Things learned through questioning the devs at Pax East
WARNING: all info is subject to change, could be slightly wrong, but it was certainly discussed with the devs and these are answers that were given.
This is a thread dedicated to collecting some info some of you may have gathered through questioning the devs of Star Citizen. If you have learned ANYTHING interesting at all do please post it here so we can read and dissect what was answered. So I got to chat with a friend of mine that did get to go to PAX East and ask the devs a few questions and here are some of the things he learned that isn't entirely common knowledge to all.
1) A variant ship sale possibly will happen at the end of the month including a new ship commercial and he suspects it to be the Freelancer.
UPDATED: The Freelancer commercial will likely be late May, followed at some point by the Connie and Cutlass. The Freelancer commercial will be the first to use their facial capture system, and it looks great.
RUMOR: the Freelancer is getting what sounds to be quite the upgrade, they looked at it and realized that it was not big enough for the cargo they said it was going to haul so it is getting reshaped
2) The Idris Frigate will have a red alert alarm system where crew will certainly know to be at their battle stations.
3) Asking further about the Idris he says the ship will be a game changer in space and a force to reckon with. That it will not be a "flying coffin" in space for 20+ possible occupants but rather a ship that will be difficult to take. Expanding on this he says the Idris WILL BE FLYABLE SOLO but that NPC crew will not be nearly as good as players will be of course. He did say NPC's gain experience over time and do get better but if they die they lose that experience and start over. The Idris will be a slow ship in comparison to others ships.
4) Interestingly enough he was told that players are almost essential in certain areas of the Idris when in combat especially in areas like electronics and engineering. Why? Players will be able to hack your ship through electronic "cyber" warfare and possibly blow airlocks in certain compartments or even lower your ship's shields just before missiles are about to impact. Your only countermeasure will be someone actually watching for these hacks and counter hacking. These hacking techniques are not only unique to the Idris but rather can be used against ALL SHIPS of ALL SIZES.
For more on this see this interview with Erin Roberts about the minute 30:17 mark at this link:
http://www.twitch.tv/geekdomo/b/5190019415) Idris captains can hire crew in 2 ways. One is through the UEE where those that are hired are guaranteed a portion of earnings for their services. This seems to be the most secure way to hire because the hired crew through UEE can't mutiny and kill crew or take your ship. The second way of hiring is risky but rewarding in the sense that if you hire randomly outside the UEE you decide what they should earn. That said if your random crew decide to mutiny they CAN kill the crew and overtake your ship.
UPDATES: Another thing worth mentioning about espionage and infiltration. People worry about getting a bad reputation, and rightfully so, but FAKE ID's will be a thing in Star Citizen. You can literally purchase a false new identification and get past security measures that would normally pick up someone up to no good.
They are planning different kinds of suits that could allow the pilot to withstand more Gs before blacking out. Also, the UI might be tied to the specific helmet you are wearing!
Cargo containers will be reworked and you will be able to fit cargo in areas of the ship previously not intended for cargo. You can place containers into other containers.
All ships will have a CPU which will "level up" with use. Perhaps a max CPU will have "25-30%" better efficiency on systems and weapons. When a ship goes boom - the CPU is gone. This is to couple with the re-build time (Mentioned a week for an Idris) as a deterrent to wasting ships. (All numbers are examples of the order of magnitude and not what may be in final game).
POSTER REIJI-As someone who was there for that conversation (it was me and Spacecon from Cosmic Ventures, as well as Trip and Griffin from ÆQUITAS who were talking with Erin for almost an hour and half) let me clear up some things up.
Erin said that a ships CPU will learn over time as it has seen battle. This is not to provide a generic you will beat someone who has a lower level ship mechanic, but an incentive instead. The purpose of your ship getting minor increases in efficiency is to incentivize not treating your ship like something that can just be thrown away just because it has insurance. They want you to prioritize keeping your ship intact as much as possible, and the "ship's CPU leveling up" to provide minor increases to efficiency will do just that. We don't know what exactly this "level bonus" will entail, but Erin was very adamant that it would not turn battles into whoever has the higher level ship.
They were planning different kinds of suits that could allow the pilot to withstand more Gs before blacking out. Also, the UI might be tied to the specific helmet you are wearing! A post from vsTerminus on Reddit:
http://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/22wmbz/i_spent_four_hours_at_the_pax_booth_today/Thank you Stark Reality for pointing out this interview with a wealth of info:
http://www.gamersnexus.net/gg/1399-pax-star-citizen-fps-gameplay-mechanics-chris-roberts 
Subject: Roberts Space Industries "Star Citizen" 
Mon Dec 09, 2013 12:52 pm
