Arena Commander is now open to all backers, adds Capture the Core gameplay mode

With access to Arena Commander now open to all backers, Star Citizen studio Cloud Imperium Games has begun the process of beefing up the action through the addition of new game modes. First up is Capture the Core, which as the title suggests is basically Capture the Flag, but in space.

That pretty much covers it, really. Capture the Core is "patterned after classic 'Capture the Flag' games," as the studio put it , "but with the additional challenge of operating in three-dimensional space." Your team must take possession of the opposing team's "core," located on their side of space, and return it to your side; if the carrier is destroyed, the core will remain in place for 30 seconds unless it's either picked up or returned by another player, and it cannot be captured if the capturing side's core has also been taken.

This will no doubt sound very familiar to a lot of you, although Cloud Imperium said CTC is "very objective-based," and that simply flying around trying to blow enemy ships into space dust will actually be "detrimental" to the overall effort. "Players will do best to focus on protecting their core, escorting their core-carriers, and taking down anyone who has stolen their core," it wrote. "When choosing a ship, it is not only toughness one should keep in mind, but a ship's respective speed. Different ships can serve different roles."

There are a few technical issues popping up now and then, the worst of which is a "rare" persistence of particle effects that will eventually cause your PC to slow to a crawl, but quitting and restarting should fix things right up. Capture the Core is live now to all Arena Commander players.