Best personal shuttle?

Talonsbane

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So once it matters where we leave our ships and we can't just "claim" them to spawn them wherever we happen to be, I'm probably going to leave certain ships in certain systems and other ships in other systems. What is the best relatively inexpensive choice for simply shuttling from port to port to get to the various ships in your fleet? I'm guessing the most important factors would be speed and fuel capacity/usage. Weapons would be more of an after thought if your goal is just to get from dock to dock I would think. Or is hitchhiking the way to go?
Good question @SoloFlyer . I would say that it will depend on a number of factors. Either way, while hitchhiking won't be the easiest option, it is a possibility & an opportunity to potentially make a new friend during your journeys.

85X, Mustang Beta or any 300 series(there's wine glasses in those things, so there's gotta be booze)
Very good points @Carlos Spicyweiner

You really cant go wrong with the Aurora ES. For me my shuttle of choice is the 100 series.

View attachment 12131
The 100 series seems to be often forgotten about, which will make it a special item to enjoy while running around @Bambooza .

Ok, so I just came across this thread while getting ready to go deal with the gov't. My personal plans for this issue will be based on a few things, but I've narrowed my list of ships for a basic runabout ship down to: Origin 135c, Aegis Avenger Titan & MISC Freelancer Dur. The 135c is small, has some cargo capacity & the AIR fuel system to extended range for such a small ship outside of quantum travel. The Avenger Titan has much better weapons & slightly better cargo capacity. The Freelancer Dur would have the most range, better cargo, better weapons & more room for friends or to help hitchhiking TESTies. All of these can potentially travel through the small sized jump points to travel from system to system.
 

Shadow Reaper

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Once the game is out in its full glory, with a whole wide universe to explore, travel times are going to become a serious consideration, and for the kinds of transport you describe I think you want both a very high quantum speed and range.

You can find these here in a version that will no doubt undergo huge change before implemented. Drag the bar right to see the quantum speed and range of various ships as currently planned:


Note the plan seems to be for long haulers like the Starfarer and Caterpillar to have very fast jumps and able to jump huge distances. The difference in time between fast (133) and slow (39) is more than a factor of three, so for instance where a Caterpiller will take an hour, an Avenger Titan will take more than three hours.

If you used only these criteria, you'd probably want to use something like the Starfarer Gemini for a transport, but of course that would not be practical under many circumstances due to fuel consumption.

If you go to the ship design section at Hardpoint, you'll see that they're already identifying which jump drives will fit in which birds and what their stats are. So for example, for the MISC Razor EX, you can select between about 8 quantum drives with jump rates between 39 and 50 megameters per second, each of which has a different max range and they force you to choose which is more important, speed or range. Also note, the jumps with great stats in speed and range, have crummy stats for a stealth bird, so you probably don't want to choose stealth as a transport option, since that will require more time during and between jumps, or ruin the stealth on your Sneaky Pete.

Certainly whatever you decide, what you really want will not be stock on the bird you select! That's designed to make all our birds custom and therefor expensive when we get them all blowed up.

Simplest take away is that the bigger birds fly faster in quantum--is very counterintuitive. So you may indeed choose to ferry back and forth in something like a Star G if you can sell fuel on every other hop, or a Cat if you can sell cargo between. Better still is you just don't need to do much empty transport of yourself. The game is designed to make long distance movements laborious, and therefore much more like real travel. Best is always to get paid for your travels. Second best could be waiting to hop a flight on a Star G. Is going to be one of your quickest options it seems.

I think to avoid travel, many players will just choose to have an alt. The game does not forbid this and that is the simplest way to avoid travel--be in more than one place at a time, especially if you are interested in more than one vocation.
 
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Talonsbane

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Since you mentioned the Starfarer @Shadow Reaper, does anyone think that refueling stranded pilots is going to be a viable source of steady income or are they just going to be floating targets all the time?
I believe that will depend on a number of things. Such as can you choose the rate of cost of the fuel you deliver or will it be set to some standardized 'Verse rate per unit? If so, then I do believe that there will be definite profit to be held in fuel delivery to those that end up stuck somewhere. If not, then it will depend on you finding a good & reliable source of the sort of fuel that you wish to gather into your tanks to sell. Possibly a combination of both.
 

Thraesh

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Since you mentioned the Starfarer @Shadow Reaper, does anyone think that refueling stranded pilots is going to be a viable source of steady income or are they just going to be floating targets all the time?
Starfarer has 2 choices, the basic/civilian side and the gemini. The civilian side would be more for personal use and flat profit and you could refuel others if need be. The gemini carries less fuel comparatively but has heavier defense (shield/armour) capabilities to be able to refuel in combat scenarios. You also have the Vulcan capable of refuel/repair on a smaller scale

Also as @Talonsbane pointed out we don't know if we can set fuel prices or flat rate. Personally I hope we have a set max amount in the verse that you could get but we can lower that to either appeal to customers or give Org mates deals. Or even have a flat percentage and potentially shave off a tiny bit for Org mate discounts
 

Talonsbane

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Starfarer has 2 choices, the basic/civilian side and the gemini. The civilian side would be more for personal use and flat profit and you could refuel others if need be. The gemini carries less fuel coparatively but has heavier defense (shield/armour) capabilities to be able to refuel in combat scenarios. You also have the Vulcan capable of refuel/repair on a smaller scale
Or for better fleet fueling, have Starfarers team up with multiple Vulcans each. The vulcans deliver their load of fuel to multiple ships before refueling at the Starfarer for another round. In TEST terms, think of a large keg at a bar that helps multiple beer spigots pour multiple beers at the same time to maximum efficiency.
 

Blind Owl

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I know I'm lame I have been making dad jokes long before I became a dad. lol
You know what turns a joke into a dad joke?



Becoming a parent! 😜
My wife tells me all the time that I'm not as funny as I think I am.
But my 3 year old thinks I'm hilarious.
So it turns out I have a Digital Bounty Hunter package sitting in my buybacks.
Are you buying this back for yourself? If not, PM me. I'm interested.
edit: provided you're willing to part with it and the price is right, lol.

Sorry, I get rather excited sometimes and forget decorum.
 
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Mich Angel

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85X as shuttle
But I would use Avenger Titan as it also give option to carry some cargo and have a Bed if you have to log out between places or don't have time to go back to port.
 

Shadow Reaper

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Since you mentioned the Starfarer @Shadow Reaper, does anyone think that refueling stranded pilots is going to be a viable source of steady income or are they just going to be floating targets all the time?
If you get stuck without enough Q fuel to get to a refueling station, there are smaller ships that can come to your aid than the Starfarer. I think though, if you run out of fuel you're stuck until someone comes to refuel you. The opportunities for price gouging are going to be pretty huge.

So don't run out of fuel. The size of your Q fuel tanks is going to be very important.
 

atpbx

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You arent going to be traveling or moving your fleet across multiple systems at a time during day to day play.

If its anything like Elite and the X series (which it will be) you will find a home system, then a home planet/station that is close to where you like trading, raiding, pvping, or mining, and thats pretty much where you will stay as its far more efficient to do all that locally than piss around making multiple time consuming jumps to make money.

So basically, you already have the perfect personal transport, the 315p as you arent going to need to blast very far to do anything.

As an example, I havent moved any of my ships from HR 244 Garneau port, for nearly 3 years, sure i fly out and trade around it, but i am never more than an hour away from getting back there.
 
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