Star Citizen 4.8.0 patch summary: what changed

Alpha 4.8.0 "Tactical Strike" is a sweeping update that reshapes how players fly, fight, and cooperate — accompanied by the first full economy wipe since Alpha 4.0.

Economy & Wipe

• All aUEC balances, in-game ships, items, and reputation have been reset; players start fresh with 20,000 aUEC
• Only earned blueprints survived the wipe
• New Wikelo War Special ships and PYAM Exec variants are available through in-game channels

New Gameplay Systems

• Tactical Strike Groups (TSG): a six-phase, squad-focused endgame contract where 7+ ships assault a fortified Nyx asteroid base across ship and FPS combat roles
• Refueling 2.0: fuel consumption is now tracked realistically, dedicated refueling platforms matter, and a new United Wayfarers Club mission chain gives MISC Starlite owners a proper profession
• G-Force Resistance: what you wear in the cockpit now directly affects how long you can sustain high-G maneuvers — flight suits help, heavy combat armor hurts
• Vehicle Loadout / Item Recovery: equipped ship components now survive vessel destruction, mirroring the personal inventory system
• Vehicle Command Modules: the Drake Caterpillar and new Drake Ironclad can install physical modules that change ship function
• Ship Hangar Services T0: capital ships like the Carrack, Polaris, and 890 Jump can now provide repair and rearm services to smaller ships

New Ships

• Drake Ironclad and Ironclad Assault, MISC Starlite, F8A Lightning, Tiburon, Pitbull, M50 Interceptor
• Aegis Hammerhead Gold Standard features a fully rebuilt interior — crew quarters, turret corridors, and command bridge all reworked to high fidelity

Balance & Tech

• Broad passes across weapons, ammo, armor, and shields; projectile velocity gap between budget and top-tier loadouts narrowed
• Xenothreat returns as a recurring PvP/PvE event defending Stanton stations
• New FPS weapons: UltiFlex Crossbow and Kastak Arms Plasma Grenade
• Over 166 bug fixes including 17 client crash fixes and 4 server crash fixes

This is a high-level summary — consult the official patch notes for complete details and known issues.