Newcomer / Intro Fleet Carrier

DanielKT

DanielKT
So I've been reading about the fleet carriers some and I was wondering about some first hand experiences with them.

I've seen a varied list of maintenance costs but they seem fairly inexpensive to upkeep with a million or two per week per module. Which is something like 20 min or less of effort on one day.
Is that really how little they cost to upkeep? Obviously since I don't have one I can't check the game myself and I've seen a few different prices.

My basic understanding of the fleet carriers is they have a massive upfront cost but not a very high upkeep.

Is it worthwhile for a single player to get one?
 

GJ51

GJ51
It's worth it if you have a reasonably sized fleet collected. My weekly upkeep is about 12 Mil that can go up a bit if I jump a lot.

One good trade run in a Cutter or T-9 will pay for more than a weeks upkeep.
 

Crank Larson

Crank Larson
If you have the money and a fleet it is definitely worthwhile. I've almost no services active on mine anymore and it costs 5m a week maintenance. As you point out, earning the maintenance is trivial these days.
 

SteveWW57

SteveWW57
5 Billion to obtain.
500 million for a couple of additional service modules.
5 million a week + 100k per jump.
basic service modules (repair, refuel rearm) say another 5 million per week.

Mine 100 tons of platinum in an hour and that is at least 25 million or 2.5 weeks upkeep.

As to whether it is worthwhile, it depends on what you want to do.
At the basic level it is a mobile station to house all your ships and modules.
You can store mined stuff to sell at a later date.
Community goals is one area where they shine, as local sources of supply empty quickly. With a carrier you can load at where ever has good stock and prices, jump to a system one jump from the CG system and shuttle stuff.
Exploring, take every thing with you.

Steve.
 

Darrack

Darrack
DanielKT said:
So I've been reading about the fleet carriers some and I was wondering about some first hand experiences with them.

I've seen a varied list of maintenance costs but they seem fairly inexpensive to upkeep with a million or two per week per module. Which is something like 20 min or less of effort on one day.
Is that really how little they cost to upkeep? Obviously since I don't have one I can't check the game myself and I've seen a few different prices.

My basic understanding of the fleet carriers is they have a massive upfront cost but not a very high upkeep.

Is it worthwhile for a single player to get one?
Click to expand...
Defo worth it, grind until your sick of it trading/mining/robby passenger runs but in the end its worth it to be able to move the fleet of ships you will eventually end up with around the bubble if your into CGs or AX stuff.
Its also made my life much easier 20k LYs out having a base, bored of scanning? just dig out a mining ship and pop some roids.

O7
 

aRJay

aRJay
The thing everyone else has sidestepped is the issue of fuelling it, carriers use Tritium in amounts large enough to be noticeable. Now you can mine it but that can get tedious after a couple of thousand tons, or you can buy it but that can get expensive.

It isn’t a huge issue but it is more likely to be a concern than upkeep costs.

Now my experience owning one is very short but even though I have done very little with it I do like the flexibility it is already giving me.
 

SteveWW57

SteveWW57
Re the refuelling: Mine platinum, buy tritium at a 1:5 ratio. As I mentioned earlier, you can easily mine 100 tons in an hour, which if platinum will buy 500 tons of tritium, enough to half fill the tank. If you are going out to the black for a period, stock up on tritium.

Oh, park your carrier close to a refinery and set a decent buy price for tritium. Other CMDRS will deliver.

A carrier jump of 500 LY will consume up to about 125 tons of tritium, depending on how much of the carrier's 25,000 ton capacity you have used.

Steve
 

DanielKT

DanielKT
Hmm... those are some good points. the Exploration base in particular is a good point since I'm currently somewhere between the bubble and Colonia in a stripped down asp explorer and it would have been nice to be able to have a base instead and make 500 ly jumps instead of 49
 

DanielKT

DanielKT
Unrelated..... I think I may have just found my first system that nobody has scanned.....None of the planets have the "first scanned by" tag and ESD is saying first scan...

Are earth-link / Terran worlds worth much?
 
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Mrc_NorthEast

Mrc_NorthEast
FC is worth it to me as well. I would not rush to get it. Just keep it as a long term goal. It took me 2 years to get enough funds to buy the FC, and load a few services on it. If you google search Cmdr's Toolbox, one of the YouTubers has a website with a Fleet Carrier calculator so you can pick and choose the services and see what the costs will be and how much weekly.

Taking all your ships with you and having portable storage is priceless. I shelled out 6.5 mill for my FC, tritium, and the services I added, so 5 Bill is only enough to get you started. Which is why I suggested long term goal, don't burn yourself out. Just play the game, doing whatever you like while earning money, and you should have enough within time.

I also recommend participating in the CG's (community goals) if the payouts in cash seem generous, as sometimes they are extremely generous. I made alot from 2 or 3 CG's over the last 2 years that really helped with the FC funds.

Good Luck
 

Mrc_NorthEast

Mrc_NorthEast
DanielKT said:
Unrelated..... I think I may have just found my first system that nobody has scanned.....None of the planets have the "first scanned by" tag and ESD is saying first scan...

Are earth-link / Terran worlds worth much?
Click to expand...

Yes they are. You will need to scan it, and get back to a Universal Cartographics to sell your discoveries before someone else potentially does the same however.
 

Helmut Grokenberger

Helmut Grokenberger
Like the CMDRs above, I enjoy having my carrier. As said, it is a mobile base and I can take my fleet with me everywhere I want (provided there is parking space). My carrier has never really left the bubble further than 1k Ly, I don't take it out for exploration, so fuel consumption is less of an issue for me.

Regarding the running costs, I have rearm, reful and repair, UC, Vista and a bar active. My weekly upkeep is 14.6 million plus the jump maintenance costs (100k per jump?) - I do a handful of jumps per week at most, in some weeks none at all. I bought my carrier when void opals and LTDs were still a thing (and I think it was before the bulk tax), and as I love core mining it felt pretty easy to manage. These days the fastest way will probably be AX combat or exobiology.

I have parked 1.8 billion credits on my carrier, which will cover it for over 2 years - carrier upkeep is taken from the carrier balance, not your personal one. If I need Tritium, I park it near a station with a good supply and low price and put out a buy order for 150 to 200% galactic average. Last time I did this I put out and order for 5000 tons, and it was filled in less than an hour. CMDRs still go crazy for credits and fuel your carrier really quickly if the pay is good (it cost me 500 million, but I'm rich, I can take it :D).

If you are still struggling for credits, the upkeep is a principle issue for you or the effort you have to make to earn it bothers you, then a carrier probably isn't right for you. In that sense the carrier can be called kind of an "endgame" asset, because at a certain point you will have so many credits that you really could care less if the upkeep is 14 or 40 million. I surely don't, I have 8.7 billion on my CMDRs name and, as I said, 1.8 billion on my carrier, and these days the credits to finance the upkeep for a year are really easy to make if you find a well paying activity that you enjoy. These days I make very little credits, but when I do feel the need, I still go core mining (Grandidierite has been pretty stable for me and usually pays at least 500k per ton, which means a 80t load gets you around 40 million, and it usually takes me around an hour and a half including selling), or I go bounty hunting (a relaxed hour in a HazRES usually gets me the week's upkeep, much more with massacre mission stacking for allied factions). Both are activities I enjoy immensely, so I don't feel it is a grind or "work". Some complain it is like a "second job", and all I can say is: If it feels like it, don't get one.
 

Greasetrap42

Greasetrap42
This calculator makes it easy to figure out the costs.
Cost Calculator

When you get a carrier you can asign credits to its internal bank. The maintenance costs come directly out of this bank. IMO it is best to purchase your carrier and desired services AND have enough in the bank for 1+ year maint upkeep. Then as you play keep banking whatever the weekly fee is so you always have +1 year. Much better than having to log in weekly and scrounging the credits. This way you have no issue if you take a hiatus from the game. Personally banked +4 years and over time it grew to 5 years. But that's because I have no other use for my credits.
 

Jack Winter

Jack Winter
SteveWW57 said:
Re the refuelling: Mine platinum, buy tritium at a 1:5 ratio. As I mentioned earlier, you can easily mine 100 tons in an hour, which if platinum will buy 500 tons of tritium, enough to half fill the tank. If you are going out to the black for a period, stock up on tritium.

Oh, park your carrier close to a refinery and set a decent buy price for tritium. Other CMDRS will deliver.

A carrier jump of 500 LY will consume up to about 125 tons of tritium, depending on how much of the carrier's 25,000 ton capacity you have used.

Steve
Click to expand...
Regarding tritium it's also possible to steal it! Look for wing delivery missions delivering tritium. Pick up the tritium and sell it into your carrier's secure storage, and once you've picked it all up and sold it to your carrier abandon the mission. You won't get a fine and you'll have tritium to fuel your carrier. IIRC you can't transfer it directly to a ship, but you can buy it back from the secure storage and then fill up the carrier.

These missions seem to be for about 3ku and go up to around 6ku if you are allied with the faction. It will cost you a bit of reputation but often you can just bribe yourself back to allied by donating credits.

There was a thread (and IIRC a video) on the subject not all that long ago.
 

Hawkcode

H
Some questions:
  1. What's the redemption office used for?
  2. Also do I need the Refuel, Repair and armory to repair/rearm my own ships?
  3. What is the Outfitting used for, for equipment that I want to sell? Then I need to keep on on stock?
  4. Secure Wharehouse, what is that? It doesn't seem to give you more storage.
  5. Then the last 3, why would you want these:
    1. Concourse Bar?
    2. Vista Genommics?
    3. Pioneer Suppplys?
Thanks!
 

Northpin

Northpin
Hawkcode said:
Some questions:
  1. What's the redemption office used for?
  2. Also do I need the Refuel, Repair and armory to repair/rearm my own ships?
  3. What is the Outfitting used for, for equipment that I want to sell? Then I need to keep on on stock?
  4. Secure Wharehouse, what is that? It doesn't seem to give you more storage.
  5. Then the last 3, why would you want these:
    1. Concourse Bar?
    2. Vista Genommics?
    3. Pioneer Suppplys?
Thanks!
Click to expand...

1. to cash various things (codex bonuses, etc)
2. Absolutely no idea 😂
3. To provide Outfitting services to visitors (as in the ability to fit / swap modules on their ships) - as an owner you dont need it, you automatically have access to shipyard and outfitting functions even if you dont enable the services
4. it's a fence, allows trading stolen stuff
5.1 Why not? makes for a nice atmospheric settings (and you may want to trade some onfoot engineering materials)
5.2 You really want this to be able to sell exobiology data, especially if you are out in the black exploring with the carrier in tow - since exobiology paycheck buff, it's currently the main source of income for explorers
5.3 Again, why not? Someone, maybe you, will want to be able to replenish energy packs or something... Or you want to make a visitor happy if you are out in the black

A carrier with ALL the services enabled and active has Upkeep a bit under 35 millions per week.
A single Stratum Tectonicas (exobiology finding) is worth almost 100 millions (ofc, including the first discovery bonus)
🤷‍♂️
 

Fnord Velkor

Fnord Velkor
Northpin said:
...
3. To provide Outfitting services to visitors (as in the ability to fit / swap modules on their ships) - as an owner you dont need it, you automatically have access to shipyard and outfitting functions even if you dont enable the services
...
Click to expand...

Just to point out that the shipyard and outfitting for the owner is restricted to just stored ships / modules if you don't have those services installed.
 

aRJay

aRJay
Outfitting and Shipyard if fitted can only be stocked with preset ‘packs’ of things which seemed poorly chosen when I looked at them back in the beta.

Secure storage lets you ‘clean’ stolen goods by buying it back from the storage which allows you to sell them to stations in situations where they wouldn’t take stolen goods which could be handy.
 
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