Cobra Mk IVCombat

The Cobra Mk IV is the heavier, fatter Cobra: a small-pad hull that swaps the Mk III's speed and agility for a wider frame, five hardpoints (two medium, three small) and ten optional internals. On paper that extra gun and those deep slots read like a better fighter than the Mk III — more firepower, more room to stack hull reinforcement.

In practice it isn't. A combat ship lives on speed, and the Mk IV is slow: 200 m/s cruise, 300 m/s boost on a 210t hull, well short of the Mk III's 403. It can't dictate range, chase a fleeing target, or escape a fight going wrong — the core skills a small fighter needs. Its shields are thin, it has only two utilities, and it was sold only to Horizons early adopters, so most commanders can't even buy one. It works as a slow, gun-heavy budget brawler that leans on stacked armour, but every dedicated small fighter out-flies and out-fights it.

Three things define the Cobra Mk IV as a combat ship — two of them working against it:

• Five hardpoints. Two medium and three small give it one more gun than the Mk III — a genuinely heavier budget battery, though still all small/medium class.
• Deep internals. Ten optionals (four class-4) leave room to stack hull reinforcement, shield cell banks and a module reinforcement — it tanks better than a Mk III.
• But it's slow. A 300 m/s boost on a 210t hull means it can't choose its fights, chase, or escape — the single biggest liability for a small combat ship.

More guns than a Cobra Mk III — two medium and three small hardpoints — but a slow, heavy 210 t hull with thin shields and only two utilities makes it a worse pure fighter than the ship it succeeded; deep internals for hull stacking and re-role flexibility are its saving grace.

The 44/100 headline is a verdict against the combat 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 combat specifically, split by landing-pad class. The Hardpoints column is the hardpoint loadout — the basis for a weapon suite; the rating is the same 1–100 suitability verdict used across the site.

Same class — small combat ships

13 small-pad combat hulls carry a rating, led by Kestrel Mk II (85). Every same-pad rival lands where this one does — the direct field to shop.

Other classes — the heavy hitters

The large-pad combat field (5 rated), led by Federal Corvette (98) — bigger pads and bankrolls. They out-muscle this hull on the numbers, but sit a pad class away.

Other classes — the versatile mediums

The medium-pad combat field (13 rated), led by Fer-de-Lance (93) — cheaper hulls and tighter pads. They undercut this hull on the numbers, but sit a pad class away.

At ~623k Cr the hull is cheap and needs no rank, and its small modules keep engineering inexpensive. Credits were never the barrier: the Cobra Mk IV was sold only to Horizons early adopters, so most shipyards never stock it.

For a combat buyer that settles it. If you already own one, it's a cheap, gun-heavy oddity worth a slow-brawler build; if you don't, the freely-sold Cobra Mk V is a straight upgrade in every combat metric.

A budget brawler with more guns than a Cobra Mk III — two medium and three small hardpoints — but a slower, heavier hull. Initial is buy-only and keeps some cargo; A-rated is the combat-ready baseline; Engineered applies the house combat pattern, leaning on a bi-weave, stacked hull and the extra gun since the shields are thin and speed is only fair.

Buy the hull (~623k Cr) and fit a stock 4E Shield Generator plus a 0A Shield Booster for a thin starting buffer — armour stays at the stock Lightweight Alloy bulkhead and there's no hull reinforcement on the buy-only fit.

Arm one medium with a gimballed pulse laser and the other with a gimballed multi-cannon; fit a single 1G gimballed pulse in one small and leave the other two small hardpoints empty until the hull is paid off.

Fill two spare size-4 optionals with cargo racks so the same hull can run delivery missions between fights; the smaller optionals and the second utility stay empty for now.

A-rating priority for a slow, gun-heavy budget brawler:

• 1Power Distributor → 3A — Five guns plus boost drain the small class-3 pool fast; sustain comes first. ~300k Cr
• 2Power Plant → 4A — Headroom for five guns, shields and utilities. ~400k Cr
• 3Thrusters → 4A — The heavy hull needs every bit of pace it can get. ~400k Cr
• 4Shield Generator → 4C bi-weave — A regenerating buffer, since it must tank rather than flee. ~300k Cr
• 5Bulkheads → Military Grade Composite + FSD → 4A — The thin shell needs a harder hull before reinforcement stacks on top; A-rate the FSD for range across its roles. ~650k Cr
• 6Weapons & defensive layer — Add the two remaining 1G gimballed pulses and a 0I Chaff Launcher, then fill the optionals with a 4A Shield Cell Bank, stacked Hull Reinforcements and a Module Reinforcement.

The house combat pattern, leaning hard on armour and a bi-weave since the hull can't out-run trouble. Pin blueprints for remote G1→G5 application; visit in person for experimentals.

Recommended order

• 1Distributor and thrusters first for sustain and what mobility the hull allows.
• 2Power plant Overcharged to run five guns, shields and utilities.
• 3Weapons: Overcharged multi-cannons with one Corrosive, Efficient pulses.
• 4Bi-weave plus stacked Heavy-Duty hull reinforcement and Heavy-Duty bulkheads for the tank it lives on.

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

The A-rated jump in effective armour is the Military Grade Composite bulkhead plus stacked hull reinforcements; engineering Heavy Duty bulkheads and HRPs roughly doubles it again to ~700. Engineered, the Cobra Mk IV is a slow, gun-heavy brawler — five guns and a deep armour stack behind a thin shield, boosting to only ~360 m/s. It out-guns and out-tanks a Mk III but can never out-fly it; its combat ceiling stays low because it can't choose or break off a fight.

• Availability first — the Cobra Mk IV was a Horizons early-adoption reward and isn't sold in most shipyards; check before you plan around it.
• It can't run or chase — build it to tank and pick fights where the target won't flee.
• Lean on the armour — the deep optionals and extra gun, not speed, are its whole combat case.
• If you're shopping rather than flying one, the Cobra Mk V out-fights it in every metric that matters.