Star Citizen Alpha 4.8 full wipe and endgame Tactical Strike Groups are live now

Star Citizen Alpha 4.8 is live on the main servers, and it arrives with a full wipe that resets almost everything players have earned inside the game client. This wipe hits aUEC balances, ships and vehicles bought with aUEC, all in game items and resources, reputation progression, and Wikelo or Executive Hangar rewards.

Star Citizen Alpha 4.8: Core Economy & System Tracker

You keep blueprints and any ships or items that show up as entitlements on your RSI account hangar page, such as pledge ships and store bought packs. For new or returning pilots this means everyone is starting from the same in game economy, but big spenders still have their pledge fleets waiting for them.

This article breaks down the wipe rules in simple language, then goes through the new Tactical Strike Groups, mothership hangar services, refueling changes, ship balance updates, and the fastest ways to start printing aUEC again in Alpha 4.8.

What the Alpha 4.8 wipe really means for your account

Cloud Imperium calls this a “comprehensive wipe” for Alpha 4.8, and that wording matters.

• Lost permanently in 4.8

  • All earned aUEC balances.

  • Any ships and ground vehicles bought with aUEC inside the game, regardless of price.

  • All in game items, resources, and cargo, including armor, FPS guns, ship components, and mined ore.

  • All reputation progress, including standings with mission givers like Intersect.

  • Wikelo and Executive Hangar reward ships, which CIG originally hoped to preserve but decided to wipe as part of the anti exploit push.

• Safe from the wipe

  • Blueprints you have earned from gameplay, for example weapon or armor blueprints obtained from events or high level missions.

  • Any ship, vehicle, or item that is an entitlement on your RSI account and appears on the “My Hangar” page on the website.

CIG has confirmed this wipe is aimed at cleaning up the economy, rolling back the impact of exploits, and giving them data on new systems such as item recovery and Tactical Strike Groups. For players, this is a full reset of grind time inside the client, so it makes sense to treat Alpha 4.8 like the start of a fresh season.

Where to spawn after the wipe, Area18 or somewhere quieter

Alpha 4.8 lands close to the latest Fleet Week style events, with this year leaning into Drake DefenseCon and expo activity around Area18. The obvious move is to pick Area18 as your initial home so you can hit the show floor and fly free event ships as soon as the event is live.

There is a catch. Event hubs get slammed with traffic every year, which means more tram delays, more elevator queues, and a higher chance of server desync when everyone logs in at once. If you mainly care about rebuilding your wallet after the wipe, a quieter landing zone away from the expo will give you faster access to missions and less competition for trade routes.

A practical split is simple. Social and tourism focused players can spawn at Area18 so they can walk straight into DefenseCon. Mission grinders and traders can spawn at alternative hubs for smoother performance while everyone else crowds ArcCorp.

Tactical Strike Groups, Star Citizen’s new raid style endgame

The standout new feature in Alpha 4.8 is Tactical Strike Groups, a new PvE mission type that behaves more like an MMO raid than a simple contract. These fights take place around QV Extraction Stations, huge asteroid facilities located in the Nyx system.

You need reputation rank 3 or higher with Intersect to pick up Tactical Strike Group missions from your own mobiGlas, or you can join someone in a party who already has access. CIG has framed these missions for groups of at least seven players, with a proper mix of fighters, bombers, support ships, and even capital ships if your org has them.

How a Tactical Strike Group run plays out

Tactical Strike Groups are built in clear stages, so you can plan roles before you even quantum in.

• Stage 1, form up on Tranquility

  • When you jump to the mission, you link up with Tranquility, a People’s Alliance Idris that acts as your mobile base.

  • This Idris provides repair, rearm, and refuel services during the mission, and if it goes down your whole run gets much harder.

• Stage 2, crack the asteroid base

  • Fighter wings push into the QV Extraction Station and pick off external defenses and weak points on the surface of a massive asteroid.

  • You then fly a trench run style attack to destroy the exposed core of the station, which is a clear nod to classic sci fi assaults.

• Stage 3, FPS boarding and rescue

  • Blowing the core opens an FPS interior where your squad boards the station, fights through defenders, and frees captured pilots.

  • Once freed, those NPCs need cover while they extract, which gives your ground team a clear hold point.

• Stage 4, Vanduul counterattack

  • The mission can finish with a large Vanduul fleet warping in, including a Vanduul “Mer” class destroyer that functions as a serious capital threat.

  • This is where bombers and heavy guns matter, especially after the armor buffs to capital hulls in this patch.

CIG’s own messaging and community analysis point to Tactical Strike Groups as the new PvE endgame for organized orgs, with unique rewards including an exclusive crossbow blueprint and high value loot. If you enjoy running big fleet nights, this is likely where your group will spend most of its time in 4.8.

New items, crossbow and plasma grenades, and a bigger blueprint grind

Alpha 4.8 does not just reset progress, it also expands the loot chase.

• New crossbow

  • A new FPS crossbow enters the game, and CIG’s notes and creator coverage tie its blueprint reward to Tactical Strike Group content.

  • Expect this to become a status weapon for people grinding the hardest PvE missions.

• Plasma grenades

  • Plasma grenades act as area denial tools, filling a role similar to molotov style explosives by locking down doors and corridors.

  • These are especially handy in the cramped hallways of stations and bunkers where enemies funnel through choke points.

• Blueprint expansion

  • 4.8 adds many new blueprints for ship components, ship weapons, and flight suits, feeding directly into the new crafting loop.

  • Crafted gear can roll stronger stats than store bought items, so long term players are encouraged to treat blueprints as permanent progression that survives future wipes.

Existing FPS weapons also get visual touch ups, so old favorites look cleaner without changing their basic roles. For anyone who treats gear collection as its own hobby, 4.8 sets up a long grind that survives wipes thanks to blueprint persistence.

Inventory tweaks, ammo stacks, and simpler mining qualities

To help all of this loot and ammo actually fit in your ship, Alpha 4.8 ships some simple but helpful inventory changes.

• Stacks of general items now cap at 99, which keeps things tidy without turning every box into a single stack of hundreds.

• Scripts and similar meta items can stack up to 999, so you do not spam storage with tiny logical items.

• Ammo boxes have been reworked so they take up less SCU, letting combat ships load far more rounds per cargo grid slot.

Mining qualities have been simplified on the backend so rock quality reads more clearly, which is aimed at making mining and crafting resources less confusing during long play sessions. For day to day play this mostly means less menu wrestling and more focus on actually flying and shooting.

G force resistance, why your flight suit suddenly matters in dogfights

One of the quiet but impactful updates in 4.8 is the new G force resistance stat on flight suits.

• Every flight suit now has a G resistance percentage, visible in the HUD once you sit down in a pilot seat.

• Higher G resistance means you black out and red out less during sharp turns and high speed maneuvers.

• Heavy armor reduces your effective G resistance, even if it keeps you alive longer when you get boarded.

The end result is a clear trade. If you plan to dogfight, you want a dedicated high G flight suit with minimal armor so you can keep consciousness in long turns. If you expect to be boarded or do a lot of FPS, you might accept more blackouts in exchange for better protection in zero g gunfights.

Mothership hangar services, carriers finally feel like carriers

4.8 introduces the first version of mothership hangar services, which lets certain large ships act like mobile stations for smaller craft.

• Supported motherships

  • Carrack, Idris, Polaris, 890 Jump, 600i, Starlance Attack, and Ironclad Assault all support internal hangar gameplay in this system.

• How services work

  • Smaller ships land inside the mothership hangar and then use the vehicle manager app to request repair, ammo, and fuel.

  • The mothership consumes resources directly from its cargo hold, including fuel, countermeasures, ammo, and RMC.

  • Those resources can be bought at trade hubs, TDDs, commodity kiosks, and admin offices then hauled back to the mothership.

For orgs that like to stage long operations in Nyx or the outer systems, this turns capital ships into real forward operating bases. You can run multiple sorties from a single Idris or Polaris without returning to a main landing zone every time someone needs a reload.

Refueling rework and AI fuel beacons

Refueling sees a major usability pass that makes the profession less punishing and more approachable.

• New operator mode

  • Refuelers now have a proper operator mode, similar in concept to mining and salvage modes, accessed via the ship’s refueling terminal.

  • You open the fuel flow, watch the transfer, then stop the flow when complete without wrestling with fragile pressure settings.

• Fuel pod management

  • Extra fuel pods are now purchasable at landing zones and stations, which allows dedicated fuel pilots to expand capacity.

• AI interaction

  • NPCs can now both request fuel and answer refuel beacons.

  • That means you can post a beacon and get an AI tanker coming to help, or answer an AI contract for a quick payout.

If you like chill support roles, refueling is finally practical, and it pairs naturally with mothership play since your capital ship can carry extra pods and fuel stock.

Docking controls and command modules for Drake haulers

Docking and modular ship handling also get some polish in 4.8.

• Ship to ship docking now uses right Alt plus N by default, separate from the left Alt plus N shortcut that talks to ATC for station landings.

• The Drake Caterpillar and Drake Ironclad or Ironclad Assault use detachable command modules, and these ships cannot fly unless their command module is properly docked.

These changes are small on paper but they cut down on confusion for players who bounce between station docking and ship docking during multi ship operations.

New ships, in game prices, and Hammerhead buffs

Several ships see big updates, either through availability or gold standard passes, in Alpha 4.8.

• Drake Ironclad and Ironclad Assault are now fully flyable for owners, giving orgs new heavy transport and assault options.

• The Aegis Hammerhead has received a gold standard pass that bumps its cargo capacity from 40 to 64 SCU and updates its interior and component layout.

• The Shiv melee weapon gets a visual refresh while keeping its prison shank vibe.

New in game purchase options also pop up on terminals.

• At Area18, the Perseus is available for roughly 39 million aUEC.

• At Levski, the Salvation and Hermes cost around 1.2 million and 7.1 million aUEC.

• At Lorville, the Clipper and MDC are available at about 3.6 million and 127,000 aUEC.

Wiccolo’s inventory has been expanded to include items such as the L22 Alpha Wolf, giving shoppers more reasons to dig into shady vendors across Stanton and Nyx.

Big ship balance changes, slower projectiles and tougher capitals

If you fly combat ships, the 4.8 balance notes are mandatory reading.

Weapon velocity and aim feel

CIG has adjusted projectile speeds across the board so weapons of the same size and type behave more consistently.

• Projectile velocities are lower overall, which makes dogfights more readable and gives skilled pilots more time to dodge incoming fire.

• Within each weapon class, speeds are normalized so swapping between similar guns is less jarring.

You will need to lead targets more aggressively, but once you adapt to the new speeds the muscle memory carries between similar weapons.

Armor changes, capitals can shrug off small guns

Armor tuning is one of the biggest shifts in this patch.

• Industrial ships and some small fighters have lower armor HP and deflection, which makes them easier to burn down if they get caught.

• Gunships, capital ships, and heavily armored hulls have their armor deflection thresholds increased roughly two to three times, making them far more resistant to small caliber spam.

This means you cannot expect a light fighter with S1 weapons to meaningfully damage an armored capital ship in a straight fight any more. You need big guns, torpedoes, or coordinated fire to break through.

Shields and regen windows

Shields have been retuned with lower HP but faster regen.

• Shield hit points are down by about 20 percent in most cases.

• Shield regeneration rates are up by around 60 percent, encouraging hit and run passes instead of single long exposure where both sides burn each other down.

Timing matters more now. If you do not finish a target during a window when their shields are down, you can expect them to recover faster and come back stronger.

Ordnance prices and flight blade slots

Ordnance is cheaper across the board in aUEC, which makes heavy torpedo and missile builds less painful to operate. Several ships also gain extra flight blade slots, which expands how finely you can tune performance and behavior.

For players, the message is simple. Capital hunting is now a dedicated role. You bring big guns and torps or you do not pierce the new armor at all.

Item recovery, snapshotting, and why “bricked” ships exist now

Item recovery takes a step forward in Alpha 4.8 with snapshot claims and bricking rules that aim to kill dupes without killing progression.

• At an ASOP terminal you can still claim your ship with its default loadout.

• You can also snapshot your current customized loadout, including components and paints, for a premium based on the value of those items.

• When you later claim that snapshot, the ship respawns with that exact configuration as long as there are no conflicts.

Bricking is how the game resolves conflicts and prevents duplication.

• If any original components from a snapshot still exist in the universe when you reclaim that snapshot, those originals become “bricked” and stop working.

• Bricked ships and items cannot be flown or used, but they can be scrapped, salvaged, or broken down at fabricators.

• Cargo is not bricked, so you can still board a bricked ship and take its freight.

• Ordnance and other consumables are wiped when you claim but are now cheaper to restock.

CIG notes that this is a first step toward a more complete item recovery system in a future tier, but even at this stage it lets players protect expensive loadouts from total loss without opening the door to endless dupes.

Stealing and storing ships, plus hangar limits

These new rules also shape how stolen and borrowed ships behave in Alpha 4.8.

• If you capture another player’s ship and they do not reclaim it, you can store it in your hangar and keep using it.

• The same works with friends, so you can store and pull each other’s ships as long as the owner does not hit reclaim.

• Each hangar currently supports up to 25 stored ships.

• Ships that carry other ships do not count their children separately, so an Ironclad with several smaller ships inside still only uses one of those 25 slots.

ASOP terminals now offer a “Show Local Ships” filter plus a “Scrap” option that deletes a ship and everything attached to it, which gives players control over hangar clutter in a post wipe world.

New transport system test at GrimHEX

The long planned switch from the old transit system to a more reliable transport network starts small in 4.8.

• GrimHEX is the first location to get the new transport setup, including updated elevators, trams, and trains with self repairing behavior.

• At GrimHEX, your hangar elevator is now pinned at the top of the elevator list, which makes calling the right one much quicker.

• CIG has signaled that wider rollout to other locations such as Area18 should arrive in Alpha 4.9, currently aimed at around July.

For now this means GrimHEX might become a hub for players who value smoother station movement while CIG tests the system before full deployment.

VR and HUD upgrades, better for head tracking and theater mode

Alpha 4.8 also contains a healthy chunk of HUD and VR work that should be noticeable if you use head tracking or VR setups.

• Ship HUDs and MFDs get multiple visual and information clarity tweaks so at a glance reading is easier in combat.

• A new 3D FPS crosshair and 3D hit markers for VR are available via the cvar “w_crosshair_3d”, which is on by default.

• VR shadow issues related to stereo shift and cropping problems in fullscreen theater mode have been fixed, which should reduce discomfort.

Combine that with native support for devices such as Tobii Eye Tracker 5, which is currently running a discount and sweepstake tied to DefenseCon, and 4.8 is one of the strongest patches so far for cockpit immersion.