Hey, Trade Cutter Pilots

[MrFailfactory]

Greetings Commanders,

So, I'm just about to get mine, and my face has been pinned to the grindstone for it so much that I'm starting to look like Darkman...but goal achieved.

My questions, if you wouldn't mind lending your experience:

When you get Interdicted, what are they flying, most of the time? My current Combat rank is Novice, if that matters, but it won't stay that way.

What kind of speed and boost puts me in a good place for escaping with minimal damage or less?

Thanks,

Riôt

 

[duckofdeath]

You'll most likely get interdicted by the biggest ships. FDL, Anaconda, FGS....
That said, if you can afford a good thruster and get it tuned a bit at your nearest Engineer, a trade Cutter is basically unstoppable.
Its size also makes it nearly impossible to lose the interdiction mini-game at first, so, I wouldn't worry too much as long as you're sensible.
The most dangerous thing with the Cutter is probably your first few arrivals at a station. The boost speed combined with its massive drift makes that part an interesting experience, to say the least.

 

[Gunnet]

Welcome to the Cutter club

If you're only talking about NPCs (assuming from the mention of combat rank affecting interdictions), all you really need are fairly modest shields coupled with the fact that no NPC can mass lock a Cutter.

You mainly see Conda and FDL interdictions in a Cutter. I'm not sure if novice combat rank will bring that down at all, but it holds true at least from mid level combat ranks and up.

 

[MrFailfactory]

Thanks for the responses so far - she's set up for 712T, with current jump capability of 35/24. Not a bad start, though I might put her under the wrench a bit more, specifically the distributor and shields/shield boosters.

Some time down the road, I'll likely go for better FSD/Thruster rolls, but these should suffice for the time being.

Thanks again, and all input is welcome

Riôt

 

[NecasekO]

If you don't want to fight, you just boost and low wake. No ship apart from another Cutter can mass lock you, and NPC pirates don't fly those.

If you do want to fight and survive, you should upgrade your shield and some boosters, and get a good set of weapons you're comfortable with. I found that around 1200 MJ of shielding with some resistance mods is enough to fight NPCs and survive player attacks. Keep in mind that the Cutter is very slow to turn and has a limited distributor, so weapon choices are somewhat limited. I would definitely recommend some turrets to deal with SLFs and smaller ships.

 

[Threeofseven]

99% of interdictions will be FDL, conda or FGS. You don't have to worry about them as you can simply low wake away as no npc can mass lock you. The cutter is really untouchable. Don't worry at all about npcs.
One more thing, don't disgrace such a beautiful ship by putting it on trader duty.

 

[Flavourless]

You got a cutter without passing Novice rank? Many people seem to think that ED is combat only game.

 

[Pyrotiger]

I find the Cutter a complete pain in the backside when it comes to landing. For some reason, lining it up properly takes ages.

Stick a modded L5 shield on it, with 9% off optimal mass (or better) for extra cargo power!

 

[Bariel]

The boost speed combined with its massive drift makes that part an interesting experience, to say the least.

This is so true - particularly when you switch back to the cutter after flying something less drifty - you *will* hit the station if you are not concentrating/forget, so make sure your shields can take it!

 

[goemon]

flying my cutter, I'm only interdicted by Anacondas, sometimes with fighters, or by FDL. haven't seen a FAS, python, or similar ever.

i have flown my cutter for a long time unengineered, and it had never problems to shoot down a FDL by flying backwards - before i engineered it i had to leave some elite condas once in a while.

generally, if it is just about surviving pve in your trade cutter, that's very safe. if you don't stay to fight, nothing will get down your shields before lowwake. 6A shield plus a lot of boosters. and condas you can always outboost/outrun.

 

[Dark Martin]

Same, only Condas and Ferdles

 

[dylman]

Even without grade 5 dirty drives, nothing that can catch a trading Cutter can threaten it (in PvE terms of course).

 

[GammaZ]

Condas and ferdelances mostly. Gunships too, but they are very rare.
Also, if current beta changes to armour go live as they are now, i am thinking about dropping shield from trade cutter and adding HRP+MRP to military slots. Something tells me that with all the goodies i can put into utilities freed from shield boosters it will be more than enough to be completely safe, in PVE at least.

 

[Iskariot]

Greetings Commanders,

So, I'm just about to get mine, and my face has been pinned to the grindstone for it so much that I'm starting to look like Darkman...but goal achieved.

My questions, if you wouldn't mind lending your experience:

When you get Interdicted, what are they flying, most of the time? My current Combat rank is Novice, if that matters, but it won't stay that way.

What kind of speed and boost puts me in a good place for escaping with minimal damage or less?

Thanks,

Riôt

Novice?
How long have you been playing the game?

But that aside... I get mostly attacked by FDL 90% of the time.
In my case they are Elite, as I am Elite myself.

My tradecutter has weak size 6A trade shields, so confronting an Elite FDL is no option whatsoever.
Not to mention that my trade cutter has no guns.
I also used to have D rated thrusters and powerplant and that seemed to be good enough.
At the time I did not have the money to A rate this expensive monster.

I always submit to interdiction and boost away and then highwake as soon as my FSD is ready. This works fine.
The only irritating problem is that when you take on a mission that spawns a pursuer then he will keep following and interdicting you for as long as you have that mission cargo on board.

 

[MrFailfactory]

More responses, thank you - I really appreciate it.

I purchased the game in January of last year, played off and on for about 6 months, and have been playing very steadily since the CG that had the bugged payouts, which was in August, I think. I managed to get into the top 25% with a crappy T-6 that was making 6 jumps in each direction, and it changed the game for me. Now I have a fleet of ships, most of which are fairly well equipped and Engineered to do what I need them to do. I am lacking a really solid Combat ship at the moment, but that will change soon.

My Combat rank is Novice by design - it was my thought that attaining Exploration and Trade Elite ranks would be faster with a lower Combat rank, coupled with the thought that I could increase my Combat rank quicker once I had better ships, and deeper pockets with which to outfit them, and absorb errors. So far, the plan is working as intended, though I will say that most of the time my Interdictions are Master level now, which I find odd. I just win the mini-game most of the time, but sometimes the environment doesn't allow for that, so I see what they are. Most of the time, they are Master FDL/GS/Python for me, when they used to be Novice Cobras, and the like, so something has changed. In any case, it sounds like it shouldn't be a whole lot different than what I deal with currently.

I'm looking forward to flying it - I had to shut down before I had the chance, but she's outfitted v1.0, and ready to go. I can drift cars, and ships that have drift have always been my preference in these types of games, so I can't wait to get my hands on her ample nacelles, if you'll forgive the Engineering parlance

Riôt

 

[Moonax IRL]

No weapons, G1 mod on a class 5A shield with a roughly 9% optimal weight boost will let you fit it on the Cutter. So I have a prismatic shield class 5 modded G1 with some modded SB's, over 1500mjs shield strength and 752t cargo. G5 dirty drives 470 boost and G5 FSD 30 ly unloaded.

 

[MrFailfactory]

I wanted to thank everyone again for the responses and tips - I took her out for a shakedown, and like what I've seen so far.

I haven't lost an Interdiction yet, which is a bit surprising, but I won't complain too much about that, other than the recent tendency for it to happen really close to your destination.

I can't wait for the new camera - I have some good shots of The NightHawk and The NightRaven, but future ones will be so much better.

Riôt

 

[DragonIV]

My Cutter is unshielded to carry the max amount of cargo possible. Factor in its speed (I only have D thrusters but it's still quick for a big ship) and the ability to negate any mass lock, and you have a very reliable escape vehicle from any interdictors...tho to be honest I can't remember losing an interdiction in it recently.

 

[JetsonRING]

Welcome to the Imperial Cutter club. (Currently) no better ship for the trucking CG. Boosting toward stations is about to become interesting, learn how to control her drift. 760+ tons cargo cap if you leave the fuel-scoop behind, take her to the Engineers and have the thrusters worked on, helps with the crummy lateral thrust performance as well as speed and maneuverability in general. Only the bigger ships are even capable of successfully interdicting you, your handicap in the interdiction mini-game is the Cutter's sluggish pitch, roll & yaw performance.

 

[capt_sparks]

My trade Cutter carries 792T of goods at a time, and NPC pirates are totally harmless, because I can outrun them out of firing range with my G5 Thrusters (435m/s when fully laden).

But even with just 7D Thrusters to maximize jump range for long haul trading/smuggling, it is still easy to evade pirates by using the boost-silent running combo.

Most NPC pirates can be evaded while on interdiction minigame, even for a Cutter. My technique is to set the throttle to 50% (for max turn rate), and instead of focusing on the centre escape vector, focus on the bright circle. That's how to accumulate interdiction points against the opponent and beat the minigame.

Use the planet gravity assist to make a fast supercruise landing to station. This is hard to pull off but practice makes it perfect.

On approach to station, just boost 1-2 (on G5 8A Thrusters) or 3 (on 7D Thrusters). There is a trick to rapidly decrease the Cutter's speed: put throttle to 0% and rock the ship like crazy. One can enter the mailslot while having 150m/s while turning and no hull damage will be taken; it takes a while to familiarize with the mailslot size. On approach to the pad, land like an airplane.