Star Citizen Glossary

The infamous server crash error — '30000.' Means the server lost contact and your session is dead. Common enough that it's been a meme for years. Restart the client.

Also: 30000

Origin's super-yacht — luxury VIP transport with a hangar, pool, casino, and helipad. The signature 'whale' ship and a frequent piracy target.

Older military manufacturer — the Avenger, Gladius, Vanguard, and Reclaimer. Aegis ships have a worn, military-surplus look.

Military-grade ship manufacturer — Hornets, Carracks, the Valkyrie. Anvil ships are tough, utilitarian, and combat-focused.

RSI dedicated medical ship — picks up injured players, stabilizes them in flight, and gets them to a medical facility. One of the most important support ships for large org operations.

Also: Apollo Medivac, Apollo Triage

Stanton III — an entire planet covered in ArcCorp's industrial sprawl. Home of Area18. Two moons: Lyria and Wala.

The capital city of ArcCorp — Blade Runner aesthetic, cyberpunk neon, multi-story shopping. Riker Memorial Spaceport is the landing zone.

Also: A18

Industrial utility manufacturer — the MPUV, MOLE mining ship, RAFT cargo hauler, and SRV recovery vehicle. Boxy and purposeful.

Automated Ship Operations and Placement — the in-game terminal where you retrieve, store, or insurance-claim your ships. Pronounced "A-sop."

Alpha UEC — the test-server currency used during Star Citizen alpha. It usually wipes when CIG resets the player database between major patches.

The smallest, cheapest starter ship from RSI. Cramped but capable of light cargo, basic combat, and short hauls. A common first ship for new backers.

Also: Aurora MR, Aurora LN, Aurora CL, Aurora ES

Aegis multi-role light fighter — Titan (cargo), Stalker (bounty hunting cell), Warlock (EMP). Punches above its weight class for the price.

Also: Avenger Titan, Avenger Stalker, Avenger Warlock

Anyone who has pledged for Star Citizen. The community's preferred term over 'customer' or 'player' because the game is crowdfunded.

Alien trader race — pacifist merchants known for the Defender ship. Their ships look like polished sea creatures. Friendly to humans.

Logging out by lying down in your ship's bed. Saves your loadout, your ship state, and your inventory more reliably than logging out from anywhere else.

Also: Bedlog

A mission to hunt down and kill a specific NPC criminal for credits. Comes in tiers — VLRT for newbies, ERT for endgame. A reliable income loop.

Underground combat compounds on planet surfaces filled with NPC enemies. Mission targets include hostage rescues, bounties, and cargo recovery.

Lets you re-buy a melted pledge with cash. Each account gets one free Buyback per quarter; more cost a few dollars each. Useful when you melt a ship and regret it.

Buying goods cheap at one station and selling them high at another. The classic trader loop. Hangar size and SCU capacity are your limits.

Anvil's premier exploration ship — long-range, jumppoint-survey-ready, has a Pisces snub, a med bay, a rover bay, and a hangar. The 'home in space.'

Drake's heavy cargo hauler — modular, ugly, beloved. Carries tons of SCU and a small fighter inside. The classic pirate ship.

Cross-Chassis Upgrade — a token that lets you upgrade one ship pledge to a more expensive ship by paying just the difference. Backers stockpile CCUs during sales.

Founder and CEO of CIG, director of Squadron 42. Wing Commander creator, ambitious visionary, and the face of every major announcement. Often abbreviated 'CR.'

Also: CR

Cloud Imperium Games — the studio building Star Citizen and Squadron 42. Founded by Chris Roberts in 2012.

CIG's annual fan convention. The biggest event on the SC calendar — usually in October. Major reveals, demos, and the next year's direction land here.

A modular ship part — power plant, shield generator, cooler, quantum drive. Each comes in size 1-3 and Civilian/Industrial/Military/Competition tiers.

Top-tier backer status. Players who have pledged at least $1,000 USD lifetime get a Concierge badge, early access to certain sales, and perks like priority support. A status symbol.

Budget manufacturer known for the Mustang starter ship and the Nomad multi-role. Built for accessibility — the working-class alternative to Origin's luxury line.

Also: CO

RSI's flagship multi-crew ship line — Andromeda (combat), Aquila (exploration), Phoenix (luxury), Taurus (cargo). Comes with a parasite snub fighter.

Building items from gathered materials using fabricator terminals and blueprints. Introduced in 4.7 — players can produce custom FPS weapons and equipment.

Your wanted level. Range 1 to 5 — petty trespass to murder of UEE personnel. High CrimeStat blocks station landings and triggers NPC enforcers.

Stanton II — a gas giant home to Crusader Industries. The floating city of Orison sits in its atmosphere. Three notable moons: Yela, Daymar, Cellin.

Maker of the Mercury Star Runner, Ares, A1 Spirit, and the gigantic C2/A2 Hercules. Civilian-and-military-spec hardware out of Orison.

Drake's iconic medium ship — Black (combat/transport), Red (medical), Blue (bounty), Steel (drop-ship). One of the most popular community ships.

Tumbril's small ground buggy. Variants: TR (turret), AA (anti-air), MT (missile turret), RC (recon), RN (light scout). Fits in most medium ship cargo bays.

Crusader's reddish desert moon. Site of the community-run Daymar Rally. Bunkers, shipwrecks, and lots of nothing.

A famous community event — a vehicle rally across Daymar's surface using Cyclones, Greycats, Tonks, and anything else with wheels. Fan-organized, regularly recurring.

Abandoned ships drifting in space, often stripped or filled with hostiles. Salvage them, loot them, or use them as ambush sites.

Budget, rugged manufacturer — the Cutlass, Caterpillar, Corsair. Often described as the 'pickup truck' of the 'Verse. Loved by pirates and haulers alike.

Active ship management gameplay — monitoring and repairing components in real time during flight. Introduced in 4.5: power, hull, fires, and atmosphere all need crew attention.

Evocati PTU — the earliest, NDA-bound test wave. Limited to a small group of long-time backers. Often the first to break, the first to feedback.

Also: Evocati

Specialty manufacturer reproducing rare alien ships for human pilots — Talon, Prowler, Glaive. Limited-edition pledges.

The standard SC sign-off. Goes at the end of streams, posts, and DMs. Often paired with o7. The community's version of 'godspeed.'

First-Person Shooter gameplay — the on-foot combat in Star Citizen. You'll do FPS in bunkers, derelict ships, and during ground missions.

A promotional event where Star Citizen is free to download and play for a limited window. The best way to try the game without pledging.

MISC's medium freighter — DUR (explorer), MAX (cargo), MIS (combat). Popular trader ship for solo and small crews.

Weapon mount that auto-tracks your reticle within a small cone. Lower DPS than fixed mounts but easier to land hits with. Most starter ships are gimbaled.

Aegis light fighter — fast, agile, light on cargo. Beloved by dogfighters and the meta darling for several patches running.

Personal vehicle and utility manufacturer — the PTV (mini buggy), ROC mining vehicle, STV scout buggy, and the multi-tool. Small, useful, everywhere.

An outlaw station in an asteroid hollow near Yela. No questions asked, no laws enforced. The unofficial pirate hub of Stanton.

Mirai medium fighter with a futuristic look and well-rounded stats. Balanced between speed, firepower, and shields — a solid all-rounder. Variants include the MX (electronic warfare) and QI (quick intercept).

Also: Guardian MX, Guardian QI

Aegis heavy gunship — six manned turrets, designed to anchor a fleet against fighter swarms. Anti-snub specialist.

Your personal in-game space at a station where your ships are stored. You can walk around, customize, and spawn ships to fly out from here.

Anvil's iconic light fighter — the F7C series. Variants include the F7A military, F7C-M (gimbaled), F7C-R (recon), and the F7-Mk II refresh. The 'workhorse' fighter.

Stanton I — a polluted industrial planet owned by Hurston Dynamics. Home of Lorville. Toxic atmosphere outside the city dome.

Intergalactic Aerospace Expo — the in-game and IRL ship show held every November. Ships are free-fly each day and discounted for pledging.

Aegis frigate — large multi-crew capital with a railgun, hangar, multiple decks. Long-promised for player ownership; very expensive when it appears.

Weekly Thursday CIG video show showcasing in-development features. The most reliable 'what's CIG working on right now' source. Pronounced 'I-S-C.'

Also: ISC

A wormhole between star systems. The Pyro jumpgate from Stanton was the first one open to players.

Also: Jump Point

A maximum-security prison on Aberdeen. Players with high CrimeStat get sent here on death. Mine prison ore to pay off your sentence — or escape through the tunnels.

Light Amplification — a cockpit technology introduced in Alpha 4.6 that enhances what the pilot sees through the canopy in dark environments without changing lighting for other players.

The main landing zone in the Nyx system — a city carved into an asteroid. Levski is the hub for Nyx exploration and missions.

Your kit — weapons, armor, ammo, healing items, mobiGlas attachments. Configurable per character via the PMA.

The capital city of Hurston — heavy industrial dome under a polluted sky. Locked behind security at the gates.

Lifetime Insurance — a perk attached to certain ship pledges. It means if you lose the ship in-game, you can re-claim it indefinitely without paying an insurance premium.

Long Term Persistence — the server-side system that remembers your in-game progress between play sessions: aUEC balance, owned in-game items, cargo holds, and weapon attachments. Most major patches preserve LTP, but some (like Alpha 4.8) wipe it on release; only earned blueprints carry over and you restart with the starter aUEC balance.

Also: Long Term Persistence,Long-Term Persistence

RSI interdiction ship — its quantum snare can pull other ships out of quantum travel mid-flight. Used by bounty hunters and pirates to stop targets from escaping.

A handheld medical tool that revives a downed teammate in the field. Crucial in FPS engagements and bunker clears.

To return a pledge for store credit. Unlike a real refund, melting is instant and the credit only spends inside the RSI store. Reversible via Buyback.

Also: Melting

Crusader Industries fast medium freighter built for high-value and time-sensitive cargo — including illegal goods. Has hidden compartments and is fast enough to outrun most pursuit ships.

Also: MSR, Mercury

Stanton IV — a frozen tundra planet owned by the microTech corporation. Home of New Babbage.

Extracting valuable rocks from asteroids or planet surfaces with a laser, then refining the ore for profit. Ships: Prospector (solo), MOLE (group), ROC (ground).

Manufacturer known for sleek, futuristic racing and combat ships — the Razor racing line and the Guardian fighter series. High-tech aesthetic, often used in competitive racing events.

Musashi Industrial and Starflight Concern — industrial manufacturer behind cargo ships like the Freelancer and Hull series, plus the Prospector miner.

Your character's wrist-mounted computer. It opens missions, manages inventory, summons ships, and handles in-game messages. Press F1.

Also: Mobiglas

Argo Multi-Operator Laser Extractor — three-mining-laser group ship. Higher yield than the Prospector, but needs friends.

A starter ship from Consolidated Outland. Slightly nimbler than the Aurora, popular with new pilots who want to dogfight early.

The capital city of microTech — Apple-store-clean, glass and white walls. Home of microTech HQ and the Reach observatory.

Tumbril Nova — heavy ground tank with treads, a main gun, and a coaxial. Slow, brutal, used for bunker assaults and ground PvP. Community calls it the 'Tonk.'

Also: Tonk, the Tank

Non-Player Character. The AI inhabitants of bunkers, stations, and patrol fleets. Their behavior ranges from competent to comically broken.

The third playable star system, opened in Alpha 4.4 (November 2025). Cold, asteroid-dense, and dark — home to the Levski landing zone and Vanduul alien patrols.

A salute. The 'o' is a head and the '7' is an arm raised to the brow. You'll see it in chat, on Discord, and in patch notes. It means respect, hello, goodbye, or 'fly safe.'

Also: \o, o7o

Short for organization — a player-run guild or clan. Orgs run trade convoys, mining ops, combat patrols, and community events.

Ship manufacturer known for sleek, luxury designs — the 300i, 600i, and the famous 890 Jump. Apple-meets-spaceship aesthetic.

Crusader Industries' floating city in the gas-giant atmosphere of Crusader. A series of platforms connected by skybridges.

Persistent Entity Streaming — the database backbone that makes objects (your dropped weapons, that helmet on the floor) survive server crashes and reboots.

Also: Persistent Entity Streaming

The dark side of trade — interdicting cargo ships and demanding their goods or credits. Legal in Pyro, illegal in Stanton. Carries a CrimeStat.

What backers call buying a ship or game package. Star Citizen is crowdfunded, so you 'pledge' rather than 'purchase.'

RSI's destroyer-class capital ship with torpedo tubes and a hangar. The smallest 'capital' and the practical ceiling for most active orgs.

A patch focused on bug-fixing and stability rather than new features. Often used hopefully ('we just need a polish pass') or sarcastically.

The cockpit power-management balance between weapons, shields, and engines. Shift power one way mid-fight to dump shields into guns or escape.

MISC solo mining ship — beam, scanner, ore cargo bays. The standard 'first miner' for new players in the mining loop.

Public Test Universe — a test server where players try upcoming patches before they go live.

Persistent Universe — the live, always-online Star Citizen world where most players spend their time. Your characters, ships, and credits live here.

Player vs. Environment — missions and combat against AI enemies. Bounties, bunker clears, and cargo runs are mostly PvE.

Player vs. Player combat — fighting other real players in space or on the ground. Most of the 'Verse is open PvP, with safer law-enforced zones around major stations.

The second playable star system, opened in late 2024. Lawless, dangerous, with rougher rewards. Home to outlaws and the most ambitious haulers.

A device — usually fitted to combat ships like the Mantis — that yanks ships out of quantum travel mid-flight. Pirates' favorite ambush tool.

Faster-than-light travel between points in a star system. Your ship's quantum drive eats fuel and takes time, but it's how you cross planets and moons.

Also: QT, jumping

Rental Equipment Credits — earned by playing Arena Commander or Star Marine. Used to rent ships and weapons for 7-day windows. Doesn't apply in the PU.

Aegis large salvage ship — strips derelicts of hull plating and components. Multi-crew, slow, very profitable in Pyro.

A unique code another backer shares with you. Using one when you create your account gives you 50,000 UEC free, and the referrer earns a small bonus reward.

Also: STAR-XXXX-XXXX

CIG's public progress tracker at rsi.com/roadmap. Lists features in development and target patches. Famously squishy on dates — read it as direction, not commitment.

Greycat Remote Ore Collector — small ground vehicle for cracking and collecting gemstone deposits on planet surfaces. Easy money loop for new players.

Roberts Space Industries — both the in-fiction ship manufacturer and CIG's publishing label. The website you pledge through is rsi.com.

Stripping derelict ships for hull material and components. Ships like the Vulture and Reclaimer are built for salvage gameplay.

Standard Cargo Unit — a 1.25m cube that's the standard cargo measurement in SC. Ship capacity is rated in SCU.

CIG's technology that splits the universe across many servers seamlessly, raising the player cap. Static server meshing launched in Alpha 4.0, supporting 500 players per shard.

The official RSI community forum at robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum. Ground zero for bug reports, org recruiting, and the occasional flame war.

The single-player cinematic campaign set in the same universe — a separate game with a Hollywood cast (Mark Hamill, Gary Oldman). Sold separately from Star Citizen.

Also: SQ42

The first playable star system — four corporate-owned planets (ArcCorp, Crusader, Hurston, microTech), each with cities and moons. Mostly safe, law-enforced.

Real-money credit on your RSI account, earned by melting pledges. Spendable on any pledge in the store, refunds back to your account, never expires.

Alien race conquered by humans during the Tevarin Wars. Lore-heavy backstory; the Esperia Prowler is a Tevarin ship preserved by enthusiasts.

Slang for the Star Citizen universe — the in-game world, lore, and community combined. 'See you in the 'Verse' is a common sign-off.

Also: 'Verse,Verse

Slang for empty deep space — far from any planet, station, or jump point. 'Lost in the black' means stranded, drifting, or just out exploring with nothing nearby.

CIG dev terminology. Tier 0 means a feature exists in barebones form; Tier 1 is the polished version. You'll see references in patch notes ('salvage Tier 1' etc.).

Community slang for the Tumbril Nova heavy tank. When someone says 'roll out the tonk,' they mean a tank push.

Tool used to move cargo boxes and small objects through space. Comes as a handheld multi-tool attachment or a ship-mounted version.

United Earth Credits — the in-game currency used for buying ships, weapons, and gear in the live game. UEC carries between play sessions and patches.

United Empire of Earth — the in-fiction human government that controls most of explored space. Its Navy, Marines, and Advocacy show up in lore and missions.

Hostile alien race — nomadic raiders who attack human systems. The main antagonists of Squadron 42 lore. You'll see Vanduul ships (Scythe, Glaive) as enemies.

The modern graphics API used by Star Citizen's renderer. More efficient than DirectX 11 on most modern hardware — improving frame rates and reducing GPU overhead.

Drake's solo salvage ship. Smaller and more manageable than the Reclaimer. The new-player gateway into salvage gameplay.

A pledge paid with real money rather than store credit. Warbond ships and CCUs are typically offered at a lower price than standard versions to incentivize new money into the project.

Slang for a backer who has pledged thousands of dollars. Sometimes self-deprecating, sometimes critical. There's an entire economy of capital ships built around whales.

Also: Whaling

When CIG resets player progress — credits, aUEC, owned items — usually with a major patch. Pledged ships and UEC stay; everything earned in-game resets.

Long-lived alien race with sleek, organic ship designs. The Khartu-Al and Nox come from Xi'an culture. Diplomatic relations with humans are complicated.