This is a question I've asked a couple times but have gotten not-so-great answers for:
Let's say I buy the dinky $45 starter fighter set. The game "releases" in alpha later this year, and I start playing it. Will it be possible to unlock the better ships in-game with a reasonable amount of effort, or will this be like grinding a F2P game to avoid paying real money? Will it be possible to buy "insurance" with in-game currency, or will that be something that always requires a real-dollar purchase?
Medium size ships (multi crew ones going for $100-$400 in the site now) apparently will be available for as little as a couple weeks of playing, maybe less. They haven't given specifics because this is something that is expected to be balanced once people are actually able to test it.
Insurance you will buy with in-game credits, and it is expected to be a minimal fee compared to your relative profits from just playing around. I would expect it to be no different investment than paying for housing in an MMO for example.