfe Workflow-Probleme f\u00fcr sich und andere Teams.\n\nVFX\nIm November unterst\u00fctzte VFX die Fahrzeug-Teams mit dem Mirai Guardian und die Locations-Teams mit einer Vielzahl von Pyro-Dreharbeiten.\n\nIm Dezember wurde weiter an Pyro gearbeitet, unter anderem an umk\u00e4mpften Zonen, heruntergekommenen Stationen, Asteroidenbasen und den VFX-lastigen Sprungpunkten.","zh_CN":"PU Monthly Report\nNovember\/December 2024\nIt\u2019s the first Monthly Report of 2025! To kick off the reporting year, we\u2019re looking back to the end of 2024, detailing everything done for the Persistent Universe in November and December. Read on for all the details behind Alpha 4.0\u2019s development and beyond.\n\nAI (Content)\nThe AI team ended 2024 progressing with tasks for Alpha 4.0. This involved adding and validating social AI behaviors across the new stations and outposts to ensure NPCs are positioned and path-find correctly through each space. This involved playing through the various stations and discussing where it was or wasn\u2019t appropriate to place characters and what type of story is intended to be shown there.\n\nAs many players noticed, dynamic conversations have started to appear in-game, which began with tech from Squadron 42. To improve the experience, a small capture session was undertaken to enable new conversations specific to Pyro and Stanton.\n\n\u201cThis is definitely something we want to leverage more in the future, potentially even allowing us to reference in-game events.\u201d AI Team\n\nThe team also looked back at Stanton\u2019s landing zones to upgrade their behaviors to the standard set in Pyro. For example, they tested population numbers to see how many NPCs could fit in a location without compromising performance. Though the numbers still aren\u2019t where they would like, particular in the bustling metropolis of Area18, it provided valuable insight as they begin to experiment with creating environments with denser populations.\n\nAI (Features)\nIn November and December, the AI Feature team progressed with combat for Pyro, particularly for Alpha 4.0\u2019s Contested Zones. This led to improved server framerate and stability. For example, ammo-management spoofing is now functional in locations where ammo crates are yet to be balanced. As such, NPCs will reload, run out of ammo, and search for more from downed combatants to provide much-needed ebb and flow to the combat without needing to wait for a full looting rebalance.\n\nTime was also put into polishing reloading and ammo-management animations and behaviors to ensure they\u2019re ready for Alpha 4.0.\n\nAI Features also improved the medic behavior that allows MedPen-equipped NPCs to revive their squad mates, providing an extra challenge to players. This also creates gameplay opportunities by allowing players to bait enemies into the open to heal their comrades.\n\nThe team also fixed issues when cover is compromised to ensure NPCs respond quickly when ambushed. Bugs in \u2018defend areas\u2019 were fixed too, which are used to shape the flow of combat and set up areas where enemies wait in cover to ambush players.\n\nWork was then done to simplify and refactor the \u2018investigate\u2019 behavior, giving it additional fallback options and enabling it to work more sympathetically with the perception system. This functionality is used to drive searching behaviors across groups when the AI has not fully perceived something or has lost its target.\n\nSignificant work was also done to ensure that perception (particularly vision) checks using client calculations are efficient and correctly distribute checks to characters present at different LODs.\n\nIn addition, AI Features worked alongside Animation to introduce a new creature to the Star Citizen universe, the Quasi grazer.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been working on this for some time now and are so happy to see the positive reaction from players to our bovine friend.\u201d AI Features Team\n\nWork also progressed on animation stances, which are used by the Quasi grazer when sleeping and grazing. These are particularly relevant to the day\/night sleep cycle. A new charge attack type was also introduced.\n\nAI (Tech)\nAI Tech spent the last two months making performance improvements to AI systems and progressing with new features.\n\nThey began by enabling dynamic cover generation for planets and some locations chosen by the designers (this was part of the tech presented at CitizenCon). They also implemented a new exporter for dynamic cover generated as part of a location\u2019s object container. For dynamic cover, fixes were made when reusing cover locations after a navigation tile regenerates without NPCs.\n\nThe StarScript design tool received numerous updates. This new tool inherits the logic from Apollo Subsumption and will be used by the designers to define and represent mission behaviors, NPC behaviors, and other design scenario scripts. It also has a modern UI and better functionality for debugging behaviors.\n\nMultiple improvements were made to the \u2018tactical point system\u2019 to provide faster results when searching for usables, cover, or points on the navigation mesh with less impact on the frame-time budget.\n\nThe navigation system received numerous improvements for the Alpha 4.0 release. For example, the team updated how they compute navigation islands by utilizing more threads and splitting the navigation volume tiles into island groups. For planetary navigation, the devs optimized the way they send events that trigger navigation regeneration requests alongside the ability to link navigation area exclusion and navigation cost areas to planetary navigation mesh.\n\nFor boids tech, crashes were solved and the volume of synchronized data used between the server and client was optimized. For scripting reasons, new functionality to easily convert conversation behavior into a flowgraph node was implemented. Updates were made to audio propagation and how NPCs perceive audio events too.\n\nShip AI behaviors received a lot of attention, including improvements to quantum travel to better handle failures and updates to reinforcement behaviors and collision avoidance logic.\n\nFinally, the team began implementing movement requests for chasing targets. This will include updates to how Pathfinder requests are solved and patch existing paths.\n\nAI (Game Intelligence Development Team)\nThroughout November and December, the Game Intelligence Development team continued to close down StarScript 1.1, updating the old Apollo documentation to the new UX and adding documentation to the new features. They also defined a QA testing process to detect and address crashes and bugs as early as possible. A \u2018cheat sheet\u2019 was then produced to highlight the differences between Subsumption\/Apollo and StarScript, including using filters and smart query to quickly obtain results, how to use custom groups, and working with notes.\n\nFollowing this, the game designers began using Starscript 1.1 and made requests for features and visual additions. The navigation graph was implemented for StarScript v1.5 alongside a selection of icons to represent key elements, such as the event system, external system, and sub-activity selector.\n\nAnimation\nNovember saw the Animation team create player-interaction animations for hacking and door panels. They also worked on various creature animations for the kopion, Quasi grazer, and Valakaar, and prepped for upcoming creatures.\n\nThe devs then undertook several performance-capture shoots before solving the data and facial animations.\n\nThe end of the year was spent developing various animations for existing and upcoming creatures, while Facial Animation continued to create animations from the captured performances.\n\nArt (Characters)\nThe Character Art team supported StarWear art debt and fixed bugs for the live releases. They\u2019re currently working on two new armors alongside upcoming armor variants.\n\nArt (Ships)\nThe Ship Art team spent the end of 2024 putting the finishing touches on upcoming vehicles that will be revealed or released this year.\n\nAlongside unannounced vehicles, several upcoming vehicles progressed through the white and greybox stages, including the Consolidated Outland Pioneer, Drake Ironclad, Anvil Paladin, MISC Starlancer TAC, Argo CSV-FM, and RSI Apollo and Perseus.\n\nCommunity\nThe Community team began the busy months of November and December with a recap of CitizenCon 2954 and by making all presentations from the event available on YouTube. They also supported IAE 2954 with an FAQ and manufacturer schedule for this year\u2019s event, as well as the Intergalactic Photography Awards screenshot contest featuring nine unique categories.\n\nThe team published a Spectrum guide to support the Save Stanton Global Event as well as providing Q&As for the Crusader Intrepid, RSI Polaris, Anvil Terrapin Medic, Anvil Paladin, and MISC Starlancer TAC. November also saw the introduction of Star Citizen Comms-Dive, a new series designed to dive into hot topics and ongoing discussions within the community (more of these to come soon!)\n\nDuring December, Community helped spread the joy of Luminalia 2954 with a calendar of daily gifts, a referral bonus, and a Gift that Keeps on Giving video contest. They supported the release of Star Citizen Alpha 4.0 preview with a Beauty of Pyro screenshot contest highlighting the planets and moons of this new system, and by publishing three Patch Watch posts, which offered deeper insights into the updated economy, new mining opportunities in Pyro, and more.\n\nRegular updates were also published for the community, including Roadmap Roundup, This Week in Star Citizen, and the Arena Commander Schedule.\n\nAnd lastly, the team spent time focusing on event planning and upcoming activities being planned for the year.\n\nCore Gameplay\nAll Core Gameplay teams were heavily involved in addressing stability and performance issues found during Alpha 4.0 PTU.\n\nAlongside this, the programmers worked on jump points, which are critical to connecting Stanton with Pyro (and, later, other star systems). A lot of effort went into creating a strong visual experience and the feeling of controlling the spaceship inside the tunnel.\n\nThe new mission system received the final critical changes to prepare it for the new server-meshed environment. This overhaul is important to ensure missions persist as players cross between server boundaries, on server-crash recovery, and between different servers. As the system was completely overhauled and most of the scripting logic rules changed, all mission archetypes needed to be rewritten. A lot of teams supported the transition and setup of this content by helping locate and identify problems.\n\nAs the number of territories or regions served by one dedicated server increased, more features were found to have issues with authority transfer (unique problems caused by ownership of the entity moving from one server to another). These issues proved challenging to address, but the benefits of more territories made it worth the time investment.\n\nThe teams were also heavily involved in new content, including Contested Zones, and took the opportunity to begin making changes to the PU login flow, including allowing players to spawn directly into their persistent hangars at their home locations.\n\nWork was done in support of an upcoming ship, fixing quality-of life issues with personal hangar and freight elevators, and a lot of bug fixing.\n\nEconomy\nThe end of 2024 saw the Economy team adjust the prices of quantum and hydrogen fuel to account for new tank sizes. Prices of vehicle components and ordnance were rebalanced with the aim of turning the use of a Size 10 bomb into a serious financial decision.\n\nVehicle repair costs were also rebalanced taking into account the new prices for components and commodities. For example, repairing a ship\u2019s hull should now be a lot cheaper than replacing missing components.\n\nGraphics, VFX Programming & Planet Tech\nFor the graphics department, the end of 2024 largely involved making significant performance and stability improvements to Alpha 4.0.\n\nThe team also finalized internal support for Vulkan and rolled it out as the default renderer for developers. This includes many stability improvements alongside multi-threading improvements to increase CPU performance on multi-core machines. These improvements are in the main branch, so they will reach the PU when the next major pull of the main code branch takes place.\n\nR&D for global illumination, reflections, and Planet Tech v5 all progressed and will continue at full pace now that the team\u2019s work on Alpha 4.0 is complete.\n\nInteractables\nInteractables developed assets for Contested Zones, such as keycards, server blades, and fuse slots, and completed a performance and bug pass.\n\nLocations\nThe Locations team spent the end of 2024 supporting the Alpha 4.0 build, including polishing, optimizing, and bug-fixing Pyro\u2019s Contested Zones and outposts.\n\nMission Design\nThe ongoing mission refactor continued, with bugs being prioritized and triaged. While analytics show high completion rates for missions, some users are still coming across issues. The team are currently attempting to reproduce and fix exactly what is causing them.\n\nAlong with this, Mission Design kicked off new content planned for 2025, more of which will be shared in the coming months.\n\nNarrative\nOver the past two months, the Narrative team focused on finishing mission content text for Alpha 4.0. The addition of Pyro meant that there were dozens of mission archetypes with different complexities and steps that needed to be applied to all mission providers in the system. Narrative also worked closely with the mission designers to support the Save Stanton missions.\n\nOutside of that, evergreen work continued, including generating names and descriptions for items, liveries, weapons, and armor. The team also planned storytelling and character initiatives beginning in the new year.\n\nOn the website, the team released a fascinating Portfolio on the history of Luminalia, which gave insight into the Banu culture, and answered the community\u2019s questions from the Ask a Dev forum in Loremakers.\n\nOnline Technology\nIn November and December, Online Services finalized the backend services crucial to several key features, including the mission-system refactor, the entity-subscription service\/marker refactor, the scenario service, and various social services updates. Each of these enhancements played a vital role in the overarching goal of making Server Meshing a reality.\n\nThe team also devoted a considerable amount of time and resources to assist in unblocking accounts experiencing various issues. Furthermore, the team successfully released hotfixes to address these issues over the holidays.\n\nThe Live Tools team continued rolling out new features for Hex that had been in development for several months. The latest includes a tool to manage access and permissions in a more granular way and a new module to help manage in-game events and missions.\n\nExisting modules continued to be improved to provide a better user experience. The team also worked on significant improvements for the error-reporting pipeline and other internal development tools.\n\nR&D\nIn November and December, the R&D team continued to finalize the core system components for the first version of dynamic weather. The previously implemented weather-map support was extended to also include a rain accumulation map with physically plausible evaporation and percolation model. This uses a planet's temperature, humidity, and wind map (which also drive terrain and biome generation) as input. Support for rain clustering was added to limit rain to specific regions and types of clouds.\n\nSimilar controls were added for lightning and the quality of lightning event locations extracted from the weather map was improved. The temporal stability of weather was improved, while diffusion in the rain accumulation map (due to re-sampling historic data) was reduced.\n\nVolumetric cloud shadow rendering was stabilized to further improve occasional stepping artifacts when the camera moved, especially with the sun at low angles above the horizon.\n\nAdditionally, various backend changes were implemented. This included introducing a dependency chain so that runtime-generated cloud and weather maps and their dependencies can update lazily. Also, weather animation states now propagate to all systems and threads working with them, so related gameplay and physics effects should be consistent with rendering.\n\nTech Art\/Animation\nThe Technical Animation team continued with a range of long-term tasks to facilitate improvements across the board. For example, despite technical challenges, they made substantial progress toward finalizing several creatures, ensuring they\u2019re ready to be deployed across various planets.\n\nOne of the team\u2019s major milestones was the successful integration of new heads into the Character Customizer. This enhancement will offer players more variety and customization options, further enriching personalization.\n\nA contingent of the Tech Animation team is currently invested in the development and upkeep of player interactions.\n\n\u201cMost recently, this included the fuse puzzles, which were trickier to implement than you might expect!\u201d Technical Animation Team\n\nTech Design\nThroughout November and December, Tech Design primarily focused on the Contested Zones. Support ranged from setting up new entities, implementing gameplay and reward logic, fixing doors, hooking up lights and sound effects, and playtesting and iterating on the above.\n\nThey also set up entities for the CitizenCon Digital Goodies Pack and identified and resolved small and large workflow issues for themselves and other teams.\n\nVFX\nIn November, VFX supported the Vehicle teams with the Mirai Guardian and the Locations teams with a variety of Pyro location work.\n\nDecember saw further work on Pyro, including Contested Zones, rundown stations, asteroid bases, and the VFX-heavy jump points."},"links_count":0,"comment_count":0,"created_at":"2025-01-23T00:00:00+00:00","created_at_human":"1 year ago"},"meta":{"processed_at":"2026-04-25 03:27:02","valid_relations":["images","links","translations"],"prev_id":20376,"next_id":20378}}