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Freighters - The pros and cons of each race.

Asked by [ Editor ]

Hello there,

I'd like to ask which freighter do you find the best? I am currently trying to decide which one should I start training for. At the moment I find Providence tempting, as it has second best tank, second best speed of 70 m/s, and personally I find it to be one of the best looking ships in EVE.

What bothers me though, is unimpressive cargo capacity compared to Charon and Obelisk.

What are the most important things I should take into consideration when I choose a freighter? What are your experiences with freighters of each race?

Edit: Is an alt with webifier a "must have"? For safety reasons I am not going to travel with cargo worth more than 1 bil.

Edit 2: Thank you all for your answers. It helped me a lot :).

NN comments
mymindisglowing
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Excellent restructuring of the question to negate subjective impact.

mymindisglowing
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This question should be edited and re-phrased such that it is not posed subjectively, inquiring instead into objective aspects like “what are the pros and cons of each freighter”, etc.

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5 answers

10

matt_12 [ Editor ]

Let me point you in the direction of the Charon and the Obelisk.

The Charon is likely the most efficient @ Freighter IV you get 942,000m3 of space and @ V you get 981,250m3. This is significantly bigger than the other races and gives the most bang for your buck.

However, the Obelisk is likely the most common freighter due to the Gallente Industrial V and the fact this is a large chunk of the prerequisits. an Obelisk is 937,500m3 at level V.

The Obelisk is also much tougher 200,000 ehp as opposed to the 180,000 of the Charon.

Also if you are planning on ever extending to Jump capable freighters the same relationships hold true.

EDIT: to take into account your changes.

Ok the Provi has a nice tank, personally I think it's the best looking freighter also. If you are after efficiency, and skill training isn't going to play a big role, you pretty much are ruling out all the ships except the Charon.

As CanHasGank has stated, top speed don't mean very much at the end of the day, you will be going gate to gate. I don't think your 70 m/s is accurate, my charon does nearly 90 m/s you sure you have navigation V on? Evasive Maneuvoring V and Spaceship command are essential skills if they aren't obligatory (can't remember) you should get them anyway.

To answer your tank question, tank in a freighter is basically irrelavant, a Freighter has so much EHP that as long as you are going gate to gate (and not autopiloting) no chancers will bother you.

And unfortunately if there is an organised hi-sec gank eyeing you up no amount of tank will save you.

If they point you, they will be webbing you too, you won't be able to crash back through the gate, you won't be able to warp off, all you can do is hope they have in sufficient DPS and concord will deal with them.

Lastly a dual Webbing alt is not a nescessity in hi-sec, in low or null sec it pretty much is what keeps you alive, but in hi-sec it's nothing more than a timesaving convenience as it pretty much saves the need for aligning.

Oh btw, don't forget to make sure your webbing alt is in the same corp and fleet as the freighter pilot or he will get concorded.

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4

ecaf ersa [ Editor ]

For me it was just down to the race that I had already been training so I ended up in an Obelisk but I am still very happy with how that worked out.

I would pay almost zero attention to the speed of the ship as +/- 10 m/s makes no odds here - they are all very slow and the biggest delay is in aligning for warp rather than getting up to speed.

The tank is also of secondary concern to me as they all have a lot of hit points and all four would need a sizeable fleet to take them down.

For me it is purely a choice of training time, ie. which race's Industrial skill you have trained more of already and cargo size.

NN comments
ptysiu
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It will take me about the same time for me to train any kind freighter.

ecaf ersa
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Then as CanHas said it is just down to cargo size.

ecaf ersa
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WTF did I get downvoted for???!!!???

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4

canhasgank [ Moderator ]

First off this is somewhat subjective, but there are certain considerations I would make when choosing what race freighter to train for.

The most important aspect of a freighter is cargo capacity. The minute differences in speed will be of little importance. Align time is basically irrelevant as you would want to have someone web you out of gate cloak anyway. The only time agility would be relevant is on undocking from a station.

Tank is also not important. If you get tackled on your own in null or low-sec you will most likely loose your ship anyway. Even a solo cruiser wold be able to kill you, given enough time. If you get attacked in high-sec the gankers will have sufficient DPS to take you out no matter your tank.

I would personally not consider training time in this equation. I would pick the "best" ship regardless.

EDIT: For more info on the use of webs on freighters have a look at this related question.

NN comments
ptysiu
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I’m not going to travel in a freighter into low/null space whatsoever. I’m interested in highsec trade only.

canhasgank
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That really doesn’t change the answer, though.

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1

darinas [ Moderator ]

All existing answers are good, but I just wanted to point something out. All the freighters require their race's industrial skill at level V, Spaceship Command at level V and Industry at level V. This also opens up the best tech 1 industrial as well as the race's transport ships (blockade runner and deep space transports.)

With that in mind, training for the Obelisk opens up the Iteron Mark V (largest tech 1 industrial at just short of 40,000 m3 cargo), the Occator (2nd largest deep space transport) and the Viator (an excellent blockade runner, only surpassed by the minmatar prowler IMO.) This gives you many options when the cargo you happen to be hauling is much less than a freighter handles.

To get the best agility out of any freighter, have Evasive Maneuvering at level V and Advanced Spaceship Command at level IV - this will get you into warp quicker at stations, and a webber corp-mate will help you warp even quicker at gates. (Time is money in high-sec trading!! Time is life in low/null-sec trading!!)

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