Pretend I'm new, I basically am. How should I approach ship ownership?

[DaveB]

There are ships you buy for a specific purpose, ships you buy because well, shiny! There are ships you buy because you simply want to try them out and see what they are like to mess about in. You'll refit most of them several times and entropy dictates that on at least some of them you'll end up with the most insanely goofy and impractical loadouts for a while.

Along the way you'll get to really like some of them and their particular configurations. To the point where even though fitting a different module is the right thing to do for WHAT you want to do, it still feels like the ship "isn't as good" like that. This would be the point at which you've discovered a new member of your "permanent fleet" and rather than mess with that one you go buy another.

You can do this by periodically grinding credits as you need them, by taking a relaxed playstyle and just letting the credits accumulate on their own, by looking at your ship list from time to time and ruthlessly flogging the ones that aren't on your ever-growing "favorites list" or any other way you like. Just, once a ship has made it onto that "permanent list", dont ever be tempted to sell it "because I can always buy it back later" for the latest shiny and always keep an insurance cushion not just for the ship you're flying but for the most expensive one you have in the hangar. This isn't vanity, it's ensuring that when some aspect of the game torques you off - and sooner or later some aspect of it WILL, even if you've seen it all before - you never find yourself "having to keep doing it". There will never be anything to stop you hopping into any of your other ships and doing something else.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

If I were you, I'd never sell a ship. Sell the modules you don't use if you don't need them but need the money. You can transfer the ship to another place later when you are swimming in cash (it will happen sooner than you think).

I never sell a ship I don't own another version of and I never strip 1 ship to outfit another. This massively slows down my progress or increases grind as some call it.
The way you speak however this would not suit you.
I have not experienced the mission bug which surprises me as my character is a jack of all trades (except Cmdr killing (outside of cqc) and thargoid killing.

Remember for your play style always strip your ship before buying new. I would suggest selling up and buying a vulture for your play style ... And as of 3.3 combat has just gotten a bit more interesting I think.
Check out beta.

 

[Stealthie]

There are ships you buy for a specific purpose, ships you buy because well, shiny! There are ships you buy because you simply want to try them out and see what they are like to mess about in. You'll refit most of them several times and entropy dictates that on at least some of them you'll end up with the most insanely goofy and impractical loadouts for a while.

This is a good point.

Last month's Queen Of The Fleet often becomes today's Biowaste Hauler.

You buy a ship cos it's the "best" thing you can afford right now and then, eventually, you move on from it and then, when you go back to it, you'll see that it was a right dog's dinner of mismatched parts that either seemed like a good idea at the time, or which were the best you could afford, but which really all need binning and starting again.

 

[ilo]

I never sell a ship I don't own another version of and I never strip 1 ship to outfit another. This massively slows down my progress or increases grind as some call it.
The way you speak however this would not suit you.
I have not experienced the mission bug which surprises me as my character is a jack of all trades (except Cmdr killing (outside of cqc) and thargoid killing.

Remember for your play style always strip your ship before buying new. I would suggest selling up and buying a vulture for your play style ... And as of 3.3 combat has just gotten a bit more interesting I think.
Check out beta.

When we got engineers, I remember sharing the grade 5 FSD and thrusters between different ships because 1) I couldn't afford another one 2) I didn't have materials for another grade 5. Scavenging ships didn't slow me down, but I understand what you mean.

 

[Bob Lighthouse]

Some ships are to be tested, others to be flown, and some few to be engineered and perfected.

 

[ilo]

and some few to be engineered and perfected.

I do agree the Asp Scout is the best of them all. Thanks!!

 

[CorvusDove]

Wow this went off the rails fast. The idea was to see if I should narrow down to just one ship and give up on the others to increase my mobility and profit, and if so, which. If not, which to put the money in. It was a pleasant surprise, after I posted, to discover all three had mostly "A" fittings and that I had modules I wasn't using that were worth a fair bit. I wasn't planning on a new ship purchase or anything like that; I just want to get more involved in the game than being stuck in one system belt ratting or out in BFE scanning planets in the same ship for months on end. I want to get further along with engineers and capable of just accepting the diverse missions some things require, like killing some people and then hauling a passenger or 20 and then gathering materials.

I just want to do more while still having a life outside of ED.

 

[[VR] Frank_G]

I owned a lot of ships, but in the end, i really flew only a handful of them, so i sold all the other ships. To be honest, i get much more fun out of it, to kit my 5 ships for what i need, then to constantly switch to the ideal optimized vessel.

I flew the AspX for almost 2 years exclusively, for example. Nowadays, i like to use a Krait Mk. II for the multipurpose stuff and the Asp for long range exploring. I own a stripped down Imperial Eagle for racing and fun, a Cobra Mk. III for stealth and covered ops and finally a Fer-De-Lance for doing the boom things... it might be exchanged for a Mamba, as soon as 3.3 hits though, as i find the design extremely cool.

In the end, 5 ships are more than enough and i could easily reduce my collection down to two or three.