“Tired of flying all the way back to a refinery station to process your ore? MISC is here to show off the concept design of what will be the first dedicated refinery ship to come to the 'verse, plus an overview of all the features coming to Star Citizen in Alpha 3.17.”
In this episode of Inside Star Citizen, the focus is on the upcoming concept ship called the Misc Expanse, which is the first dedicated refinery ship in the game. It fills a gap in the gameplay loop by allowing players to process and refine mined goods onboard the ship, eliminating the need to travel back and forth to a station. The Expanse has six reactors, allowing for multiple refining processes at once. The ship has a industrial aesthetic with a rounded front nose, big shoulders, and unique features like eight pods on either side.
Alpha 317 is the main highlight of this episode, with several new features, updates, and bug fixes. One of the major additions is ship-to-ship player refueling, which introduces a new support profession and a user interface for fueling up starfarer ships. Loot generation and selling have been improved, allowing players to find and sell a wide array of new items and resources. Quantum rain integration is also mentioned, which controls commodity prices.
Other updates in Alpha 317 include medical gameplay improvements, DNA head updates for player faces, FPS weapon animation refinements, new turret acceleration models, mining gadgets for tackling volatile asteroids, and cloudtech advancements on Hurston. The introduction of the Hull A ship from Musashi Industrial and Starflight Concern is also highlighted, along with the addition of bind to key landing on microTech.
The episode concludes with some lighthearted and humorous moments, including random questions, funny anecdotes, and playful banter between the hosts. It is mentioned that this is the last episode before a hiatus, and viewers are encouraged to visit the Roberts Space Industries website for more information on the upcoming 3.17 release, the Misc Expanse ship, and a merge sale.