Slow, tough and unarmed: the Prospector gathering craft
Published
In short: the Prospector is the small craft that gathers. Switch its work on and it flies to the ore and salvage you allow, digs until its hold is full, brings the load home to the carrier and goes back again, all by itself. It is slow and carries no guns, but it is built to take hits. Numbers are placeholders.
At a glance
| Top speed | 150 m/s at Mk1 |
| Hull | three times a fighter’s, with tank armour |
| Guns | none |
| Hold | 15 m³: 37 t of ore |
| Digging | set by its gathering rig |
| Hangar room | 2,500 m³ |
| Build | 60 t of ore at Mk1 |
What it does
- Gathers by itself. With work on, it picks the allowed resource node nearest the carrier and keeps going round. More: work and gathering.
- Ore and wrecks. It digs ore patches on the ground and salvage fields left by battles.
- Unloads on the move. Beside the carrier, a tractor beam from an open hangar bay draws the ore in, even while the carrier travels.
- Comes home when hurt. Below half its hull it docks, is repaired, and goes back to work.
- Not worth a missile. Unarmed craft are never the target of missiles, and enemy fighters shoot armed craft first.
- In units. Prospectors fly as a unit of one or more, in threes. A unit of three carries and digs three times as much.
The carrier starts with one Prospector. Build more in the machine shop (F10). It shows as G in the fleet list.
Equipment
- Modules: a cargo bay of 15 m³ and a gathering rig, which sets how fast it digs.