I have been hauling cargo for years using the Type-9, and recently I finally got myself an Imperial Cutter instead. So here's my experience on them, as a comparison between the two ships.
Both are very viable cargo ships because they are the two ships in the entire game (as of writing this post) that have, by far, the largest cargo capacity, and are very close to each other in this regard (790 tons for Type-9 and 794 tons for the Cutter). Thus, cargo capacity is not the deciding factor between the two, so it comes down to other features. This comparison is purely from the perspective of cargo transport, nothing else.
The Cutter is much heavier than the Type-9 (hull mass 1100 tons vs. 850 tons) and has a significantly higher thruster/boost speed, which makes it have a lot more inertia, or momentum, especially when boosted to full speed. In practice this means that it takes a lot longer for it to stop from full speed. Or even from normal (non-boosted) speed. If you are accustomed to approaching the front of a space port at boost speed and then just quickly turning towards the mail slot, stopping the ship and then heading towards said slot, you are for a surprise the first times you do that with the Cutter. That's because It Just Doesn't Stop! It just goes on and on and on, and seems to take forever to stop. It doesn't help that it seems to have much weaker manoeuvering thrusters (which is probably caused by its larger mass). If you are used to boost at full speed and then turn and fly towards the mail slot, you'll be surprised how stubborn the Cutter is, as she just refuses to obey, and just keeps on going.
This means it requires quite some practice to enter stations quickly and efficiently. And to not collide with the toaster rack.
And it's even worse when landing on a planetary station (or, as is very relevant now, at a planetary construction site): Landing eg. on a 0.4g planet literally feels like landing with any other ship on a 2g planet, and that's no exaggeration. The thing just doesn't want to stop! It just keeps going and going down, like a lead balloon. If you are flying it like other ships, including the Type-9, expect hard crashes on the ground. Better have some good engineered hull and a class-5 hull reinforcement module or two.
And the maneouvering thrusters are so weak that they can barely even lift the ship from the surface of a 0.4g planet. In fact, the upper thrusters are so weak that they can't do that at all! (I once ended up on the ground on my roof (don't ask), and tried to lift the ship by going "down", and it just wouldn't move. The "down" maneouvering thrusters are so weak that they couldn't even lift the ship.)
The Cutter is faster and turns faster, but man is she temperamental and stubborn. You really need to treat her like no other ship.
Both are very viable cargo ships because they are the two ships in the entire game (as of writing this post) that have, by far, the largest cargo capacity, and are very close to each other in this regard (790 tons for Type-9 and 794 tons for the Cutter). Thus, cargo capacity is not the deciding factor between the two, so it comes down to other features. This comparison is purely from the perspective of cargo transport, nothing else.
- Type-9 is available immediately. Cutter needs a quite large amount of work to unlock.
- Type-9 is cheaper: 76.5 million vs. 208.9 million.
- Cutter has a slightly larger jump range, although they are relatively close. (With a reasonable build, Cutter = about 27 Ly laden, 42 Ly unladen, Type-9 = about 21 Ly laden, 38 Ly unladen).
- Cutter has a much higher boost speed (slightly over 500 m/s, compared to the less than 400 m/s of the Type-9).
- Cutter is somewhat more maneuverable (ie. it turns faster, both in normal space and in supercruise).
- The cockpit view is much more restricted in the Cutter than it is in the Type-9.
- Cutter has more "inertia" than the Type-9, which makes it more unwieldy in some situations.
The Cutter is much heavier than the Type-9 (hull mass 1100 tons vs. 850 tons) and has a significantly higher thruster/boost speed, which makes it have a lot more inertia, or momentum, especially when boosted to full speed. In practice this means that it takes a lot longer for it to stop from full speed. Or even from normal (non-boosted) speed. If you are accustomed to approaching the front of a space port at boost speed and then just quickly turning towards the mail slot, stopping the ship and then heading towards said slot, you are for a surprise the first times you do that with the Cutter. That's because It Just Doesn't Stop! It just goes on and on and on, and seems to take forever to stop. It doesn't help that it seems to have much weaker manoeuvering thrusters (which is probably caused by its larger mass). If you are used to boost at full speed and then turn and fly towards the mail slot, you'll be surprised how stubborn the Cutter is, as she just refuses to obey, and just keeps on going.
This means it requires quite some practice to enter stations quickly and efficiently. And to not collide with the toaster rack.
And it's even worse when landing on a planetary station (or, as is very relevant now, at a planetary construction site): Landing eg. on a 0.4g planet literally feels like landing with any other ship on a 2g planet, and that's no exaggeration. The thing just doesn't want to stop! It just keeps going and going down, like a lead balloon. If you are flying it like other ships, including the Type-9, expect hard crashes on the ground. Better have some good engineered hull and a class-5 hull reinforcement module or two.
And the maneouvering thrusters are so weak that they can barely even lift the ship from the surface of a 0.4g planet. In fact, the upper thrusters are so weak that they can't do that at all! (I once ended up on the ground on my roof (don't ask), and tried to lift the ship by going "down", and it just wouldn't move. The "down" maneouvering thrusters are so weak that they couldn't even lift the ship.)
The Cutter is faster and turns faster, but man is she temperamental and stubborn. You really need to treat her like no other ship.
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