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RanceJustice
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Jun 9, 2003
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Quick primer on insurance.. .
Insurance in the Star Citizen public universe works somewhat like any other sort of property insurance in the real world - you pay a premium at intervals(monthly etc.)and then if anything happens to the insured items, you'll be granted the funds necessary to replace it.
Note: This is NOT how certain "virtual' situations like Alphas and Betas, in-game Arena Commander matches, or even the Squadron 42 campaign will work. In the former, you'll simply respawn as there is no "real" ship being destroyed, and in S42 the UEE military will simply issue you new hardware when needed, being a government endeavor . You won't need insurance in these situations or to worry about claims etc.
Purchasing a starship in the public universe is always going to be a big purchase. Nobody wants to go about having to buy a whole new ship if their existing vessel is destroyed. Thus, there will be insurance! There will be multiple types of policies that govern different aspects of ships and ownership.
The "basic" insurance type is "Hull Insurance". This is a policy that applied to the hull of the ship itself (usually, by the Star Citizen equivalent of the VIN number. This shows that a ship can be sold with its insurance policy intact, at least until another payment needs to be made. Unless there has been a change, I think this is still intended to be possible). The "hull" describes the ship in its "right from the dealer" form, its chassis and basic equipment for a particular trim level included. For instance, if you bought an Origin 300i and a hull insurance policy for it, then upgraded it by adding a few more missile launchers, a special paint job etc... these upgrades would not be covered by the insurance. However, if you bought an Origin 325a which comes with the missile launchers included as part of its "from the dealer" form, these would be covered under the hull insurance. That brings me to a second point - "upgrade/component" insurance. If you wish to insure your upgrades, customizations and other aspects of your ship that you change aftermarket, you'll have to purchase another policy to do so. Finally, there is "Cargo" insurance. What you're transporting, or planning to do so, has a real in-universe cost. If you want to be compensated in the event you lose your cargo somehow, its a good idea to purchase insurance on it! This goes double if you're carrying something that you don't own. Take a job hauling in your Freelancer MAX a full hold full of expensive medical supplies, you better take out an insurance policy on what you're carrying - run into pirates and jettison your cargo, get blown up etc...or the cargo is otherwise lost/irretrievable , you're going to have a very unhappy business partner and a huge debt on your hands, without insurance!
The general way that all insurance policies work is that the policy holder will, upon an "approved" claim, be granted in-universe credits sufficient to cover the loss. There may be ways to opt automatically into "put those credits towards ordering a replacement ship, and new policies if need be", but replacement isn't always instant. For instance, like I said before there is a huge economy system that both PCs and NPCs participate within. For a common ship for instance, like an RSI Aurora MR, you may be able to put in an order from a local dealer in the system and pick it up/have it delivered near immediately if they have one in stock. However, if pirates have been interdicting the entire supply of metals necessary to make certain components for Origin M50s, this means you may have to wait a little while to get another ship! (note: this is how "first time" purchases work too, not just replacements. Ships for instance are built in the stages you'd expect - Raw materials > refineries > manufacture of parts > manufacture of ships > dealerships - , all part of the comprehensive economy!). So overall, it isn't just as if *necessarily* you get blown up and thanks to insurance, another ship always instantly pops into your hangar, just the same as the one you lost - the way it has been done in other games.
There are also some other considerations when it comes to insurance, regarding approved claims on various policies. For instance, most systems will be rated with a "threat level". Some types of insurance (cargo, especially) may stipulate that the policy is only valid if the loss is within a certain threat level area. There are other areas that specifically say "Insurance is not valid at/near these places" - typically the most dangerous places around, such as Vanduul controlled systems, possibly pirate strongholds, and even heavily restricted "kill on site " UEE military worlds. Those who read the Jump Point "lore" probably remember there is a planet owned by the UEE Marines for training and weapons research that is of such high security any unscheduled flight may/will be fired upon! Next, the frequency of claims adds to the timeframe before replacement/repayment. This is a balancing mechanic to keep people from taking out insurance policies and then running suicidal missions again and again. You may have to wait considerably longer for your funds to be approved if you make a lot of claims in a short period of time. Finally, there's the potential of fraud. For instance, what if you ask your friend, who has a pirate character, to steal your ship from you so you can make a claim and buy another one, thus putting one over on the insurance company? Though there isn't much data yet on the form it will take, CIG is accounting for such things and if a pattern of behavior that seems fraudulent comes into question, the in-game insurance company will likely revoke your policy entirely!
One question I am sure you have is about the kind of insurance that comes with ships purchased pre-launch with real money. It is important to note that the insurance that comes in any ship/package purchase acts, for all intents and purposes, exactly the same as insurance purchased in-game. All pledge insurance is "hull insurance", as we discussed above. Upgrade/component or cargo insurance must always be purchased separately in game, even by those who have hull insurance from a pledge. In most cases, insurance from a Pledge simply acts as being pre-paid in game for a number of months, ranging from 1 to a whopping 24! This simply means that you won't have to pay the in-game credit premium during this period, after which you'll need to resume paying with in-game currency to keep the policy on those ships current. The second and most famous type of Pledge granted insurance, is "Lifetime Insurance" or "LTI". This means that effectively the owner of said ship will never need to pay a premium for hull insurance upon it again! LTI is granted to those who backed Star Citizen through early purchases, or special events such as "concept" sales and the like.
Overall, insurance is a big part of Star Citizen's public universe. It provides a way to allow for ship and other major purchases to be very expensive, while requiring a relatively small "upkeep" fee, which also acts as a "currency sink" in the economy. Insurance policies are not meant to cost a fortune or be difficult for a player to bear, but to be part of their routine expenses, much like ammunition, repairs, fuel, docking fees and the like. Of course, the more expensive the ship/components/cargo, the higher the insurance premium will be necessary, but it is likely that for those who can afford to acquire the more expensive ships to begin with, they'll be able to handle this sort of maintenance cost.
Hope this helped a bit! I may have missed a few things, but this should give you the general gist of Insurance in Star Citizen
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and I changed the Graphics detail from High to very high and now all my flickering is gone. I was keeping it on High so I could run it at 60fps but it looks like I'll have to settle for 30 at very high.