Pros of a Fleet Carrier?

[Nox Viator]

So I've tried looking this up, but most of the stuff I've seen are 18 months or older for the talk about Fleet Carriers. What exactly are the pros to having one and what can you do outside of traveling really far in a short period of time? Can you take it into a Conflict Zone and destroy everything in sight?

[GeorgeKaplan]

Nope, you can't use it like a battleship.

You can park it up outside a conflict zone (or Community goal, mining hotspot, or almost wherever you want) and use it to change ships, change loadouts, refuel, repair, rearm your fleet or team mates for whatever tasks you care to undertake.

It's like a swiss army knife in that you can travel and select the ship you want in one go. It gives all your ships the capability to jump 500ly together in 15min. Cool-down is 1hr, so you can outrun a carrier in a long range ship like an Anaconda or Krait Phantom or DBX.

It's great for storage. Store thousands of units, rather than hundreds.

Make credits by selling on the commodities market or via the bartender.

Watch your lazy crew lounge about and spend too much time asleep or in the bar.

[Agony_Aunt]

Its a mobile garage and base.

Take your whole fleet with you wherever you go.

Park it next to a CZ for quick rearms/repairs or change ship.

And of course, exploration.

Not everyone wants/needs one, but for many its major boon.

[Nox Viator]

Originally posted by GeorgeKaplan:

Nope, you can't use it like a battleship.

You can park it up outside a conflict zone (or Community goal, mining hotspot, or almost wherever you want) and use it to change ships, change loadouts, refuel, repair, rearm your fleet or team mates for whatever tasks you care to undertake.

It's like a swiss army knife in that you can travel and select the ship you want in one go. It gives all your ships the capability to jump 500ly together in 15min. Cool-down is 1hr, so you can outrun a carrier in a long range ship like an Anaconda or Krait Phantom or DBX.

It's great for storage. Store thousands of units, rather than hundreds.

Make credits by selling on the commodities market or via the bartender.

Watch your lazy crew lounge about and spend too much time asleep or in the bar.

So question for you, can I sell directly from my Fleet Carrier? Like if I go mining something, do I have the ability to directly sell without having to take it all off my fleet carrier and sell at a market on some base somewhere?

[GeorgeKaplan]

Yes, you can sell directly from the carrier. Anyone that docks can make a purchase.

[ShelLuser]

Originally posted by GeorgeKaplan:

Yes, you can sell directly from the carrier.

Sorry, but that's a little bit misleading I think. The owner of a carrier cannot sell commodities, at best exploration data through the universal cartographers. But commodities can only be put up for sale for others, and you're the one who has to either provide the commodities to sell, or the credits to buy other commodities.

And while that in itself may sound nice enough, then you need to keep the fact into consideration that your carrier will be one amongst dozens of others.

[ShelLuser]

Originally posted by Nox Viator:

What exactly are the pros to having one and what can you do outside of traveling really far in a short period of time?

Now, pardon me for being 'that guy' but while there are benefits, there are also cons to address IMO, and I think you need to keep those in mind as well....

My pro's:

• Having the ability to keep all your ships in one re-locatable place.
  
• Having a storage for commodities, this allows you to buy/sell stuff, but also to collect multiple rare commodities like the Hutton mug.
  
• Being able to jump 500ly in one go.
  
• Bragging rights. (no disrespect intended here).
  
• (optional): being able to sell exploration data.
  
• (optional): being able to always refuel your ships in the void.
  
• (optional): being able to always re-arm your ships in the void.

But there are also massive cons attached....

• A weekly upkeep ranging from 5 - 40 million (depending on how much features you install).
  
• Fueling: either go mine and store all the Tritium you can find, or buy at a station where you'd still have to go back and forth between station and carrier many times to load it up.
  
• 500ly jumps sound awesome, until you keep all the delays in mind, using just your ship gets you there MUCH faster, especially when you can afford 8 hour gaming sessions.
  
• Having all your ships in one place is cool, but... are you really going to use your Corvette in the middle of nowhere?
  
• If you enjoy doing missions you'd have to go to a station anyway; and it's best practice to focus on one area to easily raise your rep. with the local faction(s).
  
• FC's aren't exactly exclusive, if you set up a deal in hopes to profit from others chances are that hundreds of other commanders have done this before you. Step in line. 3 systems over.
  
• (optional) Missing out on a CG because you were too busy loading and unloading, and while unloading the timer ran out. (this isn't my story; someone on Reddit shared it with me when I was asking about FC's myself).

Figured I'd share.. I've been asking myself the same questions ever since I made 6+ billion with the last CG and eventually I came to conclude that there are absolutely 0 benefits in it for me. From my POV the best you get is a new motivation to play because if you're not careful and keep up with your weekly (!) payments of several millions then it'll be bye bye carrier. (edit): And for the record: this happens much more often than people want to have you believe; it's hard to miss with dozens of carriers in the same system but... unhide 'm from your contacts list and just amaze yourself at the amounts of crossed out carriers. That could be you.

Not to mention, do you really need more than one ship out there?

Maybe in Colonia, that's absolutely true, but... uhm... I bought myself a Krait Phantom there, used it to the best of its abilities and it paid me back triple. Now imagine what 6 billion can do for me out there.....


And on a stricyly personal level... I think it also gets ridiculous regarding lore if you think about it. I mean, you can pay to get yourself a refuel station, so even if you're in the middle of no where then you'll always be able to refuel your ships no matter what. Fun, but fuel scoops are a thing.

My problem: so you have to pay 40 million extra, with an upkeep of 750k extra per week, and then "they" can go out and collect fuel for you. But your personel can't be hired to go out and collect tritium for you? ;) Each to their own, but IMO it makes 0 sense. They can go out and fuel scoop for 750k per week, but you can't pay 'm, say, 5 million per week to keep your tritium in check. IMO it doesn't add up.

Of course, once again: these are just my personal findings. What doesn't work for me could very well work for you, and vice versa. But from my POV this is a huge waste of money. That 40 million upkeep could also be used to buy cool new ships everywhere you go!

[Hawk Eye]

To be honest. As of this moment. And for the average person. Not a whole lot other than what the name suggests. Carrying ships.

FC is best used for hosting a fleet/squadron.

If you're a hardcore explorer. It can get to places regular ships can't. If you don't mind spending a fortune to get there.

FC can be useful for mining operations but honestly unless you're mining outside of the bubble or filling up on tritium; not really. If you have enough to purchase a fleet carrier you shouldn't be mining for profit you should be doing the next thing instead.

Inside of the bubble the carrier is the most useful for trading if you have the know-how and patience to do so. At least this is what was intended I assume. In this case all services that can be installed on the FC are better left uninstalled.

You can use it as mobile base/parking garage inside the bubble to cut travel times but at some point you're going to have to re-up on Tritium if you do. Carrier is best used strategically you shouldn't be using it to get around very much. And even if you do most often you'll need to scout ahead of the FC your self to get the spot you want. Jumping FC into un-explored system means you get a random parking spot.

[Princess Pilfer]

Right so lets go through these 1 at a time:
You don't have to park your carrier in a system that has dozens of others like a CG system. Also you can simply advertize in chat.

The weekly credit cost isn't a con. It's a pitance. Especially if you have a carrier. 2 days back I made 800 million in 1 day by loading up on synthetic reagents far away from the CG and then jumping to the CG and unloading them. It was like a long 8 hour day, but it's also 20 weeks worth of upkeep in just 1 day.

It only holds 1000t of tritium normally. It's like 40 million. Which is, again, a pitance. Unless you're doing deep space exploration you don't need more than that to be onboard at 1 time, and that 1000t will last you ages.

No, it's not always faster just to go their yourself. Primarily because a lot of the time the ship you'd *want* to use for whatever the task is has a garbage jump range, and shipping it to where you're going once you get there takes longer than simply jumping the carrier. Sure I can beat my carrier 350ly to the war I'm fighting in my aspx but in the Chieftan or FDL? Not happening. And getting their in the carrier is faster than getting their in the aspx and having the ship I *actually* want to use shipped out.

Rep is very easy to max out.

Again, you don't need to park in a CG zone to make money. People do things like mine gold and sell it to their carrier and (so save themselves work) have the carrier sell it to other people so that they don't have to unload it manually. It's really not that complicated.
(Also the assertion that if you have a FC you shouldn't be mining is very silly. If you like mining use it for mining, there's literally no reason not to)

[Hawk Eye]

Originally posted by Princess Pilfer:

Right so lets go through these 1 at a time:
You don't have to park your carrier in a system that has dozens of others like a CG system. Also you can simply advertize in chat.

The weekly credit cost isn't a con. It's a pitance. Especially if you have a carrier. 2 days back I made 800 million in 1 day by loading up on synthetic reagents far away from the CG and then jumping to the CG and unloading them. It was like a long 8 hour day, but it's also 20 weeks worth of upkeep in just 1 day.

It only holds 1000t of tritium normally. It's like 40 million. Which is, again, a pitance. Unless you're doing deep space exploration you don't need more than that to be onboard at 1 time, and that 1000t will last you ages.

No, it's not always faster just to go their yourself. Primarily because a lot of the time the ship you'd *want* to use for whatever the task is has a garbage jump range, and shipping it to where you're going once you get there takes longer than simply jumping the carrier. Sure I can beat my carrier 350ly to the war I'm fighting in my aspx but in the Chieftan or FDL? Not happening. And getting their in the carrier is faster than getting their in the aspx and having the ship I *actually* want to use shipped out.

Rep is very easy to max out.

Again, you don't need to park in a CG zone to make money. People do things like mine gold and sell it to their carrier and (so save themselves work) have the carrier sell it to other people so that they don't have to unload it manually. It's really not that complicated.
(Also the assertion that if you have a FC you shouldn't be mining is very silly. If you like mining use it for mining, there's literally no reason not to)

You should quote who you're arguing with. I'll reply to the bit I think is addressed to me.

Yeah if you have a FC and you like mining use it. However It's not at all silly to suggest what I suggested. It's good advice if applicable. If you have put in the labor to earn enough credits to afford a FC it makes complete sense to use the FC in a manner so that you no longer have to labor to earn credits.

[Princess Pilfer]

That's thinking about the game incorrectly. So yes, it's silly.

By the time you have 6-7 billion credits for the carrier, whatever services you want and a decent amount of upkeep, credits are basically meaningless except as a buffer for your weekly maintenence costs anyways.

Unless your goal is to amass infinite money by not playing the game (in which case why are you even playing the game) there's no reason *not* to use it to support whatever type of gameplay you enjoy, so you can and should use your carrier to suppliment whatever activity you enjoy.

[ShelLuser]

It seems some people still believe the fable that "bigger tools" will automagically get you "bigger results". Not sorry to disappoint but E.D. doesn't work that way. Not for combat, not for money making.

Simply put: if you currently can't manage to make 50 million per week then having a FC isn't suddenly going to make this work for you.

That's not saying a FC can't help doing that, but in the end it's still your own gameplay being put to the test. Not to mention... it's so easy to say: "just sell a lot of stuff" but... why doesn't anyone bother to describe this for what it actually is: taking a mass load of trips back and from between station and carrier, then going to the other system, only to be doing the exact same thing again for unloading!

Nothing wrong with grinding mind you, but I grind when I want to, not because I have to. And that's the one detail that can, and will, make or break your gaming experience.

[Hawk Eye]

Originally posted by Princess Pilfer:

That's thinking about the game incorrectly. So yes, it's silly.

By the time you have 6-7 billion credits for the carrier, whatever services you want and a decent amount of upkeep, credits are basically meaningless except as a buffer for your weekly maintenence costs anyways.

Unless your goal is to amass infinite money by not playing the game (in which case why are you even playing the game) there's no reason *not* to use it to support whatever type of gameplay you enjoy, so you can and should use your carrier to suppliment whatever activity you enjoy.

I'm honestly too lazy to argue. If that doesn't help you understand my perspective nothing will.

In all seriousness though there is no need to waste you're words. I am guilty of suggesting people use the FC for trading nothing else. However in my defense doing something different in the game could be refreshing.

[Dolphin Bottlenose]

Another pro, not always obvious, is to avoid pirates while trading that precious cargo. Pirates don't have time to interdict you while you are loading/unloading your fleet carrier.

[Princess Pilfer]

Yes, 'just sell a lot of stuff' involves doing the same work you would have normally done to 'just sell a lot of stuff' except the ability to park right next to where you're buying/mining and the ability to hold more than 10x as much means it's more efficent. Also you essentially cut out 100% of the jumping you would have had to do to sell in a good place (and jumping back to wherever you were mining/trading) which is a *huge* time savings, which helps you earn the upkeep money faster.

That's like, pretty obvious? People don't leave it out because it's some super dirty secret, it's beacuse if you bothered to put any effort at all into finding out how FCs work you'd know that.

Also, for the most part, yes it does. For Trading and Mining, bigger is pretty much always better. For combat the ability to park your carrier next to the bounty hunting spot or CZ allows you to use a lot of superior (read: projectile) weapons and be able to rearm them and be back into the fight in like 60 seconds so that's more efficent too. (Though it's the least-meaningful increase to profit potential for sure)

Also, again, the 50m upkeep cost is a pitance by the time you're in a position to buy a carrier. You can make 50 million by doing literally 1 mission, you can do something obnoxious like load up on expensive CG materials or those 10+ million credit 'source' missions, jump your carrier to somewhere that has what you're looking for within a couple jumps and then load up on the relevant materials, jump it back and offload everything to make hundreds of millions or billions and bet set up for 6+ months on carrier upkeep with just 1 days work.
Which you should know if you managed to get the 5+ billion for a fleet carrier.

[Hawk Eye]

A pro for Fleet Carriers.
I made around 7 billion by parking my fleet carrier in the right spots and setting the right prices. I had to put ~8.75 billion up front and take the risks but still not bad for a day of other people's work. If I didn't have RL stuff to do and had the whole day to myself; I probably could have made way more.
It was quite fun to just sit back, have a drink, and watch the numbers fluctuate. I tried buying another FC but you can't unfortunately.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2823447816
With a 5 mil/week running cost. I'll pay 240 million credits in one year. And with the extra space in my FCs cargo hold. I stand to make more money should I decide I want it