Get Ready For Star Citizen Alpha 3.18
Get Ready For Star Citizen Alpha 3.18 Live… the patch is imminently releasing and although there is very little you can do to prepare, there is a lot you might want to know about the patch…
If you’ve been playing in the PTU, you can copy those files over to your live folder for a quicker update for 3.18 live.
Star Citizen Alpha 3.18 has a Full Wipe…
aUEC
Items
Ships & Vehicles
Reputation
The only thing that won’t be wiped is stuff you’ve bought with real money, promo items, things you’ve been gifted that were bought with real money, basically anything thats on the RSI Website in your hangar there.
You’ll also have a small amount of starting aUEC.
I am not expecting another wipe with 3.19… and probably not until 4.0… maybe not even then.
Picking Where You Spawn…
It’s easier to leave and get to than before.
It’s pretty.
There are some great shops there.
Orison!
It’s near a load of the other new content
Daymar
SPK
And it has access to a huge range of missions
Be Prepared For Some Bugs
Cloud Imperium have said that with the live release there are going to be issues:
“we do want to set expectations that there may be some outstanding issues that can cause a server to deteriorate over time. However, the team will continue to focus on these and get additional hotfixes released as soon as possible. Once we get through implementing any needed fixes to improve stability/performance, we’ll look to launch a Free Fly event, potentially later in March.”
I would also expect that some of the known issues that have been listed on the PTU builds are not entirely solved yet either.
As such be aware there maybe some issues AND reading the known issues and their workarounds will give you a better gameplay experience until they are fixed!
It’s worth checking out support.robertsspaceindustries.com if you are having any technical or in game issues, it’s a great resource for quick help!
Bring a Gravity Tool
A Multi-Tool with Gravity Attachment is soooo useful in 3.18… I would say almost essential.
When you are at an appropriate shop just buy a few and store them at stations / planets you normally hang out at. Always take one with you as they are the only way to move the 1SCU crates that are part of 3.18 and the Cargo Refactor.
Commodity Cargo is Physicalized
And that cargo will often persist on board a ship after it’s destruction.
Soft Destruction is part of 3.18 so ships are permanently disabled when defeated most of the time… tho you can shoot them more to make them EXPLODE.
Also players will survive when their ship is disabled as will all their cargo…
This means boarding is very much a thing AND the looting of that cargo requires you to have that gravity attachment and multitool!
Orison Platform Missions – How To Access
There is a lot of fun and quick combat to be had on the Orison Platform Missions.
You will need to get some rep with Crusader before you can access these, you can grab one of the training / certification missions with them. Once complete you should be able to access the Orison Missions. Fly to a platform, take out targets at / in a building, it’s like a mini siege of orison but as there is a landing zone and hospital so close it’s super easy to jump in and play.
Racing
Take the First Racing Mission then you will unlock more tracks as you go, there are 7 in total.
The time trials are fun… there are typically 3 reward levels you can attain for each course.
Salvage
Salvage is Fun BUT you need a Vulture or Reclaimer… save up for one in game.
You can find Salvage at the asteroid clusters by lagrange point stations OR at the Yela Asteroid Field, just put out a ping.
You’ll also a gravity tool to move boxes of salvage you make from the dispenser into your cargo hold… fortunately you can craft them at the salvage ships dispensary as well… handy!
3.18 Ship Sales
There are a load more ships in the in game shop to earn aUEC for and purchase.
But also there are some ships on sale for real money with 3.18 live…
Scorpius Antares
Vulture
Expect a load more ships also going on sale that have seen updates in 3.18 as well!
PES
PES isn’t going to overly affect the way you play SC in 3.18… it might mean you see some cool stuff tho, with ship graveyards, players trying to pile up pico’s and such.
Go Exploring
New Sand Caves – With Alien Rock Shrimp…
New Lakes and Rivers
Loads more Outposts / POI
Whistlers Crypt on Daymar with 600i & MSR… it’s a bit combat-y there!
Legal Things
Law – CR2 or less then you are not shoot on sight
SPK – Only place you can hack down your criminal rating
Prison – More things to do, missions, NPCs running around, better ways of escaping the planet.
What to do?
Take missions you are interested in… build up credits and buy new ships…
Cargo Ships, Combat Ships, Mining Ships and Salvage Ships… and larger multi-role ships will all give you some fantastic new gameplay when you work up to them.
You might have to take entry level missions at first.
Ship Combat – Bounty Missions – Combat Service Beacons
FPS Combat & Looting – Bunker / Orison Missions / Retrieve Op / Derelicts
PvP / Outlaw – SPK – Personal Mission – Player Bounty Hunting
Lots of things to do by hand / non combat – Hand Mining, Exploring, some delivery missions
But you could just go off on your own and do Cargo, Mining or Salvaging wherever… mission free. Just be aware that there may be a lot more pirates around as Soft Descruction makes piracy and looting ships now viable!
There is loot in them hills… explore mission / POI for loot containers and loot bodies to find some rare items and gear… some of the most power FPS gear and cool looking items can’t be purchased and must be looted.
Also there will be Big Events that CI will announce when they are on… these are some of the most fun in Star Citizen where loads of players are thrown together and there is potentially a lot of aUEC to be made.
XenoThreat with it’s Fleet Battles
SoO Focusing on FPS Assaults
Jumptown 2.1 Combined Arms Defense / Exploitation of Facilities / Hold & Escape