SQ42 Theory Craft by Strados post Citizencon.

[Strados]

Let us begin, most of what Ill post here is from things I remember, changes that I believe are coming and some things I wish, be gentle in any corrections, my memory is not what it used to be..........

In a galaxy far away, I join the insane number of people who believe and trust that the dream will come to be, now we are at a major turning point with Server Mashing, Persistence and many other systems coming online, I believe we will see more fun in the verse.

Now Theory Time.

SQ42, some of the questions Montoya ask and his responses during one of the many streams after CC stuck with me.
This one is on the top.
What happens once you complete the Single player campaign?
He mentions you might not get the F8C lightning but the option to buy the civilian version, this in part makes sense, I remember SC mentioning that SQ42 to be a career mode, to help learn the basics and learn the story of the universe as it stands in the PU, and that one will be able to jump back in for another tour of duty.

With this let us look at how I think this will work.

First Tour: story driven, once completed you will be provided a payment for your service, and the option to use it towards the purchase of the F8C.
The payment received will be enough to buy the ship and some extra for living expenses (Clothing, Armor, food, etc.) I do believe this would be good, but if you have the choice not to buy it and use the money to buy a ship that will work for you in the verse.

Second Tour and beyond: Jump back into single player when a new story is created, they will not need to add a heavy narrative story, just missions that can take you through the galaxy, this to give players a chance to complete more narrow scope missions, and earn a bit of cash without worry of PVP ( I think this will not affect the PTU, the missions in there will be more reactive and broad in scope, the do what you like kind of thing) this I think will cater to a brother audience for the space sim, this way extremely casual players can jump in do a tour, go to the PU and buy and equip their ship ( then find out that is not the ship that makes the pilot but the other way around )

So that is my take on SQ42 end game and becoming the gateway to the PU.
Feel free to correct or add to my thoughts.

I have many more theories in my head and will love to continue, but I will not want to bore everyone.

Thank you for your time.

 

[Talonsbane]

Interesting theories, though from what I recall of what CIG has stated in the past (take this with assorted piles of different types of salt), is clearly subject to change. CIG stated a long time ago, that there will be 2 ways to obtain the F8C Lightning & will never offer it for sale (which they have now clearly changed recently). The 1st way is to complete SQ42 well enough to qualify to unlock its usage in SQ42, which will then unlock a 1 time purchase token for the player to purchase in the PU. The other is through reaching backing levels. CIG has stated that the better the player does through SQ42, that it will effect the player's reputation with the UEE through their being a "veteran" of the war with the Vanduul. If I remember well enough, not every player will be able to unlock the F8C through the campaign though, but doing less successfully will unlock other UEE exclusive ships to be available for purchase by the players in game instead. Which makes me believe that players can play the campaign multiple times to unlock better ships & raise their UEE reputation by doing better until they have maxed out their reputation & unlocked all the UEE accessible ships. I have no idea if you will be paid to your SC account funds earned from SQ42, but that would be nice. I don't believe that they will reduce any difficulty or allow you to skip any required content that progresses the story though. CR loves telling his stories.