Using jlehtone's approximate formula for cargo, speed and steering costs in
this post, I made two Haulage Efficiency (HE) lists that may help. Working assumptions are described at the end. The Excel 2013 spreadsheet containing workings and graphs for comment, use and error-reporting is
here.
Key
HE: Haulage Efficiency: (k m3/M Cr) * (speed/100).
M Cr: Total cost of ship in millions (hull and equipment plus varied numbers of cargo expansions).
k m3: Size of empty cargobay at optimal haulage efficiency in thousands.
m/s: Maximum speed.
GJ: Maximum shield capacity.
Top 10 TS/TS+ for Universe Traders, based on haulage efficiency
1: Argon Mistral Super Freighter
2: Split Caiman Hauler
3: Paranid Demeter Hauler
4: Paranid Demeter Super Freighter XL
5: Argon Mercury Hauler
6: Split Caiman Super Freighter XL
7: Argon Mercury Super Freighter XL
8: Teladi Vulture Hauler
9: Boron Dolphin Hauler
10: Argon Mercury Prototype
_1: 3.53 HE_2.31 M Cr__78 m/s_150 GJ_10463 m3_Argon Mistral Super Freighter
_2: 3.45 HE_1.44 M Cr_100 m/s__75 GJ__5003 m3_Split Caiman Hauler
_3: 3.35 HE_1.45 M Cr__88 m/s_100 GJ__5533 m3_Paranid Demeter Hauler
_4: 3.29 HE_2.00 M Cr__79 m/s_125 GJ__8361 m3_Paranid Demeter Super Freighter XL
_5: 3.21 HE_1.47 M Cr__80 m/s_100 GJ__5913 m3_Argon Mercury Hauler
_6: 3.20 HE_2.13 M Cr__90 m/s_100 GJ__7604 m3_Split Caiman Super Freighter XL
_7: 3.10 HE_2.07 M Cr__72 m/s_125 GJ__8922 m3_Argon Mercury Super Freighter XL
_8: 3.07 HE_1.42 M Cr__64 m/s__75 GJ__6843 m3_Teladi Vulture Hauler
_9: 3.02 HE_1.54 M Cr__60 m/s_100 GJ__7813 m3_Boron Dolphin Hauler
10: 2.99 HE_1.53 M Cr_120 m/s_100 GJ__3823 m3_Argon Mercury Prototype
Top 10 TS/TS+ for Station Traders, based on haulage efficiency
1: Split Caiman Hauler
2: Paranid Demeter Hauler
3: Paranid Demeter Miner
4: Argon Mercury Hauler
5: Teladi Vulture Miner
6: Teladi Vulture Hauler
7: Split Caiman / Split Caiman Tanker (
tied)
...
9: Argon Mistral Super Freighter
10: Boron Dolphin Hauler
_1: 5.22 HE_0.91 M Cr_100 m/s__75 GJ__4803 m3_Split Caiman Hauler
_2: 5.06 HE_0.92 M Cr__88 m/s_100 GJ__5353 m3_Paranid Demeter Hauler
_3: 4.82 HE_0.71 M Cr_117 m/s__75 GJ__2927 m3_Paranid Demeter Miner
_4: 4.80 HE_0.95 M Cr__80 m/s_100 GJ__5733 m3_Argon Mercury Hauler
_5: 4.77 HE_0.65 M Cr__86 m/s__50 GJ__3673 m3_Teladi Vulture Miner
_6: 4.66 HE_0.92 M Cr__64 m/s__75 GJ__6703 m3_Teladi Vulture Hauler
_7: 4.60 HE_0.60 M Cr_124 m/s__50 GJ__2213 m3_Split Caiman / Split Caiman Tanker (
identical stats)
...
_9: 4.47 HE_1.78 M Cr__78 m/s_150 GJ_10213 m3_Argon Mistral Super Freighter
10: 4.41 HE_1.04 M Cr__60 m/s_100 GJ__7673 m3_Boron Dolphin Hauler
Top 10 TS/TS+ for Local Traders, based on haulage efficiency
1: Split Caiman Hauler
2: Argon Mistral Super Freighter
3: Paranid Demeter Hauler
4: Paranid Demeter Super Freighter XL
5: Argon Mercury Hauler
6: Split Caiman Super Freighter XL
7: Argon Mercury Prototype
8: Paranid Demeter Miner
9: Teladi Vulture Hauler
10: Argon Mercury Super Freighter XL
_1: 3.74 HE_1.43 M Cr_100 m/s__75 GJ__5363 m3_Split Caiman Hauler
_2: 3.67 HE_2.29 M Cr__78 m/s_150 GJ_10813 m3_Argon Mistral Super Freighter
_3: 3.61 HE_1.43 M Cr__88 m/s_100 GJ__5893 m3_Paranid Demeter Hauler
_4: 3.46 HE_1.99 M Cr__79 m/s_125 GJ__8732 m3_Paranid Demeter Super Freighter XL
_5: 3.44 HE_1.45 M Cr__80 m/s_100 GJ__6273 m3_Argon Mercury Hauler
_6: 3.38 HE_2.11 M Cr__90 m/s_100 GJ__7975 m3_Split Caiman Super Freighter XL
_7: 3.32 HE_1.51 M Cr_120 m/s_100 GJ__4183 m3_Argon Mercury Prototype
_8: 3.31 HE_1.23 M Cr_117 m/s__75 GJ__3465 m3_Paranid Demeter Miner
_9: 3.26 HE_1.41 M Cr__64 m/s__75 GJ__7223 m3_Teladi Vulture Hauler
10: 3.25 HE_2.05 M Cr__72 m/s_125 GJ__9292 m3_Argon Mercury Super Freighter XL
Known issues
Some of displayed stats above have a slight rounding issue with their last numbers. They are accurate in the spreadsheet so it makes no difference to the order. I just can't be bothered to manually edit the pasted numbers
Working assumptions
1. Since estimated max speed and steering costs on a TS are relatively trivial (<14k and <10k, respectively) and aid survival, they are assumed to be purchased in full. Full shielding also applied. 12 drones were also added to each ship since, IIRC, that is the number UTs aim to buy.
2. 50 jumps of fuel (500 m3) and a jumpdrive picked for each ship. Jump fuel volume is relatively less important for larger ships so maybe a player would rather adjust that number per ship type but I didn't want to go into that level of ship-specific, subjective detail.
3. Volume of equipment and fuel was subtracted from cargo space after expansion prior to estimating Haulage Efficiency (EF). For that I used the following equation:
(spare cargo space/total cost of ship)*(max speed/100)
Haulage Efficiency was calculated for each percentage point of max hull upgrades (e.g. 100 times per ship) and the most efficient percentage for each ship was picked. Since in the end that meant usage of only 18-58% (UTs) or 13-40% (station traders) of the available cargo expansions, depending on ship, comments relating to whether the game or a players interaction with the economy would work better with fewer, larger ships can apply.
4. No weapons were added. Personally, I have used missile-only, cheap guns in the past for IZ but apparently weapons can lead to bad results OOZ so I left them off. If using multiple weapons of significant value is preferred, a player would need to fine-tune costs more than I was willing to.
5. I appreciate that 'haulage efficiency' as described above is not the be-all and end-all of things. I've prefixed cost, speed, shield capacity and empty cargo space after haulage efficiency to ship names to provide further info.
6. Equipment for Universe Traders (~533 m3 and ~750k Cr):
Best Buys Locator
Best Selling Price Locator
Boost Extension
Fighter Drone x12 (
Commonwealth hulls only)
Jumpdrive
Keris x12 (
Terran hulls only)
Navigation Command Software MK1
Singularity Engine Time Accelerator
Special Command Software MK1
Trade Command Software MK1
Trade Command Software MK2
Trade Command Software MK3
Triplex Scanner
Jump fuel (500 ECs)
No weapons
7. Equipment for Station Traders (~533 m3 and ~270k Cr):
Best Buys Locator
Best Selling Price Locator
Boost Extension
Fighter Drone x12 (
Commonwealth hulls only)
Jumpdrive
Keris x12 (
Terran hulls only)
Navigation Command Software MK1
Singularity Engine Time Accelerator
Special Command Software MK1
Trade Command Software MK1
Trade Command Software MK2
CLS Mk1
CLS Mk2
Triplex Scanner
Jump fuel (500 ECs)
No weapons
8. Equipment for Local Traders (~133 m3 and ~745k Cr):
Best Buys Locator
Best Selling Price Locator
Boost Extension
Fighter Drone x12 (
Commonwealth hulls only)
Jumpdrive
Keris x12 (
Terran hulls only)
Navigation Command Software MK1
Singularity Engine Time Accelerator
Special Command Software MK1
Trade Command Software MK1
Trade Command Software MK2
Trade Command Software MK3
Triplex Scanner
Jump fuel (100 ECs)
No weapons
Change log
v1.0 - 13.04.2015 - Initial release (Universe Traders and Station Traders).
v1.1 - 14.04.2015 - Listed cargo values now 'spare cargo'; Remove redundant equipment.
v1.2 - 14.04.2015 - Added Local Traders.
v1.3 - 15.04.2015 - Fixed Drake shields, counted free shield (egosoftuserdude); used accurate hull costs; merged tabs; minor streamlining.
v1.4 - 21.04.2015 - Fixed missing accounting for shield volume; simplified some cell code.