← Star Citizen
SaltEMike TV
SaltEMike Rants About What's Wrong With Star Citizen Fan Mentalities Towards Bad Mechanics...
⏱ 22 min video · 3 min read17 Jun 2026Worth watching
TL;DR
SaltEMike argues that the Star Citizen community has developed a broken mentality of accepting bad game mechanics by trying to band-aid them rather than demanding they be fixed. He focuses on quantum travel as the single biggest unfun core mechanic in the game, and criticizes CIG for selling ships before validating whether their gameplay loops are actually fun.
Key points
1
Quantum travel is fundamentally bad design: it is completely hands-off, can last 10+ minutes, and is essentially a loading screen — the opposite of immersive gameplay.
2
CIG designs and sells ships (like the SRV) before ever validating whether their gameplay loops are fun, leading to broken mechanics they then have to reverse-engineer fun around.
3
The Star Citizen fanbase defaults to band-aiding bad ideas (e.g. 'repair your ship during quantum travel') instead of questioning whether the core mechanic should exist as-is.
4
Friction in game design is only good when it is meaningful and active — quantum travel friction is 'rug burn,' not good friction. Jump point travel is cited as an example of friction done right.
5
Star systems like Pyro and Nyx are artificially oversized, making travel tedious and missions impractical, and CIG should consider shrinking the map rather than adding more mechanics on top of bad traversal.
Key arguments
→
CIG should test ship gameplay loops in the PTU before selling ships for real money, allowing collaborative design validation before art and monetization are locked in.
→
Quantum travel needs a complete overhaul — not band-aids like mini-games layered on top — ideally making the pilot actively engaged with skill-based inputs affecting fuel efficiency and travel time.
→
The map scale should be reduced so traversal time is capped around two minutes, preserving a sense of scale without forcing players to go AFK during every journey.
Notable quotes
“Quantum travel period is a bad experience. Period. It is one of those things that they could have and should have looked at a long time ago and went, yeah, we should probably do this differently before we move too far down the line.”
“You set your quantum travel and you walk away and go do something else. Its a pause screen.”
“CI comes up with a bad idea and then all the backers come up with ideas to band-aid that bad idea.”
Worth watching?
✅
Worth watching the full video?
Worth watching if you are a Star Citizen backer who wants a sharp critique of why the game feels unfun at a structural level — the summary captures the full argument, but the live Twitch-style delivery adds context if you enjoy the community debate format.
Saved you some time? The creator still deserves a like.
Want this for your own channels?
Add the channels you follow. Every new video summarised and in your inbox the moment it drops. From £4/month.
Try it free