We've already been told that Carriers will use a new fuel, but we don't know much more, except that mining is likely to be involved if you're refuelling a Carrier in deep space.
I hope fuel can also be bought from stations, it would be somewhat nonsensical if nobody sells this stuff. And if we can fit extra fuel tanks, we should be able to manage several jumps before needing to refuel, giving us the option of jumping back to a refuelling station rather than mining.
It also seems likely that Carriers can't scoop (no supercruise), which would rule out neutron boosting. That seems reasonable, considering their jumprange is already somewhat higher than a maxed-out jumpconda. And I have a suggestion which would explain this, and offer more gameplay...
Carrier fuel (let's call it "quirinium", as this has been used in lore) is initially purchased or manufactured (assuming your Carrier has a "quirinium synthesiser" module onboard) in an "inactive" state. To use it, you need to "activate" it. This involves loading it into a normal ship with a fuelscoop and a "quirinium activator" module, and then scooping the jet cone of a neutron star or white dwarf. It then becomes "activated" quirinium, which you then transfer back into the Carrier.
This explains the jump performance of Carriers, effectively every jump is using a stored neutron boost. It also makes white dwarfs useful, as currently the jump boost they give isn't worth the hassle of scooping them: within the Bubble (where white dwarfs are abundant), you can use them to help fuel your Carrier.
I hope fuel can also be bought from stations, it would be somewhat nonsensical if nobody sells this stuff. And if we can fit extra fuel tanks, we should be able to manage several jumps before needing to refuel, giving us the option of jumping back to a refuelling station rather than mining.
It also seems likely that Carriers can't scoop (no supercruise), which would rule out neutron boosting. That seems reasonable, considering their jumprange is already somewhat higher than a maxed-out jumpconda. And I have a suggestion which would explain this, and offer more gameplay...
Carrier fuel (let's call it "quirinium", as this has been used in lore) is initially purchased or manufactured (assuming your Carrier has a "quirinium synthesiser" module onboard) in an "inactive" state. To use it, you need to "activate" it. This involves loading it into a normal ship with a fuelscoop and a "quirinium activator" module, and then scooping the jet cone of a neutron star or white dwarf. It then becomes "activated" quirinium, which you then transfer back into the Carrier.
This explains the jump performance of Carriers, effectively every jump is using a stored neutron boost. It also makes white dwarfs useful, as currently the jump boost they give isn't worth the hassle of scooping them: within the Bubble (where white dwarfs are abundant), you can use them to help fuel your Carrier.