Spending $300 on an Internet Spaceship

[SacremPyrobolum]

Hello Everyone!

I have recently (yes, late, I know) become interested in purhcasing my way into a little indie project called Star Citizen. Perhaps you have heard of it. Anyways, I was looking at how I could buy my way in and found that all my Han Solo fantasies could be achieved for a mere donation of $300 to purchase the Constellation Aquilla pack.

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/Packages/Constellation-Aquila

Now, since I might spend so much on this particular internet spaceship, I want to be sure that 1) it is worth it and 2) that I won't get ganked and lose it right out of the gate. This community isn't as cutthroat as EVE, is it? I just want to map star systems on the edge of the galaxy in peace!

What do you think?

 

[BloatedGuppy]

That is just crazy money. Why, for $300 I bet you could buy a REAL spaceship.

Give or take a bit, maybe.

 

[Danny Dowling]

it's your money and you'll do what you want with it... but Jesus man $300 are you insane?

 

[LaoJim]

That is just crazy money. Why, for $300 I bet you could buy a REAL spaceship.

Yeah, but who's going to fly it, you?

Ahem, sorry...anyway given that he could be buying the Completionist package for $15,000 I'd say SacremPyrobolum is being quite restrained and fiscally responsible.

Seriously though, $300 dollars on a game that's not even at v1.0? If you are seriously going to play this as your main game for a significant amount of time then maybe its worth it, maybe. Also they seem to want a $10 or $20 subscription fee on top of that.

If its Han Solo fantasies your after, may I suggest for a third of the price

http://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Star-Wars-Millennium-Falcon/dp/B004P95ABG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1412538482&sr=8-1&keywords=lego+millenium+falcon

 

[Muspelheim]

There is only one Aquila I care for.

http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120408195414/warhammer40k/images/thumb/2/26/Aquila_transparent.png/252px-Aquila_transparent.png

That aside; Back in EVE, I think they often say "Don't bring anything into space that you simply can't lose". It might be a good watchword here. I don't know how predatory people are in Star Citizen, but it might be best to not put $300 on the line, just in case. It's an awful lot of money.

It's your dosh, of course, but it might be best to get something more... Economic, and work your way from there.

 

[Rozalia1]

As someone who spent in the last year/s £150 on a router, £125 on headphones, £85 on a mic, among other big purchases I find $300 on a virtual ship to be wasteful/excessive. Now to be fair it can be said you are actually putting $300 towards making the game happen, and the ship is just a bonus...but yeah it still seems wasteful to me.

Anyway from what I've heard you'll have to make sure your ship has insurance to avoid having it wiped out.

 

[renegade7]

That's nothing. The most expansive backer package was $15,000. They sold out in under an hour.

My understanding is that it works a little more traditionally than EVE, ie, no perma-death. As long as you have insurance for the ship (EVE also has ship insurance, but it's a completely different game mechanic), you get a new one when it's destroyed, and the backer bonus ships come with lifetime insurance.

My understanding is that insurance can be bought either with credit in game or with real world money.

What's really astonishing to me is that people are spending hundreds of dollars for things in a game that actually doesn't really exist yet and could totally suck for all we know. I've always known space sim fans to be pretty die-hard, but even that seems excessive. Especially given that it is possible to lose those ships in ways that will not allow them to be replaced by insurance, ie, if they are captured by another player. Further, they're not even unique ships and you can get all of them in-game.

I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to space sims. I like to start and build my character from the ground up, I think the feeling of starting out powerless in an uncaring universe is really important for motivating player development (EVE Online really nailed this). On the other hand, not everyone has the time to grind to the next new ship, so I don't begrudge anyone that choice, I just think in dollar amounts this large it's a bit...ill-conceived for spending that much on virtual goods.

 

[DEAD34345]

You want to spend $300 on a virtual spaceship for a game that does not yet and may not ever even exist.

The fact that you are even considering that means that any advice I could give you on whether or not it's "worth it" would be pointless, as you clearly don't inhabit the same universe as me when it comes to money issues.

As for the 2nd concern though, from what I understand, nobody knows. Nobody knows what the community will be like, and nobody knows exactly how the mechanics will work and whether or not you'd be likely to lose the ship, or if it'd even be possible to begin with. You also can't know for sure that you'll even like the game when it comes out, so I'd say those issues are kind of irrelevant, really. That to me would be a total deal breaker, but as I mentioned earlier I wouldn't even be considering it to begin with, so you may think differently. Just understand that it is a risk, and make sure that you're OK with that.

 

[small]

the ship bundles, etc people are buying are for a main MMO part ?

i remember hearing a while back there was a wing commander style single player campaign.

the prices of those ships :-| damn not even star trek online charges that much for premium ships and they are greedy as all hell.. ok and apparently there is "ship insurance". no wonder they have raise $55 million.

 

[leberkaese]

You have 6 months insurance for that ship, so you won't lose it right away. But after 6 months? Oh boy, the guy that steals your ship will be one lucky pirate!

But... Don't buy it... you'll be able to buy most of these ships later in the game with ingame money. Why'd you buy that now for real money? Also: Why'd you pay for something that will be released in probably ~2-4 years?

Also, some of my friends seemingly can't understand the following: you don't actually buy that ship. You give the developers money to support the development of Star Citizen. You get the ship as a 'Thank you'. Nothing more.
Just a few days ago I've had a discussion with one of them... he told of buying that virtual ship for ?300 or something. A few minutes later he complained about paying ?120 for a new suit and that it's not worth the money. Made me shake my head.

Also, there's another thing I just can't understand: The most exciting part about games like these is deserving your ship. You start with a small piece of junk. After weeks of work your ship gets better and better. In the end you'll have a super awesome ship that you earned! You worked hard from the bottom to the top.
But if you just buy it... meh

 

[Zontar]

From my personal point of view, it's not worth it. But you're free to spend your money as you wish, and besides, using money to collect things no one else cares about is basically the core of what being a nerd is.

 

[SweetShark]

I don't know NOTHING about this game, however I learned some very interesting facts for the ships:
You must pay somekind of insurance fee to not LOSE your personal spaceship.
That right. If someone destroy it, you must be prepared to lose it FOREVER!!!!
I hope of course this is not true because......hohohoho this will be enjoyable to watch in the Forums [The rage, THE RAGE of the players!!!].

Also a personal question I have: How many parts of the ship a player paid for his/her personal spaceship will be 100% original for your personal use only?
This will be damn difficult task if you ask me.

 

[SweetShark]

Also, I can imaging OS [Original Spaceships] Rage Fights between the players they paid for that.

*A player show a Spaceship nearly the same look of a spaceship in Star Wars movies*
'This is my OS! Pretty cool eh?'
'Why do you copy meeeeeee! It look exactly like mine OS!!!!! You shall feel shame for yourself!'
'No, no! You copied me!!!'
'No you!!!!!'

Then it will be the Dark and Edgy Spaceships with the tragic backstory of their characters who made them paint them everything inside out BLACK!!!!

Then it will be the Spaceships which it will ruin the atmosphere of the game. Who want a Pony Theme Spaceship? Anyone?

Finally, Fanfics with OS and other Spaceships from other Franchises like Star Trek,Star Wars,etc.......

I will enjoy it.

 

[smokingplane]

I just want to map star systems on the edge of the galaxy in peace!

What do you think?

300$ just for exploring... Wouldn't you be better of with elite:dangerous?
It has an offline mode if you don't want pvp. Its a lot closer to completion then sc, theres 400 bilj. star systems to explor, and for 60£ your can start flying in the beta now.

I'll probably give star citizen a spin in a couple of years, but for my space exploring needs its a bit far off.

 

[Autumnflame]

there are those of us that have spent upwards of 5-15k+ on this game

we beleive in Cig.

i alone have spent 7k

 

[R3dF41c0n]

I'm an original backer and I personally believe you should just buy one of the lower tier packages. Every ship people are buying with real money can be purchased in game through playing.

Plus you won't be able to fly that ship for at least a few months in a limited capacity (dog fighting, swarm, capture the core, and free flight).

That's just my two cents. I've spent half that much over the course of time between now and when the game was announced.

 

[CannibalCorpses]

lol...they do say fools and their cash are easily parted.

I'm hard pushed to justify paying more than 10 quid for a game, never mind a ship within a game that will probably end up spoiling the first half of the game because of balance issues. Sounds like something a wallet warrior would do

 

[duwenbasden]

I won't spend $60 on a game unless it is 15/10 and I will get at least 200+ hours of playing time, why should I spend more than quintuple the price?

 

[Starbird]

Hello Everyone!

I have recently (yes, late, I know) become interested in purhcasing my way into a little indie project called Star Citizen. Perhaps you have heard of it. Anyways, I was looking at how I could buy my way in and found that all my Han Solo fantasies could be achieved for a mere donation of $300 to purchase the Constellation Aquilla pack.

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/Packages/Constellation-Aquila

Now, since I might spend so much on this particular internet spaceship, I want to be sure that 1) it is worth it and 2) that I won't get ganked and lose it right out of the gate. This community isn't as cutthroat as EVE, is it? I just want to map star systems on the edge of the galaxy in peace!

What do you think?

If I learned one thing from Hellgate: London - don't spend more on an unreleased game than you would pay for it on the shelf. No matter how damn good it looks.

 

[mad825]

You can give that $300 to me. You shall know that it will be going used for a worthy cause and you feel smug and satisfied for being a charitable human being.