After sending out a hotfix for Live servers, Star Citizen also received a new PTU build for Alpha 3.23.3 that applies a few slight changes to some of the ships, and secretly activates the Point Defense Cannons!
While not mentioned in the patch notes officially, a few Star Citizen players have already reported that the Point Defense turret on RSI Constellation Phoenix does work in Alpha 3.24.3 and actively shoots down missiles targeting the ship.
The Point Defense Cannon, also known as PDC, refers to automatically operated turrets that focus on neutralizing incoming missiles and damaging hostile fighters to an extent.
Few ships in Star Citizen currently have Point Defense turrets, but RSI Polaris is also supposed to feature PDC. Knowing that the capital ship is being prepared to be flight-ready when Alpha 3.24.3 launches onto live servers, it is no surprise that we finally get Point Defense turrets enabled in the game.
The activation of Point Defense turrets will be crucial for Polaris and other ships that also feature this system. This system is capable of shooting down the torpedoes before reaching their targets, and it will help Polaris and other ships to have better protection against high-damage missiles.
Aside from activating PDC, the new build for Alpha 3.24.3 also changed the shield type for Aegis Redeemer. So, the combat ship will now use a Front/Back shield system rather than a Quadrant.
Moreover, a few changes applied to the annunciators on Misc ships as well as some flight tuning for Firebird, Peregrine, and Fury.
This patch also delivered some of the IAE 2954 halls, but the upcoming ships, Starlancer Max and Polaris are yet to be released in the PTU patch, as they are still in the polishing phase.
Alpha 3.24.3 is expected to launch on Live servers on November 22 or earlier, when IAE 2954 kicks off. The patch will also deliver a new dynamic event named Save Stanton, though it might be activated after the conclusion of IAE.
