F7C Mk1 (and variants) to be removed from sale (pledge store and in-game)

[Brictoria]

With the ascendancy of the Hornet Mk II, now the UEE’s premier carrier-based fighter, we bid farewell to the legendary Mk I lineup. Invictus Launch Week 2954 marks your final chance to pledge for the classic F7 Mk I series, along with its removal from upcoming in-game dealerships.

Source: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/19936-Hornet-Mk-I

If you want any of these ships, CCU's to them, or CCU's to link to existing CCU's in your collection that originate from one of these ships, looks like it's your last chance to stock up...

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

Thanks for the spot! I never got on with the hornet or any fighter but still feels a bit weird to see it end production before we got to a point in the game where I could earn a Ghostie with UEC and not loose it in a wipe.

I'll have to get myself to Crazy Bobs Used Ship Emporium to try and find an good condition second hand example:

View: https://youtu.be/_0_aJxPDYPE?feature=shared

 

[Doc Flanigan]

<Dusts off his unapplied Superhornet to Superhornet HeartSeeker CCUs>

 

[Ayeteeone]

"Never Read the Comments".

Never fails to amaze me how far some people's perceptions are from actual reality. I need a popcorn machine at work.

As to the change itself... meh. Don't see any issue with this, it's NOT new to anyone paying attention, and both the game evolution and development continue. Indeed, 'limited time access' is a normal thing in life as well as games. The MkI's don't bring anything special other THAN their history with the Project, so as the marketing suggests, if that is valuable to you then perhaps pick one up.

 

[f1ght3r2k4]

Thanks for pointing that out!

> [...] CCU's to link to existing CCU's in your collection that originate from one of these ships [...]

Quick question for clarification: If I now store CCUs to these ships in my buybacks, will I later be able to upgrade from them, i.e. will CCUs starting from them be available in the store at any time in the future or not?

Otherwise all F7C MK I would become dead ends and not upgradable anymore if someone doesn't stock up on CCUs from them now. Seems problematic to me. Imagine someone is on holiday, doesn't notice it, etc. and now has stuck ships?!

 

[Raven_King]

Yes, if you have a CCU to a Hornet F7C MK I in hangar, or I expect even in buybacks, it will still work In future. So will a CCU from a F7C MK I. You will probably be able to get one in game with UEC too. All they’re doing is removing them from the real money (and credit) pledge store. There must be literally several of these things in players hangars, they’re not removing them.

Edit: Re-read your question - I expect you to still be able to buy CCUs from MK Is whenever you like. There can’t be many ships/vehicles you can‘t CCU from. The PTV is one, so far.

I think it’s a bit of a strange decision that CIG chose to put us all through the whole business of making the MK IIs and then discontinuing the MK Is, when there are so many out there. but I suppose they sold some ships as a result, so there’s that.

 

[Talonsbane]

Yes, if you have a CCU to a Hornet F7C MK I in hangar, or I expect even in buybacks, it will still work In future. So will a CCU from a F7C MK I. You will probably be able to get one in game with UEC too. All they’re doing is removing them from the real money (and credit) pledge store. There must be literally several of these things in players hangars, they’re not removing them.

Edit: Re-read your question - I expect you to still be able to buy CCUs from MK Is whenever you like. There can’t be many ships/vehicles you can‘t CCU from. The PTV is one, so far.

I think it’s a bit of a strange decision that CIG chose to put us all through the whole business of making the MK IIs and then discontinuing the MK Is, when there are so many out there. but I suppose they sold some ships as a result, so there’s that.

You also can no longer CCU up from the Sabre Raven & the Mustang Omega anymore. Which is a good thing because melting those packs is also a 1 way deal due to their being promotional only ships.

 

[Lorddarthvik]

Another one for the black market, nice move!
But to be real, I don't care. It was a ship design I never really liked. I'm gonna miss it slightly cos it's part of history, it was the first thing you saw in the original pitch video. But by the time the game gets into beta phase, we all will have already forgotten about it.

 

[Talonsbane]

The only thing I can see worth missing of the Hornet MK I are it's variants. If the H MK II gets those variants, those become obsolete as well.

 

[f1ght3r2k4]

Thank you all for explaining!

I was just a bit worried because I have some WB CCUs to the MK I (in different variants) in my hangar and needed to know if I have to worry about secuing a way off those at this time.

For the Super Hornet to Zeus CCUs in my buyback I'll just secure some CCUs to the Super Hornet now.

 

[Thalstan]

The only thing I can see worth missing of the Hornet MK I are it's variants. If the H MK II gets those variants, those become obsolete as well.

from the email I received.

The Mk I may be departing, but the Hornet's legacy soars on. Every pilot knows there’s an F7 for every combat scenario and we can confirm that we will introduce Mk II editions of the formidable F7C-M Super Hornet, F7C-S Ghost and F7C-R Tracker in the not too distant future.

So they will have variants available.

My big concern about owning a Mk I....
Since they are no longer selling them, they will stop most development/balancing of these ships. If they make wholesale changes to the way ships fly/move/fight (and they would NEVER do that, would they?), then we can expect them to not receive much in the way of balance passes the way the MK II probably will get. The reason for that is if the ship is not being sold, what is their motivation for making it better?

EDIT: Since they are not going to remove the MK I, I also feel it's a money grab. They needed to fix the hornets, but rather than just do a major upgrade and give all old hornet owners the new version like they did with the 300 series, they will now make people pay SIGNIFICANTLY more money to buy the upgraded versions.

 

[Talonsbane]

EDIT: Since they are not going to remove the MK I, I also feel it's a money grab. They needed to fix the hornets, but rather than just do a major upgrade and give all old hornet owners the new version like they did with the 300 series, they will now make people pay SIGNIFICANTLY more money to buy the upgraded versions.

I have no doubt that they will still do balance passes on all vehicles across the board, though I also have no doubt that the Hornet MK I's will always perform less than their MK II variant counterparts. Which is simply the nature of progress in RL for the most part. This being said, I'm happy that they'll be making MK II versions of the variants, I always liked them over the base model for their specified roles while appreciating the original for what it was as well. Now it seems I have more reason to pick up extra Pulse bikes to start the CCU dances for the variants, potentially.

 

[f1ght3r2k4]

The only thing I'm worried about is the precedent it sets.

While I may not like the way they

• first raised prices for mk i ships,
• then introduced the mk ii and
• finally retired all mk i without any warning beforehand, giving people who like them or use them in CCU chains only a few days to get CCUs to them, assuming they even pay attention in that time range,

I can live with it.

But the potential reality that a Polaris mk ii, Idris mk ii or kraken mk ii might be released before the game is finished kind of worries me. Of course from a marketing standpoint it is an excellent strategy, however I don't have to like it. (These are extreme examples I just chose to make my point ... Just imagine the Polaris flight ready would be $999 and the non-CCuable mk ii $1050 ... What would you do then if the latter has double the armor/weapons?)

So I'm practically forced to wait until release or whenever the CCU system ends before I can choose and CCU to my final ships, because who is to say that the ones I've bought will ever be in release-current standard at release time of the game? I agree with the logic that ships which don't generate new money will be neglected, no matter what CIG says. It may not be today or tomorrow, but I think it is inevitable.

Then there are the ships which you can't CCU away from. What happens when a F7A MK iii is released and people are left sitting on a stuck F7A MK ii? Or ships above $1000 where the CCU system doesn't even work. (Please correct me if I'm wrong, I don't currently have a F7A MK ii, but I think I heard that there are no CCU chains _from_ it? Otherwise, there are probably other examples that would work.)

One could now say, "trust CIG, they would never do that ...", but after the decisions I witnessed in the last two years, I have to admit that "trust" is not something I would give to CIG where marketing-based decisions are concerned.

In that way I completely understand the precedent it sets and that people are worried.

I also absolutely understand that they need new money, it's just the way they sometimes go about it that feels "not good"?!

While I have enough CCUs to complete chains to ships I really like, I don't think it is wise to do so, now that this happened. So at the moment I'll leave my 9 Caterpillars in my hangar :/ Who is to say that I will ever get such good CCU chains again with less concept ships being available for usage as a stepping stone.

 

[Ayeteeone]

The only thing I can see worth missing of the Hornet MK I are it's variants. If the H MK II gets those variants, those become obsolete as well.

Happening, announced in the announcement. I'm interested in the Mk II Ghost, personally. Want to see how they position it within the *stealth* ship collection.

 

[Talonsbane]

The only thing I'm worried about is the precedent it sets.

While I may not like the way they

• first raised prices for mk i ships,
• then introduced the mk ii and
• finally retired all mk i without any warning beforehand, giving people who like them or use them in CCU chains only a few days to get CCUs to them, assuming they even pay attention in that time range,

I can live with it.

But the potential reality that a Polaris mk ii, Idris mk ii or kraken mk ii might be released before the game is finished kind of worries me. Of course from a marketing standpoint it is an excellent strategy, however I don't have to like it. (These are extreme examples I just chose to make my point ... Just imagine the Polaris flight ready would be $999 and the non-CCuable mk ii $1050 ... What would you do then if the latter has double the armor/weapons?)

So I'm practically forced to wait until release or whenever the CCU system ends before I can choose and CCU to my final ships, because who is to say that the ones I've bought will ever be in release-current standard at release time of the game? I agree with the logic that ships which don't generate new money will be neglected, no matter what CIG says. It may not be today or tomorrow, but I think it is inevitable.

Then there are the ships which you can't CCU away from. What happens when a F7A MK iii is released and people are left sitting on a stuck F7A MK ii? Or ships above $1000 where the CCU system doesn't even work. (Please correct me if I'm wrong, I don't currently have a F7A MK ii, but I think I heard that there are no CCU chains _from_ it? Otherwise, there are probably other examples that would work.)

One could now say, "trust CIG, they would never do that ...", but after the decisions I witnessed in the last two years, I have to admit that "trust" is not something I would give to CIG where marketing-based decisions are concerned.

In that way I completely understand the precedent it sets and that people are worried.

I also absolutely understand that they need new money, it's just the way they sometimes go about it that feels "not good"?!

While I have enough CCUs to complete chains to ships I really like, I don't think it is wise to do so, now that this happened. So at the moment I'll leave my 9 Caterpillars in my hangar :/ Who is to say that I will ever get such good CCU chains again with less concept ships being available for usage as a stepping stone.

Is CIG flawless in how they are gaining income? Not at all, but they have been increasingly successful in doing so as time passes. Which is good in the sense that the longer they are profitable, the longer we'll be able to enjoy the game.

What happens when CIG comes out with new $1k+ ship versions? Those that want them, will purchase them when possible.

As somebody that has multiple ships that can't be upgraded from, I'm thankful that I can't upgrade them as it helps protect them from me being stupid. I have both the AMD R9 edition Mustang Omega & the Intel Sabre Raven.

CIG has stated that IF a player were to CCU from the F7A MK II or melt it, they can never acquire another F7A MK II CCU token, as they are account limited. As you've stated that you don't have the F7A MK II in your fleet, then either you didn't complete the recent event missions for free to receive the token, or you did & you've chosen to not apply it yet. Either way, if you have it, then don't use it unless you are sure that you'll be keeping the ship permanently. It's just that simple, no need to gripe about it.

As for the possibility of new ships being introduced to Star Citizen, that's always going to be a thing until things get so bad for CIG financially that they're having to shut down. Which hopefully won't happen for at least a couple decades. In addition to selling new vehicles for the game, CIG will also be supporting itself through leasing its proprietary tech that it's been creating to help it be as incredible of a game as it has become so far as well as what is still to come.

You said that you have 9 Cats in your hangar, but also that you've got plenty of CCUs to complete multiple ship chains. That's not a small amount of funds invested, so on behalf of myself & other space whales, I thank you for your support in the development of this game we love & enjoy.

 

[f1ght3r2k4]

I love the game, never doubt that. Otherwise I wouldn't have invested in it. What we already have is a dream come true from what I'd hoped to one day see when I began playing video games. Let us hope they will always have enough money to keep going.

The only issue I have with this "precedent" is that I love certainty, and this somewhat disrupts that feeling when planning my fleet. I'm perfectly fine with the risks of the CCU "game", those are manageable. I'm also aware that other ships/variants might come out, that may then be better suited for my needs. So long as I can upgrade, I have no problem with any of it anyways. Not being able to upgrade away from something just makes selecting my "final" ships harder and me much less likely to do it now. That I don't like, but I can accept. What I'd hope is that CIG communicates such plans to potential buyers at release of the ship.

Let me make the decision. If I want to get myself a F7A MK II now, knowing the F7A MK III comes out 5 years later and the older variant might never be up to current standards at release time, fine by me. Just don't blindside me. While there may be lots of people who, from what I read on Spectrum, were expecting something like this based on information from CIG some years back, I certainly knew absolutely nothing about it.

All ships that they sunset after release I have no problem with, because I know that they will have been brought up to standard beforehand.

Thank you all as well who have supported the development of this game, especially those that did so years before I ever took notice and made possible what we have now!

 

[Patrick Spaceman]

from the email I received.

The Mk I may be departing, but the Hornet's legacy soars on. Every pilot knows there’s an F7 for every combat scenario and we can confirm that we will introduce Mk II editions of the formidable F7C-M Super Hornet, F7C-S Ghost and F7C-R Tracker in the not too distant future.

So they will have variants available.

My big concern about owning a Mk I....
Since they are no longer selling them, they will stop most development/balancing of these ships. If they make wholesale changes to the way ships fly/move/fight (and they would NEVER do that, would they?), then we can expect them to not receive much in the way of balance passes the way the MK II probably will get. The reason for that is if the ship is not being sold, what is their motivation for making it better?

EDIT: Since they are not going to remove the MK I, I also feel it's a money grab. They needed to fix the hornets, but rather than just do a major upgrade and give all old hornet owners the new version like they did with the 300 series, they will now make people pay SIGNIFICANTLY more money to buy the upgraded versions.

MkII Ghost has my attention..