Yeah I did the same, although I did actually apply the CCU which isn't something I'd usually do for an unreleased ship
I definitely feel this makes the mole obsolete. Obviously won't know for sure until it's in game but I'm struggling to come up with any reason why a crew of any size would take the mole over the arrastra assuming they had access to both, but maybe once it's actually flyable the extra size and bulk will mean it is preferable to take the mole for some jobs, idk.
I do feel that both the prospector and Orion still have a strong enough niche that the arrastra doesn't make them obsolete at all though, imo
It's definitely close enough in price to an Orion to raise that question.
The Orion seems like the kind of ship you park in an asteroid belt and just go to town on, and have other ships come to it for support, like maybe a hull c come to collect the refined resources, maybe a herc or something to resupply, etc. so the Orion can keep nomming on asteroids.
The arrastra though seems a bit more active, plays more like any other mining ship, just bigger and with a built in refinery so you don't need to worry about quant timers, etc. which is more my style for sure.
I haven't been this excited for a ship in a while.
To me it completely replaces the MOLE, even for undercrewed operations, and potentially even for occasional solo use, since most of the functionality is centralised on the bridge, so you won't have to run down ladders and elevators to reach the mining heads, plus they are on rails now so no need to swap back and forth to the pilot seat to make small adjustments. Of course, it really depends on how engineering gameplay impacts large ships with small/solo crews.
And 500+ scu of cargo? Crazy. It's even got a tractor beam for loading/unloading.
For me it was an instant buy (well, upgrade). Anyone else?
One adds the rust purposefully I believe