Letter from the Chairman: $33 Million!

What a day! Some of you have been with us for over a year now, some of you are just discovering Star Citizen… I am grateful to all of you for what you’re making possible. As I said in the livestream, we’re in this for the long haul: Star Citizen isn’t going to be something you play and discard… we’re building a world you’re going to want to inhabit for years to come.
At $33 million, you unlocked the Anvil Carrack:

• Anvil Carrack – The Anvil Carrack has been the vanguard of every UEE exploration effort in recent years. Featuring reinforced fuel tanks for long-duration flight, a highly advanced jump drive array and a dedicated computer core room that allows it to put the maximum processing power into jump charting operations. Originally a military exclusive, the Carrack is now available for civilian use as a pathfinder spacecraft. Features on-board accommodations to allow for truly self-sufficient flight, including crew medical and repair facilities, and a mapping-oriented sensor suite capable of always charting a route home!

Information Runner handily won the final ship role poll… so I am proud to introduce the latest in Drake Interplanetary’s lineup!

• Drake Herald – Knowledge is power, and one of the most valuable commodities is pure information: the 1s and 0s behind everything from UEC ledgers to Citizenship ratings. Whether it’s colonists struggling to stay in contact with the UEE’s central worlds or criminals trading in illicit data, there will always be a need to securely move data. The Drake Herald, small, armored ship, is designed to fit that need and safely get that information from Point A to Point B. Featuring a powerful central engine (for high speed transit and generating the power needed for effective data encryption/containment), advanced encryption software and an armored computer core, the Herald is unique among personal spacecraft in that it is designed to be easily ‘cleaned’ when in danger of capture. The Herald includes an array of heavy duty internal options for data protection, including redundant power subsystems and EMP shielding, and a high-powered broadcast array for data transmission.

I hope you’ve liked having this additional input into Star Citizen’s development. We’ve enjoyed following the discussions related to the ship choices so much that we’d like to keep this process going! For the next five stretch goals, we’d like to add an additional system to the game… and you’re going to pick the major feature! Remember: the system, like the new ships, is simply symbolic of what’s being added to Star Citizen with the additional money. Each stretch goal system represents additional artists, tools, programmers and new technologies that will make the finished project even better!

— Chris Roberts