Cits and Civs, Captains and Commanders, you’re tuned to episode 551 of Guard Frequency — the best damn space game podcast ever! This episode was recorded on Friday, July 24 and released for streaming and download on Tuesday, July 28, 2026 at GuardFrequency.com
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This Week’s Schedule
- Flight Deck
- Elite: Dangerous
- Star Citizen
- Helldivers 2
- Guard Frequency Exiles, where the team might finally be done running errands before setting off on their big road trip.
- Feedback Loop
Links & The Like
Elite: Dangerous
Elite Dangerous released the second patch for the Operations update, and checked off most of the items on their “to-do” list we gave them last episode. Recover exploration data and visited star cache? Check. Better resolution of the “mission complete” phase? Check. Better connectivity? Mostly check. Recovery of missing on-foot Goods and Assets? Well, it’s 50/50. As an unexpected bonus, players also received back-pay for all the missions they completed without getting the rewards. And now that the game mostly works again, they need to hurry up and release more Operations.
Star Citizen
Star Citizen released Early Access Pre-Alpha Release Candidate Prototype Experimental Test Build 4.9.0 LIVE 12302499 to the Live server. This patch is the latest in a series of “hotfixes” CIG is releasing outside of the normal dot-patch schedule. Which is good, because, as is tradition with the normal patching schedule, the new version breaks more things than it fixes. For example, if you like the QUOTE ability to be controlled by mouse movement inputs END QUOTE or enjoy the ability to QUOTE interact with anything upon loading into PU END QUOTE, then this Hotfix may be right for you. Or maybe not. If you’re still having trouble, file another bug report. Either way, we’re not going to get bogged down in the failures of 4.9 when they’re already sending out 4.10 to the Evocati. And CIG continues to “streamline” its top level of executives, with senior Turbulent dev Claire Buffet and VP of Corporate Technology Mike Jones going MIA from the CIG leadership web page. By the way, if you know anything about the “Cloud Imperium universe project,” then you might want to get in touch with the guy who runs the real estate company that rents CIG their office space in Manchester. He has a special project that needs a leader.
Space Haven & Interstellar Frontier
Space Haven is a full starship simulator that Tony enjoyed and then quit once his starship was fully simulated. Interstellar Frontier is a great new game developed by Henry. And he has just a short update for everybody.
Community Questions
- How much cutscene is too much cutscene in a video game? Give us a percentage.
- How deep is too deep in a simulation? If your crew gets scurvy, does that sound like a “them” problem?
Patreon Backing
We love bringing you this show each week, but would also love your support? If you enjoy listening and want to contribute to us being the Best Damn Space Sim Podcast Ever, then go to our Patreon page and look at all of the rewards and loot you would be eligible to receive.
Join Us In Game!
- Click here to go to our Star Citizen Organization page and apply today!
- Check out the callsigns we use personally in each game
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