Picking your Star Citizen starter ship and starter pack is an exciting time as a new player. In this page, we provide our recommendations for and reviews of the best Star Citizen starter ships and show you how you can purchase a starter pack on the official Roberts Space Industries website.
There are three discounted Star Citizen starter packs available until 16 July 2025 at 2000 UTC (4 PM Eastern / 1 PM Pacific in the USA) for the Foundation Festival event.
The first discounted starter pack is the Generalist "Foundation Festival" Starter Pack. This pack includes the Drake Cutter, a good upgrade over the basic Mustang Alpha that trades maneuverability for a useful interior. The pack comes with a 15% discount, extra ship insurance, extra game credits, and a bonus Foundation Festival paint for the Cutter.
The second discounted starter pack is the Hauler "Foundation Festival" Starter Pack. The Hauler starter pack comes with a Crusader Intrepid that can carry up to 8 SCU of cargo. This is enough cargo capacity for the entry level hauling missions, but the Intrepid does not have the same combat capabilities of the similarly-priced Avenger Titan, our recommended starter ship. Still, the Intrepid has an extensive interior that makes for a good home among the stars. This starter pack has a 15% discount, extra insurance, extra game credits, and a limited-edition Foundation Festival paint for the Intrepid.
The third and final discounted starter pack is the Advanced Hauler "Foundation Festival" Starter Pack. The Advanced Hauler pack comes with a Consolidated Outland Nomad, a larger starter ship with 24 SCU cargo capacity. This is a significant step up in capacity from ships like the Intrepid and Avenger Titan, but the Nomad is not nearly as combat ready as the Titan. The external cargo bay of the Nomad is also useful for hauling ground vehicles like the ROC that can be used for ground mining gems. This discounted pack brings a 15% discount, extra ship insurance, extra game credits, and a Foundation Festival paint for the Nomad.
If you're looking for the lowest-price Star Citizen Stater Pack, the Citizen Starter Pack comes with a Mustang Alpha, our new recommended budget pick, is less expensive than any of the discounted starter packs, and is always available.
A Star Citizen special referral bonus is not available for Foundation Festival.
When a special referral bonus is available, players receive a small ship or vehicle like the Mirai Pulse, Drake Dragonfly, or Kruger P-52 for free in addition to the regular referral bonus of 5000 game credits. You can only receive the special referral bonus if you use a referral code when you first set up your Star Citizen account and then spend your first $40 at the RSI pledge store on a game package or ship during the special referral bonus period!
The Avenger Titan is the best all-around Star Citizen starter ship, but it is not the lowest-cost option.
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The Avenger Titan is available in the Duelist Starter Pack pledge that normally costs $75 USD.
The Mustang Alpha is a competent Star Citizen starter ship, and usually the lowest cost option. Its limited capabilities will help you earn the credits to buy a more capable ship in-game.
Pros:
Cons:
The Mustang Alpha is available in the Citizen Starter Pack pledge that normally costs $45 USD.
The "Cutty Black" is a significant upgrade both in capability and cost among the Star Citizen starter ships. It is also considered a good upgrade ship to purchase in Star Citizen after earning the credits in-game.
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Cons:
The Cutlass Black is available in the Privateer Starter Pack pledge that normally costs $125 USD.
Before you pledge for a starter pack, you should check to see how well Star Citizen will run on your computer. Star Citizen is a high-performance game, and if you don't have the right components, then it may not run well on your computer.
With that said, you don't need to have the latest and greatest hardware, but there are key components, not just your CPU and GPU, that can make the difference between the game running or crashing.
Check out our Can I Run Star Citizen page for details on how well you can expect Star Citizen to run on your computer what you can do to make it run better.
A Star Citizen Account is Required to Pledge for a Star Citizen Starter Pack
Pledging for a Star Citizen Starter Pack
Checking Your Current Starter Pack
Once you have purchased a game package (or joined a free fly), you can download and install Star Citizen. Click the button below to learn how to download and install Star Citizen!
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.
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