Exploring Ships Aurora ES (The basic entry level ship you can begin exploring the verse with. The package is the best way to get the game without a big investment) Aurora LX (This is the next step up that comes with a jump engine and a few other improvements.) 315P (This is a great single crew explorer for a bit more money you get a jump engine, jump scanner and tractor beam.) Freelancer DUR (Great two crew explorer ship with lots of cargo space and defensive capabilities) Constellation Aquila (Great three person crew ship with advanced sensors, rover, scanners, expanded fuel and full jump abilities) Carrack (Has not been released yet. Best potential explorer.) Transport Ships Aurora models (Can carry some cargo and can be upgraded with the big box to carry more cargo.) Avenger (Twice as much cargo compared to the Aurora base model with more speed and combat capabilities.) Cutlass (Combat capable and can carry a lot of cargo) Starfarer (Fuel transport ship) Freelancer /Freelancer MAX (Excellent two person ship that is very efficient as a transport ship with lots of cargo space.) Constellation Taurus (More cargo space then other constellation variants and the freelancer with more crew spaces and more combat abilities.) Caterpillar (Very modular, lots of cargo space and very upgrade-able) Merchantman (Awesome transport ship) Hull C (Huge hauler that carries 9000 cargo, not yet released) Combat Focused Ships Aurora MR or LN (Basic combat starting ship) Mustang (Combat focused starter ship that is agile) Avenger (Good all around combat capable ship) 325A (Fast and powerful ship) Gladius (Great combat ship) Gladiator (Good bomber) F7C Hornet and Variants (my favorite and has a lot of fire power) Redeemer (Big multi crew powerful combat ship) Constellation Andromeda (Has a ton of firepower; excellent multi crew combat ship) Retalliator (Huge powerful bomber) Idris (Huge Frigate class combat ship; nuff said)
I'm curious as to what you guildies have already bought or are planning on. I'm planning on a merch ship because that's money and most games people focus on damage/combat.
This is a good start for answering your question : http://www.xoohq.com/threads/star-citizen-alpha-the-who-owns-what-thread.37840/ I concur with your opinion: I have a ship for fun (350r) and my other two are mercantile money-makers (Banu Merchantman and Starfarer). The facts underlying my choice is that CIG keeps getting out ships you want to buy, so I invested in money-making ships instead.
I got a constellation and a merchantman as well as some smaller ships that will be more combat focused.
I've tried one out... They are super agile and have decent weapons. They don't seem to last long under sustained fire though. But since they are a bitch to hit it seems like a reasonable trade off. Edit: you can try it for free this week
