I went into the official Feature page https://3dcoat.com/features/, but doesn't mention hardsurface modeling tools, or cloth simulation or other cool stuff. That's why I think is safe to assume is nower near as robust as 3ds max as a modeling tool, it seems to me a sculpting tool that should be compared with Zbrush and not thought of as a substitute for 3ds max hardsurface modeling capabilities and other cool stuff, like splines, to mention one (though it could have that stuff and they just didn't mentioned it in the feature page, I don't know) 

That's odd, I remember a while back when I was browsing through sketchfab models and was very impressed with some. In the description it stated 3D Coat/Zbrush, but there was usually no mention of 3DS Max along with those 2 apps.

Well I don't know how the ratio of artists to programmers is here on gamedev since I'm fairly new, but if I had an important choice like yours to make regarding a graphic/animation subject, then I would also make sure to ask in multiple placese where 100% of the users are artists and handle this softwares daily, namely polycount.com and game-artist.net(this last one I think is almost abandoned now though)

Maybe some artist/animator over there have further insight that can help in making the right choice 

You might have more luck over in the 2D/3D forum:

https://www.gamedev.net/forums/forum/12-2d-and-3d-art/

4 hours ago, Armantium said:

Those watermarks would be removed after the commercial upgrade?

You should be able to automatically remove water-marks re-executing the final rendering with a commercial edition of Maya or with the student edition (which I advise you to choose if you are eligible)..

Honestly...seems like you are putting the cart before the horse.  You don't need all of that stuff to get started.  And knowledge learned in one program will transfer to other software too(you'd just need to learn the GUI).  By the same token, there is no "ultimate" list of software.  Sure, there are often programs that have many more users than others for various reasons...but that doesn't mean other software wouldn't work for you.

That being said...my biggest recommendation at this moment would be Blender for most to all of your 3d work.  The reason isn't only the free price tag, but the fact that it really comes with more stuff included than in any other option.  It is the only one that can model, render, sculpt, rig, animate, and let you do both 2d and 3d(as in on the model directly) painting, all in one package.  It literally can handle all of the visual stuff you need to get started with.  That being said, ZBrush is going to beat Blender in scultping, Maya has better animation tools, Photoshop is better for 2d art, and the Substance Suite(Painter specifically) is better for direct on the model painting.  But...Blender has a quite acceptable level of ALL of those things, more than enough to get started with, and ALL for free, with no licensing issues.  Generally, once you get to the point of needing more than what Blender can handle, you will possibly be more able to handle paying the money needed for other better software.

Frankly, the first thing you need is to just get started.  Blender is going to be the quickest and cheapest way to do that.  It fits the same way using UE4 does, being free but fully featured.  Don't forget that though you are talking about 3 years of time...you still need to learn whatever software you are choosing.  This includes UE4, visual stuff(models, textures, etc...), and don't forget stuff for sound and music.  Lots of these things can be outsourced, but from the way you appear to be interested in the software I don't think you want to outsource much.  So consider all the other parts of gamedev as well, not just the visual part.

6 hours ago, kburkhart84 said:

don't forget stuff for sound and music.  

Oh, that is already covered, including the various model/texture assets.

The only real cost would be voice acting, but not sure if I will have it at all.

If there is one thing about voice acting I know it's this - if the voice acting is not excellent, it is better to not have any voice acting at all. 

15 hours ago, Armantium said:

and everyone on the planet says that it's the best tool for animation, especially since its last iteration.

3DS Max was better till the latest Maya. Now Maya leads in animation.

If I wasn't clear your Genral 3D software: Max, Maya, Blender, Cinema 4D, Modo can do a bit of everything.

That is they can all:

Make 3D models, Sculpt 3D models. Animate 3D models. Texture 3D models, Render movies, Create special effects for movies, Make models for 3D printing and any thing else related to 3D.

However because they have such a wide focus they aren't the best tools for all of that. Substance and Quixel focus on texturing making it possible to texture a model instantly with a single button click.

3D sculpting in your general 3D tool isn't as powerful, although it's enough to get you started. Tools like Zbrush and 3D Coat is very good at sculpting yet almost impossible to go from sculpting to game.

Photoshop is your 2D tool, what your 3D tools don't do Photoshop does.

14 hours ago, Armantium said:

Terrain generation – World Machine

This is just unnecessary extra work, Unreal has Terrain tools that work perfectly with the engine.

14 hours ago, Armantium said:

complete necessary supreme software

There is none. All of the software have there strengths and weaknesses. 3ds Max has the most strengths of all 3D tools yet the small amount it is better isn't worth the fee to the average person.

In the end the only way to find what software is best for you is to try them all. I recommend stating with just Blender and Unreal, as both are free.

Note that making those amazing models you see on the internet isn't something that is done by the software, it's the artist. No matter what tools you have there is no guarantee that after you spend 4-6 years learning that you could make the same thing.

If all you want is good 3D models spend your money on a skilled artist instead.

7 hours ago, Armantium said:

Oh, that is already covered, including the various model/texture assets.

The only real cost would be voice acting, but not sure if I will have it at all.

If there is one thing about voice acting I know it's this - if the voice acting is not excellent, it is better to not have any voice acting at all. 

 

OK, so if the models and textures are already covered...you probably don't need to worry about any of these programs then.  They would be used for those things.

And Scouting Ninja made a point I forgot to mention...UE4 has terrain tools, you don't need to use World Machine for them.  The only reason you would want to do external terrain could maybe be if you wanted something in a retro-ish low poly style, then you could model the terrain directly in something like Blender.  Otherwise, just use what's included in UE4.

Quote

And Scouting Ninja made a point I forgot to mention...UE4 has terrain tools, you don't need to use World Machine for them. 

Actually if you want to do some next gen quality terrain like this one https://www.artstation.com/artwork/lKQnY  you need world machine, unless I missed something recently UE tool are nowhere near.

Not only is super easy to setup some nodes like erosions and the like to get a believable terrain, but it also allows you to export all the relevant maps you'll then use as masks in texturing packages like flow map, deposit maps and so on, you can even export the height map and use it directly inside UE and I guess you can use those same flow map and the like a a mask for procedural materials from UE (you can easily generate maps based on the terrain inclination to decide where the snow shader has to happear and the like), obtaining the same resoult just with UE tools should be impossible, but prove me wrong with examples if otherwise.

This is a map I was doing long ago as an experiment, imagine it as a zoomed out fantasy world section (root of yggdrasil on the center, that's the footprint, an forest/valley around), and as you can see it took me only few nodes and 1-2 hours maybe, imagine doing it with UE tools, good luck with that!