Star Citizen Update Adds New Controls, Top Gear Parody
Clarkson in space
When Star Citizen's combat module first took flight, there was frustration with its bugs and its controls. The massive patch 13, released on Saturday, works to address those complaints by introducing "additional controls for six degrees of freedom", a new set of control options, along with a few new game modes including the ability to race new ships against your friends. Also they've made a Top Gear parody to talk about the new ships, confirming that Star Citizen is set in a dystopian future where Jeremy Clarkson's malignant influence remains. Video and more details await below.
The full list of patch notes are huge and contain a lot of bug fixes and tweaks, but the major new additions are:
- Added Cooperative Vanduul Swarm game mode
- Added Classic Race game mode
- Added Friend Codes
- M50 is now Arena Commander Ready
- 350r is now Arena Commander Ready
- Added New Horizons Speedway level
- New Hangars: Discount is now Self Land; Business is now Aeroview; Deluxe is now Revel & York; Addition of VFG Industrial Asteroid Hangar
The patch initially added private matches to the game, letting you race against only your friends, but quickly-discovered issues with the patch have caused those to be taken offline for now. Some other bugs with the patch are outlined on the Star Citizen blog, along with information on further control options to be added in the days and weeks ahead.
Star Citizen raised its initial capital through crowdfunding and since then has been ticking up the funds through private investment, early access sales, and microtransactional space ships (and space ship decor). It sounds a bit mad, but is pretty, and fascinating as a phenomenon.