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Guide to Star Citizen 3.18: What’re the Changes?

It has been a long time since we heard from Star Citizen Developers. There were some rumors of an Alpha 3.18 Update in December 2022 but somehow that even got delayed. We are in January 2023 and the Update was supposedly going live this month. So, here we have a complete Guide to Star Citizen 3.18 mentioning what changes we are going to experience.

Star Citizen really needed an update because of the months of no major updates and the game slowly declining in the hype. With this new 3.18 Update of Star Citizen, there are a ton of new features, game stability updates, locations, exploration, missions, ships, tracks, salvaging, and much more.

Along with all of that, you might get to experience the new engine technology, content, and smoother experience. Below we are going to take a Sneak Peek into the Changes in the 3.18 Update, then we are going to discuss them in further detail.

Sneak Peek into Star Citizen 3.18 Update

Locations

New added Locations in the 3.18 Update are;

    • Orison - Greycat PTV Race Track

    • Stanton - Sand Cave Archetype

    • Daymet Crash Site

    • New Rivers in Stanton

Ships

There is only one new Ship in Star Citizen 3.18 update;

    • Drake Vulture

Gameplay

There are a ton of 3.18 Gameplay Updates;

    • Arena Commander Improvements

    • Cargo System Refactor

    • Jumptown v2.1

    • Sandbox Prison Activities

    • Salvage - Hull Stripping

    • Security Post Kareah Reactivation

    • Time Trial Race Missions

    • Siege of Orison Update

Tech

Two Tech updates are coming in 3.18;

    • Gen12 Scene Renderer

    • Persistence Entity Streaming

Tools

There is also one Tool Update

    • Greycat Multi Tool Salvage Attachments

One thing to notice is that the updated content we mentioned above might be included in the updates as time progresses and all the things might not be available at the launch of the Star Citizen 3.18 Update. 

In the PU, players are facing a major problem that will also be solved by Persistence Entity Streaming. With it, the Dynamic Objects in Star Citizen will be available on all the servers, not dependent on whether belonging to a player.

Another thing to mention is that the 3.18 update has been planned for a long time. The news of a major update started in September 2022. So, it possibly means the developers are going to release the content in divisions like 3.18.1, 3.18.2, and so on.

Changes in Star Citizen 3.18 Update: Complete Guide

Now that you know what the content is all about in 3.18, let’s take a deep dive into what you are getting. 

Salvage

The most interesting thing about Star Citizen 3.18 Update is Salvaging. Previously there was no major update that could bring life to it and it was completely dead. Now with the 3.18, we are surely going to get tons of material related to Salvaging including Hull Stripping and Scrapping. We already mentioned it in our Gameplay Updates of 3.18 Section.

Drake Vulture, Salvaging, Reclaimers, and RMC

For the fans of Ships in Star Citizen, there is a new Ship coming in the 3.18 Update as well. It is called Drake Vulture and has laser technology. You can use its laser to collect Recycled Materials COmposite or RMC by scaping the ship hulls.

It is quite the same as mining but comes with a completely new state of damage. It will indicate to you where it has been stripped or damaged now, so it is pretty useful. After getting the material, you can then dispense it into a cargo box.

The same can also be done with the Reclaimer which has a larger capacity, coming with dual Salvage Laser Torrents. You can then effortlessly dispense the salvage and then put it into the Cargo Grid. 

A Single person can’t do it alone, rather you will need to have multiple crew members to perform this action. There is also a limitation here. You can Salvage the Ships of NPCs, as well as other Players, but the boundaries don’t expand to the Mission Ships, Setpieces, and Outposts.

Besides the Drake Vulture, you can still do Salvaging using a new attachment for your Multi-tool. When you strip the hull, you can fill its canisters with the RMC. Whereas, you can also repair the ship hull using the tool.

It is Star Citizen we are talking about and the ships you repair will have a battle scar symbolizing it was repaired. Pretty cool for a game, but where do you get the RMC Refills? There are filler stations for your Reclaimers and Vultures and through those stations, you can get the RMC Ammo. 

PES or Persistent Entity Streaming

If you are new to Star Citizen, then you might not be familiar with PES. It is a Core Technology in the game that allows the dynamic objects to persist or take their place in the server so that they don’t get lost. Star Citizen had that issue from the day it became playable for the public.

Whenever a change occurred in the game, your things could get lost in the server, resulting in your completely blank. In the Star Citizen 3.18 Update changes, there is more focus on the Foundational Tech.

But, just like anything else, there is always a limitation. When you hide weapon stash in the server or game, you won’t get them on the server you left previously on even after the update. Rather, the PES update will give you SM, Fully Persistent Universe, and Base Building in the upcoming future, as the game progresses.

Cargo Refractor

Something is amazing for the Cargo Space Ship lovers as well because, with the new Cargo Refractor in the 3.18 Update, you will be getting the ability to find and purchase cargo that needs to be picked, placed, or moved around in the ship cargo grid. 

Furthermore, there are a lot more speculations related to the commodities and cargo interactivity with this update. There are also some speculations that CIG does indeed want to have the costs and times linked with the unloading and loading of cargo or cargo containers of various sizes, as well as types.

Drake Corsair

It is the newest addition to the game and is currently on top of the features in Alpha 3.18. With this, the multi-crew no-frill explorer will be made flyable.

When in need, feel free to Buy Cheap Star Citizen aUEC from MMOPixel.com. There are even Buy Star Citizen Ships and Packages at Budget Prices to help you out in need. 

Locations, Sites, Missions, and More

Daymar Crash Site

So, there are massive changes to Sites in the Star Citizen 3.18 Update. A new Daymar Crash Site is added that will put together the Junker Settlement, Derelict 600i, and Mercury Star Runner together. 

On this Site, you will get to experience completely new missions and also various opportunities for amazing gameplay related to combat and exploration. Along with that, due to the Daymar Crash Site being added in the new 3.18 Update of Star Citizen, you can get the MSR and the 600i as derelicts in various space locations at the same time.

Rivers and Lakes

There is one thing that Star Citizen always lacked, which is beautiful Rivers and Lakes. In this Guide to Star Citizen 3.18 Update we are happy to announce that they are added in Hurston and MicroTech now. 

There are specific tools for rivers, so we will also get to experience much more than just Rivers or Lakes in the upcoming updates of 3.18.

Sand Cave Archetype

It is a new location as well, which we can see on Daymar. No missions and vehicle versions are available in this area, at least none that we know of. Besides this, it will be the only FPS entrance, but later on, we could get them. 

In this area, you will experience various sandstones, lightning, improvements related to graphics or visuals, as well as new tools or tech. In the future, we will get to experience cave types like Ice, Overgrown and Acidic. That is something going to be crazy for Star Citizen fans.

Accessible Platforms and Orison Missions

Developers also focused on the Missions and new Accessible Platforms here in the new 3.18 update. Orison is gonna get new Clear all, Bounty, and Assassination missions along with various other opportunities. Along with that, there is going to be a new Accessible Platform. 

The same Orison Siege Style play is transferred to a smaller scale now with all of this new content being added.

Kelsher Prison

This area was nearly dead but now it is going to get a ton of Activities and Missions. There are also speculations that other missions will be related to Kelsher Prison. 

The Cave and Mining areas now have NPCs that you can go after and steal from. For various reasons, you can raid the staches and get the items back to the person they belonged to. 

The prisoners that are causing problems or caused problems before now have a bounty system on them. You can follow the bounty, get their head and then earn various rewards. Furthermore, outside of Kelsher will allow missions through Darkzone.

Finally, there are gonna be some good visual changes, design changes, and gameplay related to the prison as well. 

Security Post Kareah

This Post is moved from being a simple one to being the central Staton’s Security. Crusader Security has also changed to staff full-time and stores the confiscated contraband aboard. 

This Station is not meant for civilians and is made off-limits to all till proper authorization is given. While an important detail related to it in 3.18 is given out. It will be the only place where you can check the criminal ratings or Hack it Down, making it the hottest area in the entire Star Citizen Universe. 

As a defense mechanism, it will have tons of NPCs to secure it, as well as Torrents available to take down anyone who tries to pass through it. 

After you kill the security NPC, there will be a Boss with access or code for the confiscated goods, as well as the evidence. You can also get the Goods Locker opened and spawn loot like jump town. 

The Bounty Missions are going to be different here, more related to dealing with the players who killed the security or stayed for a longer duration in Security Post Kareah (SPK). Along with that, there are going to be harsh steps toward the lawful players when they touch the confiscated goods. This was also confirmed by CI as well.

Along with all of that, the Crime Stat is also changed in 3.18 as well. The implementations could be in the further parts of 3.18 like 3.18.1 or 3.18.2

Meaning, CS2 is unlawful to attack and can land their ships at the LZs for fine payment. There are also various fixes for these parts as well.

Greycat PTV Race Track, Track Missions, Rewards, and More

If you loved the Golf Buggy in Star Citizen, also known as Greycat PTV. Then, you will be excited to hear that a new Race Track is being added as well. This track will be available in the Orison Vision Center at Crusader. 

The Expo Hall was always kind of empty and now it is going to be a popular place whenever an event isn’t running there. You can take part in the Buggy Race, making the game much more enjoyable for car lovers.

The later parts of 3.18 might also bring us 6 new Race Tracks in the PU, not the AC. With these new tracks, there are new potential trail missions, and reputations. In order to get the mission you need to pay the fees to enter the race. 

In return, you will get money, along with a reputation. On failure, you will lose all of this, with a loss in reputation. On the way, you will find checkpoints that can make life easier. If you luckily end up in the leaderboard, you will earn a ton of cash. 

Star Citizen isn’t like other games where the focus is on a specific thing. Here, you are in a type of Meta Verse where you are free to take the route you like. Some people think that it could take away the other aspects of Star Citizen, but that is completely false.

With the Racking Tracks, new Vehicles, Gameplay based on those Tracks, New Skills to learn, and focus on Speed, the game went a notch up. You are also getting the new assets and POI in the Star Citizen 3.18 Update. 

The Daymar track is around 10 km long and is quite parallel to the Snake Pit. If you track the race, it will take you around 1 minute and 22 seconds. There is even a ton of space for the spectators to watch. 

Lorville Race Track Ratified the Track, Orison Track is between floating platforms, transferred to a Community Track. It is converted to a much more complex track than before. There are also speculations of a completely new GrimHex’s Asteroid Field Race Track, as well as the Icebreaker Euterpe Track. 

Ships are getting audio changes there along with changes to Max Engine, Hull Creaking, FlyBys, Stress, Octane, NPC’s, VOIP, and much more. 

Buying New Ships in 3.18 is going to be a bit more tricky, but here is an amazing Guide on Buying New Ships in Star Citizen 3.18 to help you out.

Gen12 Renderer Update

Coming to the visual parts of the game. There has been a lot of news roaming around about Star Citizen 3.18 Update Changes related to the Graphics section. There are Gen12 Renderer Updates, implementing T0/T1. 

In simpler wording, this makes Star Citizen better performing and quite scalable for various systems. This will further affect the visuals as well, making them much better altogether and best for the players.

IAE Events

Star Citizen has a huge Event every year going by the name of IAE. In this Guide to Star Citizen 3.18, describing the changes, how could we forget about it? Well, the developers have big plans for this event as well and are pumping its whole cycle. 

In this event, you get ships on quite a good sale, including both the smaller and the massive ships you always wanted to get. There is also an expo here in which you can feel and use the ships for freefly. 

So, as per the news, we might be getting a lot of changes in the IAE Event, including new ships that are un-announced, vehicles, Hull-C, and weapons like FPS Volt Electron Weapons, SMGs, Pistols, and so on. 

Colonial Outposts

The Colonial Outposts are also getting a lot of pumps, adding 5 new Colonial Outposts along with 30 in the entire game. There are a lot of Outposts getting added in the 3.18 Update of Star Citizen.

    • There are 5 in MicroTech

    • There are 10 in Hurston

    • And other moons getting one to six Colonial Outposts

Guide to Star Citizen 3.18 - Changes to Soft Death and Ship Boarding

There are some posts, mostly the AMA and Spectrum ones that will also have the Ship Boarding and Soft Deat in the Latest 3.18 Updates of Star Citizen.

With this regard, the Changes to 3.18 in return will change the Cargo Refractor and allow for the Commodity Cargo Physicalization in 1 SCU Boxes. You can also move them around using the Tractor Beams

When your Ship is on the Death Stats or Zero Health state, it will have a 70 percent chance of not exploding. In this state, if the ship has cargo, it will be left with that and the crew will also live on, but you can’t fly the ship. It is referred to as the new Soft Death in Alpha 3.18. In simple words, now you can retrieve the cargo and board the show as well in the Death State, but you won’t be able to fly the Ship.

With that, the Ship Doors will also work and can have access. The same system of Soft Death is for the Ships used by NPCs, but the people present inside like the AI can be killed, but you can board the ship. 

In AC or Arena Commander, this system of Soft Death doesn’t exist and will be permanently disabled. It might come back in the upcoming Updates of 3.18, but we don’t know when it will happen. 

Final Verdict

Star Citizen needed an Update like 3.18 and it really got it. There are a lot of things getting changed here along with the Tools, Gameplay, New Locations, Posts, Ships, and so on. There are even changes to Graphics, making them visually better, as well as balanced for various Systems. One thing to again mention in our Guide to Star Citizen 3.18 is that these are some of the updates we mentioned.

There could be more things in the boundary of changes in Star Citizen 3.18 or the things we mentioned might be removed from the update. There are also going to be further updates of 3.18, like 3.18.1 or 3.18.2, and so on. Most of the major updates will be delivered in segments. These are all the Changes in Star Citizen 3.18, which are going Live at the end of January 2023 or at the beginning of February 2023.

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