Best Auto collector?

[johneh77]

As the title says what is THE BEST (not whatever is handy) ship for collecting drops automatically. Presently I am using PEs and having issues with them dying to often cause they just don't run when they should.

Was wondering about a Peregrine or Gorgon? Something that will survive a while. I thought more turrets might help they seem to die to fighter swarms I understand nothing is going to stand up to a K or I. Would Katanas be better? They have similar base stats to a PE but can have better equipment and those are free?

[LameFox]

Do you set them to run away? If they're left on "use judgement" they will generally try to fight until it's too late.

In terms of what is "THE BEST" that depends on your parameters. All I want is that it's cheap and fast. If it dies occasionally, whatever.

Given your complaint I assume you want it not to die at all. In that case I would worry only about speed and hitpoints. There's no point in trying to find an M ship to solo fighter swarms, just pick something that can take a hit and then outrun its pursuers. A Katana might be decent. Cobras are also pretty fast, and have a decent chunk of hull HP to go along with their 2 M shields. If you want three shields, a Cerberus is faster than a Peregrine IIRC. Frigates also repair their hulls faster (edit: because you can give them repair drones), which may become relevant because repeat-orders ships don't ever go for repairs I'm pretty sure.

[adeine]

I use S ships with repeat orders set to collect->dock for fairly safe areas. For more dangerous areas I'll have their default behaviour set to dock at a defence station, and then manually give them a collect order when the area is clear and there is stuff to collect.

[Ehli]

I use the Yasur for this. It's fast enough to evade most stuff. Only sometimes it gets into problems: a "flee" command does wonders with that ship. If it gets destroyed I just get the free replacement, as it does not die enough for that timer to matter.

[D1llen Hunt]

For neutral combat zones like the HOP borders I usualy use Pegasi, in case of Xenon borders I go with Takobas or Mambas since they have 2 shields and are quite fast. I set them to Flee and deploy lasertowers for distraction and have maybe lost 1 in 20.

With the faster Cargo drones in 7.5 I now have deployed Guppys in Family Zhin, Hatikvas and Frontier Edge, my 3 most active Xenon Borders. Usualy the local forces are enough to keep them safe or distract to flee. The Guppy in Hatikvas was forced to flee once when an I Came through.

[vvvvvvvv]

As the title says what is THE BEST (not whatever is handy) ship for collecting drops automatically.

Erlking with 10-15 cargo drones. Tried it recently, it blows everything else out of the water.

Configure L turrets to "Attack capitals first", M turrets to "attack fighter first", set it next to gate defense station in hatikvah, and put "collect wares on area" on repeat order. It'll spam cargo drones, and with their speed boost it is just beautiful. It typically can knock out anything that comes through the gate without help. It will get scratched a little, though. You could assign an escort to it, but escorts tend to die.

The only issue is that it doesn't work well with auto-deposit, because it is a capital ship. So you'll have to teleport to it once in a while.

In theory you could o the same with Xenon H and with even more drones, but H is fragile while Erlking isn't. Asgard probably will work the same way.

[LameFox]

I guess if we count XL ships then a supply ship can carry as many drones as an H and tank more. Possible overkill though.

[grapedog]

As the title says what is THE BEST (not whatever is handy) ship for collecting drops automatically.

Erlking with 10-15 cargo drones. Tried it recently, it blows everything else out of the water.

Configure L turrets to "Attack capitals first", M turrets to "attack fighter first", set it next to gate defense station in hatikvah, and put "collect wares on area" on repeat order. It'll spam cargo drones, and with their speed boost it is just beautiful. It typically can knock out anything that comes through the gate without help. It will get scratched a little, though. You could assign an escort to it, but escorts tend to die.

The only issue is that it doesn't work well with auto-deposit, because it is a capital ship. So you'll have to teleport to it once in a while.

In theory you could o the same with Xenon H and with even more drones, but H is fragile while Erlking isn't. Asgard probably will work the same way.

With the change to cargo drone speed, cargo drones are actually a top notch choice for this now.

The only downside is no easy repeat orders option.... like I can have a single ship quickly move between True Sight and SC2 and collect drops on both sides easily.... or between Pontifex's Claim and PM II.

So I'm of the mind now that in a single loot spot, like defending a gate... i'd probably use an L/XL with cargo drones for the task, if they are already in the area. But if I need them to move around a bit, I'd probably pick still a scout ship.

I'm curious if an AUX ship, set to repeat order/collect loot, can ALSO repair cap ships that need it... probably can't do both sadly. Maybe the carrier would be the better option for this since its repair function isnt as important.

[blackphoenixx]

I use Takobas set to escape and drop laser towers when attacked. I've lost maybe half a dozen over multiple days of gametime.
They're generally fine though and apparently successfully escaping is really good for morale? All my looters in combat zones tend to get morale pretty fast.

[BitByte]

In my LT-game I had 2 Odysseys fleets protecting gate towards Xenon territory and there was 2 Pegasus Vanguards assigned to collect drops.
Now as 7.50 it might work even better as they can boost away even if they get hits to shields. I haven't played LT-save since 7.10HF3 was released.

[johneh77]

Lots of good ideas here. I do keep my ships set for global command escape. I guess I should do more with laser towers.
I never heard of using cargo pods for that will have to look into it when I get a bit further in my game.

[Stabby Dave]

I have a pimped out Barbarossa. It's fast, has good shields and can fight.