Star Citizen Devs Talk About Ship, Piloting, And Targetting Changes Coming To Alpha 3.10

Cloud Imperium Games will be making a number of adjustments to the ship-piloting system in the upcoming Star Citizen Alpha 3.10 update. The studio’s Vehicle Experience Team talked about these changes in last week’s developer stream.

First on the list are adjustments to hovering. With the release of Alpha 3.10, hovering ships will gradually build up heat which, if left unchecked, will eventually cause the maneuvering thrusters to shut down, leading to a crash. VTOL ships won’t be exempt from this new mechanic but will build up heat slower than other ship types. An option to turn-off the auto-shutdown mechanic will be introduced in a later update.

Thrusters will also be affected by environmental factors such as wind and the composition of a planet’s atmosphere among others. Cargo weight will also have a significant effect on a ship’s ability to take off on some planets, although VTOLs shouldn’t be affected by this too much.

Ship targeting and HUD systems will also be improved which includes the addition of an aim-assist feature, updates to priority target pinning, and transitioning the HUD from Flash to the studio’s in-house Building Blocks system. HUDs will also show a ship’s flight path with arrows and ship trails to make it easier for pilots to predict other ships’ movements. Manufacturer-specific HUDs are also planned for a later date.

It’s important to note that the game is still in Alpha and that these features are still works-in-progress that will probably be updated based on player feedback. Check out the full livestream below to learn more about the above-mentioned features and more.