How to play Star Citizen in 2026: your first hour, step by step

Star Citizen does not hand-hold. The Verse Tour helps, but it skips most of what you actually need to know in the first hour. Here's the honest order: where to spawn, which keybinds matter, your first mission, how to spend the 50,000 UEC referral bonus, and the mistakes that cost most new players their first session.

By Domux · Updated 19 May 2026

Your goal in the first hour

Not get rich. Not max your stats. Not beat anyone. Your goal in the first session is to become operational: move around your spawn city, equip armour and weapons, accept a contract, fly to the contract location, complete it, return safely. That is the loop. Everything in SC builds on that loop. Once you can do it once, the next session feels twice as smooth.

Where to spawn (it matters)

When you first launch the game you pick a starting home location. It's not permanent, you can change it later, but the first one shapes how easy your first hour is.

Keybinds that actually matter

Star Citizen has hundreds of keybinds. You need maybe 12 to be functional. Learn these first, ignore the rest until you need them.

Run the Verse Tour from your hangar before your first real session. It covers the basics interactively. After Verse Tour, you'll know the additional ones you need to look up.

Your first 30 minutes, step by step

1. Pick Area18 as your home location

   From the main menu, pick "Area18, ArcCorp". You'll spawn in a hab unit (small apartment) on ArcCorp. Step outside, follow the corridor.

2. Open MobiGlas and check your wallet

   Press F1. Look at your aUEC balance. If you used STAR-JTV7-FXLR at signup with a $40+ Game Package, you should see at least 60,000 aUEC (10k from package + 50k from referral). If you only see 10k, the bonus has not credited yet, give it an hour and re-check.

3. Walk to the armour shop

   Area18 has multiple armour shops. CenterMass is in walking distance from most hab units. Buy a medium armour set: helmet, core (chest), arms, legs, undersuit. Cost ~16,000 to 22,000 aUEC.

4. Walk to the weapons shop

   Buy a primary weapon (rifle or SMG) with spare magazines, around 7,000 to 12,000 aUEC. Add a sidearm for backup, 2,000 to 4,000 aUEC. Throw in a multi-tool and a few medical pens, ~3,000 aUEC.

5. Buy supplies and a backpack

   Cosmetics aside, you need food and drink. Bottled water and protein bars from a kiosk. Maybe 1,000 aUEC. A backpack lets you carry more loot back from missions.

6. Equip everything

   Use the loadout terminal at any shop or your hab unit. Slot armour, weapons, supplies. Make sure your helmet is on before you go outside the city or into space.

7. Take your first contract from MobiGlas

   Press F1, open Contract Manager. Pick a Delivery or Hauling contract. These pay 8,000 to 15,000 aUEC for a beginner-friendly loop: pick up a package at location A, deliver to location B. Avoid Mercenary (combat) until you've done at least one peaceful run.

8. Go to your ship

   Take the train or shuttle to the spaceport. Request your Aurora Mk II from the ship retrieval terminal. Wait for the hangar number, walk to the hangar, board your ship (the ramp lowers when you approach).

9. Take off

   Sit in the pilot seat. Press U to power on, R to start engines, G (long press) to retract landing gear, mouse to lift up. Fly out of the hangar carefully (third-person F4 helps).

10. Quantum travel to your destination

    Once outside the planet's atmosphere, hold B for Quantum Nav. Select the destination from the list. Align your ship (the marker on the HUD turns from red to green when aligned). Hold Left Click to spool. Once spooled, release Left Click to jump. The flight takes 30 seconds to a few minutes depending on distance.

Common first-hour mistakes

Going on a Mercenary mission without proper armour

Mercenary contracts (combat clearouts of bunkers or stations) require weapons and armour. New players sometimes accept one before equipping properly and get killed by the first NPC. Always equip a full armour set before any combat contract. Use the referral bonus for this.

Forgetting to put your helmet on before opening the airlock

Space is vacuum. Your character suffocates without a helmet. Press Alt + H to put your helmet on before stepping out of pressurised areas. If you suffocate, you have a few seconds to recover before the screen goes black.

Crashing the ship into the hangar wall

Your Aurora has more momentum than you expect. In a hangar, use third-person view (F4) for spatial awareness. Fly slowly out of the hangar before throttling up. Bumping the wall doesn't usually destroy the ship but it can damage components.

Not refuelling between flights

Long-distance Quantum Travel burns quantum fuel. Empty quantum fuel means stranded mid-space. Some refuelling stations exist, but the easiest fix is to refuel at the hangar before takeoff (request "Refuel" at the terminal alongside Retrieve).

Logging out in a random location

When you log out, your character is left in the live universe at that location. If you log out in a dangerous area, you might log back in to a different problem. Best practice: log out inside your hab unit or at a station. Bed-logging your character in a bunk inside your ship also works if the ship is parked safely.

Solo or multiplayer?

You can do almost all of SC solo. Delivery, hauling, mining, bounty hunting, salvage, exploration: all work in a single-seat starter ship. The Aurora Mk II from the Citizen Starter Pack handles all of these.

Multicrew content (large cargo ships needing co-pilots and turret gunners, capital salvage operations, fleet engagements) eventually wants people, but you can play hundreds of hours solo without missing out on the core game. When you do want company, in-game global chat lets you flag for short joint missions ("LFG bunker mission Hurston").

What to do after your first hour

• Repeat the loop. Two or three Delivery contracts back-to-back to get comfortable with takeoff, Quantum Travel, landing, package handoffs.
• Try a Maintenance contract. Repair a downed satellite or piece of equipment. Teaches you spacewalk basics.
• Take a Bounty Hunting contract at low difficulty. Once your combat kit is solid. Pays well, teaches dogfighting.
• Try mining or salvage. If you bought a role-specific Starter Pack instead of the Citizen, this is where you specialise.
• Visit a Free Fly event. During Free Fly windows you can fly any ship in the roster for free. Try out ships you might want to upgrade to.

Useful resources to keep open

• starcitizen.tools wiki, the community-maintained reference for ships, locations, missions and mechanics. Indispensable.
• RSI Spectrum forum, official discussion forum. Bug reports, Q&A, recruitment.
• UEX trade tool, community price tracker for the in-game economy. Useful once you start cargo hauling.
• Your own MobiGlas (F1), the in-game knowledge base. Contains a quick-start guide and mission FAQ.

FAQ

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