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[bobucles]

A ship that slowly generates fuel on the fly.

Ships use antimatter fuel. How are they supposed to find any decent source of antimatter, other than by flying directly into a star/black hole?

[Yunru]

A ship that slowly generates fuel on the fly.

Ships use antimatter fuel. How are they supposed to find any decent source of antimatter, other than by flying directly into a star/black hole?

Insert Synchrotron Core, insert technobabble about a fuel loop, profit?

[Igncom1]

Fuel is made out of volatiles so frankly most gas giants when surveyed should do.

Wasn't there a mod that did that? Along with some idea that it might even be adapted into the base game or am I misremembering?

[bobucles]

Even if a refueling ship is possible, the idea of grabbing a coffee while you wait for fuel to recharge sounds pretty boring. The current distress system is much nicer, since you can either recover quickly or at least get a quick painless death at the hands of pirates.

[Plantissue]

Seems like an intersting idea. No need to dismiss the refueling idea out of hand. If you think it is waiting would be a problem, then to solve that, flying into the corona of a sun to add fuel would essentially convert supplies/combat readiness into fuel and can be done as a fast interaction. I would prefer such an idea to be an ability or available with a rare item like synchroton core rather than tied to a ship.

Anyways, I don't really like the idea of phase freighters. They would have to be rare, as they have such obvious and specific use cases, otherwise you'll have to wonder why everybody aren't using fleets of them to smuggle and raid each other.

[bobucles]

I don't really like the idea of phase freighters. They would have to be rare,

Rarity is more a case of understanding that phase ships are very difficult and annoying class of ships to chase down. Annoying ships should at least be rewarding ships, or they'd drag down the gameplay. There's also the very contradictory nature of them high tech and purpose built for illegal operations, yet beyond the budget and tech expertise of ordinary pirates. That kind of contradiction means they wouldn't be found on public markets (why would someone advertise an illegal smuggling ship?), rare on pirate markets(probably heavily d-modded) and almost exclusively locked behind some kind of military market. The main customer for a phase freighter has a high bankroll and a need for secrecy, that's textbook military(and discerning CEO) niche.

There are any number of factors to prevent phase freighters from being a pure upgrade over ordinary freighters. The most obvious solution is cost. Up front costs aren't free, and monthly upkeep and fuel aren't free either. A trader hoping to maximize profit would not be too happy about paying more money per cargo. The player smuggler would definitely appreciate extra smuggling potential though, and they'd certainly enjoy having more shielded cargo hold options for their contraband.

[Yunru]

I mean, with all the pirates about there's plenty of reason to want a phase hauler for more than just smuggling.

[Megas]

I have no problem with a phase hauler.  I imagine its capacity would be no better than the likes of a warship with above average capacity like Mule or Apogee (or even Odyssey), and its maintenance would be high like other phase ships.  With a design like that, people would use phase ships either for easy smuggling (illegals or planet-killer) or black-ops raids, not for day-to-day hauling of groceries or other consumer goods because the civilians do it cheaper.

It stinks when I do a raid with a full phase fleet and only have enough room for the blueprints (what I really want) and not the vendor trash along with it (hey - I will take free money) because phase ships' capacities are awful, significantly less than normal warships.

[Plantissue]

I mean, with all the pirates about there's plenty of reason to want a phase hauler for more than just smuggling.

Such as?

I don't really like the idea of phase freighters. They would have to be rare,

Rarity is more a case of understanding that phase ships are very difficult and annoying class of ships to chase down. Annoying ships should at least be rewarding ships, or they'd drag down the gameplay. There's also the very contradictory nature of them high tech and purpose built for illegal operations, yet beyond the budget and tech expertise of ordinary pirates. That kind of contradiction means they wouldn't be found on public markets (why would someone advertise an illegal smuggling ship?), rare on pirate markets(probably heavily d-modded) and almost exclusively locked behind some kind of military market. The main customer for a phase freighter has a high bankroll and a need for secrecy, that's textbook military(and discerning CEO) niche.

There are any number of factors to prevent phase freighters from being a pure upgrade over ordinary freighters. The most obvious solution is cost. Up front costs aren't free, and monthly upkeep and fuel aren't free either. A trader hoping to maximize profit would not be too happy about paying more money per cargo. The player smuggler would definitely appreciate extra smuggling potential though, and they'd certainly enjoy having more shielded cargo hold options for their contraband.

Try again but this time don't snip off the part that explains the rest of the sentence.

A single phase freighter is virtually useless in a fleet with other ships and normal freighters. Their sensor profile of 0 only helps to avoid patrols only if they are within the top 5 sensor profile. It can help to flee pursuits, but what's the point of every other fuel and freighter gets run down and destroyed? Phase freighters would only be useful if the fleet is very small in the first case, or if it is the majority of your freighter ships in the second case.

[Yunru]

I mean, with all the pirates about there's plenty of reason to want a phase hauler for more than just smuggling.

Such as?

Apparently I never answered this (must of not hit post), but as implied in my statement: to avoid pirates and other hostile forces.

Being hard to detect is useful for more than smuggling when the galaxy is an active war zone after all

[Plantissue]

But as I written previously, their sensor profile of 0 only helps to avoid patrols only if they would otherwise be within the top 5 sensor profile.

[Yunru]

But as I written previously, their sensor profile of 0 only helps to avoid patrols only if they would otherwise be within the top 5 sensor profile.

Yeah, but for a stealth fleet, that would probably be otherwise true. Especially if all the ships are phase.

[RogueVector]

If we are adding a hi-tech freighter/hauler, why not make it resupply ships that improve the logistics of your fleet? With the high-tech ships able to provide a logistics experience far above what your average private admiral enjoys, the bonuses to fleet quality should be reflected in improved CR, and lower maintenance costs.

Here's a few rough ideas for ships in the hi-tech freighter category, more to see how their hullmods work/interact.


Destroyer size:
Rainier class supply ship
 - Essentially an uptech'd Mule in general hull profile with increased shields but loses the medium universal for two small universal mounts.
 - Uses a flare launcher as System.
 - Built in hullmod: Logistics Center: Increases Combat Readiness by 5% per ship (max 20%).

Cruiser size:
Hayasui class fleet supply ship
 - Similar profile to a slower Heron, retaining the two fighter bays but losing the medium universal for 2x small universal mounts. Has a lot more cargo space and fuel space.
 - Uses Maneuvering Jets as System.
 - Built in hullmod: Combat Resupply System - increases the peak performance time of ships in the fleet (+50/40/35/30% based on hull size).
 - Rapidly diminishing returns when multiple are involved, and the resupply ships need to deploy to have the bonus take effect.

Capital size:
Benevolent class fleet repair ship
 - Kind of like an Astral, but has only 2 fighter bays and no large missiles (medium missiles instead) but this results in having vastly more cargo space.
 - Built in hullmod: Maintenance Drone System - decreases maintenance supply costs by 10% across the fleet (does not stack). Decreases repair supply consumption by 15% (same supply cost though).

[bobucles]

I'm not too sure about using logistics ships to a huge number of generic fleet bonuses. If the logistic ship enables a unique and fun play style that's great, but stack enough random bonuses and the ships will feel like boring, mandatory additions to the fleet. Some of the fleet talents also feel kind of mandatory but not in the best way, because a generic increase in fuel or supplies doesn't enable more play styles. They just act as money multipliers.

But as I written previously, their sensor profile of 0 only helps to avoid patrols only if they would otherwise be within the top 5 sensor profile.

Yes, but that still upgrades the options for a stealth fleet from "impossible" to "possible". Phase ships have atrocious cargo and fuel capacity, but filling up with civilian cargo ships will ruin your sensor profile. Completing a stealth fleet with stealth ships is the best option.

[Plantissue]

I literally wrote that earlier.

or if it is the majority of your freighter ships in the second case.