In our last article, I mentioned that I had gotten a look at the Founders Program page while it was still being developed, as you know, the Founders Program was pushed back a bit, until Weds June 25th, so that the devs could get it exactly the way they wanted it. That means that today is the day, the new Eternal Crusade website is up, so let’s take a look at what we have.
First, let’s look at the various Founder’s Packages. They range from $40, for the Warrior’s Pack, to $80, for the Sergeant’s Pack, to $120 for the Captain’s Pack. Each package comes with access to all four races, four character slots, “Vanguard” title, alpha/beta access, early module access (we’ll talk about the difference in a bit), name reservation for one character, and a bunch of Founder’s Points, that you can spend in the newly-launched Rogue Trader shop. The Warrior’s Pack comes with 40000 points, the Sergeant’s Pack comes with 92000 points, and the Captain’s Pack comes with a whopping 150000 points!
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What can you spend those points on? TONS of cool things, let’s look at the categories: Hero, Execution, Weapon, Vehicle, Decorations, Armour, Character Trait, and Retinue. Hero includes things like sidegrades to the regular hero classes, and there are two for each race to start. The Eldar get an Autarch and an Outcast Ranger, Chaos gets a Fallen Captain and a Possessed Champion, Marines get the Master of Relics and a Legion of the Damned, and Orks get a Cybork and a Skarboy Kommando. Heroes cost 25000 points each, and still require that the purchaser unlock the proper hero in the regular game and use requisition points to deploy. Also in the top echelon of points costs, at 25000 points, are the two-man attack vehicles. Orks get a Warbuggy, Marines and Chaos get Attack Bikes, and the Eldar get Vyper jet bikes.
Now all this is only part of the Rogue Trader shop, there are lots of other items as well, like alternate executions, armor and weapon skins, pets, like servo-skulls and possibly psyber-ravens, aesthetic bits, like wolf pelts and tails, purity seals, blood drops, all the neat little touches you see on Games Workshop's models.
This all sounds like there’s just not enough points to go around, especially if you want to outfit multiple characters. Have no fear, there are extra points available in the form of Bundles. Bundles range from $5 for 5000 points to $15 for 15750 points to $30 for 33000 points to $50 for 57500 points, so you get a nice discount the more points you buy. You can also get extra character slots for $10 apiece, and what looks to be a monthly Founder’s Points subscription, which will add more Founder’s Points to your total each month.
One heck of teaser, now give us gameplay!
There is also a referral program being launched, your Founder’s Pack will also come with a refer code, and any player who lists your code on their Founders Pack purchase will get an additional 4000 Founder Points, and the referrer will get 4000 points as well, so recruit your buddies and get more points. The more referrals you garner will get you additional titles for every ten, up to one hundred.
I would also like to take this time to clarify a few things. The early module access and the alpha/beta testing phases are NOT THE SAME THING. Early module access is free and unlimited use of actual game modules are they are finished. Founder’s will get access to these by Package type, with Captains getting access first, then one month later Sergeants, and finally, one more month later, Warriors. Alpha/Beta testing access is based on subscription date, and is for testing various parts of the game. So, for example, if the devs want to test vehicle combat on one weekend, they will invite whatever number of testers that they need, starting with those who bought their Founders packs first, and going forward from there until they have all the testers they need. The test is NOT ongoing, and will run for a limited period of time, until it ends.
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Is this Skarboy another Founders Hero? We will soon know.
For those of you who prefer to join in large hordes, Miguel explained how they have changed the Founders Program a bit since we first reported on it. Everyone buys their own Founders Pack, based upon your own personal needs and wants, so that's either $40 or $80 or $120, depending on how many points you think you will want. Then, if you so choose, you can pledge your allegiance to one of the registered “guilds”, and whatever guild you join will get added bonuses based on their membership. This way each person is responsible for their own pledge, but can still get extra bonuses for being part of a group
Also, I want to remind everyone that the game itself is going to cost $40 on release, and that is with ZERO Founders points, so the basic Founders deal, the Warriors Pack, is an excellent bargain, as it includes 40000 Founders points, which is $40 worth of points, as well as early module access and alpha/beta testing access.
We also heard talk of some super-exclusive items that will be available in limited quantities; things like Corvus-pattern marine helmets, Phobos-pattern boltguns and other pieces of Heresy-era armor. These items will only exist in limited quantities because they are rare in the 40K universe, and in order to support the lore Behaviour will keep them relatively rare. These items will NOT be for sale for Founder’s Points, but rather for “real-money” and on a first-come first-served basis.
This has been a quick glimpse at the Founders Program, to see the real thing be ready on June 25th and get over to the official Eternal Crusade website and see for yourselves. And, as always, remember to join the official Eternal Crusade forums and make sure your voice gets heard during the development process.
