Thanks for watching! The resources mentioned in the video can be found here: CCUGame.app: ccugame.app/ Hangar.link: hangar.link/ The Red Legion Discord - CCU Discussions: discord.gg/redlegion
I spent hours and I mean Hours trying to figure this out, finally found this video, strait forward every other video skipped steps, good job Red u got a follow!
Great video I used the tools to literally CCU to a exploration package where all my ships are 200 and above. Saved a tonne over the years, so I am starting over with a new package.
Very nice explanation. I have mixed feelings about the CCU system. What started as a method of allowing backers to adjust based on ongoing development has become a marketing tool in of itself. While its easy to fall into the trap of "Its saving money" there are invariably people spending more than they would of otherwise hunting for those 'deals'. Its easy for me to be cynical however as I've already greatly benefited from the system to build out a collection of ships vastly greater than the cash I've spent. I don't begrudge any newcomers achieving what they want with their purchases for less than what they might have spent otherwise. I just hope they start from a position of how much they are willing to spend and making the most of it rather than 'just one more purchase' to get those 'big savings'.
add greymarket credits that are sold for 50-60% and boom its even better. btw if you use cheap credits from the greymarket instead, you are also guaranteed to get your money back 90-100% in case of overspending. im doing that for 3 years now, makes things less of a worry....unless youre the type of guy that get easily scammed of course lol.
One thing to add is if you have store credit or will due to melting any ship/CCU you wont be using, it is best to select warbond ship in the to que, then in the from que select ALL ships (not just your hangar ships), then filter to highest to lowest price. This way you guarantee the CCU will be at the lowest price available for new money. You can then use store credit to bridge any gaps in your chain if require. Another thing to add is that the longest insurance will be selected once a CCU is applied, not particularly that of the base ship if the CCU comes with longer insurance.
It took me a little to see what you meant, but that was good info. On upgrade page, First, on right, pick the warbond ship. Second, on left side, change from my ships to all ships. Third, change left side filter from higher to lowest. I changed both sides from highest to lowest. After picking the warbond on right side, and then selecting a few on the left, the top was like $10 new cash for $35 upgrade, $25 savings. The next couple on left going down was like $20 new cash for $45 upgrade, still $25 savings, but $10 more new cash up front. Nice info. Thanks.
Thanks Red, very informative video & guide. I learned all this myself as there weren't really videos this in depth when i was learning so this is great for the newer community! I'll pass it around to friends =)
Good info but lack of a practical example. I am a "normal" SC player and although I've heard of the possibilities with these kind of tools and such, I have never got the chance to understand them exactly because whoever helped me (and understood the process) only gave me the short theoretical crash course (like you did in the video) and did the ship upgrade for me, or showed me how to do it exactly - so I never got the chance to understand how it practically works. Now after watching the video, I know more of that same theorie but sill do not now how to apply what I've learned to see the result. An example would have been eye-opening, even if at the end you would have said: OK, but I am not going to buy this because it is not worth it rn, or whatever. Still liked the video and found it informative.
Valid feedback. I wanted to keep this video more on the conceptual side, since the sales offered are going to vary throughout the future, but seeing an example using my own CCUs that I've saved up for chains could have provided a lot more context. Maybe that comes in a part 2 video.
Respect to Red for collating all this data, but for me it only reinforces the fact that it's a good thing I never got into crypto or NFT's. I don't know nearly enough about this concept to make intelligent choices.
@@rooster1012 I don't think I've ever used a coupon either... I am not good at the money game. I mean, I used to play EVE Online, back when you could reasonably earn subscription costs with in game money, but my understanding of the economics was super primitive. If I had the PC to play a game like this, I'd definitely consider all of this useful information.
Great tips! I learned some new things. I wish this had been around when I was struggling with the basics. Definitely worth saving to share. Also: for people who hate the ship system, and who complain about CIG, but want to contribute each year, the CCU game is a great way to make your dollars go far. I will give CIG $5 or $10 development occasionally because they do maintain a (wonky) test environment to play in. When I do, that $5 can become $100. Since I want a very small fleet, if I play the long game (since there is no other full game to play 😅) all my little purchases can add up to a big ship for cheap.
My god, 3D printed Rosinate, Lego Star Wars, and hot ones bag in the background. You sir have earned a like and sub. Well done for having impeccable taste. o7
Hull C CCU was awesome. $150 increase been helping a lot of my chains. Now Hull D going up and will go up more when it releases. Got 5 of those CCUs just waiting.
For sure! I regret not having bought more of the Hull C CCU's with cash, since I could have sold a few of them to friends. With them announcing the Hull D price bump I jumped on that early!
This is great! I only wish you had included some real-world examples to drive some of the points home instead of high level "ship1-ship2" graphics! Walkthrough of like how to upgrade from a fury token to a polaris or showing a history (i don't know if this is possible) for one of your ships!
I'll give you an example. Price in (x) is what I paid. All CCUs and Warbond CCUs are from the previous ship to the one mentioned. This took several years, and it wasn't optimized. I started with a Reliant Kore that I bought as concept ($50) -> CCU to Arrow ($10) -> Warbond CCU to Gladius ($5) -> CCU to Cutlass Black ($10) -> Warbond CCU to Nova ($5) -> CCU to Hornet Ghost ($5) -> Warbond CCU to Ballista ($5) -> CCU to Prospector ($15) -> Warbond CCU to Vulture ($5) -> CCU to Constellation Taurus ($15) -> Warbond CCU to Defender ($10) note: Some of the ships have changed price since I completed this chain (like Cutlass Black is now $110, not $100). End result, Banu Defender for $125. I saved $95 for a 43% discount. Almost any time a ship has a Warbond CCU option, I buy several (at least 5), even if I don't have a plan for them. On average I save between 40-50% per ship, but I have a few that I've saved 67-72%.
@@iamjeramy The more steps, the more chances to save $$. When buying a Warbond CCU, get an upgrade from the most readily available ship that is closest in price as possible. For example, the Spirit A1, normally $200, is available for Warbond for $175 right now. The Sabre is $170, so you could buy a Warbond CCU from the Sabre to the Spirit A1 for $5... You could either buy a Sabre at any time and upgrade to the Spirit A1, OR wait until the Sabre goes on Warbond, maybe for $160, then you would buy a Warbond CCU from the Prospector (normally $155) to the Sabre for $5... and then you wait for the Prospector to go on Warbond etc etc etc. Do it right, and each and every step of the way you're saving $5, $10, $15, $20 or more. It's a looooong, patient game, but that's how you get an Eclipse for $100, or a Caterpillar for $105
should talk about insurance and lti "tokens", its probably best to have life time insurance on your big ships in the long run and how your best insurance in the chain carry's over for example the cutter scout right now you can start your chain with a $49.50 lti ship but has to be new money as its a war bond standalone ship
I've never been able to understand the CCU upgrade path and how it works. I had my eye on a Carrak and just gave up and spent this last weekend earning the 26mil aUEC to buy it in game.
If you've got the time, the grind is a great option. It sucks that you lose it after a wipe, but that's a short term problem. Always new ways to make game-breaking money during alpha.
Thanks and welcome! I've got a live stream every sunday morning on Twitch, and I've also recently started going more with the face camera during my videos rather than strictly in-game scenes.
Quick tip for everybody if you don't mind using the gray market go and get yourself a prowler to hull d upgrade. You can seem to find them for 25 or $20 a piece. The holidays increasing in price by $100 this is a really good CCU chain if you don't mind using the gray market.
@@lystic9392No because it is a "gift" and how could they distinguish that from real gifts. Apart from that, the grey market items someone bought at RSI. It is like upgrades you buy from other players. I don't think they will remove it
@@lystic9392 no. Grey market is a way for cig to make more $ from sellers. Totally safe. Just keep in mid what you buy on grey market is worth less if you melt it but as long as you don’t melt it’s all good.
Hey, no shame in asking for advice. My discord server has a dedicated channel for CCU questions with several well-established experts. Discord.gg/RedLegion and look for #sc-ccus
CIG have a recent trend of invalidating previously offered warbond ccus. It makes the CCU game harder, but also shows no ship is safe from increases. Really enjoyed your video though, I'll be forwarding it to people who dont get it 😂
Yeah the increase on the Orion absolutely tanked a few of my chains. Orion to BMM CCU, 50 dollar saving, turned into 25 dollars of negative value. And the Orion hasn't been for sale since that BMM CCU was up for sale.
@@texnorthman I've had similar things as well, I've also ridden a few of the "to the moon" stonks ccus. One thing I've learnt is at IAE I'm going to put 2 of everything in buyback so the "scarcity" is removed
@@limitedrespawns Yeah that's been my conclusion too! I've got a good chunk of credits and some "spare ships" that will be melted, and I'll be using that to secure two or three CCU's to pretty much everything, and just keep them in buyback.
@limitedrespawns and @kullsyreholdig01 have the right idea here. I usually cycle through about $200 of store credit each day to get limited time sales or some of those higher end upgrades that might take off in the future.
@@limitedrespawns unfortunately that won’t work. Anything you melt will lose its discount value and will cost the new price to purchase. So you can no longer buy a $50 ccu for $10 with $40 savings and then melt it to buy back later when you want to take advantage of it. If you melt it the $40 savings goes away and it becomes a $50 ccu to rebuy with no savings. They changed this 18mo ago.
So wait you are saying its possible to buy back ships you CCU'ed. What I've heard is that if you try to buy back a ship that has been ccu'ed you get the base ship back with the additional credit that you spent is that not correct?
Im struggling to understand this. I have an avenger titan and id like the zeus. I do not believe i can upgrade to it as i cant find it but the c1 spirit has a warbond sale right now. Will i be able to get to that towards the zeus and is that the saving money that we are talking about? Or should i make the upgrade then melt it for credit to buy the zeus? Is insurance meaning that after that period of time i wont be able to claim my ship? Ive had my avenger since 2020 and it has 6 month insurance. So clearly thats over yet ive not noticed and differences and i can still claim it.
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Until the game is released, the insurance period does not fly.
as of now i noticed if you up grade to a warbond it removes the warbond and your stuck paying the difference i tested it with Hornet ghost to prospector was 5 usd up grade and buyback is 15 now hope this help also
Its great and comfy though, i have the socks, tshirt and blanket. havent tried the cardgame yet. didnt mention in above comment, but great video! @@RedMonsterSC
I have several ships of the same type. So I would like to know the source of the ship or vehicle I am using for the upgrade in order to make sure I am using a duplicate and not a ship I want to keep.
The CCUGame app helps keep the pledge history sorted, and add-ons like hangarXplor show the unique pledge ID in the hangar list. Aside from that, you can always click on the "exchange" option to see how much store credit each pledge is worth in case they have different values.
Would like to hear your opinion about building your ccu chain backwards. Like if you want a polaris you start building the chain from the polaris and getting backwards to a A2 for example. so you secure the atm price for your goal. so you secure the top of money you have to spend. so the price for the target ship cant increase anymore. What you think about this way? thx for the good content keep going.
One major comment on this is that Concept ships rarely get Warbond CCU's, and if they do it's generally because said concept increased in price. Their concept price is the cheapest you can get a CCU to them at, then they do only one jump to their final release price when they are actually released. The exceptions to this are the older concepts that changed significantly in size from when they were first sold as concepts, with the prime examples of this being the Merchantman and the Hull Series. While understand that this is a general overview of the CCU system and not going into huge detail, but there are many ships that are bad sources for CCUs and should be avoided. If you're using the CCU Game app, it should now warn you of these bad sources. However, they're still valid sources to select from when using the Pledge store, and it's a bit of a pitfall for those are unaware of them.
@@RedMonsterSC I wasn't thinking about the polaris for myself until the hull d went up. I think my mate has an orion ccu too. What a time to be alive lol stonks
I currently have a 6mo insurance 890 Jump Stand Alone ship and I want to get into a 10 year insurance or LTI one... any ideas of how beset to do this during IAE?
Unfortunately the 890j is one of the quantity limited ships that you cannot upgrade to. I think the best opportunities MIGHT be the 10 year insurance they usually offer around sale weekends, but I also am not an expert in it. I always found the 890j to be a little too elitist for my industrial needs. :)
Worth noting that not all ships will be available during the finale, specifically limited sales ships such as 890, Idris, etc. They also cannot be upgraded to.
I am confused. First you said that we need to secure the warbond deals as soon as they are available because they may change from day to day and NOT come back at the finale. Then you said we should always wait and only commit at the finale because all deals will always be available there and we might get better options at the end. So what is true?
What I meant is that you don't want to apply the upgrades until the finale. Buying them during each day ensures you get the deal, but you hold them without applying.
A question I have is that if I successfully grab a ship at a lower price, and then it's price is raised, when I melt this ship do I gain the money i spent on it or the money it is worth now ?
If its CCUed, you will get the money spent on it, not the new price. Additionally if you melt it, you wont be able to buy back the CCUed ship but just the “starting ship” in that chain.
@N041M has it correct. You can never get back more store credit than what you spent to pledge for a ship. In some cases you might find a better deal and it could make sense to melt and rebuy using a new CCU chain if there were better savings.
Also keep in mind an original concept ship (non-ccu) can be melted and repurchased infinite times and can be sold or purchased and then melted and then repurchased. But ccu built ships can never be repurchased if melted and if sold can not be sold (or gifted) again.
Since I already have all the store credit I want to spend money for, I just used that credit to have almost all the ships in buyback. So of a concept ship comes out the I use my store credit to buy a buyback pledge so that when it comes out at a higher price I can just use a buyback. Warbond CCU’s only work when you want to spend new money for a ship.
Same here, i have over $1300 and never have to spend a $ on anything, well i might buy the odd paint, but thats it. Instore Credit is the way, aways have your ship in BB, buyback at cost you paid, keep all sundries that came with ship, its a win win.
My buy backs all say buy backs are cash only, no coupons or store credit. I had an Aurora mr package with sq42 and melted it recently cause I ccu to a ship I eventually didn’t want. Had to pay my original $30 in cash to buy it back.
I have a aquila to polaris and a aqulia to crucible. Ive been trying to upgrade my way to the ccu but its been difficult because i dont understand this stuff.
As far as long term insurance needs go, there's very little that's been said, other than that insurance is going to be one of the money sinks to help balance out the economy, and that those ships with LTI will have their basic loadout insured, but upgrades and spare modules aren't going to be covered. It's hard to speculate, but the consensus is that it's useful, but not required, to have LTI. If you have an option to get a ship with LTI and it costs the same, or just a few dollars more expensive, then it could be worth the upgrade.
Ahhh, exactly why I left that extra pause during the disclaimer about spending money on Virtual Spaceships. Good financial advice would tell you not to spend this kind of money on digital good anyways.
Oh year the endeavor, have the ''MISC Endeavor Master Set - IAE/Galaxy Complete - IAE/Carrack - Best in Show Edition2952''. Best not to think on the Endeavor, that coming to fruition will be 2030+.
If you melt a warbond CCU, you will lose the WB savings. It basically turns into a normal CCU. Therefore you can no longer melt the WB CCUs. They made that change last year I believe. I would not doubt… sooner or later, they may do the same with standalone ships too.
Yep, you need to be careful of price updates if you choose to melt an existing CCU. If they announce a price bump ahead of time you can try and buy back what you have stored.
“Unfortunately” I have the problem that the basic ships for which I have CCUs have become more expensive than the ships that I want. So I have to go back and pay more. I want an Orion mining platform and have a CCU for a Banu Merchantman to RSI Orion mining platform, which cost me $70 back then) The Banu Merchantman is now $70 more expensive than the RSI Orion mining platform. I have a lot of very locative CCUs that I can't do anything with. (Including 9 old Vanguard Warden to Banu Merchantman 0$ CCUs)
@@AtlasRandGaming The problem is that I don't have a suitable CCU for ships below the Orion. What was once $0 CCUs is now a difference of several $100. I have upgrades between Blade, Vanguard, Redeemer and Merchentmen. each upgrade is still more expensive than the current one's $70. Sure, I could add $30 more to get on a Polaris frigate, but I don't think I can get enough people together. Then the LTI token would be worth at least 1% for a warship.
I hope someone who reads this can clarify: it was mentioned to me that IAE warbonds will NOT be available as ccu's, only as standalone ship purchases. Is this true?
The warbonds have always been available as CCUs and there has been no communication about that changing. There are limited cases where a Warbond deal is only offered for a concept or first time sale ship, but the majority of them are valid upgrade options.
But... did you see the charts and graphs?!?! In all seriousness, if there's something that wasn't clear I'd love to clarify things with you. My discord server is a great place to engage in a conversation with other experts.
@@RedMonsterSC If you're making a video about saving money, then you need to give everyone all the methods for saving money. Your video talks about melting CCUs that aren't useful to your chains, but that just gives you store credit, when the right move would be to refund CCUs if they're in the refund window. This video has too much of slant towards letting CIG keep your money to "save money" when it should very much include information about refunding CCUs that aren't necessary rather than fomoing them into your buybacks.
And then when youve done the mile long chain and the ship changes literally everything over the course of 6 years and you dont want it anymore youre stuck. I personally dont believe in doing CCU chains. Big brain move --> just get yourself whatever ships you want at standalone, and melt them when they get nerfed/change, keep it in your buy back and try something else. Eventually youll have your own full personal shop in buybacks.
Fantastic video, I think you kinda mentioned it but you didn't clarify defensive CCUs as much as you could have. The Connie Taurus $190 is going up $10, and a lot of people are upset because they have a Vulcan $200 are losing that CCU value because is going to -$10. However the Taurus is alway available so you can buy a $5 CCU for a Sabre Comet to the Taurus is preserve the $10 savings.
Same. Like why is this even tolerated by CIG? Its bad business for them. Now I feel bad for paying „full price“ and simply won’t buy at all because I’m too stupid for this whole ccu chain whatever
@@brentschmogbert I think it helps CIG get more revenue, because so many of us are out there trying to get those savings that we end up spending more on unused upgrade tokens!
@@RedMonsterSC that's fair and you did a good job. I'm just slow. 😅 I have an eclipse>bmm and want a odessey. Just have to figure out how get my mouth there hahaha
Videos like this are what will cause this trick to disappear. CIG is fine if a small subset of the population is gaming the system, but making public exposure of it like this will ensure they clamp down on it….
CCU system was Star Citizens greatest creation, not server meshing. A primary and secondary market on speculation of jpgs and a game item where they control both the supply and price. It’s hilarious. Sucker born every minute.
Sure, get in during the free flight and maybe try to win a giveaway here and there. $45 starter packs are a LOT more reasonable than some of the other titles I've seen come out with $100+ day one prices.
Thanks for watching! The resources mentioned in the video can be found here:
CCUGame.app: ccugame.app/
Hangar.link: hangar.link/
The Red Legion Discord - CCU Discussions: discord.gg/redlegion
link expired
@@tCptn which one? All seem to be working for me
discord
legit thought you would end off with plugging your e-learning course :D nice work!
@@MushroomFleetThank you! Maybe I have a new career path.
Hot ones pack;
Lego Star Wars;
Beard;
Plays star citizen
Are… are you me?
Awesome vid as always; thanks man
What a clean video, straight to the information, matter of fact, no jargon. Love it.
I spent hours and I mean Hours trying to figure this out, finally found this video, strait forward every other video skipped steps, good job Red u got a follow!
ok, you are the first one who explains that stuff so I can understand it.
Great video I used the tools to literally CCU to a exploration package where all my ships are 200 and above. Saved a tonne over the years, so I am starting over with a new package.
Very nice explanation. I have mixed feelings about the CCU system. What started as a method of allowing backers to adjust based on ongoing development has become a marketing tool in of itself. While its easy to fall into the trap of "Its saving money" there are invariably people spending more than they would of otherwise hunting for those 'deals'.
Its easy for me to be cynical however as I've already greatly benefited from the system to build out a collection of ships vastly greater than the cash I've spent. I don't begrudge any newcomers achieving what they want with their purchases for less than what they might have spent otherwise. I just hope they start from a position of how much they are willing to spend and making the most of it rather than 'just one more purchase' to get those 'big savings'.
add greymarket credits that are sold for 50-60% and boom its even better.
btw if you use cheap credits from the greymarket instead, you are also guaranteed to get your money back 90-100% in case of overspending.
im doing that for 3 years now, makes things less of a worry....unless youre the type of guy that get easily scammed of course lol.
One thing to add is if you have store credit or will due to melting any ship/CCU you wont be using, it is best to select warbond ship in the to que, then in the from que select ALL ships (not just your hangar ships), then filter to highest to lowest price. This way you guarantee the CCU will be at the lowest price available for new money. You can then use store credit to bridge any gaps in your chain if require. Another thing to add is that the longest insurance will be selected once a CCU is applied, not particularly that of the base ship if the CCU comes with longer insurance.
It took me a little to see what you meant, but that was good info. On upgrade page, First, on right, pick the warbond ship. Second, on left side, change from my ships to all ships. Third, change left side filter from higher to lowest. I changed both sides from highest to lowest. After picking the warbond on right side, and then selecting a few on the left, the top was like $10 new cash for $35 upgrade, $25 savings. The next couple on left going down was like $20 new cash for $45 upgrade, still $25 savings, but $10 more new cash up front. Nice info. Thanks.
Thanks Red, very informative video & guide. I learned all this myself as there weren't really videos this in depth when i was learning so this is great for the newer community! I'll pass it around to friends =)
And it's a nice reminder. Not everyone does this every day, so it's good to get a refresher before you go into a sale weekend.
Good info but lack of a practical example. I am a "normal" SC player and although I've heard of the possibilities with these kind of tools and such, I have never got the chance to understand them exactly because whoever helped me (and understood the process) only gave me the short theoretical crash course (like you did in the video) and did the ship upgrade for me, or showed me how to do it exactly - so I never got the chance to understand how it practically works. Now after watching the video, I know more of that same theorie but sill do not now how to apply what I've learned to see the result. An example would have been eye-opening, even if at the end you would have said: OK, but I am not going to buy this because it is not worth it rn, or whatever. Still liked the video and found it informative.
Valid feedback. I wanted to keep this video more on the conceptual side, since the sales offered are going to vary throughout the future, but seeing an example using my own CCUs that I've saved up for chains could have provided a lot more context. Maybe that comes in a part 2 video.
@@RedMonsterSC yep, maybe the 2nd part during IAE.
Again, found the video informative nevertheless.
Respect to Red for collating all this data, but for me it only reinforces the fact that it's a good thing I never got into crypto or NFT's. I don't know nearly enough about this concept to make intelligent choices.
Your basically stacking discount coupons like at the grocery store.
@@rooster1012 I don't think I've ever used a coupon either... I am not good at the money game.
I mean, I used to play EVE Online, back when you could reasonably earn subscription costs with in game money, but my understanding of the economics was super primitive.
If I had the PC to play a game like this, I'd definitely consider all of this useful information.
You could have just stopped at "it's a good thing I didn't get into crypto or NFTs"
Great video!! Been waiting for something like this.
Glad you liked it!
Great tips! I learned some new things. I wish this had been around when I was struggling with the basics. Definitely worth saving to share.
Also: for people who hate the ship system, and who complain about CIG, but want to contribute each year, the CCU game is a great way to make your dollars go far.
I will give CIG $5 or $10 development occasionally because they do maintain a (wonky) test environment to play in.
When I do, that $5 can become $100. Since I want a very small fleet, if I play the long game (since there is no other full game to play 😅) all my little purchases can add up to a big ship for cheap.
My god, 3D printed Rosinate, Lego Star Wars, and hot ones bag in the background. You sir have earned a like and sub. Well done for having impeccable taste. o7
Hey, that Hot Ones is the Season 22 Box that I'll be live streaming on December 8th as part of a charity stream. Expect to see that soon!
Hull C CCU was awesome. $150 increase been helping a lot of my chains. Now Hull D going up and will go up more when it releases. Got 5 of those CCUs just waiting.
For sure! I regret not having bought more of the Hull C CCU's with cash, since I could have sold a few of them to friends. With them announcing the Hull D price bump I jumped on that early!
yeah same here bought them both and more
got some REALLY nice savings, with my best CCU at 200$ BMM for 10$.
This is great! I only wish you had included some real-world examples to drive some of the points home instead of high level "ship1-ship2" graphics! Walkthrough of like how to upgrade from a fury token to a polaris or showing a history (i don't know if this is possible) for one of your ships!
I really thought about it. There were a few chains where I had most of what I wanted, but it would have cost a decent bit of my IAE budget.
I'll give you an example. Price in (x) is what I paid. All CCUs and Warbond CCUs are from the previous ship to the one mentioned. This took several years, and it wasn't optimized.
I started with a Reliant Kore that I bought as concept ($50) -> CCU to Arrow ($10) -> Warbond CCU to Gladius ($5) -> CCU to Cutlass Black ($10) -> Warbond CCU to Nova ($5) -> CCU to Hornet Ghost ($5) -> Warbond CCU to Ballista ($5) -> CCU to Prospector ($15) -> Warbond CCU to Vulture ($5) -> CCU to Constellation Taurus ($15) -> Warbond CCU to Defender ($10)
note: Some of the ships have changed price since I completed this chain (like Cutlass Black is now $110, not $100).
End result, Banu Defender for $125. I saved $95 for a 43% discount.
Almost any time a ship has a Warbond CCU option, I buy several (at least 5), even if I don't have a plan for them. On average I save between 40-50% per ship, but I have a few that I've saved 67-72%.
@@caseytwill interesting! thanks for the example. that was a lot of steps!
@@iamjeramy The more steps, the more chances to save $$. When buying a Warbond CCU, get an upgrade from the most readily available ship that is closest in price as possible. For example, the Spirit A1, normally $200, is available for Warbond for $175 right now. The Sabre is $170, so you could buy a Warbond CCU from the Sabre to the Spirit A1 for $5... You could either buy a Sabre at any time and upgrade to the Spirit A1, OR wait until the Sabre goes on Warbond, maybe for $160, then you would buy a Warbond CCU from the Prospector (normally $155) to the Sabre for $5... and then you wait for the Prospector to go on Warbond etc etc etc. Do it right, and each and every step of the way you're saving $5, $10, $15, $20 or more. It's a looooong, patient game, but that's how you get an Eclipse for $100, or a Caterpillar for $105
great charts to explain the saving options with CCUs!
really good video...
Glad you think so! I'm very fond of my charts.
Thanks for the great video. Helps make it more clear. Good job RedMonster!
Awesome video Red, thanks brother!
Great video and explanation - subbed and liked.
should talk about insurance and lti "tokens", its probably best to have life time insurance on your big ships in the long run and how your best insurance in the chain carry's over for example the cutter scout right now you can start your chain with a $49.50 lti ship but has to be new money as its a war bond standalone ship
IMHO if you have more than $75 in a ship, there is zero reason not to have LTI on it.
I've never been able to understand the CCU upgrade path and how it works. I had my eye on a Carrak and just gave up and spent this last weekend earning the 26mil aUEC to buy it in game.
If you've got the time, the grind is a great option. It sucks that you lose it after a wipe, but that's a short term problem. Always new ways to make game-breaking money during alpha.
Me too. And other problem is doesn’t work for me. I must count TAX in EU
Fantastic info. Thanks for creating this content and sharing.
Well explained. Thank you.
Great tips. Very useful and interesting. I however am buying all ships in-game👍
First time seeing you. Loved your mining docs.
Thanks and welcome! I've got a live stream every sunday morning on Twitch, and I've also recently started going more with the face camera during my videos rather than strictly in-game scenes.
thanks for the video man.
Thanks for the info
Quick tip for everybody if you don't mind using the gray market go and get yourself a prowler to hull d upgrade. You can seem to find them for 25 or $20 a piece. The holidays increasing in price by $100 this is a really good CCU chain if you don't mind using the gray market.
I had 10 of them in my buy backs that I purchased back this morning! Huge props to Jake for giving us a heads up.
Isn't grey market stuff potentially removed from the account?
@@lystic9392No because it is a "gift" and how could they distinguish that from real gifts. Apart from that, the grey market items someone bought at RSI. It is like upgrades you buy from other players. I don't think they will remove it
@@lystic9392 no. Grey market is a way for cig to make more $ from sellers. Totally safe. Just keep in mid what you buy on grey market is worth less if you melt it but as long as you don’t melt it’s all good.
@@lystic9392how? No way how to recognize this item.
I bought the Cyclone MT with LTI, I have upgraded it to the Prospector but eventually would like to get the Liberator.
I'll be honest, I'm still confused lol This will be my first IAE and I'd love to upgrade from my lousy Mustang Alpha.
Hey, no shame in asking for advice. My discord server has a dedicated channel for CCU questions with several well-established experts. Discord.gg/RedLegion and look for #sc-ccus
Get your wallet out!
What about Buy Back pledges? Is the og price retained, even if its changed since you melted?
i bought a prowler to BMM ccu for 10$ a few years ago, and saved 200$ so far
CIG have a recent trend of invalidating previously offered warbond ccus. It makes the CCU game harder, but also shows no ship is safe from increases. Really enjoyed your video though, I'll be forwarding it to people who dont get it 😂
Yeah the increase on the Orion absolutely tanked a few of my chains. Orion to BMM CCU, 50 dollar saving, turned into 25 dollars of negative value. And the Orion hasn't been for sale since that BMM CCU was up for sale.
@@texnorthman I've had similar things as well, I've also ridden a few of the "to the moon" stonks ccus. One thing I've learnt is at IAE I'm going to put 2 of everything in buyback so the "scarcity" is removed
@@limitedrespawns Yeah that's been my conclusion too! I've got a good chunk of credits and some "spare ships" that will be melted, and I'll be using that to secure two or three CCU's to pretty much everything, and just keep them in buyback.
@limitedrespawns and @kullsyreholdig01 have the right idea here. I usually cycle through about $200 of store credit each day to get limited time sales or some of those higher end upgrades that might take off in the future.
@@limitedrespawns unfortunately that won’t work. Anything you melt will lose its discount value and will cost the new price to purchase. So you can no longer buy a $50 ccu for $10 with $40 savings and then melt it to buy back later when you want to take advantage of it. If you melt it the $40 savings goes away and it becomes a $50 ccu to rebuy with no savings. They changed this 18mo ago.
And thats why i bought 20 P 72 with LTI back in the day when it came out as concept
There's a reason I call them the "Archi-melties"
Bro! the Critical Role shirt is Awesome!
Thanks! I'm rather proud of my T-shirt collection, and as a long time Critical Role fan I have quite a few in the rotation.
@@RedMonsterSC you should be. It shows good class and taste. I knew that I am in good company right off.
So the $45 lti ships look to be the best values? The newly released cutters and fury's at this time?
Those are probably the best starting points for any CCU chain because the lifetime insurance carries forward for any upgrades.
So wait you are saying its possible to buy back ships you CCU'ed. What I've heard is that if you try to buy back a ship that has been ccu'ed you get the base ship back with the additional credit that you spent is that not correct?
Im struggling to understand this. I have an avenger titan and id like the zeus. I do not believe i can upgrade to it as i cant find it but the c1 spirit has a warbond sale right now. Will i be able to get to that towards the zeus and is that the saving money that we are talking about? Or should i make the upgrade then melt it for credit to buy the zeus? Is insurance meaning that after that period of time i wont be able to claim my ship? Ive had my avenger since 2020 and it has 6 month insurance. So clearly thats over yet ive not noticed and differences and i can still claim it.
Until the game is released, the insurance period does not fly.
I have some Connie Andro to Redeemers still, bought for 10 or so... value now 90-110. Not bad.
This is the way!
as of now i noticed if you up grade to a warbond it removes the warbond and your stuck paying the difference i tested it with Hornet ghost to prospector was 5 usd up grade and buyback is 15 now hope this help also
Initial reaction starting on the video, DAGGER DAGGER DAGGER! Fellow critter, how do you do!
Bidet! Critical Role merch makes up at least a quarter of my current wardrobe.
Its great and comfy though, i have the socks, tshirt and blanket. havent tried the cardgame yet. didnt mention in above comment, but great video! @@RedMonsterSC
I have several ships of the same type. So I would like to know the source of the ship or vehicle I am using for the upgrade in order to make sure I am using a duplicate and not a ship I want to keep.
The CCUGame app helps keep the pledge history sorted, and add-ons like hangarXplor show the unique pledge ID in the hangar list. Aside from that, you can always click on the "exchange" option to see how much store credit each pledge is worth in case they have different values.
I bought the Orion when it was first available....can't believe how much it's going to cost now, like 650+ or something.
Would like to hear your opinion about building your ccu chain backwards. Like if you want a polaris you start building the chain from the polaris and getting backwards to a A2 for example. so you secure the atm price for your goal. so you secure the top of money you have to spend. so the price for the target ship cant increase anymore. What you think about this way? thx for the good content keep going.
I understood most of it up until the CCU chain section and then it went off the rails and over my head at that point 😂
its just combining cheaper upgrades (usually cheaper on events) together
Burnt Brains, must watch again!
One major comment on this is that Concept ships rarely get Warbond CCU's, and if they do it's generally because said concept increased in price. Their concept price is the cheapest you can get a CCU to them at, then they do only one jump to their final release price when they are actually released. The exceptions to this are the older concepts that changed significantly in size from when they were first sold as concepts, with the prime examples of this being the Merchantman and the Hull Series.
While understand that this is a general overview of the CCU system and not going into huge detail, but there are many ships that are bad sources for CCUs and should be avoided. If you're using the CCU Game app, it should now warn you of these bad sources. However, they're still valid sources to select from when using the Pledge store, and it's a bit of a pitfall for those are unaware of them.
My personal best CCU chain so far is my Odyssey which I chained for $345 starting from a warbond spartan. That's a $355 discount (51%)
I've been riding a few of the legacy ship price rises (hull and bmm) and my odyssey is $255
@@limitedrespawns That BMM upgrade token was NICE! I had two, and while one remains as a BMM in my fleet, I upgraded the other to a Polaris.
@@RedMonsterSC I wasn't thinking about the polaris for myself until the hull d went up. I think my mate has an orion ccu too. What a time to be alive lol stonks
I currently have a 6mo insurance 890 Jump Stand Alone ship and I want to get into a 10 year insurance or LTI one... any ideas of how beset to do this during IAE?
Unfortunately the 890j is one of the quantity limited ships that you cannot upgrade to. I think the best opportunities MIGHT be the 10 year insurance they usually offer around sale weekends, but I also am not an expert in it. I always found the 890j to be a little too elitist for my industrial needs. :)
Worth noting that not all ships will be available during the finale, specifically limited sales ships such as 890, Idris, etc. They also cannot be upgraded to.
I am confused. First you said that we need to secure the warbond deals as soon as they are available because they may change from day to day and NOT come back at the finale. Then you said we should always wait and only commit at the finale because all deals will always be available there and we might get better options at the end. So what is true?
What I meant is that you don't want to apply the upgrades until the finale. Buying them during each day ensures you get the deal, but you hold them without applying.
A question I have is that if I successfully grab a ship at a lower price, and then it's price is raised, when I melt this ship do I gain the money i spent on it or the money it is worth now ?
If its CCUed, you will get the money spent on it, not the new price. Additionally if you melt it, you wont be able to buy back the CCUed ship but just the “starting ship” in that chain.
@N041M has it correct. You can never get back more store credit than what you spent to pledge for a ship. In some cases you might find a better deal and it could make sense to melt and rebuy using a new CCU chain if there were better savings.
Also keep in mind an original concept ship (non-ccu) can be melted and repurchased infinite times and can be sold or purchased and then melted and then repurchased. But ccu built ships can never be repurchased if melted and if sold can not be sold (or gifted) again.
I noticed that the f-8 is missing from the upgrade ships menu, even as a source ship... Isn't that a bit odd?
The F8C is a limited access ship that we are not able to upgrade to, or from. Some ships are locked down like that, so its not entirely unheard of.
CCU is the meta.
I see the Critical Role shirt, I like and subscribe.
Bidet!
Since I already have all the store credit I want to spend money for, I just used that credit to have almost all the ships in buyback. So of a concept ship comes out the I use my store credit to buy a buyback pledge so that when it comes out at a higher price I can just use a buyback. Warbond CCU’s only work when you want to spend new money for a ship.
Same here, i have over $1300 and never have to spend a $ on anything, well i might buy the odd paint, but thats it. Instore Credit is the way, aways have your ship in BB, buyback at cost you paid, keep all sundries that came with ship, its a win win.
My buy backs all say buy backs are cash only, no coupons or store credit. I had an Aurora mr package with sq42 and melted it recently cause I ccu to a ship I eventually didn’t want. Had to pay my original $30 in cash to buy it back.
I have a aquila to polaris and a aqulia to crucible. Ive been trying to upgrade my way to the ccu but its been difficult because i dont understand this stuff.
Does LTI matter? Should I upgrade ships without LTI?
As far as long term insurance needs go, there's very little that's been said, other than that insurance is going to be one of the money sinks to help balance out the economy, and that those ships with LTI will have their basic loadout insured, but upgrades and spare modules aren't going to be covered. It's hard to speculate, but the consensus is that it's useful, but not required, to have LTI.
If you have an option to get a ship with LTI and it costs the same, or just a few dollars more expensive, then it could be worth the upgrade.
Just for the short your wearing in this video imma sub lol
Let chaos reign!
I know a lot of "concierge" that live paycheck to paycheck... just an interesting tidbit of anecdotal knowledge. XD
Ahhh, exactly why I left that extra pause during the disclaimer about spending money on Virtual Spaceships. Good financial advice would tell you not to spend this kind of money on digital good anyways.
lol well it's not your fault...but yeah.... this game is toxic to many lol @@RedMonsterSC
I managed to get an endeavor and carrack both for less than 350€ each one two years ago
Oh year the endeavor, have the ''MISC Endeavor Master Set - IAE/Galaxy Complete - IAE/Carrack - Best in Show Edition2952''. Best not to think on the Endeavor, that coming to fruition will be 2030+.
If you melt a warbond CCU, you will lose the WB savings. It basically turns into a normal CCU. Therefore you can no longer melt the WB CCUs. They made that change last year I believe. I would not doubt… sooner or later, they may do the same with standalone ships too.
Yep, you need to be careful of price updates if you choose to melt an existing CCU. If they announce a price bump ahead of time you can try and buy back what you have stored.
Never melt CCUs. I lost about $1100 in savings when they made the change without letting anyone know in advance
“Unfortunately” I have the problem that the basic ships for which I have CCUs have become more expensive than the ships that I want.
So I have to go back and pay more.
I want an Orion mining platform and have a CCU for a Banu Merchantman to RSI Orion mining platform, which cost me $70 back then)
The Banu Merchantman is now $70 more expensive than the RSI Orion mining platform.
I have a lot of very locative CCUs that I can't do anything with.
(Including 9 old Vanguard Warden to Banu Merchantman 0$ CCUs)
You can sell(melt) your no longer good CCUs back for what you paid originally. You list the savings but at least you can get your money back
@@AtlasRandGaming The problem is that I don't have a suitable CCU for ships below the Orion. What was once $0 CCUs is now a difference of several $100. I have upgrades between Blade, Vanguard, Redeemer and Merchentmen. each upgrade is still more expensive than the current one's $70. Sure, I could add $30 more to get on a Polaris frigate, but I don't think I can get enough people together. Then the LTI token would be worth at least 1% for a warship.
I hope someone who reads this can clarify: it was mentioned to me that IAE warbonds will NOT be available as ccu's, only as standalone ship purchases.
Is this true?
The warbonds have always been available as CCUs and there has been no communication about that changing. There are limited cases where a Warbond deal is only offered for a concept or first time sale ship, but the majority of them are valid upgrade options.
@@RedMonsterSC thanks a lot!
Clear as mud.
But... did you see the charts and graphs?!?!
In all seriousness, if there's something that wasn't clear I'd love to clarify things with you. My discord server is a great place to engage in a conversation with other experts.
Not sure why you wouldn't mention anything about refunds, refund periods and the rules for refunds in general. Seems like a pretty big part of this.
I tend not to make use of the refund process so that's a bit of a blind spot for me.
@@RedMonsterSC If you're making a video about saving money, then you need to give everyone all the methods for saving money.
Your video talks about melting CCUs that aren't useful to your chains, but that just gives you store credit, when the right move would be to refund CCUs if they're in the refund window. This video has too much of slant towards letting CIG keep your money to "save money" when it should very much include information about refunding CCUs that aren't necessary rather than fomoing them into your buybacks.
hey there how can i get save a Idris on IEE this year any tips i hear those ships are direct sold ?
I'm sorry it's bad news, but the Idris is sold in waves and limited numbers. Its one of the few ships that upgrades aren't available for.
where are the infos and the timings for those sales ?
@@RedMonsterSC
Ah, a fellow connoisseur of the real game.
*tips my top hat*
Honestly the ccu game is mostly the one I play now rather than the one with bugs. $50k investment with over $15k of that in unused CCUs.
And then when youve done the mile long chain and the ship changes literally everything over the course of 6 years and you dont want it anymore youre stuck.
I personally dont believe in doing CCU chains. Big brain move --> just get yourself whatever ships you want at standalone, and melt them when they get nerfed/change, keep it in your buy back and try something else. Eventually youll have your own full personal shop in buybacks.
Can you buy a ship in game the ccs with real my money
Please write a coherent sentence ffs
Not sure what you're trying to ask here, but I hope you're doing okay.
When I started playing the CCU game my issue was that I never noticed the option to choose source ship from all possible ships in the game.
Haha, I remember blowing your.mind when I showed you that!
Fantastic video, I think you kinda mentioned it but you didn't clarify defensive CCUs as much as you could have.
The Connie Taurus $190 is going up $10, and a lot of people are upset because they have a Vulcan $200 are losing that CCU value because is going to -$10. However the Taurus is alway available so you can buy a $5 CCU for a Sabre Comet to the Taurus is preserve the $10 savings.
Bidet Critter o7
i must be an idiot coz none of this makes sense to me hahaha watched many videos and still don't get it
Same. Were just too stupid mate
first XD
dont matter with the price changes that they put in stop ccu
Your video is muted for me
Hopefully you've gotten things figured out by now. If not, there's always closed captions which probably do a decent job.
@@RedMonsterSC yep something was laggy I close youtube and opened it again and it worked
my brain always melts when i try to follow this stuff...im not a smart man...
Same. Like why is this even tolerated by CIG? Its bad business for them. Now I feel bad for paying „full price“ and simply won’t buy at all because I’m too stupid for this whole ccu chain whatever
My aim was to explain the concepts without getting too technical, but of course it's a complicated subject.
@@brentschmogbert I think it helps CIG get more revenue, because so many of us are out there trying to get those savings that we end up spending more on unused upgrade tokens!
@@RedMonsterSC that's fair and you did a good job. I'm just slow. 😅 I have an eclipse>bmm and want a odessey. Just have to figure out how get my mouth there hahaha
Videos like this are what will cause this trick to disappear. CIG is fine if a small subset of the population is gaming the system, but making public exposure of it like this will ensure they clamp down on it….
Sure. CIG was completely unaware that this was possible up until this video was published. Sorry for ruining it for everyone?
maximum savings... lol
You Can't Ride Two Horses with One Ass
While true, you also aren't winning many races on a draft horse.
CCU system was Star Citizens greatest creation, not server meshing. A primary and secondary market on speculation of jpgs and a game item where they control both the supply and price. It’s hilarious. Sucker born every minute.
Pro tip for saving money on Star Citizen:
Don't pledge
Sure, get in during the free flight and maybe try to win a giveaway here and there. $45 starter packs are a LOT more reasonable than some of the other titles I've seen come out with $100+ day one prices.