MISC Expanse

[Thalstan]

Looks like CIG is finally working on the refinery ship they promised a few years ago.

I am looking forward to this as it looks like it will finally complete the mining gameplay loop. Mine, Refine, and give to a hauler to bring to market.

Looks to be a single player ship, 6 reactors that can each process a single type of ore or you can have all 6 processing the same type of ore. This looks like it can process all types, not just a fuel refinery like the starfarer will be.

It can hold 8 bags, but it was not said if it's the 8 SCU bags the prospector uses, or the 12 SCU bags the MOLE uses, so 64 to 96 SCU of materials.

I see a group of 4 running two prospectors an Expanse and a freelancer/Hull A (and escorts as needed), or maybe 6-9 people running a MOLE, an Expanse, and a Connie or RAFT. Add in a Starfarer for refueling and you are looking at some interesting parties.

 

[Aunfox]

I like this idea, want it in game,but am very curious about transfers.

Like do Miners pay you to transfer and refine the Quantum, do you pay them when you send it back? It seems great,but a potential issue depending on how long it takes to make these transactions.

 

[Talonsbane]

I see a group of 4 running two prospectors an Expanse and a freelancer/Hull A (and escorts as needed), or maybe 6-9 people running a MOLE, an Expanse, and a Connie or RAFT. Add in a Starfarer for refueling and you are looking at some interesting parties.

Add in a Liberator to transport the Prospectors & Expanse to reduce transportation on them as well as to act like a storing zone for the overage until the cargo hauler arrives / returns. Once the Starferer can refine / convert quantanium into quantum fuel, have that handle that process to then refuel the fleet with what's mined up of that to extend the range.

 

[Sirus7264]

pictures please and price tag.

 

[vahadar]

It is for the leaks? @Thalstan

 

[Vavrik]

Add in a Liberator to transport the Prospectors & Expanse to reduce transportation on them as well as to act like a storing zone for the overage until the cargo hauler arrives / returns. Once the Starferer can refine / convert quantanium into quantum fuel, have that handle that process to then refuel the fleet with what's mined up of that to extend the range.

You've got the idea. This is a ship designed for a small fleet. We already share expense/profits when doing some group mining ops, so this is just an extension of that. Adding the Liberator solves the range problem with the Prospector, giving it extended range.

 

[Thalstan]

It is for the leaks? @Thalstan

No, from Inside Star Citizen that went up today...

 

[Thalstan]

pictures please and price tag.

no price as of yet. They are just talking about the ship. That said, it may not be straight to flyable, but a concept ship.

Since this is the "refinery job starter ship", I expect between 120-180 or so.

 

[Sirus7264]

no price as of yet. They are just talking about the ship. That said, it may not be straight to flyable, but a concept ship.

Since this is the "refinery job starter ship", I expect between 120-180 or so.

got ya thanks i'm only interested in salvage its like the one biggest thing i want to do and have been waiting years to do.... honestly that is the only reason im not playing atm.

 

[Talonsbane]

I honestly think that CIG pooched the screw by revealing this ship so far ahead of the concept for it. Maybe they just ran out of time & couldn't delay it until when it was concepted or perhaps they're hoping that the early reveal without any financial or other info will generate more hype than if they did it in unison with the concept. I have no idea.

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

I honestly think that CIG pooched the screw by revealing this ship so far ahead of the concept for it. Maybe they just ran out of time & couldn't delay it until when it was concepted or perhaps they're hoping that the early reveal without any financial or other info will generate more hype than if they did it in unison with the concept. I have no idea.

They did this with the Hover Quad so it seems like a tactic change, a slow burn rather than a dramatic arrival.

Look at what happened to the DS. People saw it, went "eh?" some people pulled the trigger and then said "eh? WTF?" and it became a bit of a joke in the lineup even now. A slow burn lets any initial confusion be monitored and responded to in good time before the sale... I think... its only been the Quad and now the Ecky which have had this approach so time will tell but it is undeniable it allows for better reception management.

For me personally the hype train didn't leave the station with the Quad intro so very early and oddly, and although the Ecky is MISC and is nice, I'm lukewarm. It's just not on my list of required craft when I have both Starfares already so it's not a fair comparison to what has happened previously.

I will admit the launches were much more effective on me when the hype train "Oh Yeah!"d into my life through a nearby wall:

It's not like there is long enough between the announcement and the sale for anyone to save up in this energy crisis economy... but it must be working somehow or they wouldn't be doing it?

Perhaps this is preparing for relaunch-sales of ships which already exist? Like the 600i gets a Gold Pass it''s already a known ship and already in our lives, early reveal of concept ships will give them good info on how to manage those sales when/if the time comes?

 

[CosmicTrader]

MISC Expanse 2 -> Multi crew as a 'companion' to the Mole

 

[Thalstan]

MISC Expanse 2 -> Multi crew as a 'companion' to the Mole

Honestly, I don’t know what they will do for refinery gameplay, and how that will impact things. I could certainly see a latter refinery, but it might be a MOLE sized one, but we really don’t know how much the Expanse will be able to handle. 64 SCU, 96?

They could also offer one as a companion to the Orion. Yes, the Orion has an onboard refinery, but CIG has played fast and loose with their promises in the past. They could say it’s only a single reactor refinery, while the ARGO Mobile Assayer and Refinery System (Argo MARS) can handle large mining refining loads, with the ability to hold 1000 SCU of raw quantanium stable while it awaits processing assignment, 50 reactors, over 40,000 SCU of storage capability for both raw and refined products, and a transport system that can transfer large quantities of goods to and from any of the 4 landing pads. It can also dock with ships like the Orion for offloading large quantities of raw materials quickly, and banks of tractor beams so that it can load up hull series transports. Any org serious about mining expeditions will need the straight to flyable Argo MARS…all for the low low cost of 990 (910 Warbond) dollars US, but it’s also a limited ship, so gets yours now or miss out of LTI

 

[NaffNaffBobFace]

My guess and it's only a theorycraft guess is that eventually multiple reactors will be able to be chained to speed up refining.

If you have 1 "Load" (amount unspecified) of Ore and it takes 2 hours to refine, split it two and put it in 2 reactors and it would only take 1 hour, quatering the Load and putting it in 4 reactors only half an hour and suddenly it's viable to get it all sorted in a play session! The Ecky has six reactors so that kind of resource management could bring refining times down to realistic play-session scales without having to change the current timescales for material smelting.

At a station where you are paying for refinery that means it's more expensive to hire more of the stations capacity but is quicker. In your own refining craft it'd be a matter of what do you want first and how quickly do you need it? It could also be a cost/reward mechanic and UEC sink - if we have 4 of these 2 hour ore loads that's 8 hours with a single reactor but 2 hours with 4 but at quadruple the refinery price. It would also be a bonus for captains of for-hire refinery ships: Get a client's wares through your craft as quick as possible but price the service accordingly :-)

But therein is the rub - you can make it much quicker but unless you are refining the same ore all the way through you'll have contamination if you switch to different types during the operation making the processed product impure and in some cases worthless... But in some cases better...? Do you keep one reactor slow but dedicated to Quantanium while hoping the miner you are supporting doesn't strike it lucky on a rare ore while out looking for Laranite? Keep an empty reactor in your pocket while using the others for speed? How long would it take to clean down a reactor anyway...?

I don't know if this is how they'll do it in the end but it makes sense to me that this is how risk/reward can work for me refinery game loops especially now it will be in the hands of players to run and manage.

 

[Amun Khonsu]

Im cautious about this ship type given the amount of time it takes to refine, many hours to a day+?

If Player A transfers ore to Player B to refine on his Expanse and it takes that long, whats the point of a refining ship if the players gameplay and the ships usefulness is bogged down in wait time? If it still refines docked and stored, what if Player B cant log in again for more days to deliver the refined ore?

Im just seeing potential gameplay issues. Anyone have insights on this?

 

[BUTUZ]

Im cautious about this ship type given the amount of time it takes to refine, many hours to a day+?

If Player A transfers ore to Player B to refine on his Expanse and it takes that long, whats the point of a refining ship if the players gameplay and the ships usefulness is bogged down in wait time? If it still refines docked and stored, what if Player B cant log in again for more days to deliver the refined ore?

Im just seeing potential gameplay issues. Anyone have insights on this?

That's exactly what I was thinking. Takes a long time to refine and that Expanse is then totally useless paperweight for hours and hours.

 

[Thalstan]

You can refine 16 SCU of quantanium in 26 minutes with one process on a station. It’s all going to be about maximizing aUEC per hour. The slow processes will give you a good yield, but they are some of the lowest UEC her hours out there. It’s all going to depend on what the limiting factor is…time or raw materials. You will probably end up using the process that allows you to refine as fast as new stuff comes in, because the faster processes generate more UEC/hour, but you are going to take as much time as you can per load so you can drive up yield.

see Montoya’s expanse video thread for my much more in-depth analysis of this. Warning, your eyes will probably glaze over at least twice, so be sure to have some espresso standing by….