If you needed another reason to check out Star Citizen, now may be the time to do so! After Evocati and PTU community testing, developer Cloud Imperium Games has pushed Alpha 3.13 of their ambitious space-simulation game onto live servers.
Titled ‘Alpha 3.13: Underground Infamy”, the main feature of this update surrounds an overhaul of some planet environments. Specifically, by the introduction of large, complex caves for players to explore. According to the development team, these caves are “In terms of size, and scope, these caves are larger and more complex than anything players have explored previously”.
In addition, Bounty Hunter, Assassin, and Combat missions can now occur within these dangerous environments. New entrances allow for players to drive into the maw of caves, with sinkholes also offering a new way for players to fly in and explore underground.
Caves not really your thing? Understandable, they aren’t really mine either. Other new additions in the main version of Star Citizen Alpha 3.13 include:
Ship-to-ship Docking: Ship-to-ship interaction sees a huge leap forward. This first iteration of the system allows the docking and undocking of the Merlin fighter from the Constellation Aquila, Phoenix, and Andromeda, with more ships receiving support in coming patches.
Reputation Manager: Players can expect a new menu on their mobiGlas tracking their reputation with mission givers, organizations, and factions across the ‘verse. By completing missions and tasks players will earn reputation, improving their standing with said faction for a variety of rewards. The reputation manager represents the first such progression system introduced to Star Citizen.
Greycat ROC-DS: Designed for when the job at hand is a little bigger than expected, this Dual Seat mining vehicle minimizes the headaches with a manually operated mining arm to reach even the most precarious deposits and maximizes profits with more than quadruple the onboard ore-storage of the very popular standard model.
Cyclone MT: Outfitted with a combination gun and missile turret, the Cyclone MT offers players an all-out assault ground vehicle that carries increased combat options in the field compared to other Cyclone vehicles.
Cargo Mission Updates: Cargo missions receive two new updates including Quantum sensitive cargo missions, challenging players to manually fly to their destination without relying on their Quantum drive. Multi-drop timed cargo missions come online as players are expected to deliver three packages each with slightly varied timers, requiring more strategic flight navigation for greater rewards.
A full patch notes of Star Citizen Alpha 3.13 can be found HERE. Not all originally planned content made it into the first release of this update, and will be made available in subsequent sub-patches.
In development by Cloud Imperium Games and their studios across North America and Europe, Star Citizen is being helmed by Wing Commander (1990s) creator Chris Roberts. The game has currently been in a long-term alpha phase with no confirmed release date. Despite this, the studio has raised more than $350 million USD through on-going crowdfunding. Please keep in mind should you decide to purchase towards Star Citizen, that this is an incomplete project and that you are pledging towards an extended crowdfunding campaign with no 100% guarantee of a finished product.
