Freighters and you

[Shriven_Intaki]

Are you dreaming about becoming a Freighter pilot? Then this post may be for you, in it we take a look at each of the standard Freighters (Charon, Fenrir, Obelisk and Providence) and see how they are effected by the different modules they can be fitted with.

What modules are those? There are only a few basic groups of modules that you would fit on a Freighter and they are most often fit in sets of (3):

• Inertial Stabilizers (help with align time)
• Cargohold Expanders (add cargo space)
• Reinforced Bulkheads (add tank)
• Nanofiber Structures (help with align time and speed but you do lose tank) ***

*** We’re taking a look at the numbers for the Nanofibers because while doing some research I saw some Freighter losses on https://zkillboard.com/ with them fitted. I personally wouldn’t advocate the use of Nanos on a Freighter, I’d recommend the use of the Inertials. Other than a “That’s all I have” I can’t see any scenario where the loss of tank and additional speed you get from the Nanos makes sense over the use of a full set of Inertial Stabilizers – maybe someone can enlighten me though? ***

Here are all the numbers (based on all V’s)

Expanded Cargohold II	Cargo Capacity m³	EHP	Speed	Align Time
Charon	1,204,741	179,995	58 m/s	42.1
Fenrir	1,127,015	178,863	78 m/s	36
Obelisk	1,139,970	191,903	63 m/s	41.2
Providence	1,127,015	187,601	68 m/s	39.5
ORE Expanded Cargohold	Cargo Capacity m³	EHP	Speed	Align Time
Charon	1,247,763	188,015	73 m/s	41.1
Fenrir	1,167,262	185,589	97 m/s	36
Obelisk	1,180,679	203,287	79 m/s	41.2
Providence	1,167,262	197,949	85 m/s	39.5
Reinforced Bulkheads II	Cargo Capacity m³	EHP	Speed	Align Time
Charon	409,763	396,386	94 m/s	47.5
Fenrir	383,327	360,352	125 m/s	40.5
Obelisk	387,733	499,040	102 m/s	46.5
Providence	383,327	466,816	109 m/s	44.5
ORE Reinforced Bulkheads	Cargo Capacity m³	EHP	Speed	Align Time
Charon	482,777	410159	94 m/s	46.3
Fenrir	451,630	371904	125 m/s	39.6
Obelisk	456,821	518589	102 m/s	45.4
Providence	451,630	484588	109 m/s	43.5
Inertial Stabilizers II	Cargo Capacity m³	EHP	Speed	Align Time
Charon	581,250	258,574	94 m/s	24.7
Fenrir	543,750	244,768	125 m/s	21.1
Obelisk	550,000	303,436	102 m/s	24.1
Providence	543,750	288,994	109 m/s	23.1
Nanofiber Internal Structure II	Cargo Capacity m³	EHP	Speed	Align Time
Charon	581,250	188,015	117 m/s	27.9
Fenrir	543,750	185,589	156 m/s	23.8
Obelisk	550,000	203,287	127 m/s	27.3
Providence	543,750	197,949	137 m/s	26.1

The use of the ‘ORE’ Faction modules comes down to your bankroll, if you’re one of those ‘Space Rich’ folks and can afford them then they could be worth it for you.

For all of the Freighters the ORE Expanded Cargoholds give you approximately 40k m³ of additional Cargo Capacity, you don’t lose as much tank or speed and your align time is a bit faster vs the T2 Expanders.

With the ORE Reinforced Bulkheads you don’t lose as much Cargo Capacity, you gain a nice chunk of tank above what the T2 Bulkheads give you and your align time is faster.

I did look at the Shadow Serpentis Inertial Stabilizers numbers and across the board there was about a 1 second faster align time so I’m not sure the bonus is enough to warrant the cost and would recommend sticking with the T2 modules.

Hope these numbers will be useful for you!

[Zhilia_Mann]

So there is still a missing factor: you might want to fit hyperspatial accelerators. I’ve gone ahead and made a pretty spreadsheet detailing how much time they can save in conjunction with Ascendencies:

Freighter warp time

Bottom line here is that warping faster can save you incredible heaps of time.

(Technical note: this is calibrated for an otherwise unfit Providence using my freighter alt’s skills. The variation from freighter to freighter and skill set to skill set here is on the order of \plusmin 0.5 seconds. Because this is a hack job instead of something professional, I didn’t build the case for warps under 4 AU so those times are going to be off.)

[Nikea_Tiber]

You might also want an alt in a frigate to web you so you enter warp faster.

[yellow_parasol]

Something maybe worth adding: cheap tank implants boosting the EHP.

3% implants are reasonably cheap.

[Tipa_Riot]

Not sure if tank fits are useful at all … if you get cought you are dead anyway, I would assume.

[Scipio_Artelius]

ORE cargo expanders are just under 300 million ISK each, to gain less than 20K extra cargo on a ship that is already over 1 million m^3.

If you are in a situation where you need an extra 20K space, fitting near a billion ISK of modules that could drop is not the way to go.

You’re possibly hauling too much in the first place and ORE mods just makes you an even more shiny target.

The same is also true of the ORE bulkheads.

They are a touch under 300 million each, for an extra catalyst or maybe 2 extra catalyst in a gank fleet.

The economics v the risk doesn’t really play out.

Stick to T2.

[Lady_Ayeipsia]

You also forgot to cover adaptive nano plating. If you want more tank but can’t lose anymore cargo space, these can work. They are not the best but if time isn’t an issue and you want a little more ehp but need cargo 2 bulkheads and 1 anam works. It works better on say amarr than on Caldari.

[yellow_parasol]

i don’t know. the thought is based on the probability of gankers not considering the variable. if you take it as equation, and add unknown variables, then the likelihood of surviving increases with every variable the gankers didn’t foresee as possibility. like, for example, a freighter being fleetbuffed without anyone noticing.

[Tipa_Riot]

As every freighter gets scanned at Jita undock or a couple of jumps further, the gankers know your cargo and fit upfront. Fleet buffs, though difficult to apply with the on grid and active mechanics, would give a clear visible effect.

So the optimization probably worth considering is the ratio cargo value vs tank / gank value. But even better to not transport high value stuff in a freighter.

[yellow_parasol]

fleetbuffs give a visible effect when applied, but not on the buffed ship itself. a little more imagination would help.

they can be applied tactically, by having the freighter warp to designated safespots in between gates, for example, where he just needs to drive by. it’s doable, though of course prolongs the travel by a bit. not much, though, because it’s just warping to bookmark, exitting warp, hitting ctrl+alt+space immediately, receiving the buff and warping to the gate. rinse and repeat for every system or two.

as it wouldn’t be clearly obvious that the freighter takes a short break in between gates, and because anyone following the freighter would pass it in warp early on, thus missing the break, it seems to me that it’s definitely an option.

[Tipa_Riot]

This doesn’t sound practical. If you can spare an alt to buff, you can better web the the freighter into instant warp.

[Lady_Ayeipsia]

Why not do both? Web with your buffer?

That said, there is something to be said for anonymity. You see 2 charond uncloakat a gate. Both start aligning. One is webbed by a corpmate to speed the process up the other not.

Which looks like a better target? Yes the webbed one is harder to catch. Yes the other maybe a fat and easy target. However chances are, the guy being webbed knows what he is doing and if he thinks his cargo is worth the effort of webbing to and from a trade hub, it’s probably a target worth tanking as well.

[Nikea_Tiber]

Another important consideration is slave implants, especially if you pilot a providence.
If you are going to spend the isk on other faction mods, I’d strongly consider a set of high grade slaves first, especially as they can’t be scanned like your fit can (which can lead to gankers underestimating the amount of firepower they need to bring).

Best practice is still to have an alt in fleet, its free istabs at the very least.

[Cassie_Helio]

I just want to hop in here and say that you can use our Pilot Optimizer to see how skills, modules, implants, and ships influence your freighter hauling.

Don’t move it, PUSH it.

[Amhra_Rho]

Oh wow - nice tool!

[Shriven_Intaki]

@Cassie_Helio

use our Pilot Optimizer to see how skills, modules, implants, and ships influence your freighter hauling.

https://www.pushx.net/pilot_optimizer/

Super site!