You signed up with a referral code, picked a starter ship (or joined a free fly), and you're ready to jump in.
Take a minute to check out some of the tips below before you take off!
Learning to fly, trying out space combat, trying out ground combat, or encountering another player with nefarious Player-versus-Player (PvP) intentions - expect to die a lot as you start the game.
Pushing the limit is a great way to learn the ins-and-outs of Star Citizen, but always be aware of what is in your inventory. Players currently do not have insurance for personal equipment* - armor, weapons, and anything else you can carry.
* Weapons and armor that you pledged for can be recovered through a character reset.
Play smart and only bring what you need. Leave the rare armor or weapons in the station or spaceport inventory. Take the most basic set of equipment you think you need because you may lose it.
If you're doing some cargo hauling, don't bankrupt yourself when buying cargo. There is no insurance for cargo, so if you crash while loaded with cargo, all of that cargo (and the credits you used to buy it) are lost.
The game will inevitably crash on you or something will happen and you will not be able to complete a mission. Also, you will have to learn some workarounds for some bugs. This is not a finished game. As the community says, "it's an alpha".
Having new things to do, ships to fly, and places to visit means that players will uncover new things that don't quite work right. Combine this with a natural want to make progress, and it's a situation ripe for frustration.
If you are getting frustrated while playing, then walk away for a minute, an hour, a few days, or even a couple weeks. Star Citizen is a game, and this game will be here when you want to return.
Trying to earn all the credits, chase the latest meta, and do some min-maxing is a surefire way to burn out.
Don't force yourself to do something within some amount of time. Go in with curiosity and see what you can learn about different things to do in the game. In addition to learning different things you can do, there are also other places and things you can find.
Don't focus on trying to maximize your progress because it will be removed with a wipe sooner or later.
Something happens. You're millions of kilometers from anyone else and you don't know what to do.
Remember that every time you play Star Citizen, you are playing on a server with other players. Open up the global chat (F12 key by default) and send a message to see if someone can help you with your situation.
We can't guarantee that you will find the help you need in-game, but Star Citizen has a great and helpful community of players, so you might be surprised with the help you get!
The welcome hub is an official resource from the Star Citizen developers. When you first go to the site, you're presented with three options: Play, Watch, and Read.
For your first session, we recommend checking out the "Read" option where you will find click-by-click instructions for getting out of your bed and into your ship in-game and more!
The "Watch" option includes a good playlist of community-created tutorials, and the "Play" option takes us to our next section.
You need to leave this website and go to the official Roberts Space Industries website to access these options. Click the link below to go to the official Roberts Space Industries website:
Star Citizen has an officially-supported guide system to help new players!
In this system, you identify what you are interested to learn about, and you are given a list of guides that are available for the categories you are interested in. Select a guide that you want to work with, and they will work with you to set up a play session.
These guides are all volunteers and fellow Star Citizen players like you. This is a great resource to learn all you could want to learn about the game, and you can set up as many 1-on-1 guide sessions as you want to.
Once you have played the game enough to feel that you could teach others, then you can also volunteer to be a guide!
You need to leave this website and go to the official Roberts Space Industries website to directly access the Guide system. Click the link below to go to the official Roberts Space Industries website:
We have also collected a set of community creators on YouTube and Twitch that you can watch to learn more about the game or be inspired to try something new out.
You can check out our list and additional resources that we've cataloged to help you learn more about Star Citizen by clicking the button below.
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The official Star Citizen website may be found at https://robertsspaceindustries.com