Greetings fellow Star Citizens! Today I will be giving my thoughts and analysis on the recently completed Crusader Industries Genesis Starliner concept sale.

The Genesis Starliner concept sale took place from June 27th to July 6th. This was probably the first concept sale in which CIG did not expect to sell very many ships. The idea of moving passengers in the fairly involved fashion of the Starliner is not a typical gameplay element in the Space Sim genre. The key to this ship is that it is very important for a “Living, Breathing Universe” as all of the Citizens of the Empire require ways to get from place to place in the ‘Verse. Not everyone owns a ship and even if they do, they may occasionally find themselves without a ship in their current location.

The Starliner fills this niche and at the same time provides what I personally consider to be intriguing gameplay, which you can read about in Tony Zurovec’s “Civilian Passenger Transport” design document. Star Citizen’s professions look as though they will be rich and complex regardless of whether or not they represent traditional Space Sim gameplay.

This article will focus on discussing the Genesis Starliner concept sale and comparing it to previous concept sales.

Aegis Dynamics Reclaimer Aegis Dynamics Reclaimer Funds raised from Reclaimer concept sale after: 2 hours: $206,815

4 hours: $308,545

8 hours: $436,956

12 hours: $524,973

24 hours: $734,014

48 hours: $937,421

72 hours: $1,074,118

96 hours: $1,211,152

120 hours: $1,348,664

144 hours: $1,483,283

168 hours: $1,610,823

192 hours: $1,758,553

216 hours: $1,887,216

Total raised in concept sale: $1,988,585 (227 hours @ $8,760/hr) The Aegis Dynamics Reclaimer had a fantastic concept sale. The community loved the ship and it drove all our imaginations wild with thoughts of wading into fields of debris left over from intense battles and picking clean the bones of the dead… before grinding the bare hulls into scrap. Despite its civilian purpose, the Reclaimer is a hulking brute and an imposing sight. All of this led to nearly $2 million in sales for Star Citizen’s first dedicated salvage ship.

RSI Orion Mining Platform RSI Orion Mining Platform http://i.imgur.com/tluvCAR.webm Funds raised from Orion concept sale after: 2 hours: $150,809

4 hours: $222,487

8 hours: $317,615

12 hours: $400,212

24 hours: $581,792

48 hours: $743,211

72 hours: $857,592

96 hours: $954,136

120 hours: $1,066,744

144 hours: $1,167,254

168 hours: $1,326,253

192 hours: $1,510,793

216 hours: $1,696,170

Total raised in concept sale: $1,731,299 (220 hours @ $7,869/hr) The RSI Orion Mining Platform also had a successful concept sale. The innovative design by George Hull, the same artist who designed the Reclaimer, brought life to what has been a fairly mundane game mechanic in other games over the years. This was highlighted and reinforced by the Star Citizen Careers: Mining design post by Tony Zurovec. The Orion sale has some interesting wrinkles, because there was a Cutlass free fly week that happened partway through the sale. This may have slightly elevated the numbers due to the availability of the Cutlass Blue, but it looks as though the effect was minimal. About a week into the sale, the Orion’s cockpit/bridge was altered (with the pilot’s seat moved to the top of the ship) and this drove a significant increase in sales in the last few days which brought the final total to within $260k of the Reclaimer’s total.

Aegis Dynamics Vanguard Aegis Dynamics Vanguard https://media.robertsspaceindustries.com/p44wsxb2pn2rz/source.mp4 Funds raised from Vanguard concept sale after: 2 hours: $187,724

4 hours: $285,256

8 hours: $376,024

12 hours: $442,484

24 hours: $657,735

48 hours: $876,897

72 hours: $1,053,928

96 hours: $1,221,595

120 hours: $1,359,487

144 hours: $1,492,437

168 hours: $1,643,897

192 hours: $1,798,183

216 hours: $1,997,690

240 hours: $2,202,675

Total raised in concept sale: $2,250,189 (245 hours @ $9,184/hr) The Aegis Dynamics Vanguard is now the “one to beat”. The most successful concept sale to date. The deep space fighter, designed by Gurmukh Bhasin, has set a high bar with a total of $2.25 million raised over the 245 hours it was on sale. The Vanguard had some detractors who said it was too expensive at $250 USD, but it certainly had a bevy of features to support its price and in general the INN staff felt it to be worthwhile and several of the twin engine fighters now grace our fleet.

MISC Hull Series MISC Hull Series Funds raised from Hull Series concept sale after: 2 hours: $93,265

4 hours: $159,997

8 hours: $261,106

12 hours: $363,245

24 hours: $589,370

48 hours: $812,894

72 hours: $964,540

96 hours: $1,079,724

120 hours: $1,203,750

144 hours: $1,359,517

168 hours: $1,538,711

192 hours: $1,724,437

216 hours: $1,968,998

240 hours: $2,156,463

Total raised in concept sale: $2,156,463 (240 hours @ $8,895/hr) The Hull Series sale started slow. I believe this is largely due to the fact that it started in the middle of the night in North America. However, after its slow start it picked up steam and surpassed first the Orion and then, near the end, the Reclaimer. While it looked like this sale would even catch up to the incredibly successful Vanguard, it faltered slightly right near the end and did not quite reach those lofty heights. Still, the sale earned a whopping $2.15 million for Star Citizen’s development. More importantly, the MISC Hull Series brought with it a greater understanding of the cargo mechanics in Star Citizen. You can find those articles below: MISC Hull Series Q&A Hull A Q&A

Hull B Q&A

Hull C Q&A

Hull D Q&A

Hull E Q&A Cargo Interaction Design Post It was great to finally get a better grasp on how cargo will be handled in Star Citizen, since it is such an integral part of how the universe will function.

Starfarer Gemini Starfarer Gemini Funds raised from Starfarer Gemini concept sale after: 2 hours: $51,094

4 hours: $91,511

8 hours: $119,367

12 hours: $136,673

24 hours: $251,634

48 hours: $356,292

72 hours: $429,923

96 hours: $494,872

120 hours: $549,268

144 hours: $612,922

168 hours: $683,504

192 hours: $762,904

216 hours: $834,996

240 hours: $899,358

Total raised in concept sale: $910,523 (245 hours @ $3,716/hr) The Starfarer Gemini is a neat ship that sort of highlights again the great part of the community’s feedback and interaction with the CIG development team. The Gemini was originally just flavour text in lore and wasn’t really being considered to be a ship you could pledge for. However, the community seemed intrigued by the idea of an armed and armoured fuel tanker and that led to CIG deciding to go ahead and create the variant for us to add to our collections. Some of you may be asking why the Starfarer Gemini didn’t get its own concept sale analysis. Well, the fact is that I wasn’t sure it should qualify. The still-limited base Starfarer went back on sale at the same time and will have skewed the numbers for the Star-G to some extent. Therefore I felt it was perhaps not necessarily in the same league as some of the other concept sales noted in this article. However, the base Starfarer has been available numerous times and you would imagine that most people who wanted it had previously picked it up. Therefore, I came to the interesting conclusion of including it in THIS analysis but not giving it one of its own. During the Starfarer Gemini concept sale, CIG released a three part Q&A about the base Starfarer and the Star-G. You can find those here: Starfarer Q&A Part 1

Part 2

Part 3 Frankly, for a variant of a fuel tanker, I think the Star-G’s concept sale went quite well. That said, it doesn’t come close to reaching the heights of the Orion, Reclaimer, Vanguard, or Hull series. Interestingly… the Star-G’s sale in terms of actual funds came remarkably close to that of our feature concept sale ship… the Reliant!

MISC Reliant MISC Reliant http://i.imgur.com/VwHUTHg.webm Funds raised from Reliant concept sale after: 2 hours: $57,310

4 hours: $101,282

8 hours: $176,262

12 hours: $217,474

24 hours: $287,835

48 hours: $370,253

72 hours: $437,094

96 hours: $495,189

120 hours: $559,735

144 hours: $619,893

168 hours: $682,659

192 hours: $761,962

216 hours: $823,006

240 hours: $904,123

Total raised in concept sale: $963,498 (254 hours @ $3,793/hr) The MISC Reliant is a versatile starter ship featuring an array of xenotechnology courtesy of MISC’s business relationship with the Xi’An. This is the first of a new classification of Tier II starter ships and is currently the only two seat starter. The base Reliant is described as a mini-hauler but it can be outfitted for any number of roles. In addition, CIG have already outlined what the Reliant variants will be: “Researcher” – A science-oriented model that carries internal signal dampeners and an advanced scanner suite for discovery missions.

– A science-oriented model that carries internal signal dampeners and an advanced scanner suite for discovery missions. “News Van” – Designed for deep space broadcasting, the ‘News Van’ Reliant adds an Image Enhancement Suite that helps capture every moment of life in the stars.

– Designed for deep space broadcasting, the ‘News Van’ Reliant adds an Image Enhancement Suite that helps capture every moment of life in the stars. “Skirmisher” – The frontier combat version of the Reliant trades cargo for a high-yield powerplant, stronger shields and additional weapons mounts. Obviously the folks here at INN have a particular fascination with the News Van variant of the Reliant and plans are already in the works to add those to our planned fleet of news ships (mostly Drake Heralds up until now). During the Reliant concept sale, CIG released a two part Q&A about the ship. You can find those here: Reliant Q&A Part 1

Part 2 The Reliant’s sale went well. It did not bring in the same kind of funding as the Vanguard or Reclaimer but that seems to be is mostly due to its much cheaper price. As you will see noted below, in terms of actual ships sold the Reliant is the winner of all of these concept sales by a landslide.

Funds raised from Starliner concept sale after:

2 hours: $28,602

4 hours: $43,597

8 hours: $63,071

12 hours: $84,005

24 hours: $142,828

48 hours: $203,191

72 hours: $242,293

96 hours: $280,805

120 hours: $326,548

144 hours: $369,685

168 hours: $415,782

192 hours: $467,355

216 hours: $522,270

240 hours: $570,765

Total raised in concept sale: $570,765 (240 hours @ $2,378/hr)

The Crusader Industries Genesis Starliner is the first Civilian Passenger Transport spacecraft concepted for Star Citizen. It is designed to carry 40 passengers and 8 crew. The LH307 Starliner is highly modular and will allow for any number of possible internal configurations including a nearly empty design for cargo carrying to an interior filled with luxurious suites to a military troop transport.

During the Starliner concept sale, CIG released a two part Q&A about the ship. You can find those here:

Starliner Q&A

Part 1

Part 2

The concept sale for the Genesis Starliner did not approach the lofty heights of previous concept sales compared here. As I figure it, this is due to several factors. Firstly, the Star Citizen community as a whole seems fairly disengaged at the moment due to the delays to Star Marine and the long period of time between full live releases. Secondly, the gameplay offered by the Starliner is exotic for the genre and although I am intrigued by it, I’m sure there are many Citizens out there who either aren’t interested or want to wait to acquire the ship in-game. Thirdly, the Starliner was $400. While the stats arguably support the price, it didn’t help sell this already low-demand concept ship.

Interestingly, we found out on RTV that 1842 Starliners were sold during the concept sale, including ships purchased with store credit (often by “melting” other ships). Based on the data we have, the funds taken in by CIG during the concept sale only represent around 1400 Starliners. If you subtract the normal daily sales (about $18k/day recently), then it looks like CIG took in additional funds equal to roughly 1000 Starliners during the sale. This means that almost half of these passenger craft that were acquired during the sale were due to other ships being melted.

At the end of the day, however, since CIG only expected to sell roughly 300-400 Starliners, the sale could be considered a success even if it was not the unqualified success of the Vanguard sale (for example).

Comparison:

Illustrated above: The Starliner had steady but comparatively low sales throughout its concept sale.

Illustrated above: The ROUGH comparison of the number of ships sold in various concept sales.

Illustrated above: The number of Citizens and members of the UEE Fleet at the beginning of each concept sale.

Summary:

The Crusader Industries Genesis Starliner earned $570k during its 10 day concept sale. This total pales in comparison to the likes of the Vanguard ($2.25 million) but certainly earned much more than the ship’s production cost. The low take of the Starliner is likely due to low current community engagement, niche gameplay, and a high purchase price.

There are now 1842 Starliners in the Star Citizen universe owned by players. I am excited to see the gameplay in action, although I expect it will be quite some time until we do.

Ultimately, this ship was needed to flesh out the Star Citizen universe. We absolutely need passenger transport ships to accomplish a “Living, Breathing Universe” – this is the first and she’s a beauty.

Note from Nehkara: Thank you for reading! If you have any feedback please leave me a comment! :)