Update:Star Citizen Alpha 4.2.1

Star Citizen Alpha 4.2.1 is a minor update for Star Citizen.^[1]

Star Citizen Alpha 4.2.1 has been released onto the LIVE environment! Your launcher should now display: VERSION 4.2.1-LIVE.9958723

Characters in this new environment have been built from Long Term Persistence (LTP) data.

Currently with LTP, certain player states such as personal hangar layout, unstowed ships, custom characters, in-progress refinery jobs, and in-game purchased consumables are not saved between releases which will cause some items to be lost in the update.

Build Info

This release is highly focused on the new Resource Drive event, Ship Escort missions, Flight Tuning, and Wikelo Recipe Updates.

• Long Term Persistence: Enabled
  
• Server meshing: 5:5:600 Player Shards
  
• Starting aUEC: 20,000
  

Gameplay

A shocking discovery reveals that imprint technology is failing. An upsetting number of the population are not actually regening, meaning that death might not have been conquered after all. To calm the public, Imperator Addison relaxes restrictions on scientific exploration in a desperate effort to find a solution, leading to some dubious research initiatives cropping up in the universe.

All 4 Corporations of the Stanton system are fighting for resources to help win a research contract. Whichever corporation has the highest amount of contributed SCU by the end of the event will be the winner of the contract. These resources can be gathered by any means necessary. Players will only be able to partake in the missions if they do not have a CS3 or higher.

Player’s will be tasked with different missions to achieve this including:

• Resource Gathering - They ask the player to source and gather X resources.
• Recover Cargo - Players go to retrieve cargo from a vessel that has broken down/attacked. Or retrieve cargo from a stolen stash.
• Support Attacked Ship - Defend a cargo ship from waves of pirates trying to destroy and rob the ship.
• Hauling - Retrieve resources that have been processed and are ready to be delivered.

In this new Mission Archetype, players will be tasked with fending off enemy ships whilst escorting friendly ships into a hangar around the asteroid mining bases as well as escorting them out until they can QT away. This mission type comes in 6 difficulty levels under the Foxwell group in both Stanton and Pyro and awards Scrip upon completion.

We have implemented a new backend for the interdiction system that returns the snaring functionality to near pre-server meshing. This means that players can now snare a ship that starts a QT jump on another server. Following server meshing, there was a issue that meant snares could only take place if the quantum jump started on the same server as the snaring ship. There are a few known issues that we are working towards for 4.3.0

1. Players can still calibrate to a nav target when inside of the snaring field
2. Players will occasionally "rubber-band" back to the site of interdiction after appearing to travel beyond it
3. Players may occasionally experience issues trying to charge their snare device, a workaround is to flick it off/on a few times or wait for a small amount of time
4. Players will not be able to snare a ship if it started QTing before the snare is activated.

Wikelo Recipe Updates

All collector rewards have now become deterministic, meaning you'll know what you are going to get when accepting a mission without random rewards. We've defined and split ingredients for the mission into three distinct categories.

Core Content Items [Items that are guaranteed with specific content e.g. ]

• Example: Carinite with Align and Mine

Rare Content Items [Items that have a very low spawn rate per run(Below X%), with specific content]

• Example: Pure Carinite for Align and Mine

• Example: Ace Interceptor Helmets for Ship Battles

► Collector Rebalance All the recipes have been re-done and re-balanced 2 new tabs have been added to the contracts manager to accommodate all the new recipes. Wikelo - Vehicles and Wikelo - Other Items.

Greenzone security around Stanton Space Stations has been re-activated in 4.2.1. This includes a complete re-balance of security forces with escalating response to accumulated crimerates in the area.

Cost Reduction for most goods in regards to Refining Cost. Removal of Discard Cost to Refining.

• Moderate increase to carrying capacity for most backpacks
• Added ex-collector tinted special weapons as rare loot in the PU
• Carryables are now thrown instead of dropped when falling due to damage
• FPS Mining Beam Brightness has Been Slightly Reduced
• Added chance of new Small Pure Carinite FPS minable in the Hathor Site cave
• Split cargo Hauling Missions Into Supply Grade Tabs
• Change to supply lines of Medical Supplies Commodity: Increased Premium, and Reduced Availability
• Further Improvements to help stop Ace Pilot corpses despawning during missions

Locations

Increased health and damage output of size 10 station defenses. Made improvements to the way they take damage to ensure the weapon never stops firing before the base is destroyed and will now delete the weapons on destruction.

To prevent uninvited players getting aboard docked ships we now teleport trespassing players out of ships they don't own (unless in party with owner) when docked at a space station.

• Lazarus Research Facility Location Art, LOD, and Performance Polish
• Further Area18 Proxy Updates around Windows and Interiors

Characters

Additional Character & AI Polish

• Various adjustments to Apex Valakkar awareness, aggressiveness, and combat potential with more range and damage
• Juvenile and Adult Valakkar Repositioning Movement and Attack Polish

Ships & vehicles

Heavy Fighters & Interceptors:
Minor rebalance and a general increase in maximum angular speed, providing improved maneuverability across all ships in these categories.

Medium Fighters & Interceptors:
A comprehensive tuning pass has been applied to Medium Fighters to deliver more distinct flight characteristics per ship. Alien ships such as the Glaive, Scythe, San'tok.yāi, and Reliant variants are included.
Key adjustments focus on:

• Angular rotation max speeds
• Angular accelerations
• Linear acceleration (Gs)
• SCM speeds

• Angular rotation speed
• Linear acceleration (Gs)
• SCM and NAV top speeds

• Increased Quantum Fuel capacity for extended travel range
• Slight buff to critical health hardpoints
• Retains previously boosted top speeds

• SF7B Gatling spread got reduced for improved weapon accuracy.

400i:

• Added an additional S2 Powerplant and Cooler back to the default loadout

• Executive Ship Component Loadouts have been reverted to previous higher-tier versions
• Disabling ground flight turbulence for 4.2.1 (Atmospheric turbulence will remain)
• Salvage Balance: Reduced Reclaimer Hull Scraping Efficiency and increased Vulture and Fortune Efficiency
• Reclaimer: Added Point Defense Systems/Cannons
• Cycle Friendlies now only cycles non-hostiles
• ATLS IKTI gun Muzzle projectile Visual Improvement
• Enabled Countermeasures in Esperia Prowler Variant copilot seats
• Reduced BEHR Ballistic Gatling S7 Bullet Spread
• Increased Talon self destruct to 30s so you have time to escape before explosion
• Greatly Reduced Incorrectly High Idris Turret Health
• Updated base Valkyrie to have the new Doors and Door Panels from the Asgard
  

Weapons & items

This new Ballistic Sidearm is now available to loot in the universe. With 150 rounds Full-Auto with overheating mechanics.

The 5 Qualities of Valakkar Pearls now have separate names so players can identify the Quaility

Performance & Stability

• Various server stability improvements related to freight elevator operations
• Reduced instances of items getting stuck in transfer states
• Improved synchronization between client and server for inventory operations
• Further Network Stall Optimizations
• NPC Networking Performance Optimizations

• Enhanced error messaging for freight elevator capacity limits
• Improved feedback for failed inventory operations
• Better handling of edge cases in ship spawning and retrieval

Bug fixes

SC Alpha 4.2.1 contains nearly 160 bugfixes for issues occurring in 4.2.0, 46 of which originated from the Issue Council. These fixes listed directly address the most impactful player-reported issues minus the numerous exploit fixes and should significantly improve game stability and the overall experience.

• Fixed freight elevators displaying "Elevator Overloaded" error when retrieving 32 SCU containers from Medium Hangars
• Fixed freight platform automatically raising without player input when interacting with Freight Manager while platform is lowered
• Fixed Freight Manager getting stuck on "Loading Contents" after exiting kiosk UI while platform is descending
• Fixed freight elevators in Contested Zones displaying "Internal Error" with "Failed to read SuperGUID" trace
• Fixed cargo occasionally disappearing and returning to warehouse after being retrieved via freight elevator
• Fixed Anvil Asgard cargo containers getting stuck when overlapping with ceiling

Mission & Rewards

Collector Mission Fixes

• Fixed broken F7 Hornet Mk II Wikelo reward spawning incomplete ship from Wikelo Navy F7 mission
• Fixed missing weapon reward for "Fun Kopion Tooth Gun" Collector mission

• Fixed AI not spawning at some Data Center locations during the Storm Breaker activity
• Fixed Apex Valakkar limpets vanishing after successful fracturing during mining

Player Ships & Items

Ship-Specific Fixes

• Fixed Esperia Talon window/glass shader turning off when switching from NAV to SCM mode
• Fixed incorrect boot prints appearing on metal floors inside Origin ships (100i, 600i, 890 Jump)

• Fixed missing crosshairs while in driver seat of Greycat MTC
• Fixed level 3 crime stat being incorrectly applied when using explosives inside ships with PDC systems

Technical Systems

Physics & Movement

• Fixed ladders causing damage or instant death to players when climbing

Quantum Travel

• Fixed quantum interdiction not working in Stanton system, even on same server
• Fixed RSI Mantis unable to interdict ships from other servers in Stanton System

• Fixed black screen issue when entering ships with docking collars

Network & Server

• Fixed various server meshing issues affecting quantum interdiction

User Interface & Inventory

Personal Inventory

• Fixed items returning to original inventory when attempting to drop, transfer, or equip
• Fixed inventory items randomly disappearing during transfer operations
• Fixed equipment and consumables disappearing from personal inventory
• Fixed items getting stuck in "Transfer Pending" state
• Fixed weapon ammunition not appearing in local inventory after ship retrieval

• Fixed Pembroke and Novikov suits not appearing in Refinery Shop kiosks

Vehicle Management

• Fixed Vehicle Manager App (VMA) showing incorrect status for spawned ships
• Fixed ship status not updating correctly in ASOP terminals

Art & Visual Issues

Ship Visuals

• Fixed glass shader issues on Esperia Talon variants
• Fixed incorrect surface material effects on Origin ship interiors

• Fixed missing visual feedback for successful mining operations on Apex creatures
• Fixed disappearing limpets and pearls during Valakkar creature mining

• Fixed missing crosshair elements in vehicle HUD systems

• Fixed 6 Client Crashes
• Fixed 7 Server Crashes
• Fixed a Server Deadlock

https://support.robertsspaceindustries.com/hc/en-us/sections/360002667153-Known-Issues

• PU - Advocacy Badge ( Replica ) - Actor Feature / Interactables - Advocacy Badge does not successfully Carry, Inspect or Store

Workaround

The Advocacy badge can still be submitted to the collector if the item is moved from :

Lootbox > Personal Inventory ( Backpack or Armor ) > Item Bank ( at any Wikelo Station ) > Freight Elevator

1. PU - Stanton - Resource Gathering - Recover Cargo - Mission Content / Game Code - Mission doesn't progress after reaching the mission location
2. PU - Missions / mobiGlas - Multiple Missions - A majority of the missions are missing in the PU
3. PU - Stanton - Resource Gathering - Support Attack Ship - Mission Content / Game Code - Mission did not progress after reaching the mission location
4. PU - Missions - A Call To Arms / Mercenary - Total Criminal Neutralized counter do not add after killing actor with a Crime Stat
5. Mission Content / Locations - Derelict Outposts - Derelict outposts are spawning emergent AI as well as mission AI
6. PU - Freight Elevators - Accessing the Freight Manager during item transfer can cause items to not register in the location inventory and can prevent mission completion
7. PU - Ship Battles V1 - Mission Content - Players can fail the mission upon arriving out of QT at the mission location
8. PU - Mission content - UI - Ships that have a % bar for health uses hull integrity but can fail before it reaches 0%
9. PU - Mission Content / Cargo - Escort ship can spawn with no cargo on-board
10. PU - Patrol - Missions / AI - Ace Pilot will de-spawn upon next objective update
11. Multivehicle - AC - Vehicles/RN - AC Capacitors do no share same values as PU
12. PU - Stanton - Resource Gathering / Freight Elevator - Mission Content / UI - Ore pods are not consistently recognized as being stored in the warehouse or is delayed
13. PU - Freight Elevators - UI / Locations - Cannot fill freight elevator to full capacity with commodity crates
14. PU - Mining / Harvestables - Some mining nodes on planet surfaces cannot be scanned or mined and are lacking collision
15. PU - Mercenary - Mission Content / AI / Locations - AI can remain in the Elevator Spawn closet even though the door is open