Star Citizen: Beginner Flight Tutorial
Ships are at the core of Star Citizen, and learning how to properly use yours is just as important as every other system the game has in place. You’ll use ships for pretty much everything that you can’t do on foot, whether it be mining, cargo hauling, dogfighting, or just general space travel. If you’re a new player trying Star Citizen out for the first time, then you might get a little overwhelmed will of the hoops you need to jump through just to get your ship off your hangar, so here’s a quick guide on the basics of how to fly your first ship.
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Important Controls
Before we begin, here’s a list of default keybindings for general ship controls in and out of flight:
- I to turn on ship engines
- U to turn on ship systems
- K to turn on VTOL engines (if available)
- F4 to change camera perspective (Fn +F4 if you’re on a laptop)
- N to engage/disengage landing gear
- B to engage Quantum Travel
- WASD for horizontal movement
- Space and Control vertical movement
- Mouse to steer/orient
- Q/E to roll
- Alt + N to request landing/take-off
- Y (hold) to exit your seat
Getting Your Ship
For simplicity’s sake, this guide will use New Babbage as the place of reference, since it’s the recommended starting area for new players. Nearly all ships in Star Citizens follow the same standard procedures.
The first thing you need to do is to retrieve your ship in Star Citizen, assuming you haven’t already. You can do this by heading to the space port in New Babbage (NBIS) and finding a Fleet Manager terminal; there should be a few in front of the elevators leading to the hangars. There will also be a terminal inside the hangar itself.
Interact with a terminal, then select the ship you want to retrieve. After that, enter an unoccupied elevator to go to your personal hangar. Here, you’ll be able to inspect your ship and make any necessary in-flight preparations.
How to Request Take Off/Landing in Star Citizen
Once you’ve entered your ship, head on to the pilot seat, then press the U key to start your ship’s systems. If needed, press the I key as well to start the engines. Press the Space and Control buttons to adjust your altitude, the WASD keys to move, and move your mouse to adjust your ship’s nose pitch. Lastly, toggle your landing gear with N so you don’t restrict your speed.
Before you can leave the hangar, however, you’ll need to contact the local air traffic controller. You can do this the long way by pressing F1 and going to the Comms channel, then selecting your current area’s channel to request permissions from ATC. Alternatively, you can just press Alt + N, or use the Communications screen on one of your ship’s monitors to hail ATC directly.
Only disengage your landing gear once you’ve cleared the hangar. Also, we recommend engaging your landing gear when you’re close to a hangar entrance. This is to keep you from smashing your ship against something.
How to Use Quantum Travel in Star Citizen
Quantum Travel lets you travel through space quickly or path toward objectives/POIs, such as the gateway to the Pyro system. To use your ship’s quantum drive, press and hold the B button. Doing this will spool up your ship’s drive, but it will also disable your shields. Only do this when you know it’s safe.
When your quantum drive is fully spooled, your ship will now be able to travel at much higher speeds than normal. More importantly, you will now be able to Quantum Travel to any point of interest that appears on your screen, provided that it’s not obstructed. To do so, point your ship crosshair toward any POI on your HUD, then wait for your quantum drive to calibrate. After that, press and hold LMB to initiate the jump.