CIG has been talking up the proposed changes to how healing, injury, and death work in Star Citizen for a while, from Chris Roberts’ “Death of a Spaceman” vision, to plans and previews, all the way through to this week’s episode of Inside Star Citizen, which provides an in-game look at just how all of those mechanics will work out when they arrive in alpha 3.15.
The entire episode talks about how these proposed changes will add a new level of depth to the game, making entering conflict something that players will want to more seriously consider if they don’t want to risk too much injury. As one might expect, injuries will have negative effects depending on their severity, with major head injuries blurring vision and making characters susceptible to being knocked over, leg injuries severely limiting movement, and chest injuries reducing overall stamina as examples.
Mitigating injury can be done with the application of several new medicines that treat specific symptoms, but these medicines won’t be a cure-all like they currently work in the game since they will only temporarily mask symptoms. On top of that, players will need to watch their blood drug level, as hitting higher thresholds will lead to characters being staggered or eventually knocked prone in an overdose. Luckily, blood drug levels do deteriorate over time, so an overdose isn’t a fatal event in the PU of Star Citizen.
On the subject of fatal events and being knocked prone by injury, players will have a fair length of time — upwards of two hours depending on severity — to wait for someone to help them if injuries do incapacitate them. If they are outright killed, players respawn on a hospital bed that they choose before logging in to the game. Complete injury treatment is done at a hospital bed as well, with rank 3 beds being capable of treating minor injuries, rank 2 handling moderate ones, and rank 1 beds fully treating the most severe.
For those eager to look at the more immersive (or more obnoxious, depending on your point of view) mechanics arriving in alpha 3.15, you’ve got a whole video to absorb below.
