Star Citizen Frequently Asked Questions
What is Star Citizen?
Star Citizen is an MMO set in space. It is both a space simulator and a first-person experience rolled into one. Unlike other space MMOs, such as Eve and Elite Dangerous, you are not your ship. You are your character and can freely move about inside and outside of your ship.
The scope and scale of Star Citizen has never been attempted before. If CIG can pull it off, it will change the way that we look at online gaming.
The current Star Citizen Alpha consists of three modules. The PU or Persistent Universe is the Alpha version of the universe. It currently only has a few stations and a couple asteroid belts. It feels huge but it only covers a part of the area surrounding one planet! Each system is somewhere between 3-5 planets on average and it’s expected that the game will release with 10-100 systems. That is absolutely massive!
The second module is Arena Commander. Arena Commander is an in-game simulator that can be accessed from your hangar or the main menu. You can currently race, fight or go into free fly with the ships that you have available to you.
The third and final module available is Star Marine. Star Marine is another in-game simulator that can be accessed in the same ways that you access Arena Commander. Star Marine is the first person shooter simulator that is played by many people according to in-game lore. It’s rumored that many CEOs of the largest mega-corporations in the verse have a sim pod in their offices so they can relax when they need a break.
Star Citizen is currently in its alpha phase of development and rapidly approaching another milestone in the form of planetary landing. This will first be implemented in release 3.0.
What is Squadron 42?
Sq 42 is the single player game that Cloud Imperium Games is currently developing. The Squadron 42 release date is updated in this article. It is set in the same universe as Star Citizen and will occur prior to the events of that take place in Star Citizen.
In Sq 42 you will play as a member of the UEE Navy. Those that complete the single-player game will receive some kind of reward in Star Citizen. Those rewards have not been announced, but it is thought that you will be able to begin as a citizen of the UEE and possibly have access to military ships of some kind. Many people believe that you will also start with enhanced reputation with the UEE.
You can still play Star Citizen without ever playing Sq 42. The advantages you receive from beating the game will most likely just be a small advantage in the early stages of Star Citizen and probably not play much of a role at all in the long run. You can read more of what we know in our Squadron 42 article.
How do I buy Star Citizen?
You can find everything you need to know about purchasing Star Citizen in this article.
What Ship should I get with my first package?
Go over and check out our reviews of the Mustang Alpha and Aurora MR to get our feelings on the two starter ships. This article looks at other options for starter ships.
When does Star Citizen release?
There is no announced release date for Star Citizen.
Can I use a mouse and keyboard or do I need to buy a joystick?
You can use the same mouse and keyboard that you use on your computer every day. If you feel like you want to purchase a joystick or you just want to see some options that are available to you, look at our guide on Star Citizen controls here.
What is a Privateer?
A Privateer is an armed ship run by pirate individuals that have a commission from a government to engage in war against that country’s enemies, particularly merchant vessels.
It also refers to those individuals that operate the ship.
Here it also refers to those pirates and mercenary groups that are aligned with the various mega-corporations around the ‘verse. Don’t be fooled…it’s not only Drake that has dealings with unsavory types.
What are Intercepts and Transmissions?
Intercepts are information that we have gathered from outside sources (AKA news).
Transmissions are original content produced by the Star Citizen Privateer writers.
Who is VectorWhite?
Who’s asking?
