Greetings Citizens, You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers. Let’s get right to it.
Previous Star Citizen racing ships have been designed with a dual role in mind or as adaptations of existing ships (the Mustang Gamma and 350R). The Razor was intended to be a racer from the skids up. Like the M50 interceptor, the Razor’s natural abilities will make it effective for speed-related missions off the racetrack … but unlike the M50, that was a completely secondary concern.
Special thanks to John Crewe and Jonathan Jacevicius for taking the time to answer these questions for us.
Questions & Answers Ships inside of other ships. What ships do you think the Razor can be successfully launched and maintained from? Questions like these are difficult to answer definitively until both the larger and the smaller ships are fully built and implemented, but it’d be safe to say any ship that can take an M50 will be able to take a Razor comfortably.
How do you envision the Razor being used outside of racing? The Razor has a small set of offensive weaponry so whilst it can be used for combat at a push, it is not designed for it and in protracted engagements will fall prey to dedicated combat ships. Its speed and endurance (for a racer) would allow it to work in an interceptor role like the M50.
Why would we choose this ship over an M50 or 350R? Why would we choose those ships over the Razor? Designed to be an endurance racer rather than a drag or F1 style racer the Razor will be able to last longer in races before the pilot has to start considering their fuel levels, whilst the pure performance isn’t as good as the M50/350R in a straightline or maneuverability it will still be able to keep up.
Can the razor be equipped with a Jump Drive? It is currently planned to be capable of having a Jump Drive like other ships who have Quantum Drives.
How does the Razor’s fuel collection system compare to that of the Mustang Omega? How do you imagine this difference manifesting itself in the PU? The fuel collection system is much more efficient than the Omega, resulting in the ability to regenerate more fuel per second than other racing ships. Unlike other ships the Razor essentially has its intakes spread across the surface of the ship so does not require the ship to be moving in the direction the intakes are facing to regenerate fuel effectively.
Are there any variants planned? There are no variants planned at the moment although during concept we trialed a few alternative paint jobs that may be available in the future.
The Razor has a small powerpack compared to the M50 with the same size engines, will this mean the Razor will have more efficient engines compared to the M50? And will there be any other differences between the two in terms of thrust to weight ratio and acceleration? The Xian influenced thrusters on the Razor provide a more efficient thrust output for the power plant size than the relatively “traditional” thrusters on the M50, combined with the lightweight hull this allows a similar level of performance.
How do you imagine the durability to be? It seems like after so much weight-shaving, it might be more easily damaged compared to other ships in it’s class. The Razor is very much the structurally weakest of the dedicated racing ships, aside from perhaps the Archimedes and will be very susceptible to damage causing serious performance degradation, especially the fuel regeneration ability. This is an important trade-off for it’s other advantages.
Does the wind tunnel testing profile mean that airfoils will work and we can expect lift, weight, thrust and drag to be simulated in the flight characteristics of each ship when in atmospheric conditions? If so, will there be a new flight model or IFCS mode switch to handle the transition from Space to Atmosphere and different variations in gravity? IFCS automatically adjusts the flight handling when transitioning between Space and Atmosphere, there is no need to manually transition between modes as it all done for you.
We currently simulate drag and gravity in atmosphere and this is calculated on a per ship basis, so ships like the Razor will handle better in atmosphere than others due to their shape but in the Razors case will potentially be more susceptible to wind/turbulence do to its low mass.
About the Sale The Razor is being offered for the first time as a limited concept sale. This means that the ship design meets our specifications, but it is not yet ready to display in your Hangar, fight in Arena Commander or fly in the Alpha. The sale includes Lifetime Insurance on the ship hull and a pair of decorative items for your Hangar. A future patch will add a Razor poster and then once the in-game model is finished you will also be given an in-game Razor mini ship model! In the future, the ship price will increase and the offer will not include Life Time Insurance or these extras.
Disclaimer Remember: we are offering this pledge ship to help fund Star Citizen’s development. The funding generated by sales such as this is what allows us to include deeper, non-combat oriented features in the Star Citizen world. Concept ships will be available for in-game credits in the final universe, and they are not required to start the game.
Additionally, please note that all decorative ‘flare’ items will also be available to acquire in the finished game world. Also, while the Razor will be entering the ship pipeline now, it will ultimately be released after other concept ships have been completed. The goal is to make additional ships available that give players a different experience rather than a particular advantage when the persistent universe launches.