Questions about how to best play CCU game

[Raven_King]

Hello! I'm looking for some lessons on how to use CCUs well. I hope you can help me understand this part of the 'game' a bit better?

I'm a longstanding player/backer, but I've not dabbled in CCUs very much. Past ship/upgrade purchases have mostly been on the RSI Pledge Store, with an unhealthy handful of eBay purchases. eBay was always MUCH cheaper than getting the ship in the store, and so far has been fine. Today I think I took my first step towards understanding why they are so much cheaper. But I still feel like I don't completely get how to buy ships efficiently.

For context, during IAE 2951 I bought three new ships, so let's use those to ask what you think:
1. Spartan LTI, intended as a future LTI token (I'm not attached to it)
2. Odyssey LTI (Concierge), bought at full price of £600. I LOVE the concept of this ship but I think I should have bought it as a CCU upgrade, for USD $~300 less.
3. After finding and installing the CCU Game browser plugin (link below), I used it to pick a CCU chain of 15 things starting with a 'new' P-52 and stepping gradually up to an Aegis Redeemer, which I also really wanted.

In US dollar terms, the Redeemer is USD $325 list price, whereas the total 15-item CCU chain cost USD $170, saving USD $155. I'm in the UK, so working it out with UK VAT @ 20%, that equates to a Redeemer list price £264.00 GBP, compared to the CCU chain total of GBP £163.20, so saving me £100.80! Either would be 10 month year insurance. That's a substantial saving for what amounts to the exact same ship, PLUS I think it would still be giftable, so I could sell it later if I want to.

CCU Game: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/star-citizen-ccu-game/efkaeodcipbmkhbbfmiagjcnnlhdkdlf - or just search the web for 'Star Citizen CCU Game browser extension' or something similar. I have no connection with this tool at all. But on first impression it looks amazing.

So, I have three questions about buying wisely.

1. Was the Spartan a good purchase as an LTI token, in your opinion? I have quite a few LTI ships, but mostly I want to keep them.
2. Should I do something with this full-price Odyssey? I really want the ship, but should I melt the pledge and re-buy it using CCUs to free up several hundred $/£ of store credit?
3. Should I apply the upgrade chain to get my Redeemer now, or is there some potential advantage to sitting on the CCUs and hoping they will somehow appreciate in value in future. This is the part of the whole thing I feel I understand least; speculating with CCUs. If someone can explain, I'd be very grateful!

 

[Doyzer]

1. I think it is a good token because you save $15 ($65 vs $80)
2. Your call, they will always sell warbond ccus in future. I would make sure you have a Carrack to Odyssey upgrade in hangar to lock in price so you can upgrade to it later
3. We don't know what warbond ccu's they will sell in future. An $170 Redeemer is a good price. Ships can change price after release so you can get in trouble. For example, a Reclaimer to BMM is a great $0 ccu now but a BMM to Reclaimer isn't.

 

[InVal3d]

2. I did the CCU chain for the Odyssey but stopped upgrading at the Carrack. So I have a Carrack with a upgrade to a Odyssey in my hangar for when the ship does come out. If it was me, what I would of done is buy a Spartan with LTI and start the CCU chain from there. Then you'll have a LTI on your Odyssey once you use the upgrade from the Carrack. I would

1) Melt Odyssey
2) Use/Buy Spartan with LTI
3) Buy CCU chain starting with the LTI Spartan form your hangar (Use your store credit to help pay from melting Odyssey)
4) Save some money sort of cause its all in store credit now for future purchases

 

[Raven_King]

Thanks @Doyzer and @InVal3d - I appreciate your advice.

3. We don't know what warbond ccu's they will sell in future. An $170 Redeemer is a good price. Ships can change price after release so you can get in trouble. For example, a Reclaimer to BMM is a great $0 ccu now but a BMM to Reclaimer isn't.

So... there's no great reason to hold off from apply these upgrades now? I bought the Redeemer to play with, and not (primarily) as an investment to speculate with.

I would

1) Melt Odyssey
2) Use/Buy Spartan with LTI
3) Buy CCU chain starting with the LTI Spartan form your hangar (Use your store credit to help pay from melting Odyssey)
4) Save some money sort of cause its all in store credit now for future purchases

Nice - this seems to make sense. So by doing all that now, during IAE when all the upgrades are still for sale, I'd end up with what will eventually be the same Odyssey. I won't have the Windrider paint for free any more, but I don't really mind about that. PLUS, by not applying one (or more) of the CCUs just yet, in the meantime I can fly another ship somewhere along that chain until I want to upgrade it to the Odyssey. And all that should be for the money I already paid - no new money needed, and I'd be left with something like USD 200-300 in store credit? (Give or take whatever that converts to in GBP after tax).

Seems like this might be something other TESTies in a similar position might want to do, if it's true. It's not really much effort!

 

[InVal3d]

Thanks @Doyzer and @InVal3d - I appreciate your advice.

So... there's no great reason to hold off from apply these upgrades now? I bought the Redeemer to play with, and not (primarily) as an investment to speculate with.


Nice - this seems to make sense. So by doing all that now, during IAE when all the upgrades are still for sale, I'd end up with what will eventually be the same Odyssey. I won't have the Windrider paint for free any more, but I don't really mind about that. PLUS, by not applying one (or more) of the CCUs just yet, in the meantime I can fly another ship somewhere along that chain until I want to upgrade it to the Odyssey. And all that should be for the money I already paid - no new money needed, and I'd be left with something like USD 200-300 in store credit? (Give or take whatever that converts to in GBP after tax).

Seems like this might be something other TESTies in a similar position might want to do, if it's true. It's not really much effort!

The only new money you'll have to spend is for the warbonds in the CCU chain. Cause you cant buy Warbonds with store credit so it would be I think about $107.51 you'll have to pay with new money tax included. Then you'll have a couple hundred in store credit for other ships in future.

 

[vahadar]

You should do as was @InVal3d says and stop to the Carrack, or even better the BMM.
If you consider that the BMM will jump to 600/650 at some point (next Alien Week for exemple), and if you can then get a CCU for a Warbond Perseus (my bet on next Invictus) or Odyssey, you will save a lot more. Secure yourself some Perseus to Odyssey in buyback. or some BMM to Odyssey (the price of the CCU will lower if BMM jumps up and if stored in buyback).

I can make an Odyssey right now at 235$, but I will stop at the BMM and wait for the opportunity above, and if not I'll have already my warbond CCU to Carrack in hangar to start from later.
If BMM jumps by 50$ more, and if we can get a Perseus warbond say for 625'ish, that's even better.

edit : typos

 

[InVal3d]

You should do as was @InVal3d says and stop to the Carrack, or even better the BMM.
If you consider that the BMM will jump to 600 at some point (next Alien Week for exemple), and if you can then get a CCU for a Warbond Perseus (my bet on next Invictus) or Odyssey, you will save a lot more.

I can make an Odyssey right now at 235$, but I will stop at the BMM and wait for the opportunity above, and if not I'll have already my warbond CCU to Carrack in hangar to start from later.
If BMM jumps by 50$ more, and if we can get a Perseus warbond say for 625'ish, that's even better.

This is a pretty good idea to stop at the BMM, I wish I would of though about it before I did my chain. I wanted a Carrack though since I already have a BMM. But yea this is a great idea since the BMM will most likely go up in price!

 

[Doc Flanigan]

You should do as was @InVal3d says and stop to the Carrack, or even better the BMM.
If you consider that the BMM will jump to 600 at some point (next Alien Week for exemple), and if you can then get a CCU for a Warbond Perseus (my bet on next Invictus) or Odyssey, you will save a lot more.

I can make an Odyssey right now at 235$, but I will stop at the BMM and wait for the opportunity above, and if not I'll have already my warbond CCU to Carrack in hangar to start from later.

Agreed. This is one of my strategies to eat up some of my store credit. I bought 5 Herc M2 to BMM upgrades to hold on it for later.

 

[Raven_King]

Perfect. i was thinking of stopping applying the CCUs at the 600i, as I *checks notes* already have a Carrack and a BMM . However, as @vahadar says, the BMM seems most likely to get a price increase, as it’s not flyable yet and the 600i and Carrack are.

If you consider that the BMM will jump to 600/650 at some point (next Alien Week for exemple), and if you can then get a CCU for a Warbond Perseus (my bet on next Invictus) or Odyssey, you will save a lot more. Secure yourself some Perseus to Odyssey in buyback. or some BMM to Odyssey (the price of the CCU will lower if BMM jumps up and if stored in buyback).

I feel like I nearly follow this, but not quite. Can anyone spell it out for those of us who are new to this stuff please? Doesn’t doing this risk you ending up with some expensive CCUs in your hanger you will never use? Not understanding this sort of logic is why I asked my original question!

 

[vahadar]

Perfect. i was thinking of stopping applying the CCUs at the 600i, as I *checks notes* already have a Carrack and a BMM . However, as @vahadar says, the BMM seems most likely to get a price increase, as it’s not flyable yet and the 600i and Carrack are.


I feel like I nearly follow this, but not quite. Can anyone spell it out for those of us who are new to this stuff please? Doesn’t doing this risk you ending up with some expensive CCUs in your hanger you will never use? Not understanding this sort of logic is why I asked my original question!

Lets' say you make right now a BMM thanks to CCU Game, you'll get a cheap BMM thanks to all the upgrades.
Yes you can buy a BMM to Carrack for10$ and then jump from Carrack to Odyssey for 100 store credit.

But you can also stop at the BMM and wait for a further price increase, like a jump at 600 or even 650.

I'll do 2 scenarios : 1) Perseus warbond + BMM jump, and 2) just BMM jump.

scenario 1 :
- If you buy now a CCU from Perseus to Odyssey it costs 25 credits, store it in hangar or in buyback (as long as Perseus dont jump in price later over 699 you will be able to buy it back)
- wait for BMM to jump at 600 at least
- wait for RSI to sell a warbond Perseus CCU and buy it (Polaris warbond CCU make you save 50$, so we can assume a Perseus warbond CCU will make you save in that range, 40-50$ish, since Carrack warbond CCU make you save 40$ now, and 30$ for older warbond Carrack CCU released this year also. So from those information about CCU price, we can assume a warbond Perseus CCU would make you save between 40-50$ so for a Perseus priced at 625-635$ as standalone warbond)
- apply the warbond on the BMM, then apply the Perseus to Odyssey CCU.

In the event the Perseus warbond is sold before the BMM price jump, you might need to buy the warbond from BMM 550 to Perseus warbond price (625-635ish). So you spend 75-85$ ish.
When the BMM will jump in price to 600, melt that warbond, so you get the cash in credit, and buy it back (with credit preferably or cash). You will buy it back cheaper, because of how CCU works (BMM being considered 600 now), it will cost you 25-35$ to buy back.
Apply the warbond CCU, and if possible use the leftover credit to get a Perseus to Odyssey.
This is the reason why most of my high end ships are not assembled, because if I get a situation what I describe like above when I have to buy a warbond CCU, to melt it to get it back cheaper after a price jump, I am reusing the leftover credit (the price difference between warbond CCU price and buyback price) in the chain itself.

scenario 2 :
- If you buy now a CCU from BMM to Odyssey it will cost you 150 credits.
- melt that CCU
- wait for BMM price jump at 600 or 650
- buyback the BMM to Odyssey CCU, its price will adjust because stored in buyback, and depending on BMM new price you will pay it 100 or 50$.
- assemble the ship ;)

 

[Dirtbag_Leader]

Yes, in line with above, I see zero reason to have an 'actual' Odyssey in your hangar right now. Keep your top-tier ship(s) at ideally BMM or maybe Carrack level (if you want to be using a Carrack rather than C2 loaner in-game right now). Then maintain upgrades (with flexibility) to go from BMM/Carrack to whatever you want later on, when both CCU $ and flight ready status make sense to.

 

[Raven_King]

scenario 2 :
- If you buy now a CCU from BMM to Odyssey it will cost you 150 credits.
- melt that CCU
- wait for BMM price jump at 600 or 650
- buyback the BMM to Odyssey CCU, its price will adjust because stored in buyback, and depending on BMM new price you will pay it 100 or 50$.
- assemble the ship ;)

It took me quite a little while playing with a spreadsheet, CCU game and the RSI Pledge Store to completely follow this, but I'm very happy to say I now do follow it.

Here's my conclusion, all worked out:

1. I'm keeping that Spartan LTI as a future LTI token
2. I melted my full-price Odyssey, and got $625 store credit in exchange for it.
3. Bought a second Spartan LTI, warbond, $65 new money
4. I used the 'CCU Game' browser plug-in to calculate a CCU chain starting from that Spartan LTI to a Banu Merchantman, but no further. I bought everything in that CCU chain on the RSI Pledge Store. I could use store credit for the majority of the cost: I had to put in another $75 in new money and could pay for the remaining $160 with my store credit.
5. Applied that CCU chain to the Spartan LTI as far as a 600i Explorer. I'm keeping the remaining two steps in the CCU chain in my hangar for now. They are a.) 600i Explorer to M2 Hercules, and b.) M2 Hercules to BMM.

Sidenote: Why stop there? Because I already have a BMM LTI (that I intend to keep). So this whole CCU chain would make a second BMM in my hangar, if I applied it all the way. However, because I already have a C2 Hercules as a loner ship in lieu of my existing BMM, I don't see the point in applying the two remaining CCUs in this chain to make what is now a 600i Explorer into either an M2 Hercules (I don't see how the M2 is sufficiently different from the C2 to make me want to fly both) or just another BMM sitting in my hangar but which would not give me any new ships to fly at all, for now. From the notes on the loaner ship matrix page: "Loaners will not stack. You will never receive more than one of each loaner ship, regardless of how many are allocated based on the ships in your hangar. Example: Owning four Pioneers will not grant four Caterpillars." If you didn't have a BMM already like I do, you would probably want to go ahead and apply one or both of these last two upgrades.​

6. Next, I also bought a Perseus to Odyssey upgrade, with $25 store credit, but I am going to melt it tomorrow. Net cost will be nothing for this step. Just to state the obvious for anyone as new to this as I am, I don't have a Perseus and don't plan on having one in the long term. (However, I might have one to play with for a while next year, see step 9 below, and I'm melting it to that it sits in my buybacks).
7. Now (following @vahadar's guidance above for steps 7-9) I need to wait until the BMM I have jumps in value, from its current $550 to e.g. $600 or $650. This might happen at Alien week, but even if it doesn't, I agree with the others above that it will surely happen sooner or later. Let's be pessimistic and assume it jumps to only $600. When it does, I don't immediately need to do anything, because...
8. I will also wait for RSI to sell a *warbond* BMM to Perseus CCU, which might be sold for as little as $25, but let's be pessimistic and plan on it being sold for $45. This CCU is likely to be sold when Perseus is next offered outright at a warbond discount. Might happen at next year's Invictus week, but will likely happen sooner or later. We don't know the cost, but it could reasonably cost $45 new money (and it could even be less - depends on the amount of discount it gets).
9. I will then apply the last two steps in my CCU chain from step 5, and apply the warbond BMM to Perseus CCU I bought in step 8. This will give me a Perseus to play with while the Odyssey is not flight ready yet. That could be fun!
10. When the Odyssey eventually becomes flight ready (which could be years from now), I will buy back the Perseus to Odyssey CCU I melted in step 6. Cost, $25 store credit.
11. I will apply the Perseus to Odyssey CCU from step 6 which I 'bought back' in step 10.
12. Finally, it's an Odyssey, available as soon as the Odyssey is flight ready.

Let's work out the net cost for this whole set of steps:

• Exchange my first Odyssey for $625 store credit in step 2. Done.
• Spent $65 new money step 3. Done.
• Spent $75 new money and $160 store credit in step 4. Done.
• (Wait for BMM price jump.)
• (Also wait for RSI to sell a *warbond* BMM to Perseus CCU)
• Will spend $45 (or even less) new money in step 8, possibly during Invictus Week next year.
• Will spend $25 store credit in step 10.
• Plus 1 buyback token, needed when the Odyssey becomes flyable.

Total cost = -$625 + $160 + $25 store credit = $440 store credit up!
Total cost = $65 + $75 + $45 in additional new money = $185

Net gain $255. Yes please.

Phew. All this has taken me some time and effort to understand, but it is most definitely worth it. I hope by spelling it out in lots of detail, so each step is so small and simple to understand, it will help someone else get their head around this. After a few iterations, I think it will feel more straightforward. Anyone who can follow this and make use of the CCU Game browser plug-in can, for example, get an expensive ship like the Odyssey (list price $700) for a total of $370, of which at least $185 has to be in new money and up to $185 of the balance can be in store credit. Note that this example only works *BECAUSE OF A NUMBER OF WARBOND DEALS WHICH ARE AVAILABLE NOW (DURING IAE), IT RELIES ON CORRECTLY PREDICTING A FUTURE PRICE INCREASE FOR THE BMM, AND IT RELIES ON ANTICIPATING A FUTURE WARBOND SALE FOR SHIPS IN THE OVERALL CCU CHAIN*. However, I've been following Star Citizen's development and promotional events long enough that I'm comfortable that those future events will happen sooner or later. OF COURSE, NOTHING IS GUARANTEED. This messing about with CCUs only 'saves' money if you were going to spend it anyway, otherwise it's just spending money for an intangible bit of fun in a computer game with no material value. Remember you cannot gift (i.e. sell!) anything you bought even partially with store credit, or which contains any ship that has already been gifted once. I assume this is to both protect RSI/CIG's income stream, and to avoid criminal money laundering. I'm fine with that!

So, I wonder what to do with my remaining $440 of store credit and my remaining LTI token? I'm in NO rush to spend it. All this has been a bit of a learning curve, and I've got the new (cheap) Redeemer and the 600i to go play with for now, and Perseus to look forward to playing with (hopefully) from Invictus Week next year instead of the 600i. And eventually, when the Odyssey becomes flyable, I'll use my buyback token and CCU that Perseus up to it.

 

[vahadar]

@Raven_King You need to be carefull with 2 things :

For your step 5 & 6.

For step 5, make sure you stock the CCU in hangar. 600i Explorer and M2 have been released, but you never know if they will do a price jump tomorrow that would make the 600i to M2 invalid in your buyback for exemple if they decide to price 600i explo above M2, same goes for M2 to BMM (especially since the gap is now just 30$). They price jumped the Andromeda recently, when it was an already released ship, so just be carefull and secure your CCU by keeping them in your hangar, if you want to "fix" their price 100%.

For step 6, if Perseus jump in price (and I think it will soon) you wont be able to buy it back. Perseus in 675, and in that price category ships usually jump by 40-50$, so its final price will be around 725$, so if you keep it in your buyback it will be INVALID for repurchase, as when the price change for a ship, it is only reflected in a CCU stored in buyback for the FROM ship (here the Perseus) and not for the TO ship (here the Odyssey). And even if the Odyssey also jump in price (before Perseus or after it does not matter as you will see just under).
Lets say Perseus will be 725$ final and Odyssey 750$ final, buying a new CCU will be 25$ then, but any old CCU from Perseus 675 to Odyssey 700 stored in buyback would now be a CCU of Perseus 725$ to Odyssey 700$ and invalid for buyback. This is how CCU works currently in buyback.
Store it in hangar if possible, you can still buy a new CCU right now to secure its price.
Keeping it in buyback will invalidate your plan on step 10) once Perseus goes at or beyond 700$.
In my exemple above I told you can keep it in buyback as long as Perseus don,t jump above 699$ but that is of course irrealistic, it will jump above 700$ :)

steps 7&8&9 I agree with you that is my plan too and what I explained previously :) either 600-650 BMM and eventually warbond Perseus + BMM at 600.

 

[Raven_King]

Thanks for this clarification - very helpful again.

Store it in hangar if possible,

Fortunately, I did not melt it yet, and now I won't. Good points.

steps 7&8&9 I agree with you that is my plan too and what I explained previously :)

Absolutely - my steps are based on your explanation; I was really just re-stating them to confirm and spell it out in detail for myself and anyone else who's interested. The credit for this particular plan is yours, any mistakes are mine of course.

 

[vahadar]

Absolutely - my steps are based on your explanation; I was really just re-stating them to confirm and spell it out in detail for myself and anyone else who's interested. The credit for this particular plan is yours, any mistakes are mine of course.

Oh that is not what I meant, nothing to do with credits :) I just meant you and I have the same goal now, not being native english and thinking in French this leads to such confusion ^^

You did very good to explain it step by step, easier to understand like that as you say for someone new to the CCU optimisation game than my short explanation.

 

[Dirtbag_Leader]

So, I wonder what to do with my remaining $440 of store credit and my remaining LTI token?

Good not to be in a rush, but when you're ready, my recommendation is to use that on 1-2 medium sized ships. I've found, and pretty confident it will remain so, that ships like the Cutlass, Freelancer, Vanguard, 400i, MSR, etc. maximize usefulness per dollar, and are what get pulled out and flown the most! I won't try and steer you towards any particular one(s), just to say that it's this group that I think is most worthy of such an investment if your credit.

 

[maynard]

my idea of the way to win the CCU game is to let go of the need to buy Internet Spaceship Pixels

 

[vahadar]

Remember you cannot gift (i.e. sell!) anything you bought even partially with store credit, or which contains any ship that has already been gifted once. I assume this is to both protect RSI/CIG's income stream, and to avoid criminal money laundering. I'm fine with that!

On a side note, if you plan to use store credit, make sure you always do it applying your upgrades on a token bought with 100% cash, thus having a giftable token.

And any upgrade bought with 100% credit, or part credit/cash, and then applied to the token will not remove the ability to gift the token.

This is the only way to recycle store credits. And to get rid of an item someday if you want to resell it instead of melting it again.

 

[Raven_King]

applying your upgrades on a token bought with 100% cash, thus having a giftable token.

And any upgrade bought with 100% credit, or part credit/cash, and then applied to the token will not remove the ability to gift the token.

Oh! Okay, looks like I slightly misunderstood the rules on gifting there. I just re-read them: they say you can’t gift “Pledges made with partial or full Store Credit”, which I thought meant that to be giftable, a CCU’d ship must be made up from:

• a base ship bought with 100% cash - sounds like this part is correct - and
• the upgrades had to be bought with 100% cash too. So I was wrong about that part?

That’s good to know. Thanks again!

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

my idea of the way to win the CCU game is to let go of the need to buy Internet Spaceship Pixels

View: https://youtu.be/NHWjlCaIrQo?t=215