Star Citizen : An Average Pledge and Ship Buying Guide 2017
I have written a few guide since last year about my thoughts about pledging and ship buying during the holiday sale and also how much would i pledge and stuff, which you can catch up here and here.
For this year i want to consolidate them into a giant post about it. First is after reading a lot and following the development cycle i begin to pay more attention to them and also i have an issue with internet spaceship lust and addiction.
But most important i learn there are many "ways" to play the game as the development goes. Note, this guide is written during the development stage of star citizen and they are subject to change in the future.
Where do i start?
My advice is to first try out their "FREE FLY" program whenever they have, because i did. This step is completely FREE but is on a limited time within a year. So keep an eye out for it!
Your First Pledge, cha-ching
You should only pick one of the two Combo pack available, which is the Aurora or the Mustang. The package breakdown as of 2017 is :
Both Starter package = 45 USD
SQ 42 ( single player game ) = 45 USD
by buying the combo which is 60 USD, you save 30 USD. Which by itself a great deal.
There are also special events that will lower the price even cheaper they will have a holiday / warbond label on the package which is usually cheaper ( which was 35 USD for the starter package ), but there is a catch. Any cheaper package offered can be only bought with "Fresh Cash" aka only real money, which is only applicable if you want to spend more.
I will advice you to wait for it, unless you are ready to fund more to the development.
Note: star citizen is still a crowdfunding game and if you have high expectation or want a finish product DO NOT BUY/PLEDGE AT ALL, you will be sorely disappointed.
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY
This next guide is for you out there who are like me, internet spaceshipaholic. At first i thought of having a budget of 200 USD was enough, but i was proven wrong. As i get more information about the concept ships and existing ships and the role that they serve i got very excited and wanting them and they cost higher than my budget which can go up to 1000 USD ( the addiction is real ). Also all ship is earnable in-game so don't worry if you felt left out.
So First you need to know a few basic things LTI, MELTING, UNMELTING, CONCEPT SALE, BUY BACK TOKEN, STORE CREDITS and CCU.
before i begin let put this across, I DO NOT SUPPORT GREY MARKET. This actually hurt the development team as they do not get a single cent from your support. I am willing to part some of my hard earn money because i want the game to succeed by supporting the development team directly.
LTI ( Life Time Insurance ). Like a real car, all ship comes with an insurance duration from 3 months to infinity. Note that this is not a big issue as the developer said it will not be expensive to maintain.
CONCEPT SALE. These are the ships that are revealed to the public officially. and they do carry a LTI perk when they go on sale for the FIRST TIME, subsequence sale will not have LTI. They are not playable until a later date, expect long waiting time.
MELTING. A service that is available now for you to exchange any digital package that you bought in star citizen for store credits. Note: you can melt 1 package at a time with a 24 hour cooldown.
UNMELTING. Starting of the year you will receive a BUY BACK TOKEN every 90 days, which can be used to buy back a package that you have MELT. Note : discounted pack and physical pack is not applicable
STORE CREDITS. You will receive store credits equivalent to your real money purchase when you melt a package, which can be use to buy anything in the star citizen shop. That includes buying physical product. Note: you cannot gift ship / package if you use store credits to purchase.
CCU ( Cross chassis upgrade ), a service for you to upgrade any of your existing ship to more better ( more expensive ) ships. Unfortunately no downgrades.
Ok lets begin this "Development Game" a little extra entertainment for me during the development stage. rather then just buy ships and play the alpha, i added a little fun by utilizing the pledge service to test as much ships as i can.
First Start off with a Mustang combo package which has a ship value of 30 USD which is already better than the Aurora , 25 USD. The Mustang allows you to CCU into 2 more ships, which is the Aurora LX and Archimedes. That's already 3 ships to swap around with just the Stater pack. This starter pack is for you to access the game and SQ42. DO NOT MELT IT.
Next, is find the dream ship/s. for me its the Banu Merchantman and Carrack which cost 250 and 350 respectively. Instead on getting the ship right away, i get the cheapest CCU to the ship instead. example a redeemer to merchantman is 0 USD CCU. so i get a bunch of them.
But what if there is no 0 cost CCU? then get the cheapest. Example a constilation andromeda to redeemer is 25 USD, and then melt it right away unless i want to apply them within less then 3 months. This is how i will "park" my CCU and Ships.
Now the fun part. Start off the the cheapest ship in the verse or the mustang from the starter package, start working your way up. Keep CCU until you reach your goal.
So why do i want to go through all this trouble? simple, i want to fly as much ships as i can and since i will be putting down 250 USD my as well test all the sub 250 USD ship as i climb up.
Example.
i want a Constilation Aquila
so rather then just buy a Constilation aquila ( 1 ship to play with )
i will buy a Mustang then CCU > avenger > gladius > freelancer > hornet > constellation andromeda > redeemer > constellation aquila ( 8 ships to play with )
SPACESHIPAHOLIC ANONYMOUS
Optional, This section is mainly for those like me having limited disposable funds to play with and also a fail safe to not to spend too much in 1 go for internet spaceship.
having a monthly cap to spend, 20 USD because on MMO subscription cost at most that much a month.
Aim only LTI ships, This is because i need to wait for concept sale and anniversary sale. The downside is there might not be many more cheap concept sale in the future, and the minimum package that has LTI is package that cost 1000 USD and above.
And lastly, Do not have any emotion attached to any of the ships, always melt your existing ship/s when you want to purchase another new or concept ships.
Well i hope this guide is simple enough to understand. I will be log my ship buying journey, and also review the ships that i tried along the way. Till then, pew pew and fly safe citizens
Thinking on Joining Star Citizen?
Want to get into Star Citizen? Enlist Here https://robertsspaceindustries.com/enlist for FREE by using STAR-JPPR-DJV5
earn 5,000 UEC (United Earth Credits) worth $5 for FREE which can be spent on the website for weapons, ship components or decorations for your Hangar.
For this year i want to consolidate them into a giant post about it. First is after reading a lot and following the development cycle i begin to pay more attention to them and also i have an issue with internet spaceship lust and addiction.
But most important i learn there are many "ways" to play the game as the development goes. Note, this guide is written during the development stage of star citizen and they are subject to change in the future.
Where do i start?
My advice is to first try out their "FREE FLY" program whenever they have, because i did. This step is completely FREE but is on a limited time within a year. So keep an eye out for it!
Your First Pledge, cha-ching
You should only pick one of the two Combo pack available, which is the Aurora or the Mustang. The package breakdown as of 2017 is :
Both Starter package = 45 USD
SQ 42 ( single player game ) = 45 USD
by buying the combo which is 60 USD, you save 30 USD. Which by itself a great deal.
There are also special events that will lower the price even cheaper they will have a holiday / warbond label on the package which is usually cheaper ( which was 35 USD for the starter package ), but there is a catch. Any cheaper package offered can be only bought with "Fresh Cash" aka only real money, which is only applicable if you want to spend more.
I will advice you to wait for it, unless you are ready to fund more to the development.
Note: star citizen is still a crowdfunding game and if you have high expectation or want a finish product DO NOT BUY/PLEDGE AT ALL, you will be sorely disappointed.
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY
This next guide is for you out there who are like me, internet spaceshipaholic. At first i thought of having a budget of 200 USD was enough, but i was proven wrong. As i get more information about the concept ships and existing ships and the role that they serve i got very excited and wanting them and they cost higher than my budget which can go up to 1000 USD ( the addiction is real ). Also all ship is earnable in-game so don't worry if you felt left out.
So First you need to know a few basic things LTI, MELTING, UNMELTING, CONCEPT SALE, BUY BACK TOKEN, STORE CREDITS and CCU.
before i begin let put this across, I DO NOT SUPPORT GREY MARKET. This actually hurt the development team as they do not get a single cent from your support. I am willing to part some of my hard earn money because i want the game to succeed by supporting the development team directly.
LTI ( Life Time Insurance ). Like a real car, all ship comes with an insurance duration from 3 months to infinity. Note that this is not a big issue as the developer said it will not be expensive to maintain.
CONCEPT SALE. These are the ships that are revealed to the public officially. and they do carry a LTI perk when they go on sale for the FIRST TIME, subsequence sale will not have LTI. They are not playable until a later date, expect long waiting time.
MELTING. A service that is available now for you to exchange any digital package that you bought in star citizen for store credits. Note: you can melt 1 package at a time with a 24 hour cooldown.
UNMELTING. Starting of the year you will receive a BUY BACK TOKEN every 90 days, which can be used to buy back a package that you have MELT. Note : discounted pack and physical pack is not applicable
STORE CREDITS. You will receive store credits equivalent to your real money purchase when you melt a package, which can be use to buy anything in the star citizen shop. That includes buying physical product. Note: you cannot gift ship / package if you use store credits to purchase.
CCU ( Cross chassis upgrade ), a service for you to upgrade any of your existing ship to more better ( more expensive ) ships. Unfortunately no downgrades.
Ok lets begin this "Development Game" a little extra entertainment for me during the development stage. rather then just buy ships and play the alpha, i added a little fun by utilizing the pledge service to test as much ships as i can.
First Start off with a Mustang combo package which has a ship value of 30 USD which is already better than the Aurora , 25 USD. The Mustang allows you to CCU into 2 more ships, which is the Aurora LX and Archimedes. That's already 3 ships to swap around with just the Stater pack. This starter pack is for you to access the game and SQ42. DO NOT MELT IT.
Next, is find the dream ship/s. for me its the Banu Merchantman and Carrack which cost 250 and 350 respectively. Instead on getting the ship right away, i get the cheapest CCU to the ship instead. example a redeemer to merchantman is 0 USD CCU. so i get a bunch of them.
But what if there is no 0 cost CCU? then get the cheapest. Example a constilation andromeda to redeemer is 25 USD, and then melt it right away unless i want to apply them within less then 3 months. This is how i will "park" my CCU and Ships.
Now the fun part. Start off the the cheapest ship in the verse or the mustang from the starter package, start working your way up. Keep CCU until you reach your goal.
So why do i want to go through all this trouble? simple, i want to fly as much ships as i can and since i will be putting down 250 USD my as well test all the sub 250 USD ship as i climb up.
Example.
i want a Constilation Aquila
so rather then just buy a Constilation aquila ( 1 ship to play with )
i will buy a Mustang then CCU > avenger > gladius > freelancer > hornet > constellation andromeda > redeemer > constellation aquila ( 8 ships to play with )
SPACESHIPAHOLIC ANONYMOUS
Optional, This section is mainly for those like me having limited disposable funds to play with and also a fail safe to not to spend too much in 1 go for internet spaceship.
having a monthly cap to spend, 20 USD because on MMO subscription cost at most that much a month.
Aim only LTI ships, This is because i need to wait for concept sale and anniversary sale. The downside is there might not be many more cheap concept sale in the future, and the minimum package that has LTI is package that cost 1000 USD and above.
And lastly, Do not have any emotion attached to any of the ships, always melt your existing ship/s when you want to purchase another new or concept ships.
Well i hope this guide is simple enough to understand. I will be log my ship buying journey, and also review the ships that i tried along the way. Till then, pew pew and fly safe citizens
Thinking on Joining Star Citizen?
Want to get into Star Citizen? Enlist Here https://robertsspaceindustries.com/enlist for FREE by using STAR-JPPR-DJV5
earn 5,000 UEC (United Earth Credits) worth $5 for FREE which can be spent on the website for weapons, ship components or decorations for your Hangar.
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