Guard Frequency Episode 388 | Roadmap to Groundhog Day
Cits and Civs, Captains and Commanders, you’re tuned to episode 388 of Guard Frequency — the best damn space sim podcast ever! This episode was recorded on Friday February 4th, 2022 and released for streaming and download on Tuesday, February 8th, 2022 at GuardFrequency.com
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This Week’s Schedule
- Flight Deck
- Elite: Dangerous
- Star Citizen
- Descent Underground
- Next, we’ll get the news from the deep black with Brill Haxon on Galactic Public Radio
- Feedback Loop
Links & the Like
Elite Dangerous
Elite Dangerous patched Update 10 with the traditional dot patch and then followed up with the venerable dot-dot patch, and then capped off the week with the obligatory Colored Snakes of Disconnection. But it’s not all repetitive, Groundhog-Day-type news from Frontier! Research badgers have reported in and tell us that there is a plan for all of 2022’s updates in the works! This would include the Fleet Carrier interiors previously announced for Update 11. This might be the last of the big updates UNTIL they decide to fill the Thargoid fun hole.
Star Citizen
Star Citizen… takes the ball at midfield, evades a tackle, spins around the defender, only one man to beat, feints to the left, kicks right, and… OWN GOOOOOOALLLLLLL! OWN GOALLLLLLLLLLL! An incredible decision, brilliant plan, and shot it straight into their own goal! And the best part – it was all the fans, yes, the fans, they were responsible for the shot straight into CIG’s own net! I’ve never seen anything like this! This was completely unpredictable and totally unexpected! Oh wait, no, it’s a repeat of everything we’ve been warning them about since 2019. And we brought receipts.
Community Questions
- Would you please generate some distractive noise that causes disruption to the roadmap?
- And noise aside, what’s your take on the Groundhog Day Roadmap Roundup?
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Tags: descent underground, elite dangerous, podcast, star citizen
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Comments (2)
Sarah
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At this point, the common behavior I keep seeing is an effort to “buy time”. Whether it be roadmap formats, report formats, staggered development, what weekly shows are produced, Citizencon format, whether the “focus” is on SQ42… The same pattern has happened over and over again.
Something “new” is presented. Any “slowness/delays” is attributed to “growing pains”. This buys a year or so where frustrations with progress can be somewhat reasonably dismissed. After an additional year, there’s enough evidence to suggest it’s not just “growing pains” that’s an issue. Then a new system is introduced, buying another year where Concerns (capital C) can be dismissed as “growing pains”. Rinse and repeat.
Generate hype while obfuscating how long things will really take. CIG wants to be rewarded for spending time on SC, not for reaching deliverables. I don’t expect this roadmap change to matter: Items that have no real chance of getting done in time will still be put the roadmap and then slip off at the end of that quarter. To me, what will actually mark tangible change is if CIG comes out and actually closes the door on some speculation rather than always using terms like “what they hope to be able to achieve”.
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Sarah
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(I thought I had submitted a comment a couple days ago, but I don’t see it here now….)
My main take away is that whether it be the roadmap, new/canceled shows, monthly reports, changes in development strategy, focusing on SQ42… the common behavior to me is buying time. A change is announced that’s supposed to make things better. For the first year, any delays are explained away as “growing pains” of the new system. By the second year, it starts to look like it’s not just growing pains that are stifling progress. A new system is announced, and any delays are justified as “growing pains”. Rinse and repeat.
Pessimistically, even with only a quarter shown at a time, I think the roadmap will remain a hype tool. Stuff will still be put on the roadmap at the start of the quarter that has little to no chance of making it into the patch, and then before the end of the quarter, it’ll slip off. Even without the “bad paragraph”, the theme from this and previous communications from CIG is that backers should be satisfied as long as CIG reports that they are “working hard”.
I have a coworker like that. He feels that he “works harder” than the rest of us and doesn’t understand why he’s been passed up for various raises/awards. And on the surface, it’s true: He is always at his desk and always working. What he fails to realize is that he gets the least done out of the rest of us.
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