CorsairTrading

The Corsair is a modern medium all-rounder, and its ten optional internals make it a genuinely capable hauler. Fill them with cargo and it carries ~318 tonnes — more than a Python and within reach of the dedicated medium transporters — on a hull that lands on a medium pad anywhere and boosts past 350 m/s. There's no rank gate; anyone can fly one off the shipyard floor.

For trading specifically, that combination of a big hold, real speed and medium-pad access is its whole case: it hauls a serious load to and from stations the large freighters can't reach, and it gets there faster. The catch is that it isn't a freight specialist — its base shield is modest, its laden jump range is poor, and it carries a fraction of what a Type-9 or Cutter does. The Corsair is the trader for medium-pad runs where pace and access matter; for raw tonnage or defended fortunes, the large hulls win.

Four things make the Corsair a strong medium hauler:

• Big hold for a medium. ~318 tonnes stripped — more cargo than a Python, on a medium pad.
• Fast and light. A 355 m/s boost on a 265 t frame — quick station-to-station and quick to escape an interdiction.
• Medium-pad access. Lands at outposts and surface ports the large freighters are locked out of.
• Rank-free, deep internals. Ten optionals to load with cargo and a shield; no Imperial grind to fly one.

A fast ~318 t hold on a rank-free medium pad lifts it above the slower transporters, but a poor ~20 LY laden range and modest 235 MJ shield cap it at 74.

The 74/100 headline is a verdict against the trading 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 trading specifically. The role column is the maximum cargo capacity in tonnes — the headline number for bulk hauling.

Same class — medium-pad traders

The Corsair is the fast, big-hold medium trader. The Type-8 carries more for less money, and the Python shields better, but neither matches the Corsair's speed-plus-capacity blend on a medium pad — a strong pick when you want a large hold that still lands at outposts.

Other classes — large and small traders

The large freighters out-haul the Corsair several times over, but every one of them needs a large pad and most are slow. The Corsair matches the Type-7's hold while landing on medium pads and moving far faster — the capacity of a large trader, the access and pace of a medium.

At ~76.9M Cr the Corsair is the priciest of the medium traders — a Type-8 hauls more for less — but there's no rank gate and no large-pad requirement. A trade-rigged hull with a shield and cargo racks lands around 90M Cr.

The premium buys speed and a big hold in one medium-pad package, and the same Corsair re-roles into a hard-hitting combat or mining ship by swapping modules — spreading the cost across your whole fleet of one.

A fast, defended bulk-trade fit. Initial is buy-only; A-rated is the trade baseline; Engineered maximises protected cargo and laden pace.

Buy the hull and drop the biggest cargo racks into the three class-6 optionals — the cheapest tonnage per slot. The cores stay stock E-rated until funds allow A-rating.

Leave the bulkheads as the stock Lightweight Alloy the hull ships with — never buy heavier armour on a trader. Mass is the enemy of both speed and jump range, and on the Corsair speed is the defence; reinforced plate would only slow the escape it depends on.

Everything else is left empty buy-only: all four utilities, the size-5-down-to-1 optionals, and the shield. There's no shield generator yet — the bi-weave, the shield boosters and point defence all arrive with the A-rated pass.

A-rate thrusters and the FSD first so the laden ship keeps its speed and reach.

A-rating priority for a fast medium hauler:

• 1Thrusters → 7A — Speed is the Corsair's main defence; keep it laden. ~8M Cr
• 2FSD → 5A — Stretch a poor laden range so routes stay efficient. ~8M Cr
• 3Shield Generator → 6C bi-weave — Survive interdiction long enough to boost away. ~5M Cr
• 4Power Plant → 7A — Power for shield, boosters and distributor. ~6M Cr
• 5Power Distributor → 7A — Sustain boost to outrun trouble. ~5M Cr

Bulkheads stay Lightweight Alloy — don't spend on Military Grade. Heavier plate would blunt the speed and range the whole fit leans on, and the bi-weave plus boosters carry the survival load instead.

The trading engineering pattern weighted to range and pace. Felicity Farseer (maxed) carries the FSD; pin blueprints for remote G1→G5 application.

Recommended order

• 1Increased-Range FSD plus lightweight core modules first — the Corsair's range is its weakest trait, so claw it back.
• 2Dirty thrusters next to keep the speed that lets it escape interdiction.
• 3Bi-weave Reinforced shield and Heavy-Duty boosters for survivable hauling.
• 4Low-Emissions plant for cool running; fill the rest with the biggest cargo racks.

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

Engineered, the Corsair hauls ~256 t behind a ~700 MJ bi-weave at ~420 m/s — a defended, fast medium hold that lands where freighters can't. The bulkheads stay Lightweight Alloy throughout, with a G5 Lightweight blueprint shaving hull mass to feed that speed and the ~20 LY laden jump; armour never carries the defence here, the shield and the boost do. It carries a fraction of the large haulers and its laden range stays short, but for quick medium-pad runs it punches above the dedicated transporters.

• Speed is the defence — A-rated thrusters and distributor let a laden hull boost clear of interdiction.
• Engineer the FSD first — the Corsair's poor laden range is its weakest trait for trading.
• It out-hauls a Python and matches a Type-7's hold while landing on medium pads, but carries a fraction of the large freighters.
• A premium pick — pricier than the dedicated transporters, justified by speed, pad access and re-role flexibility.