Carrier advantages for explorers

While preparing a fleet for exploring, quickly encountered some neat advantages for out of bubble explorers which i quite like:

You don't need to engineer the canopy ships anymore. If the carrier is doing the travelling, there's no need to min max or engineer at all. Ships like the adder, asp, clipper, orca etc can just come along to mix it up. No need for exploration fit as you have a base near by. Will probably add extra fuel tanks if anything. I was thinking about even breaking them for travelling by having small emergency only fuel scoops to add effect to the mobile base idea.

Canyon boosting gets upgraded to the ieagle or courier. These engineered for racing spec would get them over 540 so would be an upgrade to what we had before.

Nice one. Personally i don't spend that much on ship transfer, so out of bubble exploration is the only use for these really. The fact you need to mine to move them would drag bubble use even more.
 
While preparing a fleet for exploring, quickly encountered some neat advantages for out of bubble explorers which i quite like:

You don't need to engineer the canopy ships anymore. If the carrier is doing the travelling, there's no need to min max or engineer at all. Ships like the adder, asp, clipper, orca etc can just come along to mix it up. No need for exploration fit as you have a base near by. Will probably add extra fuel tanks if anything. I was thinking about even breaking them for travelling by having small emergency only fuel scoops to add effect to the mobile base idea.

Canyon boosting gets upgraded to the ieagle or courier. These engineered for racing spec would get them over 540 so would be an upgrade to what we had before.

Nice one. Personally i don't spend that much on ship transfer, so out of bubble exploration is the only use for these really. The fact you need to mine to move them would drag bubble use even more.

You can fit scoops as needed if you have outfitting installed. I took a racing I-eagle with me to the top of the galaxy, did some canyon running with another cmdr.

Will definitely be customising my fleet for the carrier, each ship can be way more specialised now. Most of my fleet is currently multi purpose atm.

 
Still wonder why my Anaconda's ability to carry a Sidewinder was kidnapped though.

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Yep.

If I decide to get one I'll defintely bring a canyon racing ship + mining ship with my exploration ship if I go out in the black.

Will also be nice to move combat ship inside the bubble and not having to fit fuel scoop and compromise for jump range.
 
Cant wait... as i get to take along something like this..

Nice one, thanks for the build. You can add all the scanners and assists to it for zero mass and it can be your exploration vehicle too.

Upping the fsd to 3d doesn't make much of a difference to boost and does the trick :) Neither does a fuel scoop!
 
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My main aim to get a carrier for exploration was to carry a number of specially equipped ships, a max jumper with no shields, low level thrusters and light everything, a lander with good shields and thrusters, the idea was to get away from having to build an exploration ship that could do everything and specialise my ships more for particular purposes.
 
The way I have always envisioned using the carrier has been taking a small fleet of ships with me so that I'm not always just in my main exploration ship. Something like:
  • My usual exploration ship for scouting the next jump point and for longer expeditions away from the carrier.
  • Smaller, shorter ranged explorer for charting out the immediate area around the carrier. More specialised on landings and such.
  • Tritium miner for refueling.
  • Canyon racer might be nice.
 
Its what i see the whole point of having a carrier for. Exploration on a scale where you are not limited to the same ship. Do what you want, when you want..

My "RV" will include

Explorers:
Cobra Mk III
Orca
Beluga

Combat Ships:
Corvette
Fer De Lance
Cobra Mk IV
Krait MKII (AX)

Trade / Mission Ships:
Python (Mission Runner)
iCutter (Bulk Trade)
iCourier (Data/Small Delivery/piracy))
Dolphin (Smuggler)

Passenger Ships:
Beluga (Passenger Transport)

Others:
Anaconda (Rescue Ship)
iEagle (Canyon Runner)
Krait MKII (Miner)
Sidewinder (General Larking about)
 
Take a 930m/s Viper III - you can sell your exploration data, so you don't need to worry about inevitably running into the wall.

Another question is why FC upkeep costs not determined in % value? I mean the SLF NPC crew already has a 10% upkeep cost (trained from harmless to elite) as a wage, and in case of FCs that should tighten the gap between the ultra-rich and the casual FC owners, too. With ~15-20% of all incomes as upkeep cost (given to the FC crew as a payment) it feels everybody impacted equally. Borann miners pay the % at market sell, explorers with lower incomes pay the same % at UC. Why the fix costs better?

If FDev afraid of FC money-printing in popular systems like Beagle Point, Betelgeuse, Strong G, etc. etc., then its not a better idea to dont allow to park FCs in these relatively high traffic non-bubble/non-colonia systems (sytem lock, works like on permit systems)? Also Deciat (meta-alloys), Selene Jean (painite), Arque (Thargoid sensors), Synuefe (The Prospect, tech broker components) will be full of forever stationary trading post FCs on the first day...
Other options to avoid money-print (even if they unpopular measures): UC usage limited only for the owner, OR: the UC usage is available for all players, but only when the FC owner is online (to avoid passive incomes). Why they are not viable?
 
My main aim to get a carrier for exploration was to carry a number of specially equipped ships, a max jumper with no shields, low level thrusters and light everything, a lander with good shields and thrusters, the idea was to get away from having to build an exploration ship that could do everything and specialise my ships more for particular purposes.
...and ideally some more gameplay elements to bring some more variety, depth and challenge to this (& other) roles? eg: An Eploration Fleet Carrier being able to give some sort of scan results back from a bubble of systems around it, with some hints of what's to be located there. eg: To give the explorer a heads up to if systems are wirth their time to visit in purpose? Be it specific details per system around it, or just some sort of heat map of some nature to give a hint.
 
Slightly off topic, whilst taking my carrier on a nebula tour, I noticed I could buy deep space exploration data for surrounding systems from my own carrier. Is that a bug?
 
Slightly off topic, whilst taking my carrier on a nebula tour, I noticed I could buy deep space exploration data for surrounding systems from my own carrier. Is that a bug?
If it's a feature, then it would be an amazing level of foresight on Frontier's part. This is the kind of thing that would make prospecting for multiple tritium hotspots a much more viable role, because rather than the owner having to present in the system to explore it again, before jumping the carrier to the hotspot, they could just buy the data and jump the carrier directly.
 
If it's a feature, then it would be an amazing level of foresight on Frontier's part. This is the kind of thing that would make prospecting for multiple tritium hotspots a much more viable role, because rather than the owner having to present in the system to explore it again, before jumping the carrier to the hotspot, they could just buy the data and jump the carrier directly.

well I was at the top of the galaxy, could click on unexplored systems and see the buy option. Would be good for mapping the carriers surrounding area. I reckon it's a bug though.
 
Still wonder why my Anaconda's ability to carry a Sidewinder was kidnapped though.

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Do you mean kidnapped or kneecapped? Both work.

it would be super cool if any of the smaller ships (Sidey, hauler, courier, Eagle etc). Could fit in the big three.)
Or at least if the fighters could land like regular ships.

it would slow you to do outpost data delivery missions or hand in bounty vouchers at small planetary bases.
 
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This was my plan for a FC. Take a range of ships out with me for doing different things.

Just a shame i'm not willing to grind that much to enjoy it.
 
Okay... i have to admit, im really liking my carrier in the live game.

Ive got a huge grin from the joy of not having to travel anymore, combined with having the entire fleet in my pack.

Apart from the obvious issues, the only thing i think could be better is the cooldowns being 10/10 instead of 15/5. If you don't want to log out while waiting for the jump its a little stupid you get up and leave your desk (or do something outside the game). Thinking about removing them altogether didn't feel right either.. you kinda want to be forced to appreciate the magnitude of it.. Maybe 3/30 would have worked too. If carriers are locked to single players from need to be there fuel mechanic, its a bit stupid to have to wait time which can only serve other people getting off. Maybe multiple designers?

Anyways.. will test out how the swarm exploration mode works next session. Not sure about it actually.. these might be better in the bubble.
 
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