Well that's good news!!
I always try and get my specs up to the Recommended, just to be happy and give some wiggle-room.

13gb RAM, though?
It's well above the minimum and pretty fine for everything... but I'm just curious - These things are usually even numbers as the RAM tends to come in sticks of 2, 4 or 8.
Unless you actually have 16gb, not all of which is recognised or perhaps usable by your system/OS?

It's about this point I'd call the Geek Squad (who doubles up as the Plum Patrol if I fiddle with things and cack it up) to check what's happening!

Damn. Just downloaded the Hanger module and my graphics card isn't supported.

Guess I'll be upgrading my system soon!

_________________
-Jeff

NewEgg.com seems to have some pretty good gaming systems pretty cheap.

_________________
-Spat

Nah, custom-build. You always get better results!

New Hornet range is out!
New commercial, brochure and everything!!

One butt-ugly ship, though... looks like my dog's chew-toy!!

Yeah, but custom made means you only have yourself to blame if it doesn't work!!

_________________
-Spat

I went ahead and got the Super Hornet package. I think I'm done now with the Retaliator and Super Hornet. I just can't justify buying anything else. I'd like a Caterpillar but no way am I spending another $225 if they are available again before November 26th.

By the way I was wrong about gifting accounts. The package will have lifetime insurance but they took away the feature that made your account have the same original backer status as the person gifting it so if you buy anymore ships you won't get lifetime insurance on them. However what you can do is buy the package you want, gift it to another original backer and they can turn it in and send it back to you with the lifetime insurance.

Well, if you build it yourself, yeah. But these days even an idiot like me can spec up and assemble a decent rig, so it's really not that hard. You just need to read one or two basic Newbie Guides.
The instructions with the components are generally very clear and easy to follow.

If you have friends who can help, all is good. You can ask on dedicated forums like the various Overclockers incarnations. Many shops even have a build service, along with an overclocking service too, so you can levy it all on them if you like!



I believe this feature is also due to expire, around end of November IIRC... So get buying!!

Yes it is actually which brings me to my next thought. I may have lied in my previous post about being done spending money.

Is anybody else thinking of buying an extra package (or more) so they don't have to hire out a second crewman (or more) for escort duty or for crewing multi-crew ships?

I am tempted to get a 300i package for the purpose of having a second character slot. This would give me three ships, but I'd have an extra character that could be used to let friends play or let the AI control it to fly escort or crew a station for free without having to hire one out all the time. She'll have to be easy on the eyes of course! So it'd be like having a permanent AI controlled "party member" like in other MMOs. Of course they'll probably straight up sell extra character slots too eventually so buying an entire package probably isn't a huge concern, but if I do it before Nov 26th, I get LTI on the ship. You can still always hire out for an AI controlled pilot/crewmember, but if you use one of your packages for that purpose they don't cost you money.

Decisions. Decisions.

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13288-Multiple-Package-Clarification

So how about that new $26 million stretch goal?



The $25 million goal is below:

CURRENT STRETCH GOAL: $25,000,000

STRETCH GOAL PROGRESS: 16%

UNLOCKS:

Enhanced Alpha ? We will use additional funding to build a wider alpha test than we had originally intended for the first phase of Star Citizen?s launch. The initial plan was to first launch servers in North America and then expand to areas such as Europe and Australia to decrease latency in these areas, perfecting the game as we improve the experience around the world. This funding will allow us to invest in a wider infrastructure for our early testing, spinning up remote servers earlier. Hitting this goal will also allow us to increase the number of remaining alpha slots. Extra alpha slots not only means more Star Citizens will travel the ?verse at launch, but that we will receive more feedback and more stress testing. This in turn will allow us to better balance and enhance the Star Citizen experience!

Aside from the whole LTI thing, I believe multiple characters will be a feature of the finished game anyway and without having to pay real money for it, either. Chris spoke about it in a Wingman's Hangar episode.

However, they say you can have 4 chars on 1 RSI account.
This means you'll have to log in to your RSI account.
This likely means only one of those chars on that account can be in use at any one time.
Which would mean your friends cannot play if you're on.
However, you can always create a second account and probably gift the LTI ships over.

[/quote]
This sounds like a backer only thing which would become redundant once the finished game launches.

Have a read on that page I linked. Unless things have changed since they published that article, it explains everything. One package = one character. If you want an alternate character to play you will have to buy an alternate character slot. That slot can be used as a custom crew member/pilot to help you or can be played by you. You do not have to have extra character slots to crew a ship though. You can hire NPC crew members and pay in game credits for their services. This is universal and does not apply to original backers or new members only.

I just had a chat with the chaps and got some clarification...
It's a ship package for now, but basically package = slot.
Extra Slots can indeed be bought (not yet available though), which do all you describe above.

However, the account thing still stands. Friends can play your slots, but it looks like you will have to gift them over (pick friends you trust!)... and they'll still require a base game package of their own to play it on anyway.

Hello ladies. I want you to meet my friend here, Goliath. We had to order a special business hangar for him on the intuhnet.

Too much trolling on the SC forums today.

So if you already have a ship package and want another ship, is it better to buy a new package, or just the ship?

_________________
-Spat

Well I guess it depends. Before they released info on how alternate characters would work, it made sense to buy a ship by itself to save money. However, having another package gives you an extra character slot. That character can crew your ships with you or fly escort for you. So if you have a Freelancer package and you buy a 300i package, you can have the 300i character fly escort for your Freelancer and vice versa or the second character can crew your Freelancer for you (turret) and you can have access to both ships whenever you want to fly them. Extra character slots will be purchasable at a later date as well so you don't have to buy an entire ship package. So if you never plan on having an escort or hiring NPCs to fly with you, just get the ship. However, that just doesn't make any sense anymore.

The Starfarer tanker/cargo vessel and the M50 fast interceptor fighter/racer will be available for sale again before LTI expires. I am going to pick up a Starfarer. The M50 is analogous to an A-Wing from Star Wars.

http://starcitizen.wikia.com/wiki/M50
http://starcitizen.wikia.com/wiki/Starfarer

Depends on how much you want to spend Spat. If you just want the ship, get it. It will be cheaper. Purchasing the package will get you the ship and a character slot. The character slot will allow you to have an alt (with separate reputations from your other character) that you can actively play. Or you can take that slot and make it into a custom NPC. this NPC can then be used to crew your ships

Current idea is that you can have 4 active character slots and an effectively unlimited number of NPCs.

It has not been confirmed if you will still have to pay salaries for the NPCS but you will be able to change the appearance and name of the NPC

_________________
"There is a clause in the contract which specifically states any systematized transmission indicating a possible intelligent origin must be investigated. On penalty of total forfeiture of shares. No money."

It depends also on the package. If you get extra things that your current package doesn't have, then by all means...

A full ship package (usually) gives you Alpha and Beta access, a ship and a character slot. It costs anything from $30 to thousands.
A ship on it's own will be added to your hangar and you then just get a choice of which one to fly at any one time. Note also that this hangar of yours will be free to land at, but all your ships will be here and it remains wherever you first choose it to be (once the finished game launches).

Each extra character slot will cost $15 (current reckoning).
Any extra character slots you buy can be used for your alt characters, or allocated to custom NPC(s) who can then crew your big ships with you, or be given one of these add-on ships to fly. I believe you will NOT have to pay these particular NPCs - You only pay NPCs if they don't use your own character slots and you instead hire them in-game.
You can have a maximum of 2 NPC wingmen (hired or otherwise).
You can have as many NPC crewmen as you need.

IMO, the only reasons to buy extra ships now are:
- So you can get the coveted LTI*.
- So you don't have to earn the money for them in-game.
- So you can take part in the Alpha and Beta testing with them.
- Because you just want the ships NOWWWWWWWWWW!
- Because you really want to give lots of money to such a worthy cause.

Also: Buying packages is impractical if you *just* want the character slots, as they pretty much all cost far more than the slot will. But the more money they get, the more stuff the game gets!

However, I suspect the reality will be a combination of the above.



*LTI - LifeTime Insurance. The Devs at CIG keep saying that Insurance will cost peanuts and no-one should have any trouble finding a few UECs (United Earth Credits) to pay for it. LTI is one of those few very tiny little perks for Original and Veteran Backers, but it will mean very little in teh grand scheme of things.
IMO, you'd only need one basic ship with LTI, so you always have a vessel with which to earn money to replace any others lost. But even then it can't be too hard a grind, else those players finishing Sqn42 with (potentially) zero credits would have a REALLY long, hard slog ahead of them!

And.... How do I get LTI!??!?!

_________________
-Spat

First, find a friendly Veteran Backer or Original Backer. A couple have made themselves known here already. Do this before the deadline of 26th November.

At least 24 hours after buying a package, you gift your package over to the OB/VB. They sell it and then repurchase it. This creates a package with LTI on it (insurance stays with the ship hull itself, so remember that when selling in-game).
They then gift the package back to you and you end up with LTI on that particular package, as well as all the other things it came with. You can do this with multiple packages.

Also, OBs and VBs get a slight discount on purchases, so gifting over your $30 Digital Scout, the OB could cash it in for the new Aurora LN, for example ($45 to you and me, $30 to them). Talk it over with them first, though. The example above needed me to have another package as the Scout one was broken down to just an add-on ship and nothing else.

So yeah.
A lot of people believe LTI is not worth it for small ships, as you may upgrade to something larger before even the 4 or 2 month insurances lapse and if/when you sell the ship, that insurance goes with it... including LTI!

Well, I bought the Rear Admiral package.

_________________
-Spat

Yeah Spat the only way to get LTI is to have someone else buy a ship for you with. Just make sure you trust them. Grats on the RA package. Best value in my opinion.

I would love to get LTI on some f my ships but alas I don't know anyone who has it.

_________________
"There is a clause in the contract which specifically states any systematized transmission indicating a possible intelligent origin must be investigated. On penalty of total forfeiture of shares. No money."

Spat I sent you a PM if you want me to convert your package to LTI. I can do the same for you Sgt. Kitten. I offered to do it for any AL members in the original post I made.