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Let's explain what the gold standard is real quick. And if you're so inclined, give me a list of what ships are getting their gold standard in 2026.

TL;DRGold standard means bringing an existing ship up to the features and functionality it would have if released today, without stylistic changes that remove its core identity; no 2026 list is given.

Ben CurtisVehicle Art Director

So gold standard, it's a term that gets thrown around a lot, but for me, it's about: if we were releasing that ship today, making sure it has all the features, all the functionality of a ship that we are releasing that's brand new. So really it's going through and ticking off all of its components, its physical items, the different interactions, making sure the metrics are correct. And it's really just bringing it up to the gameplay experience that a more modern ship would have. It's less about making stylistic changes just because you can. I think there's something to be said for keeping a ship's history. Now, obviously, over the last 10 years or so, things have improved in how we create the ships. So we do tend to go in and make some material changes. We might relight it and do those sort of things. But I don't really want to go in and take away the core DNA of a ship. If we're going that far, then I think we may as well do a Mark II or a Mark III or whatever it might be. But for me, gold standard is just bringing it up to the functionality that it would have if we were releasing it today.

Star Citizen Live›Lots of Ship Talk·
Published on this date.27 Nov 2025