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This Little Hauler is too....

In the middle of all of the hauling rebalancing a theme I see crop up across freighters, blockade runners, and deep space transports is wanting one ship to do the job. There were complaints that deep space transports could not launch modules and that blockade runners were to similar to each other.

I'm one of those Eve players that tends to invest in spaceships because I like them. My scanning alt flies Amarr because I wanted to learn Amarr. Chella flies a Viator because at the time, it was the biggest hauler. My scanning alt also handles my booster business and flies Amarr haulers because, I wanted to.

In my hangar there are many haulers.

When managing my POS for instance I flip between my Bestower and my Prorator depending on tasks. I will be replacing my Bestower with an Impel I suspect with the improvements on the deep space transports. I have a freighter for high sec hauling and I flip between that an my Orca depending on my cargo. I have a jump freighter for jumping and I use that, just for that.

That is five ships of different size and ability to move stuff around. Each one is valuable to me for what it can do.Am I odd in that I don't look for a one size fits all option with my ships?

When I scan I have an Anathema and a Legion. I prefer the Anathema due to it being faster and more agile.

When I PvP I have three races of ships to choose from in both T1 and T2. I only fly two racial T3s.

Why would one hauler fit most of my needs? And when does that start to end? I think its ridiculous to have three different freighters for instance but I don't think its ridiculous to use five different T1 and T2 haulers. Obviously in there is accessibility both in skill points and cost that dictate what I feel is reasonable vs unreasonable. I may also be more prone to ship spread due to my environments effects on my stocking habits.

Do high sec pilots tend to have a large spread of ships or only a handful that they use? I know that I left the tutorials with a stack of haulers that I still have. I settled on my Iteron III (whatever one it is now) as the perfect hauler and I never went back from that one until I abandoned high sec all together and moved into T2 haulers for low sec.

I'm in a learning mood of late. I'm starting to see lots of dots that I'd like to connect a bit better. Maybe it is all the drawing.

Comments

  1. As a mostly Hi-sec with some dips into lows I have 6 different ships I move cargo in. It all depends on what I am carrying and how fast I want to get there. I have an Orca, Mastadon, 3 T1 Galen haulers the basic cargo, the ore, and the pi one.I also have a T1 frig that I loaded out for speed in warp to take small cargo to and from Jita. I also had a BR but that exploded and I haven't bothered replacing it yet.

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    1. Oh nice. So, you are using specialized haulers for bulk materials instead of say your Orca? Why?

      (I like it btw)

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    2. the specialized haulers are faster than an orca and less of a target

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    3. My PI is in low sec so much more efficient to throw some warp stabs and a shield buffer to cross over and get them. And as said by Noslen faster and less of a target and just about throwaway.

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  2. Hi-sec hub trader with some time in null: freighter...blockade runners, gal/amarr due to trainings, fitted for running between hubs and for null...T1 industrials for standing running, fueling POSs...T1 frigs (imicus/magnate) for moving low value cargo...considering getting a jump freighter for null. Blockade runners speed makes them ideal for anything small.

    Always seemed ridiculous to me that the Orca functions as a good transport..seems like gimping it in that role would make more room for deep space transports...interested to see where CCP goes with this.

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  3. Running in high and/or low, my default hauler is a blockade runner; I've got an alt that can also fly a DST, an Orca, and a freighter, each of which is rather situational. The DST, up to now, has only been used for low-sec hauls that wouldn't fit in a BR's hold; I won't risk the Orca or freighter for transport duties in low.

    The BR is the default just because of raw warp speed and the covops cloak; with an undock bookmark at Jita, and a quick finger on the cloak switch when breaking gate cloak, I've found the risk is minimal in high. Low's a bit different; I've had a Viator sniped by a Tornado before, and gotten melted by a hyper-boosted gate camp in Tama (they were supposed to be allies, but someone didn't check their IFF). But in high, I'll even fly it empty just to get from point A to point B. The thing's faster than anything short of an interceptor or covops scout, after all.

    For high, it's basically the Viator for anything up to 10,000 cubic meters; the Orca for most heavier loads (I've got one fitted and rigged for 50K main cargohold space, strong hull tank, and pulse MWD for fast getaways from gates), and a freighter only if there's a load that won't fit in the Orca one way or another.

    I strongly suspect that my freighter pilot may be flying with bulkheads in the lows come Kronos.

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  4. I have a variety of haulers, and I'm fine with having more specialized tools instead of one that does everything. I tend to avoid the freighter except for the biggest jobs because the Obelisk's align time makes me nuts. :-)

    My favorite hauler is the Orca, particularly when it's flown by my pilot with the best skills for it. I love the Orca, period. One of the most useful ships in the game as far as I'm concerned.

    In the smaller tier, my favorites are the blockade runners, even when I'm just schlepping stuff around in high. I used to fly cargo-maxed Gallente T1s, and I could never get past the feeling that I was flying a big loot piñata with a hull as thin as a balloon.

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  5. For hauling I mostly fly Prowlers, but I'm a trader specializing in high value items that don't take up much cargo space. That's partly because I hate flying anything slower than a cruiser and even cruisers are a bit slow for my liking. Large haulers have got to be the most boring things in the game to fly.

    I do have several T1 industrials, but they've been sitting gathering dust for a long time.

    Besides haulers I've flown a lot of different ships. The one's I liked flying at different times are Vigils, Condors, Drakes, Manticores, Crows and Tengus. I'll have Widow and Panther pilots soon too, those will probably be the biggest / slowest ships I ever fly with any regularity.

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  6. If DST's got a had a cargo bay for moon goo and/or fuel they would now have a place and a role. Every POS owner/ operatior would own and use one for either the goo or the fuel bonus and would put up with the align time. Or another different T2 variant with this very spacific bonus and appropreate balances.

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    Replies
    1. Do you think they need this instead of their current cargo hold or in addition?

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    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    3. Just heard about the 50K cargo bay + 5% per level....so just ignore everything above....im happy.

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  7. One freighter to rule them all? No, but we can only use one on each trip and a lot of trips have two parts -- high value/low volume in, low value/high volume out. An industrialist taking goods to market and coming back with minerals, for example.

    The rigs idea scuppered that because keeping (or even slightly exceeding) your current tank for the outbound journey would ruin volumes for the return while maintaining cargo volume for part two made you even more gankable for part one. A choice, yes, but one between the lesser of two evils.

    Slots are a much better idea -- choice *and* flexibility to fit for the current situation. I just hope there's still enough of a nerf in there (yes, you read that right!) to further the Devs' "localism" vision because I think, in the long run, that will be good for the game as a whole.

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    1. When the rig idea was in, what were you going to rig your freighters up as?

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    2. Hadn't wasted too much time thinking about it, assuming Fozzie's OP was very much a discussion piece and (at the least) the numbers would change.

      I only have the one and it represents a significant chunk of my assets, so I would probably have gone the risk averse higher tank route while still knowing that any group that wanted to gank me could gank me whatever I did. Next step would have been saving for a second rigged for max cargo for the low-value runs, but policy makers have to remember that not *everyone* in New Eden has 2 billion ISK they can spend at the drop of a hat ;-)

      Kudos to Fozzie for reacting so quickly and positively, retaining the basic idea of the changes but implementing them in (IMO) a much better way. And I was especially pleased to see "The CSM has been a very significant help in this process." -- please pass on my thanks and congratulations to all those involved.

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  8. I'm curious about how many people actually fill there freighters to the brim. All I ever see in the forums regarding freighters is how stupid player x is for filling his freighter to capacity and getting ganked. If the common wisdom is not to fill your freighter to capacity, then why is the choice between cargo space, tank, and speed such a contentious point for the proposed changes?

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    Replies
    1. The only times I fill a freighter up is when I'm moving battleships or haul low value ore. Other wise the value to cost of gank is too high.

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    2. Well my Rhea for example. I fill it up to jump out. But sometimes I take shortcuts through high or need to move bases. Sometimes I want to pick up a high value item and jump it out. I want to tank it in high sec because people like to gank them for being expensive.

      I to have filled a freighter before with high volume low value items. I don't do it often but its nice to have that option. Its also nice to tank myself when I am in that billion ISK realm.

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  9. @Anon 1124; you can fill them out. its just that the goods have to be below the nominal value of the gank ship lost to Concord. I am hauling minerals to market, which the accumulation of a couple of mining and refining. I put in enough low ends so that the value is around the 1bil mark.

    I do courier missions with a DST. This allows for villains to scan my cargo and judge it a waste of time. And the superior tank over the tech1 means increased chance against a lolz gank. (yes, I sometimes AP these).

    I have used a blockade running with speed fit for quick runs into market. My shop and warp hull. Replacement drones (sigh - warped out AGAIN), munitions and the occasional module with its neither local or cheap.

    Orca. It's the mining hauler. Shamefully slow, but collects cans like no-ones business. These days I am mostly solo; so gone are the boosts to fleets with wings.

    Freighter. I elected to build it myself. That meant I needed to cross the length New Eden for one of the BPO's worth 1.2Bil. (queue McHammer "cant scan this", a Blockade was the cargo pants of choice). Gets the refined minerals to market. I could use the orca for more regular trips, but its a nice pay day when I cash in the freighter load.

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  10. I have a number of indys of all types scattered all over the place as they are so cheap, and I hate being stuck some where without a hauler. That said I generally always go for the high cap indy because if I'm using a mere indy I'm hauling something of low value.

    In terms of freighters I rarely have one in my hanger. They are just to big of an investment, and I prefer to have the isk invested in the market some where else. So generally I just buy one where I am and sell it where I end up for a modest profit. If I can't find one where I am I have an my hauler alt autopilot one out.

    My Orca is my favorite. I use it to haul my ships, and various possessions when I relocate. It's tanked to an extreme level. I can refit off of it. I can fit links for when the corp is bored enough to mine.

    Honestly I'm not a current fan of T2 indys. They lack enough cargo space, and tank to make them worth their price. The BR are very hard to catch on a gate, but unless I'm haul extremely valuable cargo or using my main with valuable implants it's not a good idea. A T1 indy can fit a cloak and MW and achieve nearly the same result. Sure I'll die more often, but maybe x2-3 more often not 10-50x more often. The DST simply don't have the cargo space or tank of an Orca. Nor can they survive a typical gate camp better than a T1. I'm sorry but unless you can warp out you are dead no matter what the tank.

    The new DST are interesting but I don't see it making me want to hang up my Orca. The orca allows me to pack up and move in HS and w-space. It's got more space, tank and can haul a couple of ships. So I'd only fly a DST if I wasn't hauling ships, and speed matter. The BR are still the ship for small valuable cargos that can't fit in a covert ops or cloaky T3 which I honestly have no need for.

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  11. Interesting discussion! I have alts that fly for Red Frog so they fly a Fenrir with as many bulkheads as cargo volume permits. Been subject of attempted hyperdunking but they barely scratched the paint.

    With a webber, I can get off a gate near instantly.

    Like others, I fly a Prowler for high value low volume stuff. I once moved 20 PLEX to Jita 4-4 from 20 jumps away, and I'd be telling a life if I said I wasn't sweating bullets. Even though I'm very good with the cloak. I don't hit jump and cloak, I hit the + and cloak, then jump. Mostly they never know I'm there.

    Boy wouldn't I like to be able to fit rigs to a freighter!

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