Permanent fleet planning question

[Talonsbane]

First ship: Starter ship, probably Avenger Titan is still the correct choice though the 300 series is a good choice as well.
If you believe they have earned your money and can afford to spend more money then.
Second Ship: The starter ship in your chosen profession.
Learn from my mistakes. :) You don't need any more than that.

If you just want to spend money, buy ships you enjoy flying and never chase meta with real dollars.

I wouldn't bother with staging ships all over the verse. If you are concerned with range then the second tier of your chosen profession should be able to get you where you need to go.

Enough of us exist, so if you are someplace without a ship, borrow one, or ask and someone can deliver one to you, and perhaps give you a ride where you want to go.

I'd suggest that you have at least 1 exploration ship as they tend to have longer ranges of quantum travel distances. When entering a system that is new to you, take your exploration ship to look around, explore a bit & see what sorts of activities that you'll enjoy in that system. During which time you can establish a new base of operations there for where you'll transport the vehicles you'll need to perform those activities to. Personally, for things like this, I'd suggest a Freelancer Dur as it's able to travel even through small worm holes to explore more areas more easily, plus its smaller size might help in avoiding notice from criminals.

 

[Richard Bong]

I like the idea of the Liberator as a relatively small mobile "home" which can be fitted for things like salvage (Vulture, Expanse), mining (Prospector, Expanse, ROC), or some other role.

That said, being able to fly a single fast small ship across multiple systems (or high "risk" ones) to participate in activities somewhere, knowing the ships I need will be waiting, rather than having higher fuel costs for multiple ships to get there, a delay (and cost) while other ships that might be wanted are "transported" there or slower trip there through a longer set of larger jump points if using a "carrier", does have some appeal.

Unless you are shipping the ships there, I don't see that working.

Remember, bigger ships, as we've been told, are faster in Quantum in addition to having longer range

 

[Brictoria]

Unless you are shipping the ships there, I don't see that working.

Remember, bigger ships, as we've been told, are faster in Quantum in addition to having longer range

Bigger ships will also require larger jump points, though, so some journeys will likely be quicker with a smaller ship.

For example, Terra to Pyro will be:
A single jump via a small jump point with a Freelancer or smaller ship
2 Jumps - Terra-Stanton (Large jump point), Stanton-Pyro (Medium Jump point) with larger ships (I don't know if the maximum size has been stated)
4 Jumps - Terra-Hadrian, Hadrien-Oya, Oya-Castra, Castra-Pyro using the largest ships

 

[Talonsbane]

Bigger ships will also require larger jump points, though, so some journeys will likely be quicker with a smaller ship.

For example, Terra to Pyro will be:
A single jump via a small jump point with a Freelancer or smaller ship
2 Jumps - Terra-Stanton (Large jump point), Stanton-Pyro (Medium Jump point) with larger ships (I don't know if the maximum size has been stated)
4 Jumps - Terra-Hadrian, Hadrien-Oya, Oya-Castra, Castra-Pyro using the largest ships

Which is why I recommend the Dur. It's reasonably priced both in game & in the cash shop, has long range (will have longer) & can fit through any jump point, all while having room for cargo or a land vehicle to have fun with.

 

[Richard Bong]

I'd suggest that you have at least 1 exploration ship as they tend to have longer ranges of quantum travel distances. When entering a system that is new to you, take your exploration ship to look around, explore a bit & see what sorts of activities that you'll enjoy in that system. During which time you can establish a new base of there for where you'll transport the vehicles you'll need to perform those activities to. Personally, for things like this, I'd suggest a Freelancer Dur as it's able to travel even through small worm holes to explore more areas more easily, plus its smaller size might help in avoiding notice from criminals.

If your interest is Exploration, then the Terrapin or 315P would be the starter ship for that profession. I don't see exploration being all that useful, YMMV.

Bigger ships will also require larger jump points, though, so some journeys will likely be quicker with a smaller ship.

For example, Terra to Pyro will be:
A single jump via a small jump point with a Freelancer or smaller ship
2 Jumps - Terra-Stanton (Large jump point), Stanton-Pyro (Medium Jump point) with larger ships (I don't know if the maximum size has been stated)
4 Jumps - Terra-Hadrian, Hadrien-Oya, Oya-Castra, Castra-Pyro using the largest ships

Jump point sizes are being refactored.
Bigger ships have faster Quantum Drives and longer ranges.
Remember that they can bring an Idris from Pyro to Stanton.

 

[Thalstan]

Fleet Planning (the Thalstan Method)
First, decide what you want to do in the game. Bounty Hunter, Escort fighter, long range bomber, trader, miner, salvager, passenger transport, providing transport to org mates small industrial ships, providing a base of operations for org mates, whatever. You can have more than one thing you want to do, but you should identify all the ones you want based on your experiences

After that, figure out which ships would benefit those professions. You might also want to consider which ship you will progress your play with.

Then, get those ships.

For instance, you are interested in mining and you plan on just mining solo. You also have an interest in hauling your goods from your current refining location to a market.

For this, I would get a prospector and a freelancer or freelancer max. If you want longer range, get a MSR or a Aquila. Any other ships you get are extra.

After talking to a lot of people who have backed with a lot of ship, I have found that most people will only every use 5 ships on a regular basis, no matter how many ships they have. They have another 5 or so they will pull out on special occasions. People with excess of 10 ships usually say that those extra ships are hangar queens that pretty much got taken out for a few spins when they went live, and then are never touched again...

 

[RoosterRage]

CIG's Multi-Package Clarification seems to imply otherwise, no?: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/comm-link/transmission/13288-multiple-package-clarification

I was replying to having multiple ships that a player owns not to crew members on your ship. Many players are under the impression that they will have a massive fleet of their ships manned by npcs following them around the verse.

 

[Richard Bong]

Now on a more practical vein. Our Fleet and the reasoning behind it. Note this is not one fleet but two.
My wife and I started 6 years ago. We have both, since, become disillusioned. We play games together so our fleets are designed to be played together.

• Our primary goal is to be able to do Bounty Hunting, as a team.
• Secondary goal is Org Combat support.
• Tertiary goal is the ability to relocate our base of operations.

Fleet design goals:

• Keep ourselves limited in the number of short ranged (carrier based) craft.
• Spend more time playing and less time recruiting crews, so keep the crew requirements down.
• Always fly with a wingman.

Every ship had a reason, though some of those reasons may no longer apply. The ships are all ships we like to fly, though the Retaliator handles like a bus.

• The Dragonflys are our easy to transport ground vehicles. We figured we should have one ground vehicle each.
• The Hawks are our, envisioned, primary ships.
• The Eclipse, I have no idea what it is for but it was a Cat in my Scoundrel pack. At least it has a 73 on it. :)
• The Sabres are the most recent additions (almost a year and a half ago now), (because of the Liberator we loosened up the short range craft rule) stealth scout and carrier fighter support for Org Operations.
• The Cutlasses are longer range Bounty Hunters. I'm not sure they have a real purpose since the introduction of the Liberator. They are the smallest ships we own that can do recovery operations not involving taking prisoners, and can carry prisoners. (Effectively our starter ships.)
• We both like the Vanguards (mine has a Sentinel BUK) and they are our primary Org combat support craft. It's one of the two ships that got me into Star Citizen and is responsible for my original Richard Bong handle.)
• The MSRs were for moving our gear when it comes to moving our base. (Not sure they still serve a real purpose because of the Liberator.)
• The Retaliator is an Org Combat Support, is supposed to get a Bounty Hunter Module and is our "we do want to be able to recruit a crew today" ship. (One of the two ships that got me into Star Citizen and the reason for my Star Citizen Quinton McHale handle.)
• And the Liberator which made it much easier to move our base of operations, while also allowing us to go to a bounty's location and use the Hawks.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

After talking to a lot of people who have backed with a lot of ship, I have found that most people will only every use 5 ships on a regular basis, no matter how many ships they have. They have another 5 or so they will pull out on special occasions. People with excess of 10 ships usually say that those extra ships are hangar queens that pretty much got taken out for a few spins when they went live, and then are never touched again...

My guess is the number of ships players will fly often is just 1-2. They'll decide which activity they enjoy most and do that regularly, with a side distraction. Probably everyone wants to own 1 ship of war, be it a fighter, bomber or even a Reclaimer they fly with a clean up crew--everyone will want to take part in huge group activities like battles. maybe 3 ships they fly at least 1/week, but 90% of the time they'll be in the same ship.

The size of the universe is going to pressure players to keep a ship as a home, meaning a bed, enough floor space to swap out quantum drives, and all their favorite gear stored. For those who travel a lot, just exploring the universe, I think the MSR with the incredible range is going to become the meta.

 

[Thalstan]

My guess is the number of ships players will fly often is just 1-2. They'll decide which activity they enjoy most and do that regularly, with a side distraction. Probably everyone wants to own 1 ship of war, be it a fighter, bomber or even a Reclaimer they fly with a clean up crew--everyone will want to take part in huge group activities like battles. maybe 3 ships they fly at least 1/week, but 90% of the time they'll be in the same ship.

The size of the universe is going to pressure players to keep a ship as a home, meaning a bed, enough floor space to swap out quantum drives, and all their favorite gear stored. For those who travel a lot, just exploring the universe, I think the MSR with the incredible range is going to become the meta.

Number of ships played on a monthly basis was my criteria for ”a regular basis”. Number of ships played on a 6 month basis was my special occasion basis. Ships you leave in storage for 6 months or years constitutes hangar queen basis.

that said, your 90 percent in one ship note is probably true, especially if you need to spend time gathering or searching for resources.

oh, and an update for my earlier ship list for mining…once you can mark waypoints for yourself, you might also want something like a Dur, 600i, 400i, or Aquilat to help you find the rocks you want to mine, or you could just buy locations from others.