StarCitizen Concept Sail: Starter Ship "Reliant"

RSI has another concept sail up. This time it is the "Reliant", interesting idea with a hull that reconfigures somewhat depending on the situation. The idea of the base ship (there are three variants plant so far) is to be a "Mini-Hauler", meaning it will have quite some cargo space for it's size. And it has a second seat, which is probably quite unique for this class of ships.

As this is labelled as a "Tier 2 Startship" it is comparability cheap with 50$. As always with concept sails, this one gives you the ship and Life-Time-Insurance, but at this stage it is still mostly drawings and some 3d models, so it will take some time before you can actually fly it.

I got two of them. :D Project Concierge completed. :?

The idea of a starter ship that has an actual seat for a second person is certainly a nice one.
While the Aurora can technically carry one passenger, most won't be happy to be lying in the small cramped bunk the whole flight...
And having a spacious cargo hold is definitely a nice touch.
If they now add a comparable amount of weapons to the Mustang Delta and the resilience of the Aurora...

[quote="The2ndPete"]The idea of a starter ship that has an actual seat for a second person is certainly a nice one.
While the Aurora can technically carry one passenger, most won't be happy to be lying in the small cramped bunk the whole flight...
And having a spacious cargo hold is definitely a nice touch.
If they now add a comparable amount of weapons to the Mustang Delta and the resilience of the Aurora...[/quote]

There will be one variant that trades some (or most) of the cargo space for a bigger power plant, better shields and a better weapon loadout. I hope the weapons on the wingtips have gimbals otherwise aiming will be pretty tough.
The ship somehow reminds me of the B-Wing from Star Wars. ;)

As there is a "combat" variant of the other two starter ships.
For the Aurora though, I've never flown the Legionaire. A combat ship with a speed of 150m/s? Pff, everyone except those whose engines were blown off will lazily drift away! Good for point defense I guess but never try to run behind your target.
The combat variant of the Mustang on the other hand? Badass! t0di regularly kicks ass with it when he manages to stay out of enemy fire. Which he mostly does.
It's just the Mustangs general downside that they're built from cardboard and styrofoam. Space Cardboard (tm) and zeroGstyro (also tm) but weak materials nonetheless. That little bit of additional armor plating doesn't do much to enhance the overall stability...

And I'm pretty sure that the guns will be mounted gimballed. For one there is a commentary stating the second seat is for a gunner and for seconds the large gun thingy on one end is a S3, which is normally a remote controlled turret. Or a very big cannon...
And I'm sure every similarity to the B-Wing with its rotating cockpit and weapons on the end of large fins is purely coincidental

Oh, the Delta is great, especially if you put some decent weapons on it (read Omni3 and Omni6) :-)

The questions is just, at 65$, is that sill a starter ship? My Avenger is cheaper...

Yepp, quite a price tag for a starter package.
It's like buying a AAA title like Call of Warfare: Modern Special Duty for a console...
Or the Witcher 3.
All these titles that have some linear story which you follow (with a whole truckload of sidequests in case of the Witcher) and then touch them again some years later.

Granted, SC is giving you some years of playtime until you've seen all worlds/systems/ports but still that's enough to make many curious players shy away from buying it.
$65 is for the ship with Arena Commander pass, no? The ship alone is listed at $50 but it'll give you exactly nothing at the moment.
The ship's not flight nor hangar ready and so you'd just stand in an empty SelfLand bay...

No, what I meant was, my Delta costs 65$ (only the ship) and is marketed as "starter-ship", my Avenger on the other hand is cheaper and not marketed as starter-ship (or is it? then the point would be mood). I wasn't complaining about the price-tag at all, 50 or 65$ for such a game is just the normal price (maybe even a bit low). I was just wondering why some ships are considered "starter-ships" while others aren't :-)

Ah, now I get your drift. And that's indeed a bit strange.
Maybe the sole thing left to differentiate starter ships from others is the missing ejection?
Neither Aurora nor Mustang offer that handy panic button while most other one-person ships do.

First starter ship was the Aurora, along with the variants. As reward for the $28M Stretch Goal, there was another starter ship, the Mustang. It also got variants. The base package costs $45 (+VAT) for both starter ships, only the variants are more expensive. The $63M Stretch Goal got us the Reliant which is considered to be the third starter ship.
The pledge stor shows the Mustang Gamma Package at $70.00 and the Avenger Package at $75,00. Single ship is $55.00 (Mustang Gamma) vs. $60.00 (Avenger).
So, the Mustang Gamma is not a real starter ship but a variant and it is still cheaper than the Avenger. Besides the ships, you get 2 games (SC and SQ42) for $10. I do not see a reason why to buy a stand-alone ship when it is available with a game-package. Additional packages have the advantage that you are able to create additional characters. You can use these characters as NPC crews for your ships.