With the biggest update in at least six years and a free fly event (probably) right around the corner, it's probably time for an update: Alpha 3.23, which should go live in the coming days, brings a completely new character creator with tons of new options, reworked user interface and interaction system, a new starmap and a minimap, engine improvements and an experimental Vulkan renderer, many balancing tweaks, a new flight model, improved handling for gravlev vehicles, various FPS combat tweaks, updates to the reputation system and a new neutral outlaw faction, 13 massive new locations with missions and gameplay opportunities and a bunch of other crap, but most importantly, it introduces the replication layer, decoupling state tracking from the actual game servers. This huge new feature enables server crash recovery, meaning if a game server crashes, a new server will spin up and take over. So you're no longer kicked to the menu losing all your mission progress, loot and cargo, you'll just have to wait a minute and the game will continue as if nothing happened. The replication layer is also the foundation for server meshing, which has recently been tested successfully with 800 players spread across two meshed servers, one handling planetary surfaces while the other was responsible for everything else. Server meshing still needs some tweaking and is expected to come online with alpha 4.0 later this year. An upcoming minor patch in the 3.23.x cycle will also add instanced personal hangars you can decorate and use to store your stuff - basically the first iteration of player housing.
Additionally, one of the two big yearly events, Invictus Launch Week, will start May 17th, and there's usually a free fly week during Invictus, meaning you can check out the game and access various (military) ships for free. CIG wants to really stress the new replication layer it seems, I just hope the tech won't shit the bed too hard. The last time CIG added new fundamental core tech was also right before a free fly, and the game was borderline unplayable for more than a month.
And because CIG always does nice trailers, here's the Invictus announcement:
Additionally, one of the two big yearly events, Invictus Launch Week, will start May 17th, and there's usually a free fly week during Invictus, meaning you can check out the game and access various (military) ships for free. CIG wants to really stress the new replication layer it seems, I just hope the tech won't shit the bed too hard. The last time CIG added new fundamental core tech was also right before a free fly, and the game was borderline unplayable for more than a month.
And because CIG always does nice trailers, here's the Invictus announcement:
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