Windows Star Citizen

Hmm, I don't seem to have it in my available ships - just the Gladius and the Avenger (which I own at the moment). I'll keep the upgrades on my account for the moment and wait until they do a Hornet free flight week before deciding.

On a side note, blooming love these types of kills:

 

Ah, I thought it was in the Arena for everyone... I guess it shows up for me because of my Ghost.
I would have thought that it would have been smart for them to put all of the ships in the Arena so people would fly them and then be encouraged from the experience to buy more ships.

Love how that ship looked like it split perfectly down the middle.

 

They don't want people to buy more ships though, hence REC, coaxes people to play more rather than just buy the ship...

 

I like the Vanguard, but it's something I'll earn in-game. The pricing also seems way off - $250 is the same as the Retaliator cost, despite the Retaliator being about three times the length and multiple times the mass. To my mind, it should be easily <$200 for what is essentially a F7C-M with an upgraded jump drive.

 

Costs at this stage are not really relivent to the final cost ingame. Id imagine alot of the ships we are currently buying for cash will be available for less than a week of ingame trading.

They have to balance the costs ingame vs the amount you can actually earn in a decent amount of time. If the ship costs 10mil credits ingame but you can only earn 1mil a week then that will be a problem. Elite suffers from this problem and the early game before you get a decent trader is in a word unfun ( Elite also suffers from a lack of tutorials and needs you to 3 hours worth of player guides to really get anywhere )

For a game been billed as a MMO where the main objective would appear to be to get one of the big carrier style ships id imagine most of the little ships will be very cheap and obtainable on a very light play schedule to keep the masses entertained.

At the minute they are selling ships for the price they think people will buy them. They set a benchmark price that they could not go below was a problem with the orginal sales of ships. Prices are now been based around that.

The Retaliator is actually a decent price for a ship of its size and is better value than alot of the newer ships that they have added into the game in the last 6-12months. I stopped at the avenger ship as was not really inclined to pay the extra £30 for the hornet.

 

A week? Dream on! (unless you're playing SC as a job...)

The small, single seater ships are likely to be attainable within a week with basic equipment (so anything up to the $80 mark in current pledges, give or take). The bigger stuff, like Constellations and this new Vanguard are more likely to require several weeks of play time to get, and that'll be with a basic loadout. Unlike Elite, I'm getting the impression that your starter ships will at least be feasible small-scale cargo carriers, unlike the Sidewinder which is a waste of time for all involved. If you start with the Aurora all you need to do is add the optional cargo module and you'll be able to turn a decent profit. Sure, not as big as if you were running a Freelancer or Constellation, but enough to not get frustrated. CIG have also indicated that ships will hit a point where a single player is unlikely to be able to afford one and that's where orgs step in. Earning an Idris solo isn't going to happen, basically.

However you did hit upon my point, eventually. The older ships are better value, simple as that.

 

I could melt my Hornet to fund a Vanguard...

 

You could do. According to the Fleet Roster, you have an Avenger, a 325a and a Super Hornet. Those three are all combat focused small ships filling a similar role. I'd be temped to melt the 325a and Super Hornet personally!

 

The 325a is bound to my Bounty Hunter package. If I melt that, it tells me my Alpha Access will also disappear!

If not I would quite happily do what you suggest!

 

So I was gifted a Aurora LN with LTI way back when. I did a cross chasis upgrade to a 300i sometime before the end of 2014.

I understand the 300i is effectively a speedy executive transport.

So does anyone have an recommendations for a combat ship that won't break the bank?

 

Avenger? 325a? Gladius? The Gladius is the most combat-orientated of them all, but equally is the most expensive. Remember to buy in Euros, not GBP.

 

If you want pure combat, I'd pick the Gladius. If you want to be able to trade on the side, then I'd pick the Avenger. I do love the Aegis ships

 

Am I reading this correctly, I could do a cross chasis upgrade from the 300I to a mustang gamma for free:
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/Cross-Chassis-Upgrades/300i-To-Mustang-Gamma-Upgrade

and then do another cross chasis upgrade from the mustang gamma to an avenger for 6 dollars? https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/Cross-Chassis-Upgrades/Mustang-Gamma-To-Avenger-Upgrade

I could be missing something but I don't see many other upgrade paths from the 300i?

 

I thought the Vanguard was expensive when they first listed the price, but its got 2 powerplants, 2 shields, a stack of powerful guns on the nose and a gunner turret, its also got missile hardpoints too.
Yeah, the Retaliator is bigger, has more turrets and the option of the torpedo bay, but its not a 'fighter', its a bomber, it wont exactly be nimble, so it might as well be compared with a Constellation too if we're just comparing to different ships of different prices.

It wont be as nimble as the smaller fighters, but its a proper combat ship with the sort of redundancy features you'd expect in one. Its kinda like a military grade Cutlass.

I think the pricing has been a mess since day 1. The prices werent done to justify the value of the ship, they were done to match various pledge amounts. Its only much later on where they've decided to actually attempted to price out the contents of a ship and what it'd cost to build it in-verse against other ships. If it costs a lot of $$$ to buy, it'll be because it features stuff which makes it more valuable. I dont think theres a 'whats the most we can fleece people for' meetings for new ships.
Its $85 more than a Super-Hornet iirc, you'd get a 325 for that. Nobody thinks the Vanguard would be worth a Super-Hornet + 325 in terms of material costs, components & features? Doesnt sound unreasonable to me... or the 2 people who've said thats what they'd do


On the matter of earning, weeks is a poor measuring stick really, my week could involve 20h of gaming when someone elses could be 10h or 40h. Even hours would still be dependant upon what ship you're in and what you do in those hours (profit stuff, casual stuff, whatever takes your fancy etc) .
I still expect it to take a decent length of time to be able to earn stuff. Unless you're hitting 20-40h weeks, i dont think theres many people who'll play the game for a long period of time who'll want to be earning a stock Constellation in the first week sub-$60 basic starter ships. If you can do that with 4h each day, whats left when you've been playing for 100h, or 1000h? Its not end game, but you dont pass your driving license, buy a Focus, then an 3 series, a Phantom, F458 & Dozer by the time you've turned 21. I dont care if its a game, there still needs to be the feeling of progression and turning a small private start-up into a fleet of ships. Not through 1 life, but gradually being handed down through multiple generations.


@DeckerdBR
Sounds about right. Im pretty sure i had to go Omega > Gamma > Avenger in order to get the Delta, and the first CCU was $0 and the Avenger+Delta was $10 combined, as thats its melt value now.
They really should bin the daft CCU system, and just say what you have, and what you want, and if the price difference is $15 then thats the CCU price. Done. No 4-CCU path nonsense trying to figure it out. Its a bloody mini-game in itself!

 

I did the math and thought it wouldn't come to much more than £60 after getting $165 for the Super Hornet. In exchange I get a Vanguard, lifetime insurance (a first for me), and access to all Hangers. Plus a poster and model.

Reading your post did help me decide, Paul

Chalk off one Super Hornet from the roster! I am in the £2xx pledged club for SC...

 

It works Avenger with a retained LTI. Not bad for £4.50.

 

I look on in envy with my poky Omega... can't scrap it in, can't afford to drop real ££ on anything better...

 

You could upgrade to an Avenger for next to nothing. Don't worry though, I only have one ship too!

 

How? €58 isn't exactly 'next to nothing'... unless the Omega counts as a Gamma for the €5 trade-in/up Plus I think the other gubbinz [beta access etc] are tied to it...

EDIT: Not having a go, just curious how you came to the 'next to nothing'...

 

You can CCU to Gamma for free, then CCU to Avenger for $6 or so.