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The use of variant ship parts

alsayyidalsayyid Member Posts: 115 Arc User
I have always wondered as to why the only means of customizing a ship was to buy the entire variant of that ship.

I can't speak for anyone else but there have been times where I would love to switch out just the pylons or the saucer. Honestly I can't justify spending money on an entire ship that I wouldn't really use.

But I do understand that creating ship models costs money. I wouldn't mind spending dil or some zen to customize my ship. Well that is my 2 cents. I figured it would be worth bringing up seeing as the devs have given us ship visual slots, something we had begged for for years.

Comments

  • mustrumridcully0mustrumridcully0 Member Posts: 12,963 Arc User
    I strongly suspect that a majority of the price for a new ship is based on the cost for making the model (and the expected profit margins). So there will likely not be a way to acquire them cheaper as there is now, unless they make other, major changes to customziation - like making every change cost Dilithium or Zen. (We actually had an EC price for customizing ship and character costumse, but they got rid of that. I strongly doubt they'll make a 180° turn on that)

    But the good news is - you can get a new ship costume for a bit of Zen - it just happens to be the exact same prize as the fully fledged ship.
    Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
  • alsayyidalsayyid Member Posts: 115 Arc User
    I certainly see what you mean, ships are probably the bread and butter for Cryptic. The issue I wonder about regarding pricing is that lower tiers are cheaper. That leads me to believe that cost isn't just for modeling. They are selling power. People look at the layout of the ship, the usefulness of the console and the trait.

    What I am suggesting is the means to buy a portion of the graphical component of the ship, not the bells and whistles.
  • mustrumridcully0mustrumridcully0 Member Posts: 12,963 Arc User
    I would not be surprised if the lower tier ships are loss leaders. Get yourself a taste of buying ships. You might have noticed that they haven't added any low tier ships lately. Exception was the Steamrunner, which existed already and just never was available to non-Steam users.
    Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
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  • evilmark444evilmark444 Member Posts: 6,952 Arc User
    The primary reason most people buy ships is for appearance and customization, that's why you need to buy any c-store variants that have parts you want to use ... it's literally the entire point of ship purchases.

    This is how most F2P MMOs work, by monetizing appearance customization options. STO just doesn't make it as clear that that's what your really paying for since, because of how the space gear system was originally designed, ships also have stats attached to them.
    Lifetime Subscriber since Beta
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  • alsayyidalsayyid Member Posts: 115 Arc User
    Yes I do belive customization is a cash cow worth milking. This much is true to me at least.

    That said, not knowing the details of specific sales we cannot conclusively say something sold specifically for a certain reason. I can only speculate using anecdotal evidence.

    As far as the game meta is concerned, there are some very powerful traits that draw players to certain purchases. Reciprocity, all hands on deck and emergency weapon cycle come to mind.
    Not to mention the usefulness of consoles like plasmonic leech are in and of themselves great purchases.

    I don't mind paying for space barbie. But 30 dollars for just a saucer is a bit much. It would be nice if you could unlock parts for a portion of the ship price or use fleet modules or something.

    As it stands for me personally, I will not make such a purchase of an entire ship for just one thing. Don't mistake me however, it isn't that I don't want to buy any ship. I have purchased ships before But it has always been because I wanted the whole thing or there was a certain item that I continue to use, such as the quad cannons.
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