The master modes system that was introduced last May in Star Citizen has, by CIG’s own admission, generated mixed reception: Some players like what it’s doing, others really don’t. That means that something has to change, which is discussed in the sandbox’s latest episode of its IAE Show video series.
The devs first state that the current version of master modes was never intended to be the final version and that adjustments were always planned above and beyond the smaller changes the studio has made along the way. Most of the bigger tweaks that are planned will be focused on flight speeds, primarily with the addition of a quantum boost operator mode that sits between nav mode and FTL travel mode.
Quantum boost will let players travel up to a top speed that’s a tenth of FTL travel in order to help players spend less time flying to a mission or POI and more time playing the missions they’ve taken up. This new speed mode will still require ships to have their shields disabled to work, so players will still need to bear that in mind if they happen to be attacked while in quantum boost mode, but they can still use their weapons if they choose to.
The devs also confirm that space combat mode (SCM) speed will be normalized across all ships, but players will be able to adjust their combat speed experience once ship crafting is in-game, which will let players craft different tiers of chassis and thrusters that grant higher speeds in combat if they want them. It’s all about giving the playerbase options, though once more the devs don’t provide a timeline for when these options will be available.
