The first hour is about building recovery, navigation and storage habits, not about earning credits.
Each landing zone has a different route from the spaceport to the shops — knowing which one you are in saves most of the wasted time.
Prompts, terminal layouts and default keys can move between patches; check the in-game keybind menu when a guide and the screen disagree.
Where you are going
Home hospital
Set the regeneration imprint that decides where a death returns you.
Teasa Spaceport (Lorville)
Hangars to XL, with New Deal and the rental terminal at Terminal 5.
Riker Memorial Spaceport (Area 18)
Pads and hangars to XL, with Astro Armada as the ship dealer.
New Babbage spaceport
Hangars to XL, connected directly into the city.
Orison
Hangars to XL with direct docking.
The four orbital stations
Refuel, repair, rearm, ASOP and a Tier 2 clinic — the safest first quantum destination.
What you need and why
Basic vacuum and hazard protection; Left Alt + H toggles the helmet.
No substitute listedCovers the whole first loop without needing a purchase.
No substitute listedThe C key uses one; handles minor injuries without a trip to a clinic.
Alternative: Return to the hospital you set regeneration at.Avoids being stranded by a refuel or a claim fee.
Alternative: Stick to routes between full-service stations.What to look for
The on-screen message naming the facility — without it, you have not actually set anything.
The only reliable way to find the ship you just retrieved.
Requested with Left Alt + N; lifting before the roof opens is a classic first-hour mistake.
Engage with Left Mouse only once the marker reads as calibrated.
Distinct from finishing the task — the tracker ticking over is what pays.
When it goes wrong
Lorville needs the train from the spaceport concourse to the CBD; Area 18 needs the Cityflight Transit shuttle to the plaza. New Babbage connects directly and uses the MT Metroloop between districts.
Go back to an ASOP terminal and read the assigned hangar or pad number; do not re-claim a ship that is simply parked elsewhere.
Set flight ready with Right Alt + R first, then request with Left Alt + N and wait for the hangar to open.
You must be clear of atmosphere and in NAV mode — press B, then cycle to the quantum operator mode with Middle Mouse.
Read the tracker for the exact remaining delivery or interaction; completing the physical task is not always the final step.
Open the in-game keybind menu — defaults move between patches and the game is authoritative.
Rewards and progression
↳ A working recovery point, a ship you can find and store, one completed contract, and the habits the rest of the game is built on
Departure checklist
□Set regeneration and read the confirmation.
□Learn Hold F, F1, F2, I, Hold Y, C and the bracket keys.
□Reach the spaceport by the route your city actually uses.
□Retrieve the ship and note the hangar number.
□Flight ready with Right Alt + R, then ATC with Left Alt + N.
□Set a short F2 route to your orbital station.
□Switch to NAV with B and engage quantum on a calibrated marker.
□Complete one low-risk contract and confirm the tracker.
□Land on clearance and store the ship.
- 01
Set regeneration before you go anywhere
Your home city has a Tier 1 hospital — Lorville, Area 18 and New Babbage all do, and at Orison the hospital is over at Cloudview Center rather than on Providence Platform where the commodity decks are. Use the regeneration terminal or the bed prompt with Hold F, and read the confirmation on screen. This is the single most consequential thing you do in the first ten minutes, because it decides where a death puts you. Do it before you take an elevator or accept a contract.
- 02
Learn eight keys, not eighty
Hold F is interaction — doors, screens, seats, terminals, everything. F1 opens mobiGlas, and contracts live inside it. F2 opens MAPS for routes. I opens your inventory. Left Alt + H removes or replaces your helmet, and Left Alt + X wipes the visor when it fogs or is spattered. Hold Y gets you out of any seat or bed. T is your flashlight on foot. C uses a MedPen. Two more matter constantly and catch out every new player: the left and right bracket keys, [ and ], accept and decline party invites and notifications. Everything else can wait.
- 03
Find the spaceport your city actually uses
The four landing zones are laid out differently and this is where the first hour usually stalls. Lorville’s Teasa Spaceport handles hangars up to XL and puts the New Deal ship shop and the rental terminal right at Terminal 5 — but the commodity kiosks and the Hurston Dynamics Showcase are in the Central Business District, which means taking the train from the spaceport concourse. Area 18 uses Riker Memorial Spaceport, also up to XL, and you reach the Area 18 plaza on the Cityflight Transit shuttle rather than on foot; the Trade and Development Division counter is in the Jobwell building. New Babbage is the easy one — the spaceport connects straight into the city with no shuttle ride, and the MT Metroloop Grand Line links Commons, Plaza and Promenade. Orison is platforms in Crusader’s cloud layer, with shops on Providence Platform and the hospital and Crusader showroom on Cloudview Center.
- 04
Retrieve your ship from ASOP
At an ASOP terminal, select your starter ship, retrieve it, and note the hangar or pad number it assigns — that number is the only thing that will find it for you. If the terminal reports the ship as stored elsewhere or unavailable, wait and read the state rather than hammering the claim button; a claim you did not need starts a timer you did not want. New Babbage has no ship showroom at all, only rentals, so do not go looking for one there.
- 05
Launch on clearance
In the pilot seat, Right Alt + R sets the ship flight ready. Then Left Alt + N contacts ATC for a hangar, pad or docking assignment — wait for the hangar to actually open before you lift. Rise vertically with Space, raise the gear with N once you have cleared the pad, and leave the city corridor before you touch the boost on Left Shift. X is your spacebrake and is the control that saves you most often; learn it before you learn to go fast. Hold Z is freelook and F4 toggles third person, which makes your first landings far easier to judge.
- 06
Make one short quantum jump
Open MAPS with F2 and set a route to something close — your home planet’s orbital station is the standard first hop: Everus Harbor from Lorville, Baijini Point from Area 18, Port Tressler from New Babbage, Seraphim Station from Orison. All four have refuel, repair, rearm, an ASOP terminal and a Tier 2 clinic, so they are safe places to be. Clear the atmosphere, press B to switch from SCM into NAV, cycle to the quantum operator mode with Middle Mouse, point at the calibrated marker and engage with Left Mouse only once the HUD confirms alignment. Note that Baijini Point cannot spawn ground vehicles, so do not plan a rover pickup there.
- 07
Take one low-risk contract and finish it properly
In Contract Manager choose a simple delivery or maintenance job with a destination you can read on the map. Read the payout conditions before accepting, and after you have done the task, confirm the tracker itself has ticked over — the objective completing and the contract completing are two separate events, and the second one is what pays. Then land on ATC clearance, store the ship at an ASOP terminal so its state and cargo are unambiguous, and stop there. That is a complete loop, and repeating it is worth more than a bigger first payday.
Field notes
↳ Set regeneration first; everything else in the first hour is recoverable, that is not.
↳ Learn Hold F, F1, F2, I, Hold Y, Left Alt + H, C and the [ / ] notification keys — skip the rest for now.
↳ Lorville and Area 18 need a train or shuttle to reach the shops; New Babbage does not.
↳ Write down the hangar or pad number ASOP gives you.
↳ Left Alt + N for ATC, then wait for the hangar to open — do not lift into a closed roof.
↳ X (spacebrake) prevents more first-hour deaths than any weapon prevents.
↳ The four orbital stations are the safest first destinations: full services and a Tier 2 clinic.
↳ Store the ship when you are done so it is not left sitting on a pad in an unknown state.
Watch the route
Video mechanics can age between patches. Use the written route above as the current checklist.
Research sources
Route text is independently summarized and cross-checked against these references.
RSI — Getting Started in the Verse ↗Wiki — Lorville ↗Wiki — Area18 ↗Wiki — New Babbage ↗Wiki — Orison ↗RSI — Star Citizen Patch Notes ↗
