Star Citizen: 3.24 Datamining | Codename "Cheesecake" (Slicer Raids) - An Upcoming Dynamic Event
A slice of new information.
Within the files for 3.24, an odd name was discovered in various sections typically dedicated to dynamic events: “Cheesecake”. This seemingly new dynamic event is obfuscated heavily by a variety of code words and blank entries, so details on what this may be are quite hard to determine. Regardless, I’ve been doing quite a bit of digging on what this “Cheesecake” event so I can do my best in summarizing everything on what this new event might be.
A Brief Overview
To start off with the bare minimum I could scrounge up for actual “hard details” on the details for the event, I can somewhat confirm that the faction that we’re facing is a completely new one. Entries within the datacore (A data file that details much of the specific functionalities in Star Citizen) seem to reveal the faction’s name: “Slicers”. It should additionally be noted that it’s heavily implied that this is yet another battle alongside the CDF, but we’ll get into that later.
Pictured above: First image shows off the faction “Faction_Unlawful_Cheesecake” with the second showing off an entry, “Slicers_from” within its contents. An additional folder underneath the loadoutkits section of the datacore seems to confirm the name “Slicers” further.
Code-named “Blood”, “Garlic”, “Oreo”, “Strawberry”, and “Vanilla”, these various odd names seem to be the 5 different overarching activities for the event. There’s a few variations of each activity, similar to the Overdrive event that released earlier in the year.
Pictured above: Every mission objective underneath the “Cheesecake” category in the data. Similar to the Overdrive event, each objective type has 2-3 different variations that become available as further phases are unlocked.
In addition to 5 different varieties of activity, there appears to be 5 different phases for the overall event, with a few different mission types per phase.
Pictured above: Each of the five unique phases for the event.
From here on, I’ll be explaining each of these phases using whatever I can. Some have more detail than others, and regardless of that they’re all clearly still unfinished, so take the specifics I’m about to mention with heavy grains of salt.
Phase One: “Oreo” - Supporting Attacked Cargo Transports
Pictured above: Journal Entries associated with Phase 1 - “Oreo”
Let’s start out with Oreo, which appears to be associated with 6 different missions, of which there are two types.
“Oreo A” appears to utilize the existing “Support Attacked Ship” mission module, which in the PU is associated with “Distress Beacon” style ship content. Looking into specific tags, it would appear that the civilian ship is a civilian Caterpillar. The Caterpillar appears to be loaded with a default cargo manifest. Looking very closely at the mission progression, it would appear that there’s no absurd gimmicks, it’s a simple space wave defense mission. While the initial version of Oreo A only features two waves, the later two iterations involve 3.
“Oreo B” is a tad more unique, appearing to be a form of recovery mission. The player is tasked with heading to one of the Caterpillars to recover its cargo. Initially and periodically, the Caterpillar will be swarmed by Slicer ships during the extraction. The player will then return the ship to what appears to be primarily Everus Harbor, as the entirety of this phase seems to be restricted to Stanton 1, and the delivery location is seemingly restricted to LEO stations (therefore, Everus Harbor).
Pictured above: The two different default cargo manifests for the civilian Caterpillars. To summarize, one has a 20-50% full haul of cargo, while the other has 40-60% of a haul. These containers have an equal chance of spawning as: Hydrogen, Copper, Iron, Titanium, Tungsten, and Aluminium.
The mission order for Phase 1 is as follows:
Oreo_A_1
Oreo_B_Easy
Oreo_A_2
Oreo_B_Medium
Oreo_A_3
Oreo_B_Hard
It should be noted that this scheme is similar for all phases with multiple types of mission.
Phase 2: “Strawberry” - Attacking Slicer Outposts & FOBs
Pictured above: Journal Entries associated with Phase 2 - “Strawberry”
(I’m going to note now that while each successive event contains the entries for the previous, it would appear that this is mainly because each phase necessitates a whole new “Journal” as the event progresses through time, showing off the newer mission types)
Moving onto “Strawberry”, it would appear that this phase also has two different variants, A & B. This set of missions tasks players with attacking NPC outposts.
“Strawberry A”, utilizes the “Eliminate Specific” mission module, which tasks players with killing an individual, typically through FPS gameplay. These are set up to spawn at any inhabited “Outlaw” derelict settlement that isn’t already inhabited by the player.
“Strawberry B”, utilizes the “Destroy Items” mission module, which tasks players with destroying a set of items, typically cargo. It would appear that the items in question are Quantuanium Canisters in 1 or 2 SCU sized crates. Unlike Strawberry A, these are set up to spawn in the upcoming isolated and abandoned “Forward Operating Bases”, which utilize the building set that makes up the various “small outposts” that surround the Distribution Centers, which are themselves indeed FOBs. These missions are also set up to spawn a variety of vehicles, so there’s an incentive for someone needing a new ride to stop by.
Pictured above: The archetypes of the various enemy goons you’ll be tasked with taking out.
Phase 3: “Blood” - Taking Back Covalex S1DC06
Pictured above: Journal Entries associated with Phase 3 - “Blood”
Now onto “Blood”, one of the more unique variations of the Event missions. Unlike the previous events, there’s only one variation of Blood that has 3 different difficulties.
“Blood” will take the player to Covalex Distribution Centre S1DC06 for each of its 3 variations. The details here are a lot more vague than other entries, but the basic details seem easy enough to read. Essentially, it appears that the Slicers will raid the distribution center, requiring players to head over and return control of their defense to Covalex and flush them out. Players will have to hack a terminal in order to restore the center’s turrets; during which various waves of enemies will swarm (expect lots of fodder) the player from the air and ground. There may be multiple terminals to take out, but an exact count for each variant is unknown.
Pictured above: Various objective states that show off some of the Terminal functionality.
This is more speculatory, but there’s an additional element to this mission - a “Target Ship” (Starrunner). This ship could potentially serve as an “interruption” for ground based hacking, seeing as NPC ships have yet to gain the ability to target players who are on the ground, so it would serve as an incentive for active air defense. There’s also the slight possibility that this is where the terminals are located to hack, but with the fact that the mission token implies this ship is a Target, I’m inclined to lean towards it being a flying target to take down (The crew manifest noting the NPCs utilizing the turrets seem to cement this possibility further).
Pictured above: The various tags applied to the “Target Ship” confirming some details, such as its faction/crew and the ship model it utilizes.
Phase 4: “Garlic” - Fighting a Slicer Incursion with the CDF
Pictured above: Journal Entries associated with Phase 4 - “Garlic”
Like “Blood”, there exists only one breed of “Garlic”, also with 3 levels of difficulty. There exists almost nothing that would give much solidity to any speculation on what this mission may be, so I’m going to just note what I can see.
This is the first mission where you explicitly work under the Civilian Defense Force, according to a single tag. The mission type is based off a module the following module: Ship_IncursionLocationManager.xml.
Pictured above: The module that each of the “Garlic” missions draw from.
My random speculation based off the name and faction alone? This appears to be some sort of massive defensive battle in which the CDF is required to fight in similarly to XenoThreat. One additional element includes the following minor detail in the tags: “GarlicFrom”.
Pictured above: Various tags from the Phases. Note that Garlic, Strawberry, and Oreo have a “X From” subtag, while Vanilla and Blood lack it.
Based of the image before the one above, you can see that “From” appears to indicate that this mission was “sent” to you, i.e. - “Garlic” is “from” the CDF. “Strawberry” and “Oreo” are similar (though explictly have a blanked out organization entry), while “Vanilla” and “Blood” are not.
Here’s my hypothesis on why this matters: I believe that this is the difference between a ‘open access’ global mission and a ‘specifically contracted’ contract mission. “Strawberry” and “Oreo” both are distributed through contracts that allow for the missions to be taken up whenever, while “Blood” is an exception, as it only takes place in a single telegraphed location. My final speculation is that “Garlic” is a smaller mission in scale similar to the initial two due to this difference.
Phase 5: “Vanilla” - Delivering Supplies to the Pyro-Stanton Jump Point
Pictured above: Journal Entries associated with Phase 5 - “Vanilla”
Vanilla is both quite vague and quite clear. It’s vague in the sense that there’s plenty of elements missing that would reveal more specific elements in how the mission functions moment-to-moment, but what is there gives enough that you’ll have a good idea of the overarching objectives.
“Vanilla A and B” are two simple concepts: Deliver a set amount of goods to the Stanton-Pyro jump point. One variant seems to have the player deliver specific items to the Stanton-Pyro Jump Point, while the other has players deliver specific resources to it instead. It’s implied that these goods are obtained from the Slicers through the tags, both the resources and the courier packages. Completion of the mission set appears to grant some form of reward, similar to the previous multi-phase event, however it should be noted that it’s entirely obfuscated as to what this might be.
Pictured above: Delivery locations for “Vanilla”, which appear to solely be the Stanton-Pyro Jump Point.
Pictured above: Mission information for “Vanilla A”, which has a “Courier Hauling” description that seems to imply that it centers around hauling specific items and packages, rather than resources.
Pictured above: Mission information for “Vanilla B”, which implies a more classical “Resource” hauling direction. Resoures needed that are detailed include Processed Food, Medical Supplies, Agricultural Supplies, Copper, Aluminum, and Inert Materials.
Hope y’all enjoyed this deeper dive into the newest build. As I’ve already noted, this is all speculation on a bunch of already obfuscated and obscure files, so I will not be surprised if my speculation is somewhat inaccurate. I am no programmer or gameplay designer, so take all I’ve noted with a grain of salt. Be sure to note your own thoughts on my notes in the comments, or on our relatively new Discord channel.
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Nice! They completely changed the 9tail blockade mission, because before we didn't have player piracy, now we do and it would be very disruptive.
Using the new guild, where the merchandise has no value for the player to steal and no charge investment on the part of the player, it will be much better!