Star Citizen patch 3.18, the space game’s biggest update yet, out now

pcgamesn.com:

Massive Star Citizen patch 3.18, titled Lasting Legacies and pitched by director Chris Roberts as “the biggest Star Citizen update yet” for one of the most ambitious space games on PC, is out now. With an overhaul to the cargo system, the introduction of salvaging, new locations and updates to existing ones, and plenty more additional features including racetracks, there’s certainly a lot to take in – so let’s go over everything in patch 3.18.

Among the headline features in Star Citizen 3.18 is a complete overhaul to the game’s ship cargo system. This allows players to pick up and move individual cargo of all types, and you’ll now be able to manually organise your actual cargo boxes in your ship using a tractor beam, with the option to snap to a grid for quick and easy placement.

A new ‘sand cave’ archetype has been added across multiple planets and moons in Stanton, with unique cave formations to be explored and an adorable creature called the Stone Bug that lives within them. Also highlighted is the introduction of ‘Persistent entity streaming’ – essentially, this means that dynamic objects will now stick around in perpetuity, even if they aren’t currently owned or held by a player, which should make locations feel more consistent.

Salvaging is now fully implemented, with options for hull stripping and repairs either by hand (with a new Greycat multi-tool attachment) or using systems on the likes of the Aegis Reclaimer and the new Drake Vulture ship. You can break down parts, convert, and store them, and can use the resulting material to repair ships or sell it. You can scrape the hulls of ships without shields, and manually remove their cargo boxes using a handheld tractor beam to claim them for yourself.

The update