Starfield Builds: Poltergeist/Workdog

 

HopeTech Workdog/Crimson Fleet Poltergeist

 

Introduction

As with many of my builds lately, I got called out to make a tiny cargo hauler during Crimson Flyboy's YouTube stream. The Svyatoshchik was apparently still too big, clocking at 54m total length. Crimson demonstrated one that was 48m in total length, so that was mark target to meet or make smaller.

In a humorous twist, I had just captured a Crimson Fleet Ghost III and had torn it apart and was about 75% through creating the "first draft" build of a much larger cargo ship. It made pivoting to this new challenge so much better. The end result is 40m in length, trimming a whole 8m off of Crimson Flyboy's build and a whopping 14 meters off of the Svyatoschik.

This build was made using a Crimson Fleet Ghost III on a Level 37 character with Piloting 3 and Ship Design 2. I took great pains to make sure that no merging is necessary. I also placed an extra Deimos Spine C on top to give a couple more weapon mounts for further weapon expansion. I picked up an extra Shielded Cargo Hold from my Outpost Builder and the Scan Jammer from the Red Mile.

The value listed in the Ship menu is 281,100 credits but much of that came over from the Ghost III. I spent about 140k credits, out of pocket, to make the build. Now, if you are coming in with a lesser version of the Crimson Fleet Ghost it will cost more. If you are insane and buy a Watchdog variant, that cost is added to the total.

 

Head Canon/Lore

In today's high volume transport industry, HopeTech is always innovating. As more and more small outposts are being settled, a new kind of cargo vessel is needed to server our valuable customers in these rugged settings. Beginning in 2331, HopeTech is offering the Workdog line of compact cargo vessels.

These new Workdogs can land anywhere and, thanks to our dedicated staff of experienced engineers, we've pack a lot of cargo into a tiny vessel. Compared to some of HopeTech's earlier models, the Workdog can match a vessel nearly twice its size. Plus, it has the horsepower to plow through the most extreme of planetary conditions, virtually guaranteeing no hiccups to your delivery schedule.

Each Watchdog comes with the same care and attention HopeTech is known for. Whether it is the first time or the hundredth, when you pilot a HopeTech vessel, you pilot quality. So come check out the Workdog, or any of our quality vessels.

HopeTech. Quality. Community

- excerpt from a recent HopeTech advertisement

 

Components

Undercarriage/Lower Deck

1. Hope 5 Landing Gear
2. Hope 4 Landing Bay
3. (2) Caravel V103 Cargo Hold (Port/Stbd) 
4. (2) SAE-4110 Engines in bottom configuration (Port/Stbd)
5. (2) Caravel V103 Cargo Hold (Port/Stbd)
6. (2) Hope 55 Landing Gear (CF Ghost or Hopetown vendor)
7. (2) Caravel V102 Shielded Cargo Hold
8. SGD 2300 Grav Drive
9. 102DS Mag Inertial Reactor
10. HopeTech All-in-One Berth 2x1
11. Hope 11 Docker - Fore
    

 

Main Deck

1. (2) Amun-7 Engine (CF Ghost III)
2. (2) Panoptes De Gama 1020 Cargo Hold
3. HopeTech Control Station 2x1
4. HopeTech Storeroom Fuselage 1x1 (Ghost or Hopetown vendor)
5. (2) PB-175 Neutron Beam (attached to HopeTech Fuselage)
6. Scan Jammer Multi-Frequency (Red Mile, attached to Fuselage)
7. Armstrong 20E Cockpit (Ghost III or Hopetown vendor)
   

 

Upper Deck/Structural

1. (2) SAE-4110 Engines in top configuration (Port/Stbd)
2. (2) Panoptes De Gama 1020 Cargo Hold
3. (2) 500T He3 Fuel Tank
4. Warden SG-200 Shield Generator attached to Top point of Aft 500T tank
5. Deimos Spine C - Aft attached to Top point of Forward 500T tank.
   

 

Assembly

Construct each deck/layer as shown in the images above. Connect Hope 5 Landing Gear to bottom of Reactor and Grav Drive. Select Hope 4 Landing Bay and Caravel V103 Cargo Holds. Drag beneath Lower Deck and connect the rear point of the landing bay just in front of the Hope 5 Landing Gear. The front of the cargo hold should extend slight past the opening to the Landing Bay.

To connect the Main Deck to the Lower Deck, start by placing the Amun-7 engines on top of the SAE-4110 engines. Select the remaining pieces of the Main Deck and drag them over to the top of the Lower Deck. The 2x1 Hab should rest on top of the Reactor and Grav Drive.

Connect the Shield Generator to the top of the Aft 500T tank. Connect the Deimos Spine C to the top of the Forward 500T tank. Select all of the now-connected pieces of the Top Deck and drag them over to the top of the Main Deck. The SAE-4110 engines will rest on top of the Amun-7 engines.

Customization & Upgrade Path

If you wanted to run a perfectly law-abiding version of this vessel, you could remove the Scan Jammer and replace the Shielded Cargo Holds with the non-shielded variants. Doing this would garner an additional 120 Cargo Capacity before and Crew or Skill modifiers.

For the maroon color, I just matched it to the Ghost's Cockpit and Fuselage. The dark gray color was made by selecting any gray color and moving the brightness slider to the left until its position is about at the halfway point of the leftmost swatch. 

If building it as the Workdog equivalent, just use the default colors for each module. That may necessitate deleting and re-adding each component. I used a medium-light gray as a shortcut in the image below and I think that I inverted the color scheme on the De Gama cargo holds. Again, a quick delete and re-add will put the default color scheme on.

In regards to upgrades, better Reactor, Grav Drive, Weapons, and Shield are high on the list of things that can be upgraded as your character gets access to them. Upgrading the Engines will improve mobility, but unless there is some serious cargo upgrade, the next level of Slayton Aerospace engines will probably be more than sufficient. It is possible to upgrade the Cargo modules, but some merging might be necessary.

Final Build