Star Citizen 1.1 is here! Today’s release adds a number of new features and new ships… and sets the stage for big things to come.

IMPORTANT : To play 1.1 you will need to reinstall Star Citizen entirely. More on why and how to do it, including detailed instructions in English, French and German, in this post.

New Ships

Star Citizen 1.1 includes the addition of two new ships to your armada! The Aegis Dynamics Retaliator will now appear in the Hangar and the Gladius light fighter is now available for combat in Arena Commander. If you fly a Gladius, we’re eager to hear how you think it stacks up in combat!

The Aegis Retaliator

The Aegis Gladius

New Manual

In honor of today’s release, we have issued a new version of the Arena Commander manual, which is now available here.

New Controls

Starting with 1.1, you no longer access Arena Commander through your ships. Instead, every Hangar is now equipped with a SimPod that will let you play Arena Commander and, soon, Star Marine.

New Systems

Most importantly, Star Citizen 1.1 includes the launch of a number of new systems. Some, like the 64-bit conversion, are entirely ‘under the hood,’ while others are available for use today. The game now includes a new character rig, with smoother and better animations. The new dynamic damage system has been launched with the Gladius, and will eventually be applied to all old and new ships. Arena Commander also now features a landing system (detailed below), a new Mounts system with the introduction of Gimbal Mounts to the store and, likely most interesting for today’s pilot, the launch of the REC system. This is our first pass at rental credits, aimed to allow payment-free progression in Arena Commander. You can expect plenty of balancing in the coming days, so get out there and provide your feedback! As promised, all existing backers will get 5,000 REC to start things off!

You can see the entire change list in the 1.1 patch notes here.