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#4109332 - 04/20/15 11:05 PM Confused about SC  
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- Ice Offline
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Can someone tell me what is up with SC? Particularly with the pricing --- some ships sell at $36, $54, and so on with packages going up into thousands of $$$. Is this becoming a "pay-to-win" game? The same thing happened in MWO --- oh, you like this mech and that mech and that mech? It'll be $50 per mech or if you want the whole package, it's $500! We'll even throw in this gold-plated mech for free! (or something like that)

Also, what's the current status of the game? What exactly can you do in Arena Commander? Has anyone flew their ships yet or did some pew-pew with it?

I really like some of the ship designs in SC but I cannot wrap my head around the pricing system. In Elite, it was one price for pre-orders and you got the game and a free Eagle ship, it was another price for getting the game after release and no freebie ship, and that was it. Not one price for a Sidewinder, another price for an Eagle, and certainly not a "oh, you want to start the game with an Anaconda and a Type-9 and a Python? That'll be $300 for this game please!"


- Ice
#4109346 - 04/21/15 12:04 AM Re: Confused about SC [Re: - Ice]  
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Sure, the purchase allows ships in day one access, but those of us who bought the cheapest will still be able to get those nicer ships through gameplay. I like the idea- because it ensures variety and a great player environment on day one of release, instead of everyone trying to do the same thing to advance. There appear to a number of guilds and I would like it if those of us here could have a SimHQ one.

I just purchased and yes it looks like Arena Commander is all you can do ATM. It's useful for discovery tactics and practicing run and gun and using the environment to your advantage. SO far there isn't a startup/shutdown procedure that I'm aware of, just the AC thing. I'm excited for planetside and the FPS as well. Those should be awesome. The PU I think will push the release date far into 2017 as its requirements will be the most demanding- FYI fleet vs fleet battles, with multiple crewed cap ships and their fighters attacking one another. Rest assured that those who have purchased ships above the hornet haven't been able to fly them yet, so they really have nothing more than a pre-order for something they have idea how to use. I doubt it will be an unfair advantage.

#4109353 - 04/21/15 12:22 AM Re: Confused about SC [Re: - Ice]  
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Dr Meltdown Offline
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Thanks Turkeydriver,
I was also curious about the pre purchase incentives. Your explanation is clear and simple. If it was spelled out on the SC website, I couldn't find it either.
Seems like a big leap of faith at the prices they're asking.


-Dr Meltdown
#4109383 - 04/21/15 02:23 AM Re: Confused about SC [Re: - Ice]  
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I think everyone wants a Vanguard but there isn't any way to use it yet. I just want a universe to fly in. I'm pretty sure they don't send a million warnings out first because they don't want to discourage participation. It is in Alpha form right now, not even Beta, and there is a long way to go. But the engine is amazing, and the physics are something I'm learning to appreciate.

#4109594 - 04/21/15 01:40 PM Re: Confused about SC [Re: - Ice]  
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It works like this Ice. The game costs 45 dollars. Aurora Starter package and Mustang Starter Package

That is all you need to play. Right now you can earn in game money and use that money to buy just about everything available in game. You earn money for playing PvP, Racing or Coop as long as you are playing in a public match.

There are TONS of EXTREMELY expensive things you can buy with real money. Most of them are not even in the game yet. They are priced extremely high to discourage people from buying them. They are more for funding the game than for anything else. Each time they release a new ship they allow the community to buy it. It starts with a concept sale where you are buying the ship with nothing more than a picture and some stats. Then they put it on sale again when it is in the hangar and you can walk around it. Finally there is a third sale when the ship becomes flyable. They do incentivize buying the ship early by giving you lifetime insurance with the concept sale and raising the price by about 10% every subsequent sale.

Again though, you absolutely dont have to buy anything with real money. When the most recent ship came out (the gladiator) I bought it the same day it came out with in game REC. I didnt spend a single real world dime on it and I have been enjoying flying it in coop.

Keep in mind that they have 300 employees and making the ships has little to no effect on the speed at which the game is made. They still have to build the game engine using entirely different employees than the ones used as artists to make the ships. But the ship sales are funding the game 95% at this point.

The company has over 300 employees. At 25k-30k (this is basically minimum wage most places) a year that is 9 million alone. But I bet it is more like 15 million. The game has been in dev for 3 years and is sitting at just under 80 million in public funding. So of that 80 million we know they have already spent at least 36m but probably more like 45m to get to this point right now. That leave 35-44m which they also had to buy equipment, rent building space, rent server host for their website and for the game servers and no doubt a bunch of other expenses. If they stopped selling the all the extra ships right now they would probably have enough money to fund the game until release but there is no point in it. The internet is full of stupid people willing to pay high prices for imaginary space ships. Just dont be one of those people and stick with the starter package. You can earn everything in game anyways.

Last edited by Master; 04/21/15 01:42 PM.
#4109653 - 04/21/15 04:21 PM Re: Confused about SC [Re: - Ice]  
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Originally Posted By: - Ice

Also, what's the current status of the game? What exactly can you do in Arena Commander? Has anyone flew their ships yet or did some pew-pew with it?

There have been 2 releases so far - The hangar module ( you get to walk around your hanger and look at the ships you have purchased ) and the Arena Commander module that allows you to fight or just fly around in your ship ( dependent on if its been released yet ) against either AI ( Vanduul Swarm / Free Flight / Race Track ) or against real players ( Capture the core, Squadron Battle, Battle Royale, Race, Free Flight, CoOp Vanduul Swarm ).

There is a FPS module that "should" be released shortly.

I may have got this wrong as I'm apparently one of those "stupid people", as I have chosen to support the game and have bought 2 Ships, so get confused easily these days...

Last edited by Ratcatcher; 04/21/15 04:25 PM.
#4111865 - 04/26/15 12:12 AM Re: Confused about SC [Re: - Ice]  
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So PvP and racing and coop (what exactly do you do in coop?) are available to do now?


- Ice
#4112034 - 04/26/15 03:49 PM Re: Confused about SC [Re: - Ice]  
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Yeah and it still feels extremely arcadey compared with Elite.

#4112046 - 04/26/15 04:25 PM Re: Confused about SC [Re: Mr_Blastman]  
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I'm not trying to be argumentative...I'm just curious what you feel is 'extremely arcadey'. I'm currently playing ED and I pop in to try out SC from time to time, but when I think of 'arcadey', games like Crimson Skies come to mind (which I loved btw).

Again, NOT looking to get anyone's 'dander' up...just curious on your perspective.


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#4112214 - 04/27/15 04:33 AM Re: Confused about SC [Re: - Ice]  
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I'm not sure why the current version of Star Citizen would be perceived as more arcade-ish than E:D. I own both and I would put the gameplay at a similar level (ie you have control over a number of things such as shutting down flight assist, etc). So far we have only seen fighter sized ships in SC and I quite like the way they handle now (it has changed since the initial release of Arena Commander) and it certainly has the sort of feel I expected from the successor of Wing Commander. It's hard to tell more than superficially though because there isn't much to do in Arena Commander right now and the range of enemies is limited.

#4112224 - 04/27/15 06:04 AM Re: Confused about SC [Re: - Ice]  
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Originally Posted By: - Ice
So PvP and racing and coop (what exactly do you do in coop?) are available to do now?


Co-op is currently available in the vanduul game mode, I.e instead of flying with ( useless ) a.i wingmen you fly with other players. It's actually pretty good and I think a good preview of the potential this game will have in regard to playing with friends/teammates. Yes they are available now.

Arcadey??? I too have both games and certainly wouldn't describe SC as arcadey. The controls/targeting modes/ HUD's are all pretty complex and you can do pretty much what you want with the ships. The other poster may be referring to how mouse and keyboard controls are currently set up and flight controls seems to be biased towards them as opposed to joysticks, but that's an on ongoing balancing issue which hopefully will continue to be tweaked.

Personal opinions are.... Err... Personal. Some people like certain games, others don't. Personally I prefer the flight dynamics in SC more than Elite.

#4112234 - 04/27/15 07:58 AM Re: Confused about SC [Re: - Ice]  
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Granted that I only own ED (but watched a lot of SC Youtube stuff), I must admit that for me it's a problem of perception.

What I read about SC lead me to think that the underlying simulation is far more complex than ED.
But there's the factor that offset the perception- the higher turn rate on the six axis...

That alone gives off the false feeling that it's a point and shoot (i.e.: turrets in space), while there's actually A LOT going on with thrusters and whatnot.

As usual is expectation vs reality that makes or breaks a game.
While I prefer how Frontier is handling the flying gameplay there's no denying that SC is shaping up well.


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#4113253 - 04/29/15 02:16 PM Re: Confused about SC [Re: Master]  
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Originally Posted By: Master
Right now you can earn in game money and use that money to buy just about everything available in game. You earn money for playing PvP, Racing or Coop as long as you are playing in a public match.

<snip!>

You can earn everything in game anyways.


I'm guessing you meant earning REC and using that to buy ships/modules.... you forgot to mention that they are not "bought" but rather "rented" for 7 24-hour periods, is this correct? Or were you referring to something else?


- Ice
#4113286 - 04/29/15 03:31 PM Re: Confused about SC [Re: - Ice]  
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Yes I was referring to REC and you do only rent them for 7 days but it is actually 14 12hr periods. Also once your rental is up you can rerent it with a discount.

It is pretty easy to earn REC in game though so unless you are renting the most expensive ship you should be able to generate enough money to rent again by the time the week is up.

I do wish they would switch them to 4hr blocks instead though. No one plays for 12hrs... hell even 4hrs would be wasting time.

Last edited by Master; 04/29/15 03:32 PM.
#4113289 - 04/29/15 03:40 PM Re: Confused about SC [Re: - Ice]  
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Ah, it is 12-hour blocks? IMHO that's at least better than 24-hour blocks...


- Ice

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