You can buy an Energy Credit Cap Increase for 500 Zen as a F2P player and have 1 Billion EC as your limit, instead of 10 Mil.

The Atrox . It takes some getting used to but I like it a lot better than my Recluse.

Also consider barter. Things like fleet ship modules, contraband, keys, unreplicable materials, alien artifacts, and rare doffs are extremely valuable and can be used instead of EC for high end purchases if you find somebody willing to barter.

Exchange some dilithium for zen and buy the EC cap increase. Zen is at its lowest price in about a year, now's the time to do it.

well, you're not going to get a natural carrier for cheap it's just not going to happen, the carrier are valued by some people and they will not be undersold and have no problem with price gauging you with a smile.

But as we all know any and all ships can technically carry fighter pets so if you are not willing to pay the price of a true carrier then simply add a fighter to you ships devices and fly like that. it won't be like a carrier but it will give you some feelings of one

It's not entirely fair to consider the fighter summon devices as true pets. They only last a minute or two and have a long cooldown, so no sane person who was not already flying a hangar-bearing ship would rely on them for damage and support.

Recluse >> Atrox

My builds are somewhere here on the forums too

ok so i posted earlier i have tested both atrox and voq'uv and ran a parse in ISE.
Both have exact same builds and same weapons layouts.
2 MK XII single cannons 1 MK XII beam array 3 MK XII turrets all polaron all borg.

I put The dilithium BoP hangers against the same level perigines. Both captians are engineers. My findings was that the voq'uv did 100 dps lower including the BoP. I ran full weapon power too. This was before i got the leach console and Assecon assimilators so might be a bit more dps on klingon after that. So for those who think BoP make the Voq'uv better havent tested them.

The Voq'uv however is better at grabbing agro as 2 tac slots can be set to cannon volley making the mobs all target you easier.

Recluse is nice if you can get one but to me the Atrox is nice for engineers. The Vesta best for sci officers but work great for those tac that like to disable mobs while dpsing. And the HEC is great if you just like escorts and want a hanger to help your dps, act as torpedo interceptors, or just shiney toys

Ok so now I am wondering about the difference between the Recluse and the Jem'Hadar Dreadnought carrier. Which is better?

JHDC is setup like an escort in terms of BO's, and has 4 tac consoles so it will put out more damage on its own.

The Recluse is set up more like a science ship, stronger shields, more science consoles, only 2 tac consoles.

If you like to do science tricks, the Recluse is for you, if you like "all in" fighting with no tricks and few repair powers, the JHDC is for you.

They are both good ships, just depends on your play style.

I would say Science officer go Recluse, Engineer either, and Tac go JHDC, that being said, My science has a JHDC, and I love it.