Jonah-8208I am just about to buy and equip a fleet carrier, I have watched some yt videos re fitting them out and running costs but one thing I cannot see is obvious is how to transfer all my ships currently docked in stations to the Fleet Carrier?
For Runnnig costs I have a very good solution:
I will take you some investment (Pypthon + engineering) but after a while you will be able to make 20.000.000 per run (<> 12mn) or to farm grade 4 material (Encoded and Manufactured), play this in SOLO Mode.
It is a passenger mission flown from Robigo Mines to Sothis/Sirius Atmospherics, so you'll need at least 30ly jump range (2 X jumps), there is no risk of an interdiction as long as you don't keep passengers onboard when they ask you to kill enemies in which case you will be hunted and shot, check your messages and disembark them when you have one.
So in normal circumstances, you don't even need a shield which will free one slot for passengers. https://s.orbis.zone/mz2l
It takes some time to build Reputation but the more you have, the better the passengers pays, some of them <> 5.000.000 for the trip, as I said, I make more than 20.000.000 per trip in average, do this once a week and your Carrier Upkeep is covered with change.
I have my Python permanently based in Robigo and use my Krait Phantom to get there and back.