Greetings fellow Star Citizens! Today I will be giving my thoughts and analysis on the recently completed MISC Reliant concept sale.
The MISC Reliant concept sale occurred recently from May 22nd to June 1st. This concept sale was interesting for a variety of reasons. Some people were excited about it because we finally would have a two seat starter ship. Some were excited because it afforded them a method to cheaply get LTI, which they will be able to apply to other ships via cross-chassis upgrade in the future. Furthermore, there were folks like us at INN who were amazed and thrilled to see a News Van variant announced of this little ship. Even beyond that, you have the folks who love the Star Wars aesthetic brought to us by David Hobbins who was the concept artist for the Reliant and is also working on the new Star Wars movies.
Past even all of the above reasons for excitement, the ship we were shown is a intriguing little vessel with a heap of versatility and some interesting features such as a slightly asymmetrical design and alien technology (allowing it to switch from horizontal to vertical flight modes on the fly).
This article will focus on comparing the Reliant concept sale to previous concept sales, while also briefly touching on the Starfarer Gemini.
Aegis Dynamics Reclaimer
Funds raised from Reclaimer concept sale after:
2 hours: $206,815
4 hours: $308,545
8 hours: $436,956
12 hours: $524,973
24 hours: $734,014
48 hours: $937,421
72 hours: $1,074,118
96 hours: $1,211,152
120 hours: $1,348,664
144 hours: $1,483,283
168 hours: $1,610,823
192 hours: $1,758,553
216 hours: $1,887,216
220 hours: $1,928,276
Total raised in concept sale: $1,988,585 (227 hours @ $8,760/hr)
The Aegis Dynamics Reclaimer had a fantastic concept sale. The community loved the ship and it drove all our imaginations wild with thoughts of wading into fields of debris left over from intense battles and picking clean the bones of the dead… before grinding the bare hulls into scrap. Despite its civilian purpose, the Reclaimer is a hulking brute and an imposing sight. All of this led to nearly $2 million in sales for Star Citizen’s first dedicated salvage ship.
RSI Orion Mining Platform
Funds raised from Orion concept sale after:
2 hours: $150,809
4 hours: $222,487
8 hours: $317,615
12 hours: $400,212
24 hours: $581,792
48 hours: $743,211
72 hours: $857,592
96 hours: $954,136
120 hours: $1,066,744
144 hours: $1,167,254
168 hours: $1,326,253
192 hours: $1,510,793
216 hours: $1,696,170
220 hours: $1,731,299
Total raised in concept sale: $1,731,299 (220 hours @ $7,869/hr)
The RSI Orion Mining Platform also had a successful concept sale. The innovative design by George Hull, the same artist who designed the Reclaimer, brought life to what has been a fairly mundane game mechanic in other games over the years. This was highlighted and reinforced by the Star Citizen Careers: Mining design post by Tony Zurovec.
The Orion sale has some interesting wrinkles, because there was a Cutlass free fly week that happened partway through the sale. This may have slightly elevated the numbers due to the availability of the Cutlass Blue, but it looks as though the effect was minimal. About a week into the sale, the Orion’s cockpit/bridge was altered (with the pilot’s seat moved to the top of the ship) and this drove a significant increase in sales in the last few days which brought the final total to within $260k of the Reclaimer’s total.
Aegis Dynamics Vanguard
Funds raised from Vanguard concept sale after:
2 hours: $187,724
4 hours: $285,256
8 hours: $376,024
12 hours: $442,484
24 hours: $657,735
48 hours: $876,897
72 hours: $1,053,928
96 hours: $1,221,595
120 hours: $1,359,487
144 hours: $1,492,437
168 hours: $1,643,897
192 hours: $1,.798,183
216 hours: $1,997,690
220 hours: $2,043,262
240 hours: $2,202,675
Total raised in concept sale: $2,250,189 (245 hours @ $9,184/hr)
The Aegis Dynamics Vanguard is now the “one to beat”. The most successful concept sale to date. The deep space fighter, designed by Gurmukh Bhasin, has set a high bar with a total of $2.25 million raised over the 245 hours it was on sale.
The Vanguard had some detractors who said it was too expensive at $250 USD, but it certainly had a bevy of features to support its price and in general the INN staff felt it to be worthwhile and several of the twin engine fighters now grace our fleet.
MISC Hull Series
Funds raised from Hull Series concept sale after:
2 hours: $93,265
4 hours: $159,997
8 hours: $261,106
12 hours: $363,245
24 hours: $589,370
48 hours: $812,894
72 hours: $964,540
96 hours: $1,079,724
120 hours: $1,203,750
144 hours: $1,359,517
168 hours: $1,538,711
192 hours: $1,724,437
216 hours: $1,968,998
220 hours: $2,010,539
240 hours: $2,156,463
Total raised in concept sale: $2,156,463 (240 hours @ $8,895/hr)
The Hull Series sale started slow. I believe this is largely due to the fact that it started in the middle of the night in North America. However, after its slow start it picked up steam and surpassed first the Orion and then, near the end, the Reclaimer. While it looked like this sale would even catch up to the incredibly successful Vanguard, it faltered slightly right near the end and did not quite reach those lofty heights. Still, the sale earned a whopping $2.15 million for Star Citizen’s development.
More importantly, the MISC Hull Series brought with it a greater understanding of the cargo mechanics in Star Citizen. You can find those articles below:
MISC Hull Series Q&A
Hull A Q&A
Hull B Q&A
Hull C Q&A
Hull D Q&A
Hull E Q&A
Cargo Interaction Design Post
It was great to finally get a better grasp on how cargo will be handled in Star Citizen, since it is such an integral part of how the universe will function.
Starfarer Gemini
Funds raised from Starfarer Gemini concept sale after:
2 hours: $51,094
4 hours: $91,511
8 hours: $119,367
12 hours: $136,673
24 hours: $251,634
48 hours: $356,292
72 hours: $429,923
96 hours: $494,872
120 hours: $549,268
144 hours: $612,922
168 hours: $683,504
192 hours: $762,904
216 hours: $834,996
220 hours: $848,736
240 hours: $899,358
Total raised in concept sale: $910,523 (245 hours @ $3,716/hr)
The Starfarer Gemini is a neat ship that sort of highlights again the great part of the community’s feedback and interaction with the CIG development team. The Gemini was originally just flavour text in lore and wasn’t really being considered to be a ship you could pledge for. However, the community seemed intrigued by the idea of an armed and armoured fuel tanker and that led to CIG deciding to go ahead and create the variant for us to add to our collections.
Some of you may be asking why the Starfarer Gemini didn’t get its own concept sale analysis. Well, the fact is that I wasn’t sure it should qualify. The still-limited base Starfarer went back on sale at the same time and will have skewed the numbers for the Star-G to some extent. Therefore I felt it was perhaps not necessarily in the same league as some of the other concept sales noted in this article. However, the base Starfarer has been available numerous times and you would imagine that most people who wanted it had previously picked it up. Therefore, I came to the interesting conclusion of including it in THIS analysis but not giving it one of its own.
During the Starfarer Gemini concept sale, CIG released a three part Q&A about the base Starfarer and the Star-G. You can find those here:
Starfarer Q&A
Frankly, for a variant of a fuel tanker, I think the Star-G’s concept sale went quite well. That said, it doesn’t come close to reaching the heights of the Orion, Reclaimer, Vanguard, or Hull series. Interestingly… the Star-G’s sale in terms of actual funds came remarkably close to that of our feature concept sale ship… the Reliant!
MISC Reliant
Funds raised from Reliant concept sale after:
2 hours: $57,310
4 hours: $101,282
8 hours: $176,262
12 hours: $217,474
24 hours: $287,835
48 hours: $370,253
72 hours: $437,094
96 hours: $495,189
120 hours: $559,735
144 hours: $619,893
168 hours: $682,659
192 hours: $761,962
216 hours: $823,006
220 hours: $838,723
240 hours: $904,123
Total raised in concept sale: $963,498 (254 hours @ $3,793/hr)
The MISC Reliant is a versatile starter ship featuring an array of xenotechnology courtesy of MISC’s business relationship with the Xi’An. This is the first of a new classification of Tier II starter ships and is currently the only two seat starter. The base Reliant is described as a mini-hauler but it can be outfitted for any number of roles. In addition, CIG have already outlined what the Reliant variants will be:
- “Researcher” – A science-oriented model that carries internal signal dampeners and an advanced scanner suite for discovery missions.
- “News Van” – Designed for deep space broadcasting, the ‘News Van’ Reliant adds an Image Enhancement Suite that helps capture every moment of life in the stars.
- “Skirmisher” – The frontier combat version of the Reliant trades cargo for a high-yield powerplant, stronger shields and additional weapons mounts.
Obviously the folks here at INN have a particular fascination with the News Van variant of the Reliant and plans are already in the works to add those to our planned fleet of news ships (mostly Drake Heralds up until now).
During the Reliant concept sale, CIG released a two part Q&A about the ship. You can find those here:
Reliant Q&A
The Reliant’s sale went well. It did not bring in the same kind of funding as the Vanguard or Reclaimer but that seems to be is mostly due to its much cheaper price. As you will see noted below, in terms of actual ships sold the Reliant is the winner of all of these concept sales by a landslide.
Comparison:
Illustrated above: The Reliant starts off somewhat better than the Starfarer Gemini but after that the sales mirror each other very closely with the Reliant finishing just ahead of the Star-G.
Illustrated above: The ROUGH comparison of the number of ships sold in various concept sales. As you can see, in terms of ships sold the MISC Reliant is the clear winner, unsurprisingly. The MISC Hull Series was omitted because it was impossible to get even an approximate figure because 5 ships were solid simultaneously. The numbers above are inexact because it is impossible to account for other sales activity and the use of RSI store credit by some to purchase ships, so the chart is best used for comparison purposes.
An illustration of the number of Citizens and members of the UEE Fleet at the beginning of each concept sale.
Summary:
Overall the MISC Reliant concept sale saw more than double the ships sold in comparison to the Vanguard – the reigning champ for funding. Meanwhile, it brought in less than half of the funds of the Vanguard sale.
I think the success of a sale should be judged primarily on the popularity of the ship. Almost everyone I discussed the Reliant with in the Star Citizen community loves this little Star Wars-inspired vessel. In addition, there are at least 19,000 of them now populating the account pages of Star Citizen backers.
I am excited for the future of this starship. She seems like a worthy addition to the fleet and hopefully some day you will see INN Reliants flitting from system to system, capturing all of the latest news from the ‘verse.
Note from Nehkara: Thank you for reading! If you have any feedback please leave me a comment! :)
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