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MISC - Prospector (Mining Ship)


VoA

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Just now, VoA said:

I wouldn't melt any of those ships for the Prospector (and you'll need the Hull B to work with it efficiently)...... but you also want to Explore (DUR) and fight (Sabre)......

So........ I think you'll just have to up your pledge to get the Prospector ;)

 

:D. Truth is I'm not much of a fighter pilot. Not just because I'm not very good at it but I enjoy more of the PvE/industrial side of games. I'm not quite prepared to pledge more untill we actually see working non-combat mechanics tho.

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Perhaps planetoid mining is where small haulers show themselves? I thought i heard somewhere that the hull C and larger cannot carry their cargo in atom. Is this true? Secondly, would a reliant kore or a hull a be better to pick up the ore containers? I would assume that the best option would be a misc ship as the companies seem to each have their own way of storing things. The hull A seems more fragile with its spindles extended and probably not the best choice to land on varied terrain but carries 50% more than the reliant. The plus for the reliant is that is seems more sturdy+better visibility for landing as well as a decent armament that should let it act as a minor escort. Or would the avenger titan haul enough and and act as an excellent escort for all of the ships involved? 

I am leaning towards the anger as it removes the small hauler from the equation and combines the escorts and the short range hauling.  

 

I cannot justify the $140 price tag as it is unlikely to be available at launch. However, I would love to be part of larger mining operations with other players. 

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1 hour ago, Wu Jen said:

You must not be planning on going anywhere anytime soon as the Prospector will be on sale till May 2nd!

Darn... I'm sure I'll be checking and rechecking my bank balance in the meantime. It'd be 115$ for me to upgrade to the prospector and I'm still a broke student. But... I want to end up with an LTI ship in that tier anyways, so I could pay now or wait to graduate and pay more. I think I'll wait.

which means I better not plan on driving anywhere 

 

Quote

I cannot justify the $140 price tag as it is unlikely to be available at launch. However, I would love to be part of larger mining operations with other players

@faquarl25I'm definitely of the opinion that the prospector will be created before the orion to test mining mechanics. It makes sense to fast track a ship which can be easily completed in the next few months over a larger ship of the same role which is significantly harder to design and complete. 

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1 hour ago, Karmaslap said:

Darn... I'm sure I'll be checking and rechecking my bank balance in the meantime. It'd be 115$ for me to upgrade to the prospector and I'm still a broke student. But... I want to end up with an LTI ship in that tier anyways, so I could pay now or wait to graduate and pay more. I think I'll wait.

which means I better not plan on driving anywhere 

 

@faquarl25I'm definitely of the opinion that the prospector will be created before the orion to test mining mechanics. It makes sense to fast track a ship which can be easily completed in the next few months over a larger ship of the same role which is significantly harder to design and complete. 

I'd love to have it in game. But didn't Chris say that all of the concepts from here on out wouldn't be finished by end of Beta?

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56 minutes ago, faquarl25 said:

I'd love to have it in game. But didn't Chris say that all of the concepts from here on out wouldn't be finished by end of Beta?

I think he said that the concepts before the endeavor should be in for launch, but not necessarily anything after the endeavor. That doesn't mean they won't fast-track some things

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8 hours ago, Fizzlefuse said:

So.. I'm torn.

Right now I have three ships, Hull B, Sabre and my Freelancer DUR (package).
I'm really really tempted to get a MISC Prospector but I'm not willing to shell out another 150+ bucks (with VAT), so I'm contemplating on either melting my Sabre (since you can't downgrade :( ).. which would also mean losing the only flight ready ship I have right now. I would have 30,- in store credits left after purchuase of said Prospector though, to potentially spend on something coming down the line.

Or I could upgrade my Hull B... which means paying a little extra but losing my hauler. 
Upgrading the Freelancer would be losing LTI on the Prospector, so I don't really consider that much of an option, although LTI has been said to not be that much of a deal.

Ugh. Choices.

I suggest that you upgrade the Hull B.  Sure you'd lose your hauler, but you can make more money with the Prospector (than the Hull B, with slightly less risk) and buy it again once you have sufficient in-game funds.

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7 hours ago, faquarl25 said:

I'd love to have it in game. But didn't Chris say that all of the concepts from here on out wouldn't be finished by end of Beta?

He may have said this (and probably even thought it was true at the time), but the fact stands that getting the Mining Mechanic up and running will be easier with a smaller and less complicated ship like the Prospector.

I always figured the Orion as 'late to the party' just because of its complexity. However, the push is on for non-combat aspects of the Verse. The Starfarer and Prospector fit the bill.

We will know within the next patch or two I think. - DRUM out

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8 hours ago, faquarl25 said:

I'd love to have it in game. But didn't Chris say that all of the concepts from here on out wouldn't be finished by end of Beta?

 

53 minutes ago, Drum said:

He may have said this (and probably even thought it was true at the time), but the fact stands that getting the Mining Mechanic up and running will be easier with a smaller and less complicated ship like the Prospector.

I always figured the Orion as 'late to the party' just because of its complexity. However, the push is on for non-combat aspects of the Verse. The Starfarer and Prospector fit the bill.

We will know within the next patch or two I think. - DRUM out

Per @Drum above and also the fact that it is easier for CIG to pump out ships where they have a lot of modular modeling work done already  (with the Starfarer done MISC ships are easier to produce).   Look at the Sabre as an example of this with all the work they did on the Tali. 

I wouldn't be surprised if we saw the Prospector flight ready in the next month or two :)

 

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2 hours ago, VoA said:

 

Per @Drum above and also the fact that it is easier for CIG to pump out ships where they have a lot of modular modeling work done already  (with the Starfarer done MISC ships are easier to produce).   Look at the Sabre as an example of this with all the work they did on the Tali. 

I wouldn't be surprised if we saw the Prospector flight ready in the next month or two :)

 

Wouldn't surprise me either but it might be that they'll keep it until the mining mechanic has been implemented, or at least the basic system of it :) 

But one thing we can be 99% sure: this ship will release before the Orion.

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34 minutes ago, Yekko said:

Wouldn't surprise me either but it might be that they'll keep it until the mining mechanic has been implemented, or at least the basic system of it :) 

But one thing we can be 99% sure: this ship will release before the Orion.

They said during one of the last RTV's that they were not sure if the Prospector would release before the Orion. The Orion may release 1st.

I would not expect to see the Orion show up for at least 4-5 months from now, at the EARLIEST.

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1 hour ago, Wu Jen said:

They said during one of the last RTV's that they were not sure if the Prospector would release before the Orion. The Orion may release 1st.

I would not expect to see the Orion show up for at least 4-5 months from now, at the EARLIEST.

Yea I heard that one before, and I like the "they were not sure" and the "may" part of that line. The thing is they have more of the assets for Misc ships, the Prospector is a near cut and past.

But for sure we won't see any of these ships before they implement mining mechanics.

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13 hours ago, Tom Villder said:

I suggest that you upgrade the Hull B.  Sure you'd lose your hauler, but you can make more money with the Prospector (than the Hull B, with slightly less risk) and buy it again once you have sufficient in-game funds.

Thanks for the suggestion but we have no idea how cargo hauling and asteroid mining will compare, none of it is actually in the game yet.. so to say you'll make more money with the prospector then with a Hull B... I'm not sure where you get that from.

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14 minutes ago, Fizzlefuse said:

Thanks for the suggestion but we have no idea how cargo hauling and asteroid mining will compare, none of it is actually in the game yet.. so to say you'll make more money with the prospector then with a Hull B... I'm not sure where you get that from.

It was just a general assumption.  In essence, this is how I reached my conclusion:

- Hull B:

   - A UEC reserve to buy the product(s) cheaply in one system and sell it high in another

   - Fuel to carry the items from A to B... could ne negligible if you equip fuel intake

   - Payment for escort ships... might not be needed in safe space, but imo its necessary for every trip especially when you go beyond Hull C

   - Your cargo is exposed and you run the risk of becoming a loot piniata

 

Meanwhile, the Prospector:

   - Minimal UEC investment.... only knowledge of what materials/alloys are under demand, where to get said mats, then pew pew the roids.  I wonder, is the Prospector compatible with fuel intake?

   - You aren't such a valuable target when compared to a loaded Hull B... not only is the Hull B's loot potentially valuable, but the ship itself could be a vital part of a pirate's future operations (they can bring it in for heists, looting future ships etc)... what are they going to do with a Prospector? Retire from piracy to mine? xD

   - Even if you get ganked, the ship is tiny compared to the Hull B, so idk... its more likely that you'll get your ship replaced a lot quicker (I could be wrong though)

   - You can still become a loot piniata... if you consider 4 crates of unrefined ore as loot

 

In conclusion, while mining could make money a lot slower than the Hull B, imo there's a smaller risk based on what you're committing to the profession i.e. larger ship, larger starting UEC investment, larger reward(?) and larger risk vs. small ship, minimal UEC requirement, smaller reward(?) and quick replacement time(?).

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1 minute ago, Tom Villder said:

It was just a general assumption.  In essence, this is how I reached my conclusion:

- Hull B:

   - A UEC reserve to buy the product(s) cheaply in one system and sell it high in another

   - Fuel to carry the items from A to B... could ne negligible if you equip fuel intake

   - Payment for escort ships... might not be needed in safe space, but imo its necessary for every trip especially when you go beyond Hull C

   - Your cargo is exposed and you run the risk of becoming a loot piniata

 

Meanwhile, the Prospector:

   - Minimal UEC investment.... only knowledge of what materials/alloys are under demand, where to get said mats, then pew pew the roids.  I wonder, is the Prospector compatible with fuel intake?

   - You aren't such a valuable target when compared to a loaded Hull B... not only is the Hull B's loot potentially valuable, but the ship itself could be a vital part of a pirate's future operations (they can bring it in for heists, looting future ships etc)... what are they going to do with a Prospector? Retire from piracy to mine? xD

   - Even if you get ganked, the ship is tiny compared to the Hull B, so idk... its more likely that you'll get your ship replaced a lot quicker (I could be wrong though)

   - You can still become a loot piniata... if you consider 4 crates of unrefined ore as loot

 

In conclusion, while mining could make money a lot slower than the Hull B, imo there's a smaller risk based on what you're committing to the profession i.e. larger ship, larger starting UEC investment, larger reward(?) and larger risk vs. small ship, minimal UEC requirement, smaller reward(?) and quick replacement time(?).

I see where you're coming from but its all speculation at this point. The effectiveness of the ships will only be apparent when the mechanics come into play.

How long will it take you to aquire enough material while mining to cover the costs and make profit? Compared to taking a Hull B, sticking to high-sec space and doing simple pick-up and drop-off jobs? Sure, a Hull B might be more valuable on its own, but a ship can be re-sold or melted down for scrap.. in which case it's anyone's guess what the profit is. Who says you will always need escorts? I might just fly without an escort most of the times, depending where it is I'm going. Mining in high-sec might not really be as profitable because the best places have been mined already, and the real motherload might just be out there where there be monsters. We know nothing about fuelcosts and fuel capacity.

You might have a point in that there is more risk with a Hull B, but then CIG has stated that with more risk they intend to reward more. Things might even out.

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Quite a long shot imo because for a significant number of people, it will invalidate the need for the Orion i.e. if the Starfarer was capable of accommodating ore refining equipment, then tthe Orion would lose a bit more value because:

- Orion is much rarer (and a larger, juicer target for bandits/pirates) than a common Starfarer... so replacement time will be much shorter.

- Modularity - if this variant existed, then the Starfarer would be able to cover fuel AND mining extraction i.e. equipment can be quickly changed in the hangar without the need of another dedicated ship.

- Starfarer requires a MUCH smaller fighter complement/escorts than the Orion... maybe a larger crew to cover the turrets though?

- Not sure about cargo capacity of the Orion, but could the Starfarer carry half fuel containers (so it could refuel the Prospectors mid-op) and half solid cargo containers to hold some extra refined ore while the hauler comes back?

Don't get me wrong, if such a variant came out I'd get it immediately because it covers my 2 favorite roles, but honestly its a bit OP.

HI @Tom Villder, i usually find myself in agreement with many of your other comments but wih all due respect this one stuck me as being a departure from those other logical posts.  My following commentary isn't posted in an attempt to "win you over" to my way of thing but rather to provide more insight into why i believe CIG will offer an upgrade to the Starfarer, lets call it the Starfarer"Rockcrusher" (TM) to provide mobile ore refining.

1 - Will it upset the balance with respect to the Orion? I dont believe so, the Orion is a unique ship that can mine, refine, and haul on an industry level which is currently priced significantly cheaper than three comparable ships (each handling the separate task mentioned) of its size and scope. Additionally as far as targets go for the average pirate i dont think taking a bunch of rocks is going to attract too many pirate. if they where known to be mining something of great value then maybe. In real life, theft of diamonds/gold bullion is far rarer then other types of theft because you need to have a way fence your ill gotten goods without being caught. i would suspect that high valued resources will have the same limitation and be governed closely by the trade network. No steal a fuel truck and you sell that just about anywhere to anyone.

2 - Modularity? In another post you made, in this thread you comment favorably with regards to variant of the prospector, one of which was a refinging prospector, how is this acceptable and a starfarer variant not? To be clear, i was proposing more of an upgrade in the line of starfarer to Gemini which is permanent and not a BUK, so effectively, after the upgrade its a different ship which cant be down graded to its original ship. Even if it was a BUK style mod, you would have to travel back to the hanger where that mod exists and have it changed out. I'm sure in the balancing phase of the PU this action will become another resource and/or UEC pit and not just a quick/free exchange.

3 - crew is crew, fair comment... starfarer is 7 and orion is 6. With the Orion being 70 meters longer and 16 meter high and having over 10 times the nul-cargo, it looks like the Orion is suited for an entirely different level of refining and the Starfarer refiner wouldn't even suite someone working at that level.

4 - Cargo Cap= Starfarer 3321 Orion 14040. right now the starfarer and gemini both can refine fuels and can both carry a mix of fuel and solid cargo, so with that said why not refined ore and fuel or better yet all ore. 

5 - Diversity? allowing more than one ship to refine is the definition of diversity. As it stands the Orion IMO is a departure from diversity in that it is a miner, refiner and hauler, allowing it to effectively and efficiently take on three big aspects of one career makes it the ship to have. What is needed is a mid size mobile option for small to mid size mining ships to work with, to refine their cargo and maximize their payload. You have to agree, it makes more sense to haul back refined resources rather than raw ore! In the real world you wouldn't load up your 400 ton mining truck with raw ore and driving a 100 miles to get refined, would you? 

 If CIG was to take the approach of one ship for one role than all we would need is one miner, repair, a few combat ships and where done but that's not how the real world works and so far i see no indication that CIG will artificially do something that just doesn't make sense... ok ok its CIG sure they do things that dont make sense but that's in their pricing and marketing not in the game play as of yet.

Again Tom, with respect

AJ

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20 hours ago, AstroJak said:

Quite a long shot imo because for a significant number of people, it will invalidate the need for the Orion i.e. if the Starfarer was capable of accommodating ore refining equipment, then tthe Orion would lose a bit more value because:

- Orion is much rarer (and a larger, juicer target for bandits/pirates) than a common Starfarer... so replacement time will be much shorter.

- Modularity - if this variant existed, then the Starfarer would be able to cover fuel AND mining extraction i.e. equipment can be quickly changed in the hangar without the need of another dedicated ship.

- Starfarer requires a MUCH smaller fighter complement/escorts than the Orion... maybe a larger crew to cover the turrets though?

- Not sure about cargo capacity of the Orion, but could the Starfarer carry half fuel containers (so it could refuel the Prospectors mid-op) and half solid cargo containers to hold some extra refined ore while the hauler comes back?

Don't get me wrong, if such a variant came out I'd get it immediately because it covers my 2 favorite roles, but honestly its a bit OP.

HI @Tom Villder, i usually find myself in agreement with many of your other comments but wih all due respect this one stuck me as being a departure from those other logical posts.  My following commentary isn't posted in an attempt to "win you over" to my way of thing but rather to provide more insight into why i believe CIG will offer an upgrade to the Starfarer, lets call it the Starfarer"Rockcrusher" (TM) to provide mobile ore refining.

1 - Will it upset the balance with respect to the Orion? I dont believe so, the Orion is a unique ship that can mine, refine, and haul on an industry level which is currently priced significantly cheaper than three comparable ships (each handling the separate task mentioned) of its size and scope. Additionally as far as targets go for the average pirate i dont think taking a bunch of rocks is going to attract too many pirate. if they where known to be mining something of great value then maybe. In real life, theft of diamonds/gold bullion is far rarer then other types of theft because you need to have a way fence your ill gotten goods without being caught. i would suspect that high valued resources will have the same limitation and be governed closely by the trade network. No steal a fuel truck and you sell that just about anywhere to anyone.

2 - Modularity? In another post you made, in this thread you comment favorably with regards to variant of the prospector, one of which was a refinging prospector, how is this acceptable and a starfarer variant not? To be clear, i was proposing more of an upgrade in the line of starfarer to Gemini which is permanent and not a BUK, so effectively, after the upgrade its a different ship which cant be down graded to its original ship. Even if it was a BUK style mod, you would have to travel back to the hanger where that mod exists and have it changed out. I'm sure in the balancing phase of the PU this action will become another resource and/or UEC pit and not just a quick/free exchange.

3 - crew is crew, fair comment... starfarer is 7 and orion is 6. With the Orion being 70 meters longer and 16 meter high and having over 10 times the nul-cargo, it looks like the Orion is suited for an entirely different level of refining and the Starfarer refiner wouldn't even suite someone working at that level.

4 - Cargo Cap= Starfarer 3321 Orion 14040. right now the starfarer and gemini both can refine fuels and can both carry a mix of fuel and solid cargo, so with that said why not refined ore and fuel or better yet all ore. 

5 - Diversity? allowing more than one ship to refine is the definition of diversity. As it stands the Orion IMO is a departure from diversity in that it is a miner, refiner and hauler, allowing it to effectively and efficiently take on three big aspects of one career makes it the ship to have. What is needed is a mid size mobile option for small to mid size mining ships to work with, to refine their cargo and maximize their payload. You have to agree, it makes more sense to haul back refined resources rather than raw ore! In the real world you wouldn't load up your 400 ton mining truck with raw ore and driving a 100 miles to get refined, would you? 

 If CIG was to take the approach of one ship for one role than all we would need is one miner, repair, a few combat ships and where done but that's not how the real world works and so far i see no indication that CIG will artificially do something that just doesn't make sense... ok ok its CIG sure they do things that dont make sense but that's in their pricing and marketing not in the game play as of yet.

Again Tom, with respect

AJ

Quite a lot of valid points there.  Thanks for bringing them up.  Like I said in the end, I'd honestly be overjoyed with the idea of a Rockcrusher variant (love the name as well xD).  I loved the initial concept of the Orion, but the size of it and the increased burden on escort ships turned me off.  The idea of a Starfarer chassis that can be switched between a fuel miner/refiner, ore miner/refiner and solid good cargo hauler would be a match made in heaven because switching roles would only be a matter of switching equipment (rather than ships)... though, like you pointed out, the crew needs to be put in consideration.

I'm all for diversity of ships (the more the better) and was afraid that people would be turn away from the Orion when they have a smaller and tankier option... but the way you put it sounds like the Rockcrusher variant is this logical next step from the Prospector and on the way to an Orion.

I hope CIG hears about this idea for the Starfarer.  Its wonderful because not only could it (potentially) refine ore, it could refuel the other ships of the mining op as well as do some hauling. i.e. have half the Starfarer containers switched out for solid cargo while keeping the other 3 as fuel containers.

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19 hours ago, VoA said:

The first concept of the Prospector:

13096231_1032145616838724_50135581013791

@Rellim posted "ew" and I have to agree....... the new concept is way older than these original concepts (glad these were not developed further) :P

 

EW! indeed.

That doesn't look as good as the final concept. The really shiny orange really makes it extra tacky.

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29 minutes ago, VoA said:

The Commonly Coined....... "EW"...... (earlier) Version of the Propsector :P

 

This is even more EW than EW...
Seriously those first designs... it was a real Frankenstein, good thing they killed their monster and made a way better one.

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