Oh la la

https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.co...inel-and-warden

Hey everybody! Since we're a week out from the Vanguard variant release, I'm here to provide the pricing. The Vanguard Sentinel is $275 and the Vanguard Harbinger is $295. And for those interested, the standard model is now the Vanguard Warden! We'll have plenty of details to explain exactly what all that means in one week's time. Gurmukh has created a LOT of new art for this one, and even if you aren't interested in picking up a different Vanguard there should be something to enjoy. - Ben

Man variants already for wave 3 ships jeeze.

and still no caterpillar

Can i just have my job set up direct deposit to Chris Roberts bank account?

Need mor $

Sell Alien Faction Ships

Laugh to bank, HA!

Totally buying it with the other kits to essentially have all 3 variants. But probably will wait until Wednesday's QA as it is a little confusing if there is any difference between the variants now besides paint job and interior trim if you have the kits to swap to the other variants.

I have the Vanguard Warden from the first sale
knowing that the warden can use upgrade kits to change its role
I am less inclined to spend the $600+ to get the extra ship roles

If it turns out that the upgrade kits have LTI I will get them
but I am not going to pay real cash for a item that is destroyed
when I hit the side of the hanger door on my first take off

Yah if the kits have LTI and essentially make your variant identical to another variant in regard to hardpoints, weight, etc then I'll just choose the variant with the trim I like with the other 2 variant kits.

I'm not a big fan of the yellow interior trim on the ewar variant though. I hope we can change the accents/trim for interior later.

From what I can tell there was no indication that the kits have LTI. Makes it useless.

the LTI thoughts are pinned on
"The upgrade kits exist in world similar to the interior Retaliator upgrade pods"
the Retaliator upgrade pods had LTI
that and the kits are priced at 30$ and 54$ and are sold in the pledge store where most items have some kind of insurance

when Ben was asked about this he failed to give a nice clear yes/no instead we got

"These are permanent equipment sets - like buying an assortment of specific upgrades from Voyager Direct. You can swap back and forth at will."

key words are "permanent" LTI and "Voyager Direct" which has no LTI/insurance

with that CIG started their weekend and we are left hanging

Yes I saw that as well Instrument. It would of saved a lot of forum posts if he gave a clear answer.

If the kits are not LTI, I think I might just get the VG Warden as I like the interior styling on that one better and melt and CCU it later to LTI and just buy the kits with ingame currency. Then use the pirate skin! Need the pirate skin on all ships!

I did post and ask a question about interior styling though. As I am curious what happens to the interior if you use an upgrade kit. Does the interior styling change based on the upgrade kit, or keep the same styling as the original hull. I hope interior styling remains the same regardless of upgrade kit because if it doesn't I think I'm just going to have the warden setup the majority of the time.

Usually the item itself has LTI in the description as well. The retaliator pods show that in the description the equipment sets do not.

that and the comment about Voyager Direct make me think that the original plan is for them not to have LTI and ben is just playing for time.

to me the sale is going badly
day1 146k
day2 177k

for pure combat ships is not that great
I would guess tat the 954$ price tag for the set is just too high you could get an Idris for that kind of money

to get the money rolling in they are going to have to get people buying the upgrade packs either for the ship they got in the last sale or a ship and 2 upgrade packs this time nd without LTI I can not see it happening if there is no benefit over buying the kit in game people will just do that.

so CIG may make the LTI come Monday anyway just to get the cash rolling

IF CIG needs more cash, then something is wrong.

needs/wants one or the other

I have a little more faith in them with the social module. It looks rather good. I mean they have a long way to go but at least they are improving.

LTI for all well at least the 2 new kits

Question & Answer

Will the battlefield upgrade kits come with LTI like the Retaliator modules?

This is, by far, the most popular question! And so we’d like to begin with the standard disclaimer that LTI does not matter. It is a minor convenience to reward backers who supported a concept early (Star Citizen itself for the base ships and individual concepts later.) You should not base your plans on the LTI status.

With that said: like the Retaliator modules, the two new Vanguard Battlefield Upgrade Kits (BUKs) will include LTI. The Sentinel and Harbinger packages will include LTI, while the Warden will include two year insurance (because it was offered previously as part of the base ship; this prevents anyone from being able to game the system and create a new version of an already-existing LTI ship.)

When the Vanguard is Flight ready will we be able to swap from the variants and vice versa if we own the Battlefield Kits for Arena Commander?

The plan is for the BUKs to be available in Arena Commander and for you to be able to change them using the holotable, although we can’t guarantee that this will happen the day the Vanguard becomes flight ready. (It’s likely, for instance, that the base Vanguard might be hangar ready before the variants, in which case variant owners would get a loaner ship to fly.) The limiting reagent here is that there are some additional weapons and technologies (see next question) that are being developed for the variants independently of the ships themselves (the same is true of the UI/process for switching them via the holotable.)

Is the main nose gun on the variants the same or different than the Warden? People keep speculating the Harbinger has railguns, but I see no text that confirms that.

Yes! All three Vanguards will have different nose guns. The weapons for the Harbinger and the Sentinel are still in development with the component pipeline, so they may different somewhat in appearance from the versions used in the concept art. The central gun on the Warden is an APOC Death Ballistic Gatling gun, while the central guns on the Sentinel and Harbinger are a plasma gun and a mass driver rail gun, respectively. (Manufacturers have yet to be assigned.) The four secondary guns are also different. The standard model uses Behring M4A lasers, the Sentinel has two distortion cannons and two MaxOx electron guns and the Harbinger has four higher damage lasers.

If I have a Vanguard Warden and I buy a Sentinel BFUK , do I also need a Warden BFUK to go back to my initial setup?

No, you do not. The Vanguard Warden you have already purchased comes with the base equipment. There’s no need to buy a second upgrade kit (unless you want backup equipment.)

If I buy just one battlefield upgrade kit and equip it, would un-equipping it turn it back again?

Think of it more like plugging three different devices into a USB slot. If you remove one, and it is then added to your overall Hangar inventory and you can plug in another. It also seems important here to note that the upgrade kits are permanent items which will appear in your Hangar and not ‘single use’ tokens. (Another analogy: think of them as like having a set of snow tires for your car. You remove your existing tires and put on the snow tires and can then switch back and forth as the situation warrants.)

Will using one of these actually change the hard points of the ship? Turn it from a full fledged Warden into a full fledged Harbinger?

Yes, the kits give you the same statistics as the other ship, replacing parts where needed. (The most significant example of this is the Harbinger kit, which adds internal torpedo hardpoints by swapping the entire escape pod.) The only difference with the base ship will be the appearance: you’ll see the upgraded equipment, but stylistic changes that don’t impact specifications will not alter (ie, your ship won’t change color or overall shape.)

How many modular spaces are on the ship? Is it just the pod, or is there room for changes in the back?

It’s hard to quantify this exactly! Our ships are significantly more modular than we usually mention: weapons, internal parts, sensors, computers, software and even structural elements like wings can be changed in various situations. The escape pod is the most similar ‘modular’ concept to the Retaliator pods, but the upgrade kits include other changes (such as different nose guns, a different turret mount for the area just behind the cockpit, etc.)

How do the E-War capabilities of the Vanguard Sentinel compare to other ships which are supposed to have them, like the Herald?

The Sentinel is intended as something of a ‘trickster’ ship, oriented towards causing confusion on the battlefield. From EMP pulses to command and control interference, the Vanguard Sentinel will support battlefield operations by making it all that much harder for opponents to stay in contact and have proper information. The Herald, on the other hand, is built around a different goal: intercepting and relaying valuable transmissions and other data. Both ships have some ability to do the others’ role, but they will likely find success in different places!

Are there no small, pull-out seats anywhere in the escape module? Basically, will the 2nd crewman always have to sit in the turret when maneuvering?

There are no seats; the escape pod navigation is a standing station. No worries, though: the thrusters are quite weak!

Can the Sentinel perform commercial info running jobs?

As mentioned above, yes it can, although it will run into certain limitations that the Herald does not. These will primarily center around avionics space. The Herald has a large data core for holding the vast amounts of data it needs to collect, while the Sentinel does not. Pilots wanting to reorient a Sentinel for inforunning would be advised to make some upgrades to the overall data storage once they’re in the ‘Verse!

It's not a big deal until they actually deliver on the promises and make an amazing title that we play for the next 2-5 years and that LTI over the duration is worth untold value in maintenance cost mitigation. The people that write these responses sure as hell are not business minded people with actual fiscal acumen.

Well that probably answered a lot of peoples big question. I still want to know about interior styling when swaping BUKs. I think I will def get the warden now and the 2 lti kits and ccu to lti warden later. Since lti is so minor right ;)

I melted my original LTI Vanguard, and picked up a Sentinel + BUK's for Warden and Harbinger. So essentially - have all 3 (but I will look like a Sentinel Black/Gold).