Star Citizen Alpha 3.9 New Player Guide

posted in: Alpha 3.9, Getting Started | 0

Who is this guide for?

This guide is intended for players who need help starting out with testing Star Citizen Alpha 3.9. Returning players from older builds may also find some of this content useful. This article services to provide a general overview of Alpha 3.9.

Start with a player guide (assistance)

Players who need assistance starting their adventure can find a player guide (someone who will show you around) on the official Star Citizen Spectrum Guide

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/guide

Star Citizen Alpha 3.9 Launcher

The New Launcher Version 1.4.1 is required for Star Citizen PTU and Live.

To check if your launcher is the latest version (v.1.4.1) open the Star Citizen Launcher and check the version in the bottom right.

Steps to upgrading to the new launcher (for a fresh install go straight to step 2):

  1. Uninstall the old RSI Launcher (not the game just the launcher)
  2. Install the new Launcher you downloaded from the official RSI website.

Learning To Fly

Start with the new official Getting Started Guide (May 2020) from RSI.

Then view the Official How To Fly guide from RSI.

Keys to learning to fly:

  • Start off practicing in Arena Commander Free Flight Mode (Single player or Multi Player)
  • Practice in the Arena Commander Racing modes Single Player

Once you have a general feel of how to take off and fly around you are ready for the Persistent Universe.

Landing Information

Landing on landing pads and in hangars requires that pilots first request landing permission. This can be done via the ship's Multi-Function Display (MFD) panels (Hold F and click to interact) or by opening the contacts list in MobiGlas (F11).

If you have a CrimeStat landing permission will be denied at many locations in Stanton. Landing without requesting permission on a pad or hangar will incur fines and possibly a crime rating.

 

Landing Steps:

  1. Approach station / spaceport
  2. Go to Comms (Ship MFD) or Open Mobiglas Comms (F11) and Request Landing Permission
  3. Land at assigned pad

Content in Alpha 3.9

Star Citizen Alpha 3.9 offers significant amounts of gameplay while still only being a tiny fraction of what is eventually planned for Star Citizen. While the final vision describes hundreds of star systems to explore the current Alpha takes place in the Stanton System only. Even so, this offers testers with more gameplay than many released games, not to mention one of the biggest seamless play areas of any multiplayer game.

Despite the bugs caused by the game still being under construction, many hours of entertainment can be had and Alpha 3.9 expands the playable scope further. The amount of things to do in game is too long for a full list for the purpose of this article but here are some of the options. Even though credits are reset periodically during Star Citizen Alpha, it can still be fun to see how much can be accumulated before each reset.

  • Playtesting the various missions in game from bounty hunting to cargo delivery
  • Sandbox in game money making gameplay testing (see below)
  • Sandbox in game events created by orgs or streamers
  • Exploring (although there's not much to find)
  • Piracy (very basic)
  • Racing ships
  • FPS combat
  • Mining (in ship and on foot)

There are already about 100 flyable ships and usable vehicles out of so far 150 announced (source: Reddit) that are publicly known at this time.

For more a more in depth look at the Star Citizen Economy please read this article -> https://scfocus.org/star-citizen-economy/

Please note that game progress database wipes can happen frequently in Alpha. To check the frequency visit the economy page mentioned above.

Making Money In Alpha 3.9

There are several ways that players can earn in game credits (aUEC) while play testing Star Citizen Alpha.

Since Star Citizen is a sandbox game it is possibly to earn your way without using any of the scripted on-rails missions.

Let's look at some of the ways to make money in Star Citizen Alpha 3.9:

Scripted missions:

  • Cargo Delivery
  • Investigation
  • Combat (pirate or merc)
  • Maintenance
  • Prison Transport Operation
  • Bunker Missions
  • Ship combat missions
  • Others

 

Sandbox ways to make money:

  • Mining
  • Harvesting
  • Cargo running
  • Theft and sale of illicit goods at mission outposts
  • Space taxi driver
  • Bounty hunting

 

Read Star Citizen Easy Money Making Guide for Beginners

 

The most profitable missions for beginners are cargo delivery or combat assistance. This is where choosing the Starter Ship that is best for you is important. Read the Getting Started - Buying A Game Package article or check the list of Best Ships in Star Citizen.

Law System in Alpha 3.9

Alpha 3.6 brought with it the Law System and each area of space has different legal rules players must comply with or risk the consequences.

Jurisdictions available in Alpha 3.9:

  • Crusader Industries
  • UEE
  • People's Alliance (Levski)*
  • Hurston Dynamics
  • Microtech
  • ArcCorp

 

*About Levksi: Levski is supposed to be located in the Nyx system which is several jumps away from Stanton system. As of Alpha 3.9 Levski (Delamar) is still temporarily in Stanton system for testing.

Breaking laws

Noncompliance with the different laws can have ranging consequences from small fines deducted automatically from your in-game aUEC balance to severe crime rating increases.

Having any crime rating can seriously affect which areas of the game you have access to. For example, even a level 1 crime rating will revoke landing permission at UEE ports in Stanton system.

Players can receive crime ratings for things like shooting players without the appropriate bounty contracts or hostile tag, ramming other ships on pads, parking illegally on landing pads (can happen if landing without requesting permission first).

Players can also be interdicted by security patrols while traveling. This means that if illicit cargo is found on board crime stat will also be issued.

Prison - New in 3.9!

Alpha 3.9 introduces Klescher prison. Players with CrimeStat who are killed or die in lawful jurisdictions or by bounty hunters will wake up in Prison.

Players have several ways to get out of prison:

  • Complete the prison sentence - time served
  • Reduce prison sentence via mining of minerals
  • Escape

Klescher Prison Map

Removing Crime Rating in Alpha 3.9

Gaining a crime rating can happen very easily for new players. Since a criminal rating even as low as 1 can influence what pads players can land on and the availability of missions it is extremely important for new players to know how to clear their rating.

The following methods can be used in Alpha 3.9 to reset your rating:

  • Hacking a UEE terminal to reset the archive
  • Serving your sentence in prison
  • Paying your fines - if your CrimeStat is low enough

Black Market Economy in Alpha 3.9

One of the sandbox ways of making money is to run cargo of illicit goods. Illicit goods can be found at many outposts. Websites to find ideal cargo routes can be found on the Star Citizen Resources page.

Players can take missions to the secret drug labs and then remember the location via triangulation of waypoints.

Black Market Economy is recommended for advanced players and not for beginners.

Logging Out And Persistence

Logging Out

Star Citizen automatically stores the player's spawn point when landing at major space ports. The last visited major landing port will be where the player respawns when resuming from a previous play session.

It is also possible to use ship beds as spawn points. Logging out in a ship's bed will allow players to continue where they left off for the next play session.

For the location spawn point to be stored a player must land at the station on a pad. This does not work for outposts.

 

Bed Logout

Ships with beds allow players to log out and upon reloading the game they will find themselves in their ship.

 

Persistence of Items

Between sessions not everything persists as of Alpha 3.9. Things that do not persist:

  • Small arms gained in FPS combat from NPCs or players
  • Missions accepted via the MobiGlas will also not resume upon loading

 

This that persist:

  • Weapons, armor and items purchased (including consumables like food or water)
  • Player reputation
  • Account balance
  • Ships or components purchased in game

 

Special Achievements for Alpha 3.9

The community occasionally compiles challenge cards for Star Citizen. Feel free to try to complete the following challenges!

New Player's checklist to Star Citizen basic exploration! Alpha 3.9

Source: Reddit (Click to visit original).

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