What's the high-end game? Star Citizen is not about moving from a big ship to large ship, it's about being in a living breathing universe

If you want to get a good position in a guild or faction, you need to be skilled. Yes a Freelancer or MISC Hull-C is going to be the best thing for cargo hauling, but they'll be slower than a smaller ship. For exploration, there are loads of different ships you can use, all with their own strengths

But the key is balancing it so it doesn't screw you over. You've got to give them a chance to do that. You say that a Connie will beat a Hornet, but what about a Connie vs 4 hornets since that is actually fair in terms of manpower?

It's not as simple as being able to "win" and it's not as simple as 1 ship is better than another

A state-of-the-line $300 ship with a pilot with minimal training is better than a $30 ship with an experienced pilot. There are still battles in this living, breathing universe, and it's all about succeeding, and those who pay the most will do the best. They will have the most cargo space, the best guild positions, the strongest weapons, the fastest ships, etc. The outline of a pay-to-win game. There is no way around it, that is the path the devs have chosen, and that is how the game will work. The same as any free-to-play MMO, with the exception that this game has a base price. And the buyables are much more expensive than any MMO I've ever seen. 

Most of you are forgetting... Star Citizen has mod and private server support, don't want people having the best ships that they paid for? Then host a server that forbids it.
Or perhaps, host a server that allows everyone to have the best ships, the choice is yours.

Those who are buying into the "Pay 2 win" model right now are funding the development of a high-end AAA PC game that should push the PC's hardware, don't hate on it when they literally don't take your options away.
Blame the publishers for not supporting the PC to this kind of extent.

The $300 ship that requires 4 crew members. They can do better in a guild, but I don't see why they are directly competing. If they have a matchmaking system, why would it put you in battles that you can't win?

The $300 ship can have up to 4, but can be operated with just one. The matchmaking system will only apply to civilized systems, if you go exploring there will be tons of higher leveled pirates out there. They have been touting the social aspect a lot, and having it so that payers have a huge advantage in ranking through that part is dissapointing. 

Sounds like they're going with an Eve online type model.

Sounds kind of awesome to me honestly.

Which if it does go an EVE route.

You'd be shocked at how much easier getting those kind of ships will be when it comes to guilds and optimizations and such.

If there is one thing i've learned from online economies it's that super rare items are never as rare as developers and fans expect them to be...

Well unless there is a hard cap.

It is looking like a bit of a mess. I only spent $30 on it myself, and I've just been completely unable to follow what on earth is going on, with the thousands of tiers of ships and hangars and god knows what else.

I guess I'll just try it when it comes out, play it for a few hours, get bored and stop. Ah well.

You'll have to spend some of your money on AI crewmates even if you don't have real people

Yes, there are some advantages that can be gained out in the depths of space, but it's not pay to win

Anyway, if you are too woried about this, then just play the simulator and Squadron 42 which is plenty of content for $30

Also, maybe it's just me....

but I don't really mind pay 2 win.

Because a non pay 2 win system doesn't reward skill.

It rewards grinding.

In a typical MMO 4 levels does a lot more for you then skill.

Without "pay 2 win" transactions it's not going to be a matter of the skilled  dominating the unskilled.

It will be a matter of those with tons of extra time to grind dominating those who have other responsibilties.

I see what you're saying about skill and grinding. 

But there needs to be a good balance. In many online games today, it takes anywhere between 40-80 hours to get to the top level and get the best perks. Most of these games don't allow you to buy the perks from the get-go, you have to earn them. I'm a college student, so I don't have time to game 24/7 or grind out a lot either. But I fully expect to have to work my way to the top, not buy my way there, even if it means putting in just a few hours in the weekend. When you have to pay $100+ dollars just to get out of the starter ships, that's too much pay-to-win, and it encourages monetizing all aspects of the game. 

I don't mind the model in, say, free-to-play MMOs. The devs have to make money after all. In games like Star Citizen though, they could easily sell minor incentives like special ship decals/colors, or interior decorations for the hangar or ship, or cosmetic body kits to deck your ship out in. Instead, they decided to milk the fans for all they had by charging hundreds of dollars for in-game ships.