What is Jumptown? In 2019, the Star Citizen community discovered a lucrative drug lab on the surface of Crusader’s moon Yela. What followed was completely unplanned, and surprised everyone - including our development team.
Tens of thousands of players flocked to the outpost, with split motives in mind – eager outlaws and less-than-scrupulous organizations rushed to acquire and sell this newfound illicit treasure trove at any cost, while more lawful groups chose to lock down the station in a bid to prevent further criminal activity.
This clash resulted in a perpetual tug-of-war between far-flung factions and home-grown heroes over control of the outpost. You never knew what you’d find when approaching Jumptown, which only the most dedicated could locate, since it wasn’t easily pin-pointed on standard-issue maps.
These events were so profound, they ended up becoming official canon in Star Citizen’s lore – a prime example of player actions shaping the future of the ‘verse forever.
For a detailed journey through the events of the original Jumptown wars, check out the community-produced documentary by TheAstroPub below. Originally released in Star Citizen Alpha 3.16, this dynamic event is inspired by the original Jumptown wars. Challenging you to weigh risk against reward like never before, you’ll battle it out in a familiar, yet entirely new experience.
Read on for more details about what to expect, and be sure to outfit your force for the impending mayhem.
What Side of the Law Are You On? This Dynamic Event can be undertaken by either lawful or unlawful players. The mission itself plays out the same regardless of which path you take, with a few key differences.
To take the lawful path, be sure you have a CrimeStat of zero and then accept the mission from Crusader Security. The drug boxes you collect at the mission site will need to be taken to the closest LEO port. For example, if the mission is taking place at Jumptown, you would take your haul to Port Olisar.
On the lawful path, if you successfully delivery at least one run of contraband back to the LEO port, you will receive an aUEC bonus on top of the price of the drugs you deliver.
To take the unlawful path, you must have a CrimeStat of any level and accept the mission from Ruto. To do this you will need to have a non-negative affinity with the mission giver. Ruto knows how valuable this intel is, so he also asks a buy-in for the mission.
On this path, all contraband must be taken to Grim HEX to be sold off, regardless of where the mission is taking place. The unlawful path will provide a bonus to the price of each successfully delivered drug box.
Updated Drug Lab Location The Jumptown drug lab has seen many a battle. So many in fact, that the proprietors decided to fortify the building considerably. Featuring new cover options, hiding spots, and roof emplacements, there are plenty of ways to infiltrate the lab and seize its bounty.
Multiple Points of Contention The smugglers of Stanton are getting wiser, rotating the locations of their automated drug-production operations. Jumptown is but one of these facilities, so keep an eye on your mission manager for the up-to-date locations.
Physicalized Boxes SCU containers are bulky and conspicuous, word around the system is the local scum have started to transport their contraband in far smaller parcels. Be sure to bring a Multi-Tool with a tractor-beam attachment.
How do I get started? Accept the Mission Fly to the Lab Grab the Contraband Accept the Mission Open the Mission Manager in your mobiGlas and navigate to the Priority category, either under the General tab for the lawful path or Personal for unlawful. This will give you both the coordinates of the drug lab and where to sell the packages.
Fly to the Lab The drug lab will be marked on your HUD and the Starmap. It may be in Crusader, microTech, or ArcCorp space. If you're on the lawful path, you'll be taking the drugs to the corresponding LEO stations (Port Olisar, Port Tressler, and Baijini Point, respectively), which will also be marked on your HUD. If on the unlawful path, you'll be traveling to Grim HEX for your payout.
Grab the Contraband Once you arrive at the lab, your goal is to find the drug spawner inside (pictured here). This device will pump out one box of contraband every 30 seconds. This timer doesn't start until you grab the previous box, so you'll have to hold your position against anyone else looking for the same payday if you want to maximize your earnings.