How I envisioned V1.0 Release to be

All this talk about teleporting got me rethinking how I personally imagined Star Citizen would work based on everything I'd heard over the years and roadmap. I wanted to share my vision for the game in its final state and hear what you guys pictured too (totally fine if it's different from mine).

Also I'm not gonna go into every nuance and detail and if you're reading it thinking thats the stupidest idea ever thats fine, but of course there's balances and other features well thought out for it to be feasible.

Everyone starts in one of the three lawful systems: Castra, Stanton, or Terra. Once you pick, you can't relocate to another system by any means other than physically travelling there in your own ship or someone else's. This locks you into your starting system and gives a real sense of scale to the 5 systems available at launch. The goal becomes growing out of your starting system and eventually exploring the stars.

Your starting ship is something small and cheap to maintain. The economy is reset so you don't have much UEC, and even players with pledged capital ships might not be able to fly them at the beginning. The cost to run a capital ship against the low payouts from early rep-locked quests just wouldn't be financially viable. That fits with how capital ships are supposed to feel anyway. They should be rare. Seeing one flying around should be something you stop and marvel at, not something you pass three of on the way to a mission. If they're everywhere, the awe is gone.

So most players are in small ships, grinding missions solo, with friends, or with their org. Every starting planet has enough quests and missions (including those on nearby space stations) for players to progress without being stuck. You don't need to leave your starting planet to grow, but you can once you're ready. Everything being available in close proximity even gives people with smaller play time to quickly complete a few missions and earn UEC.

Quantum fuel is also severely reduced. Small ships can't fly huge distances even within their own system, so carriers become important for moving ships across longer distances. NPC carrier and rental services also exist for moving between planets and ports, so solo players without org backing aren't completely gated out of travel.

The progression loop is simple: start small, complete quests, earn UEC and rep, unlock bigger quests, repeat. Orgs can pool resources to get their capital ships running sooner and work towards their end game space stations and bases. And harder quests pay more, which naturally pushes players to team up for combat missions since the risk is worth it.

Within all of this, players pick their own path. You can be a merchant, miner, security contractor, merc, salvager, refiner, builder, pirate, whatever fits how you want to play. The game doesn't tell you what to be. If you and your friends want to build a base on a planet somewhere you can, want to mine asteroids you can, want to play as an escort for haulers you can, as long as you follow the right process.

There are real consequences too. If you die at a new location, that's where you respawn, the same way it works now. Losing ships and dying both hurt, so players have a reason to take care of themselves and their gear. The risk gives weight to everything you do.

The game still needs to be fun for someone who only has an hour to play though. I imagine instanced events accessible directly from the mobiglass for players in a party or org. The party lead starts an event, players get teleported in, complete it, and get returned to their original locations or beds. That gives short-session players something meaningful to do without breaking the persistent world for everyone else. This is a risky addition though and whatever they decide to do with the teleport needs to be well thought out.

There's a real sense of growth in all of this. Leaving your home world for the first time actually feels like an achievement. Shortcuts still exist of course. If a friend/org already has a Kraken they can come pick you and your ship up, and there's room for a player-run market offering paid transport services between locations. But if they nail the core features down, it will make a great mmo scifi sim and give a real satisfaction in growing in this game to do the type of gameplay you desire.