Earning aUEC gives you access to ships, rentals, components, armor, weapons, commodities, repairs, and new career paths. The right method depends on your ship, starting capital, combat skill, preferred activity, and available playtime.
This guide explains how to make money in Star Citizen through contracts, bounty hunting, ground combat, mining, salvage, and cargo trading.
Quick answer: Delivery and hauling contracts suit new players. Bounty hunting and mercenary missions reward combat skills. Mining and salvage offer stronger industrial progression. Cargo trading has high income potential but puts your own aUEC at risk.
How the Star Citizen Economy Works
aUEC, or Alpha United Earth Credits, is the temporary currency used during alpha testing. Players earn it through missions, resource extraction, commodity trading, combat, and other activities.
aUEC is separate from UEC, REC, and Store Credit. UEC is intended for the released economy, REC applies to Arena Commander rentals, and Store Credit is connected to purchases made through the RSI website.
Your current aUEC balance appears inside the game rather than on the RSI account website. The official Star Citizen currency guide explains how aUEC, UEC, REC, and Store Credit differ.
Several factors affect the actual value of an earning method:
- Available ship, vehicle, and equipment
- Contract reputation and mission tier
- Fuel, repairs, ammunition, and claim expenses
- Travel, loading, refining, and selling time
- Chance of death, piracy, cargo loss, or failed objectives
Patch note: Fixed aUEC-per-hour estimates become outdated after economy, mission, commodity, and ship balance changes. This guide compares relative income, entry cost, and risk instead.
Other economy and progression options are available through CoinLooting Star Citizen services.
Delivery and Hauling Contracts
Delivery contracts are accessible to players with a starter ship that has enough interior space for mission boxes. The contract provides a pickup point, destination, and fixed reward.
Most of the work consists of travelling between locations, landing, collecting cargo, and completing the delivery through a terminal or marked drop-off point. Entry costs are low, and specialized equipment is rarely required.
Delivery missions are useful during the opening hours, but their earning potential is lower than advanced combat or industrial work. Long travel times, misplaced boxes, and failed interactions can reduce the return from a session.
Hauling contracts involve larger cargo volumes and benefit from a ship with a proper cargo grid. Choose contracts that match your available capacity rather than accepting the largest offer in Contract Manager.
Key difference: Hauling contracts pay you to transport assigned cargo. Commodity trading requires you to purchase goods with your own aUEC and sell them elsewhere.
Hauling contracts carry less financial exposure than commodity trading since you are not investing your balance in the transported goods. Larger jobs still take time to load, move, and unload.
Bounty Hunting
Bounty hunting pays players for locating and eliminating assigned targets. Contracts may involve AI-controlled enemies or other players, so read the description before accepting an offer.
Lower-level PvE contracts can be completed in an armed starter ship. Contract difficulty and rewards can rise as your reputation improves, creating a steady combat progression path.
Profit depends heavily on pilot skill. Ship repairs, ammunition, insurance claims, and failed contracts reduce your actual earnings. Several clean lower-risk kills may produce better results than one difficult bounty followed by a destroyed ship.
Bounty hunting suits players who understand target selection, shields, weapon ranges, power management, and disengagement.
Solo pick: Bounty hunting is one of the strongest repeatable options for a skilled solo pilot. It requires little trading capital, and contracts can be completed without loading or selling cargo.
Mercenary and Bunker Missions
Mercenary contracts move the focus from ship combat to FPS encounters. Many take place at bunkers, settlements, distribution centers, and other ground facilities.
A basic combat setup is enough for early missions:
- Undersuit, helmet, and suitable armor
- Primary weapon with spare ammunition
- MedPens or a medical tool
- Backpack for collected items
- Tractor beam attachment when moving boxes or equipment
Ground missions can provide two forms of value. The contract pays a reward after completion, and defeated enemies may leave weapons, armor, ammunition, and other items. Recovered gear can reduce future equipment expenses.
Friendly fire is a major risk. Shooting security personnel or restricted targets can create a CrimeStat and interrupt your earning session. Identify targets before firing and check whether the contract includes hostile reinforcements.
Mercenary work can be profitable for solo players with reliable FPS skills. Travel, injuries, equipment recovery, and failed objectives make the results less consistent than delivery contracts.
Mining
Mining provides income through the extraction and sale of minerals, ore, and gems. Entry options range from handheld mining to ground vehicles and dedicated mining ships.
Hand mining requires a multitool with the correct attachment. Its limited capacity makes it suitable for learning scanning, fracture control, extraction, and selling.
A Greycat ROC increases the amount of material collected on planetary surfaces. It needs transportation in a compatible ship, adding another vehicle and planning requirement.
The MISC Prospector is a common solo mining ship. It can scan deposits, fracture rocks, extract ore, and transport the collected material. Raw ore may need refinery processing before it can be sold through regular commodity terminals.
Income pattern: Mining can produce valuable runs, but income varies with deposit quality, extraction efficiency, refining choices, travel time, and sale prices.
Searching for deposits without finding suitable material reduces the return from a session. A successful Prospector run can outperform starter contracts, especially when the collected ore is processed through a suitable refinery order.
Salvage
Salvage converts wrecks and abandoned ships into materials that can be transported and sold. Small-scale work can begin with handheld equipment, while dedicated ships support longer operations.
A salvage ship such as the Drake Vulture gives a solo player access to hull processing and onboard material storage. Larger ships can handle more wreckage but may work better with additional crew members.
Profit depends on finding suitable wrecks, processing them efficiently, and transporting the recovered material to a buyer. Contract costs, cargo capacity, travel distance, and competition from other salvagers affect the final result.
Compared with bounty hunting, salvage involves less planned combat. A loaded salvage ship can still attract pirates, especially on known routes.
Before investing in mining or salvage equipment, check:
- Purchase or rental cost of the required ship
- Cargo capacity and material storage
- Refinery or selling location
- Fuel needed for the complete route
- Available reserve after the initial investment
Solo pick: The Prospector and Vulture provide clear solo career paths. Mining involves searching, extraction, and refining. Salvage focuses on wreck processing and material transport.
Cargo Trading
Cargo trading uses your own aUEC to purchase commodities at one location and sell them where demand and prices are higher.
Trading can produce strong returns when you have a suitable ship, sufficient capital, and a working route. It can produce equally strong losses. A destroyed ship, server crash, hostile player, or sudden price change may remove the cargo investment.
Cargo capacity affects potential revenue, but a larger shipment increases the value exposed during every flight. Your ship needs to be landed correctly before it appears at a commodity terminal.
Risk warning: Never place your full aUEC balance into one cargo shipment. Keep enough funds for another load, fuel, repairs, equipment, and ship claims.
Cargo trading becomes more practical after you understand landing zones, commodity terminals, freight elevators, cargo grids, and common trade routes. New players can learn these systems through hauling contracts before risking their own balance.
Best Money-Making Methods for Solo Players
The best solo method is one you can complete reliably with your current equipment. A starter-ship owner gains more from repeatable low-risk contracts than from attempting an expensive activity without the required ship or experience.
A practical solo progression can follow this order:
- Complete verified delivery and low-volume hauling contracts to build an initial reserve.
- Try lower-risk PvE bounty or mercenary contracts if your ship and equipment can handle them.
- Rent a ground vehicle or specialized ship before committing to a mining or salvage purchase.
- Build reputation in one contract category to unlock better mission tiers.
- Move into commodity trading after acquiring a suitable cargo ship and enough reserve capital to survive a lost shipment.
Delivery work has the lowest entry cost. Bounty hunting suits capable pilots, and mercenary contracts reward strong FPS play. Mining and salvage fit players who prefer industrial careers. Commodity trading offers high potential with greater financial exposure.
Players who prefer to skip repeated starter contracts can buy Star Citizen aUEC for ships, gear, repairs, and trade preparation.
Income, Risk, and Entry Cost Comparison
The ratings below are relative. Actual results depend on the current build, location, reputation, ship, equipment, and available contracts.
| Method | Entry cost | Risk | Income potential | Best suited for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delivery contracts | Very low | Low | Low | New players learning basic systems |
| Hauling contracts | Low to medium | Low to medium | Medium | Cargo pilots seeking fixed rewards |
| Bounty hunting | Low to medium | Medium to high | Medium to high | Players comfortable with ship combat |
| Mercenary missions | Low | High | Medium to high | FPS players collecting rewards and gear |
| Mining | Medium | Medium | Medium to high | Patient players with extraction equipment |
| Salvage | Medium to high | Medium | High | Industrial players with a salvage ship |
| Cargo trading | High | High | High | Experienced haulers with reserve capital |
No method remains the top choice after every patch. Reliable completion and controlled expenses matter more than the highest possible payout.
Protecting Your aUEC Balance
A profitable activity can produce a negative session when preparation costs and losses are ignored.
- Keep reserve funds for fuel, repairs, medical supplies, ammunition, and claims.
- Rent specialized ships before purchasing them with aUEC.
- Avoid investing the full balance in one commodity shipment.
- Sell mined or salvaged materials before taking unrelated risks.
- Read contract conditions and confirm whether a bounty is PvE or PvP.
Tracking expenses gives a more accurate result than looking only at the displayed contract reward.