Is the Vulcan intended to collect fuel from gas giants like the Starfarer, or will it just provide refueling using fuel from its tanks?
TL;DRIn the initial design the Vulcan does not scoop fuel itself but refuels from tanks filled by a fuel provider, acting as a go-between and a profession starter ship rather than a Starfarer replacement.
Certainly in the initial design for it, that's not a thing. It has the big external tank underneath that's sort of segregated into two tanks. So it has an external quantum fuel tank and an external hydrogen fuel tank. So you fill up from a provider of fuel rather than collecting it yourself, and then it's up to you to give that to players. Like the Starfarer, you can set your prices for it. If you want to sell at a discount to incentivize business, up to you. But chances are the reason someone will come to you is someone's in need of something desperately. So you've sort of got the advantage there.
Sorry, it's not a factory to produce this stuff. It's kind of a go-between of, I can get you that stuff. I will help you out and I will get you on the move again, rather than I can create infinite fuel or whatever.
Which is why I know some folks were concerned that we rendered their Starfarers obsolete. Obviously not. There's a reason we refer to this as the profession starter ship. This is for your first forays into refueling. And then you're supposed to work your way up to a Starfarer, because a Starfarer is a much bigger, broader, and probably more expensive to maintain and operate ship, I would imagine.
If you look at the size of the drone compared to just one of the fuel pods on the back of the Starfarer, it's a huge difference in volume. And then the Starfarer has six of those. So it's like turning up with a little jerry can of fuel to get you going versus turning up with a fuel truck.