Cobra Mk IIIMining

Mining is a tonnage business, and the Cobra Mk III is a small ship — so it was never going to top the field. What it does offer is access: at ~208k Cr with no rank gate, four hardpoints and eight optional internals, it can mount a full mining toolkit and start cracking rocks on day one. Its two medium and two small mounts take a mining laser, a seismic charge launcher for cores, a sub-surface missile and an abrasion blaster all at once, which is more than most budget hulls manage.

The ceiling is the hold. With only three class-4 internals to share between a refinery, limpet controllers, a shield and ore racks, you walk away with maybe 30–40 t of refined ore per trip — a fraction of what a Type-8 or a capital miner carries. Its thin shield also means a determined pirate will end the session for you. As a learn-the-loop starter on a small pad it's excellent value; as a serious income miner it's outclassed by every dedicated hull.

Three things make the Cobra Mk III a usable budget miner — and one caps it:

• Fits the whole toolkit. Two medium plus two small hardpoints take a mining laser, seismic launcher, sub-surface missile and abrasion blaster — both laser and core mining at once.
• Small pad, no gate. Docks at every outpost and ring system; anyone with pocket change can buy and fly one.
• Cheap to run. Tiny rebuy and small-class modules mean a mistake costs almost nothing — ideal for learning.
• But the hold is tiny. After a refinery and limpet controllers eat into eight shallow internals, ~30–40 t of ore is all that's left — this is the hard limit on its earnings.

A small-pad hull that mounts the full mining suite for ~208k Cr, capped firmly by a shallow ~30-40 t practical ore hold and a thin ~80 MJ shield.

The 52/100 headline is a verdict against the mining 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.

Both tables rate ships for mining specifically. The role column is the maximum cargo capacity in tonnes — though practical ore capacity is lower once the mining suite (refinery, limpet controllers) is fitted.

Same class — small-pad & budget miners

Among cheap small-pad hulls the Cobra Mk III sits in the middle: it fits more tools and holds more ore than an Adder, but its modern successor the Cobra Mk V beats it on every axis, and even the medium Type-6 out-hauls it for similar money. It's the value pick, not the best pick.

Other classes — the dedicated & capital miners

Every dedicated miner out-hauls the Cobra many times over, and the medium hulls add real self-defence the Cobra lacks. The step from a Cobra Mk III to a Type-8 or Python multiplies your ore per trip and your safety — the Cobra's only edge is that it costs a rounding error by comparison.

At ~208k Cr the Cobra Mk III is one of the cheapest ways into mining, with no rank gate and a negligible rebuy. A full mining suite — tools, a small refinery, prospector and collector controllers, ore racks and a basic shield — brings the all-in figure to roughly 2M Cr A-rated.

That low entry cost is its whole pitch: a few profitable laser-mining trips pay it off, after which you can fund the step up to a proper miner. Per tonne of ore, though, a Type-8 or capital miner is far cheaper to operate — the Cobra is cheap to buy, not cheap to earn with.

A complete small-pad mining fit for laser and core work, trading ore hold for a basic shield. Initial is buy-only; A-rated is the mining baseline; Engineered focuses on range, heat and a bi-weave — the mining tools themselves are not meaningfully engineered. For pure laser mining, drop the seismic launcher and missile for a third cargo rack.

Buy the hull (~208k Cr) and fit the 2D Mining Laser, a 2E Refinery, and a prospector plus a collector limpet controller — enough to run the basic laser-mining loop.

Add a Detailed Surface Scanner to map hotspots, two cargo racks for the ore, and keep the basic 4E shield on. The hull ships with stock Lightweight Alloy bulkheads — no plating spend at this stage.

Leave the seismic launcher, sub-surface missile, abrasion blaster, Pulse Wave Analyser and shield booster off for now — those hardpoint and utility slots stay empty until the A-rating step opens core mining and a real shield.

A-rating priority for a budget miner:

• 1Power Distributor → 3A — Mining lasers and limpets are power-hungry; A-rate first. ~300k Cr
• 2Power Plant → 4A — Run laser, limpets, refinery and shield together. ~400k Cr
• 3Add the mining toolkit — the 2B Seismic Charge Launcher, 1B Sub-Surface Displacement Missile and 1D Abrasion Blaster, plus a 0C Pulse Wave Analyser to light up the rocks — opens core mining for the high-value payouts. ~400k Cr
• 4Shield Generator → 4C bi-weave — with a 0A Shield Booster, a thin buffer for the exposed minutes of cracking a core. ~250k Cr
• 5Thrusters + FSD → 4A — Reposition in the ring and reach distant hotspots. ~700k Cr
• 6Refinery → 2A, limpet controllers → 1A — the suite's last A-rates: faster refining and a second 1A Collector controller to keep the limpet swarm fed.

Mining engineering is light and focuses on the ship, not the tools — the mining hardware itself isn't meaningfully engineered. Felicity Farseer (maxed) carries the FSD; pin blueprints for remote G1→G5 application.

Recommended order

• 1Low-Emissions plant keeps heat down through long mining sessions on a small frame.
• 2FSD Increased Range so the short-legged Cobra reaches distant hotspots and hauls ore home.
• 3Bi-weave plus a Heavy Duty booster to scrape together a usable shield for ring work.
• 4Leave the mining laser, limpet controllers and refinery stock — they don't benefit meaningfully from engineering.

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

Engineered, the Cobra Mk III runs the full mining toolkit behind a modest shield and brings home ~40 t of ore per trip on a small pad. The stock Lightweight Alloy bulkheads take a Lightweight tune and the thrusters a Clean tune with Drag Drives, keeping mass, heat and power draw low so jump range and the mining loop stay healthy — armour stays flat across all three states because the plating is chosen for mass, not survivability. It cracks cores and works hotspots competently — but its hold and survivability stay small-ship small, which is the honest reason it sits at 52: a capable learner, not a serious earner.

• Mine where it's quiet — the thin shield means you avoid pirates rather than fight them.
• Don't engineer the mining tools — they don't benefit; spend the effort on range, heat and shield instead.
• A-rate the distributor and plant so the laser, limpets and refinery all run together on a small power budget.
• Treat it as a stepping stone — the moment tonnage or safety matters, a Type-8 or Python is a huge upgrade.