Did I screw up by engineering pre-built ships

[Crumly]

Hi, I bought the Mandalay and Cobra mk5, the cobra I did alot of g5 engineering to. The Mandalay I just g5'd the FSD.
Part of the reason I bought them was so I could remotely sell and then buy a new one where ever I currently am, if one of them would suit my immediate needs.

I went to take my g5 FSD off the Mandalay and ran into an error. If I did wanted to be able to do the remote sell thing, did I make a mistake engineering these modules? Or is there something I'm missing. I could have just bought an A-rated Mandalay and engineered those modules, and I'm thinking that's what I should have done and now, especially with that cobra, I wasted alot of mats I guess?

 

[metatheurgist]

You can only generate a pre-built ship as it is from the shop. Once you've changed it you can't just go selling it and expect to bring it back in the changed form. Once altered it' s just like a normal ship. Frontier haven't decided to make those ships so advantageous...yet.

 

[varonica]

Yeah, the stuff that comes with the prebuilts are specific to that ship, you can sell them, for zero credits, and replace them with regular units, but you can't take them off and move them to another ship. That's why I purchased the regular C5 and engineered it how I want, didn't need to spend the extra ARX only to throw some stuff away.

 

[Crumly]

You can only generate a pre-built ship as it is from the shop. Once you've changed it you can't just go selling it and expect to bring it back in the changed form. Once altered it' s just like a normal ship. Frontier haven't decided to make those ships so advantageous...yet.

I tried to take my engineered module off and store it so I could just go back to having A-rated, but from what I can tell, you can't remove the modules, engineered or not.

"Once altered it' s just like a normal ship"

Are you saying I can spawn a new ship since I engineered my first one?

 

[Untilting]

The modules that come on the prebuilt are locked to that prebuilt, you can't store them. If you sold the Mandalay then spawned a new one it would arrive with its default modules.

 

[metatheurgist]

I tried to take my engineered module off and store it so I could just go back to having A-rated, but from what I can tell, you can't remove the modules, engineered or not.

"Once altered it' s just like a normal ship"

Are you saying I can spawn a new ship since I engineered my first one?

No, you are only allowed the one prebuilt. Just like is not exactly like.

 

[varonica]

Prebuilts are free to respawn if you are destroyed. However if you engineer anything and get destroyed it will no longer be free, you need to pay a fee for the engineered modules. Now you can also despawn and respawn pre-builts anywhere you want, but in the case of it not being destroyed but just despawned I am not sure what happens to the engineered modules, I am avoiding that problem by simply not doing it!

 

[vanFace]

I guess the problem is that a pre-built module can not be stored, either. You can only sell it, engineered or not. In the case of the Mandalay, I'd suggest to buy an FSD and engineer that, so whenever you store the ship somewhere, you could quickly swap the engineered module for a cheap replacement. If you are then far away and want to respawn the ship, remote sell it (no big loss since only the cheap replacement counts) and respawn it at your location. It will again come with the unengineered FSD, but at least you have the basic variant immediately at hand. If you are still desperate enough for the engineered one, you can transfer it by regular means, but than you have to wait and pay credits.
Personally, I think FDEV should either offer pre-built engineered modules for ARX as well, or allow respawning full configurations for an appropriate fee (maybe also ARX). I understand the restrictions from the "ZOMG, it is P2W now!" point of view, but I think the way it currently works is too strict.

 

[Felix DiCestria]

If you've bought the prebuilt, you also have the ability to buy another from a shipyard. If you do that and put the engineered modules on the one from SY you can spawn and depawn the other at will.

 

[aRJay]

Only one example of your prebuilt ship in the game at a time.

The modules that came with it cannot be removed except by selling them for zero credits.

If you let you prebuilt ship get destroyed it can be rebought as it was at time of destruction for the cost of any added modules.

If you sell your prebuilt ship or don’t rebuy it you can at a shipyard get a new copy of the prebuilt ship but that will always have its original unengineered modules.

I have a prebuilt Cobra MkV with all but one core module original and engineered and that one replaced by a free one from a CG, I know I won’t get it back as it is if I redeploy it but at the rebuy cost it is expendable.

 

[Stealthie]

I have a prebuilt Cobra MkV with all but one core module original and engineered and that one replaced by a free one from a CG, I know I won’t get it back as it is if I redeploy it but at the rebuy cost it is expendable.

Indeed.

It's really not that difficult to understand.
The only real "wrinkle" is that modules on a kickstarter ship can't be transferred to another ship.
You can't G5-engineer a kickstarter ship, sell it and then expect to deploy it again with all that G5-engineering in place.
The only way you'll get the engineering back is with a normal rebuy.

If you G5-engineer all the pre-installed modules on a kickstarter ship, the only benefit is that your rebuy will be cheaper because the ship (?) and all the pre-installed modules are 0cr value.
If that's not acceptable, the only alternative is to fly the kickstarter ship in standard form, with no extra engineering/modules, so you can just forget about it if it gets destroyed and then deploy it again.

None of it is really a big deal as long as you just treat it like any other ship - accepting a rebuy if it's destroyed.

 

[Crumly]

Only one example of your prebuilt ship in the game at a time.

The modules that came with it cannot be removed except by selling them for zero credits.

If you let you prebuilt ship get destroyed it can be rebought as it was at time of destruction for the cost of any added modules.

If you sell your prebuilt ship or don’t rebuy it you can at a shipyard get a new copy of the prebuilt ship but that will always have its original unengineered modules.

I have a prebuilt Cobra MkV with all but one core module original and engineered and that one replaced by a free one from a CG, I know I won’t get it back as it is if I redeploy it but at the rebuy cost it is expendable.

so yeah, i did screw up. considering that i want the freedom to be able to spawn a stock ship wherever i am. the mandalay, not so bad, just one g5 module. the cobra... i guess i'll wait and see

 

[Stealthie]

so yeah, i did screw up. considering that i want the freedom to be able to spawn a stock ship wherever i am. the mandalay, not so bad, just one g5 module. the cobra... i guess i'll wait and see

Personally, I don't reckon that the pre-built ships are good enough that you can really use them without adding/swapping modules and doing more engineering so I think it's a bit harsh to think you "screwed up" by modifying/engineering one.

I guess it might be useful to buy a pre-built ship such as the Bounty-hunter Vulture or the AX Chieftain because it's likely they're going to get exploded a lot and you'll save rebuys by just deploying a new version but, honestly, most of the pre-built ships are for roles where you're probably not going to be happy with the initial build and where there's not much of a reason to deploy a new version rather than rebuying if required.

When I first heard about pre-built ships, my first thought was that I could, perhaps, fly my jumpaconda to Colonia, deploy pre-built ships and have decent ships immediately available.
Thing is, they're really not that good and, with credits being the way they are, if I really wanted the use of, say, a combat ship or a cargo ship in Colonia, I'd just transfer ships from the bubble instead.

 

[Koma Pahu]

Personally, I don't reckon that the pre-built ships are good enough that you can really use them without adding/swapping modules and doing more engineering so I think it's a bit harsh to think you "screwed up" by modifying/engineering one.

I guess it might be useful to buy a pre-built ship such as the Bounty-hunter Vulture or the AX Chieftain because it's likely they're going to get exploded a lot and you'll save rebuys by just deploying a new version but, honestly, most of the pre-built ships are for roles where you're probably not going to be happy with the initial build and where there's not much of a reason to deploy a new version rather than rebuying if required.

When I first heard about pre-built ships, my first thought was that I could, perhaps, fly my jumpaconda to Colonia, deploy pre-built ships and have decent ships immediately available.
Thing is, they're really not that good and, with credits being the way they are, if I really wanted the use of, say, a combat ship or a cargo ship in Colonia, I'd just transfer ships from the bubble instead.

I agree.

All the pre-built ships are suboptimal for their intended roles. The AX Krait MkII was the best out of the box IMO.

I use my prebuilt/early access just like normal ships, with cheaper rebuy and transfer. Once you’re used to flying around in engineered ships the redeployment thing begins to feel like a step backwards.

You can engineer normal modules to put in them, but you then have to wait for them to transfer to your new location anyway, so might as well just transfer the whole ship.

 

[Crumly]

Personally, I don't reckon that the pre-built ships are good enough that you can really use them without adding/swapping modules and doing more engineering so I think it's a bit harsh to think you "screwed up" by modifying/engineering one.

I guess it might be useful to buy a pre-built ship such as the Bounty-hunter Vulture or the AX Chieftain because it's likely they're going to get exploded a lot and you'll save rebuys by just deploying a new version but, honestly, most of the pre-built ships are for roles where you're probably not going to be happy with the initial build and where there's not much of a reason to deploy a new version rather than rebuying if required.

When I first heard about pre-built ships, my first thought was that I could, perhaps, fly my jumpaconda to Colonia, deploy pre-built ships and have decent ships immediately available.
Thing is, they're really not that good and, with credits being the way they are, if I really wanted the use of, say, a combat ship or a cargo ship in Colonia, I'd just transfer ships from the bubble instead.

i dont have a FC and the mandalay comes with i thought 37 LY jump

 

[varonica]

All the pre-built ships are suboptimal for their intended roles. The AX Krait MkII was the best out of the box IMO.

Yeah I engineered the heck out of my P2 to make it a PvE monster, it isn't properly equipped for PvP because NPC's don't have a lot of the fancy gear PvP players have and I don't need to equip it to counter those, but there's nothing PvE that comes near it at the moment, that wouldn't be the case if I hadn't engineered it. Of course that then removes the possibilty of selling and rebuying it anywhere I want, but I still get a lower rebuy cost, haven't needed it yet though!

 

[Stealthie]

Yeah I engineered the heck out of my P2 to make it a PvE monster...

On that note, do you have problems with the P2 canopy?

My FdL got "misplaced" while I was away and, instead of rebuilding it, I decided to outfit a P2 to replace it.
The resulting ship is absolutely epic (been exploding Deadly Anacondas in HIP 90578 all evening this week) but it seems to have a weak (or easily targeted) canopy.
Basically, as soon as my shield goes my canopy will get shot out during the next exchange of fire.

I have a C3 MRP and a C2 heavy-duty HRP but, regardless, as soon as the shield goes, my canopy goes as well.

 

[Koma Pahu]

I’ve had a similar experience with my alt’s Mandalay and Cobra MkV. I’ve not tested any of the older ships.

Might be the new ships have weaker canopies or maybe the NPCs have got better at targeting them.

Edit: Or I could just be a pants pilot!

 

[varonica]

On that note, do you have problems with the P2 canopy?

My FdL got "misplaced" while I was away and, instead of rebuilding it, I decided to outfit a P2 to replace it.
The resulting ship is absolutely epic (been exploding Deadly Anacondas in HIP 90578 all evening this week) but it seems to have a weak (or easily targeted) canopy.
Basically, as soon as my shield goes my canopy will get shot out during the next exchange of fire.

I have a C3 MRP and a C2 heavy-duty HRP but, regardless, as soon as the shield goes, my canopy goes as well.

Tends to star cracking when I get down to 80% or so hull so it does seem a little fragile, but then I did nose plant a couple of annoying ships. Got it shot out once but raced back to port with time to spare, with SCO these days it's not quite the panic it used to be. Like "where's the nearest port, 30kls? Oh ." Now it's, "where's the nearest port, 100kls, be there in less than 2 minutes!"

 

[Stealthie]

....with SCO these days it's not quite the panic it used to be. Like "where's the nearest port, 30kls? Oh ." Now it's, "where's the nearest port, 100kls, be there in less than 2 minutes!"

You're not kidding.

My FC is in a system just next to HIP 90578, 10kLs from the star and, after I lost my canopy, I finished off the Annie I was fighting, jumped back to my carrier (flying through witchspace without a canopy has got to be a health hazard, right?) and still landed with about 4 minutes of air.