TC: Trader Question - Does size matter vs. How fast you can go?

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AA0154
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TC: Trader Question - Does size matter vs. How fast you can go?

Post by AA0154 » Sat, 29. Jun 13, 21:44

:)

I am using mistrels for most of my UTs. I was thinking about moving my rank 25 guys over to large freighters. Will the large ships make more money even though the are a lot slower?

Thank you!

Alan Phipps
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Post by Alan Phipps » Sat, 29. Jun 13, 21:54

There are interesting related debates here, also here and here.

Some of the threads are not for the faint-hearted!
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Focker
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Post by Focker » Sat, 29. Jun 13, 22:10

I use a lot of mistrals also, but they do get limited some times by not being able to maximize profit on every run, but I've also had a Mistral super freighter make a trade run where he was only carrying 14 quantum tubes.... I don't know if these were left over from another trade run or was his planned run..... I think you should just stick with the regular mistrals, and some of the Split freighters have a good speed to cargo capacity ratio not to mention the split ones usually carry more guns (like the drake) so if they do get into OOS combat they can sometimes survive. I put fighter drone mkII's on most of mine ( I don't even know if that helps but I do it anyway) I also have a large number of lasertower defense points around the universe to keep random pirate encounters low.

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bizbag
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Post by bizbag » Sat, 29. Jun 13, 22:27

Super Freighters like the Tern can make you more money per run despite the slower speed because in the long run, they will only rarely be outrun to their target before they can make a sale.

Still, like you said, they frequently trade in goods that won't fill their cargo, like Quantum Tubes or weapons. When they do, speed matters more. That's why I split the difference and use the Drake, since they are the fastest TS+ and they are easy to equip (fly them from Contorted Dominion to Queen's Harbor for jump drives and then it's easy.)

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Kirlack
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Post by Kirlack » Sat, 29. Jun 13, 22:42

bizbag wrote:Super Freighters like the Tern...
OP is playing TC. There's no Tern in TC. Come on man, it's even in the thread title! :p

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Imgran
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Post by Imgran » Sun, 30. Jun 13, 00:26

I'm not sure ideal efficiency is as important as people make it out to be. Sufficient efficiency in large numbers is all it's reasonable to ask IMHO, and the standard Mistral is good for that.

Unless you're trading in some very specific goods, the faster freighters match up as well as anyone else. Only the fact that some of those specific goods include ore and E-cells, which are ubiquitous and frequently easy to find cheap (and thus a common target for U-traders) puts the big ships in the mix IMHO.
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SIMON POPPLEWELL
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Post by SIMON POPPLEWELL » Sun, 30. Jun 13, 10:45

The OP has opened a can of worms with this debate. :lol: But seriously I found that faster ships are better in the long run over the larger slower ships. In most cases a large ship will not use all it's cargo capacity in any case and will often miss some trade runs due to slow speeds. I would certainly take speed over larger cargo bay every time.

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Post by pjknibbs » Sun, 30. Jun 13, 17:56

Conversely, once a UT gets to the point where they're regularly using their jumpdrive, cargo capacity means more--more e-cells means more jumps without refuelling, and speed isn't much of an issue when you're only travelling the short distance from the jump-in point to the station.

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Imgran
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Post by Imgran » Sun, 30. Jun 13, 19:23

pjknibbs wrote:Conversely, once a UT gets to the point where they're regularly using their jumpdrive, cargo capacity means more--more e-cells means more jumps without refuelling, and speed isn't much of an issue when you're only travelling the short distance from the jump-in point to the station.

... unless they go into Terran space.
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Post by TTD » Sun, 30. Jun 13, 19:51

I generally don't worry what size or speed TSs I use.
If one of them are constantly begging for instructions due to missing a sale, I "promote" them to UT and let the Q deal with them :twisted:

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Post by SIMON POPPLEWELL » Sun, 30. Jun 13, 20:43

TTD wrote:I generally don't worry what size or speed TSs I use.
If one of them are constantly begging for instructions due to missing a sale, I "promote" them to UT and let the Q deal with them :twisted:
:fg: That would work. Or make them run the gauntlet through one of the Xenon sectors, if they survive that get a promotion and a shiny new ship. :D

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