Star Citizen 3.17.2 Is Adding New Settlements & Massive City Battles
Welcome to some more Star Citizen – There are new locations coming to Alpha 3.17.2 but not only that, but NPCs are able to move around these locations more freely than before and some of these new locations are planet side and previously this would of caused a lot of issues for NPCs.
Some of the derelicts you’ll discover may be settlements, these are much more integrated into the environment and may have been lived in for years and as part of that have evolved and been broken down, partially made into other structures and there may be some ramshackle generators, water filters ect… that have been built.
Wrecks will range in age, with older looking ones probably more likely to be these settlements BUT nature may of started to reclaim them.
They’ve made these derelcits and settlements FPS and mission friendly.
There are indications that there is a wreck in an area as well, as the ground shows signs of the crash, trees are broken and there is scrapping along the floor before finding it’s final resting place. (I wouldn’t expect that with wrecks of ships that happen during gameplay, so if I take out a starfarer, and it crashes… maybe don’t expect the ground to be gouged… but who knows?)
Inside the wreck that CI showed, it’s been very much taken back by nature with plants growing on the inside, they also mentioned that some ships might have older parts, or areas showing that they are from older tech.
The Nav Mesh updates allows them to fill these locations with NPCs. They can also patrol and track players. NPCs moving around more organic spaces and surfaces is a big deal and the new system does they dynamically.
Some missions that you might have at these settlements and wrecks, could be to clear out an enemy factions or pickup and delivery, there will be a range of combat and non-combat missions going forward.
They now have the tools to be able to place POI and NPCs around them in a procedurally assisted way. You’ll see more and more locations coming in the future and better AI driving the NPCs as they evolve the nav mesh tech further.
There are multiple new settlement and derelict locations both on ground and in space for players to find in Alpha 3.17.2.
The Siege of Orison is Star Citizen’s latest Dynamic Event and complex large scale mission. It is a FPS focused event on the floating platforms of Orison. You’ll take shuttles in with other players to help take back these areas from the Nine Tails who have occupied it.
It will have players able to jump in with other players that are already participating on the mission and requires a time and people investment to complete.
There are a lot of NPC hostiles and it is supposed to have some difficulty. The event is PvE in nature and there aren’t systems for PvP support for it.
There are new visitable platforms with varying levels of battle scars. There is quite a range of scenes and areas. You want a big battle in a city… then this event is for you.
This brings a load of the FPS Gameplay and mechanics together, with AI, Healing, Gunplay and general movement and animations all coming together on a large scale.
All of this is in for Alpha 3.17.2 which is fantastic, new locations, a new dynamic event and AI able to traverse planets surfaces… This patch is shaping up to be amazing for gameplay.
This in conjunction with Derelict Colonial Outposts, New Space Stations, NPCs being able to come in Dropships to reinforce some areas and delivery mission expanding to the illegal side too.
Star Citizen Alpha 3.17.2 is currently in it’s evocati testing phase and should be going out to wave 1 ptu in the not too distant future, hopefully by the end of June with a live release soonish after that.