'Star Citizen' latest news: Alpha Patch 3.0.0 now released

Screenshot from the "Star Citizen" trailerYouTube/Star Citizen

"Star Citizen," the upcoming massively multiplayer, space trading and combat video game for Microsoft Windows has recently released one of their biggest patch updates—Alpha Patch 3.0.0.

According to the official patch notes, "Alpha Patch 3.0.0 has been released to all Star Citizen backers."

"This update contains one of our largest feature sets to date – including the three moons of Crusader, a new mission system, improved shopping and cargo mechanics, and increased our server player count from twenty-four to fifty players. Alpha 3.0.0 is also the first implementation of a lot of system changes that go on in the background."

Before delving into the new update, however, players must first install a new launcher which will "tremendously reduce the amount of data transmitted during game updates and allow the team to deliver more patches quickly." Called the RSI Launcher, it will also be delivering Squadron 42 once it finishes shipping, therefore players must not miss this step.

In the update, there will be several new places to familiarize, including the three new procedurally generated moons—Cellin, Deymar, and Yela. The three moons are all planet-sized and are also called Crusader Moons.

Cellin is the closest satellite to the Crusaders, which, aside from the humongous gas giant sitting in the sky, has a lot of prominent features, including the number of dormant volcanoes resting on its surface.

Daymar, meanwhile, can be mistakenly seen as a desert planet, due to its very thick atmosphere which is very unsafe for Humans. However, Crusader grants mining licenses to those who want to gather the moon's resources.

Lastly, Yela is a snow-infested moon whose temperature is quite unforgiving to Humans. Players who want to explore Yela's resources must make sure to bring a very hot drink with them, or risk chattering their teeth all the while due to the cold.

The new update also includes an atmospheric flight, 20 new missions, as well as lots of gameplay updates. For the full list of changes, click here.

"Star Citizen" is known for being the most crowd-funded campaign on Kickstarter, garnering over more than $174 million since 2012, according to Roberts Space Industries (RSI) and Cloud Imperium Games (CIG). The game is first slated for a full release in 2014, but as the game grows in development the release date keeps adjusting as well.

There is no final release date as of yet for "Star Citizen."