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Stop Overpaying for Star Citizen Ships — How CCU Stacking Works
Cross-Chassis Upgrades let Star Citizen backers reach any ship or vehicle for less than the pledge store price. Here's how CCU stacking works, how to build a chain, and how The Impound's CCU Selector finds the best path — or an even better deal on a complete ship with LTI already attached.
Most Star Citizen players pay more for ships than they need to. There's a built-in upgrade system — fully supported by CIG — that lets you reach almost any ship or vehicle in the game for less than its listed price. It's called CCU stacking, and once you know how it works, paying full price is hard to justify.
Watch: The Impound's Guide to CCU Upgrades
What Is a CCU?
A Cross-Chassis Upgrade — CCU — lets you swap a ship you own for a more expensive one by paying only the price difference between them. So instead of buying a $200 ship from scratch, you might upgrade a $100 ship you already own and only pay $100 to get there.
CCUs are sold directly by Cloud Imperium Games through the RSI pledge store. There's nothing grey market about it — it's exactly how CIG intends the upgrade system to work.
How CCU Stacking Saves You Money
CCU stacking is the practice of chaining multiple upgrade steps together to reach your target ship at a lower total cost than buying it outright.
Here's a simple example. Say your target ship costs $300 direct from the pledge store. Instead of paying $300, you start with a $45 ship, apply a series of upgrade steps through a few intermediate ships, and arrive at the same $300 ship for around $250. Same ship. Less money.
The savings grow the higher up you go. On capital-class ships the difference can be hundreds of dollars. The challenge is that figuring out the most efficient chain takes real research — which is exactly why we built the CCU Selector.
Three Ways to Upgrade — Which One Is Right for You?
The Standalone Difference
When you apply a CCU or a CCU chain to your own pledge, your original ship is converted — it becomes the new one, and it's gone from your hangar. When you buy a Standalone CCU'd ship from The Impound, you're adding a new ship to your account. Your existing ships stay untouched. You end up with both.
The CCU Selector — All Three Options in One Place
The Impound's CCU Selector takes the research out of the equation entirely. Tell it which ship you're upgrading from and which ship you want — it finds the Direct CCU if one exists, calculates the cheapest Chain if it doesn't, and surfaces any available Standalone CCU'd options for your target ship alongside them.
A savings banner then compares the DIY path against the Standalone price so you can see at a glance which approach makes more financial sense. When you've decided, one click adds your chosen path — full chain or Standalone — straight to your cart.
No spreadsheets. No separate research. Just choose your ships and go.
What About Lifetime Insurance?
Most of The Impound's Standalone CCU'd ships carry Lifetime Insurance — LTI — which covers your ship's hull indefinitely at no recurring in-game cost. It's one of the most valued perks a pledged ship can have, and it's included as standard rather than as a premium add-on.
If you're building your own chain, any LTI on your base ship carries through every upgrade step to the final vessel. The Selector flags LTI availability when comparing Standalone options, so you always know what you're getting. For a full breakdown of why LTI matters, read our dedicated guide: Star Citizen: The Importance of Lifetime Insurance (LTI) →
Still Have Questions?
If you're unsure which path is right for you, our Discord community is the best place to ask. Hundreds of members are active there — experienced upgraders, first-time buyers, and everything in between. We're also on Trustpilot if you'd like to see what other backers have said before making a purchase.
CCU stacking is one of the smartest things to learn as a Star Citizen backer. The gap between knowing about it and not can be hundreds of dollars — and with the CCU Selector doing the path-finding, there's no reason not to start saving today.
Source: YouTube Video