I did it a while ago, found that my back & rear-end started to hurt after about 300 tons. I can cram 586 units of Painite into a Cutter much faster in fact, about twice as fast. o7
I did it a while ago, found that my back & rear-end started to hurt after about 300 tons. I can cram 586 units of Painite into a Cutter much faster in fact, about twice as fast. o7
related and yet somehow not: back when the cutter was still reasonably new to ED, a friend and i decided to go base raiding on some lumpy moon, i forget which. he was in his cutter, i in a vulture. i landed right next to the base and sat there in my srv waiting for him to join me. it took him literally 15 or 20 minutes to find somewhere he could land and then to make the long drive to where i was.
cutter: great for hauling, great for running, pitiful for turning, abysmal for planetside work. (ymmv)
cutter: great for hauling, great for running, pitiful for turning, abysmal for planetside work. (ymmv)
This is true. A garage queen.
Ha. Don't do that with a Cutter.
I made about 6 billion credits trading with the Cutter.
When the big payouts were nerfed, I took all the small deliveries and could make 60 million with 720 tonne max.
And I won't use dock helpers.
Can't drive a Cutter? Stick to ya sidey!
I made about 6 billion credits trading with the Cutter.
When the big payouts were nerfed, I took all the small deliveries and could make 60 million with 720 tonne max.
And I won't use dock helpers.
Can't drive a Cutter? Stick to ya sidey!
My side piece is my Anaconda then Python then Krait MKII.
It used to be the king of laser mining, but the market nerf means you can make as much or more per hour in a Python. For Power Play merits it is not a bad choice. A couple of runs will knock out your 750 merits which would take longer in a Python. One of my squad mates has 3 or maybe 4.Commanders, first and foremost I must say that I absolutely like Elite and spent some hundreds of hours with pleasure in the game. My far goal was be allowed and own an Imperial Cutter without doing rank grinding. Said that it took some time and I was looking for it. I already own the VESPERGATCHA, a multi purpose Python which cannot be threatened by NPC any longer. It is my working horse I learned to love. It shall be replaced by the Thing built for perfection, the Cutter.
About two months ago, the moment has arrived and the beauty was purchased. It absolutely flies in a unique way. Its forward-thrust is MASSIVE, but hell: it slows down like an ice berg and turns like a moon. The first greetings were therefore expressed to the gate, upper side. Then lower side. Then scratched the left. Finally got out in a weird vector. This thing is unflyable without engineering, and so I started my way back to the landing pad. Hit the gate again, missed my landing pad, noted the 200 credits for blocking another one and knocked my landing pad with its nose. (I bet it lost 50% value in the first 15 minutes!)
800M credits and G5 engineering later, the enlightment came: there seems to be no real use nor designation for this ship, the JABBERWOKY. The jumping range is fine and you get used to drink coffee while turning towards a destination. But: for what is this actually for?
Commonly, the big three are attributed as
1. Anaconda, multipurpose with exploration focus, flexible weaponry, robust hull
2. Federal Corvettte, combat.
3. Imperial Cutter. Erm...?
Lets review that a moment:
Trade.
Well, I like to do missions, combinining and planning them. Maxing my return on time in materials and reputation. The VESPERGATCHA carries 200tons of cargo. The Cutter about 500tons, but: the Cutter requires a large landing pad. poopooo, this means, it can only take missions which only require large pads. So approximately 30% options less. 'Find and bring' missions are also less effective due to the pads (but you don't see it), so drop another 20%.
Do the math: if with the VESPERGATCHA you are accepting approximately 1 out of 8 missions (right distance, payment, etc) until the cargo is full, it will be around 1 out of 12 with the Cutter. Then, your cargo is more than doubled (i.e 500 tons), so for a full load you need 2.5x more missions. You see where this is heading to: not towards a fluent gameplay, but patience and a lot of tea while waiting for appropiate missions.
Doing squadron missions instead? -Maybe, but usually less effective and the cargo to carry then is between 900 and 9000 tons. Endless boring roundtrips.
Baseline: not effective (for missions)
Exploration.
I will do that. But just because I can and I like it on screenshots; 30ly of jump range is not worth to mention.
Baseline: not effective.
Combat.
Opinions differ. I can confirm that the Cutter named JABBERWOKY has excelllllent survival capabilities. You are not gonna die in a Cutter if you don't want. It takes hits from 4 'deadly' Vultures and an FDL for (mind measured) minutes(!) -while the VESPERGATCHA heats its thrusters after 15 seconds (=easy to measure) in the same scenario. Still, due to the limited offensive capabilities shields are down when the first enemy is down so we enter hit & run (backwards) domain. I repeated this fight about 10 times.
The biggest issue here is that the fight is no fun. Either you base on turrets (which do their thing) or you invest on the 2 seconds face time, you typically have with Vultures. Does this sound like fun? Not to me.
Pirate Hunting (or just hunting)
Tried this as well. Is in the same domain as those random interdictions. Annoying. NPC interdicts(!), scans, get 'scared', run away with shields on (you can easily follow and dish out), charge their FSA and 15 seconds(!) later they are gone. Hey, what happened to my MASS-LOCK? Said that, as NPC runs away very quickly, you better like to use Frame Shift Wake Scanners.
PowerPlay.
Will not waste your time, look at trading or combat, same issues apply. Large landing pod and run-aways. Plus you don't really want to face a PvP Corvette or FDL with a Cutter.
Mining.
Hm, yeah, there is maybe a little point. It is good at Painite mining due to the large cargo capacity. For deep core mining, you will need another vessel as you will fall asleep while targetting the next weakness on the asteroid. Turrets by the way do not help, as they rely on multi crew.
So my sad tribute materializes: the Anaconda is a good choice because it is flexible and excellent at exploration. The Federal Corvette is a good choice as it is effective at combat where the large landing pad doesn't matter.
Nevertheless: I will keep flying the Cutter, not because it is good, but because it is at least unique to fly and I like to ram planets at full speed.
What do you think? I wish, there would be more content in which I could use my gem
He could have just landed on the base and flattened it!
I disagree,
Trade
Two ships with the Cutter (720T) and Python (248T) setup for cargo missions. Allied with all stations in a system use the Python to accept the best paying missions for both ships. Missions can be accepted for either without loading. All done then load up and go. The Python gets the best paying missions for the outposts and eventually so does the Cutter. It takes a little organization to keep everything efficient but fun for me. This combination paid for 36 a-rated engineered ships and a Fleet Carrier.
Exploration
40+ LY does fine in a Cutter for players interested in exploring. Betore FSD Guardian boosters 30 LY builds got the job done. Some might disagree. The Neutron Highway drops the number of jumps to say Colonia. If a player makes their rule that jump range is everything then they will need a stripped Anaconda...or a Fleet Carrier.
Combat
My cargo/combat Cutter (480T) has 12,844 MJ of shields with 8A Prismatic. 6A prismatic for 720T cargo provides 7065 MJ. It still has 384T adding a Frame Shift Wake Scanner, FSD Interdictor and fighters. With great flying they never go completely down and don't need shield cell banks. Long range beams takes out shields without the enemy getting in range to fire back. Then boost/overtake the enemy with a barrage of multi-cannons to complete the kill. These are the basic weapons so imagine using more advanced ones. If multiple enemies take out the large one first. Meanwhile I store all equipment in the Fleet Carrier to change the setup in minutes.
Pirate Hunting
Assassination missions are not my thing so no comment. Taking out any 'wanted' ship that I scan including Elite Anacondas and Type-10s? See Combat.
Powerplay
Delivering 720 items per run for Aisling Duval easily takes care of the 750 merits for week 4, rating 3 to obtain the Prismatic Shield Generators. I went for rating 4 to obtain the 5 million credit bonus each week to offset the costs a little.
Mining
An Imperial Clipper then later a Python was adequate for me never being too serious about it. Still I see a lot of Cutters out there mining Low Temperature Diamonds and now Tritium probably for the cargo capacity. Meanwhile a Python miner is stored on my Fleet Carrier going into the black. Also large landing pads at stations are just fine for miners. No medium pads required.
So the Cutter is very useful in many ways. Are there better ships for specific play styles? Sure depending upon the player style, player experience and the rule limitations a player sets for themselves. For combat to obtain Elite I went with a Corvette (love closeup fragment cannons). For PvP it's a Fer de Lance with PAs and Rail guns. For cargo it's the Cutter versus a Type-9 with a little bit more cargo space and a lot more vulnerable to attacks. I smile with my cargo/combat Cutter doing cargo runs then being interdicted. To each their own.
Regards
Trade
Two ships with the Cutter (720T) and Python (248T) setup for cargo missions. Allied with all stations in a system use the Python to accept the best paying missions for both ships. Missions can be accepted for either without loading. All done then load up and go. The Python gets the best paying missions for the outposts and eventually so does the Cutter. It takes a little organization to keep everything efficient but fun for me. This combination paid for 36 a-rated engineered ships and a Fleet Carrier.
Exploration
40+ LY does fine in a Cutter for players interested in exploring. Betore FSD Guardian boosters 30 LY builds got the job done. Some might disagree. The Neutron Highway drops the number of jumps to say Colonia. If a player makes their rule that jump range is everything then they will need a stripped Anaconda...or a Fleet Carrier.
Combat
My cargo/combat Cutter (480T) has 12,844 MJ of shields with 8A Prismatic. 6A prismatic for 720T cargo provides 7065 MJ. It still has 384T adding a Frame Shift Wake Scanner, FSD Interdictor and fighters. With great flying they never go completely down and don't need shield cell banks. Long range beams takes out shields without the enemy getting in range to fire back. Then boost/overtake the enemy with a barrage of multi-cannons to complete the kill. These are the basic weapons so imagine using more advanced ones. If multiple enemies take out the large one first. Meanwhile I store all equipment in the Fleet Carrier to change the setup in minutes.
Pirate Hunting
Assassination missions are not my thing so no comment. Taking out any 'wanted' ship that I scan including Elite Anacondas and Type-10s? See Combat.
Powerplay
Delivering 720 items per run for Aisling Duval easily takes care of the 750 merits for week 4, rating 3 to obtain the Prismatic Shield Generators. I went for rating 4 to obtain the 5 million credit bonus each week to offset the costs a little.
Mining
An Imperial Clipper then later a Python was adequate for me never being too serious about it. Still I see a lot of Cutters out there mining Low Temperature Diamonds and now Tritium probably for the cargo capacity. Meanwhile a Python miner is stored on my Fleet Carrier going into the black. Also large landing pads at stations are just fine for miners. No medium pads required.
So the Cutter is very useful in many ways. Are there better ships for specific play styles? Sure depending upon the player style, player experience and the rule limitations a player sets for themselves. For combat to obtain Elite I went with a Corvette (love closeup fragment cannons). For PvP it's a Fer de Lance with PAs and Rail guns. For cargo it's the Cutter versus a Type-9 with a little bit more cargo space and a lot more vulnerable to attacks. I smile with my cargo/combat Cutter doing cargo runs then being interdicted. To each their own.
Regards
Last edited: