I got a hankering to play Star Citizen and decided to jump in with $55. I very quickly upped my pledge to .. i don’t even know where I’m at so far. Probably $80. And its awesome.
Quick Myth: If you destroy your ship you are out real $. Reality: currently everybody has insurance until they release, and when they release, there will be in-game insurance per ship that you can buy. Just like Elite: don’t fly without insurance!
Quick Myth: Need a kick ass computer. Reality: My i7/gtx1070 from 3-4 years ago with 16G ram total, runs it about okay.
Quick Myth: Its full of bugs because its alpha. Reality: yes; but if you call an elevator and you see a black emptiness, DONT STEP IN IT.
What I’ve done so far:
- Participate in a server-wide event which netted me almost 1/2 of a entry-level ship’s worth of in game money, while doing almost nothing other than fly around not knowing what to do. (The xenothreat thing over labor day weekend)
- Try to land my ship at a settlement on the dark side of a planet. The light I saw was the door light not a city light, i rammed into the settlement instead. Boom + Tresspassing = Crimestat.
- Served time in the penitentiary (14 minutes) for my crimestat. I did not try to escape.
- Almost run out of fuel flying a ship rental to join some action. Luckily I checked before I got past the halfway mark and could jump back to get some gas.
- Decide to trade in my first pledge ship for a better one (which has cargo space! And a bunk bed!)
- Trying to take out my first bounty, got there too late and somebody else got him.
- Trying to take out my first bounty, got jumped by a second bad guy. Ran away.
- Try to descend upon a bounty target at full speed in an asteroid field. I could not dodge the asteroid that showed up in front of me. Boom.
- Actually destroy a bounty myself with my gimpy hands.
- Do my first cargo mission, turns out I picked the one where I visit an abandoned powered off station, float around debris in zero G, somebody destroys my ship while I’m in the station and I have to stash the box and suicide and come back and get it after I respawn.
- EVA across a space station to get to the correct strut where I could turn in a delivery box to the right place.
- Do a “pick up recycle waste from 3 stations” mission. Turns out I need to land closer, because I have to hoof it on foot to get into the buildings to pick up the salvage WITH MY BARE HANDS. 2nd and 3rd station, i got a bit closer in my landing.
- Decide to upgrade my ship, find the websites which guide me to where the components can be bought, and try to go to Area 18 the big industrial complex plant … and could not find the space port. Had to go back up to look for it from afar, it was hidden behind some skyscrapers.
- Forget to look at trade routes and missed some great trading opportunities.
This game is amazing. Its everything I dreamed Elite could be. And the ship power management and all that stuff.. its like, “super realistic” + “computer control to make it seem more like a game”, but if you want you can switch off the “Coupled” mode and go raw. Just like Elite.
3 play sessions in, cannot wait for the next one. I need to investigate using a joystick and learn more about gimballed weapons and power distribution.
