Why the starfarer might be the only big ship you can truly start in

[Duckforceone]

So i have been thinking.

Let's say the servers start fully fresh on launch.

All the big ships will not only have insurance, but also fuel and ammo cost, repair costs, crew costs, docking costs and more. But you won't have the money to even buy the cargo amounts or other things you need to run it.

But the starfarer (perhaps the orion too), are the only ships that can start out. You most likely start out with fuel, and you are able to get your own fuel and sell off the rest.

So you can fill up your cargo hold, and sell it off, setting off a chain of income alot higher than what you should be able to with everything else.

Most missions will probably require you to work on reputation and stuff like that. but just selling things on market, will probably not require that at all.

now the starfarer should be doable solo, but the orion sounds like with all the different stations would require a lot of men.

So from this, i would declare the Starfarer the absolute winner starter ship for large ships and good income.

 

[Printimus]

I feel like there are going to be a ton of missions in the beginning you can run to make money without having to do with cargo. I'm sure there will be a mission with the reclaimer or crucible to go out and repair or salvage some derelict ship for a good amount of money. Not to mention the Genesis will transport people, Endeavor and Carrack will explore and research. Tons of roles to fill and amazing ways to start off.

 

[Duckforceone]

I feel like there are going to be a ton of missions in the beginning you can run to make money without having to do with cargo. I'm sure there will be a mission with the reclaimer or crucible to go out and repair or salvage some derelict ship for a good amount of money. Not to mention the Genesis will transport people, Endeavor and Carrack will explore and research. Tons of roles to fill and amazing ways to start off.

yeah but all those high paying missions will require high faction work first... which means you can't really do them starting out.

genesis can't really transport alot of people, untill you have a high reputation, or you lower your prices immensely.
the exploration, is based upon luck, and not really guaranteeing a high income.
again, salvage and repair missions aren't going to be available at high level, so the low level income will probably barely be worth the running of the ship. And it is definitely luck based on finding a ship to salvage.

 

[Printimus]

Again, missions will reward players, they arnt going to make the game unplayable at first for the big ships.

 

[Varku]

yeah but all those high paying missions will require high faction work first... which means you can't really do them starting out.

genesis can't really transport alot of people, untill you have a high reputation, or you lower your prices immensely.
the exploration, is based upon luck, and not really guaranteeing a high income.
again, salvage and repair missions aren't going to be available at high level, so the low level income will probably barely be worth the running of the ship. And it is definitely luck based on finding a ship to salvage.

Well, but i think the same aplies to to the Starfarer. For example i don't think that the UEE would hire a nobody to deliver fuel to their troops.

 

[Duckforceone]

Well, but i think the same aplies to to the Starfarer. For example i don't think that the UEE would hire a nobody to deliver fuel to their troops.

true... but you should always be able to sell fuel on the market, no matter what your standing is.

 

[Printimus]

I think you are being too narrow-minded on this man, there are going to be a ton of options out there when the game releases officially.

 

[Duckforceone]

just running off what they have said recently, about having to earn faction to get to higher things.

which is having people also speculate if you have to earn faction just to even fly the larger ships, like drivers licences.

 

[Varku]

true... but you should always be able to sell fuel on the market, no matter what your standing is.

thats true, but keep in mind,we still don't know the market value of fuel. and it's possible, that the income for refining fuel isn't that high.
(because it can be refined in every system, so there is likely no system where fuel is rare)
Unless you find someone who pays more than the market value. (like for example a UEE-fleet)

So can a Starfarer produce a steady income right from the start? propaly yes.
Is that income great? propaly not.

 

[Printimus]

just running off what they have said recently, about having to earn faction to get to higher things.

which is having people also speculate if you have to earn faction just to even fly the larger ships, like drivers licences.

Where did they talk about this with factions? Im sure you will start off neutral with most factions and only increase from there.

 

[supitza]

We have no idea, at this point, what the running costs will be.
I think the Starfarer, easily operated by a single person, can go out and start grabbing fuel as soon as the game goes online. But we don't know how much it will cost to get a Javelin, for example, up and running. Running around in a Jav and doing the 1000-2000 UEC missions (that I assume will be available at the start of the game) will most likely be unprofitable.
At least in theory, gathering gas seems the easiest and cheapest way to pay the running cost for a bigger ship, just because it requires no initial investment, as opposed to hauling cargo.

tl;dr: I agree with the Starfarer being the cheapest to run in the beginning, because of 0 cost and no necessary extra crew.

 

[Bruttle]

thats true, but keep in mind,we still don't know the market value of fuel. and it's possible, that the income for refining fuel isn't that high.

We actually do, after a fashion. We can compare what we are paying now. For every half dozen jumps across the current verse, it takes me around 1.5-2k auee. This, of course will change. However, this is just the fuel for a super hornet over about an hour. Just imagine how many hornets you can refuel with just one of those (what, 6?) monster tanks on the starfarer.

When the game releases, there will be millions (literally millions) of players trying to cash in on the explorer card. It will be the select few strategists that will be out there harvesting fuel. Because honestly, flying takes gas. Flying the universe to explore everything takes tons of gas. So would you rather be the one running the explorer rat race, or the profiteer raking in millions off the rat race.

 

[Printimus]

Gathering gas clouds/fuel mechanic hasnt come out yet, so theres no way to say that itll be a 0 cost and no extra crew ship... just like the orion, theres going to be multiple roles to fill other than pilot. And no one ever said anything about 1000-2000 UEC starter missions. They havent even mentioned starting the game and what its going to be like. If you are basing all this speculation on the 3.0 demo.... they are still a LOOOOONG ways off from anything being final.

I dont think it's fair to the other large ships to speculate this far ahead without any factual basis behind it. LOTS of game mechanics still need to be implemented.

 

[supitza]

Gathering gas clouds/fuel mechanic hasnt come out yet, so theres no way to say that itll be a 0 cost and no extra crew ship... just like the orion, theres going to be multiple roles to fill other than pilot. And no one ever said anything about 1000-2000 UEC starter missions. They havent even mentioned starting the game and what its going to be like. If you are basing all this speculation on the 3.0 demo.... they are still a LOOOOONG ways off from anything being final.

I dont think it's fair to the other large ships to speculate this far ahead without any factual basis behind it. LOTS of game mechanics still need to be implemented.

I can't find the exact links right now, because I'm at work, but I remember CR said the Starfarer is flyable solo and you only need another crew member to refuel somebody else - if you don't want to walk the the back of the ship yourself. Gathering gas, as far as we know, is just flying forward, with your "nuzzle" open, through a gas giant.
Also, given that the test missions we currently have in the PU have rewards around 1000-2000 UEC, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to assume the value of time/mission will be fairly similar once the game goes live.
I'm making this speculations based on what we know so far.

 

[Thugari]

didn't

Well, but i think the same aplies to to the Starfarer. For example i don't think that the UEE would hire a nobody to deliver fuel to their troops.

Didn't the say that you could sell your fuel to npc's at bases?

 

[AstroSam]

I dont know what the gameplay mechanics will be in future or how profitable it will be to sell fuel. We simply dont know yet! But this I know for sure: the farer has a huge cargo space! >3000 units (the Cat as 500)! So, if there is a fuel crysis or whatever, I simply go on trading rides with her and will be fine. Its a ship I've never had in my focus - but bought her, when I became aware of the facts. Plus she has tough structure, shields and mean guns (Behring size 5 turret laser ex factory!).
Thus I totally agree with @Duckforceone : the farer is one of the mid-class ships which could have the best chance of a good return of invest within her ship class.

 

[Thugari]

I dont know what the gameplay mechanics will be in future or how profitable it will be to sell fuel. We simply dont know yet! But this I know for sure: the farer has a huge cargo space! >3000 units (the Cat as 500)! So, if there is a fuel crysis or whatever, I simply go on trading rides with her and will be fine. Its a ship I've never had in my focus - but bought her, when I became aware of the facts. Plus she has tough structure, shields and mean guns (Behring size 5 turret laser ex factory!).
Thus I totally agree with @Duckforceone : the farer is one of the mid-class ships which could have the best chance of a good return of invest within her ship class.

cant wait to redshirt on your crew Capt.

 

[AstroSam]

Ah, I just added you on my SC list :D

 

[BUTUZ]

We'll find out when 3.0 launches I guess. You may find filling up 3000 units in you're farer would need you to spend quite a lot of time doing ICC probe missions first given that a jacket can set you back 1500uec, or 1 mission worth I think a starfarer full of coffee is actually gonna be in the tens of thousands of UEC, let alone a starfarer full of weapons or gold!