The latest Star Citizen update highlights significant advancements in ship development, core gameplay stability, and economic adjustments, with new vehicles like the RSI Apollo and Perseus set for a 2025 release. The team is also focused on enhancing visual performance and AI interactions, while encouraging community feedback on ongoing developments.
In the latest Star Citizen update, the development team provided a comprehensive overview of the progress made on the persistent universe, covering key aspects such as ship development, core gameplay, and the economy. Ship art teams have been finalizing several vehicles expected to be revealed or released in 2025, including the highly anticipated Misk Fortune and the RSI Apollo and Perseus. Various ships are advancing through different stages of development, with a promise of more vehicles being available to players by the end of the year.
Core gameplay teams have been focused on addressing stability and performance issues identified during the 4.0 PT program. Significant work has gone into improving jump points, which are essential for connecting different star systems. Additionally, the new mission system has undergone a major overhaul to ensure mission persistence as players traverse server boundaries. The ongoing development of contested zones and enhancements to the persistent universe login flow are also noteworthy, with efforts to allow players to spawn directly into their home hangars.
The economy team has been adjusting prices for various commodities, including quantanium and hydrogen fuel, to align with new tank sizes and vehicle component costs. Vehicle repair costs have also been rebalanced to make repairs more economical compared to replacing components. Despite high mission completion rates, some players have reported ongoing issues with mission functionality, prompting the team to prioritize bug fixing and improvements in upcoming patches.
The graphics department has made substantial strides in performance and stability improvements for Alpha 4.0, finalizing support for the Vulkan renderer and enhancing CPU performance on multicore machines. Research and development efforts have continued on dynamic weather systems and planet tech, with improvements to rain accumulation and terrain generation. These advancements are expected to enhance the overall visual experience and gameplay dynamics in the persistent universe.
Finally, the animation and AI teams have made significant progress on player interactions, creature animations, and NPC behaviors. The introduction of new animations and improvements in AI interactions, such as dynamic conversations and combat behaviors, aims to create a more immersive experience. The update concluded with a call for community engagement, encouraging players to share their thoughts on the ongoing development and upcoming features in Star Citizen.