Inside Star Citizen | Alpha 4.6 Patch Report

Transcript — every row opens the video at that moment

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   Each year of Star Citizen brings with it a new beginning, including new content, new opportunities, and oftentimes a few new ways of doing things. It's an essential element of Star Citizen's DNA, where we don't just build the game out in front of everyone. We continue to review, refine, and redirect our efforts, as well as the very manner in which we make our games along the way. In 2025, this saw the biggest change to our development strategy yet, where new content rose to the forefront, while feature work was allowed the time necessary to cook behind the scenes, [music] where dedicated strike teams were formed to deal with the biggest issues at hand, and the patch cadence changed from once every quarter to once every month. It was an exciting year, and now into 2026, we continue our yearly evolution as we head into the

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   upcoming alpha 4.6. Now, instead of a patch every month or every quarter, this year we'll introduce a new by monthly patch cadence, [music] which is one every two months for those of you who appreciate homonyms. No, that means that you're going to see big releases like 4.6, 4.7, 4.8, and the like in January, March, and May, and so forth, [music] and so forth, and so forth. And between those patches, we're going to try a new initiative that'll still deliver smaller chunks of in-game content to keep things interesting, like the recent pricing surge on commodities from last week, and in the future, new mission contracts, new loot, and even new spaceships, and all without the need for a big mega full patch release. It's an exciting experiment and one that

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   we're eager to undertake as we continue our journey to 1.0 know with a year of patches aiming to deliver more feature improvements like uh inventory rework, crafting, which if everything works out should be in tech preview soon or by the time this airs, instancing, genesis planets, and more alongside the content that we showed at Citizen Gone Direct like Rockcracker, tactical strike groups, and municipal works. So, with all that said, let's go ahead now and take a look at some of what alpha 4.6 6 has in store for us. And not just with its intended release next week, but throughout this February and into March. Up first, the local inhabitants of Levki

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   are falling sick with a mysterious ailment called the people's ailment, seemingly caused by the new strain of mold growing in the faulty air filters of Gs Incorporated. Symptoms include coughing, chest pain, and fatigue. This mold is super resistant [music] and forcing the free and independent people of Levky to reach out to the UEE for help. Now, it's up to contractors like you to race against the clock and save as many folks from fungal fatalities as possible. And of course, pick up some rewards along the way, [music] like this cool new medical themed armor set, med gun, ship paints, and more. And in feature work, the first

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   iterations of cockpit light amplification are also rolling out for select spacecraft. mode on. >> It's an exciting step forward in addressing one of the oldest struggles pilots have when flying or driving around the dark side of our planets and moons. And like most new features in Star Citizen, this will continue to evolve, improve, and expand to additional vehicles in subsequent patches. And look at all the different colors. And speaking of the oldest struggles, the Aurora classic ship from RSI, heart of our original crowdfunding campaign and most owned vehicle in the verse, is finally getting its gold standard pass in Alpha 4.6, bringing it to feature and function parody with today's latest and greatest

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   for those pilots who enjoy flying a true Star Citizen Classic. And alongside this, we're finally delivering many of those outstanding campaign paints to go with it, like the pirate paint, the Operation Pitchfork paint, the South by Southwest 2015 paint, the Electro Hole paints, and more. For 4.6, these will be delivered exclusively to those OG backers who earned them by supporting the original campaign, but may become available in limited supply later this year if there's enough interest. I suspect you can let us know on Spectrum, Reddit, and social. And in additional content stuffs, those cool holographic skull helmets we came up with so long ago are finally being

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   delivered to our development subscribers. I'm excited because [music] I've been wanting to recreate that, you know, that Skeletor meme on social with it since we first unveiled it. There should be memes here, unless we couldn't think of any. >> [laughter] >> There's also offerings from everyone's favorite Banu. Look, look, it's the only Banu, you know, technically who has these nifty new armor and weapon variants available as well. and the debut of the upcoming RSI Hermes, which you'll see fully and learn more about next week.

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   But as we said at the top of the show, 4.6 doesn't stop when it releases next week. That's because about 2 weeks after that, we'll see the unlocking of new faction-based introductory and advanced mining and salvage missions to better guide new players through the two popular professions, as well as provide additional opportunities to existing players. There's our annual Corore event that encourages folks to spend their lives in the burst with someone special and it arrives with a host of goodies to acquire. Red Festival returns with its super cool red and gold paints as well as new decal or not variants for those who prefer a cleaner look to your spacecraft paints. Another limited time change to vendors like the like the

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   recent pricing surge, but this [music] time discounting vehicles sold through in-game shops. >> Who's that spaceship? >> And finally, another new ship with a familiar silhouette makes its debut weeks later in the 4.6 era. So, what's it called and what's it do? Well, I'm not going to tell you cuz I'm not sure we're getting away with that whole what's that spaceship mom thing. So, come back in a few weeks [music] to find out. Ultimately, 4.6 is the start of a new season of Star Citizen content that will continue to expand the story and gameplay of Nyx, the features and capabilities of the universe itself, and the continuing development of the project as a whole. [music] And as far as shows like this are concerned, well, I'm happy to report that we're going

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    back to weekly from now on. So whether [music] that's ISC, seal, BTS, or whatever our particular episode is called, we'll be back with something to share each and every week that we can. [music] I've missed you. And one of you sent me a giant wooden hammer, which kind of feels like a threat, but I'm going to try my best. See you next week.