Today, Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games released a big update for the growing space simulator, numbered Alpha 4.8.
The update, as revealed last week, comes with the Tacical Strike Group mission, which is what I like to define as akin to a raid in Star Citizen, mixing PvE flight combat with ground battles in an epic storyline.
Suits have also been changed to react differently to G-forces. Now, dedicated flight and racing suits will improve your resistance to the G-forces you’ll have to bear during sustained high-performance flight. On the other hand, armored combat suits reduce it; the heavier, the worse the reduction.
Refueling missions have been added and the system has been improved.
Insurance has been changed to make loss and vehicle recovery more meaningful, giving you the choice to recover a stock vehicle for free or to insure the full loadout with a recovery fee.
New ships have been added, precisely the highly anticipated Drake Ironclad and Ironclad Assault, on top of the command module that can be docked and undocked with the Caterpillar and Ironclad itself, and fly independently.
The Aegis Hammerhead has received its Gold Standard pass, with overhauled interiors and visuals.
Capital ships and some subcapitals now have the ability to repair and resupply smaller ships within their hangars, provided that they have the required materials.
Ship armor and shields have been rebalanced, while weapons, ammo, munitions, and components have been adjusted.
Seven new hairstyles have been added for players to choose from, and new weapons have been implemented, a plasma grenade and a crossbow, alongside new clothing and armor.
Virtual reality has also received new tweaks and features, as you can read in the full patch notes.
Incidentally, to level the playing field and give players the opportunity to start fresh, a big wipe has been done, so all players will restart from scratch. They’ll only keep the items and ships they pledged for and acquired blueprints.
Today marks the beginning of DefenseCon 2956, one of the biggest events of the year, which is accompanied by a free-to-play event that lets you enjoy Star Citizen without the need to spend a dime. It’s a great way to assess how far it has come.
Of course, it’s for a limited time until May 27.
Update: the free fly event is temporarily suspended due to excessive traffic. The developers did not provide an explicit timeline for when it will be reinstated.
If you’re unfamiliar with Star Citizen, it’s a PC exclusive, crowdfunded project directed by Chris Roberts of Wing Commander fame. It’s a multiplayer sandbox space simulator that has been in development for over a decade and in alpha for several years.
The crowdfunding total for the game is at almost at $972 million, and it’s currently sitting at $971,707,596. The game currently has 6,503,412 registered accounts, but we know that not all are paying customers.
Some are alt accounts, while others are simply created to enjoy the “Free Fly” periods that fairly often let non-backers enjoy the game at no cost, like the one happening to celebrate DefenseCon.
It’s notable that Star Citizen’s funding tally for 2025 has beaten all records from previous years by a large margin.
A single-player campaign titled Squadron 42 is also in active development with a recently confirmed 2026 release window, starring an exceptional cast of famous actors, including Mark Hamill, Henry Cavill, Gary Oldman, Liam Cunningham, Gillian Anderson, and more.
Since the project has been in development for over a decade, you can see how Squadron 42 has evolved since its first reveal.
Full disclosure: the author of this article has backed Star Citizen’s crowdfunding campaign.
