Buying the full Star Citizen Game
A game package is required to play.
the Aurora MR and the Mustang Alpha packages give you access to the game, arena commander, squadron 42, self-land hangar 1000 UEC and 3 months warranty.
purchasing the Aurora LN will give you the same access as the other two listed but with a different spacecraft.
any ship package looks to give you access to the game and Squadron 42 but only some give you access to Arena commander.
Requirements for Arena commander from Roberts space industries
What do I need to access Arena Commander?
To access Arena Commander one will need an RSI account and a pledge package which includes a ship, some credits and access to the full game. Specific access to the Arena Commander is also required, in the form of an Alpha Slot, or the Arena Commander Access Pass which can be bought here.
And to answer your comment only selected ships are allowed to fly in arena commander?
What ships will I be able to fly in Arena Commander?
Arena Commander currently includes the Aurora, 300, Mustang and Hornet series, including all released variants. Additionally, the M50, Gladius, Gladiator, Avenger and Cutlass Black are available for flight today. If I have a variant (Cutlass Blue, Cutlass Red…) can I still fly?
When a ship variant is unavailable, the purchase will give you access to the base model in Arena Commander until your ship is ready for flight.
cheers
"does every ship purchase give access to the full game?"
No, Some are there to be added to an existing package and as such are cheaper, if it doesn't have "GAME PACKAGE" near the ship name then check the description. The easiest way is to head to the RSI homepage, "Store" and select the "Game Packages" option from the dropdown menu. The game packages start at US$45 and, until 14th Feb, will include Both games and at least 1 starting ship, after that, Squadron 42 (The single player game) and Star Citizen (MMO) will be sold as seperate packages (And most likely cost a bit more than you'd pay currently, but nothing official has been said about that pricing yet). - Towards the end of last year, they did away with module restrictions, so if you buy a game package now, you get access to everything that has been released for testing. So you'll currently get access to "Arena Commander" "Social" (sometimes referred to as planetside or artcorp) and the mini PU (aka crusader); Am guessing but would say that the "Everything you need to access Arena Commander" is a tagline from before the restrictions were lifted.
If your ship is not not flight ready yet, a similar type of ship will be made available to fly until it is.
If you're not sure about it and have some bandwidth to kill (The alpha is 30-35gb), there is a free fly week that ends on the 8th to give it a test. Otherwise browse some Youtube videos, there are a lot.
Below is advice if you intend to buy the game:
Before you buy anything, make sure your account used a referral code when signing up as this'll give you 5,000 UEC to play with. If you didn't, make a new account using this link: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/enlist?referral=STAR-WTLN-9B3S
Currently, until the 15th of February if you buy any package you'll receive access to the Alpha, the Beta, the MMO itself and Squadron 52 (Which is the single player campaign) After the 15th of February you'll have to buy Squadron 52 separately.
To buy star citizen, you have to select a package. The cheapest packages are these:
Aurora LN: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/Packages/Aurora-LN
The Aurora LN is the best package for your money.