Star Citizen alpha 4.8.1 adds 385 asteroid defence missions, but pilots keep exploding at broken hangar doors

Cloud Imperium Games dropped Star Citizen alpha 4.8.1, adding 385 new missions that task players with defending mining stations from mysterious raiders across the Stanton and Pyro systems. Last month's patch 4.8 introduced a large combined space-and-ground assault mission type, and 4.8.1 keeps the asteroid theme going.

Two factions are recruiting pilots for the defence effort: the law-abiding security outfit Foxwell Enforcement and the criminal organisation Headhunters. Completing missions earns credits, reputation gains, and unique blueprints that CIG says are available for the first time — though the studio hasn't specified what those blueprints actually are. On paper it sounds like a solid content drop, but the reality on the ground is messier.

Players on the Star Citizen subreddit are reporting that the escort missions are basically broken. Zealousideal-Ad2695 writes: "Failed every one so far because the pilot you're supposed to escort flies into the hangar and the doors never open so he just explodes." Poordutchguy notes this isn't even a new bug: "That happened when these missions were active in the past. I did 13 missions. 1 succeeded." After 14 years of development and $1 billion in player funding, a returning mission type being unplayable on re-release is a hard thing to wave away.

CIG's focus right now appears to be largely on the single-player campaign Squadron 42 — Chris Roberts recently described it as being in the "closing stages" of development. Rumours suggest Squadron 42 could appear at Summer Games Fest, though possibly alongside an announcement of yet another delay.