So I am currently not a backer but I think I am interested in this game. Does it make sense for me to become a backer if I plan to buy it? Purchasing ships this early will allow me to have life time insurance right? So does that mean if I do not purchase a backer ship when the game eventually releases I will have to buy my ships over and over whenever I die? In my head I'm comparing it to the GTA online model.
Also I don't understand what will be expected of players once the game is released. Will most players have a fleet of ships? Can a large ship hold a smaller ship?
I enjoy theorycrafting and buildcrafting before a game is released but I'm overwhelmed and confused at the moment.
Lastly, that new Sabre Raven looks amazing.
The window for LTI on all ships went away years ago. Similarly Star Citizen and Squadron 42 are no longer in the same packages - SQ42 is an add on or separate entity. Packages (ship + game) that you can buy these days have multi-month warranty. Standalone ships (need to already own a package) can be had with multi-year insurance during the anniversary sale. Ships are available with LTI at concept stage and can be upgraded (and
only upgraded) to more expensive ships while retaining the LTI. There's a new Anvil ship going into concept today, but don't know the price yet.
In the final game you'll pay regular insurance on the ship and if you die, you file an insurance claim to get your ship back. Replacement will take time, and will vary with the ship rarity / size and how often the player uses insurance claims. Even LTI only covers the base hull - no weapon / component upgrades, so people with LTI will still need to shell out for higher insurance levels to cover what LTI doesn't cover. It's been said a million times over by the devs that LTI is a minor thing. Worth getting if you can, but not worth losing sleep over. Especially with the multi-year insurance on the anniversary sales.
For player fleets, you can own as many ships as you want, though there will likely end up being hangar fees. You can only fly one ship at a time though, and while AI crew has been confirmed (pay them too), AI crew flying your ships hasn't been. Personal ships should be able to have permissions set to them to others though.
Some large ships can hold smaller ships. And by smaller ships, I mean snubs. Ships that can hold other regular small ships are restricted to capital size ships and are extremely expensive.
As for becoming a backer if you plan on buying it? Depends on whether you can accept the risk that comes with backing. There's perks to backing, but nothing is guaranteed in life. SC is not immune to failure.
If you're interested in the whole backing and ship types / role theorycrafting aspect, I can throw you an invite to our org's Discord channel. There's plenty of people there to help with that sort of thing.