Today Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games released a new video focusing on Pyro while a new Free Fly Event has started.
Starting today and until August 22, everyone can simply create an account on the official site (by clicking on Enlist) and then download the client.
You don’t need to pledge any money to play as long as the event is active, albeit the starting packs are discounted between 10% and 15% for the occasion.
The event won’t leave you without means to move around the star system and fight. All players will have free access to the top-16 ships and vehicles voted by the community as follows:
- Crusader C1 Spirit
- Crusader Mercury Star Runner
- Greycat STV
- RSI Ursa Medivac
- Origin 890 Jump
- Origin 600i Explorer
- Anvil Terrapin
- Anvil Gladiator
- Mirai Fury LX
- Origin M50
- Aegis Reclaimer
- Drake Vulture
- Gatac Syulen
- Banu Defender
- Anvil F8C Lightning
- Anvil F7C Hornet MK2
Basically, you have enough ships at your disposal to participate in every gameplay loop available in Star Citizen besides mining.
This kind of event is always a good chance for people who aren’t part of the existing community of the game to try it out and make up their own minds about this divisive space sandbox, instead of listening to those who defend or bash it.
The video released today may be surprising for many. It focuses on Pyro, the brand-new star system that will be added at some point this year with Alpha 4.0. Players will be able to jump to it from the current Stanton system via a jump point.
Pyro is known to be a lawless system where players will be able to attack and kill each other without being marked as criminals and risking jail, so most expect it to be focused only on PvP.
Yet, there are many social and non-hostile activities available in Pyro, including helping out at farms and doing repairs at scrapyard, on top of trading and more. The video showcases these activities and shows the places where we’ll be able to enjoy them.
It’s worth mentioning that the content showcased in the video isn’t included in the build you can play with the event started today, and won’t come in the next update either, which is Alpha 3.24 and is currently being tested ahead of implementation. The plan is to release alpha 4.0 at some point in 2024.
If you’re unfamiliar with Star Citizen, it’s a crowdfunded multiplayer open-universe sandbox space simulator that has been in development for over a decade. It’s directed by Chris Roberts, known for the beloved Wing Commander series.
It has received over $716 million in crowdfunding ($716,595,054 at the moment of this writing) and counts 5,314,486 registered users, albeit many of them aren’t paying customers, as they register accounts to participate in Free Fly events like the one launched today.
A single-player campaign named Squadron 42 is also in development, and it will feature a star-studded cast including Mark Hamill, Henry Cavill, Gary Oldman, Liam Cunningham, Gillian Anderson, and several more well-known actors.
If you’re interested in Star Citizen, learning how to fly certainly can’t hurt. To that end, you can enjoy our helpful guide on how to get started with flight simulators.
Full disclosure: the author of this article has backed Star Citizen’s crowdfunding campaign.
