How do you decide which ships to buy?

[Crymsan]

Okay so I thought I would explain I can afford a few ships and have a few in the garage so to speak and want to own one large ship. I do not mean large in hanger I mean large.

So I have a caterpillar which sounds like a ship I can use for lots of things (with the modules), so is a ship I can spend a lot of time with.

I have a few LTI ships around one of which I would like to expand to a large ship.

I have ruled out the luxury ships they are not my cup of tea, I have ruled out the reclaimer as supposedly the cat can do "salvage". The BMM is a trader shop and the cat can do that to. (Obviously less well in each case).

It is easy to get a cheap explorer to try exploring and obviously you miss out on rovers if you do. Exploring sounds quite competitive i.e. I know they will recycle things to find but even so there are only so many with my limited play time will I get a carrack to somewhere far far away? On the plus side the carrack seems a hard ship to gank.

So the orion clearly a useful ship but single purpose there will be a small miner coming but without the refining ability. Lets be honest mining will have to be fun to do to invest here. I can also see the downside of npc crew here i.e. 80% efficiency *3 for each role in mining leaves 50% collected at best.

The endeavour sounds interesting (obviously with pods currently the most expensive) I am also not sure whether I can upgrade an LTI ship into an LTI endeavour with LTI modules. Seriously 12 crew! and almost no defence. Still the flexibility (if you buy all the modules) sounds good.

I have ignored the fuel collector as I do not like the look of the ship, rule 1) do not buy a ship you do not like the look of?

Any thoughts?

 

[Wolf Lord Caldersson]

How much dakka!!!!

 

[Crymsan]

I have a fair amount of in game credits 520us as I converted all the ships I initially bought to LTIs by buying from quite frankly Test's market! I can also choose which ship to upgrade so that can get as high as 700us if I upgrade the blade (will probably keep that though). I will need to buy modules for the cat when they become available to.

My other ships currently
Cutlass Blue in pirate package
Cutlass red (in the waiting to melt pile two cutlass is to much cutlass risk)
Catapillar
Vandal Blade
Khartal Scout
Hull B

I want some 1 person craft although I am thinking of upgrade either the cutlass red or hull B to an cheaper explorer.

 

[Wolf Lord Caldersson]

MORE DAKKA!!!

 

[Hadron Xon]

I to have a Cat and also trying to decide which ships i want. I only plan on having 3 ships with the caterpillar being my home base / main ship. As for the other two ships i may go with the mining ship if i get the module or the Herald or both. Beyond them i am also looking at the Hull A or b for short range cargo runs.

So The Cat would kind of act like a Storage facility for my cargo, ore, and salvaged goods while the other two smaller ships help gather and transport the materials short range. While using the Cat for high capacity long range hauls.

If the mining ship is over 85$ i probably won't get and instead grab the herald due to its unique abilities.

so my list looks like this

Hull A or B
Herald ( if i don't get the mining module)
Mining ship (if i get the module)
Reliant Kore
dragonfly ( if i get the module )
Avenger Titan or stalker ( If i get Cell Module)

Basically it comes down to Module cost and which i decide to get if any. Being the caterpillar is my main ship my play style will revolve around it. I don't really enjoy ship combat so i just plan to trade ,explore and smuggle and maybe shoot a few people along the way. ( LoL i made a post on the RSI website on this same topic today). Pretty excited to see how the Caterpillar turns out.

 

[ChenAU]

 

[AstroSam]

Strange question, somehow. At the end, you can only decide this for yourself, though you are a SC veteran, aren't you? ;)

But @ topic, nevertheless:

1. what do I want to do within the verse? -> /me = exploration, trading; perhaps some small bounty hunting missions or dog fighting challenges (like the current arena commander)
2. how do you play usually: alone or with good buddys, whom you know personally or meet (regularly) in real life (which *excludes* groups like TEST)? Alone = you should not by ships with more than 4 persons capacity (you + max 3 NPC). With real life friends: fund your own budget pot and buy larger ships. -> /me = Connie Aquila (exploration), Freelancer Max (trading), Avenger (dog fighting)
3. how much money do you plan to spend? You should define two spending limits: one "soft" or "yellow" limit which will be reached (such as 250$ per quarter) and a "hard" or "red" limit which results in an immediate spending full stop (such as 500$ per quarter).

Depending on that you'll have a fair opportunity to buy the ship/s you a) need and b) can afford.

As for myself I am planning to buy a Carrack for multicrew sessions on an unregular basis. For that invest I am laying money aside - and have bought a small LTI ship which I will upgrade lateron, at the time when the Carrack is again available for sale. :)

 

[Crymsan]

How much dakka!!!!

Sadly Idris is way to expensive (37crew!!!!!!), on that basis the corvette seems like a no as well and the reclaimer is ugly (engines), so what other big ship dakka is their?

I joined test to have others to play with, I have some regular friends but sadly they are able to game less and less due to health reasons. Even so I recognise people want to enjoy their own experiences in the game so ship choice is about keeping options open. (Obviously buying ships in game is there but no LTI!).

Other people have insight and views which may help me clarify my own position!

I am also aware that I do not want to spend more on the game (6 ships is enough), my only and next additional purchase maybe a hotas. That said I will get some dragonflies probably to go with the catapillar.

 

[Halesh]

Personally, there are only a handful of larger ships that you might get access to. Crucible, Carrak, retaliator, Orion, and the fuelers. Also the idris.

 

[Rainshine]

I'm on a strict seeship program; I see a ship, I buy it.

 

[CosmicTrader]

Have you considered a Freelancer DUR?
An exploration ship with dedicated sensors and extra fuels tanks which can be used for General purpose as well (trading, etc).
It can be flown Solo or with a crew of 5 for team play with friends.
It will also be able to use any Jump Gate (small to large).

It is not a large ship but you have the Cat and the larger ships are more purpose built as you have explained.

Just a thought.

Full disclosure - It is my favorite personal ship.
The Carrack is my favorite ship but I want to crew on them, not own one.

 

[Snakey]

The master for all ships < The Connie Would probably be something like the carrack. Its (somewhat) multi-purpose, got space for a large crew and it has long range capability. It is also an ex military ship so its strong af!

 

[CosmicTrader]

The master for all ships < The Connie Would probably be something like the carrack. Its (somewhat) multi-purpose, got space for a large crew and it has long range capability. It is also an ex military ship so its strong af!

Can't argue with that.

 

[Shive]

I must admit, that I usually just go to random.org and make a roll. If it's too expensive I reroll, the same if I end up on aurora ;D

 

[Grimbli]

reclaimer is ugly (engines)

HERESY!

The Carrack is my favorite ship but I want to crew on them, not own one.

You're my new friend!

The master for all ships < The Connie Would probably be something like the carrack.

MOAR HERESY!!!

 

[Crymsan]

I'm on a strict seeship program; I see a ship, I buy it.

Sadly the freelancer fails test 1, it reminds me of a ford transit.

I have the Catapillar in the Connie size group already.

 

[Wolf Lord Caldersson]

Sadly Idris is way to expensive (37crew!!!!!!), on that basis the corvette seems like a no as well and the reclaimer is ugly (engines), so what other big ship dakka is their?

I joined test to have others to play with, I have some regular friends but sadly they are able to game less and less due to health reasons. Even so I recognise people want to enjoy their own experiences in the game so ship choice is about keeping options open. (Obviously buying ships in game is there but no LTI!).

Other people have insight and views which may help me clarify my own position!

I am also aware that I do not want to spend more on the game (6 ships is enough), my only and next additional purchase maybe a hotas. That said I will get some dragonflies probably to go with the catapillar.

You git, plenty of dakka, super hornet haz lots o dakka. Connie has dakka! Avenger has big dakka, but too few!

 

[Crymsan]

HERESY!


You're my new friend!


MOAR HERESY!!!

Oh sorry I meant the redeemer for the ugly engines.

Thanks all for contribution it has made for a lively chat anyroads!

 

[Gearen]

You want big? Just wait for the next concept ship from RSI......

 

[Black Sunder]

I buy the ships I have based on what i want to do in the verse. Its simple and I'm never wrong with this method.