The Star Citizen version Alpha 3.8 by Cloud Imperium is now available to all backers. This means that all Early Adopters, or in other words, those who have financially supported the development of the game, can already enjoy it. Alpha 3.8 is a massive update to the Star Citizen Universe, with technology, progression, and content improvements.
Alpha 3.8 adds the first iteration of the new “Server-side Object Container Streaming” (SOCS) technology. This new technology automatically divides the entire universe into "object containers". So the game servers load based on player activity, instead of loading the entire universe. This allows to reduce the load.
[amazon box="B00371R8P4"]New Star Citizen update
The SOCS implementation in Star Citizen was necessary to offer dynamic loading and thus improve server performance. It reduces the need to load the entire universe and only load the necessary parts. This also allows the game to contain more content for the players, due to only rendering the necessary part.
The icy planet microTech has also been added, as well as missions designed for cooperative group gaming and other new features. In addition, melee combat has also been added. Players will be able to equip weapons for close combat or use their fists in surprise attacks. For melee combat, the option to dodge or block attacks has also been added.
Star Citizen Alpha 3.8 also brings improvements to the detail and visual fidelity of planets and moons. Climatic effects such as wind storms or sand and snow are also added. All this to the Procedural Planet technology, called Planet Tech v4. Snow, sandstorms or wind will also affect our atmospheric flight.
