Plans for Star Citizen have changed. When the game finally starts, whenever that may be, it is expected to launch without the feature “NPC Crews” – this will be delivered sometime after 1.0. Another feature is supposed to replace NPC crews.
What is this feature? In Star Citizen, players can acquire various spaceships. Only small ships can be operated by a single pilot, while most larger and also more expensive ships require multiple players – the most expensive spaceship package in Star Citizen costs over €53,000.
Anyone who wants to play Star Citizen alone but still fly a large ship should be able to hire “NPC Crews” to operate such a ship. Instead of having fellow players perform repairs or operate equipment, the solo player will have non-player characters that they can send around.
However, the developers are now moving away from this idea. NPC crews are no longer necessarily part of the launch patch 1.0 for Star Citizen.
For solo players, AI Blades instead of NPC Crew
This is what Star Citizen says: Rich Tyrer is leading the development of Star Citizen and Squadron 42 alongside Chris Roberts. He is the Senior Game Director at CIG. Tyrer explained today, on October 23, 2024 (via spectrum):
So, first of all, I apologize for the slow response. It’s no surprise that I was very busy after Citcon with 4.0 and Q1 initiatives.
Secondly, I wanted to assure everyone that AI Blades are part of the 1.0 plan – they will not be as effective as other players and require additional energy to function. We will also offer a way to upgrade them through ranks, but even then, they will never be as good as a good player.
Since AI blades provide most of the functionality, the NPC crew is likely to come only after 1.0.
As I stated in the presentation, Star Citizen is a universe that appeals to all players – and that certainly includes solo players. As with all games, some things will be more suitable for solo players than for team players and vice versa.
What are AI Blades? AI Blades are automatically functioning components that you install in your ship to take over a function that would otherwise be performed by a player or a crew member: Instead of a gunner sitting at a turret, aiming and firing at enemies, the turret would fire by itself.
As Rich Tyrer states, the AI will not be as effective as other players and will also use energy.
Ultimately, however, Star Citizen has decided to prioritize this feature higher and bring in NPC crews later.
What is the discussion like? There is a lively discussion under the post:
A player says it is a “bitter disappointment” – the feature was promised at launch 12 years ago and is now being removed without discussion. That can’t be true.
Others disagree and say it’s not so bad. The AI Blades are more important for now – NPC crews have not been removed and will still come later.
Another player explains that NPCs are simply much harder to implement:
If you have played for longer than 60 seconds, you should already know that the NPC crew is still a long way off, lol. They can’t even get the NPCs to walk around without freezing in a T-pose or sitting on chairs/benches, and you think you’re going to get a working NPC crew, haha. Your NPC crew will get stuck somewhere on the ship or freeze in a T-pose in front of a fire until your ship is destroyed. I’m not saying that we won’t get it, but it’s obvious that it will take a long time.
On reddit, a critic mockingly writes:
A playable game will also not be included in 1.0.
Another adds: He can hear the cries of the solo whales in the wind.
Red Alert – Power fantasy of wealthy players endangered
What’s behind it: “NPC Crews” are a feature that is particularly important for people who spend a lot of money in the game: buying expensive, large ships and wanting to operate them alone. For them, having their own NPC crew, which they can then possibly command by voice, is an essential part of a power fantasy of a spaceship captain. Such a power fantasy was excellently described in the sci-fi series “Black Mirror” in the episode Season 4, Episode 1: “USS Callister”.
Thus, this “supposed triviality” that the feature will come later is now a big problem for some.
Ultimately, the release patch 1.0 of Star Citizen is still a long way off, so a change in plans now has rather theoretical character, and even Squadron 42 is still some time away: Singleplayer game for Star Citizen has all features, shows great gameplay, but won’t be released for a long time
