Actually, with Patch 3.23, the personal player hangar, cargo elevators, and other cargo features were supposed to land in the Alpha of Star Citizen. Now, one of the developers explained why the new features had to be postponed.
What was the plan for the Alpha update 3.23 of Star Citizen? The new patch of the ambitious space MMO was supposed to bring the new cargo functions to the servers. These include:
- A personal, instantiated hangar for players
- Cargo elevators
- Item banks
- New cargo missions
Just last week, the developers announced in the official forum that these innovations failed the final test and therefore need to be postponed to a later update.
In the recent Q&A session on Youtube, Senior Gameplay Lead Engineer Chad McKinney explained in detail why the decision was made to postpone the cargo features. The short answer: The playability of the Alpha of Star Citizen was highly endangered.
Star Citizen is gradually approaching its final release – here is a trailer from the Alpha:
What is the long answer? The new cargo features are closely linked to various other systems of Star Citizen. McKinney cites instantiation, inventory, and ship calling as examples.
Not connecting functions that are not yet one hundred percent stable with all these systems could have led to a significant detriment to the gaming experience for all alpha testers, even to the point of unplayability. The developers want to avoid such a frustrating situation at all costs.
In addition, the developers need more time to revise the kiosk interface, the design of the cargo elevators, and the functioning of the cargo based on recent feedback.
What other news was there in the Q&A? The developer confirmed that the personal hangar will receive a ship lift that can accommodate your largest flyable spacecraft. Furthermore, players with a certain criminal inclination will be able to break into foreign hangar instances.
What about the other features of Alpha update 3.23? On the one hand, the people responsible for Star Citizen have confirmed that other innovations in the patch have passed the final tests. The features include:
- Revision of the mobiGlas system, which provides you with various app functions.
- A new loot window for the first-person perspective.
- A new minimap for the interface in the first-person perspective.
- The star map will receive a comprehensive update.
- New hunting missions and creatures.
- Diverse improvements for the Arena Commander mode will be implemented.
Furthermore, the developers announced that update 3.23 will bring official support for the Vulkan API (graphics interface) as well as improvements for water simulation and calculation.
There is still no launch date for the space MMO. After 12 years and 600 million euros, the release of the MMORPG Star Citizen should “be shining on the horizon”.
