This guide will help you take your first flight in Star Citizen. The guide will be based on New Babbage since a lot of people start at New Babbage, but the principles would apply to any port at any planet. Taking your first flight sounds like it should be simple enough, but even this task can be a little daunting the first time you do it.

When you appear in the game you generally will appear in one of three locations

  • In a room with habitation (kinda like a hotel)
  • In hospital if you just got killed
  • In a ship if you bed-logged (this means you lie on a bed in a ship and choose log out)

For the purposes of this guide, since this covers the first flight I’ll assume you awoke in the hab. First step then it to get of bed hold y and then exit the room hold f, point mouse at the door switch and click

Habitation
Habitation

Exit your room and search for the elevators

Elevators
Elevators

hold f, point mouse at the elevator control and click Lobby

Lobby
Lobby

Exit the elevator and leave the habitation lobby area

Exit
Exit

Look for the entrance to the metro MT Metroloop and go down the stairs

Find Metro
Find Metro

Go down again to the platforms

Down Metro
Down Metro

You should see two lines

  • The Commons. Go here to buy supplies such as armour, backpack, guns, vehicle upgrades etc. I’m going to skip this and will cover it in a separate article
  • New Babbage Interstellar Spaceport. Go here to leave the port via ship or ground vehicle

Take the Spaceport Platform

Spaceport Platform
Spaceport Platform

Wait for the metro and jump on when it arrives

Catch Metro
Catch Metro

Ride the metro to the space port. If you are lucky New Babbage will have nice weather and you can enjoy the short trip

Ride Metro
Ride Metro

Exit the metro at the first stop, which is the space port. Follow the exit signs

Exit Metro
Exit Metro

Walk down the corridor to the elevators

Metro Elevator
Metro Elevator

Call an elevator hold f, point mouse at the elevator control and click

Elevator
Elevator

Get into the elevator when it arrives. From inside hold f, point mouse at the elevator control and click on NBIS terminal

Choose Floor
HChoose Floor

Exit the elevator, and walk down the corridor

Exit Elevator
Exit Elevator

Head to the security checkpoint.

Security
Security

Go through security and follow signs for the departure lounge

Departure Lounge
Departure Lounge

Go up the stairs and walk towards the hangar

Navigate to Hangar
Navigate to Hangar

Walk into the hangar and locate the ship terminal

Hangar Sign
Hangar Sign

Approach the terminal and hold f, point mouse at the terminal and click

Terminal
Terminal

This will bring up the terminal screen

Claim Ship
Claim Ship

You can see I have two ships available but notice the action I can perform is different:

  • Aegis Avengar Titan. I have a retrieve action. This means the ship is currently stored at New Babbage and can be delivered to a hangar there
  • Drake Cutless Black. This is currently stored at Port Tressler. Since I’m at New Babbage this ship would have to be claimed which means I need to pay insurance (not implemented yet) to have it delivered to my current location. This mechanic would work in the same way if this ship was destroyed. Even though the insurance cost is not implemented there is a penalty in the form of time. When you claim a ship you have to wait a period of time for the claim to be processed before it can be delivered. For the Cutless Black this is approx 6 1/2 mins whereas for the Avengar Titan its approx 40 seconds. You can expedite a claim meaning you pay some money for it to be processed more quickly

In this example I’m going to retrieve my Avengar Titan point mouse at the terminal and click retrieve. The terminal will then tell you which hangar to head to

Hangar Location
Hangar Location

Walk over to the elevators near the terminal and call it (note you see a marker with the terminal name on it should you forget!)

Hangar Lift
Hangar Lift

Request the appropriate floor point mouse at the buttons and click the correct floor. You can use the middle scroll wheel for your mouse to scroll down the list of available floors

Hangar Floor
Hangar Floor

Enter your ship. You can follow the markers which help you figure out where to enter. Some ships are entered from the side, some from the rear, some have an elevator you can call which descends down

Hangar Floor
Hangar Floor

Sit in the flight chair if needed point mouse at the chair and click sit. You now need to request takeoff and there are a couple of ways to do this

  • Use the mobiGlass
  • Use a panel on your ships cockpit
  • Bind a key - this is what I recommend as its the fastest way

I’m going to cover the mobiGlass option here so press F1

Hangar Floor
Hangar Floor

And click on Contacts(bottom left option) then Friends and then click the button next to the space port name, in my case that is NB. Int Spaceport

Hangar Floor
Hangar Floor

Once your request has been granted, hangar doors will open and you’ll be able to take that first flight…