View source for Star Citizen Alpha 3.12.0

{{PatchData|Prev=Star Citizen Alpha 3.11.0|publishdate=2020-12-17|version=3.12.0|Next=Star Citizen Alpha 3.12.0a}}

Alpha Patch 3.12.0 has been released to LIVE!
[[image:Alpha 3-12 Banner Update.jpg|right|450px]]
Database Reset: YES
Long Term Persistence: Enabled

=New Features=
==Locations==
{| class="wikitable"
|Space Station - Refinery Deck
|'''Implementing Refineries into Rest Stops'''
Refinery Decks are dedicated areas in Rest Stops that allow players to drop off mined materials to be refined, pick up mining missions, or buy new mining equipment.
|}
Kiosks have been placed in the Refining decks that allow players to take their raw mixed mining ore that they mined in their ship and refine it. The player can use these kiosks to create multiple refining jobs which are persistent and complete over a period of time, based on quantity and complexity and create refined ore that is more valuable than unrefined. There are different kinds of refining processes which produce different percentage yields depending on the type of resource being refined. Additionally, different refineries may have different proficiencies. Once one or multiple jobs are completed, the player can collect the refined materials into a ship with cargo capability and sell as a good at a commodity kiosk, with most goods sell-able at major city ports. Now that we have a specific location where refining takes place in the verse, most mineable transactions have been moved there. You can still sell unrefined ore at these locations, or choose to refine them. Levski will also purchase unrefined materials.
[[Image:Refinery Deck.png|right|300px]]
{| class="wikitable"
| Spacescaping Stanton: Lagrange point updates
|'''Updating all extra-planetary lagrange point locations in the PU with improved visuals and first Gascloud implementation.'''
|}


==Gameplay==
[[File:Darneely.png|right|250px]]
{| class="wikitable"
| Reputation - T1
|'''First pass of the Reputation system to track player relationships with various entities'''

This system will introduce the first foundational system of reputation added to the game to track a player's relationship with various entities, such as important NPCs and Organizations. This reputation is now stored in long term persistence so that it will remain through database wipes and character resets. Currently, reputation levels with an NPC or Organization are only seen through different dialogs or access to higher paying missions. We are working to add functionality to improve player visibility of reputation in a future update.

Mission Giver Reputation: All mission givers except Ruto (due to tech requirements for him being a hologram) have been updated to use the new reputation system. Doing missions for a Mission Giver will cause you to gain and lose reputation with them. They should react appropriately, playing different lines of dialogue based on your performance. If you fail too much they will fire you, and refuse to give you missions for 24 hours. The amount needed to fail and be fired is currently hyper generous and will likely be adjusted as we continue iterating on reputation.

Bounty and Assassination Missions: Many of the Bounty and Assassination mission chains have been updated to use the new Reputation System. In doing this restructure, Bounty missions were split into being given by 3 separate Organizations, each with their own reputation, all presided over by a parent Bounty Hunters Guild. As you increase your reputation with the Bounty Hunters Guild and its children, you will unlock Certification missions. If you complete the Certification Mission you will unlock a new tier of higher difficulty, higher payout Bounty Hunter missions, and if you have high enough reputation with any of the children Organizations they will offer missions from that tier to you. Also, if you watch your wallet when you complete bounty missions, you'll notice that some organizations will include a little something extra if you are at a high reputation with them. This is the first of many "Perks" we intend to include. Assassination missions have all of the above, but there is only one Organization for them, a one man operation run by a guy named Vaughn.
|-
|Weapon Zeroing - Tier 0
|'''First implementation of weapon zeroing'''
This system provides the player with a way to change the zeroing on their weapon sights. This allows shots at further distances without having to alter aim to account for bullet drop. While in ADS, a player can manually or automatically change a the zeroing range on their scope. Aiming down sight will show the current zeroing setting as well as a distance finder at your cross hair for scopes that support this (max distance varies by scope). You can set your weapon zeroing manually or to the distance finder amount by pressing "page up" and reset zeroing to 0m by pressing "page down".
|-
| Multi Tool - Tractor Beam Implementation - T0
|'''First Implementation of tractor beam device'''
Initial implementation of a Tractor Beam Device that attaches onto a Multi Tool that allows a player to control an object at a small distance without physical contact. Its primary use is that of quickly and remotely moving smaller cargo and other physics based objects in gravity and zero-g, and in zero-g if tethering to large objects (asteroids, space stations, ships) can be used as a “grapple hook” to pull the player towards it. This includes a tractor beam UI that displays Force and Distance Gauge as well as indications if the tether is close to breaking. Players can rotate a tethered item by holding “R” and moving the mouse cursor. Players can get the new tractor beam attachment and the multi-tool at the new Refinery Decks or in various shops in the PU.
|-
|Weapon Zeroing - Tier 0
|'''First implementation of weapon zeroing'''
This system provides the player with a way to change the zeroing on their weapon sights. This allows shots at further distances without having to alter aim to account for bullet drop. While in ADS, a player can manually or automatically change a the zeroing range on their scope. Aiming down sight will show the current zeroing setting as well as a distance finder at your cross hair for scopes that support this (max distance varies by scope). You can set your weapon zeroing manually or to the distance finder amount by pressing "page up" and reset zeroing to 0m by pressing "page down".
|-
| Ship Entry Identification
|This feature adds dynamic AR markers onto a player's display when in close proximity to your vehicle to aid in entry. These contextually change depending on whether the vehicle is landed or in space to only show valid entry methods. This feature is on by default but has the option to disable in the settings.
|-
|Ship Thruster Physics
| Ship thrusters now create wind volumes when in use that will interact and blow away physics based objects, ships, and players
|}
[[File:Talon Landed Concept.jpg|thumb|Esperia Talon concept art]]

==Ships and Vehicles==
{| class="wikitable"
|Esperia [[Talon]]
| The [[Talon]] has been added to the game
|-
|Esperia [[Talon Shrike]]
|The [[Talon Shrike]] has been added to the game
|}

==Weapons and Items==
{| class="wikitable"
|Gemini A03 Sniper Rifle
|A versatile, semi-auto sniper rifle with the ability to fire quickly at the cost of accuracy. This weapon has an integrated scope and attachment points on the Barrel and Underbarrel. Players can currently buy this in game at Skutters in Grim HEX.
|-
|Behring FS-9 LMG
|Behring designed the FS-9 to be an overwhelming battlefield force. This light machine gun features a full auto mode that makes it ideal for laying down covering fire or holding back advancing enemies. The FS-9 is also acclaimed for its ability to maintain accuracy while unleashing sustained fire. Players can currently buy this in game at Skutters in Grim HEX.
|}

= Feature Updates=

Locations
* Stanton System Planetary Improvements
Further improvements to planetary detail and assets which includes a detailed global painting pass with consideration to global climate data and improved cloud layer visuals. We are also refining how object presets are set up, to get a more natural and believable read, as well as introducing some new assets to the biome packs. Updating the remaining geology assets to the organic shader to utilize the latest features. Re-introducing the acidic biome for Hurston and Ariel with PlanetTechv4. Re-introducing the glossy/icy surfaces on Yela and Lyria. We are looking to showcase the above improvements for this release on the planets Hurston & microTech, as well as on the moons Cellin, Daymar, Wala,Yela, and Lyria.
* Elevator Panel Updates
Replacing the existing Utilitarian elevator panel buttons with interactive screens.
* Restricted Area Rework - Area18 / Lorville
Removal of landing splines at Area 18 Spaceport and Lorville Spaceport and updating restricted flight area around the spaceports.
* Added Platinum Bays on the moon, Clio
Gameplay
* Mining UI Refactor
This update adds a brand-new user interface for all mining-capable vehicles, which will provide the player with a clearer overview of what they are currently experiencing, including: Mining Consumables – What you have equipped, their current state and their duration. Cargo – Your cargo pods now show their contents and update in real-time as you extract materials from mineable deposits. Volatile Cargo – The health and estimated time that the cargo will last in your cargo pods before collapsing, and volatile cargo itself is highlighted in the UI so that you can’t miss it when you collect it. Flight UI – The current flight and gimble settings your ship has active are visible at all times. This new interface is built entirely using the new BuildingBlocks system which will allow for quicker development, iteration and testing of new features for the Mining System.
* Rebalance pass on mineables, mining lasers, and mining consumables
Balance changes to aspects of mining due to the introduction of the new Refinery System. These changes will increase the potential for finding valuable materials and make mining more profitable at lower ends while providing more high end multiplayer opportunities for multicrew mining ships or the combined power of multiple smaller mining ships. This is an ongoing balancing process that will continue to be tweaked and balanced.
Mineables across the entire game have been tweaked to provide a higher maximum percentage of all materials held within them. Some Mineables now have valuable materials in them where they didn’t previously. Some lower-end valued materials now reduce Resistance of the Mineable, meaning that finding some present in a large, valuable deposit could actually be a benefit rather than a hindrance. Resistance and Instability curve scaling has been eased slightly to prevent huge spikes in difficulty in lower-end Mineables.
Mining Lasers have been overhauled to bring them in line with the new Mineables but also balance them out and make them all more viable choices. These include widesweeping changes to power outputs, instability, resistance, shatter, charge rates, optimal charge window, and overcharge rates. The amount of consumable slots has been increased for most mining lasers.
With the rework to both Mineables and Mining Lasers in mind, Consumables needed to be looked at too to prevent them breaking the entire system. All consumables will now have 5 charges. Consumables have all been rebalanced and include widesweeping changes to durations, instability, charge rates, power level changes, optimal charge windows, and resistance.
* Wheeled vehicle and aiming improvements
Improving wheeled vehicle and aiming gameplay surrounding the Grin Roc and other ground vehicles. Reworked control scheme for wheeled vehicles to include VJoy controls and getting the wheel vehicle and ship controls closer together. If desired, players can go back to the previous behavior by enabling freelook (press z) or, for a more constant solution, remove the mouse bindings from vehicle turn left/right. The ROC mining arm will now follow the VJoy indication in Manual Gimbal Mode (Press "G" to swap). Added the ability to disable the auto-brake state of vehicles which would always activate if no forward / backwards inputs above 10% were added (Press "V" to turn off auto-braking). Added ability to "freeze" the aim vector in manual gimbal mode (RALT+G) in The ROC and all other driver/pilot controlled gimbals (the gimbal freeze will reset once the gimbal mode is changed again). Added more inversion settings for wheeled vehicle controls. The ROC mining arm will now recenter before it is retracted and will no longer be completely offset after getting in and out of the vehicle.
* Counter Measures v1.1
With these improvements to countermeasure gameplay, the amount of deployed countermeasures will play more of an important role in the chance of spoofing missiles. Single countermeasures will be less effective, but players will have the ability to choose how many should be fired with each burst. Different missiles will have varying degrees of countermeasure resilience. Flares have been renamed to Lures and now have different modes to control how multiple launches work including Launch burst (tap H default) or Set and Launch Burst to send out multiple (hold H default). Default Lure burst size is 3 and can Increase the burst amount size (tap Right Alt + H) or Decrease Burst Size (tap Left Alt + H). Countermeasures have also had a sound effects rework.
* Torpedo Attack, Counter-Balance and Behavior
A rebalance of the Size 9 Torpedoes. They are now much deadlier, with only a few direct hits required to bring down larger ships. This extra damage comes at the cost of speed.
* Head Tracking Updates
We have made a few additions, updates, and fixes to head tracking devices to help increase usability for players.
New Features: Added a recalibration button that resets all head tracking devices internally (except TrackIR, but you can set it to the same button if desired). Added support for positional axes for cockpit and most other ship seats in first person. Added Rotation and position support for external cameras (clamped to 1m in each dimension). Added separate button to enable/disable head tracking on external cameras (unbound by default). Added head rolling for FPS and ADS (including an option to automatically turn it off). Added a smoothing slider and a "forward" center deadzone for Faceware. Added head tracking option to toggle on or off position offsets in cockpits. Added additional head tracking limits for specific seats and beds.
Added support for Tobii head/eye trackers ("Tobii 4C" and "Tobii Eye Tracker 5") and added options to set them up.
General Fixes: Actor head won't snap from left to right if the head tracking angle is above 180 degrees. All mouse induce head movements will now be suppressed when head tracking is active. Removed the internal offset when the toggle is used (it will be using the internal device offset instead). Reshuffled the menu options for head tracking to make it clearer. Extended the available movement range in seats when headtracking is used. Fixed the auto recalibrate option.
* Smaller ship input QOL improvements
Moved vehicle exit actions to a delayed press (250ms). Added Game Setting option to switch exit seat actions as hold vs immediate press when using a turret / pilot seat. Moved vehicle eject to RALT+Y. Resorted IFCS movement actions. Fixed a couple of problems with smart toggle treatment. Various input quality of life improvements.
* EVA binding and control QOL
Added roll inversion. Removed strafe inversion settings from MKB. Removed unused pitch actions in EVA action map and code
* Look ahead and target tracking changes
We have made a few changes to how this is handled. We separated target tracking out to a "weak" version and a "strong" version. The weak version is now part of the normal look ahead process and does not produce a very strong movement to slightly help keep the target in view but also keep the HUD and other elements from being lost. The strong version is called "Padlock" now and will follow the target as much as possible. Removed binding to enable look ahead target tracking. Removed option to automatically enable look ahead target tracking. Added binding to enable padlock. Added option to automatically enable padlock (off by default).
* Ordnance Replenishing - Updating Pricing of CryAstro vs Shops
We have now hooked up key ordnance on ships (Missiles/Chaffs/Flares) in all Cry Astro/Landing service functionality to run through the shop service, allowing for proper pricing differentials between items when restocking your ships. This will also require some re-balancing for our current insurance and item prices. Overall, this is a major step forward towards getting a fully dynamic set of prices for the landing service functionality.
* Temporary re-balance to distortion weapons pending a more extensive update later
* Adjusted all ground turrets to have a higher signature for faster player detection
* Added axis inversions for EVA strafe axes, IFCS relative velocity limited, and IFCS relative acceleration limiter
* Added button to reset velocity limited to SCM speed
* Space brake is now an axis allowing for variable analog braking
* Updated types of ships that UEE Security can spawn
* Added new non directional shield hit communications in the ship computers
* Added sfx ducking when Personal Inner Thought is open
* Added Origin 100 series to ship dealerships in the PU

[[Image:Gas Cloud Station.png|right|300px]]

Ships and Vehicles
* Increased the hydrogen fuel tank size on the Nomad
* Increased the hydrogen fuel tank size on Mercury Star Runner
* Brought Mercury Star Runner hull strength more in line with ships in its class
* Reduced verbosity of some ship computer notifications
* Increased gloss amount on Hammerhead hull
Weapons and Items
* Balance pass on all LMG FPS weapon damage, recoil, and bullet spread

= Major Bug Fixes =
* Pitch Ladder should no longer display while sitting in non-pilot seats.
* Fixed an issue that was causing ship canopys to open and close without user input.
* Fixed an issue where decoupled space brake caused the velocity vector to change.
* Weapon SFX should now play correctly when vehicle weapons are fired.
* Ships landed at New Babbage and Lorville should now be able to be stored.
* Fixed an issue that could cause rest stop elevators to duplicate, making them inaccessible.
* Nightrunner Star Runner paint should now correctly change the color of the cockpit glass.
* Characters hands will no longer turn their flight stick/wheel in the opposite direction to the input being provided.
* Fixed an issue that caused weapons to twitch and move on a player when switching to 3rd person camera.
* Weather VFX should no longer be seen on visor when the player goes up the amphitheater stairs in New Babbage.
* Fixed an issue causing the Animus Missile Launcher to not let players equip a fresh magazine once the currently attached one was used.
* Nomad self destruct audio will no longer stop prematurely when self destructing the ship.
* Fixed an issue causing windows and glass displays in Lorville to become blurry when the player is very close to them.
* Fixed multiple missing building geometry assets while in transit to city gates in Lorville.
* Fixed an issue causing rock geometry to visually disappear when player is facing certain directions around GrimHEX.
* Fixed several areas around the edges of Medium sized Hangars in GrimHEX that were missing Breathable Atmosphere.
* Fixed a section of missing railing in the New Babbage Skybridge.
* Ships landed at Platinum Bay landing pads should no longer display their location as UNINITIALIZED on Vehicle waypoint.
* Fixed an issue causing some deadzone settings to not save properly.
* Increased size of text boxes on commodity kiosks to fix large numbers overlapping.
* The Pirate Gladius variant should no longer be missing the Comms Menu on all it's MFD Screens.
* Fixed an issue that caused liquid to not appear in drinks in the PU.
* Players should now see the correct cost when expediting a Nomad insurance claim
* Fixed an issue that was causing players to sometimes be unable to see all or some party member markers
* Players should now be able to access the main screen on the Fine Terminals when clicking onto the "Login As User" button
* Fixed an issue causing Arena Commander and Star Marine matches to not cycle to the next game at the end of a match
= Technical =
* Fixed 6 Client crashes
* Fixed 5 Server crashes