Beluga LinerMultipurpose

The Beluga Liner is Saud Kruger's flagship passenger ship, and being a do-everything generalist is not what it was built for. But twelve optional internals — four of them class 6 — give it more raw module space than most dedicated hulls, so one engineered Beluga can re-tune between hauling, light combat, exploration and passenger work by swapping stored module sets. Six utility mounts field a proper defensive suite, so unlike a bare barge it can stack a bi-weave, boosters and a cell bank and actually take a hit.

The problem is the combat and travel halves of "multipurpose." The Beluga's five medium hardpoints — with no large or huge mount — take deterrent multi-cannons and lasers, enough to clear a low RES or discourage a pirate, but nothing that dominates a fight. A 950-tonne hull on a class-7 drive jumps only ~18 LY laden even engineered, so it is a poor explorer. Add the large pad (no outpost markets) and a ~79.7M Cr price, and the Beluga costs more than double a medium Type-8 that flexes wider for a fraction of the money. It rates 44: broad internals and real survivability are genuine, but as an all-rounder it is out-gunned, out-jumped and out-priced.

What the Beluga brings to a multirole fit — and what holds it back:

• Deep, flexible internals. Twelve optionals — four class 6 — swallow any role's kit: ~370 t of cargo, or a shield-cell-and-reinforcement fortress, or a scoop-and-SRV survey rig. Broad module space is its one clear strength.
• Defensible for a liner. Six utility mounts carry a full Heavy-Duty booster stack over a class-6 bi-weave with a cell bank, so it survives interdictions a bare hull would not — its survivability is real.
• No rank gate. Anyone with the credits can buy and fly one — it shares the Anaconda's accessibility, without the Anaconda's guns or range.
• Deterrent guns, short legs. Five medium hardpoints and no large mount cap firepower at self-defence — a Python or Krait Mk II fields three large guns — and ~18 LY laden on a heavy hull makes it a poor explorer.

Broad internals and genuine shield-stack survivability keep it off the floor, but medium-only firepower, a worst-in-class ~18 LY laden jump, a large-pad lock and a heavy-hull price leave it out-gunned, out-jumped and out-valued as an all-rounder — the lowest-rated multipurpose hull.

The 44/100 headline is a verdict against the multipurpose role's priority-ordered factors. Each factor carries a weight (its share of 100); this hull earns part of each based on how it performs against the whole field. The points sum to the rating.

Every table rates ships for multipurpose specifically, split by landing-pad class. The Max cargo column is maximum cargo tonnage — a proxy for internal room; the rating is the same 1–100 suitability verdict used across the site.

Same class — large multipurpose ships

10 large-pad multipurpose hulls carry a rating, led by Anaconda (88). Every same-pad rival lands where this one does — the direct field to shop.

Other classes — the medium all-rounders

The medium-pad multipurpose field (8 rated), led by Python (86) — cheaper hulls and tighter pads. They undercut this hull on the numbers, but sit a pad class away.

Other classes — the small all-rounders

The small-pad multipurpose field (4 rated), led by Cobra Mk V (80) — cheaper hulls and tighter pads. They undercut this hull on the numbers, but sit a pad class away.

At ~79.7M Cr the Beluga is a major purchase, and an armed, shielded multirole fit brings the all-in figure to around 130M Cr. For that money you could buy and engineer a Python — which out-guns and out-shields it on a medium pad — and still have most of the credits left over.

The only honest cost case is reuse: if the Beluga is already in your hangar as a passenger liner, keeping a stored set of guns, shields and cargo racks lets it moonlight as a defensible generalist for little extra. Buying one to be an all-rounder is hard to justify against a Python, an Anaconda, or a cheap medium Type-8.

A balanced multirole fit on a liner frame: five medium hardpoints armed, three Heavy-Duty boosters over a bi-weave and a cell bank, a hull-reinforcement stack, an AFMU and a surface scanner, with the rest of the huge internals free for cargo. Initial is buy-only with a shield and a deterrent pair; A-rated is the do-everything baseline; Engineered claws back the range and MJ a 950 t hull allows. Its ceiling is fixed by the size-7 FSD and five medium-only mounts — it dabbles in every role but leads none.

Buy the hull and fit a basic shield generator from day one — with a heavy hull and light guns, never fly it unshielded. The core internals stay stock E-rated at this stage, and the hull's default Lightweight Alloy bulkheads are left as bought — they are the lightest option and cost nothing.

Fit a pair of medium multi-cannons for early self-defence and two class-6 cargo racks to start earning, and leave the rest of the bays empty — the full gun battery, the booster stack, the cell bank and the reinforcement all wait for the A-rated pass.

The remaining medium hardpoints and utility mounts stay empty here to keep the buy-only bill down, so early survival is the shield plus submitting and boosting clear of an interdiction.

A-rating priority for the Beluga as an all-rounder:

• 1Bi-Weave Shield Generator → 6C + three Shield Boosters — Survivability is the Beluga's real edge; the bi-weave and booster stack are the cheapest large gain in toughness on a lightly-armed hull. ~14M Cr
• 2Power plant + distributor → A — The size-6 plant must power five guns, the shield and a cell bank; A-rate the distributor so the five-gun battery and boost never sag. ~15M Cr
• 3Arm the five mediums — Three multi-cannons and a beam/pulse pair give a genuine self-defence battery — deterrent, not dominant. ~8M Cr
• 4Frame Shift Drive → 7A — Laden range is the Beluga's worst trait; A-rate the class-7 drive to make travel bearable. ~30M Cr
• 5Hull reinforcement + cell bank — An HRP stack and a size-6 cell bank turn the shield-and-run hull into a real tank for contested work. modest
• 6Cores → D-rate life support + sensors, add an AFMU and scanner — Drop the class-8 life support and the sensors to D to buy back range; fit an AFMU and a surface scanner for the endurance and survey halves of the role. low cost

The multirole pattern: maximise shield and hull MJ for survival, engineer the weapon battery and distributor, and claw back every light-year on the FSD. Pin blueprints for remote G1→G5 application.

Approximate progression across the three states (figures are representative, not exact rolls):

Engineered, the Beluga fields a five-gun medium battery behind a Reinforced bi-weave, a three-booster stack and a cell bank, boosts to ~330 m/s, and still has internals free for ~176 t of cargo or a survey kit — a genuinely defensible, flexible hull. But ~18 LY laden keeps it a poor traveller, its medium guns only deter, and it stays large-pad-bound at a heavy hull's price. For mixed duty on an owned liner it works; as a bought all-rounder, a Python or Anaconda is the better ship.

• Shields and the FSD first — the Beluga's medium guns only deter, so it must be able to jump away or tank the hit; the flexible cargo and role kit come after survival is paid for.
• Keep a bi-weave fitted at all times — a heavy, lightly-armed liner is easy prey unshielded, guns or not.
• Mind the large pad — no outpost landings; plan routes and resupply around stations or a carrier.
• Its real home is the passenger role — it has a dedicated passenger manual; run it as a generalist only if you already own one.