Best ship for ST/UT

[Klord]

Im thinking of deploying couple of ST/UTs. In AP, I used Split Drake and casualties were extremely rare. What do you guys think would be a good long term ST/UT ship?
Specially considering the volatility of the FL universe with all the dynamic relationships and Xenon activity Im thinking of going for an Armored transport (3x expensive). Or should I just stick to the good old Drake?

[cheef.che]

Im thinking of deploying couple of ST/UTs. In AP, I used Split Drake and casualties were extremely rare. What do you guys think would be a good long term ST/UT ship?
Specially considering the volatility of the FL universe with all the dynamic relationships and Xenon activity Im thinking of going for an Armored transport (3x expensive). Or should I just stick to the good old Drake?

Duke "donated" me a bunch of Athenas and Moas - they working fine as UT. And they always survive against PX or Q (the worst event I saw it's about 90% hull left). However I'm very rarely see they used whole cargo space.

[Drone_101]

Every ship has pros and cons. Athenas and Mules are relatively quick, well shielded and have really good cargo holds for bulky wares; but come at a huge initial investment cost and will give you relatively little return on that investment, unless you can get some charitable donations from friendly or not so friendly factions

Early game I was using Caiman Tankers, quick, cheap, and easy to equip if bought from Rhy's Crusade you can equip them 2 sectors over in Ministry of Finance - just bring your own jump drives with a TM. But their cargo holds are a little lacking and they're not very durable. Not lost any yet but I've had a few close calls even with Emergency Jump set to 95% shields, they poop out a cloud of Fighter Drones when scared like little Squids pooping out a cloud of ink.

After that I moved up to the Baldric once I unlocked the appropriate shipyards. They were very easy to equip seeing as there was a Research Station selling jump drives in the same sector you can first buy them from. They've a good balance of speed and cargo for a standard issue TS ship.

Finally got offered a cheap second hand Mule in Split space and have sent it back to the HQ to reverse engineer and am now in the middle of printing out my fleet of Mules from the HQ, my mid-game goal is to get the HQ wired up to a complex that can feed it enough resources to make them endlessly. Once the Mule UT fleet has hit ~50 ships I'll move over to Fighters and warships. Nothing beats doing a station construct mission and 30 seconds after popping down a new factory having 3 UTs swoop in to make profitssssss off the virgin station.

TL;DR - Caiman Tankers Early game, Baldric Early-mid, Mules+Athenas Mid game+

[BaZERGer]

One downside to the armored transporters is their slower turn rate, but i imagine their increased speed makes up for it.

[Gryoz]

I'm gonna go for the (Terran) Mercator Armoured Transport when I restore my reputation with the Terrans and start replacing my current 5 UTs, not planning on having very many UTs with the dynamic relations, and the increased survivability is rather appealing to me

[Killjaeden]

Im thinking of deploying couple of ST/UTs. In AP, I used Split Drake and casualties were extremely rare. What do you guys think would be a good long term ST/UT ship?
Specially considering the volatility of the FL universe with all the dynamic relationships and Xenon activity Im thinking of going for an Armored transport (3x expensive). Or should I just stick to the good old Drake?

Pft what do you need "armored transport" for. Look at Drake, it has armour plates all over it. Use Drake, its da best ... i may be biased, i modelled it

[Midnightknight]

I use a few "Mules" they are awesome, a bit faster than the Athena for a bit less cargo.

[DannyDSC]

I use a few "Mules" they are awesome, a bit faster than the Athena for a bit less cargo.

Mules are perfect for ST/UT.

Maybe is only my problem but for me, the real challenge, is to obtain the required reputation for mk3 software. The same for the jumpdrive to buy for my commercial agent assigned to my first station in the Boron sectors.

[Klord]

Commercial Agent? Does that command available in FL?

[Gryoz]

Mules are perfect for ST/UT.

Maybe is only my problem but for me, the real challenge, is to obtain the required reputation for mk3 software. The same for the jumpdrive to buy for my commercial agent assigned to my first station in the Boron sectors.

I've had no issues getting Trade command software mk3, especially as the Teladi are not enemies/hostile with any of the major races it's easy to keep good relations with them. As for jumpdrive, I'd suggest you look into the Goners

[DannyDSC]

Commercial Agent? Does that command available in FL?

Yes, if you have no problem with ***modified***, you can install different scripts that work perfectly. But I don't want to go offtopic

Mules are perfect for ST/UT.

Maybe is only my problem but for me, the real challenge, is to obtain the required reputation for mk3 software. The same for the jumpdrive to buy for my commercial agent assigned to my first station in the Boron sectors.

I've had no issues getting Trade command software mk3, especially as the Teladi are not enemies/hostile with any of the major races it's easy to keep good relations with them. As for jumpdrive, I'd suggest you look into the Goners

Great advice my friend! I’ll try to follow them tonight if I can

Thanks!

[Snafu_X3]

Commercial Agent? Does that command available in FL?

That BP command has been replaced by the Station Manager's command set

[cheef.che]

Commercial Agent? Does that command available in FL?

Yes, if you have no problem with ***modified***, you can install different scripts that work perfectly. But I don't want to go offtopic

Mules are perfect for ST/UT.

Maybe is only my problem but for me, the real challenge, is to obtain the required reputation for mk3 software. The same for the jumpdrive to buy for my commercial agent assigned to my first station in the Boron sectors.

I've had no issues getting Trade command software mk3, especially as the Teladi are not enemies/hostile with any of the major races it's easy to keep good relations with them. As for jumpdrive, I'd suggest you look into the Goners

Great advice my friend! I’ll try to follow them tonight if I can

Thanks!

with agents through diplomacy it's also possible to buy Trade command software mk3 blueprint around 1500000 and have it in your HQ/HUB/Equipment docs permanetly

[DannyDSC]

Commercial Agent? Does that command available in FL?

Yes, if you have no problem with ***modified***, you can install different scripts that work perfectly. But I don't want to go offtopic

I've had no issues getting Trade command software mk3, especially as the Teladi are not enemies/hostile with any of the major races it's easy to keep good relations with them. As for jumpdrive, I'd suggest you look into the Goners

Great advice my friend! I’ll try to follow them tonight if I can

Thanks!

with agents through diplomacy it's also possible to buy Trade command software mk3 blueprint around 1500000 and have it in your HQ/HUB/Equipment docs permanetly

thanks!