SC is a scam and a crap game, I know this for a fact simply based on how they are selling their game. First of all, being able to buy bigger ships with real money is the very definition of pay to win. Pay to win is garbage, all pay to win games are terrible and we know this by now, it breaks gameplay. Anyone who thinks they can pay 35 bucks and still have access to all ships are living in a fantasy land. You know how this plays out, you decide you're going to play the game the REAL way, only buy ships with the money you earn in game, meanwhile some rich spoiled kid flies by in something you know will take YEARS of grinding to buy, meanwhile you always have the option just to give up and pay real money hanging over your head. Secondly, SC is using another scam tactic that has become quite popular recently. That is the, drag out development as long as possible, all the while collecting early access money and, putting too many resources into marketing rather than actual game development. Just look at this ad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BR07oZC0QHU
It's stunning, but how much time and effort went into that, that could have better been spent developing the game. And the release date for SC? I just googled it and it said 2017! That's nonsense!
This has nothing to do with me being an elite fanboy either, I really wanted to buy SC, I love space sims, all of them, I want to like SC, but alone the pay to win model is instantly offputting.