Ships Potential new Dolphin owner

BanzaiMike · Aug 2, 2017

Hi cmdr's.

I am looking at getting into passenger missions and I have been looking at the dolphin to start me out (I usually commodity trade but my hate for the T-7 has given me a huge urge to sell it and try something else until i can afford a T-9).
The Dolphin looks a great entry point and selling my T-7 would buy and equip it nicely however I don't have a clue on how to properly set up the ship for passenger missions.

Any build advice and general advice for passenger hauling would be great appreciated.

o7

Ceekay · Aug 2, 2017

Try this it's got a fair bit of engineered equipment (spare stuff from storage) but even stock it's a sweet ship, with a mix of cargo/passenger missions you can make a lot of cash however check the passenger details and avoid criminals and look out the phrase "may also be wanted in other systems" as if you get scanned the cops and station will be all over you.

https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/dol...=.EweloBhBGA2GAsICmBDA5gG2SGF9A===&bn=Dolphin

The Asp X and the DBE also make great passenger ships especially for the sightseeing/data collection ones, always read the small print as some missions will be to to Colonia (20000 +! LY), passenger missions are very good for ranking up with major factions as well.

BanzaiMike · Aug 2, 2017

Ceekay said:
Try this it's got a fair bit of engineered equipment (spare stuff from storage) but even stock it's a sweet ship, with a mix of cargo/passenger missions you can make a lot of cash however check the passenger details and avoid criminals and look out the phrase "may also be wanted in other systems" as if you get scanned the cops and station will be all over you.

https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/dol...=.EweloBhBGA2GAsICmBDA5gG2SGF9A===&bn=Dolphin

The Asp X and the DBE also make great passenger ships especially for the sightseeing/data collection ones, always read the small print as some missions will be to to Colonia (20000 +! LY), passenger missions are very good for ranking up with major factions as well.

Thanks Ceekay, I didn't think about the Dolphin as a mission trader as well as a passenger ship [big grin]

BanzaiMike · Aug 2, 2017

How does the ship lend itself to downsizing modules, anybody have any experience in practice with doing things like that??
I noticed on coriolis that you can downsize things like the Power Distributor and Thrusters to give a fair boost to jump range with a very small trade off in speed (a few M/S).

Also downsizing of the shields or switching to Bi Weaves, is there much trade off?
And do folk recommend to take the strongest shields possible or D rate the standard shield for the jump range?

Ceekay · Aug 2, 2017

It's never going to be a combat ship with 2 x class 1 mounts so it'll have to rely on speed and a shield bit enough to hold until you can wake out so I wouldn't drop the thruster and shield class too much, shock mines are effective against pursuing ships so you could try those.

https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/dol...=.EweloBhBGA2GAsICmBDA5gG2SGF9A===&bn=Dolphin

BanzaiMike · Aug 2, 2017

Ceekay said:
It's never going to be a combat ship with 2 x class 1 mounts so it'll have to rely on speed and a shield bit enough to hold until you can wake out so I wouldn't drop the thruster and shield class too much, shock mines are effective against pursuing ships so you could try those.

https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/dol...=.EweloBhBGA2GAsICmBDA5gG2SGF9A===&bn=Dolphin

That is brill, thanks again cmdr

o7

goemon · Aug 2, 2017

BanzaiMike said:
How does the ship lend itself to downsizing modules, anybody have any experience in practice with doing things like that??
I noticed on coriolis that you can downsize things like the Power Distributor and Thrusters to give a fair boost to jump range with a very small trade off in speed (a few M/S).

Also downsizing of the shields or switching to Bi Weaves, is there much trade off?
And do folk recommend to take the strongest shields possible or D rate the standard shield for the jump range?

the dolphin has potentially oversized thrusters - in many outfitting you'll get the same performance out of A4 thrusters as out of A5 thrusters. that's definetly where i downsize my dolphin.

it needs quite some distributor for perma boost - i run a 3D ENG focussed, unengineered i'd go with a 3A.

powerplant can be downsized.

my latest dolphin has a class 2A shield, as i rolled some G1 upgrade for increased optimal mass secondary on the shieldgenerator. 2% allow you to fit a class 2 shield on a dolphin. otherwise you can safetly go 3D.

BanzaiMike · Aug 3, 2017

Well I bought her last night, named her Plenty of fish [haha] shes the best ship i have flown yet, by a country mile.
Everything about the way it flies is just a big yes from me, shes super easy to fly.

I tried those builds Ceekay and for a noob they worked a treat, shamefully i ran out of fuel at one point and they got turned into swiss cheese after i got scanned for having a criminal on board however it was mostly very successful and fun!

Only small issue i have is that on the instrument cluster for your target the white light seems to bleed into and through the hologram for your target, its making lining up with a mail slot in SC very difficult if the holo image is white.
Hopefully that gets fixed soon but its a minor issue on the whole as the cockpit is awesome.

o7

Ceekay · Aug 3, 2017

It's easy to get caught out carrying an illegal passenger so a cool running ships like a DBE/DBS can go silent running for a few minutes without heatsinks and sneak into the station without being scanned, or you can abandon the mission once you notice the passenger is illegal.

goemon · Aug 3, 2017

Ceekay said:
It's easy to get caught out carrying an illegal passenger so a cool running ships like a DBE/DBS can go silent running for a few minutes without heatsinks and sneak into the station without being scanned, or you can abandon the mission once you notice the passenger is illegal.

i actually have outfittend and modded my dolphin to be ready for silent running (heatsink, low emission powerplant, clean drive tuning) - for those illegal passengers to surface ports.

Ceekay · Aug 3, 2017

goemon said:
i actually have outfittend and modded my dolphin to be ready for silent running (heatsink, low emission powerplant, clean drive tuning) - for those illegal passengers to surface ports.

Have you got a falling skimmer shields as well?

Almont · Aug 3, 2017

goemon said:
i actually have outfittend and modded my dolphin to be ready for silent running (heatsink, low emission powerplant, clean drive tuning) - for those illegal passengers to surface ports.

I should probably do this... I just keep trying to sneak in without being noticed (or skip the missions to surface ports altogether).

goemon · Aug 4, 2017

Ceekay said:
Have you got a falling skimmer shields as well?

still waiting to experience this bug - maybe this weekend!

no rebuys on my tertiary account yet, and i had a "fly without rebuy"-day yesterday in my newly acquired python ... yeah, the adrenalin when approaching a surface port ...

Almont said:
I should probably do this... I just keep trying to sneak in without being noticed (or skip the missions to surface ports altogether).

it's in almost all cases doable, if you watch the system security movements and are good with fast docking. fast docking tends to be a problem in high G, though. watching security movement and chat + silent running is a safe bet - if you want a testing ground, go to a military outpost in space - and learn to dock there running silent, watching the system security. as military outposts always have system security keen to scan you, they are a smugglers training grounds. you can search eddb.io for that kind of outpost. dolphin without modding runs a bit hot, at least with a-class thrusters, to run silent long enough, especially - again - above high G surfaces and during manouvering (which you need to stay out of auto-resolve distance, and to dock...).

an alternative which i used with my cutter when testing the effect of smuggling on the BGS, and in my testing system was only a surface port with black market, and i had to make sure i don't get a fine... i landed outside the port and drove in in my srv. when you dock with the port, your ship is already there .... also works with passengers, but takes some time and is less fun than sneaking in.

Maymo · Aug 4, 2017

BanzaiMike said:
Well I bought her last night, named her Plenty of fish [haha] shes the best ship i have flown yet, by a country mile.
Everything about the way it flies is just a big yes from me, shes super easy to fly.

I tried those builds Ceekay and for a noob they worked a treat, shamefully i ran out of fuel at one point and they got turned into swiss cheese after i got scanned for having a criminal on board however it was mostly very successful and fun!

Only small issue i have is that on the instrument cluster for your target the white light seems to bleed into and through the hologram for your target, its making lining up with a mail slot in SC very difficult if the holo image is white.
Hopefully that gets fixed soon but its a minor issue on the whole as the cockpit is awesome.

o7

Ha, I did report that white light issue when 2.3 dropped, you learn to live with it. Great ship the Dolphin, converting its class 5 into a cargo hold really opens up its usefulness if you get fed up with passenger runs and it makes a very good exploration ship. There's not much I'd change...