Today, Star Citizen gets its latest alpha update, 3.172, which adds a new anti-aircraft vehicle, doubles capacity per server, and begins the new Siege of Orison event.
Recently, the team stated that, after previously not considering any changes to capacity, testing increases during the public testing for this update went so well that they were going to do it. The test phase saw 75-120 players per server on a varying basis. With the release of this update, server capacity will double, going from 50 to 100 players supported.
This will also allow the Star Citizen team to scale up planned events like tournaments and dynamic events, and is the first step towards eventual server meshing. Planetary meshing gets its first turn with 3.17.2, and it allows NPCs to navigate terrain and complete tasks. It’s simple for now, but will also be part of future planning.
The latest dynamic event arrives in 3.17.2. Siege of Orison, taking place in a new location. The event lets you take part in a fight against the Nine Tails pirates. The pirates have taken control of Crusader Industries’ sales platforms, and created a no-fly zone above them. The event requires gaining control of these four platforms by taking out the Nine Tails pirates, including a commander per platform. While it’s mostly going to be done through FPS gameplay, vehicular combat is possible. Success will require gaining control of the new floating platforms and strategic teamwork.
Maybe stopping pirates isn’t your thing and shady missions are. If so, the new illegal delivery missions add another layer to previously-added criminal activity options. These new solo missions expand on the courier and delivery missions and let those with a reputation for being reliable doing illegal missions, you can take all the risk upon yourself with these new types, and also the reward if you complete them.
There’s a new anti-air vehicle as well, the Anvil Centurion. Described as a short-range anti-air vehicle, it has space for a pilot and a gunner, and has four energy weapons with unlimited ammo.
For details on the full update, head to Star Citizen.
