Before someone starts, I know that the Cutter is a better ship dynamically than the Type 9 in every way, however some people actually like/enjoy flying it as I do. The T9 has some fundamental flaws in it's design/conception in the game. The buff to cargo was a well needed QoL change for hauling capability, now lets address the imbalance in surviability. I know hauling ships are not supposed to be tanks, but looking at other cargo class ships, most of them have at least speed or decent shields. The cutter has both speed AND shielding. The T10, based off a T9 frame has a significantly higher mass lock factor than it's predecessor. The T9 really is the fish in the proverbial barrel. It's slow, weak shields, low mass lock. However, it's supposed to be slow, that's it's thing. Here are 2 suggestions to counter this.
A) A slightly better shield rating at all class levels - As it stands one FSD missile rebooting your drive, and your shields will go down even against some of the smaller fighters. Shielding on the T9 just doesn't last, even fully engineered against a pvp ship. Sightly better shields could improve this, or at least give it a chance to high wake instead of an easy kill.
B) Reasonable Mass Lock Factor - The T9s MLF is a joke. Pythons and Kraits stopping it from SC? This is silly. giving it a mass lock factor more comparable to a ship of its class would allow it to low wake from some of the fighters, while still making it have to evade larger vessels. A secondary though, a dynamic MLF for this ship. For every 90 tons of cargo, increase it's mass lock by 1. This figure would give a max cargo T9 at 788 tons a mass lock factor of 24.7. Slightly better than a corvette when "weighed down". A corvette has comparable speed, so it'll be able to sustain fire while it tries to escape, still making it dangerous. Also considering most T9s run a shield, so figure 740 tons, your still looking at a MLF of 24.2 which still keeps it on an even field with a corvette. The cutter and T10 present their own issues fighting a T9. The T10s lack of agility, and the Cutters extreme drifting give the T9 a fighting chance if piloted well. These are just the thought of a avid T9 pilot(yes i have a cutter as well, but I just like the Type 9).
Let me state clearly, that I am not asking for the Type 9 to be the best cargo vessel in the game, I am just simple asking for it to have a comparable chance to defend/escape. Mines help. but are fairly easy to avoid in most cases since the T9 is so slow.
A) A slightly better shield rating at all class levels - As it stands one FSD missile rebooting your drive, and your shields will go down even against some of the smaller fighters. Shielding on the T9 just doesn't last, even fully engineered against a pvp ship. Sightly better shields could improve this, or at least give it a chance to high wake instead of an easy kill.
B) Reasonable Mass Lock Factor - The T9s MLF is a joke. Pythons and Kraits stopping it from SC? This is silly. giving it a mass lock factor more comparable to a ship of its class would allow it to low wake from some of the fighters, while still making it have to evade larger vessels. A secondary though, a dynamic MLF for this ship. For every 90 tons of cargo, increase it's mass lock by 1. This figure would give a max cargo T9 at 788 tons a mass lock factor of 24.7. Slightly better than a corvette when "weighed down". A corvette has comparable speed, so it'll be able to sustain fire while it tries to escape, still making it dangerous. Also considering most T9s run a shield, so figure 740 tons, your still looking at a MLF of 24.2 which still keeps it on an even field with a corvette. The cutter and T10 present their own issues fighting a T9. The T10s lack of agility, and the Cutters extreme drifting give the T9 a fighting chance if piloted well. These are just the thought of a avid T9 pilot(yes i have a cutter as well, but I just like the Type 9).
Let me state clearly, that I am not asking for the Type 9 to be the best cargo vessel in the game, I am just simple asking for it to have a comparable chance to defend/escape. Mines help. but are fairly easy to avoid in most cases since the T9 is so slow.