Squadron 42 - Star Citizen : Wing Commander Style Space Sim

[Ceryndrion]

I really don't understand why some people are getting their knickers in such a twist over the ability to purchase some of the bigger ships with real money..

Do they REALLY think that the Idris is a death spewing hyperfighter with infinite armour? because that would be seriously pants-on-head retarded.

First of all, it costs over a thousand dollars, not exactly easy to buy. Secondly, it takes a TEN MAN crew to fly it properly.

And most of all, its a BIG ship, and big ships have a big problem, and that is little ships.. There is a reason that you never see carriers out on their own, they are always part of a carrier group.. and that is because they are unable to properly defend themselves. I mean seriously, look at those big juicy engines at the back, right out of the firing arc, just slot in back there, and blow that ship to kingdom come.

So people don't like the fact that other people are using real money to buy ships, and want them to 'work' for them.. where do you think they got the money in the first place?

Get down off your high horses, if you can't just enjoy a game without complaining about other people with whom you have had no interaction anyway, then go play solitaire or something..

 

[Imy]

consoles advertise so much because they are appealing to the sofa surfers who likely only find out about most games from friends and tv adverts.

the majority of pc gamers will be browsing forums likes this , youtube or gaming websites all which give you advertising for free

Yes just ignore what the industry actually does on the back of their extensive market research and sales figures and assume everyone is like you and has heard of this game. They should hire you because you've stumbled across something they've never thought of and could save them millions!

Also advertising isn't just aimed at game players - it's also aimed at game buyers. These could be parents, relatives or friends who see an advert for a game and buy it as a gift for someone.

World of Warcraft has over 7 million subscribers and they still spend a fortune on TV adverts and other advertising; quite often just for expansion packs! The portion of the PC gamers market RSI has tapped into so far is still quite small and they will have to use more traditional (and more expensive) forms of advertising later on to reach the rest of the market.

Even though they are a long way off from doing that due to the release date being so far away, they still put plenty time (and therefore expense) into marketing materials (e.g. the brochures) and other marketing initiatives.

There are only three people in my office who know about this game, one of which is me and the other two I told myself. By contrast, everyone has heard of GTA.

Yeah it's the same here and at a mate's office except even the ones I've told are like "space game - meh". We're mostly software developers so are disproportionate in that most of us have PCs capable of playing the latest games at home.

This genre is one of the worst for followers and fans and is the reason why there are so few space games.

If you get time, head over to the stretch goals page and look at the stark difference between $2-6m and $6m+ with regards to what they were aiming to achieve with the extra money.

 

[Devlish]

I really don't understand why some people are getting their knickers in such a twist over the ability to purchase some of the bigger ships with real money..

Do they REALLY think that the Idris is a death spewing hyperfighter with infinite armour? because that would be seriously pants-on-head retarded.

I reckon its because they dont quite understand the concept. They think its like WoW letting you buy uber pvp armour for your level 1 character and no one can tell them different. The whole concept of levels and X being better than Y because he has Z is something im really looking forward to getting away from. Sitting in my freelancer and tooling around the galaxy, doing a little exploration and a little looting without the need to reach that level that gives you the super power... Cant wait.

 

[arknor]

I reckon its because they dont quite understand the concept. They think its like WoW letting you buy uber pvp armour for your level 1 character and no one can tell them different. The whole concept of levels and X being better than Y because he has Z is something im really looking forward to getting away from. Sitting in my freelancer and tooling around the galaxy, doing a little exploration and a little looting without the need to reach that level that gives you the super power... Cant wait.

I don't really have an issue with people buying ships as long as they DO NOT start selling ships in the store which you can not buy in game or putting them in the real money store before you can buy them in game as to me that is an unfair advantage and borderline pay 2 win (no you do not need to tell me there is not one ubership that can one shot everything else which everyone and there dog will be aiming for I already know that isn't the plan)

ship skins on the other hand and anything else purely cosmetic can be pay with real money only as it doesn't bother me and people will likely be able to mod there own skins in anyway

 

[Devlish]

Im pretty sure that is the case EXCEPT for the specials, like the military hornet and I think some alien ships that were apparently limited by virtue of being 'captured'? Theyve got a lot of balancing to do but I cant say im really worried. There will be no ship a group cant take down, which will require a group to protect and then you have a war! 1 vs 1 im expecting it to be about ability for the large part and there seems to always be the option to run! Ill be doing that I think.

 

[Darg]

Anyone else seen this:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ariqrruk80VHdHVMREsxRWkwTXg2Rlc3clE0a3RwaXc#gid=4

Someone put a lot of time into making an automatically updated graph with the latest pledging figures. Pretty interesting!

 

[ttaskmaster]

as long as they DO NOT start selling ships in the store which you can not buy in game or putting them in the real money store before you can buy them in game as to me that is an unfair advantage and borderline pay 2 win

That is pretty much the exact definition of Pay-To-Win, as CR explained in earlier interviews and the exact thing he is working against.

As I understand it - Once the game is launched, there will only be three things in the store you can buy with real money; The game itself, extra character slots ($15) and UECs, with a daily purchase limit and a maximum limit per character account.
Everything else is only bought with in-game UECs. This would mean that even those who buy UECs to start with still have to buy the ship in-game (some of which will cost more than their max purchasable limit) and will still be subject to waiting times, insurances and so forth.

 

[Imy]

You'll be able to buy in-game credits with real money?

Isn't that identical to the pay-to-win setup that's popular in smartphone games these days?

The more money you have in-game, the more ships, more NPC staff, etc.

I hope the limits are quite low.

 

[GiraffePencils]

You'll be able to buy in-game credits with real money?

Isn't that identical to the pay-to-win setup that's popular in smartphone games these days?

The more money you have in-game, the more ships, more NPC staff, etc.

I hope the limits are quite low.

If it's balanced as they plan to you can buy all the ships and npc's as you want and if you're not any good you'll just keep losing than and buying more.

Compared to someone who might only ever get one ship and flies smart and skillfully and never loses it

 

[Devlish]

You'll be able to buy in-game credits with real money?

Isn't that identical to the pay-to-win setup that's popular in smartphone games these days?

The more money you have in-game, the more ships, more NPC staff, etc.

I hope the limits are quite low.

As someone who is cash rich and time poor I hope they limit the amount of hours people who dont pay can play - you know in the interest of fairness and all. *Alternatively* i'd like the ability to buy in-game credits with real money and thereby keep on sponsoring all the spongers who want to do stuff for free and not part with a penny! The choice is yours!

 

[ttaskmaster]

You'll be able to buy in-game credits with real money?
Isn't that identical to the pay-to-win setup that's popular in smartphone games these days?

As mentioned in an earlier post, you can buy SOME in-game credits with real money.
There is a limit on how much you can buy each day.
There is also a limit on how much you can buy in total, for each account you have.
The second limit will likely be enough to buy yourself an Aurora, or perhaps even a 300i, but that is it. The rest will have to be earned in-game like everyone else.

 

[Imy]

If it's balanced as they plan to you can buy all the ships and npc's as you want and if you're not any good you'll just keep losing than and buying more.

Compared to someone who might only ever get one ship and flies smart and skillfully and never loses it

What about comparing a skilled player to a skilled player? Or a not so skilled player to a not so skilled one? i.e. in a like for like comparison where the only difference is one player has spent a lot in real money to buy more ships and in-game credit, he or she is clearly going to have some advantage - bought and paid for.

As someone who is cash rich and time poor I hope they limit the amount of hours people who dont pay can play - you know in the interest of fairness and all. *Alternatively* i'd like the ability to buy in-game credits with real money and thereby keep on sponsoring all the spongers who want to do stuff for free and not part with a penny! The choice is yours!

Haha sponging is not paying lots of real money for in-game currency and ships - nice one. Is it not enough people buy the game anymore?

Wasn't limiting playing hours something that was tried WoW? I don't play it, only vaguely remember reading about it.

Here's a novel idea, how about everyone just pays a fixed amount for the game and plays it as much or as little as they want. Too radical?

 

[GiraffePencils]

As someone who is cash rich and time poor I hope they limit the amount of hours people who dont pay can play - you know in the interest of fairness and all. *Alternatively* i'd like the ability to buy in-game credits with real money and thereby keep on sponsoring all the spongers who want to do stuff for free and not part with a penny! The choice is yours!

It's hardly sponging if everyone paid for the game, and don't want to pay more

But pay to win is only if you can't get the stuff anywhere else, if they buy their super ship and think they're badass they'll meet a guy who earned his ship with hundreds of hours of experience to show them how it should be used

 

[Imy]

As mentioned in an earlier post, you can buy SOME in-game credits with real money.
There is a limit on how much you can buy each day.
There is also a limit on how much you can buy in total, for each account you have.
The second limit will likely be enough to buy yourself an Aurora, or perhaps even a 300i, but that is it. The rest will have to be earned in-game like everyone else.

What are these limits?

Edit: you mean the total amount of credits you'll be able to purchase with real money (over any period of time) will amount to no more than the in-game cost of a 300i?

 

[GiraffePencils]

What about comparing a skilled player to a skilled player? Or a not so skilled player to a not so skilled one? i.e. in a like for like comparison where the only difference is one player has spent a lot in real money to buy more ships and in-game credit, he or she is clearly going to have some advantage - bought and paid for.

yeah, the paid guy can jump right back into flying when the grinder has to go and earn it back, but time is money
It's just how you choose to pay.

 

[Devlish]

Haha sponging is not paying lots of real money for in-game currency and ships - nice one. Is it not enough people buy the game anymore?

Wasn't limiting playing hours something that was tried WoW? I don't play it, only vaguely remember reading about it.

Here's a novel idea, how about everyone just pays a fixed amount for the game and plays it as much or as little as they want. Too radical?

No, not at all... last century. Unfortunately now we have these persistent thingys on which people play on, which make big servers go whirrr and require people to keep on making sure they havent melted. As this game wont have levels you cant sell xp boosts and as they have said they wont be selling ships they have to make money somehow or surprisingly they'll starve to death (or even worse, walk off and feed their family with a paying job). Not good for the running of said servers and people will just get mad when the hamsters die and theyre only able to play the SP game. Can you name a massively multiplayer game with persistent servers which doesnt have a cash shop or a sub?

Mind you, if you want the vanilla experience with no interference from people who want to pay to play (thereby making it possible for those who dont want to pay to play to play on those servers) then you can always pay for your own private server (I belive). In which case youll be forking out what, £35 a month but you wont be paying to win!

Edit - im pretty sure the limiting playing hours thing was in China, due to people dying playing wow for too long. Dont think it worked.

 

[arknor]

£35 a month so they are only renting servers?

 

[GiraffePencils]

I don't really agree with the limits, in any way.
If moneybucks wants to sink 20K into the game, let him.

Doesn't effect me if I can earn everything he has, I'll enjoy my thing, grow attached to them because I earned it, and I like that about a game

 

[arknor]

I don't really agree with the limits, in any way.
If moneybucks wants to sink 20K into the game, let him.

Doesn't effect me if I can earn everything he has, I'll enjoy my thing, grow attached to them because I earned it, and I like that about a game

it's not the individual players we have to worry about it's the individual player buying his alliance ships and stuff.

it ruined eve-online in one of the alliances I was in one guy was spending thousands a month on GTC so we could win wars easily.

there are some incredibly rich gamers out there

 

[Devlish]

£35 a month so they are only renting servers?

No but if you want to run a private server, I should imagine youll be paying around that. The presistent official ones handling more than 64 players might be a *tad* more.

I don't really agree with the limits, in any way.
If moneybucks wants to sink 20K into the game, let him.

Doesn't effect me if I can earn everything he has, I'll enjoy my thing, grow attached to them because I earned it, and I like that about a game

This. You know what, its going to be a 'wow!' moment the first time I see one of those 10 grand ships. Itll probably be in a safe sector and parked for show and ill be taking screenshots like a nut! The more fancy ships in the universe the better.