When Alpha 3.24.2 is released on live servers, two variants of the Zeus Mk 2 series will be flyable in Star Citizen. For this patch, Cloud Imperium Games has prepared the cargo variant, Zeus CL, and the exploration variant, Zeus ES.
This leaves Zeus MR owners still in the anticipation to receive their beloved ship, however, they won’t be locked away from the entire Zeus series as CIG will update the loaner for Zeus MR owners.
As confirmed by a CIG developer on Spectrum, when Alpha 3.24.2 becomes available in the live servers, the loaner for Zeus MR will be upgraded to Zeus ES. This means all MR owners will get to fly freely with Zeus ES until the interdiction variant of the ship series becomes available.
Keep in mind that the loaner upgrade will not apply to the PTU build of Alpha 3.24.2. Currently, Zeus ES and Zeus CL owners can try out their new vessel in the PTU version of the upcoming patch, however, since the loaner upgrade has not been implemented yet, Zeus MR owners will not have the chance to test-fly Zeus ES in the PTU environment.
There is no official release schedule for RSI Zeus MR at the moment. All three Zeus variants were announced at 2023’s CitizenCon, but the MR variant doesn’t seem to be a priority for the developers, which sounds about right as the interdiction gameplay is not popular at the moment.
Based on the recent datamining discoveries, it seems like a fourth variant of the Zeus family is also being developed next to the MR, which is supposed to be a personal transport ship. This new variant has been reportedly named ST.
Regarding the fact that the passenger transport gameplay has not been implemented into Star Citizen so far, it makes sense that we won’t hear anything about Zeus ST anytime soon unless CIG reveals it in CitizenCon 2024.
Crusader E1 Spirit and Genesis are also announced personal transport ships that are still in the concept phase and have not been delivered so far.
