A One Ship Commander

[Old Duck]

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to own just a single ship and embrace all the challenges that offers. In particular, I'm thinking about the venerable Cobra III, the "Jack of all trades" small ship. I wasn't that much of a fan of the Cobra in 2D, but in VR it does have a certain feel to it that I like. It feels like a ship I could bound with, like the Serenity or Millennium Falcon.

That's one of the reasons the single-ship experience attracts me, as there is something to the "a pilot and his ship" (singular) theme that is lost when we have an entire fleet of ships at our disposal, allowing us to do anything and everything well. And that's the other attraction - adding challenge back into the game. When you own a fleet of ships, you can pick the ship that makes any job super easy. If you only own one ship (especially if its a small ship like the Cobra), then everything becomes more challenging, which in turn makes things more rewarding, at least from a satisfaction standpoint. While I might not make top 10% at a CG hauling cargo in a Cobra, making 50% would feel like a true accomplishment. I experienced this when I hit 25% at the last bounty hunting CG using a humble Eagle.

I know some of you play this way, and I'd like to hear your experiences and overall feelings on the matter. I wouldn't sell my all of my current (very modest) fleet, but I could see putting the harder-to-get ships (discount T9 and Corvette) into storage in some remote location and just choosing to fly a single ship for a season. I'm still a bit mixed on how I feel about this. Thoughts?

 

[Bigmaec]

I'm tempted by this too.
If I ever cave in to getting another CMDR, I'd fly a Dropship.

 

[Arry]

I'm tempted by this too.
If I ever cave in to getting another CMDR, I'd fly a Dropship.

But you would have to fly other ships, to get to the drop-ship. Correct?

 

[Biff Stryker]

I'm tempted by this too.
If I ever cave in to getting another CMDR, I'd fly a Dropship.

Why the FDS may I ask? I'm just curious because I am going to do this with my alt and I was thinking of the Cobra as well. I cut my teeth in one of those but I'd be down for something different. Biff is pretty law abiding but my alt cmdr is going to be pirate of all trades I think.

 

[Old Duck]

But you would have to fly other ships, to get to the drop-ship. Correct?

Unless you're satisfied with a Sidewinder, this is not an option. A person can be a one-ship captain by trading in their current ship to get their desired ship. AFAIK, Malcolm Reynolds didn't hitchhike to the shipyard to buy his Firefly.

 

[Bigmaec]

But you would have to fly other ships, to get to the drop-ship. Correct?

Yes, but as soon as I have the rank I'd switch...

Why the FDS may I ask? I'm just curious because I am going to do this with my alt and I was thinking of the Cobra as well. I cut my teeth in one of those but I'd be down for something different. Biff is pretty law abiding but my alt cmdr is going to be pirate of all trades I think.

Because I'm a serious Dropship enthusiast.
I love the industrial "brick" look, the coffee maker, the fact it's the only ship I can reliably hit anything with PAs in FAoff, it's wonderful swept wings...
I simply like it. And I'd fly one because I'd roleplay a grumpy Dropship pilot. It's far from the best ship, but it has character.

 

[Old Duck]

Another benefit to this game style is it adds more meaning to engineering. Even though I'd have less ships, I might actually spend more time engineering to try to compensate for that one ship's weaknesses in various roles.

 

[CMDR Big Mike]

Since I did my soft reset, i have been almost exclusively flying the krait phantom (only like 2 or so outings in my challenger). I literally built it to be like the millennium falcon. I think it has made a lot of things more fun, to the point were I am strongly considering trimming my fleet down to the phantom and my corvette.

 

[jumpingclear]

I am thinking of going half way there by parking most of my fleet somewhere else and just having a few ships. I do like flying ships with different characters rather than sticking to one.

If I was going to pick just one ship it would be the Keelback. It can pretty much do anything, has the slf option and a great Lakon cockpit which is even better in VR. It is the ship I fly most often anyway.

Engineering will be less of a grind with fewer ships as well.

 

[Biff Stryker]

Because I'm a serious Dropship enthusiast.
I love the industrial "brick" look, the coffee maker, the fact it's the only ship I can reliably hit anything with PAs in FAoff, it's wonderful swept wings...
I simply like it. And I'd fly one because I'd roleplay a grumpy Dropship pilot. It's far from the best ship, but it has character.

Fair enough. Ive got a Dropship I started my mining business with but has since been parked in a hangar at my home base in Warnones. It is pretty tanky.

 

[Riverside]

I did it for a long time. I spent the first half of 2016 bumming about in a weaponless Cobra MkIII, scavenging mostly. After 2.1 that was no longer viable so I switched to bumming about, scavenging mostly in a fully equipped Corvette, I didn't change ships again until March 2018.

There are lots of great ships & now I try to use as many different ones as I can, although 90% of my time now is still in a multi-role Python.

 

[PiLhEaD]

I spent such a long time in the T6 that it is probably still my highest mileage ship by a fair margin. Next I'm guessing would be the ubiquitous Python.

However, the T-6 still holds a place in my heart. Mine was laboriously brought to A-rated 'nearly everything' and can now move at a fair lick, boost endlessly and has a very handy jump-range, all done back when I was doing the 'rares-trading loops'. I often feel that the T6 gets a little overlooked, which is a shame as it is (imho) very good at pretty much everything other than combat, where waving a fly-swatter would have more effect.

I still happily use one for any small/sneaky passenger missions that look juicy. The cockpit view is great, with a good view of 'your feet' when coming in to land. Alas its woeful combat (in)ability prevents it being an all-rounder, and this is where the Cobra shines, however the allure of a well appointed Python cannot be ignored and so, realistically (and a bit boringly really), I'd plump for the Python.

As an aside, I've long thought that missions where a small-pad ship was necessary would be a good idea. (This may now be in game... I'm out of the loop at the moment.)

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Inb4 people say this is not a valid way to play, like everyone who is oddly so opposed to increasing the module storage cap.

"Bro just buy another ship!"

No u

 

[Cmdr Nemo]

I started in a Sidney like everyone else at the launch of ED on the PS4, I did one upgrade to a Hauler and then managed to buy a Python the first week. Purchasing various mods, I flew the Python and only the Python for the next 12 months. Though it's been a couple of years since, the Python is still my number one.

 

[JetsonRING]

If not "just" one ship, maybe at least just "one ship at a time".

 

[Shiro Akai]

Back then when I was still young and inexperienced CMDR I came back from Sag journey and had enough credits to buy Anaconda (upgrade from Asp). Shortly after getting Anaconda I bought Python. Finally, month later I ended with Adder and spent some time flying her exclusively. 22t of cargo, small shuttle feel, nothing near the money I could get from doing missions in Python or Anaconda but it felt really nice. If I had to pick one ship and one ship only I would hesitate between Krait and said Adder.

Krait is my Millenium Falcon but Adder gives that special vibe.

 

[leeG]

Another vote for the Krait Phantom for the one ship commander. It’s the closest thing we have to the Millennium Falcon in capability and appearance (just look at that row of engines from the back). I consider it the Super Cobra.

It’s the main ship I use on my alt account and pretty much does everything well.

 

[13A]

Tough choice.

I'd love to say the Adder, but it's maybe a little bit too restricted. Possibly a DBS, but I'd probably move to FDS in the end.

 

[Old Duck]

One of the reasons I would do this is because I don't want ships that do things too well. I've been flying an Eagle (a ship I skipped over on PS4) because it's so cool in VR. I've since taken on more challenging combat missions in this ship, and I'm enjoying the extra challenge of flying a humble early-game ship. This is one of the reasons I'm leaning towards the Cobra over a Python or Krait, because after almost 3 years of playing the game, things have gotten too easy flying the "best" ships.

 

[Red Anders]

I'm tempted by this too.
If I ever cave in to getting another CMDR, I'd fly a Dropship.

If they ever decide in their infinite generosity to give PC players an additional character slot so we can make a second commander without actually buying another copy of the game (you know, like console players can...) I'll probably be tempted and the ship would be either an Asp or a Cobra Mk4.

I'll never buy a second copy of the game though, just on principle. Multiple commander slots should have been in the game from the start and I strongly object to being expected to pay for it when players on other platforms don't. I would quite like to check out the new player experience these days but I think I've spent quite enough on the game so far with buying the Horizons expansion on pre-order and cosmetic items. I did actually hope that they would have introduced a second slot in one of the previous updates but I guess enough people are willing to spend more money on one that they don't see the point. Which sucks frankly.