The 2026 Star Citizen Engineering update emphasizes essential ship maintenance tasks such as repairs, fuse swapping, fire extinguishing, and power management, with players needing to manage repair tools, materials, and inventory effectively. While single-seat fighters have limited in-combat repair options, larger ships benefit from dedicated engineers to maintain critical systems like power plants and coolers, making quick repairs vital for survival and combat effectiveness.
The Engineering update in Star Citizen 2026 focuses on ship maintenance, which is essential but not overly complicated. Players can acquire repair tools and full repair canisters at locations like Platinum Bay in the Galleras and various shops around Stanton, including Trestler, Everest, Bagginy Point, and Grim Hex. It’s important to also pick up fuses, as these need to be replaced when destroyed during gameplay. The larger repair tools occupy a primary weapon slot on the player’s back, so managing inventory space is necessary.
Engineering tasks are divided into four main areas: repair, fuse swapping, fire extinguishing, and power management. The engineering screen provides clear indicators for issues such as missing or destroyed fuses and damaged components, which are color-coded from green (normal) to red (critical). Damage reduces component efficiency, and if a critical component like the power plant reaches zero health, it triggers a countdown to ship explosion unless repaired promptly. This makes in-combat repairs especially important on larger ships.
To perform repairs, players cycle through their weapon slots to equip the repair tool, reload it with repair canisters, and then hold right-click to fix damaged components. Repair materials can also be obtained by salvaging parts from ships, including one’s own ship when out of combat. Fires onboard alert the pilot, and the crew must respond quickly using fire extinguishers, which recharge automatically when returned to their racks. Power management is mostly handled by the pilot, but engineers can assist by reallocating power during combat.
Critical ship systems include weapons, shields, radar, life support, coolers, and power plants. While losing weapons or shields is inconvenient, losing coolers or power plants is far more serious. Coolers prevent overheating, and without them, the ship will shut down. If the power plant or the ship’s hull integrity (referred to as the “hole”) is depleted, the ship will go critical and risk exploding, so repairing these systems quickly or retreating from combat is crucial. Armor protects the hull, and once armor is gone, damage directly affects internal components.
Single-seat fighters like the Titan and Mustang have limited engineering options, as repairs require leaving combat and performing EVA repairs, which is time-consuming. Larger ships benefit greatly from having dedicated engineers who can perform quicker, manual repairs during combat. While the repair tool can fix attached components, it cannot recreate lost parts like thrusters or weapons. For major repairs, visiting a station remains the most efficient solution. Overall, mastering engineering is key to ship survival and effectiveness in Star Citizen.