Pay to Win? No thank you. That would break this game its neck.
No, it feels like an intentionally culling to throttle the number of FCs in the bubble, not by the community, but by Frontier itself. The FCs do cause stability issues while jumping and even before that, too. The nerfs are, obviously, too late and yes, new players missed the lucrative years.
While it's not impossible to run a FC without affording 8+ hours daily, I still consider it casual-hostile because it requires regularity in its activity. Can't drop in and out at will. A completely active FC with 100 weekly jumps costs about 40 mln CR a week plus Tritium. That's 160 T of Platinum at 250K CR (which in turn requires an external price listing site to be efficient) so the mining and delivery time isn't that much of a problem (2 loads for an average miner, so about 2-3 hours a week) but the frequency of the need to put that time in is. And of course the one-time-fee of five billion CR which fortunately doesn't have a time limit attached to it.
The game in general is casual-hostile because the way engineering was tacked on makes it hard to achieve competitiveness in a timely manner without using 'optimized' methods. That in whole is a higher-up decision to maximize engagement while minimizing effort. Only engaged players buy skins and DLC. Grind is a cheap way to get that engagement with minimal effort. Grind is a boring way.
Odyssey is uninspired, rushed and unpolished. They should have taken an additional year to flesh out the gameplay loops and the stability. It feels wrong. It feels disconnected to the remaining game. It should have been its own game instead.
It's not yet dead on console. But it is also dying on PC. And Odyssey is the straw that broke the camel's back.
A fully outfitted FC will set you back 25m per week. Most people don't bother with that much gear, I have it down to what
I need, and it costs me 10m per week.
But let's break down the numbers:
Mining Platinum is lucrative enough as it is. 250k/t (and that's a low price). If you look around, you can easily sell a carrier full for 275-285k/t. One shieldless cutter nets you 226m (794 sold at 285k).
Getting the 5b to start with, is a bit of a grind, granted. But even if you team up, or fly to a mining field where carriers are buying platinum for 230k/t, you can still make good cash within reasonable amount of time. A cutter with 9 collectors can hold 576t of platinum, selling at rock bottom price of 230k to a carrier will get you 132m per trip. So 50 trips (assuming you used your last credit to transfer you mining cutter to the carrier and start at 0 credits) and you have your 5b).
When I go mining, I do 2-3 trips, after which I get bored. Watching movies helps though.
in theory, after 20 days (again, assuming 2-3 trips per day, one trip taking a bit more than an hour) and you will have enough for your carrier plus some spare change.
Now comes the mean part (and the best one at it) where you can buy your carrier.
I only have armory and refuel as a service on mine, as I can access the outfitting and shipyard for myself, since I am the carrier owner. No need to spend that money there.
Tritium will cost you a fair bit though. So best to have some spare change for that laying around and refuel your carrier first. Tritium is roughly at 45k/t, and you need an extra 500t to fill 'er up. I mean, you just spent 5b on that thing and it doesn't come with a full tank.
Congratulations, you've done the hard part.
Now comes the best part.
Go mine a bit more. Anything you mine now, will cover the carrier upkeep. I dumped 4b on my carrier after I got it. With only refuel and rearm enabled, it costs you 10m/week. With one mining trip paying 226m (store on carrier and sell later), in 2 trips, you can have your carrier paid for a WHOLE YEAR!
2 trips. That's it. During the whole you only have to do 2 mining trips.
Unless you want to make some more dough, then might as well do a few more trips and sell it all in one go.
Secret tip: Osmium!
I sells alright, but if you get allied, and the faction is in Expansion, then you can hand in Osmium for 350k/t. It's a great byproduct while mining platinum, I always stash it and when selling, the station is usually having a massive high as it is. So after unloading, I am usually allied, if not already, and it's time to cash in.
Pay RealMoney for carrier? Nope.
The grind to get it is long, i give you that. But after that it's a money maker.
Tip: Don't take it with you exploring. It will cost you a lot, and the returns aren't worth it.