Insurance Premiums

SlackR

Banned
SlackR
So if (and when) I wreck my shiny Python, it will cost me just under 2 million creds to get it replaced with a even shinier one. At first glance I think there's nothing wrong with that ... After all it worth over 60 million credits.

But I got to thinking about the real world implications and I can't make any sense of it...

First up, what company in their right mind allows people to insure their vehicle AFTER it is totalled?

Then, who are we paying this money to? How can they take such a loss by offering such a low buy back premium?

I thought maybe insurance is included in the original price of the ship, but then why would you have to pay after the fact?

If there is a logical explanation for the insurance system, could someone please point me towards it. If not, then surely it would make more sense to offer insurance at different rates of cover and premiums in game, rather than this over simplified and (seemingly) non logical version currently in place?

The cargo insurance place holder seems to suggest they plan to do a similar model with cargo at some point anyway.

:)

Ps. Don't you just hate it when there is a spelling mistake in the title (bloody ipad!) and you can't change it! :p
 
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Gogster

Gogster
You're not paying a monthly premium but I would guess it is implied. Most insurance claims include an "excess" which is the amount you have to pay towards the insurance payout for your ship. You don't have to claim on the insurance you can just take a stored or base ship and keep your money.
 

CMDR Sheehy

CMDR Sheehy
Because you are paying the Insurance Excess, not the Premium, when you end up back at the station and want to do a buy back.
 

SlackR

Banned
SlackR
@whiterose

Nope its a botanical drug they are experimenting with in the Empire to help their loyal subjects type more effectively on primitive tablet interfaces! :p
 

Skip Intro

Skip Intro
As has been pointed out in multiple threads:

It's not the real world, so all of the real world rules do not apply.
You have insurance from the get go.
It does not matter who pays out or whom you pay after your crash, because game.
Re-buy costs are the excess you agree to pay if you lose your ship, just like in real world car insurance.
The Re-buy percentage is not the same for all players, some get discounts.
The game does not have to be logical nor does it have to overcomplicate a simple thing.
 

[VR] Mad Mike

[VR] Mad Mike
Skip Intro said:
As has been pointed out in multiple threads:

It does not matter who pays out or whom you pay after your crash, because game.

The game does not have to be logical nor does it have to overcomplicate a simple thing.
Click to expand...

To be honest I am not a fan of that logic. To me Elite is an attempt to be a spaceman simulator living among the stars. In general, personally I would welcome MORE complexities if I thought it added to the experience of such a simulator.

I suspect that is one of the problems causing so much tension between some of the groups. It seems to me that some people want a space action shooter game, other people want a space simulator.

I love elite.... but then I also enjoy DCS and ETS2 so maybe that is why..........................

mind you I also love warthunder so there goes that theory :)
 
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SlackR

Banned
SlackR
Skip Intro said:
As has been pointed out in multiple threads:

It's not the real world, so all of the real world rules do not apply.
You have insurance from the get go.
It does not matter who pays out or whom you pay after your crash, because game.
Re-buy costs are the excess you agree to pay if you lose your ship, just like in real world car insurance.
The Re-buy percentage is not the same for all players, some get discounts.
The game does not have to be logical nor does it have to overcomplicate a simple thing.
Click to expand...

Fair play... This is your opinion, but I disagree. When I fly my ship in the Elite universe it has to make perfect sense otherwise the immersion is lacking. For me and many others I would imagine. Consistency in the lore is presumably why Michael spent so much time writing it before even any of the authors were allowed to write their books. If we don't believe it or it lacks credibility, then it fails IMO because this is much more than just a game... (The literature being a case in point).
But if it is the case that the cost of buying a ship includes the premium, then that at least makes sense, though I would still prefer to see insurance coverage options.
Thanks :)
 
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CMDR Sheehy

CMDR Sheehy
That's a nice idea - Insurance options. A difficult one to push through, seeing that the insurance excess percentage was given to players as a benefit for backing the game. Some players get to pay a smaller excess. So having the in-game option to purchase more or less cover is a brilliant idea, but would have to be made so that the backer options were still a benefit.
 

jgm

jgm
To make insurance more realistic the only thing that would need to be changed would be to require a payment every day/month/whatever which would be the premium.

But doing that would increase the number of people who lost their ship due to financial mismanagement massively, and ED has a bad enough rep around this area as it is.

Does paying a recurring maintenance fee really add anything to enjoyment of the game in any way shape or form?
 

Gasoline

G
Mad Mike said:
To be honest I am not a fan of that logic. To me Elite is an attempt to be a spaceman simulator living among the stars. In general, personally I would welcome MORE complexities if I thought it added to the experience of such a simulator.
Click to expand...

If you want an accurate spaceman simulator (and I can see the allure), there are much, much bigger concerns that need to be done in a better, more realistic way in ED. Or even just in a way that makes a little sense.
 

SlackR

Banned
SlackR
anthonycsheehy said:
That's a nice idea - Insurance options. A difficult one to push through, seeing that the insurance excess percentage was given to players as a benefit for backing the game. Some players get to pay a smaller excess. So having the in-game option to purchase more or less cover is a brilliant idea, but would have to be made so that the backer options were still a benefit.
Click to expand...

I don't see that as a problem. You can still have different premium options... Local trader, long range, expensive goods, bounty hunter etc. just take of ten percent when you are about to buy.
I'd also like to see pirates have to get their insurance from less reputable institutions. I think this would add to the danger and realism and make (some of them ) more respectful of the game mechanics. If it was much harder / expensive to find insurance as a pirate it would certainly spice things up a bit.
 

Cmdr Pli55ken

C
First up, what company in their right mind allows people to insure their vehicle AFTER it is totalled?
Click to expand...
You are right, the model doesn't make sense for an insurance company. They shell out 60m (probably a bit less because they can get wholesale discounts and whatnot) and take in 2m.
(Heck...try that logic with the X series, where the insurance cost in the first game was 10cr flat)

If there is a logical explanation for the insurance system
Click to expand...
Game logic. You have to think of it in terms of: "what is the mechanic trying to achieve" rather than "does it make sense in real life"

The mechanic is trying for a number of things
- People should not squander ships (e.g. if there was a 'free' save feature people might be throwing infinite ships at an opponent/game obstacle until it breaks). But if every ship costs money to replace people will think more about how they go about solving a problem.
- Attachment to ships. You have an investment (of play time) in your ship and the insurance money. Invested time engages you with what you own (Example: Buy a Ferrari from your hard earned cash saved up over years? Result: You are somewhat attached to the car. Get a Ferrari as a present being a spoiled rich brat? Result: You don't care if you wrap it around the next tree. In these examples the Ferrari has the same (money) value, but not the same worth to the owner.)
- It introduces an element of risk. Fly your Anaconda without insurance money in a high intensity war zone and see how your blood pressure spikes. Try the same with a 'free' anaconda from a savegame file. Big difference.
 

Drezden

D
Taxes and premiums are built into purchases,profits, and losses (fudged). We can't change the taxes or premiums so instead of telling us something that adds nothing to gameplay but useless complexity for devs and players. (not all complexity is useless).
 

AH_ImADot

AH_ImADot
By Galactic mandate, all ships are automatically covered up to 95% of their worth for free by the Galactic omnipresent entity. You are paying the extra 5%. If you want it more "real-world like", perhaps the more claims you make, the more you end up paying to get your ship back. Minimum cost is 5% and if you die enough, maximum cost could be something like 15%.

In all seriousness though, I have a hard time figuring out why any of this is such a big deal to need to pick apart and try to understand. It's a game mechanic to make getting blown up mean something more than just respawning a new ship.
 
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