o/
I’ve routinely found myself in need of a ship that can perform quick hauling errands through low-sec. Round trips of less than 10 jumps to pick up relatively small cargoes. A runabout, if you will. Typically, I’ve used a travel-fit frigate like this Atron to perform these routine tasks.
Travel frigates are excellent for this kind of utility. They can get off gates with a fast (< 3 sec) align, which is good enough to evade most gate tacklers, outside of a dedicated camp. They're also excellent for burning a long distance off a gate or station for setting bookmarks, or as non-combat scouts, cloaking up in a perch. I like to keep a core probe launcher on them for wormhole travel utility and basic scanning work.
However, their small cargo bays can be problematic if you need to pick up more than a handful of modules from a nearby station. And unfortunately, those frigate hulls with large cargo bays tend not to be agile enough to get below a 3-second align. To address this limitation, when needing to haul mid-range cargoes, I've taken to keeping a mwd-cloak trick capable Nereus fitted for a relatively fast align (6 sec). If there's someone on the gate or ugly local, I can mwd-cloak trick to jump off the gate as safely as possible. If things look clear, I can risk jumping directly and shave 4 seconds and some hassle.
But an industrial's cargo capacity really is overkill for these medium hauling errands. I've been looking for a solution to this problem for a while, and I think I've found it. Enter the Sunesis, the Special Edition Jovian destroyer. It has 600m3 cargo capacity, can align in under 2 seconds, scans very well, and even retains some combat capability in this travel fit configuration.
The Fit
First, the essentials. It fits a Tech 1 cloak to allow it to cloak up in a safe. The Tech II version is both unnecessary and requires too much CPU. Two warp core stabilizers provide an extra layer of protection against a fast locking tackler. They are Tech II versions to minimize the targeting drawbacks in case you do need to engage in combat. It fits two Tech II inertial stabilizers, as well as two low friction nozzle joint rigs in order to get the ship below a 2 second align. The final rig slot is given over to a small processor overclocking unit to accommodate the required CPU demands.
A core probe launcher is a necessary component to make this fit capable of wormhole navigation, and it takes advantage of the hull’s 37.5% bonus to scanner probe strength. To further capitalize on that bonus, a scan rangefinding array provides an additional 5% scan strength.
Rounding out the mids, we have a 5mn microwarpdrive and two medium shield extenders, all of which are the compact meta versions to avoid overloading pg/cpu. The extenders give the ship the necessary ehp to survive a basic smartbomb camp or limited engagement. The microwarpdrive allows it to burn back to the gate in an emergency, the speed to set long-distance instant-undock or perch bookmarks in a reasonable amount of time, as well as its typical pvp application.
If you should find yourself in a fight, this fit does come with a few teeth. The hull has a 50% bonus to drone hitpoints and damage, and with four Tech II light scouts, you can output nearly 120 dps with max skills. While your drones are pecking away at your opponent, you can apply your two energy neuts (again, the compact meta version) to drain your opponent’s cap, either to win or simply escape.
There’s room for an extra set of drones. I have salvage drones on this fit just for the versatility, but a second set of Tech II light scouts would probably be best, in case you have to warp out of a fight and leave your original flight behind.
[Sunesis, Runabout]
Warp Core Stabilizer II
Warp Core Stabilizer II
Inertial Stabilizers II
Inertial Stabilizers II
5MN Y-T8 Compact Microwarpdrive
Medium F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
Medium F-S9 Regolith Compact Shield Extender
Scan Rangefinding Array I
Prototype Cloaking Device I
Core Probe Launcher I, Core Scanner Probe I
Small Gremlin Compact Energy Neutralizer
Small Gremlin Compact Energy Neutralizer
Small Processor Overclocking Unit I
Small Low Friction Nozzle Joints I
Small Low Friction Nozzle Joints I
Hobgoblin II x4
Salvage Drone I x4
Core Scanner Probe I x32
The Stats
The following stats assume max skills.
CPU usage: 99.88%
PG usage: 91.43%
ehp: 7,312
DPS: 119
Targeting range: 17.1 km
Scan resolution: 135 mm
Signature: 96.1
Cargo: 600m3
Align time: 1.67 sec
Warp Speed: 4.5 AU/s
Speed (no mwd): 275 m/s
Speed (with mwd): 1577 m/s
o7
Chasing the Black 