Allright, time for a highly scientific test with no flaws at all
So.. My quest was to see which is cheapest; to transfer a ship with A rated modules installed, or cheapest E rated modules installed and A rated sent separately, or smallest class and E rated modules that can be fitted to the ship and A rated (normal size) sent separately again. 'Core Internal' modules only, all other modules as they were when the ships were bought.
I bought three Type-6 ships. One I A rated, one stayed completely stock and the last one downgraded as much as possible, meaning smallest and cheapest modules.
I travelled 267.46 LYs away from the station I bought the ships.
The time to deliver ship or ship + modules is the same, no difference. 49 minutes in this case.
- The cost of sending A rated ship only was 72'179 cr.
- The cost of sending E rated ship + A modules separately was 73'532 cr.
- The cost of sending low class E rated ship + A modules separately was 72'827 cr.
So in this case it was cheapest to transfer the ship with those A modules installed.
Remember that only 'core internal' modules were touched in this test.
Next I tried with an old ASP that was not in default condition, a ship made of "whatever" parts. Compared the costs of transfer as a whole, and in parts when only removing parts that come off without need of replacements. That means removing all modules but 'core internal' modules.
- Ship transfer as a whole, 196'165 cr for 70.47 LY. 16 minutes.
- Ship transfer as stripped, modules sent separately, 197'558 cr for 70.47 LY. 16 minutes.
So it looks like there is no savings in transferring the ship in parts, quite the opposite. The difference is small, but so were the distances. On a long distance transfer it starts to matter, like between SOL bubble and Colonia.