My Ultimate Trader Cutter

My Cutter is designed specifically to deliver three 120 or two 180 ton cargo missions. These will pay 4-6 million credits each when allied with all factions in boom states. Meanwhile it will take on any ship in the game without sacrificing shields, hull or weapons for additional cargo space. No problem bounty hunting or any other play style. Great jump range and a fuel scoop when one wants to go someplace. Drop in an SRV for prospecting. Add a collector limpet for USS materials gathering. Add your preferred weapons loadout. It really is an all-in-one ship once the pilot learns how to fly it. Fly in Solo, Group or Open mode as desired.

Whenever I accept an interdiction (no problem avoiding them) it is always a Type-10 Defender, an Anaconda and sometimes both with a fighter. This Cutter easily takes them out with another 200,000 credits each plus scooping up cargo and materials.

If one prefers bulk trading then of course 700+ ton cargo space, 6A shields and removing other modules would be required. However bulk trading will not pay as much and requires module sacrifices.

Regards

Thanks Hooplah, you have me looking at the Cutter again. I'm looking at building a PvE Cutter that can haul 3 180 ton, or 4 120 ton cargo missions by dropping the shield to a 6A. This could work... :)
 
For PvE I've never needed armor, so I think this might work just fine.


I reckon the only place where multiple HRPs/MRPs are useful - for PvE - is in CZs and, perhaps, when you're trying to do wing-assassination missions by yourself.

In those situations you do meet multiple NPCs with engineered weapons that can inflict module damage.
Other than that, doesn't really matter IMO.

What are you going to get attacked by when you're transporting stuff in a Cutter?
At worst, a chain of 4 Annies that a half-decent Krait can melt without breaking a sweat?

My Corvette's "only" got 2,500 integrity and the only time it sustains hull/module damage (in CZs) is when I do something dumb like accidentally enable silent running.

Long as you don't take your trade Cutter into a CZ, extra HRPs/MRPs are a waste of space for PvE.
Even for Open, I just have the one HRP and one MRP in the mil-slots and it's always been enough to prevent unwanted explosions.
 
I reckon the only place where multiple HRPs/MRPs are useful - for PvE - is in CZs and, perhaps, when you're trying to do wing-assassination missions by yourself.

In those situations you do meet multiple NPCs with engineered weapons that can inflict module damage.
Other than that, doesn't really matter IMO.

What are you going to get attacked by when you're transporting stuff in a Cutter?
At worst, a chain of 4 Annies that a half-decent Krait can melt without breaking a sweat?

My Corvette's "only" got 2,500 integrity and the only time it sustains hull/module damage (in CZs) is when I do something dumb like accidentally enable silent running.

Long as you don't take your trade Cutter into a CZ, extra HRPs/MRPs are a waste of space for PvE.
Even for Open, I just have the one HRP and one MRP in the mil-slots and it's always been enough to prevent unwanted explosions.

I don't do CZs any more, but the few times I took my Corvette into one I managed just fine without armor. But I was careful not to get surrounded and picked my fights on the edge of the main battle area.

I do take my War Wagon 'vette into wing pirate assassination missions where you drop into a group and everyone is shooting at you all at once. Haven't needed armor doing those missions, but I did put some module protection in the dedicated slots as I didn't know what else to do with them. :)

War Wagon: https://s.orbis.zone/4u31

With a C6 shield generator I'd not attempt that with my Cutter though, as I don't think it would last very long.
 
...I'm looking at building a PvE Cutter that can haul 3 180 ton, or 4 120 ton cargo missions by dropping the shield to a 6A. This could work... :)

Drop the fighter bay and fuel scoop for 480 cargo. That's two 180 and one 120 or four 120 cargo missions. Not bad at all.

I don't do CZs any more, but the few times I took my Corvette into one I managed just fine without armor...I do take my War Wagon 'vette into wing pirate assassination missions...Haven't needed armor doing those missions, but I did put some module protection in the dedicated slots... :)

I never added armor on my Corvette. It runs two huge long range beams for the small/medium fry and the rest are engineered frag cannons for up close and personal. Lots of fun!

I reckon the only place where multiple HRPs/MRPs are useful - for PvE - is in CZs and, perhaps, when you're trying to do wing-assassination missions by yourself...What are you going to get attacked by when you're transporting stuff in a Cutter?...

Ah, but maybe I'm also going PvP looking for a CMDR who wants my 'tasty' gold cargo being as I'm just a simple trader and all. Let's see how many players checks out a ship build before attacking. :)
 
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Usually uses highly specialized ships fitted for each specific role.
This is my trading 762 tonnes of cargo Imperial Cutter: https://is.gd/NpAL6t

Fitted Packhounds when I got tired of the NPC interdictions. The downside of the missiles is that they tend to give me a fine and gets me wanted, when they hit the local security forces. Nothing a quick boost can't handle though.
Used edsy.org as coriolis.io wouldn't fit my legacy 5A Shield Generator.
Now that is proper use of packhounds my good sir. On my trade cutter I only have 4 and then large frag turrets and a huge multi
 
Just my opinion but if you've got guns on it it's not a trade Cutter.
Throughout history and into our present times, trading ships have long carried weapons. The East Indiamen of the 1700 and 1800s, for example, were particularly well armed. With the lager trading houses, such as the British East India Company, able to field trading ships that could go toe to toe with purpose built ships of the line. And, while modern trading cargo ships tend to rely on passive defenses, razor wire, water cannons and the like. It is not uncommon for ships plying the more dangerous waters to higher on security companies equipped with assault rifles, heavy machine guns and, grenade launchers.

My Cutter the CNR Leonberger was designed after the East Indiaman trading ships. Capable of carrying 512 tonnes of cargo, she's well armored and armed and has taken down almost as many ships by ramming as by her guns.

rKUE7qt.jpg
 
Throughout history and into our present times, trading ships have long carried weapons. The East Indiamen of the 1700 and 1800s, for example, were particularly well armed. With the lager trading houses, such as the British East India Company, able to field trading ships that could go toe to toe with purpose built ships of the line. And, while modern trading cargo ships tend to rely on passive defenses, razor wire, water cannons and the like. It is not uncommon for ships plying the more dangerous waters to higher on security companies equipped with assault rifles, heavy machine guns and, grenade launchers.

My Cutter the CNR Leonberger was designed after the East Indiaman trading ships. Capable of carrying 512 tonnes of cargo, she's well armored and armed and has taken down almost as many ships by ramming as by her guns.

rKUE7qt.jpg

I bet none of your RL examples could outrun or out tank any opponent before jumping to hyperspace.

The fact is the only point of guns on a trade Cutter is to amuse the owner.
Which is fine.
 
Throughout history and into our present times, trading ships have long carried weapons. The East India men of the 1700 and 1800s, for example, were particularly well armed. With the lager trading houses, such as the British East India Company, able to field trading ships that could go toe to toe with purpose built ships of the line. And, while modern trading cargo ships tend to rely on passive defenses, razor wire, water cannons and the like. It is not uncommon for ships plying the more dangerous waters to higher on security companies equipped with assault rifles, heavy machine guns and, grenade launchers...

I appreciate your knowledge of history and I wish more in real life would learn from the past. While I don't agree with your Cutter build that is totally OK as this game is about dealing with 47 different experiences to put together a ship that a player feels is the best. It is never the same.

...The fact is the only point of guns on a trade Cutter is to amuse the owner.
Which is fine.
Or maybe after years of playing, lots of credits and making combat Elite they might want to entice CMDRs to attack them while awaiting fleet carriers in December. Go for it.
 
Seems like it's easier just to crush any NPC that gets in your way like an insect with your trade-ship. :p

Thing is, the bigger the ship, the less difference it makes to the ship's performance if you decide to bung on a few guns and, perhaps, a bigger PP.
If I take all the guns off my Cutter I can drop down to a 6A PP.
That knocks about 70t off the weight and gains me... 1.45Ly of extra jump-range and 2m/s of speed.
I don't think that's going to put a huge dent in my trading efficiency.

And besides, I like killin' stuff.
Well it depends where you are but I found squeezing an extra ly out of my Cutter made a few destinations fully loaded within a single jumps range down from 2 or even 3.
 
just my opinion, but there’s literally NO reason to leave the guns at home in this game
Speaking with open play in mind: In a Cutter, even with an engineered 5A shield, you can escape almost any interdiction. Why bother fighting back, especially CMDRs with dedicated combat ships?
To max out your cargo capacity, you are not match for any combat ship. So you just need to make sure you have enough defense to high wake. Weapons on dedicated trading ships are pretty much useless you maybe want to kill some low rank NPC for whatever reason.
 
My Cutter is a tradebeast 696T with no guns - as long as its not a T-10 (never seen one!) I can ram any NPC interdictor and them, although mostly I submit then run, no problem.

Plus she's dreamy.
 
just my opinion, but there’s literally NO reason to leave the guns at home in this game

Not sure about that either.

My iEagle, for example, does 896m/sec.
If I put guns on it, it always pushes the weight above the thrusters' minimum-mass, which means I end up losing around 50m/sec of speed.
In return for that, I gain access to a couple of pea-shooters that probably aren't going to help me against an attacking FdL or Mamba.

I suppose it could be argued that the guns might come in handy against a smaller ship but, equally, an extra 50m/sec might be more useful if it gets you out of another ship's range a few seconds quicker.

IIRC, I can squeeze a packhound launcher (G5 light weight) onto my iEagle without going above minimum-mass, so I've put that on it just for the lulz... and the drag XFX.
 
You cannot use the phase "best trading ship" or "ultimate trading ship"....then post links to a ship that has a docking computer, or SC assist...what's wrong with you all?!
Ditch the "stabiliser wheels"!

I agree with others...a class 6 shield is the way to go for a trading cutter.

You could also argue that a trading ship that's loaded to the teeth is a poor trading ship.
Lighten the ship up, downsize certain modules and get a drastically improved jump range.
All you need to be able to do is jump away from an interdiction...who cares about a few k bounty when you have a hull full of millions in profit.
 
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