Jump Freighters in Trinity 1.1

Hi there,

With Trinity we introduced "Jump Freighters", ships designed to be the ultimate low security and 0.0 transport ships. As T2 hulls, they were only going to be available through invention and being capital ships, they were bound to be expensive.

The initial idea was to make them like the normal T1 freighters but:

* With Jump drives* 30% of the total T1 cargo capacity* Increased hit points, a 20% increase across the board (hull, armor, shields)* A bit faster and more agile

Jump freighters were also unique in that they were the only capital ship that could use star gates, allowing them to enter high security space freely.

So what failed?

Since they were supposedly the ultimate low security and 0.0 transport ships why isn't everyone zooming around in one now? There were other more enticing alternatives to the jump freighters, such as the Rorqual and cargo hold fitted dreadnoughts (shivers). The jump freighters just were just too expensive and the bang wasn't worth the buck.

Making them more attractive

As jump freighters don't have any slots it was pretty straight forward to "boost" them. Essentially there were just a few things we could tinker with. Increased cargo hold, better survivability, range boost on the jump drive, decrease fuel consumption or more agility to align faster at gates.

In the end we decided to bestow upon them:

* A 25% bonus to their base cargo hold capacity* More agility, by changing the 5% velocity bonus to an agility bonus* More survivability, by making the 10% hull hit point bonus, also apply to shield and armor* A decreased fuel cost by increase the jump fuel need per level bonus to 10%

We also made them a bit easier to manufacture, increasing the max production runs on their blueprints to 10 runs.

So why didn't we give it an increased jump range?

Moving transport ships in EVE has been slow; they are generally less agile, slower in warp etc. On normal freighter runs, it's always the freighter that is holding back the pace of the gang. Since jumping is instantaneous, our way of slowing down jump freighters is by decreasing their jump range, forcing ships that are jumping with them as support to take shorter leaps. We think this it is a fine and fair compromise.

In conclusion

With the cargo hold of jump freighters reaching up to 367.000 m³, the increased survivability and lower jump fuel consumption after these changes we believe they will become more popular. Of course they are still a very role specific and expensive ship should be considered a tool for corporations and alliances rather than individual players.

Until next time,

-Nozh