Star Citizen’s most needed feature is an update to the star map, which will allow players to download information about their surrounding area, set waypoints, and locate other players’ ships. The development has been delayed due to focus on Squadron 42, but attention is now shifting back to Star Citizen, with a target release of the new engineering features that use the map system in quarter 2 next year.
Star Citizen’s most needed feature is an update to the star map. The developers recently revealed more information about what to expect from it. The new map system will allow players to download information about their surrounding area and set waypoints for missions or exploration. Custom waypoints can also be created and potentially sold to other players. The map system will eventually show multiple star systems, but this won’t be included in the first iteration. Players will be able to see other people’s ships and locate their own ship through the map system. However, long-distance navigation and locating ships left in the world are features that will be added later.
The map system will also have limited waypoint navigation for local areas, and a separate functionality for holotables to share information between larger groups. While there are concerns about balancing the system, players will be able to see other players through the FPS scanning mode in the map system. Customization options for the map system, such as color-blind mode and text size, will be available in future releases.
The development of the map system has been delayed due to the focus on Squadron 42, but now that it has achieved feature complete status, developers are shifting their attention back to Star Citizen. Transition meetings are currently ongoing, and some teams are already working on moving Squadron features over to Star Citizen. The map system will be released in stages as they finish development, with possible testing in the tech preview channel. They are targeting quarter 2 next year for the release of the new engineering stuff that uses the map system. Overall, the update to the star map is highly anticipated and expected to greatly improve gameplay in Star Citizen.