Premium content
The Premium content is the content that can be only bought via Gold Standards or real money directly from either the Gaijin or Steam store. With this said, players should not participate in any act of buying anything with real money before learning at least the basics of the game or consulting more experienced players or staff.
Premium content includes DLC's in it's main part, in-game store bundles, premium ships, modules, license, customization and several other small features.
The Spatial scanners and the Extended hulls modules are the very basic premium content and a wise investment for your future gameplays. The Spatial scanner is a CPU modifier that grants additional critical chance while the Extended hull is a hull modifier that grants additional hull strength. Other than the modifier part, they have other features for Open Space. The scanner shows hidden treasures while the Extended hull offers more cargo space for collecting those treasures.
The Spatial Scanner is the absolute lowest option and first option for buying anything in Star Conflict with real money because it grants you access to blueprints, high amount of credits, vouchers, some parts and some very rare parts which are very hard to obtain without the scanner or very costly to obtain with money.
Duplicators are a very basic premium feature which allows you to instantly repair your destroyed ship in a PvE match or in Open Space but can be manufactured with specific materials as well.
The Premium license is a powerful tool if you plan on playing each day of its duration, it doubles your overall gains, gain limits (like synergy gain per OS session) and much more. The 2 extra loot searches for PvP and PvE (and other modes with loot searches) can mean the world of a difference if you want to farm rare loots, even if you don't have any other bonuses present, the license itself grants you the chance of higher gains as in higher chance of getting something very rare. The other important thing is the higher limit of synergy gain in every mode because synergy is a must-have at all times. Premium license doubles the Open Space synergy overall gains as well as the gain limit which varies with each rank.
Additional devices can be found on the right side of the mod slots in hangar, left option is GS based and the right one is credit based. They are a good thing to use every now and then but are expensive in a long term use.
GS can also be used to buy credits if you happen to fall short on them.
This package is basically all I have mentioned until now + all DLC's + everything in a OCD collector grade of buying and it's not for everyone. Actually it's for very few people either really liking this game and supporting it's future development in a massive money spending way and or people that like having/collecting it all.
Here I will cover the premium ships, the difference between the collectible ones vs regular premium, the store and the DLC store in general. Basically, the first two explanations/packages are what everyone is using or were using at some point in playing Star Conflict, they are the mainstream ones and I personally would like to suggest them, the first one as a beginner and the second one as a seasoned player, everything else is literally EVERYTHING ELSE and up to you.
The Bundle Store
There is not much to say about the bundle store, what you see is what you get. Every bundle offers a guaranteed drop if you buy the x5 option PLUS the drops you would get by individually buying each of the bundles (5 total). Be careful while buying bundles because they are not cheap and basically a lottery if you decide to buy 1 by 1 bundle which is not advised.
Always buy the x5 options when presented the chance and avoid purchases like 1 by 1 bundle because x5 is cheaper and offers more with the guaranteed part aside from the common random drops.
Purchasing bundles should occur only then when you absolutely have no time to play and/or when you lack a specific part or two for something specific. Purchasing something from scratch is not advised under any circumstances unless you have the money and don't mind spending at all, in that case, make it rain.
The Premium Ships
The premium ships have been a thing of discussion for a long time, some are truly powerful in the right hands, some are average but the main thing is they are not bad, so, whatever you may choose to fly, wont let you down, that much I'm certain.
The non-collectible and non-DLC premium ships offer the same kind of setup (more or less) as their non-premium counterparts but with an extra buff equaling one or half a mod stat (in rare occasions more) i.e. extra damage, critical chance or similar.
The collectible premium ships are a different story, they have a unique design and unique purpose. They often come with special modules available only to them. The good and the bad about them is that they are something called a one-trick-pony, when they do their one trick/fulfill their purpose, then that's pretty much it, although keep in mind that THAT one "trick" is a very good "trick". They can be played outside of their main purpose but that's mainly wasting a good potential in battle.
I would just like to add that standard ships are perfectly fine and that premium ships do not have an upper hand making them extremely unbalanced as some would like to think. Premium ships have this specific role to fulfill and that's being able to provide that specific something a player needs in a much higher level. For instance a player wanting to be the best support for his team would do his best gathering Brokk parts since Brokk is the only specialized engineer ship aside from Octopus (which is a special project ship), it's only natural for a good player perfecting himself in what he does best.
There are 200+ ships in the game and there's probably more to come, standard ships offer everything except leisure bonuses like premiums have, premiums offer a lesser capability in builds and plays and standard premium bonuses written in each description, to each their own I would say, for those lucky enough to perfect their skill in something, there will always be a ship that will just come perfect afterwards, may it be a standard, premium or special project, the choice is yours.
The DLC Store
Work in progress.