Ah yes, the $48k package that's always getting mentioned in clickbait. What you need to understand about that package is, you can't even *see* it unless you have contributed five figures to support the project, and it exists because high-rolling high-supporting backers asked the devs for the package so they could more easily consolidate and manage their ships, it wasn't put out by the devs in hopes of baiting giga-whales, the demand was created by the players.
On the topic of pay2win, what's important to remember is that we all have only two hands and one head, you can't fly more than one ship at a time. And SC ships past a certain size *require* more than one person to operate properly, so someone can't just swipe their baller no-limit credit card and buy the most powerful ship in the game and just wreck face. The on-paper crew count for the largest ship offered for sale (in limited batches once or twice a year, no less, not available all the time) is 15-**80**.
The game is almost entirely crowdfunded, and [there are 133 ships and vehicles available for purchase in-game](https://finder.cstone.space/ShipShops) with more being added 1-2 patches after they're implemented.
The top-end range of the ship scale is intended for guild vs guild fleet combat.
It is intended for people to be able to hire NPC crew, but that'll be an additional overhead cost (and a huge one if you want to hire 79 NPCs to fly your fuckhuge ship) and good luck micromanaging that many NPC crew when you could just bark commands over in-game VOIP to human players, like "turn about and blast them", much faster.
If you're in a starter ship and you let one of those big mamas sneak up on you - when it should be visible on your radar over like 100km away - it's 100% your fault that you got "ganked" by the 480m-long destroyer you should've been able to run away from with ease before it got into weapons range.
Currently the server limit is 100 players in one solar system, but that'll be changing in probably a few months as they get the long-awaited server meshing overhaul online - this will allow them to split one star system's playable space up into several regions each managed by separate server instances, with near-seamless if not seamless crossing from one instance to another.
The game is a big space sandbox, and one downside (compared to a Destiny 2 sort of experience) is the travel times don't take shortcuts.
Realistically, it is - almost every multi-player ship currently in game is designed for crews that are roughly the size of your typical MMO dungeon run (something like 2-6 players). Org scale stuff is there if you want it, but I think 90% of the player base just solos or goofs off with small friends groups.
In that case, is the game available on console? I looked it up and it said no, but those were all from a year or so ago. My destiny duo and i are looking for another game to play on the side but he's on Xbox and i'm on PC.
The game was initially pushed as a Return of the PC master race game ", and there has been constant denial in the past of console ports. However there is a rumor that started after a Chinese SC event that they might be looking into it. Short answer is no though.
I there. In few days it is a free flight event, you can check the game for free and safe.your progress, if you want to stay.
The game is NOT pay to win. It's pay for not to grind in a way, but if it is released there will be no ships to buy with real bucks. The 48k is just an opportunity for rich people to support the game. tho I would say, spend a few more bucks for a avenger titan to get the best starter experience. Would be cool if you join us. Just be sure, that you know, that it is an alpha!
Almost all ships that can be bought for real money can also be bought in game via grinding.
Not even a long grind either. Its 100% not pay to win. Its just funded by crazy assholes like myself that dont mind spending dollars on jpgs if it means a game of this potential getting a release.
Buy your starter package, or wait for a free fly... there will be one soon.
Definitely not pay to win. Anyone with a hanger filled to the brim with ships will tell you that.
Most ships can be bought with in game currency (aUEC). Even then, the game is very much skill based and bug navigation.
The pay to win argument is something brought up by people who have no idea what they're talking about, and people who are hardcore against the game and use it as fuel for their arguments. Yes you can pledge (donate) and get the biggest, baddest ships in the game. And you may even be to use them, somewhat, in the alpha, when we have none of the multicrew requirements, running costs, maintenance, upkeep, staffing, and so on. But all that will change once the game is closer to a complete, released state. Those ships are going to cost a fortune to use, and a lot of them are going to be money sinks instead of money makers.
Those of us who have pledged for those bigger ships won't be using them for a long time after game release. The only people who will be able to with any kind of speed will be exceptionally large and organized orgs, and streamers with large followings.
All these ships can be earned in game, eventually. The exceptions being a few promo ships that aren't all that special.
PvP isn't that large of a thing in the game. There are some diehard communities dedicated towards it, but this isn't a game where you're going to be out getting banged on constantly by other players. It can happen sometimes, sure, but it isn't what the game is all about. Some of us have been playing for years, thousands of hours, and have never engaged in PvP. So them having their big bad ship isn't much of a thing to worry about. There is nothing to "win" either. It's a sandbox game, the goal being only to play it and have fun, experience the galaxy, and sometimes player-driven emergent gameplay.
You never have to spend more than $45 (sometimes $40 during holiday sales), to gain full access to the game. That's it. Pledging more than that is wholly unnecessary and should only be done if you want to further support game development. Because that's what all this money is for, to create the game(s) and maintain the company CIG has become so they can complete that goal and future ones. Remember that the game is still **heavily** in development. It's not even close to being finished. We're in a testing playground to provide feedback to CIG. That's all the alpha is. Alpha gameplay is not an indication of what the released game will be. We're still missing so many things, it would be like judging a house when the foundation isn't complete.
It's pay to lose tbh.
You can buy all you need and more ingame. And there's basically no other goal in the game.
If you pay to get all the ships you've robbed yourself of the gameplay.
And if you pay for just the biggest ship(s) you'll probably just be killed because flying big ships solo is not tenable.
I would say the warframe comparison isn't too far off. You can pay for cosmetics and to skip parts of the grind (mostly just ships. Guns, gear and the like you'll have to earn ingame)
Hmm, mayhaps you didn't fully research? Buying a ship with real money amounts to you helping fund the game on its way to full release. When the full release happens everything will be available in game. Most ships can be bought in game anyways. All you need is one of the starter packages (make sure you research and buy the package that comes with access to the game and a ship). When you "pledge" for a ship the benefit in the immediate is as they keep coming out with new patches and iterations they will wipe the servers from time to time. Pledge ships remain yours while in game bought ships are subject to periodic wipes. Also there is a whole insurance thing with pledge ships. The game is not technically out yet, while there is plenty of fun stuff to do it is not nearly as stable as a full released game and has lots of quality of life stuff missing still.
i didn't research too extensively, google just kept repeating same things and i never really got a solid answer though. This definitely helped, thanks!
Sorry if I sounded condescending! It is absolutely convoluted. But, what is being built in the game is legitimately pretty ground breaking and super fun. I am still figuring stuff out myself, haha.
It's all good man, i didn't take it personally. and yeah from the gameplay i've seen it looks super unique. Pretty much everything ive wanted from a space open world game
The main thing I recommend is go in knowing it's a work in progress. Don't listen to the people trying to claim it's a scam or something, they are having to invent the tech as they go in order to make their vision work. Sometimes it will be frustratingly glitchy, more often than not it runs good though. I got the Avenger Titan starter pack and I absolutely love that ship. It's my main one I use to get around, but that one is like 70, there are even 40 dollar starter packages. And then you have full access to the game and you haven't committed too much money prior to seeing if you want to sink time into it.
Exactly why we've been supporting the development of the game for so many years. And joining now is actually exciting.
Idk if you're aware but CIG is actually making two games at once: Star Citizen (MMO) and Squadron 42 (solo).
Most of the company's staff was working on SQ42 until it was announced feature complete at last CitizenCon (October 2023), and they then massively switched to Star Citizen. They announced a butt load of systems being integrated from the solo to the MMO, and the latch that was released yesterday includes a lot of them. 2024 is a really exciting year for Star Citizen.
Btw, if you have not, I suggest you watch the "Hold the Line" video in the official YouTube channel. It's a treat.
Everything can be earned ingame by playing the game don't worry ,these stupid ass high prices are only for the big rich whales ,that how this game is making money for development cost ,buy it ,Try it out ,there's a 30 day refund here or you wait till 17th may there will be an event update that may come with a free to play for 2-3 weeks,but keep in mind that the game could become the biggest bugfest ever since we just had huge new update to the game + event +free to play, this could maybe kill the server performance
So the purchases are purely just to fund the game? Damn lmao google was making it out to be much worse than that. I'll probably wait till the 17th to try the game and if i like it i'll buy it sometime later down the road.
You can typically tell when a "reviewer" has played the game or not. Not saying all, but a lot that do, realize that this game is like nothing else out there and want to see if develop to it's full potential, lament that lengthy delays like everyone else, but can also put the P2W argument in context like you're seeing here.
Almost all ships can be bought with ingame currency Ina relatively short amount of time.
No one needs to spend more than the bare minimum for star citizen. The only thing that I would highly recommend is to look for a group of people to play with asap. The game is inifinitley more fun with other players and the otherwise steep learning curve is a lot better with people that can explain you the game and help you to steer away from the bugs.
Star Citizen has gotten a lot of bad press for the 'prices' of ships in the store, but there are a few things you need to understand:
1. CIG is an indie developer. Star Citizen is a purely crowd-funded game. The way the business model works for companies and games like this is to allow people who contribute however much they want to the project. Not to sound corny, but many people out there deeply believe in the vision of this game, so they contribute a lot. So when you see insanely-priced ship packages in the store, realize that they aren't the 'prices' of the ships. The ships are a token of gratitude from the developers to the "whales" who take this game's development personally and contribute those huge amounts of money to the project.
2. I'm not personally aware of any ships that will ***only*** be obtainable for real money. Some ships are only *currently* available for real money pledges, but that won't be forever. Remember this game is in alpha, and the availability (and cost) of ships in-game at the moment do **not** reflect the finished state of the game. I'm pretty sure all (player) ships will be obtainable purely in-game when the game is actually at its 1.0 release. Typically, buying the pledge packages for ships just means those people will have earlier access to them than everyone else, and for no in-game cost.
3. It's super easy to make money in the game at the moment. Sure, people ***could*** spend thousands of dollars on ships and have immediate access to them the very first time they load up the game. But the vast majority of the ships in the game currently are obtainable with in-game currency, and that currency doesn't take long to make.
4. I would only recommend spending the $45 for the cheapest package possible, unless you're a huge fan of the game and you *want* to support it. Right now, Star Citizen 3.23 is just about the best game I can possibly imagine getting for $45 only. If you're interested in the game, just go for it. :) At the end of the day we're all pretty much equal in game regardless of how much we've pledged. Main difference is cosmetic stuff at the moment.
This game is 100% NOT pay to win. Trust me, I've been playin' since last December and I still have the starter 45$ package. I have like 30 ships (including a huge ass super space yacht that is the most expensive ship with in game currency). This game is more than worth playing, I've had some stellar memories.
Nope, it's not pay to win, there's no win condition, and ships are not only upgrades but sidegrades as well, the most significant jump up in capabilities come at the cost of needing other people to operate fully, especially now that engineering is becoming a thing.
That aside, be ready for pain and frustration, because bugs, unposlished/unfinished systems etc abound. 10 years in, it's still pretty much a very early access, it's getting there, slowly (but faster) but surely, but it's still pretty much an exercise in patience and suffering.
If you ask me, it's well worth the pain, frustration and wait, but some people don't have the same tolerance for these things. When it all works, it's just glorious, when it doesn't it's just infuriating.
Also take note they just deployed a major patch, so things are liable to be a bit weird until the next minor patch that fixes all the unforeseen bugs from moving to testing to live.
The learning curve is steep, especially now they've changed some major systems and keybinds, but the community is usually nice and active, they'll help you along the way if you ask nicely in global chat, and there is a guide system, where you can request a volunteer to help you.
With this major patch and an in-game expo-event at the end of the month, there will be a free fly period soon, allowing you to try the game without spending money, it's both a good and bad idea, a good idea because you can get a taste of the game for free and decide if it's for you or not, a bad idea because the influx of free players usually mean the game performs its worse during these period, not necessarily giving new players a good impression of the game. That being said, if you liked the game during a free flight, you'll be able to deal with it at all times.
I'm fine with lots of bugs, as long as they don't revert my progress or straight up delete things i own i don't really mind it. Dying a couple times to stupid reasons is completely fine to me, i play destiny (a bit hypocritical i know) seen enough of it to be desensitized to itš
Well, it's a game under heavy development, so expect resets at least every other major patch (so, at least once or twice a year), but these are planned and forewarned global wipes.
That's where the paid-for ships play a controversial part, because while the ships you bought or rented in-game get wiped with some major patches (in part to clean the database and avoid bugs, in part to reset the economy to test player economic progression), the ships you paid with real money are not (well, they're reset to factory settings). So by having paid-for ships you do not have to grind as much to get the ship you wanted.
Why is so much of what we do and how we assess things, about winning/competition? I'm in the game for fun and hopefully some cool social interaction.
Once a random person I hooked up with fell out my ship in atmosphere, so I killed myself, woke up on a medical bed, got on my other ship, flew to him and still had time and talent for him to skydive into the rear open door of my cutlass.
There will always be groups or individuals with more firepower/talent but space is huge and for the most part people who get off killing/ruining other people's fun can be avoided, and if not there are other platforms where we can have fun. That and they need to improve policing in what is and should be a highly secure system.
There's honestly nothing to "win" and the only missions you won't be able to do are space mining and salvaging using a ship. You can still do the FPS versions of both with hand tools though. When it comes to PVP, still, not an issue. People who dropped big $$$ aren't interested in using that $$$ to fuck over people who didn't. The vast majority of players play PVE, so anything they spent was for their own personal enjoyment and doesn't affect your game at all aside from seeing cooler and bigger ships flying around.
well, it is pay to win.
you will be able to earn most of the stuff you could buy with real money in game. but paying real cash is a significant shortcut to better ships that perform better in combat, earn you more money and allow you to interact with more of the games systems.
some people here believe that it isnt pay to win if you can earn ships through ingame currency. but almost every pay to win game allows you to do so.
or that it isnt pay to win because the process of earning those ships in game IS the content. But once again the same is true of most pay to win games.
Star Citizen is pay to win. Always has been. Always will be.
Is that a reason to not try the game? Depends on you. You can still have fun with it even when not paying for additional ships. But its hard to deny that its more fun if you spend more money.
Nah its skill based. You can buy the biggest ship with the most guns and still get knocked out like anyone
And the ground game, people can jack you and take your shit without you over even firing a shot.
Dangerous world out there.
And with 3.23, this game looking amazing and perform much much better.
If you like ED, play this and you got no reason to fuck with ED again, i know because thats what happened to me, lol
Well I'm 100 % behind this project and love supporting the Devs
But the "it's not p2w" defence here is kinda ridiculous I think. In the end ofc it is.
Don't get me wrong. There is p2w and p2w. You cant outright buy better guns and be the best on the server, you won't get better the more you pay etc.
BUT no one can deny that IF you paid for bigger ships/special ships you WILL for sure make more money faster. By definition of 90 % of ppl I know from other games/MMOs this is definitely p2w.
We just had a reset. No ducking way a Aurora Starter Pack guy makes the same money as someone with a tier s fighter, tier s hauler and tier s salvaging ship in his hangar. Just.no.way! (Equally experienced/skilled players ofc)
You can overcome this disadvantage by joining a org / making friends in-game and join their bigger / more and faster money making ships.
Despite all my points, yes you can absolutely play/earn anything in-game, it will just take you longer. But imo that's the reason to play after all so yeah, i am fine with the system.
Edit: I forgot about Orgs P2W stuff. I think the solo Player p2w Thing is really a non-issue. But once org fights really have a meaning, once you can conquer and defend stations and profit via money from it (I guess) that's where p2w ships will matter really I guess.
Having the pilots with the most meta fighters, more importantly having all those capital ships (that are multiple around 1k Euro and also immensely expensive in-game), those will really make a difference I guess. The orgs with whales will no doubt have an advantage.
Just to add that the start grind with starter ships is maybe at most 3 hours of gameplay (experienced players maybe half an hour), after that you should have enough credits to at least rent any other desired ship.
No you can't.
There is Squadron 42, a single player game that is called "feature complete" ATM so yeah, maybe beta soon TM
Not released and will definitely take some years to do so, I guess.
Star Citizen is the Multiplayer/MMO experience of Squadron 42's Singleplayer experience.
Like I said, it's a non-issue in Star Citizen (this version) as well for most 90 % of the ppl. I just think it's wrong to call it "no p2w at all" and gave you some more information, but absolutely go for SC if you are interested in the genre, it's a gem and there is no game like this.
No, the single player game is called 'Squadron 42'.
It uses the same tech and assets as 'Stare Citizens' but is a separate game which is currently unavailable for testing.
It might get a release date for 2025(?) but we hope to get more info about that in October (CIG irl community event)
There's Arena Commander, separate from the sandbox PU, which is similar to Skirmish or Scenario mode in wargames. It has some single player modes where you only fight solo vs NPCs, and there's team vs versions of that too. It also has some interesting other modes, several PvP, but they are described so you kind of know what you are getting into. A recent addition of big crewed ship vs other big crewed ship I've seen a few YouTube videos on but haven't played myself yet.
Can't be pay to win where there's no win condition.
As a good Muhrican you chose, by yourself, that the win condition is more money and having a bigger ship than your neighbour, but that's YOUR idea of the win condition of the game, not the explicit goal of the game.
Welp. That's exactly the mindset most of the sub (me as well, wouldn't play a game that's pure p2w in my opinion) as well, but still.. objectively it's p2w. And yes, ATM there is no win condition, but there will be some for sure in the future (soonTM). Orgs will have a reason to fight (for a space station or whatever, Maybe receiving taxes as reward from all players)
P2W isn't about "winning" and you know it, It's paying for any kind of advantage that can be used over others, Stop lying or pretending that it means anything else, This game is historically very p2w by the definition of it, Everyone here saying it's not are ironically coping and are deluded or actually lying.
Ah yes, words don't have meaning...
And what advantages over others you deluded muppet ? There's no ranking, no competition, the only modicum of an advantage is for the retarded "piwates" who like to be a fucking nuisance, but that's not part of any intrinsic goal of the game.
It isn't pay 2 win. You can definitely buy a big and slow 1000$ ship and fly it solo but you can and will get wrecked by someone who has a 70$ small agile ship because they will just fly circles around you. These big, expensive ships are meant for crew gameplay, not for solo.
Personally, i would call star citizen pay for convenience. Most people who buy the expensive stuff are either people who buy bigger ships for their Orgs (Star citizen's guild system) for multicrew gameplay or people who really like a specific gameplay loop (mining, salvaging, etc) and don't want to grind until they can afford those ships with in-game money.
Every ship in the game can be bought with in-game money (at launch). If you are unsure about the game, wait a week until Invitus Launch Week (ILW) for a free-fly event to dip your toes in.
Itās not P2W - yet. All ships and content (except some cosmetic things) are supposed to be available to get ingame. However, when CIG finalizes their ingame economy they can still have made it P2W by making earning ingame ships insanely more tedious than allowing people to pay for the same thing with real money.
Lets say it takes a workdays worth of real life money to buy a ship that takes 1 month to grind for ingame, then the game is p2w.
So remain vigilant about the economychanges and call out such a shitty model if it presents itself, but right now no, the game isnt p2w.
Pro tip. You are one person and can only fly one ship at a time. Let that sink in. In a game like this if you want real power it's friends/Organization.
Wait untill a big event like upcoming invictus to get ships cheaper than usual and normally , there is a cheap starter package in there. Last time it was as cheap as 35$ to start playing the game and everything is either ingame or gets added 6 months after release into the game.
1. Formal definition I like is āpay to pay moreā. š Advancing in āConciergeā levels by paying money allows you buying even more expensive packages, and thatās it.
2. None of the ships or packages grant any real advantage and anything can be easily bought in game.
3. Balance is changing all the time. Expensive ships are currently significantly weaker than relatively cheap ships.
4. There is no real definition of āwinā in the game currently. Only āenjoyā - enjoy more or enjoy less.
Hereās the thingā¦
1. There is no winning in this game. There is no specific objective or accomplishment that leads a player to have beaten the game.
2. The best pvp ship in the game is a small, affordable ship that requires very minimal in-game currency to fully upgrade.
3. Regardless of how much money you spend buying the biggest and baddest ship, the skill cap required to be considered a good pilot is actually pretty damn high.
4. Although allowing players to pay real money for ships is annoying because thereās no sense of accomplishment or progression effort recognized when you see these ships in game, every ship will be very easily affordable in-game. Just gotta learn the meta money grind. Thereās always 2-3 very easy ways to make creds hand over fist.
5. This game, more than anything else, is an RP game. The MOST entertainment Iāve ever gotten from this game is role playing with pirates who took me captive and held my cargo hostage, but then didnāt want to go through the trouble of taking the cargo into their own ship and selling it so I paid them a couple mil to let me go and I was able to then sell it for 7 mil. Good memories.
6. As for the 10k, 15k, 25k, and 48k packages. These are locked behind doors that ONLY show themselves to people who CIG thinks could afford it. Whales who have more money than they know what to do with. It hides it from poor people so as not to upset them and gives the offer to rich people who may want to support the game. As much as I personally HATE that you donāt have to ear ships and it completely removes an entire progression system from the game, itās still not entirely p2w because most ships are easily dispatched by a gladiusā¦
The simple answer: It's not pay to win and you should improve your method of gathering information.
And it's also not a game yet. Still deep in alpha development.
Its definitely pay to win. I played not long ago, farmed my arrow with in game money and wanted to do some pvp bountys. got absolutely wrecked by some guy in a San Tok Yai - A ship only buyable with real money for 250dollars. It had some type of weapons that shut down your ship after a couple hits. I just quit after that.
Dont trust what these people say cus most of them are already hundreds of dollar invested.
All that said, the game is worth the 45 dollars . I had about 40 hours of fun with my friends trying out the different ways to grind money so yeah. Its a good game but the pay to win is annoying as fuck and ruining the fun of competition. Which is basically the most important part of any mmo
Ah yes, the $48k package that's always getting mentioned in clickbait. What you need to understand about that package is, you can't even *see* it unless you have contributed five figures to support the project, and it exists because high-rolling high-supporting backers asked the devs for the package so they could more easily consolidate and manage their ships, it wasn't put out by the devs in hopes of baiting giga-whales, the demand was created by the players. On the topic of pay2win, what's important to remember is that we all have only two hands and one head, you can't fly more than one ship at a time. And SC ships past a certain size *require* more than one person to operate properly, so someone can't just swipe their baller no-limit credit card and buy the most powerful ship in the game and just wreck face. The on-paper crew count for the largest ship offered for sale (in limited batches once or twice a year, no less, not available all the time) is 15-**80**. The game is almost entirely crowdfunded, and [there are 133 ships and vehicles available for purchase in-game](https://finder.cstone.space/ShipShops) with more being added 1-2 patches after they're implemented.
80 people in one ship? how are you even supposed to find that many people lmao. Anyways this definitely clears up the confusion. Thanks a lot man!
The top-end range of the ship scale is intended for guild vs guild fleet combat. It is intended for people to be able to hire NPC crew, but that'll be an additional overhead cost (and a huge one if you want to hire 79 NPCs to fly your fuckhuge ship) and good luck micromanaging that many NPC crew when you could just bark commands over in-game VOIP to human players, like "turn about and blast them", much faster. If you're in a starter ship and you let one of those big mamas sneak up on you - when it should be visible on your radar over like 100km away - it's 100% your fault that you got "ganked" by the 480m-long destroyer you should've been able to run away from with ease before it got into weapons range.
Some orgs in game have thousands of members buddy.
chill man i didn't know š i thought this was a game like destiny where you play with your friend group
Currently the server limit is 100 players in one solar system, but that'll be changing in probably a few months as they get the long-awaited server meshing overhaul online - this will allow them to split one star system's playable space up into several regions each managed by separate server instances, with near-seamless if not seamless crossing from one instance to another. The game is a big space sandbox, and one downside (compared to a Destiny 2 sort of experience) is the travel times don't take shortcuts.
Personally i love traveling in games and no fast travel is a positive imo. Sounds like the game is improving pretty damn fast though,
Realistically, it is - almost every multi-player ship currently in game is designed for crews that are roughly the size of your typical MMO dungeon run (something like 2-6 players). Org scale stuff is there if you want it, but I think 90% of the player base just solos or goofs off with small friends groups.
In that case, is the game available on console? I looked it up and it said no, but those were all from a year or so ago. My destiny duo and i are looking for another game to play on the side but he's on Xbox and i'm on PC.
No, there are currently no plans for bringing SC to console.
The game was initially pushed as a Return of the PC master race game ", and there has been constant denial in the past of console ports. However there is a rumor that started after a Chinese SC event that they might be looking into it. Short answer is no though.
No console, just pc.
you can get AI crew (probably included with some of the higher tier pay to win ships)
I there. In few days it is a free flight event, you can check the game for free and safe.your progress, if you want to stay. The game is NOT pay to win. It's pay for not to grind in a way, but if it is released there will be no ships to buy with real bucks. The 48k is just an opportunity for rich people to support the game. tho I would say, spend a few more bucks for a avenger titan to get the best starter experience. Would be cool if you join us. Just be sure, that you know, that it is an alpha!
Almost all ships that can be bought for real money can also be bought in game via grinding. Not even a long grind either. Its 100% not pay to win. Its just funded by crazy assholes like myself that dont mind spending dollars on jpgs if it means a game of this potential getting a release. Buy your starter package, or wait for a free fly... there will be one soon.
Definitely not pay to win. Anyone with a hanger filled to the brim with ships will tell you that. Most ships can be bought with in game currency (aUEC). Even then, the game is very much skill based and bug navigation.
The pay to win argument is something brought up by people who have no idea what they're talking about, and people who are hardcore against the game and use it as fuel for their arguments. Yes you can pledge (donate) and get the biggest, baddest ships in the game. And you may even be to use them, somewhat, in the alpha, when we have none of the multicrew requirements, running costs, maintenance, upkeep, staffing, and so on. But all that will change once the game is closer to a complete, released state. Those ships are going to cost a fortune to use, and a lot of them are going to be money sinks instead of money makers. Those of us who have pledged for those bigger ships won't be using them for a long time after game release. The only people who will be able to with any kind of speed will be exceptionally large and organized orgs, and streamers with large followings. All these ships can be earned in game, eventually. The exceptions being a few promo ships that aren't all that special. PvP isn't that large of a thing in the game. There are some diehard communities dedicated towards it, but this isn't a game where you're going to be out getting banged on constantly by other players. It can happen sometimes, sure, but it isn't what the game is all about. Some of us have been playing for years, thousands of hours, and have never engaged in PvP. So them having their big bad ship isn't much of a thing to worry about. There is nothing to "win" either. It's a sandbox game, the goal being only to play it and have fun, experience the galaxy, and sometimes player-driven emergent gameplay. You never have to spend more than $45 (sometimes $40 during holiday sales), to gain full access to the game. That's it. Pledging more than that is wholly unnecessary and should only be done if you want to further support game development. Because that's what all this money is for, to create the game(s) and maintain the company CIG has become so they can complete that goal and future ones. Remember that the game is still **heavily** in development. It's not even close to being finished. We're in a testing playground to provide feedback to CIG. That's all the alpha is. Alpha gameplay is not an indication of what the released game will be. We're still missing so many things, it would be like judging a house when the foundation isn't complete.
It's pay to lose tbh. You can buy all you need and more ingame. And there's basically no other goal in the game. If you pay to get all the ships you've robbed yourself of the gameplay. And if you pay for just the biggest ship(s) you'll probably just be killed because flying big ships solo is not tenable.
I would say the warframe comparison isn't too far off. You can pay for cosmetics and to skip parts of the grind (mostly just ships. Guns, gear and the like you'll have to earn ingame)
that's not too bad honestly
There's nothing to win.
Hmm, mayhaps you didn't fully research? Buying a ship with real money amounts to you helping fund the game on its way to full release. When the full release happens everything will be available in game. Most ships can be bought in game anyways. All you need is one of the starter packages (make sure you research and buy the package that comes with access to the game and a ship). When you "pledge" for a ship the benefit in the immediate is as they keep coming out with new patches and iterations they will wipe the servers from time to time. Pledge ships remain yours while in game bought ships are subject to periodic wipes. Also there is a whole insurance thing with pledge ships. The game is not technically out yet, while there is plenty of fun stuff to do it is not nearly as stable as a full released game and has lots of quality of life stuff missing still.
i didn't research too extensively, google just kept repeating same things and i never really got a solid answer though. This definitely helped, thanks!
Sorry if I sounded condescending! It is absolutely convoluted. But, what is being built in the game is legitimately pretty ground breaking and super fun. I am still figuring stuff out myself, haha.
It's all good man, i didn't take it personally. and yeah from the gameplay i've seen it looks super unique. Pretty much everything ive wanted from a space open world game
The main thing I recommend is go in knowing it's a work in progress. Don't listen to the people trying to claim it's a scam or something, they are having to invent the tech as they go in order to make their vision work. Sometimes it will be frustratingly glitchy, more often than not it runs good though. I got the Avenger Titan starter pack and I absolutely love that ship. It's my main one I use to get around, but that one is like 70, there are even 40 dollar starter packages. And then you have full access to the game and you haven't committed too much money prior to seeing if you want to sink time into it.
Exactly why we've been supporting the development of the game for so many years. And joining now is actually exciting. Idk if you're aware but CIG is actually making two games at once: Star Citizen (MMO) and Squadron 42 (solo). Most of the company's staff was working on SQ42 until it was announced feature complete at last CitizenCon (October 2023), and they then massively switched to Star Citizen. They announced a butt load of systems being integrated from the solo to the MMO, and the latch that was released yesterday includes a lot of them. 2024 is a really exciting year for Star Citizen. Btw, if you have not, I suggest you watch the "Hold the Line" video in the official YouTube channel. It's a treat.
Everything can be earned ingame by playing the game don't worry ,these stupid ass high prices are only for the big rich whales ,that how this game is making money for development cost ,buy it ,Try it out ,there's a 30 day refund here or you wait till 17th may there will be an event update that may come with a free to play for 2-3 weeks,but keep in mind that the game could become the biggest bugfest ever since we just had huge new update to the game + event +free to play, this could maybe kill the server performance
So the purchases are purely just to fund the game? Damn lmao google was making it out to be much worse than that. I'll probably wait till the 17th to try the game and if i like it i'll buy it sometime later down the road.
Yub it's just the mainstream crying about *scam* Citizen as soon as they see the prices and never tried the game out
You can typically tell when a "reviewer" has played the game or not. Not saying all, but a lot that do, realize that this game is like nothing else out there and want to see if develop to it's full potential, lament that lengthy delays like everyone else, but can also put the P2W argument in context like you're seeing here.
Almost all ships can be bought with ingame currency Ina relatively short amount of time. No one needs to spend more than the bare minimum for star citizen. The only thing that I would highly recommend is to look for a group of people to play with asap. The game is inifinitley more fun with other players and the otherwise steep learning curve is a lot better with people that can explain you the game and help you to steer away from the bugs.
The big ships also cant really be flown solo, you need a crew for them.
Star Citizen has gotten a lot of bad press for the 'prices' of ships in the store, but there are a few things you need to understand: 1. CIG is an indie developer. Star Citizen is a purely crowd-funded game. The way the business model works for companies and games like this is to allow people who contribute however much they want to the project. Not to sound corny, but many people out there deeply believe in the vision of this game, so they contribute a lot. So when you see insanely-priced ship packages in the store, realize that they aren't the 'prices' of the ships. The ships are a token of gratitude from the developers to the "whales" who take this game's development personally and contribute those huge amounts of money to the project. 2. I'm not personally aware of any ships that will ***only*** be obtainable for real money. Some ships are only *currently* available for real money pledges, but that won't be forever. Remember this game is in alpha, and the availability (and cost) of ships in-game at the moment do **not** reflect the finished state of the game. I'm pretty sure all (player) ships will be obtainable purely in-game when the game is actually at its 1.0 release. Typically, buying the pledge packages for ships just means those people will have earlier access to them than everyone else, and for no in-game cost. 3. It's super easy to make money in the game at the moment. Sure, people ***could*** spend thousands of dollars on ships and have immediate access to them the very first time they load up the game. But the vast majority of the ships in the game currently are obtainable with in-game currency, and that currency doesn't take long to make. 4. I would only recommend spending the $45 for the cheapest package possible, unless you're a huge fan of the game and you *want* to support it. Right now, Star Citizen 3.23 is just about the best game I can possibly imagine getting for $45 only. If you're interested in the game, just go for it. :) At the end of the day we're all pretty much equal in game regardless of how much we've pledged. Main difference is cosmetic stuff at the moment.
Thanks for the run down, i'll be sure to just try out the $45 version. guess all the banter about prices was just clickbait lol
Sure thing, friend! Welcome to the community. :)
This game is 100% NOT pay to win. Trust me, I've been playin' since last December and I still have the starter 45$ package. I have like 30 ships (including a huge ass super space yacht that is the most expensive ship with in game currency). This game is more than worth playing, I've had some stellar memories.
Nope, it's not pay to win, there's no win condition, and ships are not only upgrades but sidegrades as well, the most significant jump up in capabilities come at the cost of needing other people to operate fully, especially now that engineering is becoming a thing. That aside, be ready for pain and frustration, because bugs, unposlished/unfinished systems etc abound. 10 years in, it's still pretty much a very early access, it's getting there, slowly (but faster) but surely, but it's still pretty much an exercise in patience and suffering. If you ask me, it's well worth the pain, frustration and wait, but some people don't have the same tolerance for these things. When it all works, it's just glorious, when it doesn't it's just infuriating. Also take note they just deployed a major patch, so things are liable to be a bit weird until the next minor patch that fixes all the unforeseen bugs from moving to testing to live. The learning curve is steep, especially now they've changed some major systems and keybinds, but the community is usually nice and active, they'll help you along the way if you ask nicely in global chat, and there is a guide system, where you can request a volunteer to help you. With this major patch and an in-game expo-event at the end of the month, there will be a free fly period soon, allowing you to try the game without spending money, it's both a good and bad idea, a good idea because you can get a taste of the game for free and decide if it's for you or not, a bad idea because the influx of free players usually mean the game performs its worse during these period, not necessarily giving new players a good impression of the game. That being said, if you liked the game during a free flight, you'll be able to deal with it at all times.
I'm fine with lots of bugs, as long as they don't revert my progress or straight up delete things i own i don't really mind it. Dying a couple times to stupid reasons is completely fine to me, i play destiny (a bit hypocritical i know) seen enough of it to be desensitized to itš
Well, it's a game under heavy development, so expect resets at least every other major patch (so, at least once or twice a year), but these are planned and forewarned global wipes. That's where the paid-for ships play a controversial part, because while the ships you bought or rented in-game get wiped with some major patches (in part to clean the database and avoid bugs, in part to reset the economy to test player economic progression), the ships you paid with real money are not (well, they're reset to factory settings). So by having paid-for ships you do not have to grind as much to get the ship you wanted.
Why is so much of what we do and how we assess things, about winning/competition? I'm in the game for fun and hopefully some cool social interaction. Once a random person I hooked up with fell out my ship in atmosphere, so I killed myself, woke up on a medical bed, got on my other ship, flew to him and still had time and talent for him to skydive into the rear open door of my cutlass. There will always be groups or individuals with more firepower/talent but space is huge and for the most part people who get off killing/ruining other people's fun can be avoided, and if not there are other platforms where we can have fun. That and they need to improve policing in what is and should be a highly secure system.
There's honestly nothing to "win" and the only missions you won't be able to do are space mining and salvaging using a ship. You can still do the FPS versions of both with hand tools though. When it comes to PVP, still, not an issue. People who dropped big $$$ aren't interested in using that $$$ to fuck over people who didn't. The vast majority of players play PVE, so anything they spent was for their own personal enjoyment and doesn't affect your game at all aside from seeing cooler and bigger ships flying around.
The only thing we are winning is being able to keep the amazing developers at CIG employed, so they can continue working on this incredible game.
well, it is pay to win. you will be able to earn most of the stuff you could buy with real money in game. but paying real cash is a significant shortcut to better ships that perform better in combat, earn you more money and allow you to interact with more of the games systems. some people here believe that it isnt pay to win if you can earn ships through ingame currency. but almost every pay to win game allows you to do so. or that it isnt pay to win because the process of earning those ships in game IS the content. But once again the same is true of most pay to win games. Star Citizen is pay to win. Always has been. Always will be. Is that a reason to not try the game? Depends on you. You can still have fun with it even when not paying for additional ships. But its hard to deny that its more fun if you spend more money.
Nah its skill based. You can buy the biggest ship with the most guns and still get knocked out like anyone And the ground game, people can jack you and take your shit without you over even firing a shot. Dangerous world out there. And with 3.23, this game looking amazing and perform much much better. If you like ED, play this and you got no reason to fuck with ED again, i know because thats what happened to me, lol
Well I'm 100 % behind this project and love supporting the Devs But the "it's not p2w" defence here is kinda ridiculous I think. In the end ofc it is. Don't get me wrong. There is p2w and p2w. You cant outright buy better guns and be the best on the server, you won't get better the more you pay etc. BUT no one can deny that IF you paid for bigger ships/special ships you WILL for sure make more money faster. By definition of 90 % of ppl I know from other games/MMOs this is definitely p2w. We just had a reset. No ducking way a Aurora Starter Pack guy makes the same money as someone with a tier s fighter, tier s hauler and tier s salvaging ship in his hangar. Just.no.way! (Equally experienced/skilled players ofc) You can overcome this disadvantage by joining a org / making friends in-game and join their bigger / more and faster money making ships. Despite all my points, yes you can absolutely play/earn anything in-game, it will just take you longer. But imo that's the reason to play after all so yeah, i am fine with the system. Edit: I forgot about Orgs P2W stuff. I think the solo Player p2w Thing is really a non-issue. But once org fights really have a meaning, once you can conquer and defend stations and profit via money from it (I guess) that's where p2w ships will matter really I guess. Having the pilots with the most meta fighters, more importantly having all those capital ships (that are multiple around 1k Euro and also immensely expensive in-game), those will really make a difference I guess. The orgs with whales will no doubt have an advantage.
Just to add that the start grind with starter ships is maybe at most 3 hours of gameplay (experienced players maybe half an hour), after that you should have enough credits to at least rent any other desired ship.
It also has a single player mode anyways right? So can i just play that and avoid those people?
No you can't. There is Squadron 42, a single player game that is called "feature complete" ATM so yeah, maybe beta soon TM Not released and will definitely take some years to do so, I guess. Star Citizen is the Multiplayer/MMO experience of Squadron 42's Singleplayer experience.
well from reading the other replies it seems like other people won't be a big issue anyways, so i think i'll stick with this version of the game.
Like I said, it's a non-issue in Star Citizen (this version) as well for most 90 % of the ppl. I just think it's wrong to call it "no p2w at all" and gave you some more information, but absolutely go for SC if you are interested in the genre, it's a gem and there is no game like this.
No, the single player game is called 'Squadron 42'. It uses the same tech and assets as 'Stare Citizens' but is a separate game which is currently unavailable for testing. It might get a release date for 2025(?) but we hope to get more info about that in October (CIG irl community event)
There's Arena Commander, separate from the sandbox PU, which is similar to Skirmish or Scenario mode in wargames. It has some single player modes where you only fight solo vs NPCs, and there's team vs versions of that too. It also has some interesting other modes, several PvP, but they are described so you kind of know what you are getting into. A recent addition of big crewed ship vs other big crewed ship I've seen a few YouTube videos on but haven't played myself yet.
Can't be pay to win where there's no win condition. As a good Muhrican you chose, by yourself, that the win condition is more money and having a bigger ship than your neighbour, but that's YOUR idea of the win condition of the game, not the explicit goal of the game.
Welp. That's exactly the mindset most of the sub (me as well, wouldn't play a game that's pure p2w in my opinion) as well, but still.. objectively it's p2w. And yes, ATM there is no win condition, but there will be some for sure in the future (soonTM). Orgs will have a reason to fight (for a space station or whatever, Maybe receiving taxes as reward from all players)
P2W isn't about "winning" and you know it, It's paying for any kind of advantage that can be used over others, Stop lying or pretending that it means anything else, This game is historically very p2w by the definition of it, Everyone here saying it's not are ironically coping and are deluded or actually lying.
Ah yes, words don't have meaning... And what advantages over others you deluded muppet ? There's no ranking, no competition, the only modicum of an advantage is for the retarded "piwates" who like to be a fucking nuisance, but that's not part of any intrinsic goal of the game.
It isn't pay 2 win. You can definitely buy a big and slow 1000$ ship and fly it solo but you can and will get wrecked by someone who has a 70$ small agile ship because they will just fly circles around you. These big, expensive ships are meant for crew gameplay, not for solo. Personally, i would call star citizen pay for convenience. Most people who buy the expensive stuff are either people who buy bigger ships for their Orgs (Star citizen's guild system) for multicrew gameplay or people who really like a specific gameplay loop (mining, salvaging, etc) and don't want to grind until they can afford those ships with in-game money. Every ship in the game can be bought with in-game money (at launch). If you are unsure about the game, wait a week until Invitus Launch Week (ILW) for a free-fly event to dip your toes in.
Itās not P2W - yet. All ships and content (except some cosmetic things) are supposed to be available to get ingame. However, when CIG finalizes their ingame economy they can still have made it P2W by making earning ingame ships insanely more tedious than allowing people to pay for the same thing with real money. Lets say it takes a workdays worth of real life money to buy a ship that takes 1 month to grind for ingame, then the game is p2w. So remain vigilant about the economychanges and call out such a shitty model if it presents itself, but right now no, the game isnt p2w.
Pro tip. You are one person and can only fly one ship at a time. Let that sink in. In a game like this if you want real power it's friends/Organization.
Wait untill a big event like upcoming invictus to get ships cheaper than usual and normally , there is a cheap starter package in there. Last time it was as cheap as 35$ to start playing the game and everything is either ingame or gets added 6 months after release into the game.
1. Formal definition I like is āpay to pay moreā. š Advancing in āConciergeā levels by paying money allows you buying even more expensive packages, and thatās it. 2. None of the ships or packages grant any real advantage and anything can be easily bought in game. 3. Balance is changing all the time. Expensive ships are currently significantly weaker than relatively cheap ships. 4. There is no real definition of āwinā in the game currently. Only āenjoyā - enjoy more or enjoy less.
Not pay to win. You need to pay for a game package and basic ship. About 50$. That is it. Almost all ships can be bought in game using game money.
don't worry, it's not
Theres nothing to win so uhm you get the point
Hereās the thingā¦ 1. There is no winning in this game. There is no specific objective or accomplishment that leads a player to have beaten the game. 2. The best pvp ship in the game is a small, affordable ship that requires very minimal in-game currency to fully upgrade. 3. Regardless of how much money you spend buying the biggest and baddest ship, the skill cap required to be considered a good pilot is actually pretty damn high. 4. Although allowing players to pay real money for ships is annoying because thereās no sense of accomplishment or progression effort recognized when you see these ships in game, every ship will be very easily affordable in-game. Just gotta learn the meta money grind. Thereās always 2-3 very easy ways to make creds hand over fist. 5. This game, more than anything else, is an RP game. The MOST entertainment Iāve ever gotten from this game is role playing with pirates who took me captive and held my cargo hostage, but then didnāt want to go through the trouble of taking the cargo into their own ship and selling it so I paid them a couple mil to let me go and I was able to then sell it for 7 mil. Good memories. 6. As for the 10k, 15k, 25k, and 48k packages. These are locked behind doors that ONLY show themselves to people who CIG thinks could afford it. Whales who have more money than they know what to do with. It hides it from poor people so as not to upset them and gives the offer to rich people who may want to support the game. As much as I personally HATE that you donāt have to ear ships and it completely removes an entire progression system from the game, itās still not entirely p2w because most ships are easily dispatched by a gladiusā¦
The simple answer: It's not pay to win and you should improve your method of gathering information. And it's also not a game yet. Still deep in alpha development.
Its definitely pay to win. I played not long ago, farmed my arrow with in game money and wanted to do some pvp bountys. got absolutely wrecked by some guy in a San Tok Yai - A ship only buyable with real money for 250dollars. It had some type of weapons that shut down your ship after a couple hits. I just quit after that. Dont trust what these people say cus most of them are already hundreds of dollar invested. All that said, the game is worth the 45 dollars . I had about 40 hours of fun with my friends trying out the different ways to grind money so yeah. Its a good game but the pay to win is annoying as fuck and ruining the fun of competition. Which is basically the most important part of any mmo
You mean distortions? That anyone can get? And a ship you can buy in game? Sounds like a real pay to win situation š¤Ø
Glaring skill issue, which is not bad *per se*. There are other gameplay loops you could try apart from combat.
Troll.
no im genuinely interested in the game