Self deploying "Jump Gate"
5000 tons 215 Crew 397 BP Signature 100-120
1200 km/s JR 3-50 Armour 1 Shields 0-0 Sensors 0/0/0/0 Damage Control 0-0
Cargo 25000 Tractor 5 Supply 400
Ion Engine (2) Armour 0 Exp 5%
For a little more than the cost of a freighter, this ship can be deployed to a warp point, allowing communications and transit for size 100 ships.
Compare it to a Jump Gate. Much cheaper. But the downside is that it is so slow that it consumes a significant fraction of its time between refits getting to its station and back.
I put in the cargo holds because there isn't an "empty space" option, and because in an emergency it can transport a factory or mine.
For small jump cruisers and tenders, their biggest expense is actually their normal space engines.
Jump Gates get their advantage over the long haul by not requiring maintenance, and would have a greater relative advantage the further from the shipyard they are deployed.
But assembling a two-way jump gate takes a year, and that once you have a Jump Gate construction ship and freighters committed to carrying its components. Going with a jump cruiser deployed long term to a warp point is faster. Once you have enough freighters and colony ships going to the same place such that their different speeds and cargo loading times are causing inefficiency problems, going with long term jump cruiser deployment to a warp point should be considered.
Sure, 3 of these would cost about the same as 2 full time jump cruisers, but you get instant communications as a bonus.
Since survey fleets have to travel a long distance from the shipyard to where they survey, they need a lot of speed to get there. While there is not much savings in terms of the jump engine cost to go with size 75 jump tenders (a savings of 44 BP), there are significant saving in terms of the number of engines required to have the jump tender keep up with the survey fleet.
