Hero's Pride, 100t Automated Free Trader TL15

[mavikfelna]

I guess, My question would be how often do you actually use the J-5 capability and is it worth the loss of cargo space and of increased fuel from say a J-3 engine. A J-3 engine would allow you to take advantage of the full 3 points of fuel reduction.

You have to have the Jump and Maneuver 5 to carry the maximum amount of cargo. This relies entirely on external cargo, which reduces ship's performance. If I could have fit in a Jump 6/Maneuver 6 setup to carry 500 tons of external cargo, I would have. But, there was not enough space in hull for everything else needed. The loss of the reduced fuel addon would have no material effect on the design ability to carry the external cargo. I could do it. Give me bit to work it up
It needs to carry 50 tons of fuel in drop tanks to jump with a full load, but that gives you 450 tons of cargo. I'll post it in a sec.

 

[mavikfelna]

Am I going crazy or does the maintenance cost seem a little off. I think the cost of the robots has been removed before the maintenance cost calculation. I think that the maintenance cost of the robots needs to be included unless the robots got the self repair options.

Also I'm a bit dubious about the induction plates taking up no space since they take up 2 vehicle spaces.

The brain has self repair. All the other robots should be accounted for but they aren't that expensive on maintenance.

 

[mavikfelna]

Ok, I've included the J-6/M-6 version here. It's 20Mcr more expensive but is actually more profitable once I figured the trick out. The issue is, you can't have most of your fuel internal with this design. So the actual maximum performance without cargo is Jump 4, because you must carry 30 tons of fuel externally, which drops the jump rating. If you're just maneuvering in system, you can move a full 500 tons of cargo with the M-6 engines because it doesn't need additional fuel. Of course the M rating drops to 1 under that load.
So to recap with this design: Unloaded performance J-1/M-6, Loaded with just fuel needed for maximum jump J-4/M-4. Fully loaded with 450 tons of freight and 50 tons of fuel J-1/M-1.
You are paying for a Jump 6 engine but you'll never actually jump 6 because you need the rating to handle the cargo, not to actually jump 6 parsecs. Both designs are all about the loaded performance, not the base numbers.
Does this clear anything up?
EDIT: Fixed max jump numbers. I was calculating with too little fuel. If I dropped the Adv Mail Array and put in another 20 tons of internal fuel instead, that would up the maximum jump to 5.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Am I going crazy or does the maintenance cost seem a little off. I think the cost of the robots has been removed before the maintenance cost calculation. I think that the maintenance cost of the robots needs to be included unless the robots got the self repair options.

Also I'm a bit dubious about the induction plates taking up no space since they take up 2 vehicle spaces.

The robot maintenance is calculated separately. It’s a yearly thing. The induction plates can be in floors, walls, and even furniture. It doesn’t take up space.

 

[Terry Mixon]

Ok, I've included the J-6/M-6 version here. It's 20Mcr more expensive but is actually more profitable once I figured the trick out. The issue is, you can't have most of your fuel internal with this design. So the actual maximum performance without cargo is Jump 4, because you must carry 30 tons of fuel externally, which drops the jump rating. If you're just maneuvering in system, you can move a full 500 tons of cargo with the M-6 engines because it doesn't need additional fuel. Of course the M rating drops to 1 under that load.
So to recap with this design: Unloaded performance J-1/M-6, Loaded with just fuel needed for maximum jump J-4/M-4. Fully loaded with 450 tons of freight and 50 tons of fuel J-1/M-1.
You are paying for a Jump 6 engine but you'll never actually jump 6 because you need the rating to handle the cargo, not to actually jump 6 parsecs. Both designs are all about the loaded performance, not the base numbers.
Does this clear anything up?
EDIT: Fixed max jump numbers. I was calculating with too little fuel. If I dropped the Adv Mail Array and put in another 20 tons of internal fuel instead, that would up the maximum jump to 5.

I’m on my phone so can’t look, but remember you’ll need drop tank mounts to move the fuel fast enough to be useful for jumping.

 

[mavikfelna]

Ok, better J-6/M-6 version without the mail array.
Performance:
Unloaded: J-3/M-6
Loaded for maximum jump range, 20 tons external fuel: J-5/M-5
Loaded for jump 3 with cargo, 20 tons fuel, 80 tons cargo: J-3/M-3
Loaded for maximum cargo, 30 tons fuel, 470 tons cargo: J-1/M-1
Maximum cargo capacity with no external load, 20 tons internal cargo: J-1/M-6

Ship makes money up to J-3 with full exterior cargo load and 2 jumps a month. It loses badly using just internal cargo and jump 1.

This is the design I will be going with unless anyone else comes up with problems with it.

I’m on my phone so can’t look, but remember you’ll need drop tank mounts to move the fuel fast enough to be useful for jumping.

They're there, for up to 500 tons.

EDIT: updated ship slightly, adding some programs to the computer.