This Week in Star Citizen: 12 October 2026
Squadron 42 guests return from Manchester, a Phoenix hologram heads to Twitch Drops and Behind the Ships returns on Wednesday. Catch up on the news and what is coming this week.
Star Citizen marked its birthday on 10 October with a weekend that brought its community together in Manchester. Around 140 guests attended the Squadron 42 hands-on event, including people from the network of organisers, artists, lore enthusiasts, creators, volunteers and experienced players who help newcomers find their feet.
The gathering celebrated a community that has spent years organising events, building models, telling stories and helping new pilots. For the guests in Manchester, it also meant finally taking the controls of Squadron 42.
Five hours of Squadron 42, then an adrift Xi’an ship
Guests played five hours of the campaign, followed by an additional hour in a separate story chapter aboard an adrift Xi’an ship. The ship had already been glimpsed during CitizenCon Manchester 2954; the Manchester guests could now experience that part of the story for themselves.
This remains an invited hands-on event, not public access to a released game. Steam currently lists a planned Q2 2027 release window. Our Manchester player-reactions article follows the attendees’ accounts in detail, while the Steam announcement includes the official trailer and platform information.
More photographs from the weekend are on the way. Until then, the official trailer offers a look at the campaign beyond the guests’ accounts.
A Phoenix display arrives through Twitch Drops
From 14 to 27 October, four hours watching eligible Star Citizen streams on Twitch unlocks the Phoenix Insignia Display. The holographic decoration draws on the emblem aboard the classic Constellation Phoenix. Look for broadcasts marked Drops Enabled, link your Twitch and RSI accounts, and claim the unlocked reward in Twitch’s Drops Inventory.
Those dates belong to the Twitch campaign. RSI Discovery Month is already running in Stanton, where special installations show the Constellation Mk IV’s history alongside its successor and the new Skylark. Activities offer RSI-themed rewards, and completing the Constellation Rental Offer gives five days with the Mk V Centaurus. Players can share feedback with the developers through Spectrum.
The schedule for 12–16 October
| Date | Scheduled update |
|---|---|
| Monday 12 October | The Twitch Drops announcement sets out the Phoenix Insignia Display campaign. |
| Tuesday 13 October | The October Monthly Bundle announcement is scheduled, with a weathered black-and-gold finish and ethereal geometric etchings teased for its gear. |
| Wednesday 14 October | Behind the Ships returns on the official Star Citizen YouTube channel for a closer look at new Alpha 4.10.2 ships and their design process. The Twitch Drops campaign also begins. |
| Friday 16 October | The RSI Weekly Newsletter is scheduled for subscribers’ inboxes. |
Wednesday’s Behind the Ships episode is the next one to watch for a closer look at the Alpha 4.10.2 additions. Its featured ships have not yet been named. Newsletter preferences are available in RSI account settings.
Last week’s reports and October’s skeletal gear
October’s subscriber items introduced skeletal-themed equipment including a rifle, suit and helmet, with the Drake Pitbull and Ironclad Assault as Vehicles of the Month. September’s PU Monthly Report also arrived, covering Core Gameplay, ship development, technology, art and the other teams working on the universe.
The Roadmap update added new imagery for Nyx I, II and III, and a DGS Planet Subdivision card for Alpha 4.11. A card on the Roadmap is development planning; it is separate from the Discovery Month activities already available in the current game. Our 9 October Roadmap coverage goes into that change and the released Constellation work.
Tortue69 takes the community spotlight
The 12 October Community MVP is A Bit Overkill by Tortue69, a two-part Community Hub submission featuring super-heavy armour against a capital ship. MVP selections receive a Spectrum badge and a place in the Hub’s MVP section.
The week’s featured community images are Constellation Mk IV box by Draal Iskaldur, Spooky Time by Shockbreaker, How to Kill Mr T by Falco_Krige, and Patrol, also by Shockbreaker. Players can submit their own work to the Community Hub for consideration in future highlights.