Update:Star Citizen Alpha 3.8.0

Star Citizen Alpha 3.8.0 has been released! This patch brings several major updates to the Star Citizen universe, including the new, frigid planet of microTech, a series of new missions for combat-oriented players, a visual improvement to all planets and moons, a new mining ship in the Mole, and melee takedowns for up-close engagements.

Official Patch Page:

Known Issues
=New Features=
 * CryAstro services may not work at various stations and major ports.
 * Work-around: Hover before landing and request services just above the pad.
 * Rentals and/or rental timers may not work when renting a second ship.
 * If a player's ship is destroyed after bed logout they will return to the server at origin.
 * Weapons may occasionally not fire when used.
 * Work-around: Keep a secondary weapon handy and swap between them
 * While mining with the Prospector or the Mole the cargo hold will periodically fill or empty.
 * Ships and characters on kiosks and the PMA/VMA will occasionally be missing assets or have assets over-sized.
 * NPC s may sometimes be doing usable animations in places that they shouldn't.
 * Purchasing at shops may occasionally fail.
 * Claimjumper missions may occasionally lack markers or spawn NPCs.
 * Countermeasures are not working as intended to deter missiles.
 * The 890 Jump does not have the correct cargo capacity.
 * The Combine Cannon and distortion weapons are not working as intended.
 * Elevators at Port Tressler and Everus Harbor may not show up when called.
 * If the quantum travel marker is at the edge of a moon or planet they can QT through the moon and explode..
 * Purchased commodities will often visually not appear in the ship's hold.
 * Carriable boxes may fall through the flooring.
 * Players may experience stalls in performance shortly after loading into Star Marine and firing weapons.
 * NPC beacon notifications will sometimes display an incorrect distance.
 * AI ships can often get stuck in the middle of their motion and not advance further.
 * AR makers for enemies can sometimes be seen through walls in Star Marine.

Locations

 * Added MicroTech Planet including the exterior of New Babbage Landing Zone.
 * Note, the interior of New Babbage is not complete and is unavailable for now.
 * Added orbital stations above major planetary landing zones.
 * Added new Rest Stop interior variants.
 * Added visor and canopy moisture effects to some ships when in the appropriate environments.
 * Players now have the ability to select their initial spawn location when it is their first time logging into the game.
 * Grim HEX armistice has been updated to allow non-lethal melee combat.
 * Added wind texture rotation on all planets and moons.
 * Added dust/sand storm effects to appropriate planetary bodies.
 * Wind will now effect the flight model while ships are in flight.

Gameplay

 * Added "impounding" function to the law system
 * Players who incur landing infractions that cause their ship to be forcibly despawned will now see it as "impounded" rather than "stored" when they return to the ASOP terminal. Players can then see their infraction and either pay to have their vehicle removed from the impound or wait until the vehicle is released. Different jurisdictions have different fine amounts and impound times.
 * Added new fine functionality to the law system
 * Fines are no longer automatically deducted at time of infrthe action, but instead accumulate on the player until they manually pay them off. Fines can be payed if at new fine paying consoles, located at all major landing zones. At the consoles, players can choose which fines to pay (ordered by importance) or simply "pay all" to clear all fines. Fine amounts increase over time to reward quick/early payment. If a fine elapses (goes unpaid after a period of time), the player will incur a felony.
 * Added criminal infraction for "battery".
 * New mission: Rescue hijacked 890 Jump.
 * Added greater difficulty patrol style missions that spawn harder ships and sentry turrets.
 * Added melee combat including fist and knife fighting along with lethal and non-lethal takedowns.
 * Players can now use various kinds of melee attacks including light attacks (tap LMB/RMB) and heavy attacks (hold LMB/RMB). Attacks are directional (LMB for left, RMB for right) and can be chained together for combinations. Players can block incoming attacks using LMB + RMB together and facing the incoming direction. In addition to blocking, dodging is also a defensive option and can be activated by double tapping "A" (dodge left), "D" (dodge right), or "S" (dodge backward). Players can also do "takedowns" if they melee from an undetected direction, usually behind the target, and can be initiated using the middle mouse button. For knife attacks/takedowns, players will need to use a combat knife which can be found at various FPS weapon shops and equipped into a utility slot. When unarmed, melee attacks will do non-lethal damage and takedowns are non-lethal, meaning they will render another player unconscious for a brief moment rather than kill them. Initiate knife combat stance with the "5" key and unarmed melee combat with the "0" key.
 * Added a timer to headracking to disable after a customizable number of seconds.
 * Added a look ahead option that pulls the head toward the cursor if it is visible (disabled by default).
 * Added an abandoned cargo location light (blinking) for cargo that is ejected from a destroyed ship.
 * Minor criminal infractions (battery, vehicle collision, and vehicle destruction) will now not be triggered when against fellow party members.
 * New Mission: A Call To Arms
 * A Call to Arms is a general mission that allows players to gain UEC for killing any criminals they encounter and can be accepted to gain bonuses for each criminal eliminated that are not part of regular missions. These include any random criminals spawned as part of environmental scenarios as well as interdictions.

Ships and Vehicles

 * Added: Argo Mole mining ship
 * The Argo Mole (Multi-Operator Laser Extractor) is a medium sized, multi-crew focused mining ship. Along with the pilot, the Mole has the capacity to hold three miners in individual turrets allowing them to team up to mine rocks that were previously unmineable.
 * Ship weapon convergence point when no target is active can now be manually set in the options menu.
 * Audio mixing and polish pass for all mining lasers.
 * Reworked weapon reload sounds to better line up with animation changes.
 * Reworked what was "target focus" into the new look ahead setup as "Look at selected target".
 * To use selected target look, set look ahead type to "experimental". Under "Flight – Targeting" there is a keybind for "Look at selected target" which can be set as a toggle or a hold. Once a target is selected and in view, toggle or hold and the pilot head/view will follow the target until they get out of a certain threshold. Additionally, in the game settings you can define the strength of "Look At Target". The old target focus behavior is still available under the "Legacy" setting.
 * New "look ahead mode" functionality.
 * Look ahead mode now has an "experimental" option that opens up additional functionality, on by default. In that mode, look ahead now looks into the ship's velocity vector, forward vector, look into turns, rolls into turns, and toward the horizon when near planetary surfaces, dynamically blending when appropriate. Head motion can also be impacted by g-forces to give an additional sense of motion. Each of these attributes, as well as the look into target and cursor optional features, can have their relative strengths adjusted in the settings menu.
 * Added a new keybind to deselect a target.
 * Added g-force induced head movement, the strength of which can be customized in the game settings.
 * Added new mining vehicle attachment: Mining Laser Head.
 * Laser heads are the mining component that is responsible for fracturing and extraction. These components can now be swapped and purchased, with different components offering different advantages and disadvantages when in use. Laser heads currently can have different instability dampening, resistance modifiers, extraction rates, power transfer rate, optimal charge rate, range, power consumption, heat generation, signature size, and wear characteristics.
 * Added annunciator panels to some ships
 * An additional UI panel has been added to some ships that displays various stat- driven ship conditions. Note, not all ships have these panels.
 * Added a drop shadow to all ship HUDs.

Weapons and Items

 * New FPS Weapon: Animus Missile Launcher
 * Once target lock is achieved, the Animus launcher rapidly fires multiple missiles from its barrels, unleashing the kind of devastation that Apocalypse Arms is known for.
 * New FPS Weapon: BEHR P6-LR – Ballistic Sniper Rifle
 * The Behring P6-LR ballistic sniper rifle more than makes up for its slow rate of fire with a high powered 0.50 cal round that's effective from long range. Featuring a scope with variable zoom modes and a barrel composed of a proprietary high-strength alloy, the P6-LR was designed to deliver when needed most.

Core Tech

 * Implemented server side object container streaming (SSOCS)

=Feature Updates=

Characters

 * Moved Wallace Klim to GrimHex.
 * Moved Miles Eckhart to Lorville at MacIntyre & Victor's Bar.
 * Increased the speed of most first person animations.

Locations

 * Updated planets and moons to Planetary Tech v4.
 * Updated the distribution of biomes on Hurston.
 * Updated sound effects and ambience at junksites.

AI

 * Improved AI ship collision avoidance.

Gameplay

 * Adjusted view distance ratios for dropped commodities.
 * Updated mission icons.
 * Updated some of the barriers in UGFs to allow vaulting.
 * Adding scoring for Pisces in Arena Commander.
 * Adjusted spawn rates for valuable mining materials.
 * Updated instability on FPS mineables.
 * Ships and Vehicles
 * Updated third person camera/chase camera for ships for improved behavior and stability.
 * In third person, the camera now follows the physical movement of the ship and better scales for ships of different sizes. The camera also behaves as if on a spring to allow it to swing, drift, and bounce with ship/vehicle motion in a more natural way.
 * Replaced the front fixed guns on the Pisces with mounted gimbals.
 * Updated landing gear and thruster nozzle LOD ratios on the Bucc, M50, Merlin, and Archimedes.
 * Rebalanced mineable rocks and lasers for expanded range of laser heads and to expand difficulty.
 * Swapped power plant on Heartseeker to military grade.
 * Changed Reliant wing animation to activate on VTOL key and engine rotation to activate with landing gear.
 * Disabled the ability of the player to get out of the seat when the Reliant is in vertical flight configuration.
 * Disabled canopy interactions during quantum travel.
 * Reduced camera shake for thrusters.
 * Updated the size and scale of ship status visor displayed and moved some ships displays to exclusively MFD.
 * Updated and rebalanced ship components (shields, powerplants, coolers, quantum drives.) around manufacturer characteristics so that each item is now unique with unique strengths and weaknesses related to their intended use.
 * Added Ballista to New Deal and Astro Armada.
 * Updates to glass reflections the several ships.
 * Updated all targeting keybinds to "tap" logic (press and release to activate).
 * Brought the mining laser/tractor beam close to the reticle point.
 * Remixed the ship audio volume levels.
 * Disabled bed logout in shops that are in other ships to work around a crash.
 * Tweaked boost camera shake so it's not so extreme.
 * Weapons and Items
 * Reduced the amount of shake on the Arrowhead when charging a shot.
 * Updated shop logos for Lortell, Doomsday, Gallenson, and Ultiflex brands.

Major Bug Fixes

 * NPC security at major stations should no longer occasionally get stuck in a combat ready pose.
 * AI mission target ships should now consistently spawn for all related missions.
 * Fixed an issue on multiple ships where a player could eva through landing gear without collision.
 * Missiles should now correctly fire to sub-target.
 * The player should now be aligned properly to the MFD and interaction nodes when laying in the bed of the Mustang Beta.
 * Small vehicles should no longer be able to enter Port Olisar's airlocks.
 * Vehicles at Lorville gates should now be properly restricted by the restricted area.
 * The turret gunner in AI Cutlass should no longer be standing up.
 * Bindings for target scanning controls should now be visible in the binding menu.
 * Commodities purchased should now visibility appear on the ship's cargo hold.
 * Switching FPS weapons should no longer cause them to occasionally drop and be lost.
 * Respawning within 50m of another player should no longer cause proximity VOIP to not work between them.
 * Party AR makers should now show up consistently.
 * Players should no longer be able to cause their character to become invisible when setting options in the character customizer.
 * Cacti on planetary surfaces should now have collision.
 * The quantum drive on the Constellation series ships should now be swappable.
 * Players should no longer be able to duplicate harvestables and hand mineables when dropping them on the ground.