The latest build of the Star Citizen alpha is live now, and it’s a sizeable update that brings a character customizer, new ships and vehicles, and Service Beacons to the game, inching the massive project that much closer to “released” status.
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Alpha 3.1 went live Saturday, and backers can now fully customize their in-game characters with head shapes, eye colors, hairstyles, and skin tones. According to the patch notes, the character you create will be used across all Star Citizen game modes, and you can update your look in the “Universe” menu.
Another new feature is Service Beacons, which players can use to send out distress signals when they’re in trouble or stranded. You can set a required reputation level and reward for each beacon you set, and if you accept another player’s beacon you’ll be able to cancel at any time.
The new build also adds five new ships and vehicles. There’s the Reclaimer, a heavy salvage ship; the Anvil Terrapin-class exploration vessel; the Razor long-distance racer; the Nox Kue open-canopy speedster; and the all-terrain ground vehicle, the Tumbril Cyclone.
Cloud Imperium say 3.1 also brings a bunch of under-the-hood improvements and tweaks to features introduced in 3.0, and that players should see improvements to in-game tools, weapons, damage physics, and optimization.
“These are important updates and our fans should see some significant improvements to Star Citizen’s overall experience,” said Chris Roberts, Star Citizen’s creative director and CEO of Roberts Space Industries.
The full patch notes are available on the RSI forums.