Update: Star Citizen Alpha 4.0.0

Star Citizen Alpha 4.0.0 - "Destination Pyro" is a major update for Star Citizen, adding Pyro as the first new system to the game after Stanton. In addition it included an initial release of Server meshing in its static state, allowing players to gather in greater numbers without the need for independent servers.

New Star System: Pyro Addition of the second Star System into the Star Citizen Universe.

Pyro Space Stations: Adding rundown rest stop stations to the Pyro system, which provide basic services such as repair, sustenance, and commerce.

Pyro I - The first planet from the sun of the Pyro system. Its thick, high-pressure atmosphere hides a strange landscape beset by powerful winds and lightning strikes. Under the clouds, there is an ecosystem of plants and animals that endure its extremely high temperatures, even during powerful stellar flares.

Pyro II - Monox: Monox is the second planet from the sun of the Pyro system. Nicknamed "Monox" for the deadly carbon monoxide in its atmosphere, it has a temperate climate, and was seen as a viable candidate for terraforming shortly after its discovery. However, its proximity to the system's volatile sun made it dangerous for Human habitation, and the United Nations of Earth (UNE) refused to clear it for terraformation, instead allowing corporations to harvest its natural resources. Undeterred by the potential risk, outlaws eventually took up residence on the planet when the last corporations pulled out of Pyro in the 26th century.

Pyro III - Bloom: Bloom is the third planet from the sun of the Pyro system. Cold but naturally habitable, it became the epicenter of mining endeavors in Pyro. Pyrotechnic Amalgamated and other corporations constructed multiple staging sites, employees barracks, and processing centers that were in use until the cost of their maintenance could no longer be offset by mining profits. Abandoned when the last active corporations in Pyro ceased operations there in the late 26th century, they were claimed by squatters, outlaws, and former miners who lacked the means to return to the United Empire of Earth.

Pyro V: Pyro V is the fourth planet from the sun of the Pyro system. It was given the classification of "Pyro V" when researchers came across strong evidence that its outermost moon once maintained a stable orbit around the system's star between Pyro III and Pyro V. When it was struck by an unknown celestial body, it was knocked into Pyro V's gravitational sphere of influence. Residents of and travelers through the Pyro system are known to harvest hydrogen from Pyro V's green and yellow atmosphere.

Pyro VI - Terminus: Terminus (Pyro VI) is the outermost world of the Pyro system. Its nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere is technically breathable, but contains high enough amounts of methane and carbon dioxide that it has a negative effect on one's health after extended exposure. Pyrotechnic Amalgamated placed their main hub of operations in orbit around Terminus, later abandoning the station when they left the system.

Pyro also introduces a range of new and exclusive minables for the ship-mining profession, offering unique opportunities for prospectors throughout the system

New Base Materials (Defining the Rock):

Tin

Silicon

Ice

Stileron

Riccite – the rarest material in Pyro, even rarer than Quantainium!

The Pyro system's resource distribution is shaped by its distinct environmental factors:

Temperature Rings: Pyro is divided into zones based on proximity to its star. Closer to the star, temperatures rise, while the outer regions grow colder. For example, Ice is more abundant in the cooler outskirts of the system.

Density Variations: Dense base materials are typically found in warmer regions, whereas lighter, porous materials like Ice and Silicon are more common in the colder, outer zones.

Outposts: Colonialism Scattered around the planets and moons of Pyro, these small homesteads for AI consist of a central hub and a few optional internal and external modules. They provide the basic necessities to support a small group of people for an indefinite amount of time.

New Location: Space Station Contested Zones Contested Zones are a location feature coming to Pyro's space stations, introducing FPS gameplay with various layouts tailored for this purpose. The zones will feature a progression system requiring tokens to unlock different zones, giving access to the loot inside. Collecting all of the tokens will allow a player to open the final door and claim the grand prize.

New Location: Asteroid Bases Implementing new asteroid bases scattered across space in asteroid clusters, gas clouds, and other areas of Pyro. From exploration-type gameplay to mission-based locations, these bases include both constrained interiors for potential FPS conflicts as well as space combat while reaching or fleeing from the location.

Added New Loadouts and Reduced Amount of AI in Area18

Major updates

Pyro Addition

With the addition of the Pyro system, an entire set of planets, moons and space stations are also added:

• Pyro I
• Pyro II - Monox
• Pyro III - Bloom
• Pyro IV
• Pyro V and its moons (In order): Ignis, Vatra, Adir, Fairo, Fuego, Vuur
• Pyro VI - Terminus
• Pyro Space Stations

Major updates

Patch notes

Star Citizen Alpha 4.0 has been released onto the 4.0 Preview Environment! Launcher should now show: VERSION 4.0-LIVE.9470730

Star Citizen Alpha 4.0 brings a full wipe and reset to all accounts. Everyone will start fresh with their account hangars and wallets +20,000 aUEC.

After a much longer than anticipated development process, what was teased in 2019 becomes a reality for all players when we launch Star Citizen Alpha 4.0 to the live servers, as part of what we are calling the 4.0 Preview.

For the first time in our history, we will run 2 live releases in parallel, each with their own progress and persistence. This means you'll have the unique opportunity to choose which version you want to dive into, at least for a little while. At this stage, we both want and need the high traffic of a Live release to thoroughly test Server Meshing and the newly refactored systems that rely on it as they go through their final paces. We acknowledge that we did not have time to get all the mission types working before our holiday break, which is why we have decided to temporarily support two parallel Live tracks: Alpha 3.24.3 will remain available, so you can play the missions and engage in game loops that are not working to our new playability standards in 4.0. Meanwhile, the 4.0 Preview will also be accessible from your launcher as a second Live option. If you are not interested in previewing 4.0, you can simply select Alpha 3.24.3 from the dropdown and continue enjoying the current live build.

Read more about this here in our Letter From The Chairman

• Long Term Persistence: Disabled (Full Wipe)
• Server Meshing: 5:5:500 Player Shards
• Starting aUEC: 20,000

Features and Gameplay

New additional features as well as updating and polishing existing features.

AI

New Fauna: Quasi Grazer Added the new fauna called the Quasi Grazer to many planets around the PU. These large, warm-blooded herd animals were originally discovered on the vast plains of Quasi on Terra and are most notable for their unusual method of carrying their harvestable eggs on their underside. The Quasi Grazer has become one of the standard seed animals and there can be commonly found on most terraformed planets in the UEE.

Universe AI Animation, Audio, and Loadout Overhaul Expanding AI social wild lines, facial animations, and more to bring further immersion to the persistent universe. Adding new NPC behavior with AI characters conversing with each other. AI have been updated with vast amounts of new loadouts and further updates to DNA randomization to make more unique characters.

• FPS Combat AI Balance: Accuracy change to NPCs to make them more inaccurate at range and to make time since last seen is more forgiving
• FPS AI Cover Usage Polish

Gameplay

Jump Points Implementing the first jump point into the persistent universe, connecting the Stanton and Pyro systems together. Includes necessary vehicle items and functionality, the jump points themselves, and their inner tunnels. Opening and Entering the Jump Point: To interact and use jump points, first, enter quantum navigation mode and fly through the AR rings toward the jump tunnel. This should link you with the jump point and give you UI directions on what the jump system is currently doing as it tunes your ship to open the jump point. Once tuned, press and hold the Left Mouse Button to open the jump point and then fly towards the tunnel and you’ll be pulled into the tunnel spline when close. Navigating the Jump Tunnel: Traversing the jump tunnel between systems is a skill unto its own. Taking approximately 2 minutes from end to end for the initial Stanton/Pyro jump points, the player must maneuver their ship to avoid collision with the tunnel walls as well as other obstacles in the way or risk distortion damage, ejecting you and your ship into open space, far away from their intended position. As the player progresses through the winding tunnels, their authority will transition from one solar system to the next with a gradual gradient of color change indicating they are getting closer to the exit on the other end.

Keeping the in-game economy balanced has been crucial to ensuring a fair and enjoyable experience for everyone. This ongoing process requires careful adjustments, especially with the new addition of Pyro - a high-risk, high-reward star system. To support this, we’ve released a major overhaul of the in-game economy that will impact almost every aspect of Star Citizen, providing a more cohesive and sustainable framework for your journey through the ’verse. We started with 'ship cargo manifest' balancing, taking steps to address the most extreme cases. For example, finding a Hull C full of WiDoW can happen but will be a rarity, bringing us closer to the balanced trade system we envision. Next, we rebalanced the prices for vehicle components and consumable weapons. For example, missiles and bombs are now significantly more expensive to better reflect their power. Make each deployment of your A2 count, as the power of a MOAB now comes with an investment that matches its immense destructive force. We also rebalanced quantum and hydrogen fuel prices to account for the quantum travel adjustments mentioned above. These updates are designed to create a more authentic experience, especially for all you long-distance cargo haulers out there. FPS gear received similar treatment, with price adjustments also touching on ammo, weapon attachments, and consumables (like food, drinks, and medical equipment), ensuring that these essentials fit the overall economic balance. We reworked the code of every mission, old and new, to align with our updated ‘effort vs reward’ mechanic, ensuring a balanced experience across the board. This also covers special in-game events, which will offer a higher reward compared to regular missions. We looked at all of the commodities in the game, including their prices, what boxes they’re available in, where players can sell them, their price elasticity, and how available they should be. We then adjusted and, in some cases, completely reworked them to create a better and more fluid trade experience. This will keep trading gameplay more competitive, no matter what size of cargo ships players are running. These changes affect every shop and every commodity in the game, benefiting traders, salvagers, and miners alike. We’ve also categorized commodities into hauling grades to suit various ship sizes, making trade routes more rewarding and specialized. The list of rentable vehicles was also updated, for example, with the Banu Defender and the MISC Freelancer MAX.

For Pyro, we focused on the high-risk, high-reward concept with new mineables and unique rewards within contested zones. Pyro outposts are now filled with contextual items suited to the harsh environment, along with rare items for those brave enough to explore the system's most dangerous reaches. This includes a new Pico knife holder.

Player backpacks have had their inventory increased across the board in the Persistent Universe while player armor carry capacity has been reduced. Backpacks: Increased backpack inventory sizes by about 50%. Increased the max dimension an item can have in the backpack to accommodate further armor and weapon dimensions. Increased Occupancy Volume for Backpacks to Prevent Backpack Inventory Nesting Armor: Decreased the "z" inventory dimension for all armor items by about 50% and Decreased the occupancy volume for all armor items. Decreased the max dimension items can have in your leg and core armor to allow less items but still allow small food and utility items.

The music system for the Persistent Universe has had a major overhaul with a new Dynamic Music system. Players will now experience many newly added scores of music and throughout the PU that are triggered and seamlessly transitioned in different situations by location, flight actions like quantum travel and jump tunnels, or combat both in FPS and in Flight.

Mission rewards throughout the PU have had their rewards greatly increased in 4.0. You will see substantial increases for almost all missions that scale up even more based on reputation and difficulty.

Turrets will now use a different variant of auto gimbals. While in AUTO mode (check the self status in the visor cast), the crosshair acts like in manual gimbal mode. Gunners have to put the crosshair on the target in order to initiate the auto gimbal process. The UI will let you know when a good firing solution has been achieved. AI controlled turrets also have less of a tendency to fire through their own hull. Fixed VJoy missing in turrets in ADS.

• Several missions have been temporarily disabled or are set to be phased out as part of the mission refactor, paving the way for a post-Server * Meshing environment
• Temporarily Disabled Sleep and Dance Emotes
• Slightly Reduced Chances of Getting T2 and T3 Injuries
• Star Map: Added party Member Markers to Marker Databank Panel
• Star Map: Added Mission Tracking to the Starmap Databank Panel
• Grin Multitool Tractor Beam: Increased the max distance and lowered the max force
• P8-AR Ammunition Added to Further Shops That Sell Rifle Mags

Ships & Vehicles

Advanced Flight HUD Enabling the option to display the new Advanced HUD which is aimed for pro pilots. This new HUD is optional and off by default and can be enabled per ship on the ship configuration page or fully enabled through the in game options. This advanced HUD allows players see more extended information than previous HUD iterations and includes new acceleration displays, orientation, VSI, radio altimeter(r-alt) which is the altitude above terrain, above sea level altimeter, atmospheric pressure, and more. This also includes new, interim icons for ship states like landing gear, coupled/decoupled, esp, and more. Original Dashboard and Advanced HUD are mutually exclusive and have further keybinds and options NAV, SCM, Ship Lights, and icons vs text hud displays. With this update, the speed limiter will now have a value of 100% by default, The speed limiter value will not change between master modes anymore, and we have moved ship alerts onto the visor to help declutter central vision.

The Carrack has has been updated to include the option to deploy and undeploy its blast shield through a new interaction added to the cockpit. We have also added a new interaction to open and close the cargo pods for outside access to load cargo in and out of the ship. This currently keeps the cargo pods in their current raised state near the ship and does not have all the intended audio.

PDCs will now defend the ship from anything that attacks it This means they won't attack anything that doesn't attack them first (other than incoming missiles/torpedoes). It means they will attack anyone that shoots it above friendly fire threshold, including police and even the ships owner or party members. They have no allegiance to anyone but the ship.

• Greatly Reduced the Repair Cost of Ship Hulls
• MISC Starfarer: Added an Additional Power Plant to Help its Power Deficit
• Crusader Intrepid: Adjusted exterior proxies that were clipping into the cargo bay, stopping tractor beams from working
• MISC Prospector: Updated to Exterior to Make Pods Easier to Attach and Detach
• Added Missing Annunciator panel to Reliant, Nox, Mantis, Cutter Scout, Defender
• Added Mining HUD to Mole Pilot Seat
• Tumbril Storm Series Claim Timer Increased to 5 minutes
• 600i Elevator Shaft Collision Optimization
• Origin 400i: Thruster Power Improvement Balance Pass
• RSI Scorpius: Increased Weapons Powerpool size
• RSI Polaris: Ambience Audio Polish Pass
• Reintroduced mass value to all ship thrusters (will help them be physicalized and not float in gravity)

Core Tech

Server Meshing V1 The initial implementation of Server Meshing enables multiple servers per shard to improve load distribution and facilitates navigation between two solar systems. With this initial release we have targeted 500 players total on the shard.

With the release of 4.0, players will now spawn into their Personal hangar when joining the PU at their home location. This will allow players who have completed (or skipped) the NPE mission to get faster into space; spawning in their own property. This change only affections your home location hangar and if out in the universe at other landing zones or space stations you will spawn in the HAB of that location.

With this new release we have added new spawn queue logic to queue players joining a new shard all at once. Currently this will help smooth out spawning issues and performance on a shard when too many players load in at once. This will mostly affect when tons of new players all load in at once such as large groups where you may have to wait for the spawn queue for multiple minutes in very large groups.

Various improvements to the tracking stability and quality of Face-Over-IP. Added Head rotation tracking. Refined tracking algorithm. Improved motion with wider range of motion for the mouth. Stabilization to help jitter in low light and high light conditions. Secondary motions added for extreme poses.

4.0 brings heaps of additional performance and networking optimizations to help improve the overall experience. This includes:

• Network and Interaction Delay Optimizations
• Instanced Hangar Streaming Optimizations
• Inventory Refactor Backend Changes
• Full ASOP and VMA Performance and Networking Polish Pass
• Entity Physics Performance Optimizations
• Client and Server Overall Performance Improvements
• AI Locomotion Performance Optimizations
• GPU VFX Particle Performance Improvements
• Optimized Gas Cloud and Asteroid Sampling Performance
• Planetary Streaming Performance Improvements
• Water Reflection Improvements and Optimizations
• Audio Mix Pass for Ambience, Weapons, UI, Interactables, and Dialogue

Arena Commander

System & Balance We have made various Pre-Game Improvements in Arena Commander Modes. All game modes with a pre-game phase now allow movement & gameplay. Kill, Deaths, Score and other activities done in the pre-game will be reset and not count towards the main phase. Most game modes that allow pre-game movement will also ForceRespawn the player if they are spawned. As well as reduced the amount of game modes that will ForceSpawn. Finally, the ForceSpawn & ForceRespawn pre-game step has been moved to the start of the countdown, rather than the end. This will allow players time to better prepare for a match, while also ensuring all players have spawned in before the game starts regardless of selection.

• Grenade Launcher has been temporarily removed from Gun Rush weapon lists, whilst an issue with the explosive projectile gets resolved.
• P8-AR & Deadrig Shotgun are now available as a free rental to all players.
• Endless Vanduul Swarm will now ForceSpawn the players who remain on the Spawn or Death screens for too long

Bug Fixes

• Fixed: Invisible asteroids around the PU
• Fixed: PU - Core Tech - Social - UI - AR Chat - Pasting large string into Chat crashes Game Clients for all players on the server
• Fixed: PU - Interaction / ASOP / Server Recover - A Player interacts with an ASOP while a server error occurs can block this kiosk from being interacted with by another player
• Fixed: PU - Hauling Missions - Hauling missions give full reward without delivering all cargo when the "Submit" button is pressed
• Fixed: PU - Locations - Outposts - Hurston / Inventory / Economy - Kiosk / Fleet Manager - Location services are not functional at Hurston outposts, blocking trading, fleet manager, and local inventory managment
• Fixed: MISC Starfarer - PU - vehicles - Starfarer Fuel does not flow from pod with its valve open to another pod
• Fixed: Multivehicle - PU - Ships / Locks - Non-Owners can Interact and Unlock/Open doors, ramps, and elevators on non-owned Ships
• Fixed: Multivehicle - AC - Vehicles / PDC - PDCs can be equipped to size2 hardpoints
• Fixed: Anvil Terrapin Series - ( ALL VARIANTS ) - PU - Vehicles / Narrative / UI - mobiGlas - VMA - Scanner hardpoint shows only a LocID and base Terrapin scanner item does not display in VMA
• Fixed: Multivehicle - PU - Vehicles - Locations - Landing Services - Unable to restock vehicle ammunition at spaceport docking collars
• Fixed: PU - Tractor / Cargo / Hangar / Performance - While in Detaching Tractor Mode, moving Containers in Hangar cause Severe Performance Issue
• Fixed: SC - SFX - Cargo elevators are extremely loud
• Fixed: PU - Vehicles - HUD - UI - altimeter is absent
• Fixed: RSI Polaris - PU / AC - Vehicles - The Polaris rear-side manned turrets will constantly slowly rotate when the gyro is active
• Fixed: RSI Polaris - PU - Vehicles / Quantum Travel - Polaris spawned from docking port allocates 0 power to Quantum Drive and quantum travel starts and then stops
• Fixed: RSI Polaris - Vehicles - PU - Polaris Torpedo's do not restock
• Fixed: MISC - Starfarer - PU - Vehicles - Starfarer refuel/refining terminal screen blank
• Fixed: Multivehicle - PU - Vehicles - Quantum Drives - quantum travels starts and then stops
• Fixed: * Fixed: Multivehicle - PU - UI - Unable to see player names on Vehicle HUD after Scan or Target
• Fixed: * Fixed: PU - Stanton - Locations - Shubin Mining Facility SMO-18 - Cargo Elevator ramp at SMO-18 lacks collisions
• Fixed: PU - Stanton - Mining Modules - Ships / Vehicles / Controls - Cannot activate equipped mining modules when mining
• Fixed: AEGS Sabre Some Variants - PU/AC - Vehicles / Livery - Aegis Sabre Livery "AshCloud" causes Sabre to be Translucent
• Fixed: PU - R&R Stations / LEO - Personal Hangars / Locations / Vehicles / ASOP - Ships spawned in the hangar will spawn in at the bottom/go back down to the bottom of the hangar
• Fixed: Multivehicle - PU - Vehicles - When swapping to NAV mode, the ships engines lose all power
• Fixed: PU - Stanton - New Babbage - Tobin Expo Center - Locations - The Tobin Expo Center metro stop is completely missing
• Fixed: ARGO MOLE ALL Variants - Vehicles / Ship Mining UI / Mining - The mining turret will not move or scan the Asteroids
• Fixed: PU - Pyro Station - PU - Vehicles / Locations / UI - mobiGlas - VMS - Repair, refuel and restock buttons are not available at Pyro Gateway
• Fixed: Anvil Valkyrie Liberator - Vehicles - The Valkyrie Liberator is missing from the vehicle selection list in the mobiGlas, ASOP / Hangar
• Fixed: No atmosphere in Terrapin interior
• Fixed: PU - Stanton - Locations / Collisions - Invisible wall in hangar near freight elevator kiosk
• Fixed: PU - Stanton - Locations / Art / Lighting - Cargo freight elevator area in personal hangar is very dark
• Fixed: PU - Stanton - microTech - New Babbage - The Commons - Shopping / AI / Locations - Garcia's Greens vendor offers coffee but does not make it for you
• Fixed: PU - Weapons - Shopping - There is no P8-AR ammunition being sold in the PU
• Fixed: Client - Graphics / GPU - Vulkan - With Vulkan enabled, the game will run a full shader optimization every time the client is started
• Fixed: PU - UGF / Mission Content / Locations / AI - AI are not consistently spawning inside or around UGFs
• Fixed: Multivehicle - PU - Vehicles / UI / MFD - Staggering Fire and Larger Aiming UI Options missing from Vehicle Configuration Screen
• Fixed: Multivehicle - Physics / Collision - Mining / Items / Mining Pods - Detached Mining Pods improperly collide with vehicles and prevent players from loading them into other ships
• Fixed: AC - Pirate Swarm - AI - Enemy AI does not spawn
• Fixed: PU - Locations / Physics - UGF - The interior of UGFs inherit the planet or moon's gravity
• Fixed: PU - Stanton / Pyro - Locations - Medical - Art / Interactions - Terminals of medical beds are black
• Fixed: RSI Constellation Series - PU / AC - Vehicles / Weapon Components - Stock Missiles will be loose in the cargo bay when retrieved/accessed
• Fixed: PU - Personal Hangar / Vehicles / ASOP / Fleet Manager - Small / Large Persistent Hangars - Vehicles Spawn Above Hangar Elevator and Inconsistently Clip Through Base
• Fixed: PU - Inventory / Shopping - Openable Cargo - Large Salvaged Skull Containers can retrieved from item Kiosk and can block pathways
• Fixed: PU - Actor / Vehicles - Character Animation - Entering some seats for a second time will cause the incorrect animations to play and snap the character to the appropriate position after they complete
• Fixed: PU - Locations / Interactables / Network / Interaction Delay - Long load screen and then stuck in bed
• Fixed: PU - Tractor / Physic / Cargo - Snapping containers to a Cargo Grid can cause them to disappear
• Fixed: PU - Stanton - Locations / Actor / FPS - An invisible armistice zone follows the player everywhere, preventing them from unholstering their weapon while in FPS
• Fixed: Missiles only lock forward and not with look position
• Fixed: MISC Starlancer Max - Vehicles - Weapon Locker / Interactions - Weapons placed in the weapon rack will be placed in the incorrect orientation and can become stuck in the rack
• Fixed: MISC Starlancer - PU/AC - Vehicles / Radar - Radar is flipped 180 and while a ship is on your left the radar shows it on the right
• Fixed: Anvil Terrapin - PU - Vehicles / Art - Terrapin has visarea issue with the interior and ramp
• Fixed: PU - Stanton - Multivehicle - Quantum Fuel Consumption is Equal Across Ships
• Fixed: Crus Spirit A1 - PU - Vehicles / Remote Turret - A1 Remote turret does not have correct turret UI and does not fire
• Fixed: PU - Vehicle feature - UI/AR Markers - Snare Event Markers do not appear when another player is snared
• Fixed: Argo MPVU Tractor - Ship / Physics - Argo MPUV Tractor can not lift off with containers attached
• Fixed: PU - Vehicles / Art / Collison / Cargo - Commodities - Areas along the catwalks in the Caterpillar modules are blocked from snapping commodity boxes of any size, dropping max capacity
• Fixed: Scorpius and Antares have incorrect weapon capacity values
• Fixed: Can not see out of 890 Jump manned nose turret because of glitched glass reflection
• Fixed: PU - Klescher / Law / MobiGlas - Prisoners are unable to transfer Merits while the Receiver is Offline
• Fixed: F7CM Heartseeker - Vehicles/Art – Heart seeker F7CM Hornet Heartseeker no longer has nose art/victory marks

Technical Updates

• Fixed 10 Client Crashes
• Fixed 9 Server Crashes
• Fixed a Hybrid Service Crash
• Fixed 3 Server Deadlocks
• Fixed a Server Memory Corruption Issue

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