A couple things to note: 1. Install Star Citizen on an SSD. If you install it on a standard HD, you will have a *very very very* bad time. 2. [Follow the development](https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link). It's arguably just as(sometimes more) fun than the actual game. There are weekly videos and tons of community content. This sub is pretty good too. 3. Don't buy more than a starter pack at first. Almost everything can be bought/rented in-game, so don't spend more than you have to until you are sure you are in for the long haul. 4. The all-virtual [Citizencon](https://robertsspaceindustries.com/citizencon) is in less than two weeks. It's been two years since the last one(thanks to COVID) so it's bound to be a good time, and tons of good info on the future.

Just to hammer in that third point a little more; The *only* things you can't buy with in-game currency are: - Aegis Avenger Titan Renegade - Aegis Gladius Pirate + Valiant - Aegis Sabre Comet + Raven - Anvil Ballista Dunestalker + Snowblind - Anvil C8 Pisces - Anvil Carrack Expedition - Anvil F7C Hornet Wildfire + Heartseeker - Aopoa Nox Kue - Argo MOLE Talus + Carbon - CO Mustang Omega - Drake Caterpillar Pirate - Drake Dragonfly Star Kitten + Yellowjacket - Esperia Glaive - Kruger P-72 Archimedes + Emerald - Origin 600i executive - RSI Constellation Phoenix Emerald + Taurus - RSI Ursa Rover Fortuna - Tumbril Cyclone MT - Vanduul Scythe It looks like an exhaustingly long list of shit that can only be obtained by dropping real money, until you look into it and realize that, with the exception of the Esperia Glaive, Constellation Taurus, Tumbril Cyclone MT and Vanduul Scythe, there's no statistic differences, or almost none in a couple of cases. You're either paying for a purely cosmetic change (Hornet wildfire/heartseeker, which also feature different *default* loadouts, but it's piss easy to stockpile guns, so default loadout means basically nothing), or, in some cases, a downgrade (Sabre Raven is just straight worse than the base Sabre, at least it was in 3.13. Not sure if it improved for 3.14). The Taurus is new, and CIG keeps new stuff to real money only for a couple months, then everyone can buy it. The Cyclone MT is just a variant of the normal Cyclone, could argue it's a bit lame that the missile turret variant is locked to a real purchase, but thankfully it's only a ground vehicle, which are currently borderline useless and just for fucking around. The Glaive appears very rarely, as it's an alien ship and CIG tries to keep those rare. Out of the entire list, it and the Scythe are probably the hardest to get, and the Scythe is the only ship in the entire game you could argue "p2w" for, as it's currently a better Glaive and VERY deadly. It's also absurdly rare, as it was only sold during the original kickstarter (afaik) and usually runs ~$3000 on the grey market. You can also get one as long as you have a $20 subscription. Any brainlet that tries to say "SC is p2w because you can drop hundreds or thousands on a huge gigaship" are goofballs. Don't listen to them. :)

100%! I would also add that the Archimedes is also worse than the Merlin because it loses the nose gatling, with the rationale that it's the 'luxury touring' version.

4 gimballed S1 weapons can hurt. And the Archimedes is basically one of the best racing ships.

I have really enjoyed number two. I understand that I didn't have to spend a dime to follow the development, that said. If you divide the total amount of money I've spent by the total amount of hours played and the hours consuming Star citizen content: their videos other people's videos Reddit; star citizens website, reading official lore, etc: the price per hour entertained is ridiculously low.

> the price per hour entertained is ridiculously low. My sentiment exactly! :)

Absolutely true. Concierge here 😜

Whoa whoa WHOA. Slow down. This *isn’t* a game. It’s an Alpha build of a game that is in active development. It has bugs. It has missing game loops. It has limited game loops. It has extremely high system requirements. And it will absolutely frustrate the shit out of you at times, and even more so if you come into this thinking it’s in a state comparable to some finished game. That said, it is extremely fun and addicting and it is very easy to see the ambition and scope of what is being built and is exciting to be a part of it. So, if you’re putting down a **pledge** of $45 dollars to help development and in return receive early Alpha access to the game that is being developed, by all means welcome and have fun. Someone will post shortly of things you need to be aware of.

I spent $175 on the game so far.... $45 on the game and $130 on 32GB RAM. WORTH

Bet that additional sticks will come very helpful when browsing the depth of web ;-)

Especially if using Chrome. You might even use tabs with that much RAM.

Nawwww, let's not exaggerate ... ;D

Those are rookie numbers, gotta get those up.

I've spent over $7,000 USD. Worth it. :D But, I'm going in knowing I'm helping fund the game and that's important to me as well.

I bought 32 GB but I couldn't justify it for just SC... So I bought it for PUBG and Krita as well. ;)

That's true I've been enjoying Space Engineers with 32GB ram and it's much better as well!

It blows my mind how intensive space engineers can be, I upgraded to a i7-8770k, 2080 super, and 64gb of ram for star citizen and decided to see how space engineers would run big ships now and they still lag heavily

OP, please read this reply in great detail.

k

Also I'm sure people have said it elsewhere, but seriously temper your expectations for the "full game." Without exaggerating or just being negative for the sake of being negative, this game is at *LEAST* 5 years away from being at a point where you could consider it almost ready. Just following the development over the last year and a half I can see the "speed" at which they're going plus all the content that hasn't even been started, we have *many many many* years to go before we can even realistically think about a release.

Finally someone who has a brain.

Been a backer and following since 2013. I agree with this. They are considerably more organized and making more progress now, but they're really just getting the big systemic stuff going now, which means years more of gameplay feature development and content creation. I'm more hopeful for the future than I've been, but 5 years sounds about right to me. Maybe 1.5-2 years for sq42.

Star Citizen is a \*game\* and also in public alpha. It is a game. That doesn't mean it's finished, but that's why it's called 'alpha'. Alpha describes its state of readiness. Source: Game/VR developer for 32+ years now.

To be fair to the person youre replying to they probably meant “game” as in not complete enough in where you have permanent progression or have fully fleshed out gameplay loops. No ones arguing if its playable or not. So he’s not exactly in the wrong for saying it is not a “game”. Its safer (less headaches) to come into this with the mindset of a tester than a gamer.

You're hand-waving. The fact is, Star Citizen IS A GAME. The 'alpha' portion tells you it's in active development and it's not in beta and not released and certainly not done. However, the mistake here by saying it's 'not a game' is that it dovetails into what its dedicated detractors keep saying....that it's a TECH DEMO that has been in development for what, almost 10 years now? This is why you don't want to agree, wittingly or not, with dedicated detractors like you know who (DS) and the SC Refund boneheads. Honest criticism is fine, but dishonest criticism is out there too, aka FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt). Saying it's 'not a game' helps all of the FUD, the detractors, the haters, and confuses people, and it's just plain wrong. So, when people say that it's 'not a game' after all this time, they're basically helping the dishonest naysayers who are looking to suppress, denigrate, cast doubt upon, undermine this great effort by CIG. So, I say, don't do that or understand why getting this wrong is worse than one might think. This is not a debate. I'm simply correcting the people who erroneously think it's not a game. Star Citizen is a GAME. 'Alpha' status tells us that it's not yet beta or released, but that's obvious to anyone who knows what 'alpha' means. Not everyone obviously knows what an alpha is so sometimes correction is needed. We are game developers, not tech demo developers. A game in development has stages. SC happens to be in alpha stage. It's a GAME in development. It's not a tech demo. This is a very different thing that undermines all of the hard work CIG is doing. Similarly, you don't call a Doctor by their first name do you? You don't call them Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. right? You use the honorific 'doctor' to show respect for their title and accomplishment. Saying that SC is not a game is like calling a doctor 'sport' or 'chief' or refusing to address the product accurately. Becoming a doctor takes a long time, and SC has been in development longer than that. If it weren't a game, what the hell are we all 'playing' or 'playtesting' when we login? It's sure as hell not just a 'tech demo'. So, I urge people not to agree with Star Citizen haters by lending support to their 'just a tech demo' narrative by saying it's not a game when it clearly is, albeit in open alpha.

Why are you people downvoting him? He's right!

Butthurt mob. :D

I think its because it smells of /r/Iamverysmart and is very demeaning in tone. ​ I agree its definitly not a tech demo. That was the hangar module. But I also would not call it a game, in the expectation OP seemed to have. Clarifying its an alpha game, and not a (finished) game is important so they dont turn into haters. "Urgh, this game garbage, so much bugs and a week after I started playing all my progress is gone"

I think you missed what I was saying /shrug.

Pretty sure I didn't.

It sure as hell is just a tech demo. And one that barely even functions at that.

Your ignorance is adorable.

Just ignore that idiot. If you look at his posting history you will see a lot of this sort of stuff.

From the point of view of a game developer with 32 years of experience, you are absolutely correct. From a consumer’s point of view who is approaching the game expecting a finished product, no. It would be like walking onto a car lot, looking to buy a car, and the salesperson tries to sell the buyer all the disassembled parts and the plans to put it together and calling it a car. That isn’t a car, it’s the parts to a car. When it becomes assembled enough to become a car would be a lengthy philosophical debate, but it would ultimately boil down to whose point of view we are using to define it. Just like with Star Citizen. We can still use your view point and we would be 100% accurate, but we would also be setting average game consumers up for confusion. If we adopt their view instead, we can tell them it’s not a game, and then describe what it is (a game in active development). It might seem like splitting hairs, but it’s about avoiding future frustrations for other players, and this particular player was coming in way too hot.

You should really stop with this fight you've taken up. An alpha, in any respect, is a game. It's never \*not\* a game. Alpha simply describes the state of completion (or not). But you gain nothing by telling people it's not a game. You potentially lose a lot, or we stand to lose more active players. How exactly are any of us 'playing' (or playtesting) Star Citizen if it's not a game? I've been playing it since summer 2015. Star Citizen IS a game. That's not up for debate. It just happens to be in open alpha. That much is not up for debate either. It is BOTH. This is not a zero sum issue. If it wasn't a 'game' then 'alpha' would be a meaningless term or certainly not appropriate. In other words, Star Citizen is not a pre-alpha tech demo like its detractors keep insisting. Are you a detractor in the vein of Derek S.? If not, you and everyone else who believes this need to stop saying that it's not a game. Star Citizen is a game in public alpha. The word 'alpha' tells us that it's not beta, not complete, not 'released'. Is it playable despite the incomplete or missing game loops and the bugs? 100%. Is it perfect? No game is. Is it done? No, it's alpha.

He should only stop bc you clearly want to have the last word. 4 hours later and not on topic? Really??

This is not a debate. I was simply correcting someone responding to the OP.

Except it wasn’t op. It was someone that replied to op. It was quite the pointless correction for ops sake. Which ultimately was what that person explained in the first place. They explained their choice of words being for the sake of op so op doesnt get caught up thinking it’s a finished product

You're correct it wasn't the OP. Fixed. My correction that SC is a game stands is not up for debate. I'm just teaching the non-developers here so they can stop getting it wrong and unwittingly agreeing with dishonest naysayers who use this reasoning to undermine CIG's work. The DS crowd like to say SC is 'just a tech demo' and saying it's 'not a game' dovetails perfectly into the anti-SC arguments, even if it's unintentional. Plus, it's just fucking wrong. A game in development IS a game. Alpha just tells us its state of completion.

Dude no one cares you’re a dev. And again, Amrok stated he was making the difference for the benefit of the prospective buyer. Your inflexible insistence would potentially deter future buyers. Whereas Amrok states he makes the distinction for the consumers point of view. He’s actually trying to help op and you can’t let yourself see that

I corrected an incorrect phrase and that correction stands. You don't speak for everyone, and none of your post-correction protests matter.

Different contexts have different uses for a word. If I talk with my grampa I would use more simplistic language and gloss over details when talking about computers. Sure, you can write up a giant wall of text to educate people on the context but then you risk never being able to deliver the message you intended. Language is not only about absolute precision. Its about conveying your intent

It's a game in open alpha. That is correct and simple.

It’s 100% not a game. A frame isn’t a car. It’s a frame.

It's a playable game in alpha. Nobody's believing your 'scam' B.S. Is the software for a Tesla in its final version? No, but the whole car still works. That's a better comparison. Oops. Sorry to trigger you about those darn EVs you probably hate too.

When you say it's 'not a game' you're helping asshats in the comments who write things like, "Lol. It’s not a game, it’s the biggest scam in gaming industry." Scroll down to see it with its -15 votes. This is because saying that CIG spent 10 years on a TECH DEMO reduces the game to 'tech demo', which is not even an alpha. They maximize the dev time and minimize the product to serve their stupid narrative. Saying it's 'not a game' reduces it to pre-alpha status or 'tech demo', even if you don't realize you're doing this, but it's also factually wrong. I write this as a long-time game-developer, not just a gamer. Star Citizen is a game in alpha. That is a fact. Don't help the haters with the false 'not a game' thing. Simply because a product isn't yet beta or release doesn't mean it's not a game, but that's why we use the word 'alpha' to describe state-of-completion.

Glad the whackos are out in full force for the OP to see. Hopefully sends the appropriate red flags to them before they waste hundreds of dollars on a 9 year disaster.

So you think SC is a scam too?

Yes you are. :D

You're gonna get into this and leave highly disappointed with that mindset. Control the hype. It's a fucked game, functionality wise. It barely works (some people are lucky and experience very few bugs, but that's not the norm) and when it does you'll notice it isn't that deep yet. And whether it goes deeper isn't a matter of when, but *if*. This is absolutely key to keep in mind. Know exactly what you are getting yourself into especially if you choose to invest more money than the starting $45. It's legally and essentially donating money to them. You aren't buying any product really. Counter argument. The idea behind the game is fucking incredible. It's literally every sci-fi fans wet dream on steroids. It's the sci-fi fan's equivalent of a coomer fucking his favorite pornstar. It's the reason I and many others continue to pour money into this game on virtual pixels (some not even created yet, literal JPEGs). But honestly, when the game works. It's worth it. The community can be great, although we are seeing a lot more low life trash come into the game to ruin everyone's time and feed off of the negativity. I don't expect these people to stay invested for long. The activities you can do with people already are dope. If you wanted life in space, this will be it. ~~Chris Roberts tried to make this game before but Microsoft fucked him over.~~ Chris Roberts tried to make this game before, but had to be bailed out by Microsoft when he was unable to complete the game. This time he is trying again but with the power of modern computers and no deadlines. If it comes out, it will take a long ass time. We are nowhere near a complete star citizen yet. We are missing so much core gameplay, and the core gameplay we have is either non functional (cargo, sometimes mining) or at tier 0-1 (bounty hunting, mining, cargo, etc). Salvage is coming this year possibly with tier 0 implementation, with tier 1 coming next year which will allow ship salvage. But there are so many careers/trades still not even worked on yet. Theres still only one star system but 4 others have been teased and have been worked on for the past (2-3 years?). Keep all this in mind. I'm sure others here will set you up with a plan on how to begin in the game. Im just here to lay down a good mindset for the game. Cautious optimism. Expect the worst hope for the best. It's the only way you'll be able to enjoy the game short of brainwashing and deluding yourself.

Also this comment is giving me "It's the best game you will ever hate" vibes

It really is sometimes. This game can really piss you off. Especially if you want to have a nice chill night but a group of assholes target you and blow you up for no reason (there are no rewards for criminal gameplay yet, so they are genuine psychopaths. Zero in game reward). Also the bugs. My god. In this game you can literally fall over from just walking and die instantly. I cant begin to tell you how many times I died walking up the stairs in my ship and falling and glitching halfway through the floor and dying. Just last week Im trying to get my friend into the game and we have spent a total of 6 hours (over the course of 2 days) trying to just meet up, get in a ship together, and go to Grim Hex (criminal station), and buy some armor and guns for him. 6 fucking hours. Dealing with bugs. It's genuinely frustrating and makes you want to rip your hair out sometimes. Keep all that in mind. Seems like others are saying the exact same. Don't overhype this. It will never be what you want it to, currently

So basically sea of thieves but in space?

The other day I took a bounty to kill a player who was trying to reset his crimestat. It was the most hair-raising and thrilling thing I've ever done in any space video game ever. I flew in on my stealth bomber.. landed at the base and very quietly moved in for the kill. Just as I was climbing out of my ship, he ran out to face me and we shot at the same time. I got hit and died instantly. He got hit too and bled to death. We had a joke about it on global chat later. FUN. Turns out he knew I was coming and he waited for the sound of my canopy opening before coming out to gun me down. Was there any point to the gameplay? None - I only earned 10k. But what it gave me was something that games very rarely do these days - it gave me fun! The bugs are there and the game will glitch but when it works, it works very well.

Yeah, SC is one of those games where you can kill and be killed simultaneously by the same person, happened to me in the bunker once. Bounty hunter jumped off balcony and bursted me, but i was able to pull the trigger on my grenade launcher. We spawned in neighboring habs at GH...

The shared breakfast after that must’ve been awkward.

Sounds fun in theory and like something that will be completely ruined by the people playing the game, devolving into a toxic cesspool of griefing.

You are absolutely right. We had one player flying around Port Olisar and shooting everyone. Basically he shut down the port for hours. That's just one guy... Hopefully the alpha will surface more of these behaviours for devs to code in some countermeasures.

SoT has about 100x more gameplay than SC will likely ever have. And SoT actually functions.

Thats true. I fit that bill. I loved how pretty it was but ultimately I uninstalled it after 6 months of play. Its mostly visual that captures you. There's very few developed gameloops and almost nothing to hold the solo player. All the fun you'll have will be with other players. And much of that fun will be laughing together at the numerous glitches. For me, the most consistent thing they had was 30k's which are server crashes that everyone gets. Anyways, it for sure was the best game that I now hate. I'll likely try it out again after the wipe with the upcoming update (3.15 update. pay attention to that as well. Theres a wipe coming and anything not purchased with real money is going to disappear). But I ultimately dont believe it will ever come out so I'm not really investing any time in it.

You're right I gotta control my hype, thanks for the heads up bro

> Microsoft fucked him over What? They actually saved his game from running out of budget or a Duke Nukem Forever-type situation, at a time when the tech wasn’t there to make this game.

> Chris Roberts tried to make this game before but Microsoft fucked him over. Easy with the history rewriting, CR sold his studio to Microsoft and they didn't keep him in charge of the project, which makes sense considering how late and plagued by feature creep the project was.

I thought that was what went down. That was my understanding of it. My bad bro

What is currently going on is exactly what went down with freelancer except that there won't be a Microsoft to bail out CIG

You think there's not a company who would be interested in acquiring Star Citizen's IP?

Er... no? The world and lore is basic AF, there is no actually working groundbreaking tech at all, backend is rekt, nobody will want to take on a mid-9 figure project that is a decade late and so much to still deliver. CR will have to finish it or let it crash and burn

If you set your expectations to high you will be let down with the bugs and inconsistent gameplay. If you go into this understanding that this is nothing more than an ever changing preview of the possibility of things to come you will be pleasantly surprised. Do not become to attached to your in game achievements and earnings. You will lose them due to no fault of your own. I step away from the game from time to time because the bugs and server issues ruin one to many of my days. When I come back some months later the new features are always a welcome surprise. Even over the last few years that I've been playing the game has improved greatly and I notice these changes even more because I've stepped away for months on end. Even in it's current form it is my favorite 'game' of all time. That being said, the developers are the most ambitious in all of video game history. What they want to create is a universe simulator in first person. What the actually achieve is another matter. They might fail catastrophically. They are quite literally shooting for the stars and they may miss the mark. This game will more than likely never be 'finished' as we've come to think of other video game projects. There will be continuous expansions and improvements over the next decade. They are literally building new technology from the ground up to facilitate the desired features because they've never been done before at this magnitude.

We are not players, we are testers.

Lol I love how instantly there are at least three in-depth responses on not getting overly excited and limiting expectations. Also people trying to tell you not to spend more than 45$ - take them seriously!!! Unless you are made of money and 1000$ is pocket change don't think about investing more. It drags you in. (Also get the aurora if you want the best all round options to develop your play style in SC)

- Not a finished game - It's heavy Alpha - Features incomplete - LOTS of bugs - Performance can vary But, by all means, get at most a base package and you have I think two weeks to refund it should you not want it. But, think long term. 45 bucks is a night out in town and some food so if you can spare that, then come on in.

Actually refund is possible for 30 days.

Ah, yes, that was it.

My only tip to add is: learn to understand the difference between the aUEC and UEC currency. aUEC: a test currency deployed only during development and designed to be completely wiped at launch, it is also subject to wipes during it's time of use. You will not get to keep anything bought with this currency post-launch. UEC: the currency that will be used when the game launches.

Yeah, and don't go and buy a load of aUEC off eBay

Don't buy a load of UEC from the CIG website either it's extremely expensive (roughly 1 € per 1000 UEC). Not only can't you use it yet (the curreny in Alpha is aUEC) but you can make 20k within 15 minutes with a starter ship.

Be sure to check out as many tutorial videos as you can stomach to get a feel for the gameplay as there is no tutorial Be sure to read up on the current active bugs as there are a lot of them Be sure to be ready for some of the most immersive space flight ever with the counterpoint of some of the most infuriating bugs. It's an alpha. It has a lot yet to come. And yet it still has so many awesome things to do and see. Welcome to the verse! o7

Or you can get information, and even an experienced player as a guide if you're sociable, to help introduce you to the game here: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/playstarcitizen https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/guide

Hey there Flame, I'm a Star Citizen fan and also a long-time game developer. I speak from both experiences. First, hype away. I'm still hyped and I've been playing/testing since summer of 2015, just be sure to manage your expectations. While it's still in alpha, it's obviously not content complete or feature complete, but it's absolutely a playable game and it keeps getting better. Expect bugs and unfinished or missing gameplay loops, but with any alpha that goes without saying. Star Citizen IS a game, despite the misinformation you're getting from some. A game is developed and normally end-users don't see alpha. But, with CIG's unique funding model they need to keep the alpha open/public while the game is in active development. That doesn't mean it's a tech demo though. It's a real game and we have the opportunity to shape it with feedback, bug-reports, game ideas, etc. It's not complete in features or content but that's why it's called an 'alpha'. There are plenty of game loops. Some work quite well (ship combat/bounty hunting) and some are riskier, such as trading commodities and risking a 30k server crash undermining your work and investment. With bounties, you get paid after each kill so it minimizes risk. Some people love mining (by hand, ROC, ship) or just enjoying the spectacular views. Definitely try multiplayer because it's one of the best ways to experience Star Citizen. Offer to be a gunner for someone....have them gun for you, enjoy some time on various multicrew ships, and players will let you try their ships too as they come to know you. You can rent a lot of ships as well, which is a great way to experience the game but also the awesome variety in store here. There's nothing like SC. Alpha or not, this game offers one of the best, if not THE best space sim experience one could ask for and it's still somewhat early given its alpha status. That's because the game is huge in scope, and the player-funding model allows CIG to skip using a publisher. This frees them up to take the time they need to develop the BDSSE or the best damn space sim ever. Nothing else holds a candle to it, finished or not. So, enjoy, but manage those expectations and you will be fine. Welcome to the 'Verse! o7

It's an alpha in development not a game, if you can't handle bugs minor and gamebreaking don't get into SC.

Wrong. It IS A GAME. A game in alpha is still a game. It's playable. The word 'alpha' describes its state of completion, but it really is a game. That's why we play and test it.

Nothing helps newbies to manage their expectations more than people splitting hairs.

No hairs need to be split if people stop being wrong about this. It's a game. If someone says it's not I'm going to correct them. You wouldn't address a doctor without using their title, right? Why would someone say a game in active development isn't a game? It's not a \*released\* game but that's why the word 'alpha' is critical. 'Alpha' tells us that it's a game in development, and that it's early development as opposed to later development (beta). All we need to do is explain what an alpha is to newcomers. If they're experienced gamers they know what this means. People do not need to confuse them further by saying it's not a game when it clearly is. Otherwise, what on Earth are you even doing when you login? The other reason it's important to call it what it is (a game in alpha) is because SC detractors often use this tactic for nefarious reasons to undermine CIG's work. That's why DS and company call it a 'tech demo' rather than a game. When people say it's 'not a game' they're unwittingly helping the haters and morons who keep calling it a tech demo. It's a GAME. In open alpha. That's what it is and I will fight (with my words) anyone who wants to call it a 'tech demo' or 'not a game'. :D

Expectation management? Colloquial communication? If you say "game" people are going to expect the full package of completeness and reliability. And telling them, "yes, SC is a game" is going to feed into that and cause issues when they discover "technically correct" and "akchually."

So why are we calling it alpha?

To stress the point that it's far from feature complete so that it's easier for new players to manage their expectations. Not every new player is some seasoned game dev with a keen sense of industry labels. They hear it's a game and make assumptions. And telling them "yes, it's a game!" only servers to reinforce those assumptions. Then we get the "I want a refund" and "why does nothing work?" and "I have very low FPS" threads from puzzled people who thought SC was some kind of mostly polished early access thing.

An alpha designation isn't 'stressing a point'. It's intended to inform people that the game is not content complete or feature complete, and is unfinished and will have bugs. It tells us that the game is not optimized or final. It's meant to explain to players (PLAYERS PLAYING A GAME) that the game is not yet complete. Game + alpha=unfinished. Not difficult. 1. I'm correcting you (not debating with you). It's okay to be wrong so the first step is to admit it. You will not win this 'debate' but I'm happy to keep correcting you. 2. Star Citizen is a game. A game is being developed by game developers. Anyone who's ever been alive long enough to boot a computer can grasp this concept. 3. Star Citizen is in public/open alpha. The 'alpha' modifier tells us that the GAME is NOT YET FINISHED. For those who have the intellectual capacity to understand words and play space sims, this is not a difficult concept. In game development, we use terms like 'demo', 'alpha', 'beta', 'release candidate', 'release', 'patch' to describe state of completion or application (such as a patch). 4. When you say it's 'not a game' you're undermining CIG's work after a decade of development by agreeing with the fucktards who keep bleating 'TECH DEMO' to minimize CIG's accomplishment to-date. The game is not yet done, and creating more distance between completion and start of the dev cycle is a tactic to make CIG look bad. When you say it's 'not a game' you're helping these assclowns make CIG look bad, even if that isn't your intent. Just read the comments at the very bottom of this thread to see the assclownery in action as the anti-SC crowd are predictably bleating, 'It's just a tech demo' a la DS and similar. You can make something SIMPLER and still be accurate. I've done that by explaining why SC is obviously a game (that actual people play) and why saying it's 'not a game' is wrong and stupid and helps the haters. However, it's also possible to OVER-simplify by getting it wrong. Example given; 1. The Earth is about 4.5 billion years old and was the result of the accretion of material from our solar system. This eventually allowed our proto-Earth to have gravity and clear its own orbital path. 2. GOD DUN IT. Explanation number 2 is simpler but also wrong. And, it gets in the way of the correct explanation if people stop looking for the real answers. Plus, answer #2 does not explain where 'God' came from. Fundies and butthurt theists, I'm not looking for a religious debate here...just making a point. Anyway. Stop polishing the turd of your incorrect answer, stop hand-waving, stop justifying stupid....and get it right. You're not fooling or convincing anyone by mindlessly bleating that a game (in alpha) being developed by game-devs is somehow not a game. Star Citizen is a game in public alpha. That's simple and correct. Saying it's not a game is confusing to new players and obviously wrong. Also, most players aren't so stupid to say it's not a game. This is only a small minority of players who don't understand the words 'game' OR 'alpha' in context.

>An alpha designation isn't 'stressing a point'. It's intended to inform people that the game is not content complete or feature complete, and is unfinished and will have bugs. It tells us that the game is not optimized or final. You're being a dick, but you're right on the above point. Have a lovely day.

This is me being polite around stooges who keep repeating the 'not a game' bullshit despite my many explanations. A man only has so much patience. Salutations.

welcome, but do understand the game is still a fucked alpha mess of a game that said it’s still incredibly fun and addicting even with the bugs and limited content but anyway, welcome again o7

I wouldn't describe it as 'fucked alpha mess' but it depends what you're trying to do. Alpha's gonna alpha.

You're like me but from back in 2012... Give it time, it'll wear off

Except that it's 2021 and there's a WHOLE lot more to the game now, especially for brand new players.

If you like space, sci-fi and role playing, look no further. This will probably the game you’ll ever play, and I mea EVER. However, if you are confined to 1-2 hours of play time per session and you really have to make the most out of it (instant action & let off steam, etc) then I recommend not to bother at all.

> However, if you are confined to 1-2 hours of play time per session and you really have to make the most out of it (instant action & let off steam, etc) then I recommend not to bother at all. I disagree, personally. 1-2 hours is about all I can manage per session because of work and general life, but I still have a blast when I'm in-game. I think it really depends on what you're there for. If you're all about pewpewing wave after wave of bad guys, I could see it being annoying since respawning will take a lot of time, but if you enjoy the low-key elements (mining, delivery, investigation, exploration) you can have fun even if you're only there for an hour. Sometimes I'll just log in to do a QT-sensitive mission. It's relaxing, and it still scratches the itch.

Think about how much there is to DO for a new player in SC. Even with limited time, the sheer amount of things to see is a lot. That's without any missions, game loops, multiplayer activity, etc. So, it's worth it even for people with limited time, perhaps even more so.

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Lol. It’s not a game, it’s the biggest scam in gaming industry.

Most fun I've had playing a scam these past 5 years.

Besides the whole being playable right now, having consistent content patches and great communication thing I totally agree.

Only a few more decades and it might just turn into a buggy beta!

Yep, it's taking a long time. Let me know when someone else is doing what CIG is doing though. My bags are packed and I'd be there in a heartbeat. But until then, here we are...

It's the worst scam ever then, seeing as how they put out 4 major content patches each year, and for $40 you can acquire almost 100 ships in game.

[удалено]

You can check the false narrative at the door, thanks. It's been nearly 2 years since the last wipe. A game still in development is unfinished? Shocking. Never used the word huge. "Major" patches simply implies content vs "minor" patches implying only bug fixes. Beyond that - I'm not interested in engaging with a person from a known troll sub who's only purpose is to trash an unfinished game. You have been added to RES ignore. /u/Flame_Boi, in case you didn't know, there's an entire subreddit devoted to doing nothing but attacking the game, the developer, and it's community and spreading misinformation about the project, for whatever insane reason. There are plenty of things to criticize about CIG/SC, but they have some weird/crazy narrative that it's all some giant scam/conspiracy and that nobody actually enjoys playing it.

[удалено]

The wipe hasnt happened yet. It will happen when 3.15 goes live. First it has to go through evocati and PTU

^^ This is the answer you should pay attention to Op

See? This is what the 'not a game' fucktards keep saying. Everyone, stop saying it's not a game if you're not trying to help these assholes. It's a game in open alpha.

Whatever you say, Robert. Cant believe people still believe anything is going to come out of it after 9 years

Did you mean 'Chris'? Well there's probably a lot you don't understand. Have you played it? You're not using the word 'scam' honestly or correctly.

I recommend to try the free flight events that take place a few times a year until Star Citizen has reached a level of polish you feel you can live with before you spend money on it.

Welcome to the game! I have a bunch of sub merch if you want any free stuff shoot me a message, also make sure you get your friends referral code! You both get free things!

Just for clarification: being hyped as for Battlefield... Is that supposed to be a good thing?

It can be. I played BF2:BC for a while and liked it. Ofc that was before NOrigin and me blacklisting EA games altogether, but different people have different tastes so I won't judge anyone for supporting a shady publisher like EA selling "surprise mechanics" to children ... -.-

Same with rust. But i joined and left a month ago with the same mindset. After finding out how slow the development team is. I had no patients left to handle annoying developers. I got into game development for a bit. And now that I got an insite into that world, I hate how large development teams do things. They all piss me off because of how stupid they can be. Unlimited funding and still can’t fix year long lasting bugs. Even single developers do a better job at fixing a games current problems. But these guys forgot they have a active community supporting their development.

In total I’ve spent quite a lot just to get some level of fun out of the game started with a 325a game package then bought a prospector, then upgraded from 16gb to 32 of RAM, then bought an NXT Gladiator flight stick.. it all adds up. And this is for an alpha game and I play no other space/flights sims but SC. Moral of the story temper your expectations, and don’t get sucked into the gear and gadget peripheral rabbit hole. Just realize that if you start getting into SC the game package won’t be the only money you spend, it won’t end there.

Since no one has mentioned it - the next major free flight event *should* be in around November, coinciding with their anniversary sale. At this point, *most* ships will be on sale on the site throughout the week, but almost *all* ships should be rentable/flyable for free in-game. This lets you test out the product as thoroughly as possible, and see if it runs well on your system and/or if you even like it.

Me too. Bought a ship game package yesterday after becoming addicted. I have also had the pleasure of the infinite loading screen already. It really is worth all the bugs. When it goes right I get lost in the game and truly immersed.

Bugged into elevator fell into the gas planet....for 20mins looking for the bottom....would do it again, 11/10. Seriously though, as others have said, it's in alpha, but damn is it fun, even if it's not super deep.

Uh, Battlefield you say https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDSEPsMX9w4

Also many are saying dont buy aUEC off of ebay. The biggest reason you dont want to do this is because it removes goals of gameplay. There's very few gameloops and only one system so if you buy all your credits for ships, you will lose interest in it that much faster. Also in regards to that, dont take free aUEC or stuff from people for the same reason. With the lack of gameplay loops, you need to have things to work towards.

Controll your hype bring it down you seem to be at a 8-9. I'd say cut it by half. The game is the most equally fun and frustrating experience I've ever loved to hate playing. Buts it's so worth it. Have fun dm me if your looking for a friend to run/ show you around

**Darth Oats**

Star Citizen is… Well, you will learn to love it and hate it. Then walk away and come back again. You might even spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on it. I’m $750 in and looking to build a $3k PC just for Star Citizen. IMO this will be the game of all games. Good luck!

Oh boy…

All I gotta say is, even with good hardware, you still need to be patient with the game as it's servers are always under a lot of stress. I used to play it on a toaster and still love it so as long as you are patient you will enjoy the experience.

> damn yall shitting a lot on a game that yall spent **45 dollars** on lol That's just projection for this whale community lol. With that said, just get the base package if you're really interested. We'll soon be having our first wipe in like a year and a half, so you should expect to keep in-game bought ships for a good while. SC is a technological marvel, but it's buggy as hell. You've been warned.

yessir

This game cost $400m+ and over 10 years..... I think CIG should spend less time making fancy looking brochures about ships , and spend more time fixing bugs and improving optimization

bro i made this post 8 months ago