Greetings Citizens,

Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 is here! Today, we are proud to make the next major step in Star Citizen’s evolution available to all players. This major update to Star Citizen is available now in your launcher. With Alpha 2.0, we introduce a wide swath of features, including large world maps, multi-crew ships, seamless first person combat, missions and much more. In short: this is the biggest update to Star Citizen yet!

Welcome to Crusader

Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 is set in the environs of Crusader, a gas giant in the Stanton System. We’ve packed this area of space with multiple points of interest and player options that will deliver our first true multi-crew experience. You will begin your adventure in Port Olisar, in your quarters. From there, you have the freedom to meet up with friends, choose a ship or help crew another. Olisar is huge and is the launch pad for all player ships in the current release. The area around Port Olisar is an “Armistice Zone” meaning that all weapons will be on lockdown in that safety zone to prevent any disagreements or unpleasantness.

Once out of Olisar’s Armistice Zone, it’s a different story: players are weapons free and can engage anywhere they come across each other. What can you explore? Crusader has three moons, Yela (with an asteroid belt), Cellin and Daymar (each with orbital stations.) Security Post Kareah is in the orbit of Cellin and the derelict Covelex Shipping Hub hangs over Daymar. Kareah is now a hotly contested proving ground for the most adventurous player, a good resource for weapons and glory. Those interested in exploration are invited to investigate the eerie abandoned Covalex Shipping Hub in zero gravity. The asteroid field around Yela seems like a never-ending battle between the UEE security and opportunistic pirates wanting salvage rights to the wrecks around the belt.

Additionally, there are many service stations run by Cry-Astro dotted all over the map that will allow players to refuel, rearm and repair. These cannot be guaranteed to be totally safe to approach and you may find yourself the target of the odd pirate or smuggler wanting rich pickings for salvage.

First Person Battles

It’s time to take the fight to the ground! Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 includes our first drop of first person combat, complete with combat armor and an array of hidden weapons to be discovered. Here’s the situation: Comm Arrays around Crusader have fallen to pirates wanting to create communication black zones in under which they can carry out their illegal activity. Crusader Industries security forces are attempting to repel the pirates, but any help that players can give in defeating them and must be restoring the Arrays’ uplinks will be appreciated and players will find more opportunities are open up for them thanks to the improved flow of communication. Some of these opportunities can be found at the Imperial Cartography Centre which scans deep space and is tasked with identifying unknown signals which explorers can land a hand with.

New Ships

But that’s not all! Players will now have three previously un-flyable ships to take out on first forays into the ‘verse. Starting with the multi-crew vessels, the Constellation and the Retaliator, allowing teams of players to work together for the first time within one ship. You can also now take out your Avenger Warlock and start creating havoc with its formidable EMP weaponry. Finally players will be able to admire Aegis latest offering, the Vanguard available to explore in its hanger ready state.

In the bigger ships, the Constellation and the Retaliator, players will now be able to interact with the first tier of some of the multi-crew seat actions and get a feel for how much fun it will be to crew these ships with friends in the future.

Spaceflight

New flight modes are available now, too; Precision Mode, for complex maneuvering such as landing; Cruise Mode, to get maximum speed with little maneuverability and Standard Combat Maneuvering that has been the default in earlier builds. Afterburners are now available to push a ships main thrusters to their limits for short bursts, useful for catching up to an enemy or a making quick getaway.

Quantum travel is now the best way to move around the vast distances in space, but remember to keep an eye on your fuel gauge or risk being stranded. In the event that you actually do get stranded you could always message a friend to pick you up, but you may need to leave the cockpit and EVA over to their ship. The system of leaving your ship is now a bigger feature with all ships allowing players to de-pressurize and EVA from their local gravity grid (inside their ship) out into space to enter a station or a friends ship. Ground based gameplay is coming along leaps on bounds…literally. Players will now be able to pick up weapons, recharge weapons and administer healing.

To the Stars

We’ve packed a lot into the massive area around Crusader… but this only the beginning! Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 will evolve as development continues, based on our plans for expanding game features and mechanics… and of course the testing and feedback provided by players. This release should give you your first taste of Star Citizen’s future. We believe this is a very special release, and we can’t wait to see what you think!

A Special Thanks

The release of Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 on the live service would not have been possible without countless hours of testing from thousands of members of the Star Citizen community working with the development team on the Public Test Universe (PTU.) Brave test pilots, we salute you! (But don’t let your engines cool just yet… there are more bogies inbound!)

Feature List

You can find the complete Star Citizen Alpha 2.0 patch notes here.

Open World Missions

• 8 Comm Array missions involving dogfighting and EVA, 8 Research missions involving protecting civilians or recovering lost data and 1 Exploration mission of an abandoned station.
• 20+ Random Encounters – Most are random dogfighting encounters, often with a mix of friendlies and hostiles. 4 are random exploration missions involving finding lost wrecks.

First Person Shooter

• Recharging energy weapons.
• In-game pick-ups including ballistic weapons, ammo and MediPens.
• Player healing.
• Due to the open-world architecture of the Crusader system, FPS combat can occur on space stations, on the decks of ships, or even while engaged in EVA.
• A space station location specifically designed for and dedicated to FPS combat, including many stores and caches of personal weapons.

Spaceflight

• Constant and ongoing skirmishes and space dogfights between Pirate factions and insystem security forces in the Yela asteroid belt.
• Wreckage to scavenge in the Yela asteroid belt.
• Ship Repair, Refuel and Restocking at Cry-Astro.
• EVA – Extravehicular activity.
• Multicrew Ships.
• Multicrew ship gameplay! You’re not tied to your seat, you can walk around inside your ship with friends, and assume different responsibilities at different crew stations, such as ship’s pilot or copilot, engineer, or turret gunner.
• Ship to space transitions.
• Seamless first-person gameplay! Transit between the interior of your ship to outer space and back without any loading screen! Fly, fight, and spacewalk all in the same game.
• Quantum Travel, complete with limited fuel mechanics.
• All non-snub craft have a Quantum Drive that allows them to travel through local space at genuinely 0.2 speed of light.
• Mobiglass Mission and Journal system.
• EMP warfare in the Avenger Warlock.
• Large World tech that allows for extremely large expanses of space to explore without loading screens.
• New IFCS Flight models.
• Ship repair refuel and restock.
• Party system.
• Multi-ship crew stations.
• IFCS Flight Modes – Precision, SCM, and Cruise flight modes.
• Afterburner.
• Ship-to-ship EMP and disruption damage.

Locations

• 1 planet: Crusader.
• 3 moons: Yela with its asteroid belt, Cellin with a station and Daymar with a station.
• 3 distinct stations: Port Olisar (The new local shipping hub, a space hotel players get their start in), Security Post Kareah (our FPS PvP location), Covelex Shipping Hub (Abandoned shipping hub, acting as an EVA exploration location for players).
• 1 Cry-Astro repair and restock station.
• 9 Comms Arrays with encounters, missions and EVA exploration.