Alpha Patch 2.6.0 has been released, and is now available for players! This patch provides access to Star Marine – with two maps and two game modes to choose from, we hope you're all as excited as we are for this release! We also have four new flyable ships, four new variants of existing ships, new FPS combat mechanics such as cover, mantle and vault, major ship balance changes, Pirate Swarm game mode and so much more in the form of fixes and updates to existing content!

Your launcher should show "2.6.0-490789-c" as the client version. It is strongly recommended that players delete their USER folder for the Live client after patching, particularly if you start encountering any odd character graphical issues or crash on loading. The USER folder can be found (in default installations) at C:\Program Files\Cloud Imperium Games\StarCitizen\Public.

Please review our current list of Patch 2.6.0 Known Issues, and take full advantage of our Issue Council area of the Community site to report any bugs you encounter, as well as contribute to other players submissions.

Important Issues

Players in a party will be separated after finishing a multiplayer game. You will have to re-form parties after a match.

Star Marine Leaderboards are not yet in-game, and will show up as "Coming Soon".

Star Marine loadouts can take 15–30 seconds to save to the database. If you proceed into the game right away, it will sometimes place you in the default loadout instead.

Patcher Stalls

If you find that your launcher has stalled with only a small quantity of data remaining left to download, we recommend that you use a VPN to complete the download.

Should you need a free VPN Service that we have confirmed to work as a solution for this problem we recommend checking out Tunnelbear found here.

Should you need more assistance with this issue please feel free to contact us via our support page here.

New Features

Star Systems

Crusader

The Grim HEX Bar is now open and ready for your absolutely legal and legitimate business!

Crusader has several new locations to visit and a new ICC Probe mission.

The Yela Asteroid belt has received some updates, with a much denser field and more varied salvage locations.

Game Systems

Arena Commander

Pirate Swarm is a new game mode to Arena Commander, for both Drone Sim and Spectrum matchups. Players will be challenged to defeat increasing numbers and increasingly difficult waves of varied pirates. The number of pirates that spawn will scale based on the number of players present.

Enemies in specific Arena Commander game modes (Vanduul Swarm, Pirate Swarm, Squadron Battle, Battle Royale) now drop pickup items. Anyone in the match can obtain these pickups by flying through them. These pickups come in four types, and will restore afterburner fuel, missiles, ballistic ammo or repair your ship.

Players are now promoted through the ranks of the UEE Navy on the Arena Commander leaderboards. Work your way up from Starman Recruit all the way up to Legatus Navium – a special rank only awarded to the first player to reach it per season.

The majority of ships are unlocked for use in Arena Commander private and single player matches, including the Constellation, Retaliator and Caterpillar.

Capture the Core has been deactivated as an available Arena Commander game mode at this time.

Star Marine!

Our first-person combat simulator Star Marine is now available for players!

Two maps will be available in the initial Star Marine release, OP Station Demien and Echo Eleven.

Star Marine has two available game modes for 2.6.0. Elimination, an every-man-for themselves mode where you duke it out for the highest kill-score. Last Stand, where Outlaws and Marines wrestle for control of four key computer access points to earn points for their team over 4 rounds. The team with the most points wins!

Beyond the weaponry you've already come to know and love in Crusader, grenades are also available in Star Marine from the ammo crates.

Leaderboards are also now available for Star Marine via the website. These include tracking of points, ranking and score similar to what is already available in Arena Commander.

Players are now promoted through the ranks of the UEE Marines on the leaderboards. Work your way up from Trooper all the way up to Legatus Marinuum – a special rank only awarded to the first player to reach it per season.

Loadout customization is enabled for Star Marine. Users can select weapons for each available slot, and armor type (light or medium). Please keep in mind because team distribution is random, players will need to edit both their Outlaw and Marine loadouts to ensure that they receive a correct loadout for both teams.



Star Marine Scoring

Standard Kills are worth 100 points.

A "Bleed Out Kill" is worth 75 points. This is based on who got the last blow on an enemy before they subsequently bled to death.

Suicide inflicts a penalty of -200 points.

"First Blood" kills give a bonus of +100 points, rewarded to the first player to score a kill.

"Revenge Kill" +50 points, rewarded if your next kill was the player who last killed you.

"Ace Award" +100 points. Ace is awarded if you kill 5 players without dying. You are marked to all over players with a pulse of an icon at your location every time you make a kill at 5 and over.

"Ace Spree" is +25 points, and increases for each kill by an Ace over the first five until their Ace Spree ends. Kill #6 a bonus of +25, at #7 kills a bonus of +50, etc.

"Ace Kill" +150 bonus points awarded for killing an enemy who is an Ace. +25 points for every one of their kills over 5.

"Nemesis Award" +150 points, awarded for killing the same enemy 3 times without being killed by them.

"Redemption Award" +150 points, awarded for killing your Nemesis.

"Resurgence Award" +50 points, awarded for killing an enemy when you have had more than 3 deaths without a kill. Bonus +50 points for every death without a kill over 3.



Combat Emotes

In addition to everything else that comes with Star Marine, we have also implemented some basic combat signals to the keypad of the keyboard for Star Marine.

These will broadcast at a much shorter range then a chat message or emote normally would, and allow players who are not in voice chat to convey very basic strategy to each other. /left – Keypad 1 /stop – Keypad 2 /right – Keypad 3 /yes – Keypad 4 /forward – Keypad 5 /no – Keypad 6 These are not bound to the Gamepad at this time.



Bleeding has been added to the game!

has been added to the game! Bleeding is a debuff that stacks (additive) with itself, and will decrease your total health pool each second it ticks down.

Each body part that enters a ruined state (10% or less health) can apply a stack of Bleeding.

Right now, each Bleeding stack deals 1 damage per second.

When your health pool reaches zero, your character dies.

To stop bleeding, you must use a MediPen to restore your injured limb out of the Ruined state.

Lobby Refactor

Our new front end user interface is now implemented, with updated graphics and new features.

Some notable changes include all new loadout customization section for Arena Commander. This allows players to edit their ship components for Arena Commander matches through the game interface without the use of Port Modification. Ship loadouts edited in this way will be retained from session to session and carry over into Arena Commander, but not Crusader. Players still have the option of viewing and editing their ships via the Port Modification in the hangar.

Players already in a Lobby will now be able to receive, accept and decline invites to other lobbies.

Changing the game mode or map while in a Lobby will now unready all players, so they can re-confirm the new match configuration.

Third Person Camera

The third-person cameras for both Vehicle and On-Foot have received some major quality of life changes in 2.6.0.

Many of the improvements are "under the hood" for our teams to use for new content, videos and cinematics, but there are some new features that players can use right away in 2.6.0 to help you get that perfect shot.

Vehicle/Ship Camera now has three third-person camera modes – Chase Camera, Vehicle Orbit and Passenger Orbit . Chase Camera is similar to the classic third person view of your ship from the upper-rear, but with many more features. Vehicle Orbit gives you control of a full range of rotation for your camera centered around the vehicle. Passenger Orbit gives you control of a full range of rotation for your camera centered around the passenger.

and . On Foot Camera now has two third-person camera modes – Third-Person Follow and Third Person Orbit . Third-Person Follow is identical to the current 2.5.0 camera implementation and does not support the new features at this time. Third Person Orbit gives you control of a full range of rotation for your camera centered around your character.

and . You can switch between the camera views by tapping F4 on the keyboard. However behind the F4 modifier there are several new features, including the ability to adjust the camera field of view via different lens sizes, or offsetting the position of the camera around the ship for different angled shots. New: Lens Size Selection (Chase Camera, Vehicle Orbit, Passenger Orbit and Third Person Orbit) HOLD F4 & Numpad + will increases the lens size, and HOLD F4 & Numpad – will decreases the lens size. New: Camera Offset (Chase Camera, Vehicle Orbit, Passenger Orbit and Third Person Orbit) HOLD F4 & Left/Right Arrows moves the target position in the X axis, HOLD F4 & Up/Down Arrows moves the target position in the Y axis, and HOLD F4 & PageUp/PageDown moves the target position in the Z axis New: Orbit (Vehicle Orbit, Passenger Orbit and Third Person Orbit). Z to toggle the Orbit on and off. When active, the user can control the camera rotation via their mouse movements. New: Reset to Default HOLD F4 & Numpad * will reset the third-person camera to default.



Social Module

New chat commands and functionality have been added! /addignore, /removeignore, /showignore, /tell, /partyinvite, /partyleave, /addcontact, /removecontact "Ignore" is new, and will add players to your ignore list. There is currently not UI to view which players you have ignored other then the /showignore command, so use with caution. /tell allows you to send a private message to another player. The party and contact chat commands are shortcuts with the same as the existing functions in your Contact UI.



Ships

We have made some significant changes to how ships perform in 2.6.0, and expect this will significantly alter combat tactics for many players. One of the largest changes has been in ship speeds. As more and more ships have gone into the game, the speeds have slowly crept up to make room for them. The end result is that combat in SCM mode has progressively got worse and further apart. With these increased speeds, undesirable sliding when turning comes in, and with that, more unintended collisions and a general requirement to not fly near any of our cool setups in the world.

Up to now, certain ships were held as a gold standard, meaning that we had to force values for new ships far beyond where they should naturally sit. Our goal is to nominalize speed and reset the balance across the board. Reducing the SCM speeds has allowed us to keep/tweak the afterburner/cruise speeds close to what they currently are and to put a resource on boost fuel and its management to hop between engagements.

Alongside the flight speed changes, we're also rebalancing a lot of the weapon velocities, as they also had started stretching out to match the speeds. While these reductions in velocities are not as drastic as the SCM reductions, the goal is to bring both in line for a more satisfying combat experience.

The changes mean that the management of this boost and afterburner going forward is once again become a viable combat tactic.

Flight System Changes

Complete rebalance of SCM speeds and ship handling for all ships.

Cruise mode has been removed at this time. Afterburner has been rebalanced such that the max speed of Afterburner is now comparable to (2.5.0) Cruise, and fuel consumption/availability has been adjusted accordingly. The goal is that Afterburner becomes the method to engage/disengage combat as well as gives the choice between outright speed or better handling.

Precision mode still exists, but can only be accessed via Landing mode.

The keyboard binding "V" no longer shifts between Cruise/Precision/SCM as the two first modes have been removed.

All ships have had a pass on their thruster fuel consumption values and heat generation.

All ships have had a pass on their fuel intake regeneration rates.

All ships have had a pass on their fuel tank capacities.

General thruster usage now consumes a small amount of fuel.

Both Afterburner and Boost now consume fuel. Afterburner consumes more fuel than Boost on a per item basis. Depending on the maneuvers being pulled with Boost this may feel like Boost is draining more fuel. Consumption and regeneration rates have been retuned to allow for long distance straight-line speeds.

Strafe has had some adjustments made to fit the many flight changes made. Using strafe during normal flight, you should only get a change in velocity of +/- SCM max velocity, rather than +/- Afterburner max velocity. Your strafe velocity range is no longer higher when using Afterburner. If you are flying over SCM max speed and switch into decoupled mode, strafe will allow you to decelerate, but not accelerate. Strafing forward while in decoupled mode now properly uses the main engine and allows for AB usage.

Made adjustments (based on player feedback) to how Dual Stick controls are interpreted by the IFCS.

Afterburner Functionality Changes

Afterburner and boost consumption rates have been adjusted. Once fuel is depleted you are kicked out of afterburner until enough has regenerated. Afterburner no longer automatic disables GSAFE.

When Afterburner is pressed: Fuel when Afterburner is being used is rapidly consumed. Please note that fuel is burned more when accelerating. Afterburner fuel consumption stops when SHIFT is released or desired Afterburner speed is achieved. Please note that no fuel is burned when idling, i.e., not accelerating. Maneuvering ability is currently not scaled down as you get closer to Max Afterburner.

When Afterburner is released: Power drawn and heat signature increase are proportional to percentage of Max Afterburner speed you are at. If you try to pitch or yaw, IFCS will arrest you down to the SCM speed indicated by the throttle setting (roll does not trigger this). This arrest of speed is more gradual and smoother than a direct throttle adjustment. The drop in velocity is currently at the normal deceleration rate for SCM.



Boost Functionality

Boost ("X" on the keyboard) replaces the former Space Brake mapping.

Space Brake is now "LeftAlt + X" on the keyboard ("ShoulderLeft+ThumbLeft" on gamepad) and is a shifted version of Boost. Functions the same as before in that it does not alter your throttle position, but uses Boost to stop quickly.

Boost improves thrust to all secondary maneuvering/retro thrusters. Whilst these thrusters consume less fuel in their Boost state, depending on the maneuvers being pulled you may experience a higher draw of fuel.

Holding down Boost ("X" on the keyboard) allows you to turn/stop quicker.

If you want to brake quickly, throttle to zero and press ("X" on the keyboard).

General Balance Changes

Complete rebalance of all missile loadouts for all ships. All new missile racks and missiles have been created and outfitted to all ships. Every ship has had its missile rack hardpoints adjusted.

Rebalance of countermeasure ammo.

All missile rack hardpoints are now editable and missile rack items can be exchanged again.

Complete rebalance of all shields for all ships. These simulate the Item 2.0 shield values that will come with a future patch. As such they are approximations of the intended default loadouts.



First Person

Animations

We have made a huge number of updates and additions to first-person combat animations in 2.6.0. This includes cover (both while standing and in crouch). Vaulting, which allows characters to jumping over obstacles and low cover such as over railings. Mantle, which allows characters to grab ledges or other hand-holds and pull themselves on top of other objects.

These are primarily implemented Star Marine at this point, to allow players to test them in a focused environment.

The Klaus and Werner ATT-4 Laser Rifle is now named "Klaus and Werner Gallant Laser Rifle" in-game.

The Gemini LH-86 Ballistic Pistol is now named "Gemini L86 Ballistic Pistol" in-game.

User Interface

The following updates have been made to the Default keybindings. All the below changes can be rebound as desired.

Scoreboard in Arena Commander and Star Marine is now activated via "F1" on the Keyboard.

"Exit Seat" is no longer behind Modifier 1 on any device.

Exit Seat "Hold F" on the keyboard and "Hold Y" on the gamepad will now exit, however the "hold" time has been increased.

Holster weapon is now "Hold R" on the keyboard, and "Hold X" on the gamepad

Removed the Throttle Max and Throttle Min from the double tap "S" and "W" on the keyboard. Max / Min Throttle can be toggled via Backspace still on the default keybinds.

Added prone toggle (independent of crouch) on "X" on the keyboard. Crouch is still on "LeftCtrl" on the keyboard.

Afterburner is now the only action on "LeftShift" for the Keyboard, "B" on the Gampad, and "Button 7" on the Joystick.

Boost is now on "X" for the Keyboard, "L3" on the Gampad, and "Button 6" on the Joystick.

Spacebrake is now on "LeftAlt+X" for the Keyboard – see the details of the flight balance changes to understand how Space Brake now uses boost to break faster.

IFCS mode shift has been removed, as Cruise has been removed and accessing Precision mode is done via activating Landing Mode.

Cycle safeties are now on the "V" key of the Keyboard, no modifier required.

Heal moved to "V" on the Keyboard to minimize accidental presses of the grenade when trying to heal.

New camera controls accessed via holding down "F4" – see the section in the 2.6.0 patch notes for the new Third-Person Cameras .

. Walk moved to "B" on the Keyboard.

Combat emotes mapped to Numpad 1 through 6. See the section in the 2.6.0 patch notes for the new Combat Emotes .

. Flight Pitch is now inverted by default on the Gamepad.

3rd Person Orbit camera is now on "LB + R3" on the Gamepad.

Star Systems

Fixed a number of small geometry holes around and outside of AstroArmada.

Fixed a number of missing graphical detail levels around Dumper's Depot.

Fixed a number of props in the Casaba Outlet that were clipping into each other.

Fixed an issue where players could very rarely find themselves unable to move if they left ArcCorp directly after dying inside of a buggy and immediately returned to the server.

Fixed a number of texture conflicts in the alley behind Casaba Outlet.

Fixed an issue where deceased players would sometimes function as ammo crates.

Fixed a number of missing graphical detail levels on Port Olisar props.

Fixed an issue where the Reliant KORE would sometimes spawn partially inside of the Port Olisar landing pad.

Fixed a texture conflict issue on several directional arrow decals in Grim HEX.

Fixed texture conflicts on a number of Grim HEX props.

Fixed reversed warning decals on the Grim HEX generators.

Fixed a typo on one of the decals in the Grim HEX cargo area.

Fixed an issue where one of the Grim HEX asteroids was missing some collision.

Fixed an issue where the Grim HEX elevator doors were missing audio.

Fixed a number of issues with flickering decals in and around the Grim HEX landing pads.

Hangars (All)

Fixed an issue where the fish were missing from several of the fish tank flair items.

Fixed an issue where the hangar elevator screen could become unpinned if the user moved their mouse during interaction.

Aeroview Hanga]

Fixed an issue where players would see a unintended haze in the Aeroview hangar.

Selfland Hangar

Fixed an issue where several door panels were missing graphical detail levels and would disappear at specific distances/angles.

VFG Industrial

Fixed an issue where several small tables in the VFG Industrial hangar would disappear at specific distances.

Fixed an issue where the lighting in the VFG Industrial hangar would shift drastically when the player camera was at specific angles and locations.

Fixed a number of small texture conflicts on the ceiling of Million Mile High Club.

Game Systems

Shopping

Fixed an issue when players in flightsuits would find their flashlight remaining in mid-air when they tried on civilian clothing.

Social Systems

Fixed an issue where players who are in your party and your contact list would appear on your contact list twice.

Fixed an issue where the "Join Team" button would appear as available for the team the user was already on.

Fixed a number of missing Arena Commander audio cues.

Ejections in Squadron Battle and Battle Royale should no longer count toward the kill/death ratio on Leaderboards.

The game mode "Capture the Core" has been deactivated for the foreseeable future.

Fixed an issue where the scoreboard could get stuck on screen in Vanduul Swarm if it was on-screen when the character died.

Fixed an issue where ship components such as weapons and turrets were not correctly generating points when damaged in AC game modes.

Ships

Fixed an issue where Automatic Landing would activate intermittently when approaching a landing area.

Fixed an issue where killing the pilot of a ship with a FPS weapon would cause the pilot to enter a death/respawn loop until they relogged or the ship was destroyed.

Fixed several issues where turret auto-stabilization was not functioning when the ship was in motion.

Fixed an issue where character items (flashlight, mobiGlas, weapons) would trail behind the pilot when their ship was in motion.

Fixed an issue where certain HUD or UI elements would be stuck on the player screen if they ejected and survived.

Updated the ship headlights on the Aurora (all), M50, 300i, Reliant, Freelancer, Mustang (all), Argo MPUV, Hornet (all), Gladiator, Vanguard, Sabre, Retaliator and Gladius.

Fixed an issue where missile splash damage was not correctly affecting ship shields.

Chaff countermeasures should now be more effective in breaking target lock and reducing CS signature.

Fixed an issue with missiles, so they should now properly inherit velocity from the ship that fired them.

Fixed a bug preventing Space Brake from working properly in Decoupled Mode.

Individual Ships

300 Series Fixed an issue with low detail levels on certain 300 components.

Avenger Stalker Fixed some of the pilot animations where they were not correctly aligned with the Avenger flightstick.

Avenger Warlock Fixed an issue causing the Avenger Warlock's EMP charge level to display for everyone in the instance.

Constellation Andromeda Fixed a texture conflict with a specific orange decal on the Constellation Andromeda support pillars. Fixed an issue with the gimbals on the lower nacelles of the Constellation Andromeda that would allow it to accept weapons too large for the location and port.

Constellation Phoenix Fixed an issue where there was no audio for entering the turret seat of the Phoenix.

Freelancer Fixed an issue where the Freelancer turret was missing key audio. Fixed an issue where the Freelancer shields could not be toggled off.

Freelancer DUR/MAX/MIS Fixed an issue where the audio systems of these ships could be edited in the hangar and swapped with the systems of other ships.

Gladiator Fixed an issue where the third-person cockpit view would be too close to the player when the ship was moving. Fixed an issue where the orbit passenger camera was not focusing on the passenger properly.

Gladius Fixed an issue where the third-person cockpit view would be too close to the pilot when the ship was moving.

Hornet Series (All) Fixed an issue with low detail levels on certain Hornet components. Fixed an issue where sitting in the turret of a Hornet would sometimes teleport the gunner to the map origin.

Hornet F7CM Fixed an issue where the wing lights would continue following the ship after the wing or tail had been destroyed.

Khartu-Al Fixed a number of small lighting issues with the Khartu-Al during landing and taking off. Fixed an issue where the Khartu-Al boosters would not reappear after the ship was repaired.

Mustang Beta Fixed an issue where the main weapons would appear to fire in a 360 arc when transitioning camera angles.

P-52 Merlin The P-52 Merlin now temporarily will regenerate boost/afterburner fuel. This is a temporary change, until parasite craft can refuel by docking with their host craft in the PU.

Retaliator Fixed an issue where the gunners wrists appeared to be broken when seated in the turrets.

Reliant KORE Fixed several minor issues with how the pilot gripped the flightstick of the Reliant. Fixed a number of minor lighting issues inside of the Reliant cargo hold.

Vanduul Glaive and Scythe Fixed an issue where the "cockpit" would remain open after the pilot had entered the ship and taken off.

Vanguard Warden Fixed the hand positioning of the turret gunner in the Vanguard Warden. Fixed the port for the Warden nose gun, so that it can no longer accept weapons not intended for it. Fixed an issue where some of the Vanguard Warden multi-function displays could not be viewed.



First Person

Animations

Fixed a number of issues with transitions during various jumping animations.

Fixed a number of minor animation issues with weapon draw, aim and fire while in crouch and prone.

Fixed a number of issues tied into characters being able to continue firing their FPS weapons while in the middle of an emote such as /dance.

Fixed an issue where players would not see any animations play when other characters on the server looted an item.

Weapons

All of our FPS weapons have received audio and graphical tweaks.

Fixed an issue where the Behring P4-AR would be missing the sights after respawn on Crusader.

User Interface

Gamepad

Updated the default ship aiming curve for pilots using the Gamepad.

Fixed an issue where Gamepad users could change teams in the Arena Commander lobby, even when there was only one team available.

Joystick

Fixed a number of problems joystick users were experiencing with E.S.P.

Technical

Fixed some performance drops associated with rapid transition of camera views.

Fixed an issue where spamming the Escape key on a loading screen would load the menu without any options or means to back out without a client restart.

Fixed a number of rare issues with account persistence, where data would stop updating after certain upgrades.

Fixed a number of edge cases with account persistence that would sometimes cause players to spawn in invisible, missing certain equipment and other similar bugs.

Fixed a number of client crashes.

Fixed a number of server crashes.

Sources

Star Citizen Alpha 2.6.0