Need cutter build advice PVE - i'm a newbie

KingD

K
Hi all,

I'm literally at day #3 of playing this game. I managed to follow youtube guides and made money mining, and ran missions to get rank, and now I bought myself a cutter.
I'm trying to load it out for a PVE build. I'm thinking of using it to run federation missions to get rank for corvette (i know, the irony).

Anyone got any advice for a good pve build for cutter? I just want to be able to gun down master level pirate missions with ease, and have good amount of cargo space to do some missions where i need to get goods from another station in.

I already have a good mining build for this thing, but if you'd like to share that, i'm all ears too. Thanks in advance!


<+1 day after posting - Adding to post after seeing so many comments>
First off - thanks to those with suggestions, really good, got me thinking and having fun figuring out a build, still a work in progress.

Secondly, I'd like to address the questions about how I got here day 3, and no this is not a troll post, I'm sincerely wanting some advice. Ok.. so how I got here:
Day 1:
follow this guy's youtube:
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTXQCQL_om8

Being super new, I was getting used to how to travel, dock, fly my ship, how to mine etc - that takes time to learn

Day 2:
Still on the guide above, finished it, got my type 9 heavy.
Used Type9 heavy to mine 2 rounds of 512 LTDiamonds (1024 diamonds), sold them all, now I have over 1 billion in cash sitting in my account.. so what do I do now?
Started researching and found that cutter is pretty good for mining since it holds 512 space, but to get it means I need to grind rep

Day 3:
Follow this guy's guide to grind cutter rep:
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QIFTEDW7sE

I think this method got nerfed, took me about 8-9 hours to get all the rep, but it was easy enough, just fly around in my asp explorer running courier missions until i got to the right rank. I also did all the donation missions since i have so much cash.

End of day 3 - I bought my cutter, I still have close to 1 billion in credits, ready to build it however I want.


And to those who suggested I sell it to learn other ships - thanks for the suggestion, I won't sell it, I have so much money. if anything I'll just go mine another 512 LTdiamonds and get more money again. Instead I'll just simply buy other ships, build them out and try them out.
 
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Bigmaec

Bigmaec

Coriolis EDCD Edition

A ship builder, outfitting and comparison tool for Elite Dangerous
s.orbis.zone s.orbis.zone

My Trade Cutter "Golden Arches"

You have to swap the legacy c5 prismatic for a c6 shield generator because you can't attain this module any more,
and propably use non power-play modules, but basically that's a typical Cutter. Open rated.
 

Calteru

Calteru
This is the PvE version I use -- generally fine for 1v1 or 1vSmall group fights; for CZs I switch out the 6 shield for an 8. 700+ cargo leaves room for big hauls or for carving some of it out and putting in modules or something. Don't let the shields break -- hull's paper.
 

Just Paul

Just Paul
As you on day 3(?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!) I assume you don't have any engineers unlocked.
So something along this for cargo runs: https://is.gd/JdZ0MV or this for a little bit of fighting: https://is.gd/hjAe23

Biggest lesson to learn in Elite is that big ship /= better ship. I would advise to get a smaller ship like a Viper mk3 and start learning to fly and shoot stuff. Also look into unlocking the engineers as they make the biggest difference in ship builds. Don't just blindly follow guides, try to enjoy the game, it has a lot of different things to offer, not just the grind for the biggest or all ships.
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
KingD said:
...
I'm literally at day #3 of playing this game. I managed to follow youtube guides and made money mining, and ran missions to get rank, and now I bought myself a cutter.
Click to expand...
Why?
I mean, what do you want to do with a Cutter? Especially in PvE? Apart from hauling lots of cargo, there's nothing another ship couldn't do better. But it's your game.

KingD said:
I'm trying to load it out for a PVE build. I'm thinking of using it to run federation missions to get rank for corvette (i know, the irony).
....
Click to expand...
Oh. Deer.
As any other large ship, a Cutter isn't exactly a good choice for mission running, unless you want to specialize on wing transport missions. It's clumsy (especially if you don't have access to Engineers) - and it requires a large station to land at (or a planetary port). Technically, the best mission runner is the Python - but I don't like it. My favourite mission runner is the Krait Mk.II. Less cargo space than the Python, but better agility and a much better cockpit view. Put 3 large (fixed) guns on the back and two gimballed ones in the medium hardpoints next to the cockpit, and it'll shred any NPC. Both the Krait and the Python are medium ships, so you don't have to worry about getting a landing pad anywhere.

If you still want a Cutter, just throw the largest A-rated equipment into the internal slots and add an A-rated shield in the largest optional slot. Everything else kind of depends on what kind of missions you want to run. Especially those "scan an enemy base data point" kind of missions, where your ship will become wanted, will be challenging.
 

aRJay

aRJay
KingD said:
Hi all,

I'm literally at day #3 of playing this game. I managed to follow youtube guides and made money mining, and ran missions to get rank, and now I bought myself a cutter.
I'm trying to load it out for a PVE build. I'm thinking of using it to run federation missions to get rank for corvette (i know, the irony).

Anyone got any advice for a good pve build for cutter? I just want to be able to gun down master level pirate missions with ease, and have good amount of cargo space to do some missions where i need to get goods from another station in.

I already have a good mining build for this thing, but if you'd like to share that, i'm all ears too. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Use your favourite build for the Clipper and just add the stuff you didn’t have space for.

Note this is a theoretical suggestion as outside of some betas I haven’t flown those ships as I haven’t unlocked the Empire ranks that far and don’t expect to for at least another year.
 

galahad2069

G
Calteru said:
Off-topic a bit, but now I wonder if someone can build a Cutter so bad that it dies to an NPC.
Click to expand...

It's not the build, but the lack of experience. The basic git gud phase just cannot be skipped. I mean you can survive against NPC's in a big ship even if you cannot really fly, but this is precisely what results in "evil gankerz oneshotted my Cutter " threads as soon as the first hollow rectangle shows up. :)
 

Ashnak

Ashnak
Calteru said:
Off-topic a bit, but now I wonder if someone can build a Cutter so bad that it dies to an NPC.
Click to expand...
Don't have the rank for a Cutter, so I can't try it myself, but how about undersized shields, stock bulkheads and then go on a "retrieve black box(3) mission"?
 
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