Narrated Version
Regardless of long-time backer complaints and the number of years Star Citizen has been in an Alpha, interest in the game grows. I’m following several streamers who are new to the game, which generates interest in their pre-existing followers.
In one particular streaming audience, https://www.twitch.tv/6lasphemous, they’ve jumped into the game with both feet. Coming mainly from First Person Shooters, they arrived with a high amount of enthusiasm for the sandbox elements, calling it GTA V in space. Completing Bunker Missions for rewards and gathering excess loot for personal use or resale is right up their alley. They have a core contingent that regularly completes these missions daily to work on reputation and acquire wealth.
Issues and all, new players are considerably more positive and excited about Star Citizen than those of us who have been watching the paint dry.
Coming into the game now, the Mining Profession is also at a high level of polish for the base features. There are issues with the value of the ores other than quantanium, and the scanning feature still needs work. However, the ability to successfully mine as your primary occupation is one of the strongest, if not the strongest, gaming loops.
Like the Mining Profession, Cargo Hauling needs work to expand the number of profitable commodities versus the very few worth using today. In addition, there is back-end work underway to create supply and demand mechanics slowly entering the game that will make this dynamic versus the static list of commodities to purchase and resell that we’re all doing now.
So between bounty ship combat, bounty FPS combat with looting, cargo hauling, and three levels of progression for mining, there’s a fair bit of activity for new players to enjoy and master – bugs aside. And then there’s box delivery which is where I recommend all new players start their Star Citizen journey. Especially, if they don’t have friends to lead them through the game at the start.
Box Delivery missions helps new players earn while they learn.
Star Citizen has a very steep learning curve which isn’t helped by the large and daily impacting bugs and glitches. You must have the patience to play the game in its current Alpha state. Losing most of your in-game money because you invested in cargo hauling or die repeatedly attempting to do combat, which in turn requires you to replace your gear or repair your ship, will drain your starting money very quickly.
Box Delivery missions allow you to become familiar with the game with very little risk of loss while getting a grip and the basics and encountering bugs that you must learn to work around in a low-pressure scenario. You can do them in the freebie flight suit so there’s no gear involved. You can take your time so if your ship blows up, just wait out the free replacement timer.
Additionally, doing Box Delivery missions exposes you to the following:
- Fly your ship and memorize basic keybinds
- Learn the flight model
- Understand how to navigate around a star system with and without the Starmap
- Interact with objects in the game world
- Familiarize yourself with the relative location of popular areas in Stanton
- Best of all, earn while you learn!
For all of the reasons above, I continue to suggest new players start with Box Delivery missions before engaging in the other activities available. It’s refreshing to see so many new faces in Twitch streams and introducing themselves as such on Reddit and in the game Verse.
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