Welcome to the April 2020 Star Citizen Progress Report
This is the 6th progress report about Star Citizen & Squadron 42 in the series since November 2018.
Information for this report comes from the SC FOCUS features completion page which has been updated again here: https://scfocus.org/star-citizen-s42-features-complete/
Stretch Goal Completion Scoring
Completion for Star Citizen & Squardon 42 is scored based on a total of 104 features that were chosen to represent major gameplay milestones for both projects.
Previous Star Citizen & S42 reports:
Star Citizen & Squadron 42 Report Conclusion
Star Citizen is roughly 35% complete as of April 2020.
This represents an increase of 1% on the previous report in November 2019 which covered up to Alpha 3.7.
In this report there was 1 Star Citizen & Squadron 42 feature changed to playable which is melee combat. No Star Citizen only features were updated.
April 2020 Progress Report (Details)
Squadron 42
Since the previous report, Alpha 3.9 has added subtle improvements and enhancements. Only 1 feature deemed for Squadron 42 and Star Citizen was changed to "Playable":
- Melee Combat
Star Citizen
No features were changed to "Playable":
Feature Completion
Alpha 3.9 brings total tracked feature completion for both games to 35%.
Browse the list of 104 Star Citizen & Squadron 42 Features for Tracking.
Progress Velocity
Alpha 3.9 brings very few major features but instead has some subtle improvements to how the game works including Arena Commander and Star Marine. This update improved subtly over the last patch in the report - Alpha 3.7.
All things considered, since the previous report was Alpha 3.7 and this report covers up to just before Alpha 3.9 Live, then given two patches with just one major feature (Melee Combat) being added this marks the slowest report period since this series was started.
Project Progress Velocity seems at the current time to be "Extremely Slow".
Release Dates
SC FOCUS Release Date Estimates for both games remain:
Current S42 release date guesstimate: No Sooner Than Q3 of 2021 is likely.
Star Citizen "feature complete" version: No Sooner Than 2022.
Playability Score
Playability Score: 3/5 - Barely Playable
For Alpha 3.9 there eating and drinking were added and subtle gameplay improvements were made. With the overall score being 3/5.
- Playability (3/5)
- Player Count (1/5)
- The Economy (2/5)
- Dogfighting (3/5)
- Flight Model (3/5)
- FPS Combat (3/5)
- AI (2/5)
Playability - How Playable is Star Citizen Alpha 3.9?
Playable but with stuttering and crashes. Though the crashes seem far less frequent than previous patches. It is stable enough to earn credits in game and upgrade the character, until the next account reset.
Character motion and desynch are noticeably better but still need work.
The game is still very much for testers who want to see the game grow or check in to try out the new stuff every once in a while.
3/5
Player Count
Player counts are still 50 players per server. Far from anything that can be considered an MMO. This shows the infancy of the Alpha still.
1/5
The Economy
The economy feels faked. Alpha 3.9 did not bring significant economy changes since the previous report. Read more about the Star Citizen in game economy.
2/5
Flight Model
Flying around seems ok. Ships don't really feel like the weight changes much with cargo.
Flight model seems like it's in the final phase of tuning and polish.
3/5
Dogfighting
Dogfighting in Alpha 3.9 still shows there is a lot of work left. Not significantly better or worse than the previous report.
3/5
FPS Combat
FPS Combat saw the addition of melee combat and improved character motion since the last report.
3/5
AI
AI seem to be slightly better than the previous report. While a lot of behavior is still missing the rating has been increased from a 1 to a 2 since the previous report.
2/5
April 2020 Report Conclusion
The game is still very much in an early alpha state of testing. Not recommended for new players due to estimation of 35% completion of major features required as chosen for illustration purposes.
Enough quality of life features are in the game to make it feel playable at some level.
In the last report we said "Playtesting could be more gameplay focused than technical bug focused going forward." and this trend seems to continue. With the introduction of prisons, eating and drinking and other subtle enhancements the MMO elements are starting to enter the playtestable stage.
Actual gameplay mechanic implementation continues to be very slow or nearly stagnant.
Caveats
The list of 104 features used to track "progress" in this report are listed at the Star Citizen Completion Features Percentage Page. This is a highly simplified list of features out of thousands of technical, art and gameplay features that the game(s) will end up having. 104 the author has chosen as a simplified average set of gameplay features that the author guesses are probably required in the final games to be considered "complete".
The data is gathered as objectively as possible and is non-promotional in nature. This information is purely speculative based on personal criteria. Opinion can and should vary. It is provided for free and actually costs time and money to maintain.
Disclaimer
As always, this article does not represent the official views of Star Citizen. It is provided as speculation to help SC FOCUS org plan the strategy going forward. This information is provided to readers openly and freely and each reader is free to form their own opinion.