Starfarer Tanker: The Ultimate Trade Ship

[porky]

^^^ What he said Let any low life pirate try mess with us! Ill follow you in my constellation or perhaps even be an escort for you:D

[kennyc]

hmmm i am also thinking of the same... star farer or constallation.. problem being that i have not as much time to play so may be a independent trader.

[buzby x]

it feels very luxurious knowing that we have enough fleet members to keep tankers safe. semper fleet.

[Eryn Suun]

I am looking forward to purchasing such a ship, I like support roles. Hopfully being a part of a fleet which values such roles would be a plus.

[Ken Oath]

I wish we had the finished specs so I could make a more informed decision as whether I really want one or not...

Starfarer earlyrender1.jpg

This shows the ship minus any tank or cargo chassis?... so I'm wanting to assume the chassis is modular and not a hull variant. Be nice if the description was clear and not open to misinterpretation/ or my wishful thinking

 

Got a few days to think about it.

[Cire]

@Black Fox: I certainly hope that Star Citizen's economic system works on the same model as supply and demand. If so, you're right that the more players refuel at a certain planet (or space station, etc.), the less supply and more demand, hence the price per unit increases. But if too many players deliver fuel to that planet, the supply increases, possibly exceeding the demand, which will cause the price to plummet.

As I mentioned, using the Starfarer tanker to perform Milk Runs should be a stable and fairly safe means of earning credits -- just as long as there aren't too many milk runners per system. I disagree that players making fuel runs will "make a killing" in well-travelled systems. I predict that their earnings will be more modest -- and akin to grinding.

If a Starfarer captain wants to make a killing, they'll probably have to venture out to the fringes, where it's more dangerous. There should be fewer refueling depots along the frontier, and I predict that frontier pilots will depend on Starfarers for fuel. The profit on fuel should be much higher, but also the risk.

I predict two possibilities:

1) The Star Citizen community will agree that tankers in frontier space are off limits to attack and raiding, because everyone depends on them for fuel, and attacks on them hurts everyone.

Or, more likely:

2) "Fuel Cartels" will be established in the frontier, wherein clans will stake out a territory and control it through force. They'll claim a gas giant where they can collect raw fuel, escort their tankers with combat ships, vigilantly guard their refining operations and fuel distribution sites, and aggressively defend their territory against competitors. There will be inevitable "Fuel Wars" as rival cartels try to expand their operations.

The same will probably be true for contraband.

I predict that Fuel Cartels will probably become larger, more powerful, and more dangerous than pirate clans, because Fuel Cartels will have a stable business model, whereas pirates will have to rely on successfully raiding ships, which will probably be more difficult -- and less profitable. In fact, pirates will be the natural enemies of the cartels, because not only do pirates threaten their tankers, but they also threaten their customers, because they buy fuel from the cartels. So it wold be in the cartels' best interest to seek and destroy pirates in their territory so they don't interfere with their fuel trade.

I have to say, I'm loving this. The potential of Star Citizen is so exciting!

I completely agree to that last bit, I'm into exploring more than trade but it still makes me wonder what we will be as a group? some of both or leaning towards one 

[Jergon Heckory]

You probably allready know, but length of Starfarer just confirmed to be 90,3m:

https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/comment/2185509/#Comment_2185509

[Nazraith]

Reading this thread made me wonder if the Constellation only has 25 tons of cargo available if the P52 takes up 10 tons of the available cargo space.  Maybe this should be under the Constellation section, but I thought of this while reading this thread.  Also, I am sure you can dump the Merlin off in your hanger if you don't want to haul it around for no reason.

 

Nazraith

[sofa-king]

To be honest fuel is going to be very precious in this game more than weapons because without fuel you can't do anything, go anywhere. I think that if you can buy a starfarer than you will be the ultimate money making machine. 

[Farcaster]

While SC will have a very sophisticated economy, keep in mind that the player base will comprise only a tenth of it. Even large corps like Imperium and The Convoy should have only a marginal effect on local supply and demand.

 

When I initially grabbed a Starfarer with the idea of making some fat credits, I'm starting to think I'll more likely be using mine as a forward-deployed combat tanker. Hopefully CIG comes out with some nice "Star G" mods to help minimize the vulnerability of this big boy.

[IceManZaroth™]

it feels very luxurious knowing that we have enough fleet members to keep tankers safe. semper fleet.

 

I aint american but hell yeah ... SEMPER FLEET! all the way

[Aleaf]

 *sigh.... stop making me want to buy more ships. this isn't even fair of you guys

[warlord5366]

You guys are all missing the point.

 

Starfarer is going to be a terrorist ship.

It will be a ship filled with grade AAA fuel and ram into your ship and explode.

 

We will see everything in space die.

[warlord5366]

You guys are all missing the point.

 

Starfarer is going to be a terrorist ship.

It will be a ship filled with grade AAA fuel and ram into your ship and explode.

 

We will see everything in space die.

[Chris von Hoff]

in case you missed it...

 

Ben Lesnik mentioned in the last starcast (podcast) that the liquid tanks can be exchanged for containerhauling (solid cargo), whitch makes the starfarer more usefull in a trader role with 75 ton cargospace

[PaulC2K]

You guys are all missing the point.

 

Starfarer is going to be a terrorist ship.

It will be a ship filled with grade AAA fuel and ram into your ship and explode.

 

We will see everything in space die.

 

Wouldnt it be correct that the sort of explosion we'd expect wouldnt actually happen, due to the lack of oxygen in space?

Obviously that spoils the humour of your post, but i'd assume this would be correct, and fairly dull cos who doesnt like huge explosions in games (not with my Starfarer, you understand!)

 

I wasnt aware the modular containers was confirmed, one of the tales on the site a while back talked about walking around an abandoned Starfarer, and one of the few things i do recall it mentioning was the welded fuel containers, because that seemed to stamp out any possibility of them being flexible. But given than the current thinking is that the Starfarer holds 900FU dry, and ~3600FU wet, its got pretty nice hauling potential as-is anyway.

[novastorm]

Wouldnt it be correct that the sort of explosion we'd expect wouldnt actually happen, due to the lack of oxygen in space?

 

Have you played Arena Commander yet? Those vanduul Scythes go bang pretty good, oxygen or no =P

(And that's without tons of fuel in em =D )

[swiftwilly]

I don't believe it will. It moves fuel only, nothing else, as per description

[Hammer173]

On Veterans day the Starfarer went up for sale and this is what CIG advertised. The specs mentioned RSI ship specs. RSI has 4X S5 class 2 (Gimbal-mounted weapons that have limited pivot in a fixed direction. The increased cone of fire comes at the cost of smaller weapon size.which would be Behiring Lasers) 1xclass 3 (Pylon. This is where you mount missiles, ECM units, radar pods, drop tanks, additional ammunition, missile racks, special scanners, etc) and 1 class 5 ( manned point defense system like on capital ships)(not class 4 as mentioned below) so we will have to wait and see what are the true variants for this ship.

 

I see this ships main function or role in Imperium as a support ship on missions and money maker on it's own.

 

Starfarer

Builder: MISC (Musashi Industrial & Starflight Concern)
Crew (max): 2
Mass (empty): 125,000 KG
Focus: Tanker / Refueler

The MISC Starfarer is the galaxy's standard fuel transporter. Starfarers are ubiquitous on both sides of the fueling process: their massive tanks allow for both the collection of space borne fuel from gas giants and extrasolar sources as well as the transport of active fuel from refinery stations to the primary market. Though the stock model lacks refinery equipment, the Starfarer does have docking mechanisms allowing it to conduct in-flight refueling operations with most spacecraft classes.

The most common Starfarer modification ships liquid foodstuffs in the same tanking system. A visually distinct long-haul bulk goods version mated to an alternate cargo chassis also exists, although it has proven far less popular than the more rugged Freelancer lineup. An armored tactical variant, the Starfarer Gemini ("Star-G") is produced under contract by Aegis for use by the UEE military.

Upgrade Capacity: 8
Cargo Capacity: 75 tonnes
Engine-
Modifiers: 4
Max. Class: Anti-Matter
Thrusters: 2x TR4, 8 x TR2
Hardpoints-
2 x Class 2: Equipped 2 x Behring M3A Laser Cannon
1 x Class 3: Equipped 1 x Talon Stalker Image Recognition missiles
1 x Class 4: Equipped 1x KP M2A Laser Cannon (turret)

[Deadhiel]

Am really keen to see the variants.  Will likely upgrade to the bulk and tactical variant and keep a vanilla to haul / refine fuel.  REALLY hope we get the Starfarer in-hangar soonish.  (though I doubt it will happen)  

 

 

Also LOVE that the crew compliment is only 2.. thats freaking awesome considering the size of the ship, though I'd prefer to fly with a PC, an NPC will work in a pinch and (if in convoy) with only 2 crew it would be relatively cheap to have NPC's crew secondary wingmen starfarers. (unless said starfarer's were being loaned to guildmates).

 

[swiftwilly]

It is not the ultimate trade ship. I you simply look at cargo size than you are looking at it wrong. You need to read what that cargo can carry, and that is Fuel. Starfarer is going to be like the Orion but for fuel and gas. I know its all a bit up in the air at the moment but looking at the ship description it is gas and fuel. Now IF you can swap out the containers for solid goods then why go Starfarer and not something with a bigger cargo space like:

 

Caterpillar = 3200t

Star = 900t

Hull C = 9000t

Banu = 6000t

Orion = 940t +400t bags

[Wu Jen]

It is not the ultimate trade ship. I you simply look at cargo size than you are looking at it wrong. You need to read what that cargo can carry, and that is Fuel. Starfarer is going to be like the Orion but for fuel and gas. I know its all a bit up in the air at the moment but looking at the ship description it is gas and fuel. Now IF you can swap out the containers for solid goods then why go Starfarer and not something with a bigger cargo space like:

 

Caterpillar = 3200t

Star = 900t

Hull C = 9000t

Banu = 6000t

Orion = 940t +400t bags

You do know that the specs listed there for the Starfarer does NOT include the fuel tanks right?

[VoA]

[VoA]

Just mentioned in CIG's Twitch stream. Mister "dial back the details a little bit" Stefano Tsai is now working on the Starfarer. The ship's concept is being reworked a bit. No ETA on images or completion.

[PaulC2K]

Stating the obvious here, but i really wish we could see something of it, the same thing applies to everything else though really, but it just kinda sucks when you see glimpses of everything else, and yet something so old hasnt had any real development update since it was first announced/sold (June '13).

 

Meanwhile, the Gladius is available to buy tomorrow, along with a load of renders and a 3D model viewer, when it was announced back at the beginning of March, 4 months ago.

 

Thats the downside to buying a utility ship, rather than one of these combat orientated ships, they're all required for AC and probably more importantly SQ42 story, a fuel tanker is going to be way down the list, along with things like the Orion & Surveyor, but at least they werent sold over a year ago.

 

I just hope they dont change it too much, i quite liked the dull beige lump, so i hope it doesnt change too much, and what is changed is largely due to systems being bigger and being unable to fit everything within the original shape.