Star Citizen’s first Birthday was marked by the first ever Citizencon, an annual event which is set to increase in size and scope from now on. This year’s event was a smaller affair which was largely just hosted the staff who are making the game both from internal studios and contractors. The livestream of this for fans did not go too well, being plagued with technical issues and eventually being cut off by youtube for copyright reasons when the audience watching the presentation in person spontaneously sung Happy Birthday.
Despite the problems though we’ve got a lot of new information and media about Star Citizen, which I’ve summarised here for you. If you want to see the full livestream as it was meant to be seen then click here; there’s a lot of information crammed in there which I simply don’t have space for in this article.
RSI Aurora Commercial
This wasn’t the first thing to emerge from Citizencon, but I’ve brought it to the top as this shows off the basic pledge ship which most people will be starting the game in – the Roberts Space Industries Aurora.
Obviously this in-engine trailer shows off the ship pretty damn well and highlights the customisation which will be available not just with the Aurora but with all of the ships. To go with this trailer release you can now purchase the Aurora LN (Legionnaire) variant from the pledge store, in the form of a whole new pledge, additional ship or as an upgrade to an existing aurora.
Hornet Variants and Brochure
The original plan as stated in the livestream was that the Hornet brochure and an unknown number of variants to pledge for and immediately see in the hangar would appear this weekend, but unfortunately the team have said that they aren’t ready yet and so will be making an appearance next Friday instead. Accompanying that there will be the finished version of the Hornet commercial, a work in progress of which can be seen in the livestream.
Bombers First Look
Towards the end of the original crowdfunding campaign two bombers were put on sale; the gladiator and the retaliator. Until now we haven’t seen a thing about them so it’s very exciting to finally get a look at the concept art for these two ships. While the term concept art typically refers to 2D paintings or drawings here we have a 3D model with an artist paintover – making this much more likely to be fairly close to the final look than with traditional concept pieces.
The Gladiator is a carrier-based attack plane, inspired by aircraft like the Dauntless and the Avenger. The Retaliator is a heavy strategic bomber, Star Citizen’s equivalent of a B-17 Flying Fortress!
That’s how the bombers are described and both are now on sale until Monday, with the Gladiator here and the Retaliator here. If the steep pledge prices put you off never fear – everything you can pledge for will be available in-game using purely in-game funds, so if you like what you see in the concept galleries then you can be sure that it’s entirely possible that you’ll be able to earn one for yourself once Star Citizen eventually releases.
