Alpha 4.10.3 Live: Vanduul missions at Nyx, Skarnov rifle, expanded salvage and IAE 2956 (November 13, 2026)

In the Alpha 4.10.3 release notes published on Spectrum, CIG announces that the patch went to Live with zero downtime. Hangars and residence location are not reset, long-term persistence is preserved and starting funds remain set at 20,000 aUEC. The content centers on the Intergalactic Aerospace Expo, a series of missions against the Vanduul and a new FPS weapon. The full notes also detail 129 fixed tickets.

InterSec Defense Solutions Missions at Nyx

According to CIG, Vanduul incursions are multiplying in the Nyx system under pressure from the Shattered Blade gang. InterSec Defense Solutions therefore opens a series of contracts, with Blade, Glaive, Scythe, Stinger and Mauler as opponents:

• Shattered Blade Raid (rank 1): clear the auxiliary stations occupied by the gang.
• Retake Ship (rank 2): retake a boarded ship.
• Vanduul Clan Extermination (rank 4): hold out against waves of increasing strength, across three difficulty tiers.
• 3-Way Standoff (rank 4): a three-way showdown, player included, where everyone is a target.
• A secret enemy mission (ranks 4 to 6): waves of Vanduul until the arrival of a threat that CIG does not name, across five tiers.
• Gather Vanduul Cryopod: recover cryopods, with the variant containing a dead Vanduul being more valuable.

Rewards take the form of blueprints to craft: the LBCO Skarnov rifle, three sizes of BEHR laser cannons, the Tailwind flight suit and the Palatino and Corbel heavy armor.

The LBCO Skarnov Rifle

This fully automatic rifle from Lightning Bolt Co. electrifies its target on impact, with a chain effect toward nearby enemies. The notes give 27 damage, 375 rounds per minute, a projectile velocity of 500, a 30-round magazine and a 0.25-second aim-down-sights time. Its pronounced vertical recoil makes it suited to heavily armored targets. In exchange, it overheats faster in hot environments and heats up more slowly in the cold.

Balance, Salvage and Equipment

• Salvage: the Reclaimer goes from 240 to 448 SCU, the Argo MOTH from 64 to 240 SCU, the Vulture from 13 to 16, the MISC Fortune from 13 to 14 and the RSI Salvation from 6 to 8. The disintegration field of all five vehicles is enlarged, with more forgiving alignment tolerance.
• Vanduul: AI carry more ammunition and regenerate it faster. Mauler weapons become significantly more lethal, at the cost of reduced health.
• High Risk Target: these contracts now award 4,000 reputation points with the Bounty Hunters Guild, up from 2,000.
• Torpedoes: the minimum arming distance for size 5 and size 7 torpedoes is raised to 700 meters.
• Radars: those on the Carrack, Perseus, Starlancer, Starlancer TAC, Hammerhead and Tiburon go from size 2 to size 3, with updated default loadouts.
• Purchases in aUEC: several ships already flyable become purchasable in game. The Tiburon and Starlite are offered at Lorville. The Ironclad, Pitbull and Starlite are sold at Levski. The Ironclad Assault, Pitbull and Basher are available at Rundown Station. The Origin M80 and Gatac Tyilui are offered at Area18.

CIG specifies that 36 of the fixes come from the Issue Council, and that 14 concern how hangars and ASOP function.

Galaxy, Liberator and the Opening of IAE 2956

The RSI Galaxy and Anvil Liberator are now flyable in the persistent universe for players who own them. The expo opens at the Tobin Expo Center in New Babbage, reachable by Metroloop from the interstellar spaceport. A main hall serves four guild halls (Academy of Sciences, Mercenary Guild, United Resource Workers, Interstellar Transport Guild). The rental kiosks provide access to more than 200 ships and vehicles, with a group of manufacturers featured each day. What has already been shown remains available.

Context

The patch closes a PTU cycle that opened on October 24, which had introduced the Vanduul Incursion missions and the Skarnov. The rifle's values shifted between builds: a PTU test relayed on Reddit mentioned 25 rounds in reserve and 266 rounds per minute, figures that differ from those retained for Live. The IAE FAQ, published on November 11, set the opening for November 13 at 16:00 UTC, with Free Fly from November 13 to 27.

What We Still Don't Know

The main grey area concerns the Liberator's RRR service. A Reddit message claims that CIG said, during Citizen Spooner's stream, that RRR is not planned on the upper or exterior deck pads. CIG has not confirmed this statement. On Spectrum, a thread requesting official confirmation has gathered 63 replies, none from the studio. The exact scope of the service therefore remains to be clarified. The next signal to watch is a response from CIG, or an update to the release notes or a hotfix. How the rental fleet evolves over the days of the IAE will be the other point to follow.