Star Citizen Free Fly Event Lets Everyone Try The Game and Its Ships For Free Later This Week

Star Citizen is often a polarizing topic, with detractors criticizing its long development and supporters arguing that they’re already enjoying the game’s alpha.

Those who haven’t picked a side find themselves unable to judge the current state of the game because the alpha is usually accessible only to backers who have paid for the game.

Later this week, everyone is going to have a chance to take the game and many of is starships for a spin.

The Free Fly event coinciding with the Invictus Launch Week (this year’s name for Fleet Week) will not only give everyone access for a limited time but also provide them with the ability to fly many if the game’s ships.

Logging in during different days grants access to different ships and below you can find the full schedule.

May 22nd – May 23rd: Tumbril/RSI/Origin

• 325a: Origin’s sleek signature fighter, the 325a makes a great companion for finding your mark with style and sophistication.
• Aurora LN: Designed for dangerous combat situations, the Aurora LN comes with bigger shields and larger weapons that pack a punch.
• Constellation Andromeda: A multi-crew freighter with a modular design, the RSI Andromeda is one of the most iconic ships in the ‘verse.
• Constellation Aquila: Explore the stars and distant horizons thanks to an uprated sensor suite and redesigned cockpit that offer maximum visibility.
• Constellation Phoenix: A chariot of the gods, this converted luxury freighter is ideal for VIP transport.
• Mantis: Stop ships dead in their tracks with RSI’s premier quantum enforcer.

May 24th – May 25th: Anvil Aerospace

• Arrow: Featuring an ultra-aerodynamic frame and slight profile, it’s the most agile ship in its class.
• C8X Pisces: This mini-explorer is ideal for scouting and reconnaissance.
• Carrack: A self-sufficient explorer built to endure extreme conditions in both space and atmosphere.
• Gladiator: A rugged two-person dive bomber.
• Hawk: The ideal ship for independent bounty hunters and local security.
• Hornet F7C: Tough and dependable, the F7C is a textbook multi-purpose medium fighter.
• Hurricane: A heavy fighter with an almost excessive loadout. Includes a turret that punches through shields and defenses.
• Terrapin: Heavily armored ship with a sophisticated scanner. Ideal for recon and exploration.
• Valkyrie: A heavily armed dual-purpose gunship/dropship.

May 26th – May 27th: Aegis Dynamics

• Avenger Stalker: A modified version of the Avenger catering to bounty hunters. Equipped with prison cells.
• Avenger Titan Renegade: Special-edition Avenger Titan with custom livery and a loadout geared to Arena Commander.
• Avenger Warlock: A variant of the Avenger armed with an EMP generator to disable enemy vehicles.
• Eclipse: A sleek stealth bomber armed with heavy torpedoes.
• Gladius Valiant: Special-edition of the Gladius with custom livery and a loadout geared to Arena Commander.
• Hammerhead: A multi-crew corvette bristling with manned turrets to counter fast fighters.
• Retaliator Bomber: A long-range, anti-capital bomber. Covered in manned turrets and capable of launching size 9 torpedoes.
• Sabre: Favoring agility over durability, this ship is light, sleek, and deadly.
• Sabre Comet: Special-edition of the Sabre with custom livery and a loadout geared to Arena Commander.
• Vanguard Harbinger: A powerful bomber that can operate out of the roughest forward operating bases.
• Vanguard Hoplite: A long-range squad dropship with manned turret.
• Vanguard Sentinel: Designed to fight smart instead of taking enemies head-on.
• Vanguard Warden: A long-range heavy fighter with manned turret.

May 28th – May 29th: ARGO/MISC/CNOU

• ARGO MPUV 1P: A small and unarmed utility runabout for transporting personnel.
• Freelancer MIS: The MIS is a limited-edition militarized variant of the classic Freelancer.
• Mustang Delta: The Mustang Delta is armed with heavier weapons and missiles to give new citizens a little more firepower.
• Razor EX: Stealth-edition of the Razor outfitted with signature-reducing materials and low-draw components.
• Reliant Tana: An easy to maintain, versatile, lightweight fighter.
• Starfarer Gemini: The Gemini version sacrifices fuel capacity for armor and a missile launcher.

May 30th – June 1st: Drake Interplanetary

• Buccaneer: A light fighter that sacrifices durability (and ejection seat) for raw firepower.
• Caterpillar: A heavy multi-crew commercial freighter. Lightly armed with superior cargo capacity.
• Cutlass Black: Back in black. Drake’s pirate-favorite is a highly versatile ship with combat and cargo prowess.
• Cutlass Red: An emergency response and support ship with a medical bay, long-range radar capabilities, and a suite of defensive options.
• Dragonfly Black: A two-seater grav-lev bike that easily traverses rough terrain or open space.
• Herald: No secret is safe. Drake’s Herald captures and stores information before leaving at blistering speed.

This kind of schedule is always quite interesting to deal with. Not only it makes things manageable, but it also creates different gameplay environment.

For instance, Drake days always tend to turn into pirate days, not only because Drake is known for being the favorite ship brand among pirates, but also because everyone is provided with one of the best cargo ships in the game (the Caterpillar) and scrambles to haul millions of units of goods around the systems, creating a perfect target-rich environment for would-be pirates.

In other Star Citizen news the crowdfunding total  just passed 283 million.

To be more precise, it’s sitting on $283,264,079 at the moment of this writing.

The number of registered accounts has also recently passed a milestone and it’s now at over 2.6 million (2,605,922).

As usual, it’s known that not all of them are paying players. The number includes free accounts created for a variety of reasons (including free fly events like the one mentioned here).

If you want to learn more about Star Citizen, you can take a look at the latest update released a little while ago, Alpha 3.9.

For the sake of full disclosure, the author of this article has been a Star Citizen backer since the original Kickstarter campaign several years ago, so you should keep that in mind while reading this article.