I did predict, some of you may recall, that by the end of this year Chris Roberts’ Star Citizen will have raised more money via its crowdfunding effort than it took to finance the Wing Commander movie (which had a budget of, if I am not mistaken, roughly $33 million). And lo, as of this week, there is only $6 million left to be raised if my prediction is to come true.

That’s right: Star Citizen just chalked up another cool million dollars, bringing its grand total to over $27 million.

irst the Xi’an and now the Banu – Star Citizen’s backers are making it possible to greatly expand the user experience! Here’s the stretch goal you unlocked at $27 million:

Banu Merchantman Unlocked – 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.

We’re eager to get to work building out the Banu spaceflight systems… watch this space to learn how we’re going to make it a distinct experience from flying a human-designed ship. And since we hit this goal before November 26th, the Banu merchantman will be one of the ships available during the sale (you heard it here first!)

Now that we’ve reached $27 million, the Banu merchant ship will be sent to top concept artists for further development.

As well, a new stretch goal has been announced, this one for the $29 million milestone. For those of you looking forward to Squadron 42, the single-player mode of Star Citizen, this is one to pay attention to:

Enhanced Mission Design for Squadron 42 – 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.

Foundry 42, by the way, is the Erin Roberts-headed studio that has been primarily tasked with building out Squadron 42; the Chris Roberts-led Cloud Imperium Games will be focused now primarily on building the multiplayer elements of Star Citizen.