With Star Citizen I see a certain group of people constantly bash the game for being almost devoid of game loops etc, I like to argue back that the players are meant to buddy up with friends and roleplay thus creating emergent gameplay. Literally, all that needs adding is a few more NPC mission givers, a slightly bigger market system, some better AI, exploitable fauna and a few more ships. That'll be pretty much a released game, the studios and staff will then be massively reduced with a small team creating a trickle of content like the remainder of the ships and new planets etc over the following several years, much like Warframe and WoW etc. Now for a moment if you will, imagine a game based on Earth with ships at sea, it would be unrealistic to expect action all the time, in fact most of the game would be spent getting from A to B to drop off or pick up cargo and supplies, the gameplay and fun would come in as you and a handful of your crew roleplay what a real crew would do in the same situation in real life. There would be plenty of roles and stuff to do, like for instance I would be captain as it's my ship so I would be in my quarters working out routes, cargo itinerary, staff wages and giving orders etc. I would have a second in command (officer) who would be my go between me and the crew, he would come to my quarters to take orders and then pass them on, we would have meetings to discuss if any of the crew were getting out of order and may need disciplining etc. There would be 2 cooks working to make 3 square meals a day and also luxury food for me, my 1st officer, other officers and favoured crew (like if one of them had done something heroic that day). They would write up shopping lists and work out costs per meal to take out of the crews wages for their board.
There would be someone on the wheel that would also write up navigation charts and make sure we were on the correct route, he would report directly to my 1st officer or me if there was a n emergency. He would have a subordinate to take over his role when he was offline, this person would be 'learning the ropes' so to say.
There would be a medical officer and a junior medic and maybe a nurse depending on size of crew, they would be kept busy dealing with minor every day injuries like scuffs, cuts and bruises etc. They would have an easy role for the most part but would be expected to work 'crunch' time when emergencies happened like treating all the injured after a fight, or some parasitic infection or disease from a tropical island.
There would be a gunner officer that made sure all the guns were maintained and will write up reports of spare parts, ammunition etc that was need and report to my 1st officer. Under him there would be several gunnery staff all trained on how to quickly load and aim the guns. They would also be trained and equipped to lead fights against hostile boarding parties etc.
There would also be a role for new people that were learning how to fit in, their jobs would be running about fetching items for the higher ups, cleaning, reparing (although there would be a craftsman officer), making sure stock was in the right place at the right time.
When we arrive at a port, most the crew would help with unloading the cargo while I and one of the officers went and talked to the port officials where we sit down, dine and work out what my cargo will sell for as well as coming up with a deal on the price of new cargo. Depending on what you wear and how luxurious your clothes are, how well scrubbed up you are and how well treated your crew is will all help determine how the port officials and others treat and deal with you.
Then once the money was in my bank account I can go and shop for new clothes, supplies, fire and hire new crew if needed and look at upgrading the ship with newer defences or bigger sails etc.
Then I would go to the local pubs and dine with other players and NPCs keeping my ears open to get hints at what islands are safe to explore and which ones are off limits until I have better crew and guns etc. After that, me and my 1st officer would go back to my cabin and work out where to take the new cargo and which islands to stop off and explore on the way. The crew would be busy loading the ship during this time and if quick enough they could go and enjoy some sights and local foods.
We would then head off and spend many hours at sea again roleplaying life at sea until we arrive at our 1st island, here we would have an away team go and explore looking to bring back rare plants, animals and minerals. Depending on how successful the bounty some of the crew may request to stay and build a base so they can start farming and build a defensible castle etc. This is where my role as Master captain gets tricky, as I want to man the ship but I also need to let just enough stay on land including a medic and officer to get a base set up. Depending on the size of the island I might leave the my 1st in command in charge of the ship and send him to deliver the cargo and bring back more players and supplies. I would then oversee the building of a small hamlet sized base, with crop farm, cattle, lumber yard, mining outposts, doctors surgery, refinery etc. I would be watching the whole time keeping an eye out for which crew seem betters suited for which role. I would then decide who becomes a crop farmer, a cattle rancher, miner, explorer etc. I of course would be doing the bulk of the exploring and telling my staff which wildlife catches my eye, knowing that certain things will be rare and therefore more valuable, they would take these back to be kept as cargo for the returning ship. After awhile I would have several of these bases over many islands and would hire an officer to remain on land in the head office and oversee the logistics of supplying all of these places with my fleet of ships.
Of course other players would get wind of my wealth and create small pirate bands to come and steal my stuff. This is where a lot of the action comes into play and the game becomes an epic war of wits, tactics and bravery as me and my people use multiple types of ships, weapons and items to defeat the enemy and enslave the survivors. The pirates (players) can then be taken back to a port and handed into officials for rewards or forced into cages and fed the bare minimum of bland food and clothed in rags for a few days, then over time, I could increase the quality of their food, talk to them and let them out of the cage for short periods to gain their trust, over time I would allow them to have a job and they could then, if trustworthy, work their way up the ranks and even be some sort of 2nd officer on one of my ships one day. They would see that piracy does not pay as much as hard work and having good friends and crew around you. All of this would be to the backdrop of a stunning world, with 2 NPC races having an all out war, my interactions with NPC's mission givers etc would slowly over time influence the outcome of this war.
Now bear in mind that all of what I have said is basically in and coming to Star Citizen in the near future except with spaceships instead of sailing ships, and space instead of the sea and planets instead of islands. So when you talk about SC not having much to do you are very wrong, there is lots to do when you roleplay and when they add a few more of the game mechanics that are promised, of which many are finished but not released to followers yet as the devs are still layering the supporting game mechanics into the dev test servers. I guess they still have to work out how all these things will affect the economy so as to keep the reward per mission, bounties, selling mined goods etc in line with the cost of ships so as not to make it too easy for to many players to buy expensive ships with in game credits. There needs to be enough players with entry level ships so that they see it as a positive and privilege to be invited to work on my larger ship and become part of my crew. Their reward (apart from wages) will be to explore and adventure in places they would never survive solo. All in all it's a win win situation to own and crew a larger ship which will then be part of a fleet.
There is one thing that I'm not 100% sure on, and that is on the new Origin 300i V2 there are 2 wine glasses, why 2 wine glasses, it bugs me that there are 2. Is it meant to be a 2 man ship, where your pilot flies and you lie on the bed and drink wine? Once in QT or when waiting for the overheating to cool down does the pilot come over and sit down on the bed with you and drink a glass of wine? It might be a bit weird if you've only just met and hired him for this one trip. Is a pilot even allowed to drink, will it trigger a legal status? Other than verbally asking him not to drink your wine is there a way to stop him? Like is my drinks collection just an open bar to him or can I lock it? Or is it one of the NPC subsumption bonding mechanics of gameplay. Like you hire a medium quality pilot rather than fly yourself so you can kick back, listen to music or watch live news reports being broadcast by other players and when the pilot is doing nothing you can invite him or her over and try to impress them by offering them some exclusive, expensive champagne or red wine. That way their attitude towards you goes up which means over a few more interactions they will be more willing to take on bigger jobs in some of your bigger ships or accompany you on the odd mission outside the role of pilot, or maybe if they have other jobs lined up they might cancel one with a player they don't like as much and come to work for you instead?
robertsspaceindustries.com
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