Salvage is the most beginner-friendly money loop in Star Citizen Alpha 4.10.0 "Siege of Orison" (build 4.10.0-LIVE.12519617, live since 2026-08-26): you strip material off wrecked ships, box it up, and sell it for a flat, published price. Unlike hauling, you risk almost no capital — you are not buying cargo that a server crash can vaporize — and unlike bounties, you do not need a fat reputation grind before the good contracts unlock. This guide covers exactly how salvage works in the live 4.10 build, which ships to use, where Recycled Material Composite (RMC) sells for the most today, and the bugs that eat your profit if you are not careful.
Quick answer: In Alpha 4.10, you make aUEC by Hull Scraping wrecks into Recycled Material Composite (RMC) and selling it at a Trade & Development Division (TDD) counter. As of 2026-09-02, RMC sells highest in Pyro at 7,700 aUEC/unit (Endgame, Patch City, Starlight Service); in Stanton the best sell point is the Orison – Cloudview Center TDD at 7,100, with Lorville's CBD at 6,800. A solo Drake Vulture is the cheapest way in; a crewed Aegis Reclaimer scales it up. Everything you earn is aUEC, which can be wiped at any patch with no reimbursement, so cash out and re-invest rather than hoarding a balance.
Everything below is verified against the Star Citizen Wiki Salvage page, the RMC commodity page (price data stamped 2026-09-03, version 4.10.0), and the Alpha 4.10.0 patch notes. Star Citizen is still in alpha — CIG rebalances the economy nearly every patch, so re-check the in-game trade terminal and the official patch notes before you treat any number as gospel.
How does salvage work in Star Citizen?
Salvaging is the process of locating mechanical debris and abandoned or destroyed vehicles and turning them into sellable material. There are three ways to profit from a wreck, and most sessions use the first two:
- Hull Scraping — you run a scraper beam across a ship's outer hull and peel it into Recycled Material Composite (RMC), the low-tier salvage commodity. This is the bread-and-butter loop.
- Structural Salvage — you fracture the stripped hull and disintegrate it into Construction Materials, a second commodity, using a dedicated salvage ship's tools.
- Component and cargo salvage — you strip detachable components (weapons, coolers, power plants) and loose cargo off the wreck and sell those separately.
Salvage mechanics have been implemented since Alpha 3.22.0 and carried forward into 4.10. The core loop is: find a wreck → make sure you are allowed to salvage it → scrape it into RMC → fly the RMC to an Admin or Trade & Development Division terminal → sell.
The "Gamerules" rule — do not skip this
Destroyed vehicles can be salvaged immediately. Intact abandoned vehicles should be scanned first to check ownership. If the scan lists the owner as "Gamerules", the original owner has already claimed a fresh copy of that ship, so it is abandoned and safe to salvage. If it still shows a player name, scraping it can flag you as committing a crime.
There is a second catch: an abandoned intact ship may still have its shields and power on, which blocks Hull Scraping entirely. The clean fix is to deal Distortion damage — for example with Suckerpunch Cannons — to power the ship down without blowing it up, then scrape it safely.
Best salvage ships in Alpha 4.10
You do not strictly need a salvage ship to start. The cheapest entry point is a hand tool: the Pyro RYT Multi-Tool with the Cambio-Lite SRT Attachment lets you hull-scrape on foot, storing RMC in a canister you can sell or use for repairs. It is slow and low-volume, but it costs almost nothing and teaches you the mechanic.
For real throughput, you want a dedicated salvage hull:
- Drake Vulture — the solo salvager. One pilot can find a wreck, scrape it, and store RMC in the ship's internal grid without any crew. This is the standard "I want to make aUEC salvaging alone" answer in 4.10.
- Aegis Reclaimer — the industrial option. Much larger, multi-crew, with a claw and disintegrator for structural salvage and far more storage. It shines when you have a friend or two and a field of wrecks to work through; it is overkill and clumsy for a solo run.
Both ships mount scraper modules, and the module choice changes your yield:
- Greycat Abrade — average area of effect and RMC yield; the reliable all-rounder and the most-used scraper in the 'verse.
- Greycat Cinch — a small, focused beam with higher extraction rate: slower per pass, but more total RMC off a hull.
- Greycat Trawler — a large area of effect for speed, but heat burns off more material, so lower total RMC. Use it when the job rewards speed over efficiency.
A common setup is Abrade for general work, swapping to Cinch when you want to squeeze maximum RMC out of a valuable hull.
Buying the ship in-game vs. pledging: you can acquire a Vulture or Reclaimer two completely separate ways. In-game with aUEC at ship shops, or rented at a rental terminal with aUEC — but a full wipe (like the one in Alpha 4.8) can strip in-game-acquired ships. A pledge bought with real money on the RSI store is account-bound and survives wipes. Never quote a pledge price from a wiki or reseller — CIG changes store prices and sale states constantly. Check the RSI store directly.
Where to sell RMC for the most aUEC (Alpha 4.10)
RMC is sold at Trade & Development Division (TDD) counters and some CBD/commodity terminals — not at every Admin office (many Admin offices only sell RMC to you at 7,587, which is a buy price, not a payout). Prices drift with balance patches, so these sell points are stamped to the live 4.10.0 economy as of 2026-09-02 (Pyro) and 2026-08-31 (Stanton TDDs), pulled from the RMC commodity page:
| Sell location | System | Sell price (aUEC / unit) |
|---|---|---|
| Admin – Endgame | Pyro | 7,700 |
| Admin – Patch City | Pyro | 7,700 |
| Admin – Starlight Service | Pyro | 7,700 |
| Admin – Ruin Station | Pyro | 7,200 |
| TDD – Cloudview Center, Orison | Stanton | 7,100 |
| CBD – Lorville | Stanton | 6,800 |
| TDD – Commons, New Babbage | Stanton | 6,000 |
Two takeaways: Pyro pays the most (up to 7,700 per unit), but Pyro is more dangerous to fly through, so the extra ~600–900 aUEC/unit over Stanton is effectively a risk premium. If you stay in the safer Stanton system, the Orison – Cloudview Center TDD at 7,100 beats Lorville's CBD (6,800) and New Babbage's TDD (6,000). Watch the direction of the number in-game: a terminal showing 7,587 is usually a buy price (the game selling RMC to you), not a payout.
Because these are flat published prices, salvage income is predictable: your earnings scale directly with how much RMC you can scrape and carry per trip, and how few units you waste to heat or bugs.
How much aUEC can you make salvaging?
There is no honest single number — it depends on your ship's storage, how dense the wrecks are, and whether you hit bugs. What is verifiable is the per-unit sell price above and the loop structure. A few grounded points instead of a fake "X million per hour" claim:
- Contract bonuses stack on top of raw RMC. Ship-salvage contracts pay no upfront fee to start, and if a wreck is "sufficiently salvaged" (enough hull stripped or the ship fractured) or towed far enough from its spawn, you get an additional payment on top of the material. A timer eventually spawns security forces, so work efficiently.
- Scraper choice is a real multiplier. Swapping Trawler (fast, lossy) for Cinch (slow, high-yield) meaningfully changes RMC per hull.
- Capital risk is near-zero, which is salvage's whole pitch versus hauling: you are selling material you pulled off free wrecks, not cargo you paid for that a 30k can delete.
Treat any "salvage aUEC/hour" figure you see on vendor blogs as a lead to test, not a fact — those sites are frequently wrong and they change with every patch.
The bugs that eat your salvage profit
Salvage is stable, but the 4.10 economy is a work in progress, and players routinely lose yield to bugs — one r/StarCitizen player this week reported spending six hours mining and keeping only 6 pieces of ore after bugs wiped the rest. The same class of problem hits salvage. Protect your run:
- Consumables, loose cargo and refinery jobs can be lost on a version change or crash. Long Term Persistence in 4.10 protects earned aUEC and in-game-acquired ships, but loose RMC in your grid is not guaranteed across a hard crash. Sell before you log for the night.
- A 30k (Error Code 30000) is a general timeout, not your PC. If you disconnect mid-run, fully close the client before reconnecting. See our Star Citizen 30k and connection error fix guide for the full list.
- Cash out, do not hoard. aUEC is explicitly wipeable test currency — CIG's own wiki states it "can be wiped at any point" and that players cannot be reimbursed for aUEC lost to a crash or bug. Re-invest it into ships, components and rentals rather than sitting on a balance a full wipe could zero.
Is buying aUEC a shortcut? Read this first
Search "make aUEC fast" and you will hit sites selling aUEC or account boosts. Understand the risk before you touch them: RSI's Terms of Service explicitly prohibit it. The ToS Rules of Conduct ban "gathering in-game virtual, items or resources for sale outside the Game," "performing in-game services in exchange for payment outside the Game, e.g., power-leveling," and selling or transferring your RSI account. Advertising such a sale — on RSI or on a third-party site — is itself a listed violation, and penalties are at RSI's discretion, up to account termination with no compensation. Since aUEC gets wiped anyway, paying real money for a wipeable balance is a bad trade twice over. The safe, sanctioned path is the in-game loop this guide describes.
FAQ
What is the best way to make aUEC salvaging in Alpha 4.10? Hull-scrape wrecks into Recycled Material Composite (RMC) and sell it at a Trade & Development Division counter. As of 2026-09-02, RMC pays the most in Pyro at about 7,700 aUEC/unit (Endgame, Patch City, Starlight Service); in Stanton the best sell point is the Orison Cloudview TDD at 7,100. A solo Drake Vulture is the standard starter ship; a crewed Aegis Reclaimer scales it up.
Do I need a salvage ship, or can I salvage on foot? You can start on foot with the Pyro RYT Multi-Tool and the Cambio-Lite SRT Attachment, which lets you hull-scrape and store RMC in a canister. It is slow and low-volume, so it is best for learning the mechanic before you invest in a Drake Vulture or Aegis Reclaimer.
How do I know if a ship is legal to salvage? Destroyed vehicles are fair game. Scan an intact abandoned ship first — if the owner reads as "Gamerules," the original owner has claimed a new copy and it is safe to salvage. If it still shows a player name, scraping it can flag you for a crime. Shielded intact ships must be powered down first, which you can do with Distortion damage.
Where does RMC sell for the most? In the live 4.10 build, Pyro sell points (Endgame, Patch City, Starlight Service) pay the most at around 7,700 aUEC/unit, but Pyro is riskier to reach. In safer Stanton, the Orison Cloudview Center TDD at 7,100 is the top payout, ahead of Lorville's CBD at 6,800. A terminal showing 7,587 is usually a buy price, not a payout.
Can my salvaged aUEC be wiped? Yes. aUEC is test currency and, per CIG's own documentation, can be wiped at any point with no reimbursement — Alpha 4.8 in May 2026 was a full wipe. Pledged (real-money) ships and account items are safe, but in-game-acquired ships and your aUEC balance are at risk in a full wipe. Spend and re-invest rather than hoard.
Which scraper module should I use? The Greycat Abrade is the reliable all-rounder. Switch to the Cinch for higher total RMC off valuable hulls (slower per pass), or the Trawler when you need speed and can accept lower yield from heat burn-off.
Keep grinding smarter
Salvage is the lowest-risk aUEC loop in Alpha 4.10 because the sell prices are flat and published, and you never buy the cargo you sell. Pair it with the current patch's other loops when you want variety — see our guides on making aUEC fast in Star Citizen, bounty hunting, and the best mining ship. And if a disconnect kills a run, our 30k and connection error fixes get you back in fast. Just remember the golden rule of alpha: cash out, because the balance is never permanent.
