Star Citizen Alpha 3.18 – Soft Deaths, New Locations, Time Trials & Gameplay Updates
Welcome to some more Star Citizen News. We have been told by CI that Alpha 3.18 is going to be containing more parts to the cargo refactor than we first thought with soft deaths, boarding actions, in game racing and new tracks BUT ALSO a load of new outposts, the IAE is next week…
There are 6 new race tracks in Alpha 3.18 and they are part of the PU rather than in AC.
There are race and time trail missions that you can participate in. You may need to complete a race track a few times to gain reputation to then get missions for the other race tracks.
You’ll have to pay to take the mission / enter the race and they are available like a normal mission on the mobiGlas.
If you complete the race you’ll get some rep and potentially some money. Fail it and you’ll lose the money you used to enter the race with. There are checkpoints along the way. Place well and you’ll earn more money and be on the leaderboard.
You may be concerned that CI are building racing tracks and gameplay for Star Citizen currently but typically this is a task for new hires to learn skills and get up to speed… they are able to add something to the game while becoming more experienced and it doesn’t really take away from other development. It also adds various POI, new assets and new gameplay.
Racing is an accessible part of the game that spectators, racers, creators and the community can all rally behind easily.
There is an entirely new track on Daymar and is around 10km. It is similar to the Snake Pit. The current dev record for the race is 1 min 22 seconds. There are a load of interesting buildings and POI around this track, areas for spectators to watch.
The area is explorable and there are some cool easter eggs to find.
The Lorville Race Track was a circuit already defined by the community that CI then decided to ratify in game.
The Orison Race Track is around and between the floating platforms, this is an evolved version of a community track. It’s quite complex and confusing and they have tried to make the course as clear as possible BUT I’d say it’s the most difficult looking of the tracks CI have shown us… at least for my brain to wrap around.
I am really looking forward to exploring these massive newly updated POI and it’s genuinely cool that CI can support racing while training staff and improving the gameplay area. The idea of some emergent gameplay around here and find some Easter Eggs is a big draw… I am not sure how much I’ll be into competitive racing, as I am not personally a fan BUT we do know there is going to be gambling and I suspect the racing will have knock on effects to other jobs in game too.
From ISC earlier in the week we also saw a Race Track around GrimHex’s Asteroid field. And the Icebreaker track on Euterpe.
They are going to be making some custom / improved audio for ships in regards to racing… as they want the audio to reflect the stress and high octane nature of racing.
Hull Creaking… Engines to Max… Fly Bys… will all have some work. We are going to see VOIP and NPC improvements too.
CI are really happy with their new UK Studio… its a much better space for development.
Also something to mention the 5 derelict Colonial Outposts on microTech are getting joined by another 30 Outposts in Alpha 3.18… so there will be 5 new ones on microTech, 10 on Hurston and 1-6 on various moons.
There was a Cargo AMA and some Spectrum Posts that also covered Soft Death and Ship Boarding in 3.18
The Cargo Refactor will allow for the physicalization of Commodity Cargo which will be in 1SCU boxes that will also now movable with Tractor Beams.
BUT ALSO When any ship is reduced to Zero Health / Death Status their is a 70% chance it will not explode and instead be left in tact along with it’s cargo… and it’s crew will also survive, tho the ship is no longer flyable. This is the “soft death” system for Alpha 3.18. And allows for boarding and retrieval of cargo.
All a ships doors unlock on soft-death… so anyone can gain access.
Soft Death is enabled for NPC ships, but currently the AI inside will be killed, but at least you can still board them.
Soft Deaths will be disabled in Arena Commander.
There is a huge amount more content planned to evolve Cargo Gameplay after 3.18 from Hauling Missions to Times & Costs associated with loading and unloading.
Alpha 3.18 is absolutely bursting at the seams with content now.
The BIGGEST Ship Show in the ‘Verse Is Next Week!
The Intergalactic Aerospace Expo is only one week away! For 13 days, you can play Star Citizen for FREE and try out over 120 ships and ground vehicles. New pilots and veterans of the ‘verse, you do NOT want to miss this event; from new ship announcements to exclusive goodies and more, it’s shaping up to be the best IAE yet.
Something more Alpha 4.0 related This Week’s Sneak Peek appears to be of some wastelands on a planet in Pyro.
We also had some updates with the Derelict Stations in Pyro, they are looking very smashed up.