Overview:
The goal of this guide is to answer some frequently asked questions and provide guidance on how one spends their time, aUEC, and real world money (cash) in and around Star Citizen. There are a number of confounding factors that come into play when making an informed decision about how you spend in SC, the goal of this document is not to dictate, but to inform one’s own decisions.
Clearly, some of the answers here will be offset by an individual’s motivating factors, so answers may vary from what is written.
DISCLAIMER: do NOT buy anything you could live without.
This game is about having fun and you can do that with a Mustang Alpha as easily as a Javelin.
Please purchase responsibly.
Navigation
Buying your first ship | The Green Market | Subscription | Concierge | Grey Market
Buying Your First Ship
Game Packages:
When buying your first ship the most important thing to keep in mind is the game package. The game package allows you to log into and play in the PU. You can buy a stand-alone F7C Hornet from CIG directly but without a game package attached to it you won’t be able to play in the PU with it. All game packages can be found here:
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/game-packages
Make sure you look for the “Star Citizen Digital Download” in the “Also Contains” section.
The game package itself is worth $15.00 and all come with a ship the cheapest being $30.00 for the ship and $15.00 for the game package. The significance of this will be explained in the CCU’s and You section later. Another thing you may want to consider is a Squadron 42 pledge. This pledge is a preorder for the single player part of Star Citizen. Buying it standalone would cost you $45.00 but if you buy it with a game package the cost of Squadron 42 becomes just 20 dollars. A total cost of $65.00 with the ship and game package.
Ship Recommendations:
There are two basic starter ships with game packages for sale right now on the RSI Pledge Store. Both have their unique niche and will allow you to do many of the things available right now in the PU. Both have a base value of $30.00 dollars.
The Mustang Alpha:
The Aurora MR:
There’s also a recommended third option for beginners. its a slightly upgraded ship versus the other two but it also costs more.
The Avenger Titan:
Insurance:
Now that you’ve chosen a game package you should look at the ships insurance. Most ships bought outside of a sale will come with a baseline of 3 Months Insurance. This means that from the point the game is released your ship will be covered for 3 months of real life time (source). Currently in the PU everyone has unlimited insurance and to reiterate your insurance will not start counting down until the game is out of testing and actually released. Lifetime insurance is an infinite amount of insurance on that ship.
What it covers: The ship and the components it originally came with the purchase.
What it doesn’t cover: Any added equipment, anything stored on the ship, cargo on the ship, and any components added after purchase.
Check out: https://support.robertsspaceindustries.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000093467-Ship-Insurance-FAQs
for more information.
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The Green Market
What it is:
The Green Market is the Official RSI store. it can also be called the RSI store, Pledge store, and “The place that took all my money for some fancy jpgs.”
Try before you buy:
When looking the buy a new ship ALWAYS borrow from an org-mate. Vanguard has more ships than we know what to do with. Just ask and someone will get you setup. Your other option is to rent a ship with REC (awarded by being a subscriber) to try a ship in Arena Commander, or with aUEC in the PU. This is always better than buying something blindly based on marketing fluff from CIG. Things like “it punches above its weight class” or “fastest ship in the verse” are extremely misleading when taken out of context. Borrow it from an org-mate, fly it, ask opinions about it, learn it yourself, then decide if you should buy.
CCU’s and you:
Star Citizen has a system for Ship Upgrades. This system involves literally “upgrading” your ship to another ship. You purchase a CCU token and then apply it to the ship you want to upgrade from to the new ship.
General Rules:
You cant downgrade or “straight”grade your ship
you can’t CCU a ship to another ship of the same value or more.
If you own the CCU you can upgrade the ship at any time
You must own the ship you’re CCUing to apply the CCU
You can buy ship upgrades without owning either ship
The ship must be normally purchasable in order to purchase the CCU to it. You can only buy a CCU to a 600i when the 600i is on sale.
CCU’s are final, once applied they won’t come off unless you melt the ship (see below).
You can select the insurance for the next ship.
If your original ship has 3 months of insurance and the ship you’re upgrading to has lifetime insurance, you can choose the lifetime insurance.
This goes both ways.
The cost of the old ship is subtracted from the cost of a new ship.
Having a ship worth 100 dollars and CCUing to a ship worth 150 means the CCU only costs you 50 dollars.
This is a good way to upgrade your starter ship if you ever feel like you want to.
For more information check out this guide: Ship Upgrades (CCUs) – Cloud Imperium Games Knowledge Base (robertsspaceindustries.com)
Melting and Buybacks:
So you have a ship that you’ve decided you dont actually want anymore. Well, thats where Melting comes in. Melting involves turning your ship into Store Credits. Store Credits are only usable in the RSI pledge store, and only on non-warbond ships.
Warbond Ships: These are ships offered at special times (Concept/Release Sales usually). You can ONLY spend RL money on them. They usually offer added items to the ship.
Price discounts.
Special Items (skins).
Extended (lifetime) insurance.
Store Credits are also usually the value of the ship melted. So that ship you bought for 50 dollars and then melted, you would have 50 in Store Credit. THIS ACTION CANNOT BE UNDONE.
If you CCU’d the ship to another ship and melt it the CCU will be gone. You do not get the CCU back. If the CCU was from a limited sale you will have to wait for another sale in order to repurchase the CCU
You will get the money back from the CCU.
So now you’ve melted your ship and gotten 50 dollars back. and after a while, you decide you actually do want that original ship. In this case, you want to use something called a “Buyback Token”
If your melted ship wasn’t a Limited ship your original ship (not the CCU) goes into your buyback pool
This includes ships not currently purchasable, with their original insurance.
This pool stores all your purchased ships with some exceptions
AMD package
Discounted combo packs
Pledges and packages with physical items attached to them
Squadron 42 Add-on & Star Citizen Add-On Pledges
You must have and use a Buyback Token
Buyback tokens limit the number of ships you can purchase again
Buyback tokens do not stack
you get a single buyback token every 3 months
January
April
July
October
You use a Token and then store credits or RL money to repurchase your ship.
SUBSCRIBER DISCOUNTS DO NOT APPLY TO THE BUYBACK!
if you purchased a ship using a subscriber discount and melted it, you would need to buyback the ship for its normal full amount.
you can use a subscriber coupon on ships when you buy them back.
For more information check out: Pledge Buy Back tool – Cloud Imperium Games Knowledge Base (robertsspaceindustries.com)
Sales:
There are a number of sales. Some of these are reoccurring sales but others only come once or are new.
Anniversary Sale:
Every November Star Citizen hosts an Anniversary sale where many of the ships not currently for sale will go on sale. It usually accompanies an in-game expo event and the ability to fly any ship in-game.
It’s usually a rolling release spread out by manufacturers (RSI might be one day and Anvil the next.)
This is the most regular and popular sale. it truly allows you to try before you buy any available ship.
The insurance for these ships are usually the number of years since Star Citizens’ release to that point. So in 2018, the insurance was 6 years for all anniversary ships. This is much better than the standard 6 months and is worth upgrading all the ships you can at that time.
Concept Sale:
Concept Sales are usually around the time a new ship is officially introduced.
Normally a warbond and non-warbond version.
Sometimes insurance can be lifetime for non-warbond versions.
Usually, the ship is not released with the concept so you’re buying a ship that you cant play with yet.
Release Sale:
These sales are like Concept Sales only they’re around the actual release of the ship.
Normally a warbond and non-warbond version.
The ship is flyable once you purchase it.
Merch:
Cloud Imperium also offers Real-life Merch. you can purchase branded hats and other clothing items.
This purchase amount goes towards your concierge level.
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Subscription
RSI offers a subscription service for both 10 and 20 dollars a month. It offers a variety of monthly rewards including ships each month to fly (for that month). This can be extremely worth it as it allows you to fly expensive ships like Hammerheads and Carracks for as little as 10 dollars. Read more about the rewards here:
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/subscriptions
Some highlights are:
Wave 1 access to the ptu, meaning you’re testing the newest patches before most everyone else.
A Coupon for 10/20 percent depending on the subscription level. these cap out at 50/100 dollars respectively.
Counts towards your concierge level.
Its a lot of added bonuses and should be checked out, if you find that its not worth the money (and many people do) then dont worry about it. Its just something to think about.
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Concierge
The Concierge (Chairmans Club) are members of the community that have spent more than $1000 RL dollars on the game. This includes any ship purchase, merch, subscriptions, etc. all purchases are counted and once you break $1000 you join the club. The Concierge receives added bonuses and benefits based on levels after concierge.
Access to the PTU (Public Test Universe) usually just after the private testers (Evocati) get done with it.
invites to in-person events.
Access to exclusive ships, skins, in-game items.
It is recommended that you think long and hard before putting down any money more than the basic ship pledge. It’s Stressed by even those in the Concierge that you think even longer if it’s worth spending that kind of money on a bunch of pixels.
For a list of specific rewards and levels go here
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