What is Star Citizen?

[DtrollMC]

Hello! I've noticed a lot of people come to this sub-forum wondering what Star Citizen is, I have even done this myself! SO I've decided to make a FAQ of sorts about Star Citizen that should explain the game to newcomers.

 

What Can You Do In Star Citizen?

Anything. Do you want to be a bounty hunter with skills that rival the legendary Boba Fett? You can do that. Do you want to live a peaceful life shipping cargo across the galaxy? You can do that too! Want to start a company or army? Again, you can do that. Star Citizen wants to be incredibly immersive which means giving an incredible array of choices to the players. You can play the game how you want.

 

Is The Game Out Now?

Unfortunately, not the entire game. Currently, there is are a few 'modules' available to play around with. Those modules are the Hangar module and the Dog-fighting module. The former allows you to see all of your ships in-engine, while the latter allows you to fight against or with friends in space. There is also a racing component to the dog-fighting module.

 

Can I Purchase The Game Now?

Yes! You can head over to this link to view the available game packages. These packages come with a ship, some in-game currency and the Star Citizen game. If you want to buy the cheapest package and get the most, I recommend this package for $45 which unlocks the Aurora MR and the Arena Commander module.

 

Can/Should I Wait, And Purchase At Launch?

You can, however it is not recommended. You will be at a disadvantage when it comes to PVP. People who bought in earlier will have a lot more flight experience and knowledge about the game by the time it launches.

 

Do I Have To Pay Real Money For Ships??!? Why Are They So Expensive?

No, the ships will all be available for purchase with in-game currency once the game launches. The are so expensive because it is considered a 'donation', as you are contributing to the development of the game.

 

What's UOLTT?

See here. The UOLTT is the organization for all of us here at the LTT forums.

 

So What's Squadron 42?

Squadron 42 is the single-player game that leads into Star Citizen. While they do affect each other, one is not required to play the other.

 

Is The Game Pay To Play?

No, Star Citizen will not be pay to play. You buy the game once and it's yours forever. There are no monthly fees. It is similar to Guild Wars 2. An MMO that you won't need to pay for monthly.

 

What's A CIG?

CIG is the company responsible for making the game. CIG stands for Cloud Imperium Games.

 

I Bought A Game Package And It Gave Me X Months of Insurance. What's That?

Insurance is a mechanic in game which will replace your ship every time it is destroyed or stolen. It does not begin to count down until the game actually launches. Each time your ship is destroyed and you file a claim, the waiting period from when you file the claim and receive your ship lengthen the time it takes to get a new ship.

 

Can my PC run it?

According to the official RSI FAQ you should have a quad core CPU, 8GB Ram, Windows 7 and a DirectX 11 capable videcard with 1GB memory.

Some recent tests with Arena Commander 1.0 showed that a Nvidia GTX 650ti boost or AMD R7 260 should be enough to run it at 1080p while maintaining usable frame rates, however all of this is still subject to change since the game is not finished yet.

Question courtesy of @Napper198

 

Will it be available on Consoles to?

No (and you should feel bad for asking). CIG wants to make Star Citizen as good as it can get and in order to deliver a extraordinary experience they need to leave behind limitations that would be attached to the current console generation.

Question courtesy of @Napper198

 

Is it worth getting now?

My own opinion would be yes. You can begin interacting with the great community, build or join an org and plan out what you want to do once the game actually launches. Currently when you buy, you get instant access to the beta version of the game as well, so you can start playing earlier.

Question courtesy of @Nexxus

 

What is in it to do? Is there a functional game? Or it is more of a Toy right now?

As mentioned above, there are two modules available currently. So in the game you can see your ship, go race against bots or other players, fight in the Vanduul Swarm (waves of alien enemies) or dog fight against other players. So if all oyu want to do is fight or race then yes, it is a functional game.

Question courtesy of @Nexxus

 

How stable is the Game?

The game is fairly stable and CIG always pumps out bug fixes quickly. There are still a few bugs, yet they plan to be fixed promptly. CIG even has a segement in their Youtube show Around the Verse where a member form CIG fixes a bug on camera!

Question courtesy of @Nexxus

 

If I buy the modules now, will I get acces to the full game when it launches?

Yes! All Game Packages include the Squadron 42 and Star Citizen game! Quite a great deal especially if youguy the Aurora Arena Commande rpack for $45 found here.

Question courtesy of @megamax124

 

Star Citizen vs. EVE Online?

Eve has a heavy strategy focus, being more like pen&paper RPG. Battles are mostly passive and calculated by the server, but scale larger than SC due to lower detailed ships. The economy is entirely community driven and runs almost like the real money economy; you can make money without even moving 1 unit of anything. As for the economy on SC there is not much to say right now, since PU is still early in development. Battles however have a heavy action focus where your equipment doesn't count as much as how well you can handle your ship.

If you want to know more TGN has made a great video you can watch.

Question courtesy of @Napper198

 

Star Citizen vs. Elite: Dangerous?

Both games have similar goals and similar gameplay styles. The two games, however, have entirely different universes. E:D takes place in our Galaxy, with billions of real solar systems while SC has it's own lore and universe. Elite:Dangerous and Star Citizen should be about a year apart, so you could get both! Elite:Dangerous is currently released, however a lot of people have said that the game gets boring quickly, and is still being worked on. If you want a more in-depth look at the two, you can check out a great video by TGN.

 

Do I Need A Joystick?

No you don't. You can play Star Citizen with mouse and keyboard or even a console controller! However, CGI has released numbers that show that joystick users get more kills and higher scores than players with any other control scheme. It all depends on personal preference and budget.

 

Any more Qs you guys could recommend? Just want something I can link to when people ask.

[Tedster]

Thanks for making this.

 

My knowledge of Star Citizen has benefited largely.

[minibois]

Nice. I was wondering what the game was about for a while

[werto165]

How much time will the black hole that is star citizen steal from my life? 

[MaXtez]

Very informative for newcomers! You should include that CIG stands for "Cloud Imperium Games".

[DtrollMC]

How much time will the black hole that is star citizen steal from my life? 

It's already taken a large chunk of mine, and it's not even out yet!

[DtrollMC]

Very informative for newcomers! You should include that CIG stands for "Cloud Imperium Games".

Thanks! Added!

[Smooth Bunz]

Can I get a link to buy it?? Pls!

[DtrollMC]

Can I get a link to buy it?? Pls!

There is one in the thread! The third point

[Smooth Bunz]

There is one in the thread! The third point

I'm blind! 

[Wauthar]

Uh, not to bust your bubble, but there is already a FAQ here in this very sub-forum made by @b45op. Granted, it says it's about the UOLTT, but it also deals with Star Citizen basics...

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/142641-unofficial-uoltt-faq/

[DtrollMC]

Uh, not to bust your bubble, but there is already a FAQ here in this very sub-forum made by @b45op. Granted, it says it's about the UOLTT, but it also deals with Star Citizen basics...

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/142641-unofficial-uoltt-faq/

I assumed it was only about the ORG, and when I took a glance I saw only stuff about the org. My bad

[rentaspoon]

Uh, not to bust your bubble, but there is already a FAQ here in this very sub-forum made by @b45op. Granted, it says it's about the UOLTT, but it also deals with Star Citizen basics...

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/142641-unofficial-uoltt-faq/

 

I assumed it was only about the ORG, and when I took a glance I saw only stuff about the org. My bad

NP man, we like the help we get round here, I would just get @b45op to add them to the faq when he reappears.

[DtrollMC]

NP man, we like the help we get round here, I would just get @b45op to add them to the faq when he reappears.

Yea that seems like the best idea!

[Grrizz]

How much time will the black hole that is star citizen steal from my life?

Time will not be stolen but repurposed for the sake of entertainment however the volume of said time will be great.

[DtrollMC]

Time will not be stolen but repurposed for the sake of entertainment however the volume of said time will be great.

Eloquently put! And I agree, I will lose whatever life I have once SC launches.

[CommanderFett]

I love your points here. Thanks for providing a condensed version for those without knowledge of the game.

[Napper198]

@DtrollMC

 

Can my PC run it?

According to the official RSI FAQ you should have a quad core CPU, 8GB Ram, Windows 7 and a DirectX 11 capable videcard with 1GB memory.

Some recent tests with Arena Commander 1.0 showed that a Nvidia GTX 650ti boost or AMD R7 260 should be enough to run it at 1080p while maintaining usable frame rates, however all of this is still subject to change since the game is not finished yet.

 

Will it be available on Consoles to?

No (and you should feel bad for asking). CIG wants to make Star Citizen as good as it can get and in order to deliver a extraordinary experience they need to leave behind limitations that would be attached to the current console generation.

 

While explaining CIG you should also explain RSI and I'd point out, that you don't purchase the game right now but donate towards development and get access to the game as a reward. We could also steal a lot more from RSIs FAQ  :lol:

[rentaspoon]

Eloquently put! And I agree, I will lose whatever life I have once SC launches.

Life? Won't lose that... Wife maybe

[Nexxus]

Heres some questions

Is it worth getting now? What is in it to do? Is there a functional game? Or it is more of a Toy right now?  If there is a game is there any end game objective? or is it just some vs stuff?

[DtrollMC]

@DtrollMC

Can my PC run it?

According to the official RSI FAQ you should have a quad core CPU, 8GB Ram, Windows 7 and a DirectX 11 capable videcard with 1GB memory.

Some recent tests with Arena Commander 1.0 showed that a Nvidia GTX 650ti boost or AMD R7 260 should be enough to run it at 1080p while maintaining usable frame rates, however all of this is still subject to change since the game is not finished yet.

Will it be available on Consoles to?

No (and you should feel bad for asking). CIG wants to make Star Citizen as good as it can get and in order to deliver a extraordinary experience they need to leave behind limitations that would be attached to the current console generation.

While explaining CIG you should also explain RSI and I'd point out, that you don't purchase the game right now but donate towards development and get access to the game as a reward. We could also steal a lot more from RSIs FAQ :lol:

Thanks for the suggestions! As a member of the PCMR Im ashamed I forgot the console question! Will add soon!

[rentaspoon]

Thanks for the suggestions! As a member of the PCMR Im ashamed I forgot the console question! Will add soon!

Will it be available on Consoles to?

No (and you should feel bad for asking). CIG wants to make Star Citizen as good as it can get and in order to deliver a extraordinary experience they need to leave behind limitations that would be attached to the current console generation.

While explaining CIG you should also explain RSI and I'd point out, that you don't purchase the game right now but donate towards development and get access to the game as a reward. We could also steal a lot more from RSIs FAQ :lol:

-facepalm-

Can't wait for the PCMR thing to be over, the way I see it is if SC did make it to the consoles it would be awesome (but only if cross platformed).

The limitations are not on the consoles but by the people that built them, that's from Mr Roberts mouth not Wingman.

[DtrollMC]

-facepalm-

Can't wait for the PCMR thing to be over, the way I see it is if SC did make it to the consoles it would be awesome (but only if cross platformed).

The limitations are not on the consoles but by the people that built them, that's from Mr Roberts mouth not Wingman.

What's with all the hate for the PCMR?

[Wauthar]

What's with all the hate for the PCMR?

Sheer ignorance for people who prefer other things, it's a problem with both "sides"...

[Nexxus]

(would be great to sticky this as a good to resource and date when questions were asked so its easy to tell if they or the answers are still relevant)

Harder questions. How is this going to compare to eve? I love the base concept of eve but the games complexity and the passive nature of how its played made me abandon it.

 

Basicly will this chart apply to the final version of SC? http://swiftandbitter.com/eve/wtd/eve-wtd.jpg

How dependable is the game currently? or is it still a buggy mess?