What is the Best Star Citizen Starter Ship?

The Star Citizen developers are using a crowdfunding process to fund the development of the game. 

In this process, users "pledge" money to fund development, and as a reward, the developers promise to give you a copy of Star Citizen and the ship you pledged for when Star Citizen is released. However, this is not a purchase - in the unlikely event that the developers go out of business or development ends before the game is completed, you cannot request a refund.

Though fellow Citizens may talk about "buying a ship" or "buying a package", we are actually pledging money to fund development!

Star Citizen is still under development, and the developers describe it as a playable alpha. Periodically, the developers need to perform a wipe of the databases that track player progress. 

In the worst of these wipes, everything you have earned, found, or purchased in-game is lost, and you are forced to restart the game with only the original 20000 UEC stipend and any ships or gear you have in your Star Citizen account hangar. These worst-case wipes occur roughly every 3-12 months, but they are not on a set schedule - these wipes are directly driven by development progress.

When this happens, you will need to complete missions in the game to earn back the credits you need to buy the ships you were using.

However, if you pledge for an upgraded ship (or multiple ships), then those will be available to you immediately after the wipe.

Some players don't like the idea of starting back at a basic ship and instead purchase upgrades, while others have restarted with an Aurora MR after every wipe as they prefer to play a "zero-to-hero" journey.

The key point to remember is: you do NOT need to pledge for a high-end or more expensive ship to play Star Citizen!

The Star Citizen developers removed the Aurora MR Starter Pack on 29 May 2025. They later explained in an episode of Star Citizen Live that the Aurora MR was not up to the current ship design and functionality standards. On 25 March 2026, the Citizen Starter Pack was updated to use the RSI Aurora MkII, marking the return of the Aurora as a starter ship.