CCU Chain questions

[Smashdaddy]

Hi All

Just a quick question, is IAE the time to try and figure out a CCU chain ? and anyone have a thing that does figure out chains ?

I know there is one website thing but not keen to install that extension onto chrome that lets it do anything it wants to, to my RSI login etc.

Cheers
Cadet Commander

 

[Talonsbane]

Personally, I have a notepad file that I list the ships that I have the end goal CCU for, then gradually hop my way towards a low end vehicle that I have to upgrade from. Using that, each time an event pops up that has WB CCUs, I look to see if the WB CCU fits in the range that it might be helpful as well as if I have the spare change to pick it up. That's why some CCU chains tend to take years for me, while others take less. Those that tend to be lower cost but give at least $10-15 off are almost always welcome though.

 

[Aramsolari]

CCUgame.

A lot of us here swear by it and it's saved me personally a lot of money over the years. Yes IAE is the best time to do the whole CCU thing.

Now even if you aren't too keen on having a third party app around, you can still use the app without 'loging in', it'll just require more steps.

 

[FZD]

Yes, IAE is the time to try and figure out a CCU chain. How it works is you keep track of the missing pieces (that is, the gaps in your chain) and buy CCUs that might fit those gaps.

One thing to keep in mind is that you can either aggressively buy every CCU that may lead to a better CCU chain, this way you'll end up having the most efficient possible chain(s) but also plenty of alternatives so if you're only going for a single chain, it's not quite as effective overall. If you're going for multiple CCU chains, then that's a pretty solid stance, and in the end you'll need some store credits to fill in the gaps anyhow. Alternatively, if you just want a solid single CCU chain, you'll just have to roll the dice on the CCUs and hope for the best without getting any alternatives. It might not lead to the most awesome single CCU chain, but overall you'll be spending less as you're not creating a sprawling CCU empire and ending up buying more ships than you initially planned. There's pro's and con's on both approaches. Just ask me to clarify if the explanation wasn't confusing enough.

During IAE there are a couple new offers each day, so you need to check daily. For historical data on what the event might look like, we've been keeping track here: https://testsquadron.com/threads/ilw-2954-wb-ccu-watch.21205/ (open the spoiler for previous years to see how the event has evolved). There'll be a new thread this year as well, unless some sort of new family addition is keeping me too busy.

I've used CCUgame in the past, many still do, but I reverted back to using spreadsheets. I felt like that gave me a better overview, but that depends on how strong your spreadsheet magic is.

Oh, and keep in mind it's not just the CCUs you're after, but also some concept ships for store credits if you've got some. In case you're going after a $600+ ship, pay particular attention to the very old concepts still valued at $350, like the crucible and endeavor. Those still have a massive potential to go up in price. Hull B might have some fuel left as well, though it already went up by $50 on a very low starting point. And keep in mind the Endeavor will only be released sometime after 1.0, so it might take a very long time for that benefit to materialize.

EDIT: Oh, I actually linked ILW from this year, but the link to the IAE from last year is there, just follow it. I'll keep the ILW linked since you'll have the benefit of checking the most recent event, though ILW is always a bit smaller.

 

[Mudhawk]

Honestly, I'll be fully dependant on FZD's wonderful service once again.

Yes, I will once again spam the forums with notifications about Warbond discounts.
It has started, so prepare your wallets!

Todays Ship(s)	Warbond CCU Price	Normal price	Permanently available starting point	Closest available starting point
Razor LX	$140	$150
Prowler	$410	$440
Hammerhead	$675	$725
Merchantman	$600	$650
Orion	$575	$650
Polaris	$700	$750
Vulture	$160	$175
Corsair	$230	$250
Redeemer	$310	$330
600i Explorer	$445	$475
SRV (Flight ready)	$150	$165	Ballista $140	Razor $145
A1 Spirit (Still from flight ready sale)	$175	$200	Prospector $155	Sabre, Khartu-Al $170
C1 (Flight ready)	$110	$125	Gladius $90	Hawk, M50, Storm AA $100

So seems like 3 of the 4 finale day 1 ships will stick around, while finale 2 day ships got fully replaced by finale day 3 ships. I see no rhyme nor reason here.

Date	Ship	Warbond CCU Price	Normal price
17th	A1 Spirit (Still from flight ready sale)	$175	$200
	SAN'TOK.YĀI	$205	$220
18th	Sabre	$160	$170
19th	MSR	$240	$260
	C1 (Flight ready)	$110	$125
20th	400i	$230	$250
21st	Vulture	$150	$175
22nd	MOLE	$295	$315
	SRV (Flight ready)	$150	$165
23rd	Carrack	$560	$600
24th	Prospector	$145	$155
25th	Constellation Taurus	$185	$200
26th (BIS)	Vulture	$160	$175
	Corsair	$230	$250
	Redeemer	$310	$330
	600i Explorer	$445	$475
27th (Finale)	350R	$115	$125
	Merchantman	$600	$650
	Orion	$575	$650
	Polaris	$700	$750
28th (Finale day 2)	Scorpius	$230	$240
	Valkyrie	$350	$375
	(BIS, flight ready ships, BMM, Orion, Polaris continue on sale. 350R flew away)
29th (Finale day 3)	Razor LX	$140	$150
	Prowler	$410	$440
	Hammerhead	$675	$725
	(BIS, flight ready ships, BMM, Orion, Polaris continue. Scorpius, Valkyrie flew away)

Apart from this I do my own calculations in my head and by counting the sparechange in my wallet.
Gotta admit, I got a problem trusting a 3rd party tool with my account info too.

@FZD Looking forward to the IAE 2954 WB CCU Watch this year too. It's much appreciated!

 

[Smashdaddy]

I'm toying with the idea of tryin to afford an Endeavor hopefully like this lol

https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/r43jya View: https://www.reddit.com/r/starcitizen/comments/r43jya/155_endeavor_learn_how_to_ccu_chain/


is it possible you think?

 

[Talonsbane]

Just remember, that the most important parts of the Endeavor are its components. I can't remember how often those are offered for sale outside of an Endeavor Master sale.

 

[Smashdaddy]

Can you store a capital ship ?

 

[AccidentProne8]

I'm super bad about taking advantage of CCU chains. Good luck all!

 

[Talonsbane]

Can you store a capital ship ?

According to CIG quite a while ago, the largest ship that can be stored is the Jav. This of course might have changed since then. I guess we won't know for sure until it's released into the Verse for its owners to enjoy.

 

[FZD]

Can you store a capital ship ?

There are one or two capital ships in the game currently: 890j and (according to some sources) reclaimer. Both can be stored. While things are subject to change, even if CIG removed the ability store, say, 890j, I think they'd revert that decision quite quickly as the vast emptiness of space wouldn't be quite as empty with thousands of 890 jumps lying around.

The ships you can't store need to be extremely rare. Not just rare, extremely rare. Something like Bengal, only few of which will be found in the entire universe and will be fought over by large orgs, hence they can't be stored.

 

[Ayeteeone]

Just remember, that the most important parts of the Endeavor are its components. I can't remember how often those are offered for sale outside of an Endeavor Master sale.

THIS is the truth, the ship is useless without the modules. In the recent past the individual modules have only been offered with 10 yr insurance. With the recent clarifications by CIG on how insurance is going to work, this is imo still a very good deal.

AND/OR, you'll be able to buy them in game. I'm quite certain that there will be modules for it that will only be in game. Eventually. Given that they are Capital class components, expect to do a lot of grinding to fit the ship. With the information dump on crafting that came out of CitizenCon, I'd say it's likely that the Endeavor is going to get a major overhaul in concept and functionality.

The exception has been the more expensive packages offered on the store; i.e. the Endeavor Master Set includes everything with LTI, for $1000.

And as these guys have pointed out, getting the base ship with WB CCU's is very possible. It will likely take some time if cost is critical, but the ship isn't going to be out for a few more years.

 

[Lemming]

a

Can you store a capital ship ?

according to CIG, all pledged ships can be stored.

 

[Dirtbag_Leader]

AND/OR, you'll be able to buy them in game.

This is my plan; go for a good cheap CCU chain to the base ship with LTI, and then grind through the game the way it's meant to obtain the various modules. And since you can't really use EVERYTHING all at once, that makes me feel it's OK to only go for the few I intend to use in the near future, and can then switch it up 'next time' if/whenever I lose the ship!

 

[Sky Captain]

This is my plan; go for a good cheap CCU chain to the base ship with LTI, and then grind through the game the way it's meant to obtain the various modules. And since you can't really use EVERYTHING all at once, that makes me feel it's OK to only go for the few I intend to use in the near future, and can then switch it up 'next time' if/whenever I lose the ship!

And since you can't really use EVERYTHING all at once, that makes me feel it's OK to only go for the few I intend to use in the near future, and can then switch it up 'next time' if/whenever I lose the ship!

 

[NomadicHavoc]

I’ve never done the CCU chain game. Why does it seem to take so long? Can’t you just do repeated upgrades one immediately after the other during AIE when all ships are purchasable?

 

[Blind Owl]

I’ve never done the CCU chain game. Why does it seem to take so long? Can’t you just do repeated upgrades one immediately after the other during AIE when all ships are purchasable?

Yeah man, once all the ships are on sale (which they are not until their sale date - IE RSI ships won't be available until tomorrow, etc), they you can just purchase the CCUs you need. That being said, if you buy the warbond CCUs (there is one a day throughout the IAE, and usually a few for the finale), then you can chain them together with non-warbond CCUs to get a ship far beneath its sticker price. For instance, I currently have a 240 dollar Banu Merchantman. It's just a matter of understanding the system.

I think the reason it takes long for some people (myself included) is we collect warbond CCUs throughout the year, or over multiple years, and then apply them when we think we have the best bang for our buck.

 

[Raven_King]

Right. A CCU chain that saves money uses as many warbond (and discounted) CCUs as possible, which were probably acquired over the space of several months or even years. Chains might include lots of WB CCUs which were bought speculatively; without knowing when they would be used or exactly what for. Those generally go from a ship that is always or often available to one which is perhaps only rarely available. But then the various links in the chain don’t join up yet. IAE is when you can usually buy all the missing links in the chain, non-warbond CCUs at full price that connect the links together. So for example your chain might look like W-N-W-N-W-N where W is a warbond CCU and N is a normal full-price one. If you are very patient or lucky or you speculate skilfully (or follow sound advice), you can sometimes get multiple WB CCUs to link up together, perhaps like this: W-N-W-W-W-N, which saves even more money for the same chain. If you are willing to buy a CCU to a concept ship, and the concept ship increases in price (maybe years later), you may be able to change your chain, to e.g. W-N-W*-N because the value jump in the W* CCU from an always-available ship to the target ship went up a lot.

There are lots of good videos, @vahadar here wrote some excellent posts about it a few years ago. And while I understand to some extent your reluctance to use the CCU game app, it is honestly so much easier than doing everything in a massive time-consuming Excel spreadsheet that it’s totally worth it. (It has been out years. I have not heard of anyone having an issue due to using it). On which note, even if you don’t use the app, the CCU game Discord has channels where a few knowledgeable folks provide sensible commentary on the WB CCUs available during major events (and outside them), in a similar way to how our very own @FZD and @Brictoria have done the past two or three years right here. (E.g. https://testsquadron.com/threads/iae-2954-wb-ccu-watch.21503/). You can read that, make your own choices, and get advice without using their app.

All anyone needs to enjoy SC is a starter pack. No-one needs to spend more real money than that to have a great time. Don’t spend what you can’t afford. It’s just a game!

[Edit: typo: "I have heard of anyone..." -> "I have not heard of anyone..."]

 

[Brictoria]

I’ve never done the CCU chain game. Why does it seem to take so long? Can’t you just do repeated upgrades one immediately after the other during AIE when all ships are purchasable?

Here's a post (https://testsquadron.com/threads/the-making-of-an-lti-polaris-iae-2953.20689/) about building a chain for a Polaris at last year's IAE (It ended up at $420, saving 44% on the normal price for the ship at that time), where I took what was available at the beginning of the event and worked through how to build up a chain from this during the event, explaining the choices made (buy/don't buy, choice of CCU source, etc.) for each daily Warbond CCU on offer - The CCU's available this year won't be the same, but hopefully the explanations will help show how you can go about building a chain over time...

Events like IAE and ILW will give you a lot of CCU's to help get ships cheaper, but to get the best savings you need to be patient, as you will have gaps between the "warbond" CCU's which may be filled at a later sale/event to increase your total savings on a ship/chain.

 

[Richard Bong]

Hi All

Just a quick question, is IAE the time to try and figure out a CCU chain ? and anyone have a thing that does figure out chains ?

I know there is one website thing but not keen to install that extension onto chrome that lets it do anything it wants to, to my RSI login etc.

Cheers
Cadet Commander

IAE and ILW both have parts of CCU chains. The Zeus MK II I just completed has LTI and a melt value of $150. I started last IAE, most of the parts I bought at ILW, finished out this IAE.
My Tali has been around a bit longer. It was a Retaliator Bomber, with LTI. (Yes, it is now a Retaliator and two Torpedo modules.) Melt value $205.

The plan at the next ILW is to start a chain from my Eclipse to a Hammerhead. I love the exterior of the Eclipse, but hate the cockpit view and this years IAE video on capital ship combat broke my will to keep the Eclipse even though I have the Best in show paint and T-Shirt for it. :)