The New Star Citizen 3.16.1 PTU Coming Soon to the PU

Star Citizen has grown as a product from Cloud Imperium Games (CIG). A fully crowdfunded game in development with over $430 Million funds raised as of the writing of this article. Now heading into their Alpha 3.16.1 patch to be released soon, the process to get even to this milestone has been long and arduous. For CIG and their backers. From starting out with only a dozen or so people in 2012 to 700 people worldwide today, they’re coming into their tenth year of development…that is, if you’re counting. Patch 3.16.1 introduces a few new things that haven’t been in the game before like trip mines and the new derelict spaceships on the ground and potentially in space to explore and loot.

YouTuber BoredGamer had to say about 3.16.1 “Star Citizen Alpha 3.16.1 is likely going to drop at the end of January or early February.

So, let’s talk about it. We know they plan to add new Derelict POI around planets and moons that have both puzzles and exploration elements to them. Those willing or daring… to search for loot will have to negotiate random obstacles and perhaps deal with the new laser trip mines to make life interesting. Who doesn’t like hazards to give it some additional difficulty? We can probably expect a load of bug fixes and QoL improvements too which are always appreciated.

While playing Star Citizen with Kobe from the Org Quantum Jump Medics we played through the new content, exploring several of the wrecks. Some were new and others were pre-existing modules using the improved tech. We did hit a few of the mines, but there was no damage to Kobe. Expect the damage level of those to be increased.

Of further note, we jumped at the chance to check out the new gravlev experience using two Dragonflies that had a major rework implemented at the recent 3.16 patch. The rides were smooth, compared with blowing up as in the past when the bikes didn’t lift high enough for the rider to get above small objects like small/medium rocks. Now the experience has greatly improved and makes racing fun. You still must be careful about not launching yourself into space off a low gravity moon and they aren’t meant to go a kilometer up and make a soft landing. Kobe later added “The bike mechanics were nice. It felt very smooth and was a lot of fun and a lot less deadly. The mines were a little underwhelming, but I am hopeful they will be good by the time of the release”.

The time we played through the new content we found several wrecks. Some were new and other were the old ones. We hit the mines, but there was no damage to Kobe. We went into the new Gravlev experience with two Dragonflies. The rides were smooth and with blowing up as in the past when the Gravlev didn’t lift the rider above small objects like small rocks. Now the experience is fun and makes racing fun. You still must be careful about not launching yourself into space off a small atmosphere and low gravity moon.

These changes coming to Star Citizen in Alpha patch 3.16.1 will improve the game for the community of players both new to Star Citizen and those who have been around for quite some time. A good start for 2022 and with major patch 3.17 coming up in March, stay tuned for more updates.