Concept Art - Vanduul Blade Greetings Citizens, Another Concept Sale, another Question & Answer session. Since Friday, we’ve been collecting questions from the dedicated Q&A post here and today our designers and artists working on the ship will answer another 10 questions for the community. Here we go.
Question & Answer Will we be able to purchase the Blade in game for UEC at some point or obtain it some other way? Or is this sale our only opportunity to get one? The ‘replica’ Blades will not be commonly available on the open market; we intend them to be something that’s earned rather than outright bought in the finished game. We may offer the ship again through the pledge site when it’s flight ready, but it will not be a design that’s commonly available at an ordinary ship dealer.
What unique role does this ship occupy that justifies its cost? It’s a light fighter, roughly on par with the Gladius in terms of thrust and weaponry, but it costs as much as a Warden. Vanduul ships are priced to reflect their relative rarity; the Blade is cheaper than the Scythe as it is a less advanced design (fewer overall components) but it is not something a ship company would price to compete with something like an Aurora.
Will this be the last Blade sale, like the Glaive and the Scynthe sale, or could it be that you bring up another sale at some point of time (for example Anniversary Sale). We have no plans for another sale at the moment, but we certainly reserve the right to offer it again (without LTI/concept model/etc.)
Will people be punished for destroying Vanduul ships owned and operated by players with a clear human IFF signal? Pilots will be punished the same, regardless of what ships their victims were piloting.
Will the Blade allow players to penetrate Vanduul space with a better chance of being unmolested? Or will every Vanduul recognize it as an impostor? The Blade, as an Esperia replica, will not ship with a Vanduul IFF transponder. While you may fool a Freelancer pilot looking out of their window, Vanduul fleets know their own.
Which set of weapon stats are correct? Does it have 3 S1 Fixed or 2 S1 Gimbaled and 1 S2 Fixed? The Blade has, 2x S1 Gimbaled and 1x S2 Fixed weapons.
Is there any chance the Blade might have some unique/hidden systems or weapons we will not see on any other ship, like some iconic Vanduul tech? No, the Blade is very much a what-you-see-is-what-you-get fighter. It is fast, light and maneuverable.
Will Esperia sell replica Vanduul components to alter configurations of weapons or equipment on their replica Vanduul ships or is each ship pretty much sold as is with no real modification options? The configurable component slots are such that they will be able to be configured with other human-made components of the same size. What Esperia’s future business plans are, are not announced at this time.
Star Citizen will feature two additional base types: “Vanduul trading posts and hidden smuggler asteroids.” as part of the $4.5m stretch goal. Will this have any effect on our Vanduul ships? No, these are for trading goods and not warships. The Vanduul don’t sell their own ships to humans!
Will players be able to capture original Blades/Glaives/Scythes that have not been converted? If so, will there be a conversion process that allows them to be flyable by humans? There will be a process, although the details have not been implemented yet!