The developers of Star Citizen have introduced yet another costly means of transportation, which is facing a lot of criticism within the community due to its high price.
What kind of cargo robot is this? The ATLS from Argo Astronautics is a power suit for one person, reminiscent of the legendary cargo robot from Aliens – The Return of 1986, in which Ripley faces the Alien Queen. In Star Citizen, you can now also indulge in such a walker to transport heavy cargo boxes without assistance.
This perfectly fits with the new cargo features that landed on the alpha servers at the end of August 2024 with patch 3.24. These include a personal, instanced hangar, cargo elevators, item banks, and cargo missions.
Here is the trailer for Alpha Patch 3.24 and the new cargo features of Star Citizen:
Expensive fun for a single purpose
How much does the ATLS cost? The cargo robot comes in two versions. The cheaper variant costs 38.73 euros and is equipped with a lifetime insurance. If you invest 44.27 euros, you will receive the ATLS with a six-month insurance.
According to our reader Mortiferus, you can purchase the more expensive version with store credits obtained by melting down other ships, which is not possible with the cheaper ATLS (thank you for the tip!). Additionally, if you wish, you can also spend up to 12.23 euros on alternative ATLS skins. The cheaper model is said to already include an alternative skin.
For comparison: Star Citizen and the starter package Aurora MR currently cost 49.80 euros, so just a little more. This strange price ratio is not well received by parts of the community.
The new ATLS in a short introduction trailer:
How is the community reacting to this? There are already several posts in both the official Star Citizen forum and on Reddit discussing the price of the ATLS. The biggest point of criticism from many players: The developers are taking a useful tool out of the game to monetize it.
- uwango writes in his post on Reddit: “The difference between the ATLS and other LTI tokens is that this is a necessary tool that players must use to keep a central gameplay loop from becoming boring. They weakened tractor beams, created a problem, and are selling the solution.”
- WhereinTexas warns (via Reddit): “When I read other descriptions about ATLS, I am convinced that no one should buy an ATLS, and that it is indeed pure greed.”
- StephenB summarizes (via robertsspaceindustries.com): “First of all, ATLS costs almost as much as an Aurora. So how does this pricing work? Here is a fully functional ship with weapons, quantum drive, life support systems, and a variety of other components that altogether cost about as much as a cargo robot with a tractor beam. Secondly, you nerfed the max lift so that at least 2 players are needed to transport cargo. This is just to give the ATLS a reason to be sold.”
- TrevJenn has several solutions, here is one possible (via robertsspaceindustries.com): “Equip all handheld tractor beams with the updated ATLS tractor beam firing mode while maintaining the respective size limitations.”
How do you evaluate the new offering for Star Citizen and the criticism from the community? Let us know in the comments!
What’s next? Star Citizen is approaching the next milestone. The launch of Alpha 4.0 is planned for the third quarter of 2024, which is expected to bring a new star system (with six planets and moons each) along with Pyro.
In addition to the solar storms of Pyro, life support for spaceships as well as vehicles, and the expansion of engineering, another new feature is planned that beautifully illustrates why it takes so long to develop the SciFi MMO: If you land on a really hot planet in Star Citizen, your spaceship could burst into flames when opening the hatch.
