The fate of my Starfarer

CMDR_Deepsix

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Hello Testies,

I’ve been contemplating the fate of my Starfarer for some time now and would appreciate opinions from others to help make up my mind.

I originally purchased the Starfarer prior to it being available in the hanger as a ship to help me start making money in the verse. My logic was that aside from regular repairs, it was able to harvest fuel for free to get me started in building up a bank account until I could get enough to load up my Hull D. Since then, I’ve added an Orion to my fleet which I hope would also let me jump right into something to begin building my bank account up.

Given the changes/evolution of the plans for fuel and specifically how quantum fuel is collected and refined, it feels like the Starfarer is a less and less viable ship. Because of this I’ve been thinking of CCU’ing it to a Hercules C2 recently. My though is that the C2 has a much lower crew requirement and can function as a medium size cargo ship with heavy lift capabilities.

The rest of my fleet is comprised of a Carrack, Orion, Hull D, Mercury Star Runner, Terrapin, Redeemer, 315p, Razor, Dragonfly, NOX, Ranger, Cyclone

Thoughts?
 

Montoya

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The Herc just looks better!

Not that you should go just on looks alone, but maybe. 😀

Your Hull D will be a money maker. A few trade runs and you are good.
 
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Richard Bong

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Hello Testies,

I’ve been contemplating the fate of my Starfarer for some time now and would appreciate opinions from others to help make up my mind.

I originally purchased the Starfarer prior to it being available in the hanger as a ship to help me start making money in the verse. My logic was that aside from regular repairs, it was able to harvest fuel for free to get me started in building up a bank account until I could get enough to load up my Hull D. Since then, I’ve added an Orion to my fleet which I hope would also let me jump right into something to begin building my bank account up.

Given the changes/evolution of the plans for fuel and specifically how quantum fuel is collected and refined, it feels like the Starfarer is a less and less viable ship. Because of this I’ve been thinking of CCU’ing it to a Hercules C2 recently. My though is that the C2 has a much lower crew requirement and can function as a medium size cargo ship with heavy lift capabilities.

The rest of my fleet is comprised of a Carrack, Orion, Hull D, Mercury Star Runner, Terrapin, Redeemer, 315p, Razor, Dragonfly, NOX, Ranger, Cyclone

Thoughts?
I still see the Starfarer as a momey maker, however I can't stand the cockpit view or the interior. On the plus side it should be able to carry all your vehicles at once and when equipped with cargo pods rivals the Hull C for cargo capacity.
Further if you are going to crew it you might as well crew the Hull-D or the Carrack.

The nice thing about the Herc is it has a lower crew requirement plus you can still carry all your vehicles.
 
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Shadow Reaper

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Unless you're hoping to buy a new concept at rock bottom prices, there seems little point to me investing in ships not in game. You can always buy ships in the future, so why not buy what you can fly now?

The Farerer will go through some changes but we don't understand them all just yet, so why respond to the supposed changes? Just let it wait.

If you really want to earn money hauling, what don't you own a Cat? Buy what you can fly.
 

Cugino83

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Well the lack of the fuel gatering and refinery cripple the Starfarer capability right now, but that doens't mean that is no a ship capable of generate a good income, in the future.
First of all the fuel will have different surce to be arvested from in the ffuture, I'm preatty sure about it, and most important the Starfarer wil be, according to the CIG statement, the smaller ship capable of producing a finish fuel product, namenly rifine the raw material gather and sell directly the usable product, not a minor advantages over, for example, ship like the Prospector that need to carry a high instable raw material to a refinery.

Also the Starfarer has a big cargo hold that will allow you not only to carry around your ground veicle and/or do cargo route, but also to trasport spare parts, making the Starfarer the only ship (soo far) being able to support a smal fleet, providing fuel and carry around all the spare part needed for repair.
It can also be used as a central hub for other task, like mining or salvaging operation since it can carry the harvested product for later selling while in the mean time being able to refuel the working horse like the Volture or the Prospector...

If you are planning to change it for a C2 be aware that you're going to loose a lots more of possible game play IMHO.
 

NaffNaffBobFace

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At the moment i'm only getting 2 hours a week to play, in one hour slots. That's one cargo trip across the system at 20k UEC a time with my Starfarers cargo hold and the aUEC I have to buy stuff...

A long while back someone said a good point in that once the game is live the larger ships are going to be the ones you're going to have to work for. At that point I consolidated my loads of small ships into a capital ship (Endeavor) as it's a great point - with the limited play time I have I'm not going to be getting a capital ship any other way. A Connie Taurus, yeah I could grind to that in a couple weeks. A Starfarer? Unlikely. An Endeavor? No hope.

The Starfarer is by no means a small ship but in comparison I expect the Hurc to be an even bigger task to work for. How much play time are you gonna have?
 

BUTUZ

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It's tough. The starfarer was the first big ship they did, and frankly they got it wrong. They've learned a lot since then. I have no doubt it will be redone at some point in the future.

As it stands, it's a poor cargo vessel and as fuel doesn't exist in game it's semi useless. The guns on it are fun though!

The good thing about doing a CCU to a Hercules is you can always melt it in the future and get your starfarer back.
 
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vahadar

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Thoughts?
I would second those under. The mechanics are not yet 100% defined and everyone will need fuel in the end anyway.

The Farerer will go through some changes but we don't understand them all just yet, so why respond to the supposed changes? Just let it wait.
The good thing about doing a CCU to a Hercules is you can always melt it in the future and get your starfarer back.
But about the Hercules, i have myself recently purchased a C2, which fills the gap between the carrack/caterpillar and the merchantman for planetary trading ships (also own carrack and BMM) and with awsome vehicle hauling capabilities.

Your Hull D will be a money maker in space for sure. But the Hercules will also be one for planetary trade if you dont plan to get a BMM.
 

Richard Bong

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One other point in the Starfarer's favor. Take a couple of Starfarers equipped for fuel, one or two equipped for cargo and a pair of Vulcans and you have a FARP capable of supporting a few squadrons of Vanguards and Retaliators. The Cargo bay in the C2 is not as well set up for the cargo role in this scenario with a lack of self defense capability.
 
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Radegast74

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I still hold out hope for the Starfarer...I'm not going to do anything to it until the actual refueling mechanic comes into the 'verse, then I'm going to see then. If nothing else, it will make a great CCU up to any other number of ship...but I'm hoping refueling will still be a way of making mone somehow.
 
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BUTUZ

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Don't forget you aren't going to have to haul gas.
Oh and FYI - the scale of that picture means the SF is gonna carry 1000SCU if we end up getting cargo drop pods that size and shape!
 

NaffNaffBobFace

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Oh and FYI - the scale of that picture means the SF is gonna carry 1000SCU if we end up getting cargo drop pods that size and shape!
Woah, serious? The Catapillar, from what I can find on the interwebnet, has a capacity of 576 SCU.

As the internal cargo bay is 291 SCU, that means about 133 cargo per pod, so If you had 3 cargo pods and 3 fuel tanks that's one seriously long range cargo ship with a capacity of about 700 SCU!
 

Phil

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Starfarer will be invaluable in fleet mechanics, you will be paid by the Org for this and most likely paid well. I think people look at SC and the daily quest grind when it comes to making money and ya maybe if you are doing AI generated quests the payouts don't look fair in comparison to actually trade runs but lets be honest here, most of us are here for the co-op, fleet/Org operations, you wont be using your SF alone all the time when you run fleet or group stuff and someone needs that refuel ship and you are the only one you are going to get paid.

Niche ships in SC are going to be great don't forget this, everyone has a combat ship, everyone has a hauler of some sort and most likely everyone will have an exploration ship of some type, when you make money in this game its going to be in the niche markets, skill markets, repair, refuel, medical, salvage, stuff that requires skill to perfect your trade if you are good you are going to get paid, its virtually like crafters in the old school MMO games, if you could make the best armor/weapons, people sought you out and paid big time for it.
 
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CMDR_Deepsix

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I appreciate all the different perspectives on this. I went ahead and picked up a CCU from the Starfarer to the C2. I haven't applied it yet so once fuel mechanics come on line in 2034 (sorry couldn't resist) I can give them a try and if I not convinced its what I want to do I can apply the CCU. If I find I want to keep the Starfarer at that point I can melt the CCU and put it into something else. I still have to decide what's going to happen with my Redeemer.

As for printing money, the Orion will get me started and then between that and the Hull D, I'm not worried about making UEC.
 

BUTUZ

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As for printing money, the Orion will get me started and then between that and the Hull D, I'm not worried about making UEC.
Only in TEST could the Orion and Hull D be considered starter ships.

You sir have style that I like.

I shall happily use my Hercules to help carry your ore back to port.
 
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