Into Space: Your Star Citizen Guide

Star Citizen News

DefenseCon 2956 Is Live: Free Fly, New Ships, and Beginner-Friendly Test Flights

Star Citizen’s DefenseCon 2956 is now live, giving players a military-themed expo at Area18 and a chance to try Star Citizen for free until May 27.

The event focuses on combat, support, and utility ships, with manufacturer displays rotating through the DefenseCon schedule. Recent official Comm-Link posts highlight several new or newly featured ships, including the Origin M80, MISC Starlite, Drake Pitbull, and other DefenseCon reveals.

For returning players, the biggest practical reason to log in is simple: visit the Bevic Convention Center at Area18, check the show floor, and rent event ships while they are available. This is one of the easiest ways to test ships without buying them first.

CIG also published a new Q&A for DefenseCon 2956 ships, with answers from the Vehicle and Gameplay teams. That makes it a useful read if you are trying to understand what these ships are meant to do before deciding whether they fit your playstyle.

What this means for new players

DefenseCon is a good entry point because you can try the game during the Free Fly period and experiment with different ships. Starting at Area18 may be the simplest option if your goal is to reach the expo quickly, though event locations can be busy during peak hours.

If you're new to Star Citizen, I recommend the DefenseCon guide.

Sources

• Official RSI Comm-Link: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/en/comm-link

• DefenseCon 2956 Schedule: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/en/comm-link/transmission/21129-DefenseCon-2956-Schedule

• Q&A: DefenseCon 2956 New Ships: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/en/comm-link/engineering/21086-Q-A-DefenseCon-2956-New-Ships

• This Week in Star Citizen: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/en/comm-link/transmission/21167-This-Week-In-Star-Citizen

Should you start Star Citizen?

There are numerous pros and cons. In the end, you’ll have to decide for yourselves which side outweighs the other.

The game is immersive as possible

No loading Screens after login

Land everywhere on a Planet

Fly multi-crew ships with dozenth of friends

A lot of activities: dogfight, FPS, medical game play, repairing, salvaging, mining, refining, crafting, trading and complex missions

Supports joysticks, throttles and pedals

VR support (no hand controller yet)

Bugs

More Bugs

Steep learning curve

Hardware-intensive

You can buy the most things for real money but with friends you can get the most things quite fast.

I recommend to play this game together with other players. This has two effects: First you will have more fun, because you can more easily try different aspects of the game. And second, it doesn't matter anymore, if you have just a small starter ship.

So if you did your first steps alone in the 'Verse, the next step should be to search for some friends or a guild.

How to start (Quick)

1. Create an account. (if you use the referral code STAR-JG9B-VR4M you will get 50000 UEC in-game credits extra)

2. If there is a Free Fly active, or you want to spend over 1000$ before starting, you can ignore step 3.

3. Buy an game package. (You can take the cheapest, important is, that it has the "Star Citizen Digital Download" entry)

   • Citizen Starter Pack - Modular simple fancy Fighter / Freighter - Recommended: This package is on Sale at the moment!

   • Miner ‘Keystone’ Starter Pack - This ship can only mine.

   • Generalist Starter Pack - Simple rough Fighter / Freighter.

   • Salvager Starter Pack - This ship can only salvage wracks.

   • Duelist Starter Pack - Old Fighter / Freighter - Better and more expensive then the other both Fighter / Freighter. But a good value for money.

   • Hauler Starter Pack - Modern Freighter - Same cargo like Duelist Starter Pack with more travel fuel but more expensive.

   • Outsider Starter Pack - Fancy alien ship - A bit weaker then the Duelist Starter Pack but therefor more expensive and harder to fly.

   • Privateer Starter Pack - A medium rough ship with manned turret, big cargo and good weapons and expensive. But a good value for money.

   • Ultimate Explorer Pack - Multiple ships from small speeder bike to a large explorer. Do not buy this before you played this game for a while!

   • This game store has an exchange and update system. For example: If you do not like the Salvager Starter Pack you can exchange it and buy the Citizen Starter Pack from the store credits you got. Or you can upgrade the Salvation to the Intrepid for 5 $ (+ tax)

4. Download and install the game.

5. Start the game and create your Character (You can change your character every time again: Main Menu -> Persistent Universe -> Character Customization)

6. Select your Home base (You can not change this until the next big Patch arrives!). The fastest strategy for a new Player is, to take this, which is centrally located and in a save Area. You can travel around and look for a new home after the next Patch.

   • Recommended: Play the tutorial (and choose Stanton - Hurston - Lorvile)

   • Alternative: Just select Stanton - Hurston - Lorvile

7. Get up. Press the [Y] key for a second or press and hold [F] and search with the cursor for a position where you see "GET UP" and then left click.

   (Official Getting Started in the 'Verse side)

8. Make your way to the spaceport. Pres and hold [F] and move your mouse for interact with the Door and elevator terminals.

9. Watch out for signs which leads you to the spaceport. (In many locations you have to take a train to the spaceport)

10. Search for the "ASOP" terminal at the spaceport (A yellow monitor with a big yellow fingerprint and the letters "FLEET MANAGER" in the upper left corner)

11. First deliver your ship and then retrieve it

12. Use an elevator to get to your hangar. There is an area in every spaceport where you can see multiple elevators next to each other. Call one of it and select your hangar by using the terminal inside of the elevator. Press and hold [F] move your cursor in the middle of the terminal and scroll down with your mouse wheel, until you see your hangar, and then click on it.

13. Enter your ship. There should be a button somewhere on your ship, which will open the entry to your ship.

14. Enter your pilot seat and start the engine. Simply press [U] to activate the power and press [I] to activate the engine.

15. Call the station to open the hangar doors. Press [F1] -> Click COMMS -> Click Friends -> The first entry on the left side should be the station name where you are. (Area18 or Lorvile) Press on the pointing right arrow in this Field. Close with[F1].

16. Leave the station. Press [SPACE] to fly up [Ctrl] to fly down [W][A][S][D] forward left backwards right, [Q] and [E] to roll. [N] for the landing gear [B] for switching to the quantum traveling mode (left click to jump).

17. If you die, you will respawn in the hospital of your home station and you can claim your ship at the "ASOP" terminal.

18. You can try a simple mission by pressing [F1] -> CONTRACTS

Useful Tools

Fleetyards: A good overview of all current and future ships

Erkul: A ship configuration tool

Spviewer: A more complex ship configuration tool

SCMDB: Overview over all missions

SC-trade: Information about trading commodities

Verseguide: Information about every location in Star Citizen

Cornerstone: Information about where to get an item

Sccrafter: Information about which mission gives which blueprint

SC-Crafter: Alternative crafting side

Star-Head: Multiple tools around trading

Hangar: Display multiple ships in a single window

Snareplan: Quantum interdiction planner

Useful Videos

The videos are not my product

How to start from Lorvile