11 years ago CIG gave us one of the best ship pledges of all time: the Carrack. There was a mini-game called "A Carrack and Her Crew," which featured a decision based mini-game with an ominous, suspenseful imitation string orchestra that painted a sense of wonder and danger; (or fairly typical space music if you are cynical.) Even though this was a mini-game, the vision was clear: Having a capable craft that allowed a group of explorers to use advanced sensors and probes to explore. Rations, hull integrity, and morale all play a part in how long you can sustain outside of UEE space. With each encounter only allowing for 2 choices, I have to say that you make more meaningful decisions in this mini-game than doing anything in the current PU. You can still play the mini-game here: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/en/comm-link/transmission/14323-Into-The-Unknown-A-Carrack-Her-Crew That same year a month later we saw a Letter From the Chairman detailing the vision for multicrew. Shield management, radar, EWAR, comms...pretty much all of the roles that one would expect from true multicrew systems. You can read the communication here: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/en/comm-link/transmission/14354-Letter-From-The-Chairman 11 years on and we have...literally none of it. There's no advanced scanning mechanics, no mapping suites, no ewarfare to hide from enemy scanners or jam systems. Hitting Tab to perform a DnD armor-check roll isn't interesting. Sitting in a turret isn't engaging. Putting out fires is cool, but that isn't bridge play. There are basically no systems in place for tactically minded or group minded players. No, I don't consider bringing one Mantis, one F7C, and one Vulture to an engagement to be meaningful choices. There is zero puzzle/instanced raid type missions where you bring a ship, your crew, and you figure out a problem, like who and why stole medical supplies from a border watch post, or...any type of follow up to the Black Kite mission (which might not even be in the game in 4.0?) The fact is, the promise and dream of real multicrew systems are empty and dead, and we are seeing movements toward tedious systems, like logistics play, becoming more tedious with things like introducing 3 different tractor beams to do one job, and mechanics that should offer more tedium (like scanning) becoming as arcade as it gets. CIG has had all this time to work on these systems, but instead we get World of Warcraft armor, funneled PvP events, and soloable capital ships. CIG has spent so many thousands of hours modeling these detailed ship interiors, but no mechanics to justify living inside of them with a group. Ships are reduced to pure stats like pilot-controlled weapons, shield size, hull hp, and speed. Bringing more weapons to a fight is better than bringing one ship with a focused crew. The current game strays so far from the Star Trek and Artemis inspired gameplay that was once talked about. Frankly, the ONE card that Star Citizen had to play was group-based space adventures in an MMO, but Star Citizen is trying to do everything that other games offer, and nothing specific for what only SC can offer. I can go back to Tarkov, which is far more engaging than contested zones in SC, with FAR better gunplay. I'll be playing Arc Raiders because frankly it'll do everything that SC currently offers for group PvP/looting, but better. I have DCS for aircraft combat because it's actually interesting and involves skill and system management. Already playing the Jump Ship demo because it's group-based play in space, and fun. If I want an MMO I might check out Dune tbf. Star Citizen isn't playing to its strengths and it has strayed so far from the dream that it once was. It's trying to offer what countless other games offer, but at less quality. CIG isn't innovating with content or stories, they are catering to the lowest common denominator with the laziest re-hashed ideas. I really don't know why CIG stopped development on Theaters of War since that type of gameplay is all they seem to care about, but again, I'll bet Battlefield 6 does it better. Star Citizen has become what many people feared after all these years: a mile wide and an inch deep.