FC worth to keep?

[schlowi123]

I'm asking in this forum, because the questions below are seen from an explorers perspective.

I am going to buy a FC no matter what (because I need it for a trophy on PlayStation).

The large question is now: shall I keep it?

I have actually very little requirements for keeping it since I don't really need the money back. But I still have some questions.
1.: Is it possible to earn the upkeep as an explorer that basically honks and cherrypicks (and makes probably less than 30 jumps per day … sometimes more, depending on RL)? If I keep it I just think of getting UC, and the repair modules.
1.1.: is it possible to passively earn money with the FC, without too much "FC-handling" involved? Basically sth. like parking it somewhere and other pilots pay for booze in the bar (or tax on goods or so)?
2.: Can I "remotely" control the FC? I'm not really interested in "flying" that thing regularly (but I wouldn't mind checking in once a day or so and do required actions).
3.: I do not really intend to use the FC for exploration but I would like to use it to reach some places that aren't reachable otherwise. This is the main reason for my questions. Now, how much time and/or money will the fuel cost. I don't expect an exact answer, a gut feeling is good enough.
4.: How hard (in hours) is it to find fuel in the black?
5.: How much money will I get back when I sell the FC again? I've seen information here and there but I'm confused.

It seems to me that it's not really worth to keep the FC. But I'm more than willing to be convinced otherwise if it won't be an issue to pay the upkeep (and the occasional fuel) with an explorers income.

 

[Hfarl]

For me personally: yes it is worth it to keep my fleet carrier. But I definitely appreciate that's not the case for everyone. I love having it as a home-away-from-home, and using it to reach systems that are otherwise unreachable. The first thing I did with it was go visit the Anaconda Graveyard; I even managed to get first-tags on a couple systems that are beyond that and weren't reachable previously.

1. Yes. I find I can make my weekly upkeep (around 12 million credits) in a single session. Maybe an hour or two of exploring around in fresh undiscovered systems. I make sure to FSS everything, then go Detailed Surface Scan any terraformables, water worlds, earth-like worlds, and ammonia worlds. This is even with the 12.5% reduction in payouts from using the remote Universal Cartographics on my carrier.

1.1. I haven't, but others may have?

2. Mostly, yes. You can remotely select the next jump target for your carrier. This is great for jumping ahead, finding a cool spot, then calling your carrier to you (then grab some tea while you wait the 15 minutes for it to arrive). Or schedule the next jump before logging off for the day. However you cannot refuel the tritium depot of your carrier remotely. You have to physically be there and use a ship to transfer tritium from your carrier's cargo to the fuel depot/tank. The depot is 1000 tons, which is good for around 8-10 jumps or around 3,500 to 4,500 lightyears, depending on your carrier's weight.

3. I think I budgeted around 1 billion to fill my carrier with fuel (completely). But that was a ridiculous 24,000 tons (I filled the whoooooole thing). At about 40,000 credits per ton, that's just about 1 billion credits. On my most recent trip I've only got around 7000 tons on board (so each jump is more efficient), and that cost less in total.

4. For me: purchasing the fuel is far more time-efficient. In a couple hour session out in the black I was able to mine around 150 tons of tritium. That's only a jump and a half's worth, so it has not felt very practical for me to mine my own tritium out in the black. But I feel like my carrier can carry plenty of tritium in cargo, and it gives me a good rhythm to come back to civilization every once in a while.

Players that act as a group can mine tritium faster when working together, so refueling in the black is probably more practical that way than when solo.

5. I forget; something like 90%?

That's my perspective as a solo explorer, and I hope it helps. I'm sure others have other perspectives too, and use their carriers in other ways. Have fun with it!

 

[Eahlstan]

Not only is it possible to earn the upkeep as an explorer, it's totally possible that the unavoidable 12.5% that your FC gets from each UC interaction (another 12.5% goes straight to UC itself) is sufficient to pay the upkeep.
The few times I sold data on my FC those 12.5% were always more than the upkeep in the weeks I was away exploring.
Although I scanned far more than your 30 systems per day, so this most likely won't apply to you.

If you decommision your FC you get 100% of its cost including the purchase cost of the installed services - minus the debt you accumulated (at 250 million credits in debt it will automatically decomission) or a fixed fee of 125 million credits if you manually decomission.

 

[goemon]

1. yes
1.1. yes, with some patience. mainly buy buying minerals for a reasonable price and reselling when prices are up. both involve a big budget and the second step involves checking mineral prices and moving the FC to a sell system. this of course means your FC staying in the bubble.
2. yes.you can almost fully control the FC remote. jumping it somewhere requires your management every 20 minutes - and you can not fill the tritium tank remote, so beyond 1000t you'll need your account in place.
3.tritum is time, it is always faster to mine something else, sell it and buy tritium. a single jump of 500ly at maximum mass will cost you around 5 mio in fuel.
4. it's not harder to find tritium in the black, than it is to find tritiumto mine in the bubble. a reasonable rate is something like 1 500 ly jump in an hour mining.

for me, your usecase does not sound as if keeping the FC will be worth it - i don#t have one on my main account out exploring; there are the dssa carrier for repairs, and i often hitch a ride on a FC of another FC owner to get to places i couldn't get to otherwise.

 

[Hedy]

I was considering purchasing one myself for a for a change. How much total distance can you cover with a full tank and assuming maximum tritium cargo?

 

[Iron Body]

I was considering purchasing one myself for a for a change. How much total distance can you cover with a full tank and assuming maximum tritium cargo?

Roughly, I reckon on 125 tons of tritium per 500ly jump. With 25,000 tons of tritium, that's 100,000ly. Easily enough to get to Beagle Point I think.
Getting back is another matter.

 

[alexzk]

 

[schlowi123]

Thank you for the answers so far. It seems (as I suspected) that a FC is nothing for me

 

[Deleted member 38366]

As I'm returning to the bubble within the next days after running my Carrier over 6+ months in Deep Space - and have pondered the exact same question : shall it keep her?

• Engineering a Fleet of Ships is exceedingly convenient if you can simply hop near or into the Engineer System and park next door. That alone can be worth the upkeep easily.
• rapid reaction, have all your Ships near interesting locations (i.e. GALnet or CGs) is doing the same. It's just so helpful to be able to be anywhere without any Ship compromises
• help out others or buddies.... You can be sure your Friends will be very thankful if you assist & join them visiting Systems they couldn't easily or quickly reach (or at all)
• the sheer availability of Options... you got a cool RES but the Station is 1500Ls away? No problem, your Redemption Office can be as close as 10mM anytime
• for Exploring - even if you merely seek i.e. your own, private and secret Double Hotspot - UC Office is worth the price of admission as well
• Mining and having to move to a sales location multiple times per day? No good prices today? A thing of the past. Collect and store your ores until you want to sell - and it's likely just 15min away, no matter where in the bubble
• Transfers of Ships and Modules can be slow and expensive - the Carrier can easily bypass all that. Colonia visit with a fleet? That'll be 61hrs wait and potentially many Billions of Credits.... With a Carrier? Far cheaper....
• need high-Grade Elements from Crystalline Shards or want Guardian Tech unlocks? With a Carrier, it's just a few jumps away.

So for me, the Carrier is definitely a keeper - even in the bubble.
Just re-engineering my Fleet into Carrier Support Vessels would have been a nightmare without it. It was a godsent and worth every Credit!

Having the ability to "mothball" the whole thing and reduce cost is an optional Bonus if you really don't need it for a prolonged time.

However, if you're a very casual Player only ever logging in every week or so - it's indeed a valid consideration not to keep one around. Income levels are very high across the Board, though, so it's quite unlikely to go bankrupt over a Carrier these days.

IMHO the biggest issue with a Carrier is : do you have a plan what to do with it?
If the answer is NO, I'd postpone the purchase until you come up with something.
Planning is everything when it comes to purchasing - but most importantly equipping a Carrier. Plus, there's no hurry. Take your time and evaluate.

PS.
Just yesterday, I assisted the Fuel Rats in rescuing a stranded CMDR after a mis-assessed Neutron Jump into a very remote System very far below the Galactic plane.
Only a Carrier was able to save the poor Explorer as there was no way out otherwise - and I was close enough to assist ad-hoc.
That's the kind of flexibility only a Carrier offers. It might be very rare - but the other CMDR was very thankful not having to self-destruct after a long trip

 

[ChipStar65]

After playing in the FC Beta 2 for a few weeks I knew I at least had to try one out. After they dropped for real I spent 26 weeks in the black, mostly in Elysian Shores region, doing primarily exploration and mining as required for fuel. The first weeks required maybe 10% of my time devoted to mining, but after the Tritium efficiency buff that dropped to an easy 5%, maybe one mining excursion a week, though I often do more because I enjoy the break from exploration.

Net financial results was 1.1Bcr for exploration AFTER all carrier expenses were covered, and 2.2Bcr in mining products, even at the reduced LTD rates. I sold none of my Tritium reserve, which I kept at 3kT before and 2kT after the efficiency buff.

My rather minimalist carrier loadout includes UC and repair, current fuel cost around 80T/jump but that's rising as I add mining products to the cargo hold. Never went above 125T/jump in the first 26 weeks, though, that's about 1 hour's work to replace.

I do more detailed exploration than you, usually mapping all HMCWs and MRWs in addition to the others mentioned, plus I often do full mapping of smaller systems if already not mapped at all, for the bonus involved. They are not large but do add up over the light years.

And the screenshots! Oh, my!

Definitely worth it for me to keep J's Resolution in flight.