So, yeah, Star Citizen. In-development space "sim" in the vein of Wing Commander, Privateer and Freelancer -- all unsurprisingly developed by the same guy who is leading SC, Chris Roberts.
I know that there's a bunch of us who bought into the project during its hugely successful crowdfunding phase (both its own, and on Kickstarter). This makes us original backers, which gives us certain (small) benefits over people who came later.
It's still possible to be one of those later people, though, and get the same benefits, by becoming a SC backer before 28 June 2013, which is when they're launching their new web site and ending what they call "veteran backers" coming in. After that, people are just backers and they don't get anything in particular special (except the game, of course).
One of the things that makes original backers and veteran backers different is that the original backers can ('til 26 November 2013) purchase SC packages at the original slightly lower prices, which can then be gifted on to others.
By way of comparison, if you're not already a backer, the lower tier prices are:
There's some other differences on insurance that take effect after 28 June, but for the moment all those ships come with what they call "life time insurance" (LTI), which means that the hull of the ship you purchase will be replaced, like-for-like, if it is destroyed without you paying additional in-game credits for insurance. Mind you, that's just for the ship in the package, and when I say "like-for-like" I mean that the hull will be equivalently aged. Think of it like buying an X-reg car and getting LTI for that; if you crash the car, LTI will replace it with another X-reg car, but not with the latest model or registration, so you can expect something equivalently "weathered".
For higher tiers ($100+), the discounts get more substantial than $5 (think more like $10-20) but none of them are so massive as to be must-haves.
So, I guess the point here is that if you're wanting to get in on the game and get LTI and want a small discount, you should try to catch up with one of THN's original backers for SC and get to them to gift you a ship before 28 June. After that, they can still do that, but those ships will come with time-limited insurance that you'll have to pay a small number of in-game credits to keep up to date (or run the risk of losing your ship and needing to fly contracts in whatever hull the contract sees fit to give you).
AFAIK, the original backers list includes:
I know that there's a bunch of us who bought into the project during its hugely successful crowdfunding phase (both its own, and on Kickstarter). This makes us original backers, which gives us certain (small) benefits over people who came later.
It's still possible to be one of those later people, though, and get the same benefits, by becoming a SC backer before 28 June 2013, which is when they're launching their new web site and ending what they call "veteran backers" coming in. After that, people are just backers and they don't get anything in particular special (except the game, of course).
One of the things that makes original backers and veteran backers different is that the original backers can ('til 26 November 2013) purchase SC packages at the original slightly lower prices, which can then be gifted on to others.
By way of comparison, if you're not already a backer, the lower tier prices are:
- Digital Scout, $30 - RSI Aurora ship + 1K credits
- Digital Mercenary, $40 - RSI Aurora ship + 1K credits + alpha/beta access
- Digital Bounty Hunter, $65 - Origin 300i ship + 2K credits + alpha/beta access + other digital goodies
- Digital Scout, $30 - RSI Aurora ship + 1K credits + alpha/beta access
- Digital Bounty Hunter, $60 - Origin 300i + 2K credits + alpha/beta access + other digital goodies
There's some other differences on insurance that take effect after 28 June, but for the moment all those ships come with what they call "life time insurance" (LTI), which means that the hull of the ship you purchase will be replaced, like-for-like, if it is destroyed without you paying additional in-game credits for insurance. Mind you, that's just for the ship in the package, and when I say "like-for-like" I mean that the hull will be equivalently aged. Think of it like buying an X-reg car and getting LTI for that; if you crash the car, LTI will replace it with another X-reg car, but not with the latest model or registration, so you can expect something equivalently "weathered".
For higher tiers ($100+), the discounts get more substantial than $5 (think more like $10-20) but none of them are so massive as to be must-haves.
So, I guess the point here is that if you're wanting to get in on the game and get LTI and want a small discount, you should try to catch up with one of THN's original backers for SC and get to them to gift you a ship before 28 June. After that, they can still do that, but those ships will come with time-limited insurance that you'll have to pay a small number of in-game credits to keep up to date (or run the risk of losing your ship and needing to fly contracts in whatever hull the contract sees fit to give you).
AFAIK, the original backers list includes:
- Ronin Storm
- Traxata
- Ghostwolf
- Iron Fist
