Getting Started & FAQ

= Getting Started on Galaxy Citizen =​

Galaxy Citizen is a starbound roleplay server. This means that there is no base-building, PvP, PvE, boss battles or overall playing the game “as intended.” Instead, characters and items are used as “props” for text-based roleplay. We have our own lore and interpretation of Starbound's universe and races. Things that are canon in normal starbound are not necessarily canon in GC’s universe, and vice versa.

GC has a lot of lore, and reading it all is not required to join. All the information you need to pass the entry quiz can be obtained by skimming these pages:

• A short summary of the Fringe: https://lore.galactic-citizen.com/astrography/fringe
  
• A short summary of Civspace: https://lore.galactic-citizen.com/factions/civspace
  
• Hyperspace lore: https://lore.galactic-citizen.com/astrography/hyperspace
  
• Lore for all the core species (avians, apex, etc): https://lore.galactic-citizen.com/species

And reading the rules: roleplay guidelines & character consent.

Galaxy Citizen’s server is whitelisted, and you need to pass a short quiz to join. After reading the above, take the quiz here and then follow the instructions on the last page. Staff will then give you a whitelist account for the server.
Joining the discord is recommended, for the purposes of contacting staff and asking questions.

= Frequently Asked Questions =​

Who are the staff members?

On the forums: https://galactic-citizen.com/members/?type=staff
In the discord: Anybody with the Admin, Technician, Moderator or Monitor role. Please do not ask for help from anybody with the Vacation role unless absolutely necessary.


What race/species can my character be?

Any lore or player-created species. Some player-created species require permission to play; ask the player first if you want to play one.
If you want your character to have a unique appearance, they can also be a gene-modded organism or custom android. The page for that is here (scroll down until you see “engineered lifeforms.”) If your character doesn’t fit the limitations of an engineered lifeform, you will need to make a species or tech application. Making a species is time-consuming; it is not recommended you write one for the purposes of playing one character.
Also, please don’t use race mods.


What mods can I use?

Anything that doesn’t add assets to the game. Disallowed mods include Frackin Universe and race mods. Mods that are client-side and marked as “vanilla-compatible” (Starface, Extra Zoom Levels, RP tech mods, Quickbar Mini, Green’s Dye Suite, Optimizebound, etc) are OK. If you aren’t sure about a mod, you can ask in #question-board of the GC discord. Some useful mods are also pinned in #modding-citizen.


How do I make my character look a certain way if I can’t use race mods?

There are multiplayer-compatible ways of changing a character’s appearance:

Custom-sprited hair (can be used for custom heads, advanced hatter will even allow you to include blink animations)
Custom-sprited clothing (can also be used for custom bodies)
LuAnimator (also good for custom bodies)
You can also make recoloured clothing with Green’s Dye Suite.
Confused, or need help spriting? Don't hesitate to ask for help!


What game mode should I select for my character?

Casual. In other game modes your character might starve to death mid-roleplay.


Can I use my survival character in GC?

If you want, but since GC encourages “cheating” (spawning items, using noclip mods) for ease of roleplay, it’s recommended you keep roleplay and survival characters seperate.


Why is spawning items allowed in GC?

In-game items and in-character items are not the same thing. Having an item in your starbound character’s inventory does not mean that character has that item IC. Items and wealth must either be a reasonable amount of resources for your character, or be acquired IC. (See the roleplay guidelines for more on this.)


Where do I go once I’m on server?

Go to your teleporter and you will see a list of public hubs. Please do not travel to random planets on-server; it makes our server generate new worldfiles, which causes bloating and lag.


How do I find people on server?

You can use the !players command in #bot-citizen of our discord. It’ll list who is on-server, and which hub they are on.


When are most people online?

Most of the community lives in North America. Weekend nights in North American timezones (especially EST) are when the server is most active.
However, we do also have members living in Europe, Asia and Australia. If you live in the eastern hemisphere it's recommended you get to know these people and co-ordinate roleplay times.
If nobody is online and you’d still like to roleplay, you can also use discord. There is an IC nexus chat, radio chat and various RP discord servers (found in #discord-list).


How do I get a building onto the server?

Build something on a planet in singleplayer and send its world-file (located in steam/steamapps/common/starbound/universe) to an admin. Do not build it on server! If you do, it will be automatically deleted on the next server restart.


How do I make a hub world?

Build it in singleplayer (the same way as above), ask an admin to list it as a hub, and follow the hub guidelines here. Here are some hub-making tools and resources:
https://galactic-citizen.com/threads/custom-parallaxes.1909/
https://galactic-citizen.com/threads/custom-sprited-signs-furniture.1499/
https://galactic-citizen.com/threads/furniture-recoloring.844/
https://galactic-citizen.com/threads/wedit-101-introduction-to-wedit-and-your-basic-tools.2727/
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1659891504


How do I start a faction?

Follow the faction guidelines here.
Factions need to have players involved before they can be powerful. So, ask around the community and recruit! Post on the forums and Discord! It's very likely someone will be interested in your writing and want to join.


My question isn't answered here, help!

You can ask questions in #question-board of the discord, or in the help center.