Crafting Tech Preview: How Star Citizen’s Crafting System Begins

Star Citizen’s long-anticipated crafting system is finally stepping into view. During the recent “Lots of Ship Talk” livestream, developers outlined how the first iteration — described as a Crafting Tech Preview — will begin rolling out after the engineering overhaul. It marks the first time players will be able to create items directly within the Persistent Universe, signalling a shift toward deeper survival, repair, industry, and progression loops.

While this early version will be limited in scope, the groundwork it establishes is designed to support everything from field repairs to advanced manufacturing. For a game built on physical systems and tangible component interaction, crafting is an inevitable step forward — and one that begins sooner than many expected.

Where Crafting Actually Starts

The first implementation won’t be a universe-wide manufacturing economy. Instead, the debut version is focused on two principles:

1. Basic, functional creation of small items
Players will begin by crafting essential components, tools, and consumables — things that fit within personal inventory or small-ship compartments. The goal is to give pilots hands-on control over limited-scale fabrication without overwhelming the early systems.

2. Location-specific crafting stations
Ships such as the Clipper were highlighted as early platforms for this system. Its compact frame and focused design make it an ideal candidate for small-item fabrication, component refitting, or field-expedient repairs. As more ships adopt similar spaces — workshops, repair bays, utility alcoves — crafting becomes a natural extension of ship interiors.

This first step is deliberately small: a functional foundation rather than a final system.

Why Crafting Comes After Engineering

Developers were clear that crafting depends heavily on the engineering overhaul. Engineering introduces:

• Physicalized components

• Resource networks

• Relays and connection paths

• Efficiency and power distribution systems

• Damage recovery workflows

Crafting needs those systems in place to create meaningful inputs and outputs. Without physical components and real connections, crafting would amount to pressing a button and receiving an item — something the game is actively avoiding.

Once engineering is live, crafting can take its place as a logical extension of that framework.

What Players Will Craft First

The first wave of craftable items will focus on FPS-level gear, tools, and small ship components. These will likely include:

• Basic consumables

• Field repair materials

• Small-scale ship parts

• Low-tier components for personal weapons or gadgets

The livestream made it clear that this early set will not include major components such as quantum drives or turrets. Instead, this is the beginning of a tiered system that will expand as the game’s infrastructure matures.

As tech grows, so will the scale and complexity of items players can produce.

Crafting Inside Ships: A Major Design Shift

The team hinted that ships with built-in crafting or fabrication spaces will play a key role in the long-term system. The Clipper, for example, was referenced as a vessel well-suited to this new loop.

This is an important design direction:
Ships are no longer just transport platforms, but mobile workshops capable of supporting expeditionary gameplay.

A pilot in the field repairing components, fabricating parts, or creating consumables introduces a dynamic not currently possible in the game. It transforms long-duration missions, deep-space voyages, and hostile-environment expeditions.

How Crafting Evolves Beyond the Preview

While the developers avoided specifics, several future-facing points were made clear:

Crafting will eventually scale upward.
Simple items today; larger components tomorrow. Over time, ships with engineering bays, foundries, or refinery systems will form part of a broader manufacturing hierarchy.

Industrial ships will gain new purpose.
The MISC Hull series, refinery ships, and future industrial hulls will likely gain deeper inclusion as the crafting ecosystem matures.

Base building and outpost systems depend on crafting.
Long-term frontier gameplay practically requires fabrication, resource processing, and component creation.

The crafting preview is not the final system — it is the opening gate.
Everything that comes next will be built on these first experimental tools.

What This Means for the Game’s Future

For the first time, Star Citizen players will be able to produce items from raw or processed materials, closing the loop between resource gathering, engineering, and survival.

It has far-reaching implications:

• Exploration ships can operate independently for longer

• Industrial missions gain depth beyond extraction

• Salvage and refineries feed into fabrication

• Long-range expeditions become more self-sufficient

• Damage and repair systems gain meaningful player agency

Crafting introduces a new pillar of gameplay — one that ties together the practical, economic, and survival layers of the universe.

As always, The Impound continues tracking every confirmed development as Star Citizen’s core systems evolve and new gameplay loops come online.