MultipurposeShip Comparison

A multipurpose ship is the answer to “I don’t want to own and engineer five specialists.” It is a single hull, balanced enough to be re-fitted for whatever tonight’s play is — and good enough at each that you rarely feel the compromise.

• Mixed-activity sessions. Bounty hunting, then a delivery mission, then a scan of an unexplored system — all without changing ships.
• One-ship commanders. Players who want a single, beloved hull they engineer once and fly forever.
• Mission running. The general mission board mixes combat, courier, data and passenger work; an all-rounder clears it all.
• Re-roling on the fly. Swap cargo racks for shields and guns in an hour at a station — the same hull, a new job.

The 1–100 multipurpose rating weighs balance across, in rough order:

• Breadth of internals — the room to fit cargo, mining tools, shields or scanners as the job demands.
• Firepower — enough hardpoints and distributor to hold its own in combat without a dedicated build.
• Jump range — the reach to roam and explore between jobs.
• Flexibility & re-fit cost — how cheaply and quickly it swaps roles, and how few compromises each fit makes.
• Survivability & handling — a tank and agility that suit every role passably.

The column shows max cargo only as a convenient proxy for internal capacity — do not read it as the verdict. A ship rates highly here for doing several things well, so a lower-cargo hull with great range and guns can out-rank a bigger hold. Compare within a class first.

The three cost figures

• Hull — the shipyard price of the bare ship.
• A-rated fit (no engineering) — an approximate all-in credit total for a full role-appropriate loadout using the best buyable modules. A ballpark; your module choices swing it.
• To engineer — engineering costs materials and engineer unlocks, not credits. A fully-engineered ship costs the same credits as its A-rated fit; the extra cost is a materials grind whose tier (Moderate / Heavy / Very heavy) scales with hull size.

All 22 all-rounders on one scale, best to worst. The cargo column is a rough capacity proxy, not the ranking — these ships are judged on balance. Per-class breakdowns and costs follow.

Read it in bands: 84–88 is a top-tier do-everything hull; 78–83 is an excellent all-rounder; 62–77 is a capable budget or starter pick. The scores cluster tightly — multipurpose is a deep, competitive field, and several hulls a point apart simply lean toward different jobs.

Small all-rounders are the budget commander’s best friend — cheap, agile, land anywhere, and modern enough (in the Cobra Mk V’s case) to embarrass ships several classes larger. They cap out on internals, but for mixed light work they’re a joy and a rebuy you’ll never fear.

What each small hull costs

The medium class is the natural home of the all-rounder. A medium balances real firepower, generous internals and good range while still docking almost everywhere — which is why the genre’s most beloved ships, the Krait pair and the Python, all live here.

What each medium hull costs

The Anaconda is the one true large all-rounder — the biggest do-everything hull in the game. The rest of the large field leans to hauling: freighters and liners with deep holds but self-defence-only guns and short legs. A large pad and a heavy rebuy are the price of internals and hardpoints that let a single ship trade like a freighter, fight like a cruiser and roam like an explorer.

What each large hull costs

The best all-rounder depends on your budget and which way you want it to lean. Pick the description that fits you.

The all-rounder’s engineering challenge is breadth: you engineer the core modules once, then keep a stock of role modules (cargo racks, mining tools, extra shields) to bolt on as needed. The core tour is shared across every hull here.

Two practical notes

• Keep a module locker. The real superpower is owning a set of role modules — cargo racks, mining tools, a passenger cabin or two — to re-fit the same hull in minutes at a station.
• A balanced fit beats a min-maxed one here. Resist the urge to specialise; the point of the hull is that it does several things well, so leave room for whatever the next job demands.

• A specialist always wins its own game. The all-rounder’s value isn’t beating a dedicated miner at mining — it’s saving you from owning a miner, a trader, a fighter and an explorer all at once.
• Mediums are the genre’s heartland. They balance guns, internals and range while docking almost anywhere — which is why the Krait pair and the Python define the category.
• Lean is a choice, not a flaw. Scores a point or two apart often just mean a hull tilts toward combat (Krait Mk II), hauling (Python) or roaming (Mandalay, Asp X). Pick the lean that matches your week.
• The Cobra Mk V rewrote the small class. A modern small ship now does what used to need a medium — for budget commanders it’s a genuine leap.
• Engineering compounds. Because modules move between your ships, every core blueprint you roll for an all-rounder pays off across your whole fleet.