PSA: Spending Real Money

Spending Real Money

I've been meaning to write something like this for a while, and as one of the new Pandas asked me about it, I've put pen to paper (well, not really), and pulled together some thoughts.

First off, I'd like to say that you don't need to spend money to play Star Pirates.

If you don't have the ability to contribute to the game, or if you have chosen not to (it's just a game, after all), you can stop reading right now.

However, if you are willing to spend some USD to support the game, the goal of this note is to give you some suggestions as to the best way to get the biggest bang for your buck. Snakehead Games is a five person show - not a multi-national corporation - personally, I sometimes like helping the little guy.

Spending $$$

A number of you have already purchased or otherwise aquired Notorious. This is an excellent move - from a cost/benefit perspective, Notorious is the best investment you can make.

If you are purchasing Notorious for yourself, I recommend buying the Notorious for 30 days, rather than the 4 1 week packs. You get a couple of extra days, and 30 bonus points.

If you are looking to take the next step up, a Mega Point Pack of 1500 points for 10 USD is a solid choice. Buying this point pack, and then selling the points (for, say, 15k each), would allow you to buy a Warship Mark III, and a nice collection of Rares, including, perhaps, a Rare+ or two.

I wouldn't recommend spending these points on paid searches at this point - it's a bit of a lottery ticket, and every three levels you gain, you get an extra lottery ticket. You might get lucky, but chances are against it.

Buying a bigger ship, with better equipment is a solid investment. The extra research you get with the bigger ship will help your stats, and the extra equipments lots on the bigger ship, coupled with the better equipment, will allow you to take down bigger ships and higher level pirates - both of which will get you more experience.

If you are hesitant to sell points (for fear of getting raided), you can also buy AICBs. You won't make as much money selling AICBs as you do points, but as AICBs are items, all of the proceeds will be put into your bank account (assuming you are Notorious). It's a lower risk/lower reward proposition. That being said, AICBs are sometimes worth more than points. Check the Item market (not on a Sunday Night/Monday morning, though) for the current relative prices.

For those of you wanting to take a big step up, buying a few 6k points packs and buying a Dread is a solid choice - a dread will give a big research and hull boost, plus extra slots. You will get farmed more, as you are a worth more experience, but you will quickly gain levels and stats.

If you are considering buying AICBs to burn for better stats, I'd recommend waiting until you are level 30 and in a warship Mark III or better. At that point, you are best served renting a labcoat (that is, going to a fleet that has a better set of gear that helps improve your research). The going price for a full labcoat is 3 billion cargo, which explains why [FTW] doesn't have one right now. If you are interested, let me know - this is somewhat of a specialty for me. The other fleet advisers will also be able to handle any questions.