Your first purchase for Star Citizen will be a Starter pack, and as you can see, there are several of them, but not all of them are the same. The purpose of this article is to analyse and classify the different packs offered on the RSI website and help you make your choice.
Attention, I will speak here about the packages in themselves, not about the ships they propose. I assume that you already know which ship you want to acquire, my goal is just to guide you in the choice of the starter pack, knowing that you may need to upgrade the ship proposed with the package to the ship you have set.
This article being (very) long, I have deliberately hidden some less important passages, these passages can be consulted by clicking on a button. When you see a little green circled plus , is that part of the article is hidden, click on this little button to show it, and click again to hide it if necessary.
What are the important points to retain from a package?
Its price, of course.
But also its content: Insurance, EUC Bonus, Flair, Hangar, Digital Goodies.
And finally, its upgradeability: Upgrade value of ship(s).
Packages valuation
I have distinguished several points of interest in the valuation of a package:
Valuation of Licenses and digital goodies
Namely Star Citizen and Squadron 42, but also digital goodies such as the Star Map, Soundtrack, etc.
These are sold individually, so it is easy to add value to them.
$45.00 excl. VAT Squadron 42 License only
$45.00 excl. VAT Star Citizen License only
It's not possible to acquire the Star Citizen license alone, but I had to make the most of it for the rest of the comparison.
So I assumed that it was the same price as the Squadron 42 license, and that once combined, these two licenses were only worth $65.00 before tax.
$65.00 excl. VAT Star Citizen + Squadron 42 License
$20.00 excl. VAT the Squadron 42 License added to a package (See Answer The Call insert)
$05.00 excl. VAT Star Map
$10.00 excl. VAT Game Soundtrack
$10.00 excl. VAT Engineering Manual
$10.00 excl. VAT Making Of Star Citizen
I didn't valuate Star Citizen and Squadron 42's documentation, some packages offer them, others don't.
I assumed that you'll have no trouble doing without such documentation if you do a minimum of research on the net.
Answer The Call offer, allowing you to get Squadron 42 at $20.00 excl. VAT
At the beginning of August 2019, CIG seems to have put an end to the Answer The Call offer which allowed to get Squadron 42 at $20.00 HT when ordering a package including Star Citizen but not including Squadron 42. This offer was very convenient, as it allowed to buy a package without Squadron 42 and to add it at the time of the order validation by paying only $20.00 HT instead of $45.00 HT.
I had used this offer as a selection criteria in the choice of packages, but with the disappearance of the offer, we now have to take into account the fact that Squadron 42 can only be accessed by three methods :
Either by purchasing the product alone at $45.00 HT,
or via the Mustang Alpha, and Aurora MR packages including Squadron 42 and Star Citizen,
or finally via packages reserved for concierges.
Finally, the offer could very well be revised, permanently or occasionally, during an Anniversary for example. I will therefore keep it as a criterion of choice, but on the assumption that it is no longer as easy to obtain as before.
Insurance Valuation
I did not value the insurance, because that would be purely arbitrary since we do not know how much it will be charged once it is in play. Especially as it is not really interesting since most packages offer a 6 months insurance, except for the Aurora MR and Mustang Alpha packages which only offer 3 months of insurance.
Exception for the packages dedicated to concierges who offer an LTI insurance.
Valuation of the UEC Bonus
The UECs can be valued, 5000 EUCs are sold $5.00 HT online without quantity discount, so it is easy to consider that 1000 EUCs are worth $1.00 HT.
Hangar Valuation
The valuation of a Hangar is simple since it is enough to take back their value on the RSI website.
$00.00 HT Self-Land Hangar
The Self-Hangar is the basic Hangar available with all packages.
It has no significant value since there is no interest in acquiring it separately.
$20.00 HT Aeroview Hangar
Aeroview Hangar includes the Self-Hangar.
$40.00 HT Revel & York Hangar
Revel & York Hangar includes Aeroview Hangar and Self-Hangar.
$50.00 HT VFG Industrial Hangar
VFG Industrial Hangar includes Revel & York Hangar, Aeroviex Hangar and Self-Hangar.
The strongest upgrade, the VFG Industrial Hangar Upgrade, will automatically give you access to all other options. If you want all 4 hangars, there is no need to purchase all the upgrades, only the VFG Industrial Hangar Upgrade is sufficient.
There is an ambiguity regarding the hangars.
By default, they are either offered individually as an upgrade, or with a package, or with a standalone ship, and upgrading from one ship to another will not change the hangar offered with a package.
However, and this is where it becomes ambiguous, it is possible that following an upgrade, a hangar may magically appear in game when it is not on any of your packages.
It seems that each ship is linked to a specific hangar.
For example, the Cutlass Black is linked to the VFG Industrial Hangar, and if you buy a Mustang package and upgrade the Mustang to a Cutlass Black, then the VFG Industrial Hangar should be added to your account once in play. But note that this is only done in-game, so there's no guarantee that it will be final, and even if it was, if you later decide to upgrade the Cutlass Black to a Freelancer, well that would cause you to lose the VFG Industrial Hangar and replace it with an Aeroview, because the Freelancer is associated with the Aeroview.
Having a Hangar on the package only insures you this hangar, so if you buy the Cutlass Black package you will get the VFG Industrial Hangar, but if later you upgrade your Cutlass Black to a Freelancer, you will keep your VFG Industrial Hangar, because it is linked to the package.
Flair Valuation
I valued the flairs at $5.00 HT the unit, it's the price applied for the flairs in the subscribers' shop, and $15.00 HT the Greycat, it's its selling price applied on the RSI website.
$05.00 HT by Flair
$15.00 HT Greycat PVT
Currently, only the Package of the Constellation Andromeda offers Flairs, and a Greycat PVT.
Ships valuation (upgrade and evolutivity)
Note that I am talking about the valuation of a ship in real money, not in UEC.
The valuation of a ship is the price HT which will be proposed to you at the time of upgrading a ship, to know this value it is enough to reach the page of upgrade and to consult the applied prices.
Below is a list of the ships that are present in the packages of the article.
Please note that ships marked with an asterisk (*) are only available in Concierge packages, and these ships may not be available in game (See Loaner Ship Matrix).
$30.00 HT Aurora MR
$30.00 HT Mustang Alpha
$40.00 HT Dragonfly Black
$45.00 HT C8X Pisces Expedition
$60.00 HT Avenger Titan
$60.00 HT Avenger Stalker
$65.00 HT Reliant Kore
$75.00 HT Arrow
$110.00 HT Cutlass Black
$125.00 HT Hornet F7C
$110.00 Freelancer
$240.00 HT Constellation Andromeda
When you buy your first starter pack, don't only look at the economics of the pack, but also at its evolution over time, because there's no sense in saving $20 when you buy the starter pack if you're going to lose $40 later.
From the upgrade value of the ship, we can also deduce the evolutivity of your package in time.
Don't forget that the upgrade of a ship is always done to a higher value ship, so if you decide to upgrade your ship to another one, it will be easier to upgrade a low value ship than a high value one.
Upgrading a $30.00 Alpha Mustang to something else offers you a wide range of possibilities.
While upgrading an Andromeda Constellation worth $240.00 greatly limits the possibilities.
Currency and pricing without VAT
As you will have noticed, I speak only in dollars and without VAT.
This choice is deliberate, as some important parts of the site only use the Duty Free pricing in Dollars, such as :
The valuation of a ship during an upgrade,
The action of requesting an Exchange (Melt),
The use of the Credit Store.
Valuation of Ships according to their value in UEC
This is a valuation that I don't take into account in this article, the reason being that the game's economy is not in place, and the balancing of the ships is not finished, so it's difficult to take into account the in-game sale value of a ship if it changes according to the updates.
Moreover, the choice of a ship should be made according to what it will bring you in game, and not because it costs more or less in UEC. This is an evaluation that can be done during an online customization as for the Origin 300 series, but not on the ship itself.
Valuation of the package and "gain" on purchase
Now that it is possible to value the contents of a package, it is possible to make an overview and determine its real value and the gain made on purchase.
The table below gives a value of the different packages, as well as an evaluation of the gain that the purchase of the package can represent by comparing its sale value with its content value.
Starter Pack
Price HT
Insu.
UEC
Licence Value
Hangar Value
Goodies Value
Ships Value
Pack Value
Gain on CCU
Gain on Pack
Mustang Alpha Starter Pack
45.00$
3
1000
45.00$
0.00$
1.00$
30.00$
77.00$
-15.00$
32.00$
Aurora MR Starter Pack
45.00$
3
1000
45.00$
0.00$
1.00$
30.00$
77.00$
-15.00$
32.00$
Mustang Alpha Starter Pack + SQ42
65.00$
3
1000
65.00$
0.00$
1.00$
30.00$
97.00$
-35.00$
32.00$
Aurora MR Starter Pack + SQ42
65.00$
3
1000
65.00$
0.00$
1.00$
30.00$
97.00$
-35.00$
32.00$
C8X Pisces Expedition Starter Pack
60.00$
6
1000
45.00$
0.00$
1.00$
45.00$
92.00$
-15.00$
32.00$
Cutter Starter Pack
60.00$
6
1000
45.00$
0.00$
1.00$
45.00$
92.00$
-15.00$
32.00$
100i Starter Pack
65.00$
6
1000
45.00$
0.00$
1.00$
50.00$
97.00$
-15.00$
32.00$
Avenger Titan Starter Pack
75.00$
6
1000
45.00$
20.00$
1.00$
60.00$
127.00$
-15.00$
52.00$
Anvil Arrow Starter Pack
90.00$
6
1000
45.00$
0.00$
1.00$
75.00$
122.00$
-15.00$
32.00$
Nomad Starter Pack
95.00$
6
1000
45.00$
0.00$
1.00$
80.00$
127.00$
-15.00$
32.00$
Cutlass Black Package
125.00$
6
1000
45.00$
50.00$
1.00$
110.00$
207.00$
-15.00$
82.00$
Hornet F7C Starter
125.00$
6
5000
45.00$
20.00$
20.00$
125.00$
215.00$
0.00$
90.00$
Freelancer Package
125.00$
6
5000
45.00$
20.00$
30.00$
110.00$
210.00$
-15.00$
85.00$
Constellation Andromeda Starter Pack
275.00$
6
10000
45.00$
40.00$
90.00$
240.00$
425.00$
-35.00$
150.00$
'Goodies' Value
Valorization of digital content, UECs, Flairs and Skins if any
Ships Value
Valuation of the ships present in the pack according to their CCU value
Pack Value
Valuation of the whole content
Gain on Ships
The ratio between the Ship Valuation and the purchase value of the pack excluding VAT, is positive only on high value packs.
Gain on Pack
Ratio between the Value of the Pack and the purchase value of the pack excluding VAT
I remind you that most packages do not include Squadron 42, and that the purchase of the latter separately represents an additional cost of $45.00 excluding VAT, or $20.00 in the case of a hypothetical return of the Answer The Call offer.
Therefore, a package that does not include Squadron 42 and does not offer a payout of more than $45.00 (or $20.00 excluding VAT) is not really worthwhile if you have to purchase Squadron 42 separately.
Take the time to study each package, its contents, the possible savings on purchase, and the additional cost of acquiring Squadron 42 individually.
Ranking
It is difficult to establish a ranking, because you have to take into account the ship that comes with the package and whether or not you need to have Squadron 42.
Moreover, depending on your budget and/or your objectives at stake, I can't establish a real ranking. It seems more appropriate to me to tell you which package seems to me the most adapted according to the value of the ship you intend to acquire :
Constellation Andromeda Package,
to avoid, unless you target the goodies that come with it. Go to the Andromeda Constellation Package testing.
Anvil C8X Pisces Expedition Package,
May be an option but only to upgrade to another ship and if you don't want SQ42.
Go to the Anvil C8X Pisces Expedition Package testing.
