Roberts Space Industries has been consistently chopping away at the ambitious Star Citizen for as long as most of us can remember. With an impressive case of feature creep, and a surprisingly interactive release schedule, many doubted that we would ever see the original concept in the flesh.
But it appears the team is one step closer to delivering its part-procedurally generated, part-hand-crafted space MMO sooner rather than later. A 3.0.0 patch overview was updated today, and Star Citizen‘s Persistent Universe appears to be its focus.
The developers gave us a taste of their overarching goal almost a year ago, with the “mini persistent universe” planet Crusader. This was an introduction to wanted levels and an opportunity to communicate with other players, pick up missions, access your hanger, and take your ship for a spin. While this wasn’t a huge offering, players got a good preview of what the MMO might eventually look like.
This 3.0.0 update has confirmed the addition of explorable content to Crusader’s three moons — Yella, Cellin, and Daymar. These moons will have outposts, new mission givers, derelict ships, and explorable debris fields. There may even be a new planet to land on, though Delemar is currently clarified as a stretch goal for the team.
There are some gameplay updates as well, including player-manned turrets and pick-up-and-carry cargo. Character customization is confirmed, too, and I think we can all agree that changing up our space explorer’s features is top priority.
There will also be significant UI improvements to the game, including updates to the mission manager app and personal inventory app. Moreover, important quality of life fixes like intelligent airlocks and cargo transfers will be exciting news for dedicated Alpha players that have been leaving feedback since Crusader. And on top of all that, long-awaited core systems like personal stamina and ship insurance will be implemented as soon as possible, with an expected release of May 31st.
If you’d like to take a look at the full set of features, the schedule report can be found here.
