Imperial Cutter query

[ruger_shooter]

I do not have the required rank to purchase the Cutter however I know that it is a very popular ship and many commanders aspire to ownership. I was playing about with the ED Shipyard program and entering data for a high spec Cutter and was amazed to see that even with a 15% discount on the purchase, it would take 756 million to equip and more could be spent. The jump range is less that 15 Ly and the payload is less than a T9 heavy if you install a Shield generator (8A) and a Fuel scoop (5A). So does the Cutter ever pay for itself or is it the just a luxury ship for those Commanders who are financially billionaires and like to indulge themselves in the finest hardware the universe has to offer? I could not yet afford the price tag and I tend to regard my ships as utilitarian objects which will eventually pay for themselves and eventually turn a profit, so I fly an Asp Explorer, T9 Heavy and a FAS all of which have earned their keep especially the ASP. Anyway Cutter pilots fly safe and enjoy

 

[igor37]

Every ship can pay for itself.

Apparently the Cutter is the best trading ship out there because of its immense capacity and ability to escape every ambush.

 

[CMDR Heisenberg B. Damned]

The T9 will lose cargo space if you don't use the internals for cargo as well, to be fair.

I've got a running Cutter trader with A6 shields (with boosters) and mostly D rated for jump range 720 Cargo space and with the limited usage I've got out of it I've made 2.5 million profit on one delivery of Palladium. There are bound to be way better trade routes than that so you can add cash pretty fast in one.

Anything too big turns up though I'm out of there - it's plenty fast enough to escape most things it can't kill.

EDIT - from memory ...

http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=70_,m...,2-D8D8B6BaBaBa9s,0DI0DI0AA0AA7UI08c08c0722UI

 

[colprice2002]

For running cargo in Community Goals, I can stack in 704 tons of cargo ( reduced shields ), so I can easily reach the top 15%.

Increase the shields, go off to Sothis and pick up a lot of delivery missions (not the secret/shadow ones, it's not quite fast enough to avoid all the scans). Then I can have fun with the would-be pirates (NPC), who tend to melt in front of the Cutter - sometimes I have to return to the system to collect the bounty if it only has an outpost.

The only problem is the jump range/full tank range, but yes, it can turn a profit, though you'll be doing a fair bit of flying..

Fly safe!

 

[Ari Ben Zayn]

Not sure I can follow you, OP.

Type 9 with Class8 shield and 5A scoop: http://coriolis.io/outfit/type_9_he...17-------4p0605370303020201.Iw18eQ==.Aw18eQ==
Cutter with Class8 shield ad 5A scoop: http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_...---------4p0705050537040302.Iw18ZZA=.Aw18ZZA=

Cutter has more than double the amount of cargo of the Type9? Plus, a trading Cutter usually comes equipped with a smaller shield and shield boosters, so you'd get something like 698t of cargo space and 1147MJ shield capacity: http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_...404040404070705054f37040302.Iw18ZZA=.Aw18ZZA=

Pretty snazzy.

 

[Arithon]

A Cutter can run with an A3 scoop and D6 shields, offering 720T of cargo space and a 24Ly jump range (around 14 laden).

With that, you can make 3Mcr per round trip on a trade loop, making 10M cr in 25-30 minutes. So yes, it more than pays for itself.

 

[xondk]

This is the setup I plan to use for my trade cutter when I get the rank: http://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial_...404040404070705054f04040302.Iw18ZZA=.Aw18ZZA=

it costs 'only' 253 mil with a 15% discount, 298 without.
For a ship that can transport the most, but also get away from near anything, baring I imagine wing interdicted and such, but even then.

That seems like a cheap price, even compared to an anaconda, with this: http://coriolis.io/outfit/anaconda/...404040605050504040403034801.Iw18ZlA=.Aw18ZlA=
setup, which was my trade conda before it got made into an explorer conda, sure the conda jumps longer, but 15.6 ly is plenty in the vast majority of cases to get somewhere near just as fast, and with a lot more cargo.. and it is 'only' 120 mil more. So I would say well worth it.

 

[777Driver]

I do not have the required rank to purchase the Cutter however I know that it is a very popular ship and many commanders aspire to ownership. I was playing about with the ED Shipyard program and entering data for a high spec Cutter and was amazed to see that even with a 15% discount on the purchase, it would take 756 million to equip and more could be spent. The jump range is less that 15 Ly and the payload is less than a T9 heavy if you install a Shield generator (8A) and a Fuel scoop (5A). So does the Cutter ever pay for itself or is it the just a luxury ship for those Commanders who are financially billionaires and like to indulge themselves in the finest hardware the universe has to offer? I could not yet afford the price tag and I tend to regard my ships as utilitarian objects which will eventually pay for themselves and eventually turn a profit, so I fly an Asp Explorer, T9 Heavy and a FAS all of which have earned their keep especially the ASP. Anyway Cutter pilots fly safe and enjoy

A T9 at max cargo capacity has no chance against a cmdr attack in open, even against NPC's it will struggle unless you high wake Asap. I run my T9 with A7's & Boosters in open, that means it can easily survive interdictions from cmdrs, have yet to come across any NPC that I can't destroy (will hopefully change in 2.1)

The downside to the above build is that it's not great for A-B-A hauling since capacity is down to 320 tonnes, it's more than enough for Elite rank high paying missions hauling and smuggling.

On the other hand my Cutter could hold 536 tonnes of cargo and still run max shields, perfect for A-B-A runs and community goals, basic shielding is still good, the ship can haul 728 tonnes in that config.

The ship more than pays for itself. Mine is a pure combat build, purely because I don't need 600+ tonnes of cargo space to do long range Elite haulage missions, the T9 handles all my cargo needs.

 

[OfftheRails]

Bear in mind that Prismatic shields effectively take up half the cargo space of standard ones. That A8 is about as strong as an A7 Prism, for 160t less cargo space. Aisling is your friend

 

[CMDR-Bullsey]

A Cutter can run with an A3 scoop and D6 shields, offering 720T of cargo space and a 24Ly jump range (around 14 laden).

With that, you can make 3Mcr per round trip on a trade loop, making 10M cr in 25-30 minutes. So yes, it more than pays for itself.

i never needed a fuel scoop personally , i can easily make 4M between two stations , that,s only three jumps each way

 

[SCTrojanbulldog]

Bear in mind that Prismatic shields effectively take up half the cargo space of standard ones. That A8 is about as strong as an A7 Prism, for 160t less cargo space. Aisling is your friend

???? The only way a Prismatics saves gives you more cargo space is placing it in a lower slot. You can't place a C7 prismatic in a c6 slot. You can place a C6 Prismatics and get ~ 87% of a C7 A Shield... But that's it:

 

[goemon]

... also, what means "pay for itself"? you loose 10% if you sell a ship - on its hull, if you strip it down beforehand. which means - around twenty millions on a cutter. yes, i think i have earned 20 mio with my cutter.

obviously, who flies a cutter don't really need money - for me it was the logical upgrade for my trading-community-goal-clipper. it isn't like i would like to spend the 330 mio "banked" in my cutter on something else. but if the panther clipper arrives... or a beluga liner...

 

[Slippery Jim DiGriz]

???? The only way a Prismatics saves gives you more cargo space is placing it in a lower slot. You can't place a C7 prismatic in a c6 slot. You can place a C6 Prismatics and get ~ 87% of a C7 A Shield... But that's it:

The slot distribution in all the big ships is bad, in the Cutter it's insane, no size 7, one 4, one 3, no 2s or 1s. Most ships will want at least a discovery scanner and possibly a docking computer, if mining a 1A prospector is all you need so why anybody would build a ship without any size 1 slots is a mystery.

So a discovery scanner, surface scanner and docking computer will need one each of 3, 4 & 5 size slots wasting 50 tonnes of cargo space over 3 size 1 slots.

I'm sure the original game didn't have slots, just a single amorphous space to shove stuff until you ran out of space which is a much more versatile and simpler arrangement.

 

[OfftheRails]

???? The only way a Prismatics saves gives you more cargo space is placing it in a lower slot. You can't place a C7 prismatic in a c6 slot. You can place a C6 Prismatics and get ~ 87% of a C7 A Shield... But that's it:

My point is that a class 6 Prism is about as tough as a class 7 standard. It's never much more than a 10% difference when you drop a class and put in a prism.

From the wiki:

Class 6 Prismatic: 607MJ for 64t
7A regular: 700MJ for 128t

About the same amount of shielding (especially if you've got the power to run one booster alongside the shield, taking the example Annie up to 728MJ), and 64t more cargo space. Cash.

 

[CrazedHatter]

I do not have the required rank to purchase the Cutter however I know that it is a very popular ship and many commanders aspire to ownership. I was playing about with the ED Shipyard program and entering data for a high spec Cutter and was amazed to see that even with a 15% discount on the purchase, it would take 756 million to equip and more could be spent. The jump range is less that 15 Ly and the payload is less than a T9 heavy if you install a Shield generator (8A) and a Fuel scoop (5A). So does the Cutter ever pay for itself or is it the just a luxury ship for those Commanders who are financially billionaires and like to indulge themselves in the finest hardware the universe has to offer? I could not yet afford the price tag and I tend to regard my ships as utilitarian objects which will eventually pay for themselves and eventually turn a profit, so I fly an Asp Explorer, T9 Heavy and a FAS all of which have earned their keep especially the ASP. Anyway Cutter pilots fly safe and enjoy

It'd be silly to use a size 8 slot on Shields in a trading configuration. Size 6 shields are plenty, my advice is to start with that in ED and then you'll start to see where the Cutter shines... additionally, I know several CMDRs that fly it shieldless... take that into consideration and you're dealing with a ship with truly massive trade potential.

 

[SCTrojanbulldog]

My point is that a class 6 Prism is about as tough as a class 7 standard. It's never much more than a 10% difference when you drop a class and put in a prism.

From the wiki:

Class 6 Prismatic: 607MJ for 64t
7A regular: 700MJ for 128t

About the same amount of shielding (especially if you've got the power to run one booster alongside the shield, taking the example Annie up to 728MJ), and 64t more cargo space. Cash.

I think we're on the same page; however, the numbers you provided come out to 87%, not 10.... ;-)

 

[Alex Brentnall]

I do not have the required rank to purchase the Cutter however I know that it is a very popular ship and many commanders aspire to ownership. I was playing about with the ED Shipyard program and entering data for a high spec Cutter and was amazed to see that even with a 15% discount on the purchase, it would take 756 million to equip and more could be spent. The jump range is less that 15 Ly and the payload is less than a T9 heavy if you install a Shield generator (8A) and a Fuel scoop (5A). So does the Cutter ever pay for itself or is it the just a luxury ship for those Commanders who are financially billionaires and like to indulge themselves in the finest hardware the universe has to offer? I could not yet afford the price tag and I tend to regard my ships as utilitarian objects which will eventually pay for themselves and eventually turn a profit, so I fly an Asp Explorer, T9 Heavy and a FAS all of which have earned their keep especially the ASP. Anyway Cutter pilots fly safe and enjoy

Then don't install an A8 Shield and 5A Fuel scoop?

Seriously. It's got good shields as it is, good speed and tons of space for boosters. If your trading an A8 shield is very very overkill

 

[The_Quasar]

You only need an A6 shield, and lots of boosters for 1058MJ, and 720t cargo hold. That makes the T9 look rather pathetic, especially when you can add some guns, making very little difference to the range.

Personally I like to fly the Cutter, it's much better than the Anaconda to fly, and surprisingly quick too. It really feels like a huge ship.

 

[Dave1029]

Don't forget... That you can sell the ship for 90% of what you pay for it, and modules are 100% sell back. Meaning you only need to make like 20 mil for it to pay for itself.

 

[TuxedoSteve]

I think we're on the same page; however, the numbers you provided come out to 87%, not 10.... ;-)

100%-87%=13%, not much more than 10% difference