Star Citizen 3.6 Now LIVE – New Features & Patch Notes

Star CitizenAlpha 3.6 is Now Live, so let’s take a look at the patch notes for the latest release. What’s New, what’s important and what’s still broken. If you are looking to get an account and game package, use the link in the description below to get 5000 Bonus UEC the in game currency.

There is a New Game Launcher which now allows you to change from the LIVE build to PTU at the click of a button. You can get it at robertsspaceindustries.com/download

New Vehicles / Ships – There is an entirely New “surprize” Vehicle the Anvil Ballista a mighty 2 person missile truck. That poses a massive threat to ships within it’s range with 8 size 5 Missiles, 2 size 7s and gatling weapons too.

The Kruger Intergalactic P-72 Archimedes is now flyable, which is a luxury snub craft suitable potentially for some racing. There is also the Reworked P-52 Merlin as well as the Vanguard Hoplite & Warden. All of these are available to buy currently as part of a 3.6 LIVE sale.

Major New Features

The Hacking System – You can hack Comm Arrays, SPK & Other Security Depots (some Underground Facilities) Hacking requires a stowable, single-use device which can be found at various locations and shops and is stored as a gadget known as a hacking chip or crypto key, put it into your had by pressing “4” key after equipping it in a utility slot from the mobiGlas equipment manager. The devices vary in style and quality, some taking longer and others being less reliable and needing more playing input, basically having to click continue on a screen before a timer runs out at this early stage, they can be found at Shops like Cubby Blast but also in GrimHex as well as other locations. Counter Missions are generated for players to prevent these hacks as well.

Comm Arrays can be turned off for mission objectives or to black out an area from detecting crime. At Security Depots and SPK you can hack down your

There’s an overhaul of the Law System – Crimestat now directly impacts the level of security forces that engage. There are various crimes, system wide ones as well as juristical ones that change: with the area you are in Crusader, Hurston, ArcCorp and a Black Out area around GrimHex. Comm Arrays, Security Forces and Land Zones all can detect crimes. Based on your crime you can be automatically fined OR get a crime rating and chased by security.
Security will interdict ships and scan them, if they are found with illegal, stolen or prohibited goods they will be confiscated or the player engaged. Attempting to avoid the scan or not coming to a halt is also a crime. A Ship is not counted as stolen until a player tries to reclaim it on insurance.

Stolen goods and illegal commodities can now only be sold at less than reputable locations, some of which may require some investigation to locate. There are new ScrapYard Locations for these reasons on moons and planets.

Added Hover Mode – Hover Mode or VTOL will automatically engage near planetary surfaces with atmosphere below a certain velocity threshold. When engaged, ships will swap to VTOL thruster modes, which may include alternate thruster configurations when applicable. When in hover mode, the ship will hover level until the player gives an input. Pitch forward/backward will result in moving forward/backward and roll will result in lateral movement. If the ship attains enough forward velocity it will automatically switch to rear thrust driven forward flight. Use of the Horizon Marker on your HUD as well as Velocity & Acceleration Control are very useful while in Hover Mode.

In regard to Acceleration Control – They have Grouped thrusters into a “power group” which can now be throttled to control thruster acceleration.

Thruster power throttle is default bound to RALT+mouse wheel and is available in the keybinding menu. To allow players to track current power throttle to thrusters, a meter of percent power has replaced what was the hydrogen fuel meter and hydrogen fuel has moved to a static percent readout on the bottom of the HUD.

Ship components (coolers, power plants, shields) now suffer from noticeable degradation which can accumulate through time and through specific behaviors (frequent overheating, damage). Degradation can be repaired with any other ship damage at major stations.

This is combined with “misfire” events to ship shields, thrusters, power plants, and coolers.

Which now have a chance to misfire. The base chance for a component in perfect condition is extremely low. Misfire chances increase with increasing degradation, damage & heat. Misfires can be minor with visual blips, major with periods of reduced functionality, or critical resulting in temporary shutdowns.

They Added FPS Weapon Scopes which some weapons can attach via the Equipment Manager, there is a 1x Red Dot, 3x holo, 4x telescopic & 8x telescopic flavors. They are available to buy at FPS weapon Shops.

There has been a Shield Rework with major differences between manufacturers & types. Size 1, shields now stop regenerating on hit and once a set period of time passes without further strikes, the shields will began to regen again. An exception to this is the ASAS (manufacturer) shields constantly regenerate, but have a reduced health pool. Size 2 have no damage delay, low regeneration, and a large health pool. Size 3 shields have very large health pools and regeneration rates, with the goal of requiring multiple ships working together to overcome their regen. Power settings only impact regen now as well as some other changes they

Toned down the shield s VFX, Changed the shield regen delay to be per generator rather than per face & Overclocking no longer affects shield allocation rate or hardening.

There has been an Economy Update – They have Added ship purchasing kiosks to ship shops around the verse which have different ships stocked and now allow access to most of the flyable ships and vehicles to be bought in game. Ship Prices have been rebalanced as have the prices of commodities, items as well as where to buy and sell them. There have been updates to how outposts and landing zones purchase & sell so it’s less artificial. They have a maximum of space for stock and funds to purchase with, that will increase if they sell items. This also takes into account Black Market and Stolen Goods too.

There has been a New Space Stations that have replaced the Rest Stops in Game, these have lots of variation BUT currently their interiors are based on the original tech, that will be overhauled in 3.7.

Updated the Transit Systems – Trains are now on loops with multiple trains on each line, which should reduce waiting times across the board. Elevators are physicalized & can now move to multiple pads/hangars rather than a single one. A selection of available destinations will be available via interaction at the interior elevator button panel.

Delamar & Levski has moved further away from Crusader and put into its own object container. It’s now the distance that you’d expect a planet to be away from another.

They have Added clustering for mineable entities so that mineable rocks now appear in medium to large clusters rather than single rocks and their locations have been updated to reflect this.

Environment

Added automated turrets to GrimHex.
Updated several locations to now use decoupled lighting for improved visual look.
Reduced the volume of the combat music and added an option to mute this music event.
Added the ability for AI pilots to strafe during passes.
Added Oxypen and MediPen to Lorville Tammany and Sons shop.

Added “average” skill level for AI pilots to increase variation.
Updated and expanded player carriable items.

Lighting pass on exteriors of underground facilities.
Various visual tweaks around Lorville.

Missions

Added illegal style delivery missions for prohibited and stolen goods.

Re-enabled ECN missions.
Various improvements to FPS based missions.
Temporarily removed escort and distraction style missions.
There are now as many PVP bounty missions offered as there are eligible criminal player targets.

Ships and Vehicles

New Ship Weapon: MaxOx Neutron Repeaters

Rapid fire short-mid range in sizes 1-3 purchasable at Centre Mass at Area 18. Uses “neutron” style damage, which has damage that increases over its range.

Added ship hailing.

You can now start a video call with the pilot of a ship/vehicle that you’re targeting while in your ship/vehicle with a hotkey (6), selecting the target in either the Comms/Targeting MFD, or in your MobiGlas Comms app.

Added ship specific voice channel that you automatically join when entering a ship & leave when you leave it.

Added a cargo grid to the Valkyrie, I believe this is 30 SCU.

Updated the HUD of the Gladius – This is a new HUD type that is in testing.
Decreased the hull strength of the Arrow.
Increased the hull strength of the Reliant.
Significantly increased the hull strength of the Khartu-Al.
Added nozzle flaps to the F7C and F7CM.
Temporarily Removed the ability to change paints on the VMA.
Updated JUST quantum drives for increased durability and more distinction from other classes.

Updated Various Ship VFX
Updated AI Hammerheads to “gunship” type flight behavior.
Updated ship & Ship weapon audio.
Increased the damage output of missiles.
Updated the cooling for Dragonfly and Nox thrusters to make them more usable.
Updated rate of fire on all repeater weapons.

FPS

Added the ability to free look and activate head tracking while holding a weapon.
Free look in first person now operates as a hold rather than a smart toggle.
New FPS Weapon: Behring S38 Pistol – Semi Auto Ballistic, medium damage purchasable at Center Mass and Port Olisar.
New FPS Weapon: Klaus & Werner Lumin V SMG – Burst Fire Laser SMG – Purchased at Center Mass and Conscientious Objects.

Improved the look and feel of the character jump mechanic.
Updated ragdoll properties to improve look and feel in all situations.
Polish to smooth out first person turns and crouch turns.
Added a display screen to the GRIN multi-tool.
Added display screen to KLWE Arclight pistol.

The comms visor display now displays which channel you are VOIP broadcasting to, who else is in the channel with you, and who is speaking.
Players can now invite an entire channel into their party.
Players now default auto-join the global proximity VOIP channel.
Video and lighting improvements to comms calls.
Color and names of channels can now be edited in the mobiGlas.
Players can now decide which chat channel is directed to the visor.
New Webcam Headtracking Features are available via the Comms menu.

Major Bug Fixes

Party launch and “join friends” should now work from the main menu.
Missiles should now be able to be counter-measured.
Fixed various ship damage & animation states.
IFCS sounds for coupled/cruise should now work for all ships.
Fixed Various FPS Weapons Updating on the HUD.
Various Player Animation updates & fixes to prevent getting stuck and passing out,
Loading into Arena Commander as a spectator should no longer cause an infinite load screen.
The comms MFD should now update properly & not be blank for other crew.
Added an interaction to the interior of the cargo bay of the 300 series to avoid players getting stuck.
Fix for visual blurring on rotating asteroids.
The Reliant series should now be able to store handheld cargo.
Combat music should no longer seem much louder than others.
Fixed missing radar on customized ships.
Fixed weapons should no longer aim toward the target as if gimbaled when in assist mode.
HUD Fixes and Clean up of items that shouldn’t appear on them
Increased the health of destructible turrets so they can’t be destroyed with melee attacks.
Turret movement audio should now play properly.
Updated spline jumps to avoid impacts with the planetary body.
Assisted gimbals should no longer wander when no target is locked.
The undersuit should no longer display thruster VFX when not in EVA.
Fixes to Automated Landings
Fixed an issue where scan blob contact VFX were played for everyone in the area.
Ruto’s Hologram should now appear at GrimHex again.
Female characters should now sit in the copilot seat of the Super Hornet correctly.
Targeting pips should no longer continue to show and lock to screen after a weapon is destroyed.
Players should no longer fall through a planet when loading back in if they previously logged out in a bed.

There are a variety of Known Issues still with the LIVE Patch:

Players may get stuck on the initial loading screen. W/A: Alt+F4 and restart or attempt to kill your character (holding Backspace) (on load screen) to force a respawn.
Missiles on the Anvil Ballista may occasionally be unable to lock and/or fire. W/A: Reclaim or respawn and try again.
Mission givers can sometimes be in the incorrect position and may not interact normally.
The HUD can vanish when the quantum drive is enabled.
Dropping the hacking chips can cause them to fall through the floor.
Significant first person framerate reduction can occur.
Textures will display across visors on some helmets.
AI ships have an unintended wing wobble behavior.
The terrain on Lyria might disappear in some areas (high terrain in high density areas).
Removed collision from the Freelancer’s turret forks as a temporary work around to get larger objects in, pending animated retract.

I would expect a 3.6.1 patch reasonably soon to address some of those known issues and any others that pop up over the next week.

We also know they are working on the 890 Jump & Ship Rentals for a 3.6 branch patch between now and 3.7 as well.