In this Star Citizen Week in Review, Salty Mike discusses the mixed reception of the Frontier Fighters event, the promising yet buggy engineering tech preview focused on heat and power management, and the visually impressive but content-limited 4.4 patch featuring the Nyx system on the Evocati server. He also highlights upcoming features like base building, crafting, and cosmetic changes, acknowledging current issues while expressing optimism for the game’s ongoing development.
In this Star Citizen Week in Review for November 3rd, 2025, Salty Mike covers major updates including the Frontier Fighters finale phase two, the engineering tech preview, and the release of patch 4.4 with the Nyx system on the Evocati test server. The Frontier Fighters event felt repetitive and unrewarding in terms of impact, with mission sharing being a common tactic to quickly complete objectives. The missions mainly involved destroying med gel canisters and ambushes, though some ambush missions were buggy. Mike and his organization mates completed the event swiftly despite these issues.
The engineering tech preview introduced players to the new engineering mechanics focused on heat management and power distribution across ship components. While the resource network and heat transfer systems worked as intended, the test was hampered by bugs such as ships not spawning or taking off properly, and the inability to repair components in Arena Commander. Fire propagation and extinguisher gameplay were praised for their realism. However, Mike noted concerns about the armor system, observing that ships took damage too quickly with limited recovery options, which could negatively affect combat longevity.
Patch 4.4, released late Friday for Evocati testers, brought the new Nyx system featuring the visually impressive Levki landing zone. The environment was stunning, though content was limited with few missions, mostly recycled from Stanton but involving Vandal enemies. Some bugs were present, such as missing Quantum Travel markers, requiring creative navigation. The freight elevators in Nyx were fully open to player interference, raising concerns about potential trolling. Overall, the update showed great potential but felt rushed and incomplete.
Additional updates included insights into base building, crafting, and cosmetics. Base building will have region-based “base ratings” to limit the number of bases per server shard, with the option to load into different shards for attacking or defending bases, introducing loading screens contrary to the game’s usual seamless design. Crafting improvements allow interaction with inventory for larger batch jobs and future integration with ship cargo grids. Cosmetic skins will be decoupled from items, becoming account-bound blueprints that can be applied flexibly, though concerns remain about how upgraded purchased items will be handled in terms of loss or damage.
Salty Mike concludes by acknowledging the week’s challenges in covering these updates due to timing and patch releases but remains optimistic about Star Citizen’s ongoing development. He encourages viewers to share their experiences with the engineering test and 4.4 Evocati patch and looks forward to more open testing and progress updates in the future. The video emphasizes the ambitious scope of Star Citizen’s evolving systems while highlighting current limitations and areas needing refinement.