Star Citizen reaches $27 million – Single player Squadron 42 enhancements next

It’s taken slightly longer than usual but another $1m has landed in the Cloud Imperium Star Citizen bank account in the past nine days.

This $27 million goal has now unlocked the Banu Merchantman:

“Banu traders are renowed for their merchant prowess, traveling the spacelanes and trading with everyone from humans to the Vanduul! Their sturdy, dedicated trading ships are prized beyond all other transports, sometimes passing from generation to generation of Banu. At $23 million we dedicated additional resources to making Xi’An spacecraft a unique experience. At $27 million, we will expand that same thinking to the Banu! Starting with the merchant ship, the design team will expand Banu technology to offer players a completely different way of experiencing their universe.”

Cloud Imperium are now working on the Banu merchant ship and they look to expand the Banu spaceflight systems thanks to this latest goal being reached.

There’s a change in focus for the $29m goal as the development team turn to the Manchester based Foundry 42 studio. The idea is to raise further funds to enhance the single player portion of the game, Squadron 42. This target is raising funds to bring “enhanced mission design” to the single player experience.

“The team at Foundry 42 has big plans for Squadron 42, and we’re going to provide extra funding to make it a true spiritual successor to Wing Commander! Squadron 42 can go above and beyond anything you’ve seen before. From opening with an epic battle instead of a training patrol to missions that seamlessly combine boarding and space combat, we aim to put you right into the action! Additional funding will let the team realize this, with enhanced mission design and more resources and animations to enhance fidelity.”

The single player portion of Star Citizen in one aspect of the game I am thoroughly looking forward to and I certainly hope that more resources will be ploughed into that in the week’s ahead.

Finally, there’s some new concept art which shows Xi’An capital ship concept art. Lovely!