Your Universe
As a brand new citizen of the 'verse, the information here will be essential to getting around and exploring.
From the main menu, there are two game modes available: Persistent Universe and Arena Commander. The following article introduces the basic movement and interaction controls of Star Citizen and helps you take your first steps and flight in the Universe module, which is where you will be able to explore and experience everything the 'verse has to offer.
For the purpose of this guide, we will be going over the Stanton System. Players are able to start in other systems and locations than the ones mentioned here, but given the fairly lax laws in such places they may not be the best option for brand new players trying to learn how to play the game.
Exploring Stanton System
The first time you load into the Stanton System from the Universe menu, you will get to choose to spawn in one of several major city locations throughout the ‘verse: New Babbage, Area18, Lorville, or Orison. Choose carefully - from then on you will wake up at the last landing zone you flew to that has hab facilities.
For more information about these landing zones and other current major space stations, see the Locations in Star Citizen Knowledge Base guide.
The New Player Experience | The Tutorial
After selecting your starting location, you will be prompted with an opportunity to begin a tutorial, which we call the New Player Experience. This will assign you a few different missions and tasks to help you get acquainted with the 'verse. We highly recommend following them when you can! This guide will be walking you through how to get to your ship and begin flying, which may deviate from the tutorial's instructions. Start here!
If you choose to skip this tutorial...
Jump Right In | Your Personal Hangar
If you've elected to forego the tutorial, then you will begin inside of your Personal Hangar. In this case, you'll have skipped much of the previous steps and will start standing in front of an ASOP terminal within your hangar. This will let you immediately call your ship and get moving quickly!
Wake Up
You’ll wake up in a hab in the city and planet of your choosing. "Hab" is short for "habitat", which are small apartments for the pilot on the go. Get out of bed by pressing the Y key, and begin moving around using W, A, S, and D.
Your new best friends are the Personal Inner Thought (PIT) menu and the F key, which controls all interaction between you and the world around you – everything from opening a door to getting in your ship, to picking up a burger. While holding F, anything that can be interacted with will be highlighted green. If you are in range to interact, the "OPEN [F]" prompt will appear.
Go towards the door and locate the control panel next to it. A prompt to Open will pop up. Press F to leave your hab.
You may prefer to use different keybindings, or have gaming peripherals such as a joystick or HOTAS that you would like to use within the 'verse. Check out how to set those up here.
Getting Your Gear
Once you have familiarized yourself with moving about, you may want to visit the local shops to stock up on any supplies you may need, such as a multi-tool or perhaps additional weapons and ammo.
All of this can be arranged and taken into your personal inventory or moved into your local storage while you are in port. Press F at any storage kiosk (there is one located in your starting hab room) to open the inventory management screens to sort out your belongings or change your equipment. You can also do this by pressing I away from a kiosk, but you might not have access to all your stored belongings.
Visit the Spaceport
Time to navigate the city and take a tram to the spaceport. You can find directions from hab to the vehicle retrieval console and hangar elevators at each spaceport for four of the major landing zones in the following guides:
Generally, to leave the planet, follow the in-game signs and markers to find your way to the Spaceport - you'll need to navigate the city and, in most locations, take a tram to reach your destination.
When you reach the Spaceport, retrieve your ship on a vehicle retrieval console and make your way to the assigned landing bay/hangar via any of the nearby elevators. An example of one of the retrieval consoles at Area18 is shown below. These are referred to as ASOP Terminals.
Retrieve Your Ship
Approach the vehicle retrieval console and interact with F to Deliver and then Retrieve one of your ships:
Once your ship has been delivered, head to your hangar to board!
You can reach your hangar from the elevators near the ASOP terminals.
All that is left is to climb aboard and familiarize yourself with the cockpit!
Power On
Each ship has a different method of entry, including ramps, ladders, elevators and side hatches, but you can always use the F key to interact with parts of the ship to find the entry point. For example, to enter the CNOU Mustang, simply interact with the cockpit, whereas the RSI Aurora has side doors behind the cockpit or larger ships may have an elevator that can be called to access the ship.
Once secured in the pilot's seat, use and hold F again to locate the Flight Ready option on the buttons in front of you. You also can simply achieve this with U as indicated by the interaction key on the bottom right.
Your ship has a heads-up display (HUD) and various multi-functional displays (MFD) to provide you with information necessary to travel around the ‘verse safely and efficiently. This is not essential for basic flight in personal ships, however.
Prepare For Launch
Keep in mind that depending on where you are, your exit path will either be above you or in front of you. Press F4 to enter third person and tap Z to unlock your camera so you can safely check your surroundings and find your exit.
When you’re ready, go ahead and request authorization to take off. Press F1 to open your mobiGlas and then contact the Spaceport by navigating to Comms on the bottom bar:
The spaceport will always appear at the top of the Friends tab:
Be sure to confirm that the hangar doors have opened and your path is fully clear before taking off!
Lift-off!
- Strafe up off the landing pad by holding Space Bar (Left Control to strafe down).
- Strafe laterally using the W, A, S and D keys as you would were you on foot.
- Q and E to roll the ship.
- Pitch and Yaw by moving the mouse slightly away from the center crosshair.
- Once you’re far enough away from your landing pad or hangar, press N to raise your landing gear.
- You can toggle Cruise Control with C.
- Scroll Wheel adjusts your speed, but be careful, ramping up too fast can cause your engines to overheat. The ship will become less maneuverable above Space Combat Maneuver (SCM) speeds. This is indicated by the red portion of the speed bar.
- Left Shift will engage Afterburner to make your thrusters more responsive, however this also generates a lot of heat.
- Some ships start in a Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) thruster configuration that provides better efficiency in atmosphere at the cost of decreased forward thrust. Press K to swap to regular forward flight in those vessels.
...And Beyond!
Because you are currently on a planet, you’ll need to leave the atmosphere before you’re able to Quantum Travel to another planet or station. Fly directly up until the altitude marker on your display disappears.
Once that happens, you’re all set to explore the ‘verse. The Stanton and Pryo Systems are at your fingertips – learn how you can easily explore the system ahead with our guide on the ins and outs of Quantum Travel.
For more information on flight and getting prepared for exploring the 'verse, visit our guides: