I am looking for a blueprint for a small, shielded SV for SP play to keep on my CV that I can use when scouting planets, moving around resources, and running around collecting from autominers. Call it a "runabout". I have found some blueprints that come close to what I am looking for but usually they are either too big, not shielded, or don't have enough fuel capacity. I'm working on making my own but my designs always end up looking terrible. Any recommendations? Needs: Small (able to fit through a bay door would be sweet!) Shielded (enough to handle a few hits from random drones/bases as I pass) Fuel enough to fly around a big planet without continually refueling Pressurized, 1 O2 tank should be enough Cockpit (to make it easy to get to autominers) Good visibility while flying Max speed forward Dockable Small amount of storage Would be nice: Jump capable Passenger capable Don't need: Guns (I have a nice combat fighter for fighting) Lights Fridge (emergency rations for the win!) Armor cabinet Thanks!
You may want to retrofit something on the workshop to fit your needs. Something like the Merc-MX5E should work if you remove some of the equipment in creative 1st and add the cpu extenders and shield. You'll probably want more 02 tanks though. Depends on the size of the planet and the max speed of the ship but I've found one 02 tank hasn't been enough for me generally.
Momo's Hawk-CX10 is a very nice little SV ship. It does not have a shield (since it's T2), but if you either A: take out the warp drive or B (what I did) stretch the body just one block longer, you can then move a couple things around and get the warp drive, the shield AND the required T3 CPU's all in there. Workshop link: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1871595775
if mass and weight are enabled, you wont have a little sv with enough storage box to collect your autominers ......
I've got some builds you might be interested in having a look at. https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198020172520/myworkshopfiles/?appid=383120
An SV with a shield will have to be tier 3. Pretty much anything that is tier 3 will most likely have at least a few guns and be at least light combat capable, have decent storage, possibly warp and probably bigger than you have in mind for a scout. Most likely a light T3 fighter is probably going to be the smallest you can find with a shield, but often they are intended for short duration missions, so not much fuel or o2. For longer duration, I guess a lot of tier 3 are probably 60-120 min flight time with ample cargo storage to carry spare fuel cells and o2 bottles. As for 'small' 'fit in bay door' - there are many sizes of bay doors with 9x5 (smaller/medium) and 13x7 (medium/large) probably being the most commonly used. The former is good for most mid game SVs and HVs with the latter suitable for late game larger SVs and HVs. I would guess most useful smaller early/mid game exploration CVs use the 9x5 just because of SVs with wings that tends to demand close to 7 block width. I would also echo the suggestion to look at the MX5E, either the in game version or on jrandall's workshop and repurpose it a bit if needed - its a good well rounded progression/exploration SV. I suspect my progression SV in it T3 form would probably suit you, but I havn't got around to publishing it yet. Functionality and size is similar to the Mx5e, but a very different design intended to be built at level 7 and upgraded lots as you progress, but its firmly an exploration dropship type SV rather than a scout.
I tried out the Hawk CX-10 and after adding a shield it is perfect. Handles really well. I will look at the MX5E, too.
Might be worth a look at: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2012392602 as well. It is what I use for most of my progression from level 7 to 20+ (This is a middle T3 variant with shields etc, there are 3 others starting from level 7 up to level 20). I've just started to publish my progression SVs and HVs, but details not up yet.
JRandall also has one specifically geared toward autominer retrieval. I think it ends with AME. I've also retrofit a shield into his MX1 but that was in 10.5.
