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The Inside Star Citizen episode Let Them Fight - Winter 2021 was published on 4. February 2021 on the CIG YouTube channel.

Topics and timestamps[]

Topic Timestamp
Capital ship combat
0:00
SDF Shield tech
5:07

Video[]

Inside_Star_Citizen-_Let_Them_Fight_-_Winter_2021
basic

Transcript[]

The transcript was created automatically and needs to be proofread. Words may have been transcribed incorrectly.

1 00:00:05,680 --> 00:00:10,000 bringing capital ships into the

2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:11,200 universe we knew that they would be a

3 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:14,240 focal point for

4 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:15,120 combat we didn't want a solo player to

5 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:16,720 be able to take

6 00:00:15,120 --> 00:00:19,359 these ships on by themselves you want it

7 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:20,880 to be a coordinated group effort

8 00:00:19,359 --> 00:00:22,400 get all these weapons coming together

9 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:23,119 all these new turrets behavior coming

10 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:26,640 together

11 00:00:23,119 --> 00:00:26,640 and it all works as one unit

12 00:00:26,740 --> 00:00:30,800 [Music]

13 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:31,679 we visit set out to create an event that

14 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:33,120 felt

15 00:00:31,679 --> 00:00:34,719 like it came with the gravity of having

16 00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:36,719 the capital ships in the scene

17 00:00:34,719 --> 00:00:40,239 and also create a strategy around these

18 00:00:36,719 --> 00:00:42,480 ships to kind of take them down as well

19 00:00:40,239 --> 00:00:44,399 to achieve that goal of combat we took

20 00:00:42,480 --> 00:00:46,000 the high level and then we had to

21 00:00:44,399 --> 00:00:48,800 work on all the small pieces that add

22 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:51,760 together there was no one thing that

23 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:53,600 made fighting capital ships be possible

24 00:00:51,760 --> 00:00:55,440 it was a collaborative effort of

25 00:00:53,600 --> 00:00:56,719 lots of little pieces the main thing i

26 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:59,120 wanted to do when we were

27 00:00:56,719 --> 00:01:00,480 bringing in uh capital ships was ensure

28 00:00:59,120 --> 00:01:02,000 that we didn't make the common mistake

29 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:04,080 that a lot of games do

30 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:08,000 and that's when you bring in something

31 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:10,159 big and new that you make it overpowered

32 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:12,000 it's about creating the balance of all

33 00:01:10,159 --> 00:01:14,159 these things coming together where

34 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:15,520 there was several different aspects the

35 00:01:14,159 --> 00:01:17,200 battle scene itself

36 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:18,720 things like improving the turret

37 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:20,320 behaviors so

38 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:22,159 not only did they attack fighters but

39 00:01:20,320 --> 00:01:22,560 they attacked incoming missiles which

40 00:01:22,159 --> 00:01:26,880 are

41 00:01:22,560 --> 00:01:29,040 a huge threat to capital ships

42 00:01:26,880 --> 00:01:30,320 turrets on a capital ship will try and

43 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:32,320 pick bombers

44 00:01:30,320 --> 00:01:33,600 as their targets over dinky little

45 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:35,200 fighters because

46 00:01:33,600 --> 00:01:37,360 the fighters aren't going to be nearly

47 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:39,119 as much of a threat we worked on

48 00:01:37,360 --> 00:01:40,479 counter measures to make them more

49 00:01:39,119 --> 00:01:43,759 reliable and also

50 00:01:40,479 --> 00:01:45,520 more engaging from both the defenders

51 00:01:43,759 --> 00:01:47,280 point of view of launching them

52 00:01:45,520 --> 00:01:48,880 and from the aggressor's point of

53 00:01:47,280 --> 00:01:50,960 dealing with them

54 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:52,720 we put a lot of effort into making sure

55 00:01:50,960 --> 00:01:53,200 that we balance the weight count and

56 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:54,880 measured

57 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:56,240 worked they wouldn't spam them all the

58 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:58,399 time you now have to

59 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:00,399 fire enough off to generate enough noise

60 00:01:58,399 --> 00:02:02,000 to hide your ship

61 00:02:00,399 --> 00:02:03,600 we needed all the components to work to

62 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:05,759 kind of bring um

63 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:07,119 xenophobia alive which was the big

64 00:02:05,759 --> 00:02:08,879 capital ships we had the idris we have

65 00:02:07,119 --> 00:02:11,200 the javelin the idris has

66 00:02:08,879 --> 00:02:12,000 the big railgun underneath that needed

67 00:02:11,200 --> 00:02:14,480 to

68 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:15,760 have its behavior adjusted so that it

69 00:02:14,480 --> 00:02:19,120 always tried to be

70 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:19,760 nose on to larger targets and not just

71 00:02:19,120 --> 00:02:22,319 to try and

72 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:23,280 use this railgun on a mustang it would

73 00:02:22,319 --> 00:02:26,319 only pick it for

74 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:29,200 the larger ships the

75 00:02:26,319 --> 00:02:31,680 javelin is different it wants to get

76 00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:33,440 within the turret range of its target

77 00:02:31,680 --> 00:02:34,959 whilst the idris is trying to get its

78 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:36,160 nose onto the target the javelin is

79 00:02:34,959 --> 00:02:38,000 always trying to

80 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:40,640 keep its side against the larger targets

81 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,640 to deal with them

82 00:02:41,519 --> 00:02:44,239 once we had that scene together it was

83 00:02:42,959 --> 00:02:44,800 okay so how would we make this sound

84 00:02:44,239 --> 00:02:46,720 good how

85 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:48,239 do we make this look good you know and

86 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:49,920 how do we kind of match those

87 00:02:48,239 --> 00:02:51,360 expectations that players have with the

88 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:53,120 balance that we implemented

89 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:54,879 and it ended up looking really nice we

90 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:57,760 have these big capital ships just taking

91 00:02:54,879 --> 00:02:57,760 chunks off each other

92 00:02:58,879 --> 00:03:02,400 the big thing that changes with this is

93 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:03,760 how many players

94 00:03:02,400 --> 00:03:05,200 are in the scene at the time it could

95 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:06,720 play drastically different if there's

96 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:07,840 only five of you or ten of you trying to

97 00:03:06,720 --> 00:03:09,519 take the [ __ ] down

98 00:03:07,840 --> 00:03:11,760 but then if some group decides to bring

99 00:03:09,519 --> 00:03:14,159 in 30 players in their team

100 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:16,000 it will play drastically different it

101 00:03:14,159 --> 00:03:17,440 sort of worked how we expected

102 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:20,000 we knew players would be trying to

103 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,400 hijack the things and was amazed by how

104 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:22,720 they

105 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:24,000 had did it we'd put a few precautions in

106 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:26,239 there to try and prevent that but

107 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:27,760 guys always managed to to find a way

108 00:03:26,239 --> 00:03:29,360 hearing the players go oh you know i use

109 00:03:27,760 --> 00:03:30,640 this weapon or i came in at this time i

110 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:31,680 used this ship

111 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:33,360 at this time and that's how we brought

112 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:34,159 it down and that's just really exciting

113 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:37,440 listening to those

114 00:03:34,159 --> 00:03:38,879 streams so you know we are watching

115 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:40,720 there's definitely areas that we want to

116 00:03:38,879 --> 00:03:43,040 improve on the ai is still

117 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:45,120 not where we want it to be in terms of

118 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:46,879 target selection it does a very good job

119 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:48,159 to a point but it can still get

120 00:03:46,879 --> 00:03:49,120 overwhelmed at times

121 00:03:48,159 --> 00:03:50,720 you know there's times where i was

122 00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:51,200 watching people play and they would do

123 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:53,519 and

124 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:55,519 basically it was impossible to shoot the

125 00:03:53,519 --> 00:03:56,720 dress down and i was like no

126 00:03:55,519 --> 00:03:58,319 then and then it was good to figure out

127 00:03:56,720 --> 00:04:00,319 why it didn't make some changes and then

128 00:03:58,319 --> 00:04:02,159 sometimes it swing the other way where

129 00:04:00,319 --> 00:04:03,680 the thick people in the scene you know

130 00:04:02,159 --> 00:04:07,519 trying to bring the ship down and it'd

131 00:04:03,680 --> 00:04:07,519 destroy itself in 30 seconds

132 00:04:07,680 --> 00:04:10,480 and this is what's really good about

133 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:12,560 having a live environment at star

134 00:04:10,480 --> 00:04:13,439 citizen is we get to do it as we go so

135 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:15,840 we get to

136 00:04:13,439 --> 00:04:16,959 have the players involved and it

137 00:04:15,840 --> 00:04:18,479 massively helps us as

138 00:04:16,959 --> 00:04:20,320 developers we can put this out there on

139 00:04:18,479 --> 00:04:21,440 a saturday evening we get the players

140 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:23,199 playing this

141 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:25,040 and we'll get the feedback in and then

142 00:04:23,199 --> 00:04:27,120 we can look in the morning you know

143 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:28,479 and go right now so what happened you

144 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:31,520 know let's have a review of this

145 00:04:28,479 --> 00:04:33,840 watching you know the turrets shoot down

146 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:36,320 torpedoes watching the torpedoes

147 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:37,199 just smash into the side of these huge

148 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:39,520 ships and

149 00:04:37,199 --> 00:04:42,320 they just just take it watching it all

150 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:42,639 play out it's been fantastic we want to

151 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:44,720 take

152 00:04:42,639 --> 00:04:45,919 capital ship fights further in the

153 00:04:44,720 --> 00:04:47,840 future there's some

154 00:04:45,919 --> 00:04:48,960 weapon systems that those ships aren't

155 00:04:47,840 --> 00:04:51,040 using yet

156 00:04:48,960 --> 00:04:52,240 which is their their own missile and

157 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:55,520 torpedo systems

158 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:57,040 we want to provide further expanded

159 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,479 combat opportunities for these ships

160 00:04:57,040 --> 00:04:59,120 both in terms of the players doing it

161 00:04:58,479 --> 00:05:02,080 and their

162 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,080 threats back to you

163 00:05:07,680 --> 00:05:11,199 capital ship combat may have brought

164 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:12,560 many different game systems into

165 00:05:11,199 --> 00:05:14,720 development focus

166 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:16,800 but one long discussed technology was

167 00:05:14,720 --> 00:05:19,120 essential to ensuring these

168 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:20,000 massive behemoths wouldn't be taken down

169 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:22,400 by players

170 00:05:20,000 --> 00:05:23,360 mere moments after they arrived so let's

171 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:26,000 take a look at how

172 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:26,880 sdf shields came to be for the idris and

173 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:28,479 the javelin

174 00:05:26,880 --> 00:05:32,160 before they're rolled out to all

175 00:05:28,479 --> 00:05:33,680 spacecraft in the coming months

176 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:35,199 there's a lot of work that actually went

177 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:36,720 into getting us to the point where we

178 00:05:35,199 --> 00:05:38,880 are now in terms of having

179 00:05:36,720 --> 00:05:40,639 impact effects that are defined by the

180 00:05:38,880 --> 00:05:42,880 science distance field

181 00:05:40,639 --> 00:05:44,720 sdf shields were a huge part of the

182 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:45,360 whole suite needed to bring capital ship

183 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,320 combat

184 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:49,759 to fruition the mesh shaping tech is

185 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:52,960 something that i haven't seen

186 00:05:49,759 --> 00:05:54,800 in any other game before

187 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:56,400 our previous shield technology is

188 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:57,360 getting quite old now and it had some

189 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:00,000 limitations

190 00:05:57,360 --> 00:06:01,440 primarily on the setup side you had to

191 00:06:00,000 --> 00:06:02,880 have duplicated data

192 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:05,199 to detect the hits and then that

193 00:06:02,880 --> 00:06:06,880 displayed to a completely independent

194 00:06:05,199 --> 00:06:08,479 bubble mesh which had no actual

195 00:06:06,880 --> 00:06:09,600 relevance to gameplay just purely there

196 00:06:08,479 --> 00:06:11,680 for visuals

197 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:12,960 they're really limited in in terms of if

198 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:15,280 their wing breaks off

199 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:17,120 the mesh can't adapt to that with sdfs

200 00:06:15,280 --> 00:06:19,120 they can

201 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:20,800 a big reason why we needed ustf shields

202 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:21,840 as well was because we needed to support

203 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:23,199 the new visual effects

204 00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:24,960 on the shields so we could really

205 00:06:23,199 --> 00:06:27,840 communicate to the player

206 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:29,600 the firepower and the impact that their

207 00:06:27,840 --> 00:06:31,600 firepower had on the ships

208 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:32,720 because we changed the weapon balance a

209 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:34,800 lot of the weapons now

210 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:36,400 especially the size now sophia's offer

211 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:38,000 so much more firepower than they've ever

212 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:39,520 had in starters and that massively

213 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,840 changed the demands of the shields and

214 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,680 what it takes to take them down

215 00:06:41,840 --> 00:06:44,960 so if you're shooting the ship with a

216 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:48,000 size one weapon

217 00:06:44,960 --> 00:06:49,759 you may only see a small little energy

218 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,039 flare on the surface of the shield but

219 00:06:49,759 --> 00:06:54,319 if you shoot it with a

220 00:06:51,039 --> 00:06:54,960 size 10 cannon the impact may wrap

221 00:06:54,319 --> 00:06:58,639 around

222 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:59,919 half of the ship in the old system it

223 00:06:58,639 --> 00:07:01,520 would just it would glow blue

224 00:06:59,919 --> 00:07:03,039 it would go blue and then it would go

225 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:03,919 when the shield was down you had no idea

226 00:07:03,039 --> 00:07:06,240 whether you were

227 00:07:03,919 --> 00:07:08,080 99 of the shield face or you had one

228 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:10,319 whereas with sdf shields

229 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:11,919 we've got a lot more flexibility now in

230 00:07:10,319 --> 00:07:13,280 providing reads on that and you will see

231 00:07:11,919 --> 00:07:15,199 they transition through the colors as it

232 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:16,080 gets closer to coming down that gives a

233 00:07:15,199 --> 00:07:19,520 huge gameplay

234 00:07:16,080 --> 00:07:22,960 impact we have several

235 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:24,800 techniques how to displace and and sort

236 00:07:22,960 --> 00:07:25,440 of have the sdf control individual

237 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:27,680 particles

238 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:28,479 he started to look at using mesh based

239 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:30,400 particles

240 00:07:28,479 --> 00:07:32,240 being able to actually splat the mesh

241 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:33,919 particles into the shape of the ship

242 00:07:32,240 --> 00:07:35,919 and then on that mesh we can play

243 00:07:33,919 --> 00:07:37,440 animated textures we had

244 00:07:35,919 --> 00:07:40,400 what we call glue so there was like a

245 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:42,560 glue option to to essentially make the

246 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:44,400 that make that projection we could kind

247 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:45,520 of control where that actually is offset

248 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:47,759 from the ship and

249 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:50,240 we settled on the name glue and then we

250 00:07:47,759 --> 00:07:52,720 also have a volumetric component

251 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:54,479 where it renders a volumetric shape

252 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:57,520 which ties all of these elements

253 00:07:54,479 --> 00:07:59,039 together for the final effect knew

254 00:07:57,520 --> 00:08:01,039 quite early on that we were also going

255 00:07:59,039 --> 00:08:02,879 to be able to use scientific skills for

256 00:08:01,039 --> 00:08:06,080 other types of effects so

257 00:08:02,879 --> 00:08:07,360 we needed a safer type of effect and i

258 00:08:06,080 --> 00:08:09,120 thought that atmospheric entry was a

259 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:10,879 more safe effect

260 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:12,800 it was the first bit of tech to use the

261 00:08:10,879 --> 00:08:16,000 sdf the effects

262 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:17,759 are colliding with the sdf and it allows

263 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:20,960 the fire and flames

264 00:08:17,759 --> 00:08:21,919 to hug the surface of the ship more

265 00:08:20,960 --> 00:08:24,400 realistically

266 00:08:21,919 --> 00:08:25,680 and much tighter there's quite a few

267 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:26,800 things that we haven't done yet that we

268 00:08:25,680 --> 00:08:27,840 know we want to do

269 00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:29,840 all we've got at the moment is the

270 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:30,879 actual impact effects what we actually

271 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:32,399 need to do

272 00:08:30,879 --> 00:08:34,159 in the future is actually have the

273 00:08:32,399 --> 00:08:34,959 powering on and powering off states as

274 00:08:34,159 --> 00:08:36,479 well

275 00:08:34,959 --> 00:08:38,479 the initial release of sdf shields is

276 00:08:36,479 --> 00:08:41,839 just for the idris and javelin and it's

277 00:08:38,479 --> 00:08:43,360 only really for their detection of hits

278 00:08:41,839 --> 00:08:45,360 and the displaying of hits

279 00:08:43,360 --> 00:08:47,600 going forward we plan to roll this

280 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:50,240 shield tech out to the rest of the ships

281 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:50,959 and when we have most of the ships in a

282 00:08:50,240 --> 00:08:53,040 pretty good

283 00:08:50,959 --> 00:08:54,720 position we are going to start looking

284 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:57,600 at fleshing out

285 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:58,000 the various types of shields the style

286 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:01,760 the

287 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:02,399 manufacturer and the race so vanduul may

288 00:09:01,760 --> 00:09:04,640 have a

289 00:09:02,399 --> 00:09:05,760 completely different looking shield than

290 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:07,600 the human shield

291 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:10,240 a lot of the work that we've done for

292 00:09:07,600 --> 00:09:11,440 the shield stfx will just help us with

293 00:09:10,240 --> 00:09:12,800 our effects in general

294 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:14,640 there's loads of other ways we can use

295 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:15,360 sdfs there's loads of other ways that we

296 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:17,519 can use

297 00:09:15,360 --> 00:09:19,440 lots of the individual elements that

298 00:09:17,519 --> 00:09:21,040 came together to make the shield effects

299 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:22,640 we could just use them generically for

300 00:09:21,040 --> 00:09:24,320 vfx in our game in general and that's

301 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:27,760 going to just give us that next level of

302 00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:27,760 quality and flexibility

303 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:34,480 so what we learned this week well we

304 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:36,399 learned how the most recent big step in

305 00:09:34,480 --> 00:09:38,160 space combat came to be with the arrival

306 00:09:36,399 --> 00:09:39,680 of capital ships like the idris and

307 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:41,440 alpha 3.12

308 00:09:39,680 --> 00:09:42,800 that the javelin benefits from many of

309 00:09:41,440 --> 00:09:45,279 those same technologies

310 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:47,440 during the brand new xenothread event

311 00:09:45,279 --> 00:09:48,959 and that while sdf shields were a huge

312 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:51,360 part in making both of those things

313 00:09:48,959 --> 00:09:52,000 possible the next big step forward for

314 00:09:51,360 --> 00:09:53,760 combat

315 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:56,480 is when they come online for every other

316 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:57,360 spacecraft for inside star citizen i'm

317 00:09:56,480 --> 00:10:05,839 jared huckaby

318 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:05,839 we'll see you all next week

319 00:10:12,560 --> 00:10:15,660 [Music]

320 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:20,720 you

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