Similar to the previous years, Cloud Imperium Games holds an annual meet-up with the fans this year as well in CitizenCon 2024, showing off the latest achievements in the development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42, while revealing the upcoming features to the PU in the near future.
CitizenCon 2024 was hosted in Manchester this year on a span of two days: October 19 and 20. Each day had multiple panels, showcasing the future of Star Citizen and Squadron 42. Here you can click on each panel’s name that has already been completed to check out its full report.
- Day 1:
- Day 2:
Genesis
A new StarEngine tech that is used to automatically spawn flora, fauna, and points of interest on planets and moons. Using this system will make each planet seem more dense and host lots of locations and buildings, enriching the exploration gameplay.
- Denser position of trees, plants, rocks, bushes, etc without overloading CPU.
- Adding new Swamp, Redwood, and Jungle biomes.
- Adding seasonal changes to the way the flora looks.
- Using a new system to add thousands of points of interest to each planet.
- Adding new weather conditions like rainfalls.
- Expanding the realistic presentation of audio by simulating its travel speed.
- Improving the overall lighting indoors and outdoors.
Social Features
MobiGlass will receive an overhaul by getting a bunch of new panels, including a Social panel to manage your friend list and party, along with a new Org panel to experience a real social life with the org members.
- Adding a Social panel to MobiGlass to manage the Friend List.
- The location of the friends will be showcased online.
- Players can block or report other players, or even put them on a KOST list.
- A new Party Finder system will be available for players to find members for missions.
- The entire Org Recruitment and Org Management will be added to MobiGlass.
- Players can find Orgs based on their focus.
- Org members will have access to a dedicated page with information and a calendar about org events.
- A loyalty system with benefits will be available for Org members.
- A new Guide system will be added, allowing players to gain experience in certain fields and guide newcomers.
- Guides will receive Beacons, allowing them to accept the beacon and teach the rookie citizens.
- Guides will receive rewards both from rookies as well as Guilds associated with the activity.
Monster Hunting
Star Citizen will receive a new StarWear system that allows players to combine clothing with armor and expose their beloved fashion. New armor types will be introduced for certain purposes.
This panel also revealed Valakkar, the giant sandworm in action, showcasing how players can fight it and loot it.
- New Civilian Clothing along with Pilot, Sniper, Tracker, Racer, and Tank armor sets.
- Valakkar is the first monster to join Star Citizen.
- Valakkar is a sand worm that spits out venoms. Killing it will reward players with valuable Valakkar loot.
- There will be three variants of Valakkar coming to Star Citizen in different sizes.
- Aside from Valakkar, CIG has also planned many other animals to be added to the game in 1.0
Nyx And Castra Star Systems
Now that Pyro is on the verge of release, CitizenCon 2024 was the best time for CIG to showcase the next star systems on the horizon.
Nyx and Castra are the next systems to be added to Star Citizen. The former will home Levski station and the latter delivers Sherman Landing Zone.
- Nyx is the next system after Pyro, and it brings back Delamar and Levski.
- Levski station has received many updates both for its interior and exterior.
- Nyx will have planets, but nothing was revealed regarding those planets.
- Nyx will not be as lawful as Stanton, but also not as unsafe as Pyro.
- There will be Vanduul raids directed at the Nyx system often.
- Castra is the fourth system to be added to Star Citizen.
- The planet of Castra 2 will feature Crimson Forests and is also the home to Sherman.
- Sherman is a business district similar to those in Stanton.
- Sherman is currently in pre-production at CIG.
Squadron 42 Live Gameplay Demo
After last year’s “feature-complete” news on Squadron 42, the game’s director took over the scene at CitizenCon 2024 to play the prologue demo of the game in real time, without cheats, hacks, or scripted gameplay.
The game seems impressive all around, but the demo was also plagued with some visual and audio bugs.
- Henry Cavill is now also among the Squadron 42 cast.
- The player will receive a fair amount of customization options to create their character.
- The entire campaign length is between 30 to 40 hours.
- The game is still being actively polished by CIG.
- Squadron 42 will release in 2026.
Crafting
Crafting will be a new profession in Star Citizen just like some of the existing ones. Crafters will need to earn blueprints and build things based on them, using the resources that can be gathered from mining, salvaging, harvesting, or looting.
- Crafting is the basis for base building
- Blueprint is the core requirement of crafting and it should be either earned or purchased in-game.
- Crafters can build structures, items, weapons, food, vehicles, and even ships.
- All of the crafted items, including ships, can be sold to other players.
- Crafting will require its own set of machines that become available through the base building.
Base Building
Add points of interest to the universe of Star Citizen with your very own touch of creativity. Base building will allow players to construct small or large bases in multiple variants.
- Basic base building will be available using a grav-cart machine that fits inside a Cutlass too.
- Deploying this machine will give players a top-down view to build structures in the location.
- Players can decorate the interior of the bases as they desire.
- Medium-size base building will require of base building tower that should be constructed first.
- The construction tower will allow the building of freight elevators, hangars, mining stations, and refineries.
- Larger buildings will require ships like Starlancer BLD, RSI Galaxy, or The Pioneer. These ships will use drones to construct.
- Pioneer is the only ship that can build anything, even player-created space stations.
Star Citizen 1.0
The final panel discusses the future of Star Citizen as a full game. There will be five star systems available when the 1.0 launches along with a massive story mode to welcome any new player.
- No more wipes or account resets.
- Launching with 5 star systems: Stanton, Pyro, Nyx, Castra, and Terra.
- Delivering a Story Mode that grants Citizenship of Stanton upon completion.
- 1.0 will bring purposeful gameplay loops and full implementation of every job.
- Endgame content like Fleet Battles, Base Raiding, and Station Warfare.
- A full implementation of Insurance and newly announced Warranty systems.
- Org-oriented operations and missions for PvP seekers.
- Full implementation of Guilds and Factions.
- No target release has been announced for 1.0 yet.
