Ship Upgrades – Star Citizen Alpha

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What is a Cross Chassis Upgrade (CCU)?

During the backing / crowd funded phase of Star Citizen, it is possible to purchase ship upgrades from the RSI Store to upgrade from one ship to another ship (For example, you can upgrade an Mustang Alpha to a Drake Cutlass Black.

Are CCUs permanent?

Yes. According to RSI, all ship and vehicle upgrades are permanent. They can, however, be "undone" using the pledge buy back tool.

 

Once upgraded, a ship cannot be reverted back to its previous state. The only way to revert an upgraded ship is to potentially reclaim your pledge then buy it back. This strips all upgrades on the ship and forcefully returns the original ship with the pledge.

For more information, see Pledge Buy Back tool.

Can I CCU to a cheaper ship?

No. It is not possible to downgrade via Cross Chassis Upgrade to a cheaper ship. This is done to discourage frequent ship swapping. If it was free and easy to switch ships all players would swap their ship pledges each patch as new ships become flyable.

Can I CCU to a ship of the same price?

No, it is not possible to Cross Chassis Upgrade to a ship of the same price. This was known as a $0 CCU and CIG have clearly stated that the CCU system is provided as a temporary measure to allow players to change ships they purchased that they really were not happy with. However, the system was abused and players stockpiled large numbers of unused $0 CCUs.

In CIG's own words from this post about CCUs from Zyloh May 16th 2017.

"We have identified an issue related to the stockpiling of $0 CCU's. As we previously stated, there are more than 1.1 million unused CCUs in the system today. 1.05 million of these are $0 ‘cross trades’ and the vast majority of these are held, unused, by significantly less than one percent of Star Citizen backers. Some people have thousands of $0 CCU's on their account at this time, which is clearly an abuse of the system. A very small number of users are creating a scenario where they can get a limited ship in the future, without having put any value towards the right to do so. With a stock of $0 CCUs on their account, they can generate ships to sell to other users for their own profit.

There is also a potential design issue related to the number of ships in the universe at launch. We are getting to the point where we need to drill down deeper on things like ship rarity, overall dispersion and the like. When we don’t know how many ships may be present at launch, this makes it much more difficult. The implications there are far-reaching: if Carracks are the most popular ship then we need to put more resources on exploration… if Buccaneers are everywhere then we need to build missions that will be challenging and fun for Bucc pilots. It’s something that touches every part of Star Citizen.

All of that said: we’ve spent some time thinking about options to address this, which don’t include an extra charge. While we need to end the abuse of the $0 CCUs, we understand that these systems help all backers and reassure people who are just starting the game. We’ve settled on a plan that will eliminate $0 CCUs without impacting the benefits of the CCU and melting systems in general.

The first part is very simple, we will eliminate the $0 CCU from concept sales starting with this week’s sale. If you have a ship of equivalent value and you want to use store credit, you can of course melt it and purchase the store credit version. This should greatly reduce stockpiling of CCU's."

When Will $0 CCUs Be Removed?

On April 3rd 2019 they will remove the option to obtain any new $0 CCUs. Though many were removed in 2017 some were still available.

On May 1st  2019 they will remove all unused $0 CCUs from the system. Update May 1st 2019: CCUs will be officially removed May 2nd (about a day later than originally intended.

Can I CCU To An LTI Ship?

If your ship does not currently have LTI and you would like to get another ship with LTI it is important to note that the Cross Chassis Upgrade retains the insurance policy of the original ship. For example, if you own a 6 month insurance ship and want to CCU to another ship (even if the ship is advertised with a longer insurance time) the new CCU'ed ship will have 6 month insurance.

To get LTI on another ship please follow this guide on LTI.

Can I CCU a Referral Reward Ship or Vehicle?

Yes you can upgrade a referral reward (LTI) ship or vehicle. Please note that you will not be able to melt it back into store credits. With rare exception CIG will allow you to melt a referral reward on an account only once if nicely asked. Players need to be very certain before they upgrade referral ships.

How do I upgrade a ship inside a game package?

If you want to upgrade a ship inside game package the CCU option for the ship will appear (if currently available for sale) in the Ship Upgrades section. Simply select the ship you have in the package then select the ship you want to upgrade to and apply the upgrade.

Important Note -> Ship upgrades are the Standalone version of the ship. This means it could and probably will lack the extras that concept sales or packages and promotions come with. Only the ship that you upgrade inside the package will be upgraded (to its standalone version). The contents of the package stay the same.

Upgrading Ship Inside Game Package Example

Example: Mustang Alpha Starter Pack -> Ship Upgrade to -> Cutlass Black

The Mustang Starter Pack comes with:

  • Self-Land Hangar
  • Starting Money: 1,000 UEC
  • 3 Month Insurance
  • Star Citizen Digital Download

If you upgrade the Mustang Alpha with the CCU system to a Cutlass Black you end up with:

Mustang Alpha Starer Pack (Upgraded to Cutlass Black)

  • Cutlass Black
  • Self-Land Hangar
  • Starting Money: 1,000 UEC
  • 3 Month Insurance
  • Star Citizen Digital Download <- This is the multiplayer game

 

Now compare this with the actual Cutlass Black Package:

  • Cutass Black
  • VFG Industrial Hangar
  • Starting Money: 5,000 UEC
  • 6 Month Insurance
  • Digital Game Soundtrack
  • Digital Star Map
  • Digital Star Citizen Manual
  • Star Citizen Digital Download <- This is the multiplayer game

By upgrading the Mustang Alpha Starter Pack to a Cutlass Black you end up missing some important extras as well as 4,000 UEC! You also end up with a Cutlass Black with just 3 month insurance as the insurance is tied to the ship's hull that was originally purchased. Additionally the hanger is smaller too!!

This problem gets much worse the further up you upgrade from the original.

Pro Tip: Plan out your upgrades in advance. Starting with the most basic version of a medium to large ship will mean a very rough start unless you plan on spending more before the game launches.

Why will ship upgrades (CCUs) no longer be available?

In Star Citizen, the idea is to create a universe that feels inhabited where each item matters. Since each ship is unique and designed by a specific manufacturer, it would be very surreal if you were able to simply pay to have your ship converted into a complete different ship. Imagine being able to pay to have your car upgraded to a completely different car. It would not be possible. In the Star Citizen universe you will have to sell or trade your ship to be able to purchase a new ship.

When will ship upgrades (CCUs) stop being available?

Currently Star Citizen allows ship upgrades as a way of allowing backers to change their ship if they’re not happy with their purchase. This is done a way to give backers something extra for their support to create Star Citizen.

Once players are able to buy and sell ships in the universe and have it persist, it is estimated that at this time, RSI will cease to offer the Cross Chassis Upgrade system via the website. This will occur at the same time as ships become purchasable only in game (with the exception of starter packages). If you’re considering purchasing a Starter Package please read our getting started guide here: https://scfocus.org/getting-started-buying-a-game-package/

Will Backers Always Be Able To Cross Chassis Upgrade?

Currently Star Citizen allows ship upgrades as a way of allowing backers to change their ship if they’re not happy with their purchase. This is done a way to give backers something extra for their support to create Star Citizen.

Once players are able to buy and sell ships in the universe and have it persist, it is estimated that at this time, RSI will cease to offer the Cross Chassis Upgrade system via the website. This will occur at the same time as ships become purchasable only in game (with the exception of starter packages). If you’re considering purchasing a Starter Package please read the getting started guide here: https://scfocus.org/getting-started-buying-a-game-package/

Can I Reclaim or Melt an Upgraded Ship Chasis?

Yes. If you upgrade a ship chasis from one ship to a more expensive one, if you are not happy at any time you can melt (reclaim) the upgrade and get back store credit.

IMPORTANT: There are two exceptions to being able to melt an upgraded ship.

  1. If the ship was a promotion the original promotion may be unable to be reclaimed.
  2. If the ship was a referral reward you will only be able to melt one time per account if you contact customer support. In other words, CIG will only allow you to melt one of your referral bonus upgrades, ever.

Sources for this article

SHIP UPGRADES (CCUS) - Official from RSI. (Updated November 2020)

More information about Star Citizen Insurance

CIG Customer Support Emails

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