Star Citizen 1.1 is here! Today’s release adds a number of new features and new ships… and sets the stage for big things to come.

IMPORTANT : To play 1.1 you will need to reinstall Star Citizen entirely. More on why and how to do it, including detailed instructions in English, French and German, in this post.

New Ships
Star Citizen 1.1 includes the addition of two new ships to your armada! The Aegis Dynamics Retaliator will now appear in the Hangar and the Gladius light fighter is now available for combat in Arena Commander. If you fly a Gladius, we’re eager to hear how you think it stacks up in combat!

The Aegis Retaliator
The Aegis Gladius
New Manual
In honor of today’s release, we have issued a new version of the Arena Commander manual, which is now available here.

New Controls
Starting with 1.1, you no longer access Arena Commander through your ships. Instead, every Hangar is now equipped with a SimPod that will let you play Arena Commander and, soon, Star Marine.

New Systems
Most importantly, Star Citizen 1.1 includes the launch of a number of new systems. Some, like the 64-bit conversion, are entirely ‘under the hood,’ while others are available for use today. The game now includes a new character rig, with smoother and better animations. The new dynamic damage system has been launched with the Gladius, and will eventually be applied to all old and new ships. Arena Commander also now features a landing system (detailed below), a new Mounts system with the introduction of Gimbal Mounts to the store and, likely most interesting for today’s pilot, the launch of the REC system. This is our first pass at rental credits, aimed to allow payment-free progression in Arena Commander. You can expect plenty of balancing in the coming days, so get out there and provide your feedback! As promised, all existing backers will get 5,000 REC to start things off!

You can see the entire change list in the 1.1 patch notes here.

Introducing the new Landing System. It’s a first pass and, as usual, your feedback will be invaluable, but it is the foundation from which we will build from.

Toggled quickly on and off, the Landing System switches the ship’s targeting system from combat targets to nearby landing zones. Any nearby zones are highlighted in world and on the radar. The closest zone is automatically targeted, but can be cycled with the usual targeting keys.

There are two types of landing zone: governed and ungoverned.
Governed points require the requesting of permission to land, ungoverned don’t.

For testing purposes, the landing zones in Free Flight have been set up as governed, meaning pilots should request permission to land. Obviously there is nothing preventing players from landing without permission, but they should expect to be punished if trying this in Star Citizen – whether by monetary fine or, in extreme circumstances, death by automated turrets.

To request permission to land ships must be in range of the zone. In Free Flight players will be granted permission automatically. On receiving permission, the radar will be replaced with a landing helper interface. This first guides the ship to the landing zone and then, once the ship is inside the bounds of the zone, provides the ship with guidance on positioning and orientation.

Landing System HUD
In-game landing example
Here’s a quick step-by-step landing in Star Citizen :

Landing Modes
The landing system can be switched between two modes: Automated and Manual.

Automated: Once inside the bounds of the landing zone the ship will decelerate, align, position and land itself without the need for pilot input.

Manual: Practiced pilots may find they are able to achieve a quicker touchdown in Manual mode than would be possible in the more safety-conscious Automated mode, but they will have to do so without any autopilot assists.

Pilots can switch between these modes at any point during the landing process in case they become overwhelmed by the demands of Manual mode or frustrated by Automated mode’s hand-holding.

Take-off
To take-off from governed landing zones pilots should request launch permission. They can of course ignore protocol and launch without permission by simply strafing vertically, but this may be punished in Star Citizen.

Once permission has been granted your ship will automatically raise itself to a safe launch height before your choice of mode (Manual, Assisted and Automated) kicks in.

Future releases
We will continue to iterate and expand upon this basic system. In future releases we intend to include more complex landing and take-off situations such as hangars and vertical shafts through airlocks. This system will also be extended to docking and work in exactly the same way.

It is to be noted that there will be plenty of places in the PU which are not designated landing zone, but which can be landed on regardless. In these cases the ship’s landing gear deploys automatically allowing you to set down on most flat surfaces.

The REC FAQ KB can be found here.

1. Play public Arena Commander matches (minus Free Flight) to earn REC. Completing objectives and winning matches earn more. 2. REC total and a log for an accounts REC changes can be found in the billing section of the website HERE 3. Once enough REC is earned, ships and their components can be rented HERE 4. After something is purchased, the account will need to log out and then log back in to initialize the changes (it also helps to delete the user folder any time something changes on an account) 5. Upon logging back in, the ship or components will be available for use. 6. Each rental can be used for 7 days. A day will be consumed any time an account logs into an Arena Commander game mode

This happens in both single and multiplayer to prevent unlimited item rentals

This will cause a 24 hour timer to start that can be viewed on the website

Another day cannot be consumed while items have a 24 hour timer active

This occurs regardless if they use the rented item or not and will activate the timer for all rented items on the account

The information for this is communicated 30 seconds after a match starts

7. If someone wants to keep track of what ships and components they have rented as well as which items have an active timer, that information can be found HERE
8. This location also allows the amount of days that are left on a rental to be renewed for a discounted price. This can be found by clicking on the arrow at the right to expand the menu

--- Fri Mar 20 2015 00:00:00 GMT+0100	
+++ Fri Mar 20 2015 00:00:00 GMT+0100	
@@ -57,6 +57 @@
-1. Play public Arena Commander matches (minus Free Flight) to earn REC. Completing objectives and winning matches earn more.
-2. REC total and a log for an accounts REC changes can be found in the billing section of the website HERE
-3. Once enough REC is earned, ships and their components can be rented HERE
-4. After something is purchased, the account will need to log out and then log back in to initialize the changes (it also helps to delete the user folder any time something changes on an account)
-5. Upon logging back in, the ship or components will be available for use.
-6. Each rental can be used for 7 days.
+1. Play public Arena Commander matches (minus Free Flight) to earn REC. Completing objectives and winning matches earn more. 2. REC total and a log for an accounts REC changes can be found in the billing section of the website HERE 3. Once enough REC is earned, ships and their components can be rented HERE 4. After something is purchased, the account will need to log out and then log back in to initialize the changes (it also helps to delete the user folder any time something changes on an account) 5. Upon logging back in, the ship or components will be available for use. 6. Each rental can be used for 7 days. A day will be consumed any time an account logs into an Arena Commander game mode
@@ -64,3 +59,0 @@
-
-A day will be consumed any time an account logs into an Arena Commander game mode
-
@@ -76 +68,0 @@
-

--- Fri Mar 20 2015 00:00:00 GMT+0100	
+++ Fri Mar 20 2015 00:00:00 GMT+0100	
@@ -65 +65,13 @@
-A day will be consumed any time an account logs into an Arena Commander game mode This happens in both single and multiplayer to prevent unlimited item rentals This will cause a 24 hour timer to start that can be viewed on the website Another day cannot be consumed while items have a 24 hour timer active This occurs regardless if they use the rented item or not and will activate the timer for all rented items on the account The information for this is communicated 30 seconds after a match starts
+A day will be consumed any time an account logs into an Arena Commander game mode
+
+This happens in both single and multiplayer to prevent unlimited item rentals
+
+This will cause a 24 hour timer to start that can be viewed on the website
+
+Another day cannot be consumed while items have a 24 hour timer active
+
+This occurs regardless if they use the rented item or not and will activate the timer for all rented items on the account
+
+The information for this is communicated 30 seconds after a match starts
+
+

--- Fri Mar 20 2015 00:00:00 GMT+0100	
+++ Fri Mar 20 2015 00:00:00 GMT+0100	
@@ -11 +11 @@
-In honor of today’s release, we have issued a new version of the Arena Commander manual, which is now available here. 
+In honor of today’s release, we have issued a new version of the Arena Commander manual, which is now available here.
@@ -19 +19 @@
-You can see the entire change list in the 1.1 patch notes here. 
+You can see the entire change list in the 1.1 patch notes here.
@@ -62 +62 @@
-6. Each rental can be used for 7 days. 
+6. Each rental can be used for 7 days.

--- Fri Mar 20 2015 00:00:00 GMT+0100	
+++ Fri Mar 20 2015 00:00:00 GMT+0100	
@@ -32 +32 @@
-Landing System HUD 
+Landing System HUD
@@ -55 +55 @@
-The REC FAQ can be found here.
+The REC FAQ KB can be found here.
@@ -65 +65 @@
-A day will be consumed any time an account logs into an Arena Commander game mode This happens in both single and multiplayer to prevent unlimited item rentals This will cause a 24 hour timer to start that can be viewed on the website Another day cannot be consumed while items have a 24 hour timer active This occurs regardless if they use the rented item or not and will activate the timer for all rented items on the account The information for this is communicated 30 seconds after a match starts 
+A day will be consumed any time an account logs into an Arena Commander game mode This happens in both single and multiplayer to prevent unlimited item rentals This will cause a 24 hour timer to start that can be viewed on the website Another day cannot be consumed while items have a 24 hour timer active This occurs regardless if they use the rented item or not and will activate the timer for all rented items on the account The information for this is communicated 30 seconds after a match starts