The annual Intergalactic Aerospace Expo has started in Star Citizen, showcasing the range of ships in the long-running Alpha/Early Access sci-fi spaceship simulator available for sale. As with other recent IAEs, Star Citizen will be playable for free throughout the length of the event, from now until December 5. Plus, players can try over 150 ships, though no ship is permanently provided to players.
IAE’s first corporate showcase features Crusader Industries and its newest small single-seat starter ship, the Intrepid, which it describes as “perfect for short-range cargo runs and courier jobs,” with the special starter edition discounted for $68 USD with a bonus paint and UEC. (It should have been one dollar more.) Other corporations showcase their ships in the in-game expo center throughout the duration of the IAE, with the full schedule available on the site.
For the first time, the dev team has a development-focused “IAE Show,” which features an interview about the continued role of spaceships in the perpetual universe of Star Citizen. The team places emphasis now on building and maintaining spaceships, with combat focusing on time to “disable” instead time to “kill” so players don’t feel entirely punished for investing too much on the ships (and so pirates can take it apart). The team also gets about into PvP versus PvE philosophy.
There’s also a “lightning round” type of interview with Ben Curtis, fittingly for the week the Vehicle Art Director, who answers a series of brief questions with equally brief answers.
In addition to the free playtime and expo, there are some RSI-sanctioned events and contests happening during IAE. Most notably, fledgling players can take part in IAE Academy, a “crash course” of missions “all geared towards getting you started in Star Citizen” such as handing in ore, getting the Bounty Hunter Certification, and finishing the New Player Tutorial (which I literally have not been able to complete due to bugs, by the way). Completing three of the five tasks earns players some small gifts, including a pistol, a rifle, and an IE 2954 event shirt; the tasks are trackable on the website.
As anyone tracking Star Citizen may point out, the IAE is taking place in spite of Star Citizen's irregular and unreliable release promises, including the delay of, ironically, major ship engineering mechanics promised for Alpha 4.0. Still, many players are closely watching the development and upcoming release of server meshing coming in that new Alpha version.
