The Ultimate Guide to Becoming Star Citizen's Gray Man
The Ultimate Guide to Becoming Star Citizen's Gray Man
The gray man. Overlooked, unnoticed, and easily forgotten. Whether an agent of good or a threat to it, every clandestine actor strives to be these three things. The success of their mission—and continued survival—often depends on an ability to move freely, strike without notice, and escape into obscurity.
Becoming a gray man, gray woman, or more appropriately a gray Citizen is to employ a method of personal camouflage and disguise that can be used to blend in with the game’s population of non-player characters (NPC).
There are various situations in which you may not want to draw attention to yourself. If it’s obvious that you have useful, expensive, or unique items and clothing, other players may want to take them from you. If you appear at an in-game event wearing heavy armor with various weapons dangling from it, you might attract a level of attention from security contractors that you don’t want.
Fortunately, it isn’t hard to become the gray man in Star Citizen.
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Key takeaways
The Gray Citizen mimics NPC behavior and appearance to blend in with the NPC population and avoid unwanted attention from other players.
Choosing clothing items that have enough capacity to store essential items such as weapons, tools, and medical supplies while remaining inconspicuous is critical.
A mission kit is a set of items tailored to the specific objectives of the Gray Citizen, and which can be supplemented by an everyday carry (EDC) kit.
There are some items that should always be part of your EDC kit, such as a MedPen, a knife, and a cryptokey.
Player and NPC ethologies compared
Think of how NPCs act in the game. What do NPCs do? They often walk slowly, usually following a rigid path. Their changes of direction can either be sharp or gradual, but the turn is always smooth. In many cases, their foot travel is performed in a series of blocks: first, they go from point A to point B; then they turn; then they go from point B to point C. These behaviors are part of the baseline that forms NPC ethology.
Now think of how players act in the game. What do player characters do? Instead of walking, they run. They strafe and weave around objects, and tend to choose the path of least resistance to get to their destination. Rather than using head movement by holding “Z”, players turn their characters’ whole bodies when they want to look at something.
All of these things, sudden movement, sweeping motion, sprinting, jumping, even the very path you take to your objective—all of it attracts attention from other players. To be the gray Citizen, you do the opposite. You move at a deliberate pace. You act and react in a way that players expect of an NPC. You blend in.
So pay attention to the baseline with every patch. Spend some time in your intended area of operation, and take note of NPC ethnology. Observe the way they dress, and follow them around to get a feel for how they move and where they move to. Note the type of clothing they wear and the frequencies of colors. Do they perform any actions that you can mimic with an emote? These repeated patterns are the baseline—they’re behaviors and aesthetics that you want to match.
Last but not least, don’t be afraid to exploit any buggy behavior, such as standing on a bench to get a better vantage point to surveil your objective.
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Every day carry capacity
In your goal to become the gray Citizen, you’ll need to assemble a mission kit—items that will help you achieve your objectives. But before you can do that, you need to first determine how much total capacity you can carry.
Because the vast majority of non-hostile NPCs wear clothing rather than undersuits and armor, that’s the type of gear we’ll be focusing on in this article.
Jackets, legwear, and jumpsuits can all carry varying amounts of items. The measurement used to determine carrying capacity is the micro standard cargo unit (μSCU). Most jackets have a capacity range between 1,000 and 3,000 μSCU. However, some jackets like the IndVest can carry up to 10,000 μSCU. Meanwhile, legwear can carry between 500 and 4,000 μSCU. High-fashion legwear carries less than casual legwear. Work-styled legwear has an even higher capacity.
While jumpsuits—and interestingly enough, medical gowns—can carry 400 μSCU, it’s important to note that they’re similar to undersuits in that they count as a single clothing item across your entire body (except for the head). That makes jumpsuits impractical for most situations. Even going jacketless with some legwear would serve you better by increasing your carrying capacity to 500 μSCU or more. Still, 400 μSCU is more than enough to carry a knife or a couple of MedPens.
Skellig and WorkLife are two manufacturers that make 2,000 μSCU-capacity legwear that blends in with a majority of NPC populations. Their roominess allows for a variety of item combinations. At this capacity, legwear can conceal a multi-tool, a loaded and modded pistol, or a pair of grenades, all while still having room for a knife, a MedPen, or some food and other items.
Everything done properly and in order
When storing items, there’s an appropriate order to do so. Items that are the most essential to your immediate survival should be stored in legwear. Non-essential and disposable items should be stored in your jacket.
This is because if you need to change your appearance quickly—say, to evade detection or effect an escape after being made—the easiest way to do so is to discard your jacket. In doing this, individuals on the lookout for an actor in tan pants and a black jacket will be less likely to recognize that the actor in a yellow shirt is the very same Citizen that’s being sought.
By making sure that the least essential items are stored in the jacket, nothing of practical value is lost in the event it’s discarded.
At the very least, a knife (230 μSCU) and MedPen (180 μSCU) should always be concealed in your legwear. If there’s room to spare, a pistol (1100 μSCU) should be kept there, too. Grenades, food, extra supplies, and other non-essentials can be stored in the jacket if there’s no room left in legwear. Of course, modifications may be made to this advice; a gray Citizen’s objectives will determine what his or her most essential items are.
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Every day carry advice
Once you’ve determined how much you can carry and how to prioritize item storage, it’s time to create your “everyday carry” or EDC. The EDC will serve as a supplemental package to your mission kit. As the name suggests, it should be composed of any items that you would need regardless of what your mission objectives are.
First and foremost, your EDC should always start with a MedPen. Accidental injuries can happen even outside of combat, so it’s a good idea to always keep one on you at all times. As already stated, the other essential item to have on you at all times is a knife. Every operator needs one. Not only is a knife a lethal weapon that never runs out of ammunition, but it’s also capable of a one-hit-kill when performing a takedown. Together, these two items take up no more than 410 μSCU.
If you’d like to learn more about effective knife fighting techniques, you can read The Doctrine’s guide to knife fighting in Star Citizen:
You may also want to incorporate a cryptokey (140 μSCU) into your EDC.
Beyond that, pistols and utility items like the Multi-Tool should always be modded to your preference and preloaded with ammunition before being concealed on you. Take note that items equipped with attachments currently don’t take up any more volume than they would if they didn’t have those attachments equipped. While this makes sense for ammunition, batteries, and Multi-Tool attachments, it may be a bug regarding optics, barrel attachments, and underbarrel attachments. In any case, it’s wise to mod and preload pistols and utility items before storing them in your jacket or legwear.
Additional reading for the gray Citizen
On your journey to becoming the most effective gray Citizen you can be, it may be helpful to brush up on personal combat techniques. Read The Doctrine’s unarmed melee combat guide to make sure you’re lethal even without a weapon:
