What do I need to do to get started?

Vhayne

Hiya.  I literally just discovered Elite Dangerous, and it got me excited as hell watching videos of that game.  So I decided it was time for me to try hopping back into sims (I haven't played a sim especially a joystick since the early 90's).  I jumped right in, ordering a Saitek x52 Pro Hotas setup along with TrackIR.  I've barely scratched the surface on ED, and I'm still very excited to play it, but I'm curious about Star Citizen as well.  I knew I would be eventually, but I was waiting for it to finally release.  I was looking at the ship list for ED and I was kindof disappointed.  Just doesn't seem to be very many.  So I thought I'd look at Star Citizen to compare.  Wow.  SC has tons!  

I don't follow game developments like I used to, so I don't really know much about Star Citizen at this point.  But I'd like to get in on whatever is available now.  I seem to remember something about lots of people dropping thousands of dollars for ships a year or so ago, and I was very confused by that.  The game isn't finished, we don't know if it will be crap or not, and then spending that much.  I must be missing special information or something lol.  Then I think I read that you could download a client of some sort and then walk around a hangar and look at your ship that you purchased? 

And now I hear you can dogfight?!  Please, tell me more!    How do I get in on this stuff?  Is it online only?  Can you practice against npc's? (because I really suck with this stick so far lol)

If I decided I want to invest in some ship buying, what's the best value at this point?  How do we determine what "type" of ship to buy?  If I buy an expensive ship and get blown up in a dogfight now, will it get replaced or anything? 

Sorry, I know it's a lot of n00b questions.  But I want to get in on this whole Star Citizen thing.  I just don't really know exactly what I'm jumping into yet. 

Erillion

Sounds like you have already seen the Star Citizen homepage. I recommend you start with a basic pledge package (45 $)  and do not buy any of the larger pledge packages at this point

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/fly-now

If you just want to try out the dogfighting, it might be better to get the more agile Mustang starter ship.  The Aurora is not the (virtual) worlds most gifted dogfighting ship, being more of an allrounder  (which will be nice once we have the first planetary systems to explore and trade in).

Yes, its online only at the moment ... later there will be an opportunity to run private servers. The upcoming Squadron 42 solo campaign will be playable offline. The Persistent Universe will definitely be online only.

At the moment you can

1) practice against NPCs (Vanduul Swarm, in up to 15 waves, with boss pilots every few waves).

2) You can also fight in PvP battles against player pilots

3) You can race a racetrack against player pilots  (non violent, no shooting)

4) Training flights only, no enemies

 

In a few weeks you will be able to check out the first person shooter module

1) Training Arena a la "Ender's Game" - like a sports arena

2) Real combat training (in a model of a conquerable station)

 

In the flight sim you can often try out for free other space ships that were not in your pledge package. Look out for the "Free flying ship XXXX weeks".

By participating in PvP sim battles you can earn some in game cash called REC that lets you "rent" a ship for a week. This can be a ship that is not in your pledge package. Easy way to try out new ships and find the one you like most.

Keep in mind that you can buy ALL ships with in game money once the game has launched. You do NOT have to buy any expensive pledge package with a bigger ship (bigger is not necessarily better in SC) unless you have real life money to spare and want to support the development of the game. There will be NO ships that will ONLY be available for real life money.

 

Let me know if you need more information.

 

Have fun

 

Vhayne

Thanks a ton.  You've answered pretty much all of my questions.   I'll start with the basic pledge for sure then.

Vhayne

Originally posted by Gdemami

[mod edit]

Yeah, I'm still doing some research, and I sortof agree with you.  Seems like a TON of promises, and some fairly slow developments. 

TswordZ

Well, the game is being developed by "modules" so they will put all together in the end. There are different studios working in all the parts, so the development go in parallel. They keep adding things as they are required as bases for the next. First was the hangar, to see the stability and the base of the graphics and interactions. Then Arena Commader, to test the capabilities of multiplayer and comunication between players and server. The leaderboards a bit the same, for track data from the client to the servers. In a few weeks the FPS will come, allowing to test both the inventory systems and the work on zero-G. Then "social module" for start testing the cities, interactions with NPC, mobiglass and so on.

Yep, it's not a complete game yet, as it's in development, but still has something playable. Of course, just battle and races. There are games that are just about that. In a couple of week we'll have a shooter, too, so it keeps growing.

And yes, the deveolpment seems slow, as they give info from the beginning instead of just some art after 2 years in deveolpment and then start a marketing campaign 6 month before the launch date and a "beta" (that won't fix anything) a month before. Star Citizen has been in development for roughly 2 years, and nearly 2 years remaining. Nothing too long in reality. An AAA game (that it's not a sequel) takes that time in development.

BTW, another good thing about testing the things now with the pledgers, is that it's easier to find bugs and any gameplay mistake (or even visual ones) can be fixed BEFORE the launch, so we'll not have a mess of a game when it's "finished" (It'll have updates monthly)

 

Well, that. Still in development, just dogfight, hangar,  races for now, and soon FPS. If you feel good with that, go for that Aurora (Or Mustang if you prefere speed), both are the "basic" ships, and in the end, still cheaper than a normal AAA game (because it's still in development maybe).