Feature Creep: Small Time Freighters Unite!

A new ship is on our horizon in the Star Citizen world, or rather an old ship that’s finally seeing its day in the cosmic Staton Star System, and that is the 100i series from Origin. With the staggering small amount of options for starter ships I for one am glad to see a unique option for beginning players who might want a fancier look than a knock off shuttle reject like the Titan or a flying toaster in the Auroa. 

Still, inevitably, the same conversation pops up everytime a smaller ship comes to play with a few SCU’s of cargo space. All the peeps with massive freighters thumbing their nose at small time sods, and fighters trying to get over their insecurities about having zero cargo capacity come out of the woodwork and scream that it’s pointless to have such little cargo space. You’ll never make money off of only two to four SCUs of cargo space. 

I’m here to tell you that those close minded unimaginative fellows are dead wrong in the present and in the future of Star Citizen. Fighter pilots really need that extra ego and encouragement as they steadfastly ignore any buyers remorse they might have about purchasing an expensive ship with no cargo in game that will revolve around economy and physicalized goods to sell. Big freighter boys just need to feel superior. I get it. Calm down both of you, and yes I use fighters and larger cargo boys when I have access to them, but that doesn’t mean that’s the only way to make money in Star Citizen and certainly not the best ways for beginners.

Let’s start with the obvious way small time hullers are going to make money in the future of Starcitizen, and why even a big time huller might want to hang on to one or two smaller craft with cargo bays to make some quick cash or a big time merc might want to add a small huller to his flotilla of killers. To do that we need to take a look at the economy plans with the Quantum system.

Everything will be physicalised meaning every single missile, med pen, gun, or ship will need to be assembled at a factory of some kind before ending up in a store. This will only be possible with the Quata algorithm and simulated NPC behavior to run said economy, but this will also give small time hullers their in to good money. And if they’re really good make excellent money.

Imagine with me that you’ve picked up a slick little ride in the 135c mini huller starter ship from Origin. You look around at your mission options, and then you check the news app on your phone. A pirate scourge has been raiding around the outskirts of Space and the Navy is busy fighting the Vanduul. Opportunity arises when the news anchor mentions a criminal lack, pun not intended, of ordnance amongst the local militias particularly in grenades.

With a smile you run your slick huller with extreme fuel efficiency and speed to Arccorp. Before you can say exploding hotcakes you fill up your six SCU full of grenades of every fashion from the standard baseball throwers to grenade launcher cannon babies. Off you go to the system in question meeting up with several big time hullers who at first laugh at your meager supply at a truck stop, until the pirates attack. 

Not being idiots, they’ve blockaded the system meaning to starve the militia out, and because they’re pirates they lack self control and attack before the ships even try to run their line. The big slow husks are easy prey, but your quick maneuverable ship easily escapes especially when the pirates have larger, slower, and much more valuable prey to scoop up. Why bother with a measly six SCU right?

So you get in, and thanks to the increased demand triple your money. You add to that pretty number when you take a small load of ship components stocking up in a warehouse from the factories on the local planets. High quality stuff you can buy cheap, and sell pricey thanks to the blockade. With that you're humming a tune of victorious profit as you start your return trip.

What our little story above illustrates is how smaller vessels will be able to take advantage of market fluctuation much faster than large hullers. Moreover, in the future everything will be able to be put into a cargo hull. 

Guns, ship components, armor, food, water, multi tools, you name it, it will be able to be stored and hulled. Large hullers are going to make their bread and butter selling base commodities like minables, fuel, edibles, and stuff that will be assembled into various items such as med pins and bullets for at the destination where the big boys sell their goods. 

Does that mean that big freighters will never fill their hulls full of guns? No, but that would be very very expensive and risky. That and unless you have a contract with the navy or an extremely large militia group you're going to exceed the demand for those guns at your destination. You might even lose money as you’re forced to sell the weapons ever cheaper to get them off your hull.

Enter the smaller hullers. They can skip around the universe while avoiding most obstacles and bring the hot commodities to market where they’re needed fast for a price. In the real world we often refer to these fellows as sprinter van operators. A company needs a large item that can’t fit in the back of a pick up, but is way too small to order a whole eighteen wheeler for so they hire a fellow with a van, and pay him big bucks to get it done fast despite the small amount of cargo being carried.

If the economy is realized the way it’s being planned we will see these kinds of missions in game. A small time mining operation might have money to spare, but one of their mole’s components fries. They don’t want to go all the way back to civilization to replace it so they set up a beacon paying good credits for a huller to bring one fast as they keep mining.

Guns for militias who aren’t large enough to fill a Hull C, missiles on the frontier, food stuff to a science expedition, and so on. Eventually, there will have to be a method for transporting items that take up more than one SCU space so you could transport a single big ship gun that takes up three or four SCU space out to a mini militia fleet out on patrol who needs a replacement. The options are endless, and could even convince one of the big boys to buy a speedie smaller option to take advantage of a big payday on a small scale especially if his bigger rig is down for repairs or still getting unloaded.

Now, you might be thinking, “That’s all well and good, but what about now?” Such an impatient man you are! But fine there is a way to use these speedy birds and make decent money in the current Alpha state of the universe. I know, I know, shocking that people are dramatic about such things, but there is an easy answer. Drug running.

Currently, vice is the only method for making money as a small huller. I can’t wait for that to change, but for now you can make decent money with only a couple SCU’s on your hull. I recommend experimenting with the different types of drugs and not just sticking with WIDOW which has an extremely picky demand curve. Pick the right drugs, and you’ll make a sizable amount of money for the small amount of goods.

If you also take advantage of your speed, ease of take off, and landing you can quickly zip back and forth between the drug dens and Grimmhex so fast it will make a Caterpillar Captain’s head spin. True you might get a crimestat if caught, but if you're fast and pay your fines there isn’t too much risk at this point. Just make sure you get a buddy, and practice the prison escape route. It might come in handy if a bounty hunter catches you napping.

Just like you I can hardly wait until we get proper mini hulling missions and demand. I like you will sedate myself selling drugs while I wait for more scrupulous methods for making money with my tiny Pieces. Good luck smugglers, and happy hulling.

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