BTW I know it's been xplained multiple times but I am still puzzled as to the value of real money purchasing ships when you all seem to have so much money you can buy whatever you want in-game anyway. I guess because when there is a wipe (potentially funds) you can get straight in to the ship you like. Weird to think though that when the game goes live, someone could already have every single ship available.
Yeah. There are definitely people who own multiples of many ships, duplicates of all of them etc. Its not exactly crazy to think there are people with that sort of money to spend, but those who'll happily spend it on gaming is kinda wild to me. I get the big house, the fancy cars, the giant gaudy watch and terrible yet somehow fashionable clothing etc. All that, at multiples of what we're discussing here, kinda makes sense, especially because they're all physical items. Even food & drink, with that lifestyle - i get it. Spending those sums on a PC, or on games, its just a different life. Its 'how many should i buy?', rather than 'can i afford it?'.
Every ship in the game costs about $48-50k bought individually (around 185-190 ships, including variants which have purely cosmetic/skin difference, which IMO shouldnt be considered as a different ship. eg Argo Mole vs 'Carbon Edition' and 'Talus Edition')
I spent what i spent because the concept of star citizen struck a cord and made me want to get behind it, despite not originally being interested in the genre. I like their ambition and their desire to do things with depth and meaning, while most studios pander to a casual audience and try to make everything easy and 10-20hr long because they're just going to bounce from one shiny thing to another. Im fed up of those games. I like games i can sink my teeth into, give me a game i can spend a decade happily ignoring the mediocre AAA titles and only pop out for the worthwhile releases. Whether SC will become that game remains to be seen, but thats what its trying to be.
Currently theres very little point in trying to evaluate things from a min-max PoV, because nothing is particularly balanced but more importantly there are key features that arent properly implemented yet. Armor is a pretty good example, meaning a ship that depends upon heavy armor to survive wont last as long as one that utilises strong shields. So a civilian combat ship can outperform a military based ship.
Outside of combat though there doesnt seem to be that much of a meta yet. In general i think its fair to say the bigger & more expensive ships will be superior to their smaller equivalents, but theres still an argument for smaller ships if thats all the job requires. Like i think a Retaliator re-fitted for cargo would make a good high-value, low quantity transporter. Moving something like gold needs an armoured vehicle, not an 18-wheeler, whereas hauling a ton of raw materials would be the opposite.
Right now, i think the best approach (if possible) is own something that lends itself to the current gameplay loops, and get your preferred ship later on - and ideally buy a stable CCU or 2 for your chosen ship cos in case the price goes up.
I dont know if you're familiar with buying CCUs to basically bank concept ships at their existing price, without paying too much to do so. Its a little complex but not really, and it can also be utilised to great effect to spend less on the ships you want. Although typically its the ships in the $150-200 price range that start to see the benefits. Events like IAE are one of the best times for these discounts as theres one each day.
The spaceport landing zone/hangars is in the illuminated rectangle in front of the massive sloped building.
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