everyone in the RSI forums knows perfectly well they are just making pledges for a game that will have everything available in game for regular credits you earn.
They "advertise" ships in the pledge store by saying "YOU DON`T NEED TO BUY THIS SHIP, you can wait and get it in the ingame universe with credits"
There will be no magic super weapons that are cash shop only.
There will be no skins that are cash shop only.
There is no "premium ammo" bullshit.
The ship hulls from the pledges still need to be outfitted with improved components, better weapons, overclocking which can only be bought in universe with credits.
There are countless videos of cheap ships with good twitch pilots defeating higher price ships with noob pilots.
Star Citizen is a FPS, there is no "I WIN" button.
Like in any FPS, give a noob a bazooka and the better player will still pwn him two dozen times with a slingshot.
Everyone who keeps spreading this BS about wrong monetization is only running an agenda or has absolutely no clue whatsoever.
PERIOD
Yawn,
Sell the "best" ship for $250 today and a better $300 ship tomorrow; even with breakage that is yet another $50 profiteered off their loyal followers for an unknown, unfinished game.
If our governments were faster to impose laws upon the internet and electronic goods I imagine this would fall under fraud.
If a ship is "better" often lies in the "greedy eye of the beholder" ;-)
Only testing will show which ship is "better" than the other. Which means it will then be nerfed ... thats what alpha testing/balancing is here for. Given time, all the ships will appear in "Arena Commander". The multi-crew ships have been announced for the AC Build 2.0. AC Build 1.0 should be out before X-mas. At the moment AC 0.9 is being tested.
Look how avidly he tries to defend his actions. They got to protect their 1,000 dollar ship investments so they don't feel like they got burned and try to sucker in some others to be in their same predicament.
Of course Eric won't say he had any fallout with ICG because he was on a contract hush/hush dealings.
The Arena commander is the very defintion of a pay to win scenario where the better ships like the avenger have huge advantages over the auroura.
So far all we have is promises and a visually glorified arena game where the more money you paid the better your ship.
Look how avidly he tries to defend his actions. They got to protect their 1,000 dollar ship investments so they don't feel like they got burned and try to sucker in some others to be in their same predicament.
Of course Eric won't say he had any fallout with ICG because he was on a contract hush/hush dealings.
The Arena commander is the very defintion of a pay to win scenario where the better ships like the avenger have huge advantages over the auroura.
So far all we have is promises and a visually glorified arena game where the more money you paid the better your ship.
*** cough cough *** The Avenger is not available in Arena Commander .... yet ;-)
But HEY, you say the Avenger in Arena Commander is the embodiment of pay-to-win ... who am I to correct you ?!
And about Eric "The Wingman" ... he contradicts you in every one of his livestream, where he talks about his new game and his own company (and has answered this Star Citizen question time and time again in these livestreams). But thats just Eric in his own words - who am I to judge ?
And about Eric "The Wingman" ... he contradicts you in every one of his livestream, where he talks about his new game and his own company (and has answered this Star Citizen question time and time again in these livestreams). But thats just Eric in his own words - who am I to judge ?
Have fun
It's pretty pro forma in business to have those nicey nice statements. Really not a lot that can be read from them, as they are generally boilerplate. Perhaps he really just wants to stay in Austin.... (I sure would). Perhaps one or the other has matured some.
It is clear that a longtime Roberts sycophant has decided to leave the gravy train though.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
It is clear that a longtime Roberts sycophant has decided to leave the gravy train though.
I can only say it in Wingmans own words :
"Its nice to work for the man,
its even nicer to BE THE MAN !"
If Eric thinks its time to fly and do his own project - more power to him ! He knows the moves - i wish him the best.
This "sycophant" was one of the guys that brought us Wing Commander, Starlancer, Privateer 2 and Freelancer .... in case you know any of these games. He is also the guy that emailed Bill Gates which got the company partnership between Digital Anvil - of which he was a co-founder - and Microsoft started.
First of all they have not decided on a payment model for release yet. They have stated in their Around The Verse weekly youtube series that upon release, you will be able to buy all ships with in game currency. The current model in place is for those who don't want to wait for release and don't mind paying real money for ships and other addons. I would recommend checking out there youtube channel for all new info about the game that they release weekly.
Look how avidly he tries to defend his actions. They got to protect their 1,000 dollar ship investments so they don't feel like they got burned and try to sucker in some others to be in their same predicament.
Of course Eric won't say he had any fallout with ICG because he was on a contract hush/hush dealings.
The Arena commander is the very defintion of a pay to win scenario where the better ships like the avenger have huge advantages over the auroura.
So far all we have is promises and a visually glorified arena game where the more money you paid the better your ship.
Then you get admin on this site that will ban anyone that has a comment with any negativie connotation in it because they are a fanboi of said game. Happened to me with ESO then when my statements were true after release it was not considered "trolling" to bash the game on what was actually wrong with it.
everyone in the RSI forums knows perfectly well they are just making pledges for a game that will have everything available in game for regular credits you earn.
They "advertise" ships in the pledge store by saying "YOU DON`T NEED TO BUY THIS SHIP, you can wait and get it in the ingame universe with credits"
There will be no magic super weapons that are cash shop only.
There will be no skins that are cash shop only.
There is no "premium ammo" bullshit.
The ship hulls from the pledges still need to be outfitted with improved components, better weapons, overclocking which can only be bought in universe with credits.
There are countless videos of cheap ships with good twitch pilots defeating higher price ships with noob pilots.
Star Citizen is a FPS, there is no "I WIN" button.
Like in any FPS, give a noob a bazooka and the better player will still pwn him two dozen times with a slingshot.
Everyone who keeps spreading this BS about wrong monetization is only running an agenda or has absolutely no clue whatsoever.
PERIOD
In case you didn't know "credits, money don't grow on trees" in other words, people will need to put effort and spend time to earn those credits and then spend them on those ships, which they could be using that same currency on other things in the game if they already had them in first place as you said it yourself...Ship still will require further currency to upgrade them with many other things.
Finally, what you are saying is that as long as something is available in game that players can eventually purchase it with currency, it's not considered pay to win. My guess is those same ships that players spent hundreds to thousands of $ will require significant amount of time/currency to obtain, which you forgot to add to your sentence at the end.
So ask yourself, who really doesn't have a clue here or just check the outcome of the poll or read all the responses in this thread to get the idea.
About the "significant amount of work required in game" : Lets do some math, shall we ? Chris Roberts statement "Constellation will require approx 60 h of typical gameplay. Typical, not hardcore. That is the equivalent of 4.6 $ per Hour of gameplay. So you get your typical GOOD single seater ship after 20-30 hours, an additional starter level ship after 7 hours. Lets go to the other extreme, the Javelin- a small org of 25 players needs to put in 22 hours each of gameplay to finance a Javelin. So ... Within a week or two basically every currently pledgeable ship should be available in game through typical, non-hardcore gameplay. That also means within a month at most any initial advantage is gone.
Originally posted by Vrika They've gained so ridiculous amount of money that it did not backfire. I don't think there's any other way they would have been able to get more than 663 000 people to spend nearly 100$ each for a game that's at the moment just a playable tech demo with impressive graphics.
I think that touches the "not sure" pretty much. Most people see it as investment. Either a benefit at launch or being able to resell a ship for big money. If they all did it out of their kindness of their hearts, well there would be no world hunger anymore too.
So far SC has been a lot of promises and not much showing for. A space ship mmo and they show man vs man fps combat?
Its not an MMO by definition (in their FAQ). And if you believe Star Citizen is just a space dogfight game, i recommend you take a look at the SC wiki or SC wikipedia homepage. SC is much more than space dogfighting and that is why the FPS is an integral part - one of many - of the game.
Originally posted by Erillion Its not an MMO by definition (in their FAQ). And if you believe Star Citizen is just a space dogfight game, i recommend you take a look at the SC wiki or SC wikipedia homepage. SC is much more than space dogfighting and that is why the FPS is an integral part - one of many - of the game.
Have fun
I rather see it ingame. And till launch the haters should hold their hating, the fanboys should mount off their high horses and the true customers, should hold on to their money.....
Originally posted by Erillion About the "significant amount of work required in game" : Lets do some math, shall we ? Chris Roberts statement "Constellation will require approx 60 h of typical gameplay. Typical, not hardcore. That is the equivalent of 4.6 $ per Hour of gameplay. So you get your typical GOOD single seater ship after 20-30 hours, an additional starter level ship after 7 hours. Lets go to the other extreme, the Javelin- a small org of 25 players needs to put in 22 hours each of gameplay to finance a Javelin. So ... Within a week or two basically every currently pledgeable ship should be available in game through typical, non-hardcore gameplay. That also means within a month at most any initial advantage is gone.
Have fun
Except you also have to factor in the cost of getting credits for insurance purposes and then getting credits to outfit said ship. So while you have 25 players each putting in 22 hours of gameplay to get a single Javelin, you could also have a group of 25 people who boiught a javelin not having to spend the time farming credits to buy the ship or the credits to pay for insurance, meaning they can get rich faster and dominate the markets/space easier then your average Joe.
Originally posted by Erillion About the "significant amount of work required in game" : Lets do some math, shall we ? Chris Roberts statement "Constellation will require approx 60 h of typical gameplay. Typical, not hardcore. That is the equivalent of 4.6 $ per Hour of gameplay. So you get your typical GOOD single seater ship after 20-30 hours, an additional starter level ship after 7 hours. Lets go to the other extreme, the Javelin- a small org of 25 players needs to put in 22 hours each of gameplay to finance a Javelin. So ... Within a week or two basically every currently pledgeable ship should be available in game through typical, non-hardcore gameplay. That also means within a month at most any initial advantage is gone.
Have fun
If getting a new ship is so trivial, there will be massive outcry from backers who feel their purchases were not worth the money they spent. A lot of them are still insistent that ship prices will triple when the game goes live...
With an hourly rate of $4.50 it will make the game an absolute magnet for gold farmers.
Originally posted by Erillion About the "significant amount of work required in game" : Lets do some math, shall we ? Chris Roberts statement "Constellation will require approx 60 h of typical gameplay. Typical, not hardcore. That is the equivalent of 4.6 $ per Hour of gameplay. So you get your typical GOOD single seater ship after 20-30 hours, an additional starter level ship after 7 hours. Lets go to the other extreme, the Javelin- a small org of 25 players needs to put in 22 hours each of gameplay to finance a Javelin. So ... Within a week or two basically every currently pledgeable ship should be available in game through typical, non-hardcore gameplay. That also means within a month at most any initial advantage is gone.
Have fun
If getting a new ship is so trivial, there will be massive outcry from backers who feel their purchases were not worth the money they spent. A lot of them are still insistent that ship prices will triple when the game goes live...
With an hourly rate of $4.50 it will make the game an absolute magnet for gold farmers.
Any new MMO launch of any significance is already a massive magnet for the goldseller industry. I'm sure SC will be no different, regardless of the "hourly rate".
If it is possible to "earn" desirable items in a game and those items/benefits are tradeable between players, there's an instant massive goldseller invasion. We've seen it at every AAA launch in the last 2 years. It is the new future.
Except you also have to factor in the cost of getting credits for insurance purposes
--> which , according to official statements, will be a small amount only ... so non-backers won't have much problems with obtaining that extra amount compared to backers with LTI pledge ships.
and then getting credits to outfit said ship.
--> which is a price the people who have a pledge ship will also have to pay, because you and them start with the same basic level equipment installed (with the exception of the Javelin, thats 1 of approx 50 ships - the Javelin needs extra equipment.). So thats a zero-sum game.
So while you have 25 players each putting in 22 hours of gameplay to get a single Javelin, you could also have a group of 25 people who boiught a javelin not having to spend the time farming credits to buy the ship or the credits to pay for insurance, meaning they can get rich faster and dominate the markets/space easier then your average Joe.
--> "dominate" the market for all of 7-14 days at the beginning of the game - at most (then you won't feel the difference anymore) ..... that figure does not scare me. On top of that these "dominators" have to compete against 199 other orgs with a Javelin in these first two weeks. "Market domination" looks different IMHO.
--> And nothing is stopping a new player (without a pledge ship) to join an org with a Javelin on Day 1 of the game. Personally i don't think this makes much of a difference.
If getting a new ship is so trivial, there will be massive outcry from backers who feel their purchases were not worth the money they spent. A lot of them are still insistent that ship prices will triple when the game goes live...
With an hourly rate of $4.50 it will make the game an absolute magnet for gold farmers.
I agree on both counts.
Some backers with large ships may believe they have an invincible pwnmobile. If previous Chris Roberts games are any indication, a single large ship with not enough fighter cover will be easy prey for the first torpedo bomber wing coming across its bow. And the wailing and teethgnashing will be heard in the far reaches of the Verse ;-)
And goldfarmers will flock to Star Citizen in massive numbers, of that i am sure. As various other posters before me also said. Any large and successful online game release draws them in like sharks smelling blood in the water.
Have fun
PS:
As we speak about monetization ..... 66 M$ on my mark .... MARK !
Except you also have to factor in the cost of getting credits for insurance purposes
--> which , according to official statements, will be a small amount only ... so non-backers won't have much problems with obtaining that extra amount compared to backers with LTI pledge ships.
and then getting credits to outfit said ship.
--> which is a price the people who have a pledge ship will also have to pay, because you and them start with the same basic level equipment installed (with the exception of the Javelin, thats 1 of approx 50 ships - the Javelin needs extra equipment.). So thats a zero-sum game.
So while you have 25 players each putting in 22 hours of gameplay to get a single Javelin, you could also have a group of 25 people who boiught a javelin not having to spend the time farming credits to buy the ship or the credits to pay for insurance, meaning they can get rich faster and dominate the markets/space easier then your average Joe.
--> "dominate" the market for all of 7-14 days at the beginning of the game - at most (then you won't feel the difference anymore) ..... that figure does not scare me. On top of that these "dominators" have to compete against 199 other orgs with a Javelin in these first two weeks. "Market domination" looks different IMHO.
--> And nothing is stopping a new player (without a pledge ship) to join an org with a Javelin on Day 1 of the game. Personally i don't think this makes much of a difference.
--> Have fun
That whooshing sound would be the point flying completely over your head. Not that I am the least bit surprised based on your other posts. I think the SC forums will be more fun then the game could ever be once the hype train crashes into reality at full speed ahead.
That whooshing sound would be the point flying completely over your head. Not that I am the least bit surprised based on your other posts. I think the SC forums will be more fun then the game could ever be once the hype train crashes into reality at full speed ahead.
Correct me if I am wrong, but the point is that we two have different opinions about the period of time that the starting advantage of backers with their pledge ships will last compared to other non-backers playing the game after launch. And - derived from that - how important it is for backers to have many and/or big ships pre-launch.
My opinion: Any advantages will be gone in less than a month. The game is designed so no one can truely dominate. One does not need to have many and/or big ships to be able to enjoy the game, a starter ship is enough.
Your opinion: Backers with big fleets and big ships will have long-lasting advantages and dominate sections of the game. Anyone without a big fleet and/or big ships will be pwned by the dominators.
Only the release of the game will show who is closer to the truth ... and this launch is still some 2 years away.
Thing is, in virtually every MMO money is always the path to power.
If a $250 ship is meant to take a week to earn (30 hours) it's fair to assume they're referring to an Aurora as the starting point; so 250,000 / 30 = 8333 UEC p/hr. An Aurora can carry 16 Freight Units, for the sake of argument assume a trip takes 1 hour. The profit per FU is 520 UEC.
A Banu Merchantman can carry 6000 FU * 520 UEC = 3,120,000 UEC per hour, so per week 93,600,000 UEC vs 250,000 UEC. In other words the BM could buy 375 Constellations in comparison to the Aurora's single Constellation.
An org with 10 BMs vs an org with 10 Auroras, 936,000,000 UEC vs 25,000,000 UEC per 30 hour week. Obviously there's more variables to it than this but as they're the only numbers we have to work with.. and the point is to show the disparity between earnings of a starter and a high end ship from day 1.
A Banu Merchantman can carry 6000 FU * 520 UEC = 3,120,000 UEC per hour, so per week 93,600,000 UEC vs 250,000 UEC. In other words the BM could buy 375 Constellations in comparison to the Aurora's single Constellation.
And where does the org then get 375 new pilots to man these Constellations - while everyone else (meaning hundreds of other orgs) is also trying to recruit new people? Otherwise I know why they would need a buggy in a hangar THAT large ;-) The MANPOWER is the limiting factor, not the money you get.
Or as another user called rtmoose once said in a discussion about freight units :
"Pledging for star citizen: $30- $15k.
Upgrading hardware and peripherals in prep to play: $200 - $1000.
Theorycrafting over something you won't be able to even play around with for a year at least, something that is bound to change 10 times until then: priceless"
One more thing that came to my mind. Yes, the Banu Merchantman may have the much bigger cargo hold. But Jump Points being as they are (variable in size), that Merchantman may have to go the long way around with 20 jumps through Jump Points of big size. While the smaller Constellation may be able to user the smaller jump points and do it in 4 jumps.
That number was purely for comparison's sake as earning enough to buy a Constellation was the primary example.
The point (as I mentioned at the end of my post) is the income disparity. Perhaps the org can use taxes from those earnings to set up a ship replacement program, perhaps they use them to buy up certain areas of a market, so on and so on. As I said, money is the path to power in MMOs and that's a huge difference within just 1 week.
Theorycrafting with the numbers we have available is fine, it's not the be all and end all, it's not a definitive statement nor is it an assured figure, it's only being used for the sake of an example.
That number was purely for comparison's sake as earning enough to buy a Constellation was the primary example.
The point (as I mentioned at the end of my post) is the income disparity. Perhaps the org can use taxes from those earnings to set up a ship replacement program, perhaps they use them to buy up certain areas of a market, so on and so on. As I said, money is the path to power in MMOs and that's a huge difference within just 1 week.
Theorycrafting with the numbers we have available is fine, it's not the be all and end all, it's not a definitive statement nor is it an assured figure, it's only being used for the sake of an example.
There IS a ship replacement program. Its called (cheap !) official in-game "insurance" ;-)
I suspect you mean not only replacing the basic ship with basic equipment but also replacing the loss of high end ship equipment, so people can be back in combat quicker. A bit like most combat clans in EVE Online have a replacement program and prepared ships with combat outfits in reserve. Yes ... in that case money helps. However, iwith the "Death of a Spaceman" permadeath mechanic in Star Citizen (as compared to the infinite clone replacement in EVE) you have a natural limiting factor in there. You cannot sustain a dead pilot with more money, no matter how much money you have.
And buying up the market also won't work in a market that is a 90 % NPC market. Again, this is not EVE Online ... no Goons killing off most ice miners with suicide attacks for a month to drive up the price of ice and then selling all their own stockpiled ice at the increased price.
Yes, CIG is aware of all the usual tricks of the MMO trade. They HAVE put some thought into avoiding the pitfalls. Lots of discussions about this in the economics section of the game forum.
Comments
Yawn,
Sell the "best" ship for $250 today and a better $300 ship tomorrow; even with breakage that is yet another $50 profiteered off their loyal followers for an unknown, unfinished game.
If our governments were faster to impose laws upon the internet and electronic goods I imagine this would fall under fraud.
If a ship is "better" often lies in the "greedy eye of the beholder" ;-)
Only testing will show which ship is "better" than the other. Which means it will then be nerfed ... thats what alpha testing/balancing is here for. Given time, all the ships will appear in "Arena Commander". The multi-crew ships have been announced for the AC Build 2.0. AC Build 1.0 should be out before X-mas. At the moment AC 0.9 is being tested.
Have fun
Look how avidly he tries to defend his actions. They got to protect their 1,000 dollar ship investments so they don't feel like they got burned and try to sucker in some others to be in their same predicament.
Of course Eric won't say he had any fallout with ICG because he was on a contract hush/hush dealings.
The Arena commander is the very defintion of a pay to win scenario where the better ships like the avenger have huge advantages over the auroura.
So far all we have is promises and a visually glorified arena game where the more money you paid the better your ship.
MurderHerd
*** cough cough *** The Avenger is not available in Arena Commander .... yet ;-)
But HEY, you say the Avenger in Arena Commander is the embodiment of pay-to-win ... who am I to correct you ?!
And about Eric "The Wingman" ... he contradicts you in every one of his livestream, where he talks about his new game and his own company (and has answered this Star Citizen question time and time again in these livestreams). But thats just Eric in his own words - who am I to judge ?
Have fun
It's pretty pro forma in business to have those nicey nice statements. Really not a lot that can be read from them, as they are generally boilerplate. Perhaps he really just wants to stay in Austin.... (I sure would). Perhaps one or the other has matured some.
It is clear that a longtime Roberts sycophant has decided to leave the gravy train though.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
I can only say it in Wingmans own words :
"Its nice to work for the man,
its even nicer to BE THE MAN !"
If Eric thinks its time to fly and do his own project - more power to him ! He knows the moves - i wish him the best.
This "sycophant" was one of the guys that brought us Wing Commander, Starlancer, Privateer 2 and Freelancer .... in case you know any of these games. He is also the guy that emailed Bill Gates which got the company partnership between Digital Anvil - of which he was a co-founder - and Microsoft started.
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/12755-Meet-Eric-Peterson
So ... when it comes to monetizing strategies ... he might know a thing or two ;-)
Have fun
First of all they have not decided on a payment model for release yet. They have stated in their Around The Verse weekly youtube series that upon release, you will be able to buy all ships with in game currency. The current model in place is for those who don't want to wait for release and don't mind paying real money for ships and other addons. I would recommend checking out there youtube channel for all new info about the game that they release weekly.
MSI GT70
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Then you get admin on this site that will ban anyone that has a comment with any negativie connotation in it because they are a fanboi of said game. Happened to me with ESO then when my statements were true after release it was not considered "trolling" to bash the game on what was actually wrong with it.
In case you didn't know "credits, money don't grow on trees" in other words, people will need to put effort and spend time to earn those credits and then spend them on those ships, which they could be using that same currency on other things in the game if they already had them in first place as you said it yourself...Ship still will require further currency to upgrade them with many other things.
Finally, what you are saying is that as long as something is available in game that players can eventually purchase it with currency, it's not considered pay to win. My guess is those same ships that players spent hundreds to thousands of $ will require significant amount of time/currency to obtain, which you forgot to add to your sentence at the end.
So ask yourself, who really doesn't have a clue here or just check the outcome of the poll or read all the responses in this thread to get the idea.
Have fun
I think that touches the "not sure" pretty much. Most people see it as investment. Either a benefit at launch or being able to resell a ship for big money. If they all did it out of their kindness of their hearts, well there would be no world hunger anymore too.
So far SC has been a lot of promises and not much showing for. A space ship mmo and they show man vs man fps combat?
Have fun
I rather see it ingame. And till launch the haters should hold their hating, the fanboys should mount off their high horses and the true customers, should hold on to their money.....
Except you also have to factor in the cost of getting credits for insurance purposes and then getting credits to outfit said ship. So while you have 25 players each putting in 22 hours of gameplay to get a single Javelin, you could also have a group of 25 people who boiught a javelin not having to spend the time farming credits to buy the ship or the credits to pay for insurance, meaning they can get rich faster and dominate the markets/space easier then your average Joe.
If getting a new ship is so trivial, there will be massive outcry from backers who feel their purchases were not worth the money they spent. A lot of them are still insistent that ship prices will triple when the game goes live...
With an hourly rate of $4.50 it will make the game an absolute magnet for gold farmers.
Any new MMO launch of any significance is already a massive magnet for the goldseller industry. I'm sure SC will be no different, regardless of the "hourly rate".
If it is possible to "earn" desirable items in a game and those items/benefits are tradeable between players, there's an instant massive goldseller invasion. We've seen it at every AAA launch in the last 2 years. It is the new future.
I agree on both counts.
Some backers with large ships may believe they have an invincible pwnmobile. If previous Chris Roberts games are any indication, a single large ship with not enough fighter cover will be easy prey for the first torpedo bomber wing coming across its bow. And the wailing and teethgnashing will be heard in the far reaches of the Verse ;-)
And goldfarmers will flock to Star Citizen in massive numbers, of that i am sure. As various other posters before me also said. Any large and successful online game release draws them in like sharks smelling blood in the water.
Have fun
PS:
As we speak about monetization ..... 66 M$ on my mark .... MARK !
That whooshing sound would be the point flying completely over your head. Not that I am the least bit surprised based on your other posts. I think the SC forums will be more fun then the game could ever be once the hype train crashes into reality at full speed ahead.
Correct me if I am wrong, but the point is that we two have different opinions about the period of time that the starting advantage of backers with their pledge ships will last compared to other non-backers playing the game after launch. And - derived from that - how important it is for backers to have many and/or big ships pre-launch.
My opinion: Any advantages will be gone in less than a month. The game is designed so no one can truely dominate. One does not need to have many and/or big ships to be able to enjoy the game, a starter ship is enough.
Your opinion: Backers with big fleets and big ships will have long-lasting advantages and dominate sections of the game. Anyone without a big fleet and/or big ships will be pwned by the dominators.
Only the release of the game will show who is closer to the truth ... and this launch is still some 2 years away.
Have fun
If a $250 ship is meant to take a week to earn (30 hours) it's fair to assume they're referring to an Aurora as the starting point; so 250,000 / 30 = 8333 UEC p/hr. An Aurora can carry 16 Freight Units, for the sake of argument assume a trip takes 1 hour. The profit per FU is 520 UEC.
A Banu Merchantman can carry 6000 FU * 520 UEC = 3,120,000 UEC per hour, so per week 93,600,000 UEC vs 250,000 UEC. In other words the BM could buy 375 Constellations in comparison to the Aurora's single Constellation.
An org with 10 BMs vs an org with 10 Auroras, 936,000,000 UEC vs 25,000,000 UEC per 30 hour week. Obviously there's more variables to it than this but as they're the only numbers we have to work with.. and the point is to show the disparity between earnings of a starter and a high end ship from day 1.
And where does the org then get 375 new pilots to man these Constellations - while everyone else (meaning hundreds of other orgs) is also trying to recruit new people? Otherwise I know why they would need a buggy in a hangar THAT large ;-)
The MANPOWER is the limiting factor, not the money you get.
Or as another user called rtmoose once said in a discussion about freight units :
"Pledging for star citizen: $30- $15k.
Upgrading hardware and peripherals in prep to play: $200 - $1000.
Theorycrafting over something you won't be able to even play around with for a year at least, something that is bound to change 10 times until then: priceless"
http://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/26iplk/freight_units_fu_and_their_calculation_an/
Have fun
PS:
One more thing that came to my mind. Yes, the Banu Merchantman may have the much bigger cargo hold. But Jump Points being as they are (variable in size), that Merchantman may have to go the long way around with 20 jumps through Jump Points of big size. While the smaller Constellation may be able to user the smaller jump points and do it in 4 jumps.
That number was purely for comparison's sake as earning enough to buy a Constellation was the primary example.
The point (as I mentioned at the end of my post) is the income disparity. Perhaps the org can use taxes from those earnings to set up a ship replacement program, perhaps they use them to buy up certain areas of a market, so on and so on. As I said, money is the path to power in MMOs and that's a huge difference within just 1 week.
Theorycrafting with the numbers we have available is fine, it's not the be all and end all, it's not a definitive statement nor is it an assured figure, it's only being used for the sake of an example.
There IS a ship replacement program. Its called (cheap !) official in-game "insurance" ;-)
I suspect you mean not only replacing the basic ship with basic equipment but also replacing the loss of high end ship equipment, so people can be back in combat quicker. A bit like most combat clans in EVE Online have a replacement program and prepared ships with combat outfits in reserve. Yes ... in that case money helps. However, iwith the "Death of a Spaceman" permadeath mechanic in Star Citizen (as compared to the infinite clone replacement in EVE) you have a natural limiting factor in there. You cannot sustain a dead pilot with more money, no matter how much money you have.
And buying up the market also won't work in a market that is a 90 % NPC market. Again, this is not EVE Online ... no Goons killing off most ice miners with suicide attacks for a month to drive up the price of ice and then selling all their own stockpiled ice at the increased price.
Yes, CIG is aware of all the usual tricks of the MMO trade. They HAVE put some thought into avoiding the pitfalls. Lots of discussions about this in the economics section of the game forum.
Have fun