Star Citizen 3.23 Patch with big changes

Discover What’s New in Star Citizen Alpha 3.23: A Patch Overflowing with Excitement!

Get ready, space adventurers! The much-anticipated Alpha 3.23 update for Star Citizen is set to revolutionize your gaming experience with an array of groundbreaking features and enhancements. This next iteration is not just an update; it's a massive leap forward in the world of Star Citizen.

What is new in Star Citizen Patch 3.23?

Key Highlights of Star Citizen Alpha 3.23:

1. New Character Customization: Alpha 3.23 takes character creation to new heights with significantly enhanced customization options. Players can now adjust a wider range of physical features, including advanced hair styling, intricate facial feature adjustments, and varied body types. This upgrade not only allows for personalized avatars but also paves the way for continued evolution in character design, promising even more diversity in future updates.

2. Overhauled Mobiglas Tech: The lifeline of every Star Citizen, the Mobiglas, has been beautifully redesigned. The new interface is not only more visually appealing but also far more functional. It includes improved apps such as the Health Manager and Contract Manager, streamlining gameplay. A standout feature is the unified maps app that blends star maps and interior maps, significantly simplifying navigation and exploration across the massive universe.

3. Enhanced Player Interaction System: Interacting with the Star Citizen universe is now more seamless and customizable. The system overhaul allows for quicker and more intuitive responses, alongside new shopping interfaces and looting screens, enriching the player's interaction with the game world. These enhancements make routine tasks both effortless and engaging.

4. First-Person Combat Upgrades: Combat in Star Citizen has never been more exhilarating. With updates to weapon mechanics like scope magnification, ammo reloading, and aim-down-sights tuning, players will find battles more intense. The introduction of a Dynamic Crosshair on specialized helmets adds precision and depth to shooting, making every firefight a thrilling encounter.

5. Zero-G Gameplay Refinements: Navigate the void of space with improved Zero-G mechanics that offer a more lifelike experience in microgravity environments. This update fine-tunes player movements and interactions outside of spacecraft, making extravehicular activities feel more realistic and fluid.

6. Expanded Personal and Ship Management: Personal persistent hangars introduce a new level of gameplay with private areas to manage your ships and gear. Features such as item banks, new Mastermode flight modes, and updated weapon systems provide more depth in managing, maintaining, and mastering your fleet.

7. New Challenges in Arena Commander: Test your pilot skills against new maps and experimental modes in Arena Commander. These additions are designed to challenge veterans and novices alike, providing fresh and exciting scenarios to hone combat skills.

8. Lively Distribution Centers and Persistent Universe: The introduction of new distribution centers brings life and new mission opportunities throughout the Persistent Universe. Engage in unique quests, encounter diverse NPCs, and immerse yourself in the evolving narrative of Star Citizen.

9. First Foray into Fauna – The Kopian: Experience wildlife with the introduction of the game’s first fauna, the Kopian and Marok. This addition adds a new dynamic to planetary exploration and interaction, offering fresh adventures and surprises.

10. Cutting-edge Technological Improvements: Alpha 3.23 isn't just about content; it's also about performance. With the implementation of Vulkan, DLSS, FSR, TSR upscaling, and new water rendering technologies, the game looks better and runs smoother than ever, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in visual and simulation technology.

11. Server and Gameplay Stability Enhancements: The new replication layer architecture ensures a more stable and resilient game experience. This change aims to minimize disconnections and preserve player progress even if servers experience issues, setting the stage for future scalability improvements such as server meshing.

12. Invictus Launch Week Festivities and New Vehicular Additions: Celebrate space exploration with Invictus Launch Week, featuring the debut of several new ships and the Mirai Pulse, a compact and fast ground vehicle ideal for racing enthusiasts and explorers alike.

With these enhancements and more, Alpha 3.23 isn't just an update as usual — it's a leap forward of the Star Citizen universe. Whether you're a veteran citizen or a curious newcomer, this patch promises thrilling Features. Get ready for your next space odyssey with Alpha 3.23

The 3.23 Patch is about to land in the upcoming days.

You can see the in detail Video here:

Q&A round for Upcoming Changes

The Star Citizen Live Episode contains a lot of relevant information about what will be new in the 3.23 patch. I try to summarize it effectively:

How did we end up with fauna like the Pyro Kopian and Pyro Marok in 3.23 instead of previously shown creatures like the space cow or space whale?

(timestamp 06:50)

The space cow, space whale, and other fauna have their own unique development challenges that will take longer to implement. For 3.23, we chose the Pyro Kopian as a land-based predator that would fit into some early missions within our timeline. The Pyro Marok is our first creature using "boid" technology that allows us to spawn flocks of creatures more efficiently. This tech will let us create herds and groups of animals in a less resource-intensive way. While the space cow and whale are still planned, the Kopian and Marok served key goals for both content and technology that we could deliver in this patch. But rest assured the other fauna are still in the works for future updates.

What can you tell us about the economy updates coming in 3.23?

(timestamp 09:09)

We wanted to review major items like armor, weapons and ships and apply more logic to their pricing. We looked at aspects like size, material cost, rarity, prestige of manufacturers, and more advanced tech to determine prices. This allows players to look at items and understand the logic behind the pricing. We also rebalanced salvage payouts which were causing players to gain too many credits and flood the economy. Mission rewards were also balanced based on effort, risk and difficulty to provide fairer payouts. This is the first iteration of economy tuning, not the end.

Will there be a wipe in 3.23?

(timestamp 14:40)

Yes, we will wipe aUEC and rentals in 3.23. If we don't, the analytics data we get back won't accurately reflect the economy changes, as players would be using stockpiled money. While it may disappoint some to lose their earned credits, it's important for us to get accurate data to inform our economic balancing decisions going forward.

What should players expect in terms of gameplay with the reputation hostility feature in 3.23?

(timestamp 16:04)

Reputation and hostility systems weren't really implemented for 3.23 as much as they are foundational for future features in 4.0 and Pyro. The only place you may notice it is at some outlaw settlements with the Duster faction - if you encounter them they will be neutral unless you attack first. But largely this system is about laying the groundwork for the future, so we can get more feedback to continue to evolve it.

Sniper Glint??

(timestamp 17:40)

Feature is a trial which may change later. Future will be more punishing so it need to be clear what cause a death and maybe to avoid it. This glint is a first feedback to players and will be enhanced with further feedback later.

There have been issues with desync, lag and poor performance in the 3.23 PTU. What's causing that and how are you addressing it?

(timestamp 28:10)

The biggest culprit seems to be an issue with network queues getting backed up between clients and servers. It's tricky to pin down. There isn't a single silver bullet fix - it's a "death by a thousand cuts" scenario that requires a lot of different optimizations. We've had many of our top engineers investigating and implementing various performance improvements to mitigate the issue as much as possible. Based on recent PTU updates, we believe we've largely resolved it and aren't seeing it widespread in the latest build. However, with the scale of the game, some of these performance issues don't manifest fully until the patch reaches the live servers and full player concurrency. So we'll continue to monitor it closely when 3.23 goes live, gather data, and work to optimize the engine and network as needed. It's an ongoing process as we push the boundaries of what's possible in a multiplayer experience of this fidelity and scale. We won't stop until performance is where it needs to be.

Tell us about the current state of cargo and persistent hangars coming in a 3.23.x patch. How's it going?

(timestamp 42:40)

I played through the full loop of cargo loading and unloading, going to my hangar, and retrieving my ship and equipment. We encountered some issues that are being resolved now. Ultimately, I was able to work through it and complete the loop of loading cargo, storing it, and flying off. However, cargo is a foundational feature that every player must interact with, so we absolutely have to release it in a very polished state. We need some more time to ensure it is infallible before releasing it. The team is pushing hard to include it in a 3.23.x patch, but we won't push it live until we're fully confident it's ready, since it's such a core game loop.

What was the inspiration for the new "Master Modes" flight system coming in 3.23? What problems is it trying to solve?

We felt the current meta of jousting combat could be improved upon, so Master Modes emerged as a way to make flight controls and combat more accessible to new players while still having a high skill ceiling. The goal is to allow players to more easily pick up the game and have fun, whether they want to be a combat pilot, a trader, or any other role, without being at a severe disadvantage against veteran pilots. At the same time, it aims to provide depth for those experienced players. Master Modes is not about lowering the skill ceiling, but rather about providing a system that works well for players of all skills and playstyles, so they can enjoy the game the way they want to. This is a major change to the flight model, but one we felt was needed to achieve the experience we're aiming for, as incremental changes couldn't get us there. 3.23 won't be the final iteration, but rather the first release of a system we will continue to expand upon based on testing and feedback, to make it as fun and balanced as possible.

How did you decide what features made it into 3.23 and what had to be pushed, like Cargo? Why pack so much into this patch?

As the new Game Director, I didn't want the transition of features from Squadron 42 into the Persistent Universe to drag out over 6-12 months. I wanted us to deliver those crossover features efficiently, so we could then focus on new content that is more tailored for Star Citizen's MMO experience.

My goal was to move Star Citizen's development forward as quickly as possible. I had to make some tough calls on things like Cargo, because if a feature isn't ready quality-wise, we can't release it, even if we want to in order to move on to other priorities.

3.23 is a big patch, but I believe getting this foundational content out efficiently is key to us being able to deliver on our ambitious goals for new Star Citizen experiences in 2024 and beyond. It's a balancing act between quality and wanting to push the project forward.

What's the status of night vision in Star Citizen? Why don't we have it yet?

(timestamp 1:00:15)

Night vision is now working on weapon optics using new tech introduced in Alpha 3.23. It's close to release-ready, though not fully confirmed for 3.23.0 yet. It works by amplifying light in dark areas so you can see better. The effect will be less comfortable in bright environments, similar to real night vision. Bringing night vision to other parts of the game like visors and ship cockpits will take some additional design and engineering work since they use different systems. But the major technical hurdles have been solved. Expect to see night vision optics available in the near future, with plans to expand it to other areas later on. While not "true" infrared night vision, it will simulate light enhancement to provide visibility in the dark.

You can watch the Full lenght Episode of Star Citizen Live 3.23 Q&A here: