Page last edited 15 November 2024
Alpha 4.0 Wipe Speculation
Update 15 November 2024. A wipe has been confirmed for Alpha 4.0 as testing needs to be done on the new economy that will debut with Alpha 4.0. Expect a ship and balance wipe.
Update 5 November 2024: Star Citizen Alpha 4.0 has been in Evocati testing for some time and without a confirmation about a wipe for Alpha 4.0 it is likely that players will keep ships, aUEC and more from Alpha 3.24+ to Alpha 4.0. If a wipe is confirmed in the next few weeks this information will be updated.
Wipe Intentions Clarification
Wipes are not generally to be expected unless announced. With Long Term Persistence player items and vehicles are intended to persist unless a wipe is planned and announced.
For Alpha 3.24.2 players were able to keep most of their in game earned ships and equipment however many things such as consumables, ships and equipment were still lost. In game special findings were still preserved. Items looted from boxes were kept while gear looted from bodies was not.
Please keep in mind that some items persist even through wipes such as special awards earned in game for example:
- Special items unlocked through events (horror masks, golden tickets, ...)
- Badges & Coins
- Website events (such as Luminalia presents)
Sources:
Looted Items That Count
In 2024 October it was confirmed again that for looted items to count they must be pulled by the player freshly out of a loot box for an event item to count. This is probably good advice in general, your looted items (not event) out of loot boxes are more likely to stay during resets & wipes.
Alpha 3.20 Long Term Peristence Update
With Alpha 3.20 CIG has clarified what players can expect with long term persistence.
Please read the full post from CIG on Spectrum to read about all the things covered by LTP (Long Term Persistence).
Star Citizen Character Wipes
Star Citizen is in active development and the final commercial release has not happened yet. During Star Citizen Alpha (and Beta) player accumulated money, items (including ships and vehicles) and reputation earned in game is subject to periodic wipes / resets. All progress is wiped periodicially. There are some exceptions such as special events and backer distributed rewards for participation that players can currently earn permanently. However, almost all prorgress is periodically lost when there is a requirement to do so. Data becomes corrupt, items or missions are changed significantly and many other reasons.
Star Citizen Balance Reset Schedule and History
| Next Estimated Wipe - Alpha 4.0 |
| Alpha 3.24.2a - November 5 2024. No LTP or balance wipe. (19 months without wipe) |
| Alpha 3.24.2 - October 19 2024. No LTP or balance wipe. (18 months without wipe) |
| Alpha 3.24.1 - September 13 2024. No LTP or balance wipe. (17 months without wipe) |
| Alpha 3.24 - August 27 2024. No LTP or balance wipe. (16 months without wipe) |
| Alpha 3.23 - May 10 2024. No LTP wipe. Balance and some reputation. (13 months without wipe) |
| Alpha 3.22.1 - February 22 2024. No LTP wipe (10 months without wipe) |
| Alpha 3.22.0a - January 25 2024. No LTP wipe (9 months without wipe) |
| Alpha 3.22 - December 14 2023. No LTP wipe (8 months without wipe) |
| Alpha 3.21.1 - November 19 2023. No LTP wipe (7 months without wipe) |
| Alpha 3.21 - October 19 2023. No LTP wipe. (6 months without wipe) |
| Alpha 3.20 - September 19 2023. No LTP wipe. (5 months without wipe) |
| Alpha 3.19.1 - June 15th 2023. Only some ships and items were wiped. Not balance or reputation. (2 months since last wipe) |
| Alpha 3.19 - May 16th 2023. No Wipe (1 month since last wipe) |
| Alpha 3.18.2 - April 21st 2023. Partial wipe. Item wipe only (1 week since last wipe) |
| Alpha 3.18.1 - April 12th 2023. Full item, reputation and balance wipe (1 month since last wipe) |
| Alpha 3.18 - March 10th 2023. Full item, reputation and balance wipe. (7 months since last wipe) |
| Alpha 3.17.2 - July 28th 2022. Balance and item wipe but not reputation. (8 months since last wipe) |
| Alpha 3.17 - April 29th 2022 (No wipe). 5 months since previous reset. |
| Alpha 3.16 - December 22nd 2021 (No wipe). 1 month since previous reset. |
| Alpha 3.15 - November 10th 2021. Full account and reputation wipe. (2 years since previous grind reset) |
| Alpha 3.14 - August 6th 2021 (No wipe). Players kept aUEC and most purchased ships and items. Closing in on 2 years without a balance reset. |
| Alpha 3.13 - April 22nd 2021 (No wipe). Players kept aUEC and most purchased ships and items. One year and 3 months without a balance reset. |
| Alpha 3.12 - December 16th 2020 (No wipe). Players kept aUEC and most purchased ships and items. Almost a year without balance reset |
| Alpha 3.11 - October 8th 2020 (No wipe). Players kept aUEC and most purchased ships and items. 10 months without balance reset. |
| Alpha 3.10 - August 6th 2020 (No wipe). Players kept aUEC and some purchased ships and items. 7 months without balance reset. |
| Alpha 3.9 - April 29th 2020 (No wipe). Players kept aUEC and purchased ships and items. This marks 3 months without balance reset. |
| **Next Estimated Wipe - February 2020 Alpha 3.8.2 (2-4 weeks grind estimated) - This wipe did not happen due to the 1st iteration of Persistence |
| Alpha 3.8.1 - January 24th 2020 (4 weeks grind from previous reset) |
| Alpha 3.8* - December 23rd 2019 (2 months grind from previous reset) |
| Alpha 3.7.1 - October 26th 2019 (2 weeks grind from previous reset) |
| Alpha 3.7 - October 11th 2019 (5 weeks grind from previous reset) |
| Alpha 3.6.2 - September 6th 2019 (4 weeks grind from previous reset) |
| Alpha 3.6.1 - 8th August 2019 (3 weeks grind from previous reset) |
| Alpha 3.6 - 19th July 201 (6 weeks grind from previous reset) |
| Alpha 3.5.1 - 3rd June 2019 (6 weeks grind from previous reset) |
| Alpha 3.5 - 18th April 2019 (3 months grind from previous reset) |
| * Note for Alpha 3.8 - This patch brought in new starting money rules effectively reducing what playtesters start with each patch. Additionally, an interim patch, Alpha 3.7.2 did not have a balance rest. |
| **Star Citizen Alpha 3.8.2 introduced the first implementation of persistence. Player account resets will happen more sporadically going forward. |
Why is progress periodically reset?
While Star Citizen is in Early Access / Alpha Development many of the planned features are still not in player's hands. The final list of features to for Star Citizen to be considered playable more than testable is still to be determined. As a result, during the creation of the game the early testing phase is being periodically reset. The goal is for player's in-game items to persist as soon as the game can allow for it reliably and is in a more polished and playable state. Star Citizen 1.0 should happen after the "Alpha" label is dropped.
Sources
Sources for this article:
- Letter From the Chairman (Official)
- Intention not to wipe LTP data wherever possible (Official)
- Star Citizen Alpha 3.20: Long Term Persistence Update (Official)
- Actively playtesting Star CItizen
- Official Patch Notes from RSI