[ Disclaimer: This author pledged $45 to Star Citizen’s development for the Arena Commander Starter package. This author may or many not pledge more in the future. ]
Star Citizen’s long-awaited 1.0 update for its dogfighting module, Arena Commander, has finally been released, and along with comes the addition of more flyable ships, along with a host of other things, too.
Detailed at length on the official Cloud Imperium Games / Robert Space Industries website, the mind behind Star Citizen, Chris Roberts, has announced the introduction of a new lobby system for Arena Commander, and has also confirmed that more than triple the amount of the the module’s previously flyable ships has been added.
Thanks to the new update, every variant of the Aurora, Mustang, 300 and Hornet is now flyable in Arena Commander; 14 new ship variants have been made available. What’s more is that this number even includes the base models of both the Cutlass and the Avenger are also (finally) available to fly and dogfight with, too – both of which will also be upgraded to support Star Citizen’s new ship modularity system.
The 1.0 update also brings with it new ship upgrades as well as “significant enhancements” to Star Citizen’s in-ship system’s, including a ship signature system, thruster power system and a lateral G-force system. New audio, visual and animation effects have been added to things like the HUD and missiles. There’s also new textures, cameras and more.
Accompanying the new lobby system, there’s now also a new friends system, which will now let you to make / contact your friends both in-game and via the Robert Space Industries website. Additionally, the previously revealed first-person shooter module is starting to show its signs in Arena Commander, as the default character model and movement has changed drastically. As a little extra, you can also pull out a small pistol after ejecting, too.
However, whilst Arena Commander has gone past the decimal point, Roberts has firmly outlined that reaching this milestone does not mean to say that the dogfighting module is anywhere near finished.
“I would like to stress that today’s release of Arena Commander 1.0 is a beginning, not an ending. This milestone does not denote the completion of Arena Commander, it kicks off an even more significant phase of its development,” Roberts said.
“With this update, we’ve added a significant number of ships, items, missiles, and systems which means more interconnected systems, more servers to stress and more bugs to squash. These future changes won’t be limited to fixing technical glitches and balance issues.“
Arena Commander 1.0 has seen to the publication of a new digital manual as well, but it has also shaken things up in the storefront, too. Within the 14 new ships comes the arrival of the Aurora ES, which is considered as the “essentials” package that doesn’t include either Alpha or Beta access or access to Arena Commander.
With the new ships, you can now use Cross-Chassis upgrades to replace your current Aurora for one of the new Mustangs – some can even be done for free. At most, you’ll be spending $10 to Cross-Chassis upgrade or to just upgrade a ship to another variant. Jumping between what are now considered the “starter ships” will still keep your Alpha / Beta and Arena Commander access, along with your additional goodies, too. It may be worth giving this a try, as some ship variants have been adjusted, and may subsequently be missing things they had in the past.
You can read more on Arena Commander’s 1.0 update via the source link below. We’ll bring you more news on Star Citizen should further information reach our ears.
[ Source(s): Ropert Space Industries ]