CitizenCon 2954 revealed massive quality-of-life improvements for the org gameplay in Star Citizen 1.0, something that worried all the solo players in the verse about how the future of the game could change, and make it harder for them to enjoy playing.
CIG’s Rich Tyrer, hopefully addressed this concern recently, by reassuring fans that AI Blades are also a part of the planned content for Star Citizen 1.0, while NPC crew will be added via post-launch updates after the full release.
According to Tyrer, AI Blades will not be as effective as real players and they will require extra power to run. However, AI Blades will come in tiers and can be upgraded, though those upgrades still will not make the better than a good player. It remains unknown what players would need to upgrade AI Blades. Can blades be crafted by players? No answers yet.
NPC crew, however, will not be ready for the full release of Star Citizen, but AI Blades will cover most of the functionality expected from NPCs, making solo gameplay still enjoyable in the ‘verse.
For those who are not familiar with AI Blades, they are computer hardware capable of taking over different roles in multi-crew ships to help solo players run bigger ships with full potential.
Operating turrets is one of the main tasks that AI Blades will probably be used for by players, especially in giant combat ships like Hammerhead, Perseus, or even Polaris.
NPC crew on the other hand will operate better than AI Blades, and while they will not require extra power, players will need to pay in-game money to hire NPCs to operate their ships. The variety of NPC crew and what they will possibly be capable of have not been revealed yet.
A full presentation of AI Blades is also yet to be delivered by CIG, as we didn’t hear anything about them at CitizenCon 2954 when the developer outlined the big picture for the full release of Star Citizen.
