Next trade vessel...thoughts and opinions welcome :)

Istaria

I
Hello all :)

So I've been trucking away in my Asp, which is kitted with 112 tonnes of space, and a B-class FSD (approx 20 ly laden). Been doing pretty OK, but thinking about upping the trading a bit by upgrading to a ship with better tonnage.

My choices at the moment come down to:

T7 - 212 tonnes, mostly D-class, except FSD which is B = jump range laden 14.1ly - cost: 20.2 million

http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=30X,,2-6u8S886u4s5K8I,0AA0AA08c08c7Re07203w0nE

Imperial Clipper - 228 tonnes, mostly D-class comps, except FSD which is B - jump range laden 13ly - cost: 27.2 million

http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=303,,2-A0A0888S9i8S6k,0Bk0AA0727Re05U05U03w0nE

Am I missing something obvious or is the 7 million difference a no-brainer? Both are medium afaik? So orbitals and small stations should not be an issue, right?

Ist.
 

Jake_blakeson

J
7 million difference is another Asp, it's a big difference. T7 is a good boat, and you can use the extra 7 million to fill up her hull space with goodies to trade. There is also a big difference in fuel costs, the T7 sips fuel the Clipper is a gas guzzler. Of course for 7 million more the clipper gives you luxury, you can take your friends onboard and party with some onion head and liquor, get a few slave es and rock out in an asteroid field somewhere.
 

Flyinpiranha

F
4D is about equal to the 3A shield, so switch and gain another 8 cargo. And with the Clipper don't bother with the docking computer, it's too fun to fly, takes like 45 seconds if that and you gain another 4 cargo. I run mine with 240 cargo at the moment. LOVE the view of this ship, absolutely a blast to fly too.

With the zero loss on parts being swapped you can make it a good NPC hunting vessel too. Not too expensive to run either, just don't get too much damage to the hull, fuel is about on par with the T7 or Asp. I run a 25ly route and it's about 7k or so round trip.
 

zhaith

Z
T7 is great at what it does, however personally the clipper can do everything the T7 can and does it better, to me it was a no brainer, the clipper is just a lot more fun to use than the T7, and it holds more than the T7 even with a shield, my T7 was shieldless and could haul 232t, my clipper carries 240t and thats with an A3 shield, it wont be great for combat but it's good enough to keep you safe when docking and it's still capable of killing smaller ships that get in your way when docking/undocking with no hull damage, it's more expensive than a T7 on fuel but the extra cargo offsets that nicely enough, currently making 2.4 mil/hr, i can effectively get an extra T7 run in per hour by using the clipper :).

Also whilst it doesn't sound as awesome as an asp, exiting SC and boosting sound pretty good, so yeah imo definately worth the extra cost over the T7.
 

Istaria

I
Jake_blakeson said:
Of course for 7 million more the clipper gives you luxury, you can take your friends onboard and party with some onion head and liquor, get a few slave es and rock out in an asteroid field somewhere.
Click to expand...

This is worth 7 million by itself :) But yeah I probably should have mentioned in my OP that fun is a definite factor too. I didn't realise it was large though - although in fairness that doesn't make any difference to my trade routes at the moment.

I have about 6-8 million to save up if I want to cover insurance and the cost of a cargo so it'll take me a day of casual trading during work (ssshhh don't tell the boss), so I'll have a wee think about it :) Come to think of it, I also need that rank...hmmm...time to combat outfit the asp I think...

Thank you all!
 

Cmdr. Numa

Cmdr. Numa
For the love of god replace that B FSD with an A. A is *less* weight with *more* range. I've never tried the Clipper, haven't got empire rank and am already past that stage in a Python now. The T7 served me really well. A rated thrusters make it reasonably nimble, lowest shield size is enough, and 4 seeker missile launchers are a nasty surprise for pirates. Bounties usually cover the ammo costs too.
 

Istaria

I
Cmdr. Numa said:
For the love of god replace that B FSD with an A. A is *less* weight with *more* range. I've never tried the Clipper, haven't got empire rank and am already past that stage in a Python now. The T7 served me really well. A rated thrusters make it reasonably nimble, lowest shield size is enough, and 4 seeker missile launchers are a nasty surprise for pirates. Bounties usually cover the ammo costs too.
Click to expand...

I would but it's a 3.8 million or thereabouts upgrade. I am pretty happy with the jump range at the moment, and I do like to have quite a bit of cash on hand to cover rebuys if I get killed. Having said that I will probably buy it this evening :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom