Armoury; Commander Micro-transactions.

While I would love to see some achievement commanders I also wouldn't mind paying for some. Also this game will not include any micro-transactions that "should" be in the game. This game will constantly be updated for free, it'll be like getting a free dlc every time they update it. If you don't want to pay for a commander, don't, is there really a problem? It is just aesthetic after all... As many like to point out.

I am alright with microtransaction, metagame unlockable, reward, player-made dev-added, and other commanders.

Maybe it'd be best if commanders that aren't backer-specific were treated like weapons from TF2.

You can pay for them to get them faster, you can get them randomly or from achievements or you could trade for them.

And then there could be ones that are payment only (like special holiday ones or something. Jack-o-lantern head commander, anyone?)

Yeah i actually have no idear how mutch time is actually being spent on commanders, but i think it's abit more then 1 and a half day you have to remember it's not just designing the commanders, it's also making a webshop ect ect.

Which is why I don't agree with paying for aesthetics, paying for something that was better suited to being earned in the game's world..not with trade from efforts in the real world (or allowances for the younger players). If you want to throw your money at different commanders, and they offer it, then enjoy. That's part of the drive for micro-transactions in games...it's to sell something that was otherwise almost value-less at a value and profit. People will throw money hand over fist at the small things because they're "cheap" without realizing how they add up, I suppose if Uber wants to cash in on this they will. And you're right, thankfully I don't care much about how my commander looks...nor do I care to pay for one that looks different. But make it something I can earn or design after earning that privilege, and I'm in. Cheers.

I think I'd be alright with that.

I am perfectly fine with the game selling commanders for a few bucks to bring in some extra income to help the game out. So long as it never gets more than cosmetic, them selling a commander for a dollar or two helps me by making the game im playing better, it doesn't hurt me. So yeah, go for it. especially in a case like this where the game has received alternative funding.

Hell, take it a step further. When contemplating future features, maybe put up 3 commanders for sale: The "Feature 1" commander, feature 2, feature 3, etc. The commanders would look the same, but their name/type would represent a potential feature. People could buy them to show support for the feature they'd like to see next in the game, gives them some extra funding, people get a nice cosmetic for their support, and people who don't want to spend the two bucks hardly lose out by missing 1 cosmetic commander, and also benefit by having the game get more income

It was just a hyperbole.
Besides, two of the three retail commanders were designed WAY before they were confirmed as retail-only, millipede is the only new guy, and even then, we don't know how new he is.

So long as Uber waits until post-release to make the 100 backer commanders I'm fine with them trying to add incentive to the retail preorders. Uber is planning on continuing development for the game LONG after release and money is a finite resource, so unless communism takes over in the near future they're going to need quite a bit of it.

Actually they've been working on the 100 commanders... Not all of the team obviously, but what else do they do as they wait for the programmers work. Brad said so at some point

Oh, really?
Huh, I must have missed that.

I always thought that they'd just burn through them all in one cocaine Redbull fueled month or something. Guess that was a silly thought though

Haha, yeah, what a month that'd be! But yeah they've been working on them which may be why their commander designs have gotten so nice.

Yeah i just wish some of the buildings would get the same kind of attention and detail ^^

I don't want no dollar signs in my games. Makes it look cheap and dirty.

If the microtransactions would take place outside the game itself I wouldn't mind.

we need commander creator mod

We need a "Pimp My Commander"-section in the Armoury.

I have nothing against micro-transactions in principle, and I really don't think there is anything wrong with Uber selling commanders. However, a lot of companies have made mistakes in the past about how to do micro-transactions correctly. As a result, there seems to be something of a temptation in the games industry at the moment to shove in some micro-transactions, and try to milk as much money as possible out of players. As long as Uber doesn't give in to those temptations, and learns from the mistakes that other companies have made, then there really isn't much of a problem. We already know that additional commanders will not open up any new game-play possibilities, so there is little issue of players being pushed to buy for an increase in power. As a result, I would say there are two main pitfalls that Uber could make:

Exclusivity
Lots of people really want to support PA. They want to do so by owning as many of the commanders as possible. If some of them get locked behind limited exclusive deals (for example with retail), then some people may get a little miffed that some of them are ones they can never get. Personally, this doesn't bother me too much, but I can understand how some people would be irritated. I think that the best way to deal with this is simply to make it 100% crystal clear as to who gets what, and for how much. Even now, there are lots of people who are confused about what commanders they are entitled to. Simply clarifying it as much as possible, both inside the game (presumably in the armoury) and outside the game on a webpage (that could even look an awful lot like the armoury), there is less opportunity for people to go off the deep end.

Value Proposition
This is the number one thing that games publishers have made fairly hefty mistakes upon. In any transaction, someone pitches something to us that we would purportedly value in exchange for a quantity of cash. For some reasons, many many many companies have really bungled the value of what they are selling. Much of this comes to the fact that digital goods have a high capital cost to manufacture, but a near negligible marginal cost, which makes estimating their worth difficult. Suppose it costs £5000 worth of developer labour, hardware, and various software licencing fees in order to make a commander (this number is not intended to reflect the actual cost, whatever that turns out to be). If you only expect to sell 5 of them, then a £1000 price tag is entirely justified, but if you want to sell 10000 of them, then 50p is much more reasonable. Obviously, reality is even more complex, as there is a fairly limited market and some sort of profit margin to factor in as well. As a result of this, I would suggest that developers really need to market test what they are selling. A quick questionnaire asking questions such as "how much would you be willing to pay for this commander?" could make all the difference in the world between happy micro-transacters and player resentment.

As one final note on value proposition, the industry perspective is always going to be tied in with how much it costs to make the digital goods in the first place. After all, that is what determines whether a studio is successful or bankrupt. However, I would put forwards that many players have a very different calculation in mind. At the moment, the going rate for a full AAA title from a large development team with a lot of resources is about £35-£40 on steam. Indie titles tend to be less. I would suggest that the single biggest comparison in players minds is that they can get a full game with plenty of content for that kind of pricing. Micro-transactions need to be congruent with that rough approximation of value. If I can get the full game of PA for £30 (on steam) which will eventually have hundreds of units, planets, mechanics and a whole lot more besides, then the going cost of a commander in that pack is going to intuitively seem pretty low. In fact, I would personally say that commanders need to be pretty cheap (perhaps 50p or lower) in order for this whole thing to reach it's maximum potential. It's ok if there are a few more exclusive ones which cost more, but I would suggest that the bulk of then need to be congruent with the same kind of value proposition that we see for the rest of PA.

What about adding some achievements that unlock commanders?

So its just for showing off to strangers in a videogame?
I only paid 90 but couldnt care less about some models. I too wanted this game to be made but dont feel that there is anything special about that.

Theres much more important issues in PA IMHO.

Technically through modding every Commander model is already free. They are in the game files somewhere.

Yes, it's a bit of pride, is there anything wrong with that? Also, doesn't it feel a little wrong to have something promised as exclusive just to be sold off for five dollars a few months later?