Basic Flight

Get familiar with your ship's controls in Star Citizen's flight simulator, Arena Commander. Select the Singleplayer Free Flight mode from Arena Commander's main menu to hop into your cockpit and log some flight time by yourself. You can use the mouse and keyboard as outlined below or use a joystick to control your ship.

Keyboard: The W and S keys control your ship's speed. Fly faster by holding down SHIFT to activate afterburner. To roll left and right, press Q and E respectively. Press A and D to strafe left and right. SPACE and LEFT-CTRL to strafe up and down. N will change your flight mode between normal and landing mode.

Mouse:Move the mouse to steer the ship's pitch and yaw.

For more information on what your ship is capable of, review the full keymapping.

The Ships

In Star Citizen, what you fly can be almost as important as who you are. From small freighters to luxury starliners to military warships, there’s a ship for every role and a role for every player. Whether you're an aspiring pilot, gunner, engineer, medic, navigator or any of a dozen other optional crew positions, you can select a ship, join with your friends and take on the universe. As the saying goes, "There’s no perfect ship – only the perfect ship for you."

Take a look at all the vehicles available in the RSI Pledge Store:

Combat Training

Once you've got the hang of flying, test your newfound skills by battling in a simulated dogfight. From the Arena Commander menu, select the Singleplayer Vanduul Swarm mode and get ready to face off against some of the deadliest alien combat pilots around.

Keyboard: To target nearest hostiles, press T. If you become targeted by missiles, press V to cycle between countermeasures and press C to deploy them.

Mouse: LEFT-CLICK and RIGHT-CLICK will fire your primary and secondary weapon groups. To acquire missile lock, press MIDDLE-CLICK and hold to fire.