Launching the game for the first time

On your first login you will go through character creation before entering the game. There are two decisions here: your pilot name (handle) and your character’s appearance.

Your pilot name

Your in-game pilot name defaults to your RSIRSIRoberts Space Industries — both the in-fiction ship manufacturer and CIG's publishing label. The website you pledge through is rsi.com. account handle. You can customize the display name shown above your character in-game. This is the name other players see when they look at you in the Persistent UniversePUPersistent Universe — the live, always-online Star Citizen world where most players spend their time. Your characters, ships, and credits live here..

Choose something you are happy with. While names can be changed through the RSI account management, it is not instant and requires going through a process. Treat it as persistent.

Appearance — what matters and what does not

Star Citizen’s character creator lets you customize facial features, hair, skin tone, and other visual attributes. Spend whatever time you enjoy on this — it is genuinely detailed.

What matters on day one: almost nothing in the appearance menu affects gameplay. Hair, face structure, and skin tone are cosmetic only. Your character’s appearance can be adjusted later at in-game medical facilities and barber shops, so do not agonize over it. Pick something and move on.

After character creation, you spawn in a habHabShort for habitation room — your character's personal room at a station or city. A place to store gear and set your respawn point. Press the bed to sleep and lock in your location. — a small personal apartment assigned to you in one of Stanton’sStantonThe first playable star system — four corporate-owned planets (ArcCorp, Crusader, Hurston, microTech), each with cities and moons. Mostly safe, law-enforced. four major cities:

• LorvilleLorvilleThe capital city of Hurston — heavy industrial dome under a polluted sky. Central Business District is the in-city hub. Locked behind security at the gates. on HurstonHurstonStanton I — a polluted industrial planet owned by Hurston Dynamics. Home of Lorville. Toxic atmosphere outside the city dome. Four moons.
• Area18Area18The capital city of ArcCorp — Blade Runner aesthetic, cyberpunk neon, multi-story shopping. Riker Memorial Spaceport is the landing zone. Often shortened to A18. on ArcCorpArcCorpStanton III — an entire planet covered in ArcCorp's industrial sprawl. Home of Area18. Two moons: Lyria and Wala.
• New BabbageNew BabbageThe capital city of microTech — Apple-store-clean, glass and white walls. Home of microTech HQ and the Reach observatory. The most polished landing zone. on microTechmicroTechStanton IV — a frozen tundra planet owned by the microTech corporation. Home of New Babbage. Three moons: Calliope, Clio, Euterpe.
• OrisonOrisonCrusader Industries' floating city in the gas-giant atmosphere of Crusader. A series of platforms connected by skybridges. Stunning sunsets, weak structural integrity. on CrusaderCrusaderStanton II — a gas giant home to Crusader Industries. The floating city of Orison sits in its atmosphere. Three notable moons: Yela, Daymar, Cellin.

Which city you start in is determined by your game package or, if not specified, assigned automatically. All cities work equally well for day one — each has an ASOP terminal and a route to a spaceport where your ship is waiting.

The habHabShort for habitation room — your character's personal room at a station or city. A place to store gear and set your respawn point. Press the bed to sleep and lock in your location. is a small room with a bed, a storage terminal (wardrobe), and sometimes a wall screen with news. It is your default respawn point unless you change it — you will return here if your character is killed and has no active medical beacon.

Here is the exact sequence to follow in your first few minutes:

1. Open your mobiGlasmobiGlasYour character's wrist-mounted computer. It opens missions, manages inventory, summons ships, and handles in-game messages. Press F1. — press F1 or B (check your keybinds). Your mobiGlasmobiGlasYour character's wrist-mounted computer. It opens missions, manages inventory, summons ships, and handles in-game messages. Press F1. is the wrist-mounted computer interface — it contains your wallet, star map, contracts, contacts, and inventory. Tap through the apps to get familiar with the layout.
2. Check your wallet — open the money app in mobiGlasmobiGlasYour character's wrist-mounted computer. It opens missions, manages inventory, summons ships, and handles in-game messages. Press F1. to confirm your 50,000 UECUECUnited Earth Credits — the in-game currency used for buying ships, weapons, and gear in the live game. UEC carries between play sessions and patches. referral bonus is there. It appears as starting credit in your account.
3. Look at the Contracts app — this is where delivery missions, escort jobs, and bounties appear. On day one you will see basic delivery and data-running contracts. Do not accept anything yet.
4. Close mobiGlasmobiGlasYour character's wrist-mounted computer. It opens missions, manages inventory, summons ships, and handles in-game messages. Press F1. and look around the habHabShort for habitation room — your character's personal room at a station or city. A place to store gear and set your respawn point. Press the bed to sleep and lock in your location.. Find the door — it is usually obvious. Walk to it and hold F to interact and open it.
5. Find the elevator — just outside your habHabShort for habitation room — your character's personal room at a station or city. A place to store gear and set your respawn point. Press the bed to sleep and lock in your location. door. Use it to reach the ground level of the city. From here, follow the guide in Section 11: Getting from your hab to the hangar.

The mobiGlasmobiGlasYour character's wrist-mounted computer. It opens missions, manages inventory, summons ships, and handles in-game messages. Press F1. is central to everything you do in Star Citizen. Think of it as your phone, inventory, and GPS rolled into one wrist computer.

Key apps:

• Contracts Manager — accept and track missions. All your active jobs live here.
• StarMap — the universe map. Set a destination here and your quantum driveQuantum TravelFaster-than-light travel between points in a star system. Your ship's quantum drive eats fuel and takes time, but it's how you cross planets and moons. will be able to navigate to it.
• Personal Manager — your character sheet. Shows health, carried items, credits, and linked organizations.
• Vehicle Loadout Manager (VMA) — view and manage your ships and their component loadouts. See which ships you own and what they are equipped with.
• Wallet — your aUECaUECAlpha UEC — the test-server currency used during Star Citizen alpha. It usually wipes when CIG resets the player database between major patches. balance and transaction history.

When you are done playing, do not just close the game. Use the in-game logout process to ensure your character saves correctly:

1. Find a bed — in your habHabShort for habitation room — your character's personal room at a station or city. A place to store gear and set your respawn point. Press the bed to sleep and lock in your location., on your ship, or at any in-game rest location.
2. Hold F on the bed to interact.
3. Select Bed Log from the options. This performs a bedlogBedloggingLogging out by lying down in your ship's bed. Saves your loadout, your ship state, and your inventory more reliably than logging out from anywhere else. The veteran sleep button. — a safe logout that preserves your character’s location and inventory state.

You can also use the Escape menu and log out from there — this performs a standard logout that returns your character to their spawn point. Bedlogging preserves location; standard logout does not.