Star Citizen still has a long way to go in 2025

It is that time again: It’s time I rant and rave about Star Citizen, a game I love.. And occasionally hate.

Look: Just because I live in constant, never-ending pain doesn’t mean that I enjoy pain in general. I actually don’t. I tend to be a little more accepting of it, sure, but more or less I prefer to avoid pain.

That should be a testament to why I still am able to enjoy Star Citizen.

Coming off the high (and jank) of STALKER 2, I had been considering hopping back into Star Citizen for a while. I tend to play Star Citizen in fits and starts, typically before or after major events (we just saw the completion of IAE 2954), typically because the server performance tends to be relatively decent around those times, and there’s a lot of buzz going on to remind me why I liked playing so much.

I first decided to melt my previous game package and pick up something different; Over the years I’ve upgraded my game package, and was to the point of owning a Redeemer: A multi-crew gunship. I decided that the gameplay loop I wanted to experience just wasn’t feasible in that (admittedly awesome) ship.. So, I turned it into a solid chunk of store credit and picked up an Avenger Titan game package, and a Crusader Ares Inferno (that way I have some versatility in my gameplay - I can run my bounties, or I can run cargo). Plus.. Big ship gun go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

So, anyway, I re-installed Star Citizen and started the process to get myself ready to enjoy the ‘verse yet again.

This takes some work, but it’s the nature of these types of games (sims): I got my TrackIR set up on the new computer, set up my HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick), imported my old control scheme, and re-mapped stuff that needed to be re-mapped after what has changed in how ships operate.

Once I got comfortable enough with flight inside the Arena Commander mode (basically a quick action sort of system skipping all the persistent universe content and just letting you fly or play FPS combat), I created my character in the PU (fuckin’ love the new character creator, by the way) and started preparing myself for the jank.

Initially, things were pretty good. Performance is spectacular on my new rig. The new HUD? I love it. My new Ares Inferno is just a wonderful beast to fly compared to the other ships I’ve flown over the many, many years of playing SC.

Eventually, though, we come to the bugs.

Server FPS (basically server lag) was spotty; I’d have some of my targets leaping from spot to spot occasionally, which makes taking them out with my big slow-to-spin-up gun even harder.

I occasionally had problems requesting docking at stations, and when I was able to dock, I’d be unable to restock/repair/refuel.

This morning (as of writing this, although I’ll probably be publishing it a little later in the day), though, it took me 4 tries to actually start running my bounties.

It started out fine: I’d get up at Everus Harbor (my usual log-out location), run to the ship terminals, request my ship, hop in, and go do bounties.

This time was just like the others, with one caveat.. This happened:

When I made it to the hangar to get into my ship, it was flipping around like a meth’d up squirrel playing with an invisible sentient nut.

Ok, great. I try to “store” my ship, but the game doesn’t recognize it as being on the landing pad, so.. I quit to menu.

Start again.

Ship is back in storage, so we’re good there: I summon it.

Ship is flipping out in the hangar again when I get there.

Quit to menu.

Reload.

Summon ship.

This time, the elevators wouldn’t even take me to the hangar.

So.. We try yet again, and I finally get in my ship, accept a bounty contract, and go. Of course, my ship did have damage from it’s tap-dance on the landing pad.. And the hangar services weren’t confirming my repair request. Oh well, the damage actually wasn’t that bad, and I was still doing LRT (Low-Risk Target) bounties while I grind up my rep; not a big deal for a heavy fighter.

The whole experience after this drama? Pretty good. I enjoyed running my bounties, and went to Hurston this time to repair/restock/refuel. Afterwards I flew back to Everus Harbor to store my ship and log out, wishing I didn’t have to work today.. Because - despite the bugs - I have fun in Star Citizen.

If you're interested in playing Star Citizen yourself (consider the above a warning), I'd appreciate you using my referral code. Thanks!