Star Citizen Alpha 4.10 "Siege of Orison" is live. After weeks on the Public Test Universe, Cloud Imperium Games pushed the patch to the LIVE servers on August 26, 2026, and it lands with the two headline features that slipped out of 4.9: the return of the Siege of Orison as a closed, instanced mission, and the debut of Instancing in the Persistent Universe. This guide covers what actually shipped, the single question every returning player asks first — is there a wipe? — and how the fuel, loot, and claim-cost changes quietly reshape money-making in the new patch.
Quick answer: Star Citizen Alpha 4.10.0 "Siege of Orison" went live on August 26, 2026 (build `4.10.0-LIVE.12519617`). There is no full wipe — Long Term Persistence is preserved, so your earned aUEC, in-game ships, and items carry over from Alpha 4.9. The headline is the Siege of Orison, an instanced four-player FPS mission, powered by the first Instancing on Demand tech in the live game. Other big changes: Recco Battaglia's mining contracts move to Levski, a hydrogen and quantum fuel rebalance raises fuel prices, a full loot and drop-rate pass roughly doubles weapon-cache contents, and ordnance prices jump 44–310%. Star Citizen is still in Alpha, and aUEC remains test currency that can be wiped at any future patch with no reimbursement.
Is Alpha 4.10 live yet?
Yes. The build reached Evocati in early July, opened to all backers on the PTU on July 31, and cleared release-candidate testing before going wide. The official LIVE release notes confirm it:
"Star Citizen Alpha 4.10 has been released onto the LIVE environment! Your launcher should now display: VERSION 4.10.0-LIVE.12519617." (Source: Star Citizen Alpha 4.10.0 patch notes, robertsspaceindustries.com Spectrum)
If your launcher still shows a 4.9 build number, close it, log out, and let it re-check for the update. One note that matters for accuracy: some third-party sites have been calling 4.10 "live" for weeks — that was wrong until August 26. And Alpha 4.10 is a Persistent Universe patch; it does not touch the separate single-player campaign, Squadron 42, which remains a different product with no announced release date.
Is there a wipe in Star Citizen Alpha 4.10?
No full wipe. Alpha 4.10 preserves Long Term Persistence (LTP), which means your earned aUEC balance, your in-game-acquired ships and vehicles, and your stored items all carry over from Alpha 4.9. This is the same no-wipe treatment 4.9 received, and the opposite of Alpha 4.8 (May 14, 2026), which was a full wipe that zeroed aUEC and in-game-acquired ships.
There is one genuinely new persistence change worth knowing:
- Ore and commodity containers are now part of Long Term Persistence. Per the patch notes, this does not retroactively save anything going into 4.10, but "any cargo obtained after 4.10 will persist into future builds." One caveat: ore pods that come pre-attached to ships are handled through item recovery rather than LTP, so contained ore in those pods will not persist — but in-game-purchased containers will.
Two honesty checks every guide should include. First, as with any patch, consumables, refinery jobs, and un-stored cargo can still be lost on the version change even without a full wipe — finish refining runs before you update. Second, and more important: aUEC is Alpha test currency. Cloud Imperium's own documentation states aUEC "can be wiped at any point so that a clean slate can be instituted to begin a new cycle of testing," and that players "cannot be reimbursed aUEC if lost due to a crash or bugs." No-wipe this patch does not make your balance a durable asset. Your pledged (real-money) ships are account-bound and are never affected by a wipe; only in-game-acquired ships are at risk.
Siege of Orison returns — the headline mission
The Siege of Orison is back, and it is a very different beast from the open-world event players remember. In Alpha 4.10 it is a closed, instanced FPS mission for up to four players. The Civilian Defense Force (CDF) — the UEE's volunteer militia — is recruiting citizens to break the Nine Tails' grip on the Orison Inspiration Park Cluster, but this time you fight them inside a private instance locked to you and your party.
Here is how it works in practice:
- A one-time introduction mission points you to the instance elevators near the Crusader showroom in Orison. After that, the main mission accepts itself automatically as you arrive.
- All three platforms have been reworked for tighter combat flow and clearer sightlines. It is now a pure FPS encounter rather than a mixed ship-and-ground event.
- The Nine Tails have a full armor refresh with a clear visual hierarchy — rebuilt grunt loadouts, two masked captain/elite variants across two colorways, and three unique heavy designs for the bosses.
- Respawn checkpoints return you to your last checkpoint inside the instance instead of sending you all the way back to Orison General. These medical-bed checkpoints are unlimited and do not consume MedGel, which makes the mission far more forgiving than a normal death-and-hospital loop.
- Completion pays aUEC, blueprints, and a bespoke weapon skin, with additional caches lootable during the mission.
For solo and duo players, the four-player cap is a ceiling, not a requirement — but expect the encounter to be tuned for a coordinated fireteam.
What is Instancing in Star Citizen?
Siege of Orison is the flagship for the patch's real technical milestone: Instancing on Demand. Instancing creates closed gameplay spaces that only you and your party occupy. Where content supports it, walking into the space drops you into a private copy of it rather than the shared, server-meshed world.
Why does that matter beyond one mission? Instancing is how Cloud Imperium plans to deliver tightly scripted, repeatable content without other players wandering through the middle of it — think story beats, boss fights, and set-piece encounters that need a controlled stage. In 4.10 there are two instanced spaces at launch: Siege of Orison is the first mission built on it, and Recco Battaglia's office is the second. Expect the list to grow as the tech proves itself.
Recco Battaglia's mining contracts move to Levski
Recco Battaglia, the independent mining logistics coordinator introduced in 4.9, now arrives in person in the Persistent Universe at Levski, in the Nyx system. A former miner who lost part of a leg in a dig-site accident, she now runs resource logistics from a desk — and she wants your help pushing back on the pressures facing independent miners.
- She opens with three story missions that introduce the system, with further tiers of repeatable contracts unlocking as you progress — spanning rock cracking, miner defense, missing-persons, and item recovery.
- Her rewards lean toward hardware and blueprints rather than straight credits: mining modules, containers, and ore-pod blueprints you can take into the fabricator to craft yourself.
If you have been grinding mining or salvage for aUEC, Recco is the freshest reputation track in the patch — and the blueprint rewards feed directly into the crafting economy, which is a longer-term play than a one-off payout. (New to earning in the PU? Our guide to making aUEC fast breaks down the core loops.)
How Alpha 4.10 changes money-making
This is the part patch-notes summaries usually skip, and it is where 4.10 quietly moves the needle for anyone chasing aUEC.
Hydrogen and quantum fuel rebalance. Cloud Imperium adjusted fuel capacities and consumption to better match ship sizes and roles. Hydrogen tank capacity is now considerably smaller across the fleet, with consumption reduced to match — so effective flight time should feel close to before. The catch: fuel prices have increased substantially for both hydrogen and quantum. Longer hauling and trading routes now carry a real fuel-cost line item, and refueling missions were rebalanced around the new tank values (with refueling "size" tags added to ships). If you run cargo, factor fuel into your margin.
Ordnance and claim costs are up. Bomb prices rose between 44% and roughly 310% depending on the munition, with the smaller ones taking the steepest hikes — a direct hit to bombing-run and heavy-combat loadouts. On the ASOP terminal side, claim and delivery timers now scale with the value of the vehicle (a light fighter comes back fast; a capital hull takes far longer), and weapons and weapon racks now carry their own prices, so a fully kitted ship costs more to reclaim. There is a paid expedite on claims and deliveries, but it is capped at a tenth of the standard claim-cost rate — a convenience fee, not a way to buy past the system. Repeat claims on the same ship no longer cost progressively more.
A full loot and drop-rate pass. Weapon caches now hold more than double what they used to, large weapon attachments went from rare to routine finds, and rare caches can now drop the new heavy machine gun with two to four magazines of ammo. General containers hold vastly more across every size, rarity tables were tightened so low-tier junk stops diluting good pulls, MedGel is now close to guaranteed in rare medical containers, and fuses are guaranteed in repair boxes. For anyone running bunkers, warehouses, or wreck-diving, this is a real per-run income bump.
The honest framing on all of it: rates change every patch, high-paying contracts are gated behind reputation grinds, and cargo you buy can be lost to a "30k" server error. The aUEC grind being the real bottleneck is exactly why so many players look for shortcuts — but treat every "aUEC per hour" figure floating around launch week as unverified until the community stress-tests the new economy.
New gear: BUL-H4 Super Heavy Armor and the Vendetta HMG
Alpha 4.10 introduces an entirely new armor class and the weapon built around it. The BUL-H4 Super Heavy Armor is a single one-piece set paired with the BUL-H4 Helmet and the H4-PBF Ammo Carrier backpack. It trades mobility for raw defense — and, crucially, it is what lets a player carry the heaviest weapon in the game.
That weapon is Apocalypse Arms' Vendetta, the game's first Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) — a brand-new weapon type. It is belt-fed and trades accuracy for a saturating rate of fire, carrying up to four magazines of ammunition. It only works in tandem with the BUL-H4 armor and its dedicated backpack, which can only store the new HMG munitions. A neat co-op wrinkle: a teammate can reload your backpack by tractor-beaming or hand-placing a fresh magazine into it.
Both pieces are available in the PU alongside Siege of Orison, and the Wikelo Exchange added three new trades this patch — a snow-camo BUL-H4 variant, a matching Vendetta skin, and a ship — though Wikelo's ship exchange now asks you to craft a specific item and hand it in rather than fetch a pile of components.
Patch-day problems and quick fixes
Launch day for any major Star Citizen patch is rough, and 4.10 is no exception — early players reported getting stuck in server-error loops for the first hours. A few things to know:
- Server errors and "30k" disconnects spike on patch day as servers fill. If you hit one, fully close the client before reconnecting, and check server status at status.robertsspaceindustries.com before assuming it is your PC. Our 30k error and connection-code guide walks through each code.
- Freight elevators are the community's perennial post-patch worry — they tend to work on day one and degrade over the following days. If cargo hauling is your loop, keep an eye on your hangar elevators.
- Refueling made easy: with the new fuel economy, if you run dry mid-mission you can drop a refuel request beacon and an NPC refuel ship will quantum-travel to your location — a cheaper habit than warping back to a station every time.
For build comparisons and the loops that survive the new economy, our best mining ship breakdown and bounty hunting guide are good next reads.
FAQ
Is Star Citizen Alpha 4.10 live? Yes. Alpha 4.10.0 "Siege of Orison" went live on August 26, 2026, with build number `4.10.0-LIVE.12519617`. If your launcher still shows a 4.9 build, restart it and let it patch. The previous live build was Alpha 4.9.0 "Frontier Tensions."
Is there a wipe in Star Citizen 4.10? No full wipe. Long Term Persistence is preserved, so your earned aUEC, in-game ships, and items carry over from 4.9. Ore and commodity containers were newly added to Long Term Persistence, so cargo obtained after 4.10 will persist into future builds. As always, finish any refinery jobs and store loose cargo before updating, and remember aUEC is test currency that can be wiped at a future patch with no reimbursement.
What is the Siege of Orison in 4.10? It is an instanced, four-player FPS mission where the Corsair Defense Force pushes the Nine Tails out of the Orison Inspiration Park Cluster. You start it from a one-time intro mission near the Crusader showroom in Orison, fight through three reworked platforms with unlimited in-instance respawn checkpoints, and earn aUEC, blueprints, and a unique weapon skin on completion.
What is Instancing in Star Citizen? Instancing puts you and your party into a private, closed copy of a space instead of the shared world. Alpha 4.10 is the first patch with "Instancing on Demand" in the live PU — Siege of Orison is the first mission built on it, and Recco Battaglia's office is the second instanced location.
Why can't I get Recco Battaglia's story missions to appear? This is the most common launch-week complaint. Recco's missions do not simply drop into your contract list — you have to travel to Levski in the Nyx system and speak to her in person to start the chain, and each story mission unlocks the next only after you complete it and progress her reputation tiers. Several players on higher reputation ranks have reported the second and third story missions failing to spawn, which looks like a launch bug Cloud Imperium will likely patch; if you are stuck, verify you have actually visited her office rather than waiting for a contract to appear, and watch the patch hotfix notes.
Can you still make aUEC in 4.10, and is cargo hauling fixed? You can still earn through hauling, mining, salvage, and bounties, and the loot pass roughly doubled weapon-cache contents. Cargo hauling worked for players on launch day, but the community's long-running caution is that freight elevators tend to degrade a few days into a patch — so test your own hangar before committing to big runs. Note that the fuel rebalance raised fuel prices, which cuts into hauling and trading margins.
Do I need to pay to play Star Citizen 4.10? Yes, outside of Free Fly windows a Game Package is required to play. The most recent free window was the Ship Showdown 2956 Elite 8 Free Fly (August 26 – September 2, 2026); check the official site for the next one.
The bottom line
Alpha 4.10 is the patch 4.9 promised to be: the Siege of Orison and Instancing finally ship, mining gets a fresh reputation track under Recco Battaglia at Levski, and a wave of economy changes — pricier fuel and ordnance, value-scaled claim timers, and a fatter loot table — reshape how you earn. Best of all for returning players, there is no wipe, so your Alpha 4.9 progress comes with you. Just keep the Alpha caveat in mind: aUEC is test currency, balance moves every patch, and the only thing guaranteed to survive the next reset is your pledged fleet.
For more current-patch breakdowns, browse our Star Citizen guides.
