Hmmmm...... Caterpillar or Merchantman?

What ship to choose?

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Jake Skyrunner

Commander
Jun 15, 2016
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Jake Skyrunner
.....Should i keep the Caterpillar after buying or upgrade it to a Merchantman after buying...
Depends what you want to do...

The Caterpiller is a floating modular ship, with modules such as a workshop for salvage or swap that out to just have living space modules, or swap that out just to have cargo space modules... or mix and match.

The Merchantman is a floating shopping center / market place. You can either be docked with for people to come and buy items from you, or you can land / dock somewhere, and people will board your ship again, to see what you have for sale. Another good feature to this ship is the detachable command module that is like the captains yacht in star trek. This command module in it self has 2 floors (engine room, cargo, living area, bridge ) and it detaches from the main mass of the ship, and can be used for raids on other ships or to explore etc....

In theory, if you had one of these, and a friend had the other, you could run salvage from derelicts, strip down the parts on the caterpillar, the command module of the merchantman could then dock with the caterpillar, take on the cargo of stripped down salvage, re-dock with it's mother ship, then have other people dock with the merchantman to sell the items... all in space without a station in sight... good for shifting black market items ;)

Hope this has helped in your decision.. :D
 

Blind Owl

Hallucinogenic Owl
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Nov 27, 2015
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Depends what you want to do...

The Caterpiller is a floating modular ship, with modules such as a workshop for salvage or swap that out to just have living space modules, or swap that out just to have cargo space modules... or mix and match.

The Merchantman is a floating shopping center / market place. You can either be docked with for people to come and buy items from you, or you can land / dock somewhere, and people will board your ship again, to see what you have for sale. Another good feature to this ship is the detachable command module that is like the captains yacht in star trek. This command module in it self has 2 floors (engine room, cargo, living area, bridge ) and it detaches from the main mass of the ship, and can be used for raids on other ships or to explore etc....

In theory, if you had one of these, and a friend had the other, you could run salvage from derelicts, strip down the parts on the caterpillar, the command module of the merchantman could then dock with the caterpillar, take on the cargo of stripped down salvage, re-dock with it's mother ship, then have other people dock with the merchantman to sell the items... all in space without a station in sight... good for shifting black market items ;)

Hope this has helped in your decision.. :D
The caterpillar has a detachable command module. That's fact.
But does the merchantman too?
 

Phil

Space Marshal
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Nov 22, 2015
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So! With the new Catapillar and dragonfly combo i'm thinking of splurging and buying a package.
I currently own a Carrack and want your opinion... Should i keep the Caterpillar after buying or upgrade it to a Merchantman after buying. I want to do some trading but when the sh*t hits the fan Í want to join you testies in the battle too. I want the ship to complement my carrack and low (pc) crew requirements. I'm currently leaning towards the merchantman because of (cough* big guns) the trading capacity. but the Caterpillar looks more universal to me. I want to know what is your favorite ship and why should i buy it or not or neither?
What do you consider low pc crew? MM is what 8? Cat is 5? Carrack is 5? Me personally I grabbed a few Freelancers Max and Dur so I can trade and explore, thinking of grabbing a Misc not sure, I have a Hornet and Redeemer (most likely melt this for something smaller) I really struggled with the size of the ship I wanted to play, crew was the biggest factor as I did not want to rely on strangers (until the game comes out and we form stronger bonds with our mates) and pc crew so I kept it small 1 or 2 crew so I only need to rely on 1 or 2 pc players or friend at the most. I figure when the game releases and we play together we will form crews and be able to use the bigger ships.

Unless you already have people you can rely on or have something setup for a crew I think these ships are to big to solo but that is just me. :p If I had to pick the Carrack would be my top then prolly Cat as its a jack of all trades master of none.
 

AstroSam

Barrista
Mar 8, 2016
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AstroSam
Depends what you want to do...

The Caterpiller is a floating modular ship, with modules such as a workshop for salvage or swap that out to just have living space modules, or swap that out just to have cargo space modules... or mix and match.

The Merchantman is a floating shopping center / market place. You can either be docked with for people to come and buy items from you, or you can land / dock somewhere, and people will board your ship again, to see what you have for sale. Another good feature to this ship is the detachable command module that is like the captains yacht in star trek. This command module in it self has 2 floors (engine room, cargo, living area, bridge ) and it detaches from the main mass of the ship, and can be used for raids on other ships or to explore etc....

In theory, if you had one of these, and a friend had the other, you could run salvage from derelicts, strip down the parts on the caterpillar, the command module of the merchantman could then dock with the caterpillar, take on the cargo of stripped down salvage, re-dock with it's mother ship, then have other people dock with the merchantman to sell the items... all in space without a station in sight... good for shifting black market items ;)

Hope this has helped in your decision.. :D
What Jake wrote. A Cat is a supply ship with trading abilities, highly variable, usable as traider, fighting vessel or homebase ship. The Merchantman is a flying marketplace and never will be anything else. If you are owning a Merchantman you are a 100% full blooded traider with no interest in any other professions within space. But for sure you can own both and lateron decide which one you'll be playing/flying.

But I voted for the Cat. Why? Because the Banu Merchantman will definitely be hangar ready not before summer 2017. CIG already stated that they will start the whiteboxing after release of SQ42. The Cat on the other hand will be flight ready together with SQ42 release - at the latest!
Therefore MY decision was foremost between the lancer and the Cat. I'll own both, because I'm not sure if the Cat can be flown as a SP. Lateron, when the NPC KI is implemented, I'll decide which ship I will keep. But the Banu Merchantman never was a question of buying. Perhaps I'll buy here lateron in the game, just for having a goal to reach for. ;)
 
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Mog_No_1

Captain
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May 3, 2016
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As far as all the Banu MM talk is going, in all likelyhood it may end up alittle different than what your thinking. Firstly to buy an Banu MM in the Verse, you people will need to kiss alot of Alien ass to get enough rep to even have the option. Wont be an easy thing. Secondly as far as haulers go, this thing will be like a tank, built well and packing a punch in fire power. Thirdly this ship is very underdeveloped, not a drip of additional information fron the original concept. Looking at all the other ships I think youll find they will likely add some options in how this can be fitted out, maybe even some modularity? They are pushing that with every single other ship and this is unlikely to be any different.

IMAGINATION PEOPLE, IMAGINATION! :rolleyes:
 

Joegasaki Kenji

Space Marshal
Aug 3, 2015
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JoegaKen
So after reading all the helpful comments I pulled the trigger on a shiny(?) new(?) Caterpillar. The modularity and many uses for the Cat intrigue me! I could always just CCU the thing to a BMM if trading is really fun! Thanks for the votes and help!
 
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Han Burgundy

Space Marshal
Jan 15, 2016
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Han-Burgundy
If you want to be the cool kid with the alien ship, Merchantman is a good option. It will have a SWEET art style on the interior that will be unique to the Banu and no other manufactures/races (Not sure if there are more Banu ships planned) BUT, that being said, the merchantman will be a big beautiful waste of moolah if you don't like to be a trader.

(I have officially added nothing to this conversation. I just like to hear myself type)
 
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