DolphinTrading

The Dolphin is Saud Kruger's compact luxury cruiser, built for passengers — but its nine optional internals make it a surprisingly capable small-pad hauler. Fill them with cargo racks and it carries ~88 t all-cargo (~84 t behind a shield), more than the cheaper Cobra Mk III and the dedicated Hauler, and it lands at any outpost or surface port with no rank or permit gate. For a commander funding their first freighter, that's a real, roomy small-pad hold.

Its limits are pace and protection. At 250 / 350 m/s it's slower than the Cobras that share its pad, so it absorbs interdictions they simply boost clear of, and its light frame carries only a thin bi-weave across three utility mounts. The class-4 FSD on a light 140 t hull gives decent laden legs, but the whole package costs ~1.12M Cr — several times a Cobra Mk III — for a ship that hauls a little more, a little slower. A pleasant starter trader, not a value one.

Three things make the Dolphin worth hauling in:

• A roomy hold for a small pad. ~88 t all-cargo tops the Cobra Mk III (~64 t) and the Hauler (~26 t), and nearly matches the Cobra Mk V (~110 t) — genuine capacity that lands at any outpost.
• Ungated and comfortable. No rank or permit, a small pad that reaches everywhere, and a pleasant Saud Kruger cockpit for the long, dull commodity legs.
• Light-hull laden range. A class-4 FSD on a 140 t frame keeps laden jumps respectable — fewer stops on a route than the heavier Cobras.

A 46 built on a roomy small-pad hold (~88 t) and ungated reach, pulled down by slow speed, thin defences and a passenger-liner price against the cheaper, faster Cobra haulers.

The 46/100 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.

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

Same class — small trading ships

5 small-pad trading hulls carry a rating, led by Cobra Mk IV (52). Every same-pad rival lands where this one does — the direct field to shop.

Other classes — the bulk freighters

The large-pad trading field (10 rated), led by Panther Clipper Mk II (98) — bigger pads and bankrolls. They out-muscle this hull on the numbers, but sit a pad class away.

Other classes — the medium haulers

The medium-pad trading field (9 rated), led by Type-8 Transporter (76) — cheaper hulls and tighter pads. They undercut this hull on the numbers, but sit a pad class away.

At ~1.12M Cr the Dolphin costs several times a Cobra Mk III (~208k) for a hold only a little larger, and a full A-rated trade fit runs around 4M Cr — a fair sum for a starter freighter. That price is its weakest trading argument: cheaper, faster hulls haul as much or more.

Its case is comfort and dual-use. If you already fly a Dolphin for passengers or exploration, it hauls freight in the same ungated, small-pad hull without buying a second ship — but bought purely to trade, a Cobra or a Type-6 is the better value.

A small-pad hauler fit that keeps a fast-recovering bi-weave and enough boost to break an interdiction, then fills every remaining slot with cargo. Initial is buy-only with a token shield; A-rated is the trade baseline; Engineered applies a range-and-escape pattern to the cores while keeping the ~84 t protected hold. The Dolphin defends by leaving, not by fighting — it flies unarmed and survives on speed.

Buy the hull, fill the optional internals with cargo racks, and fly the stock E-rated cores — including the buy-only 4E FSD. Range and refuelling come on the A-rate and engineering passes.

The Dolphin ships with Lightweight Alloy bulkheads as standard — keep them. A trader never trades cargo mass for armour, so this slot needs no purchase in any state.

Fit a token 2E shield generator from day one so a scrape on the pad or a light hit doesn't cost the hull; leave the utility mounts empty until the A-rated pass.

The hull flies unarmed — its two small weapon hardpoints stay empty. A starter trader survives by submitting and boosting clear, not by fighting.

A-rating priority for a small-pad hauler:

• 1FSD → A — Laden jump range is everything on a route; A-rate the drive first. ~1.5M Cr
• 2Thrusters → A — The Dolphin is slow; A-rated thrusters buy the boost to break an interdiction. ~1M Cr
• 3Power Plant → A — Headroom for the shield, boosters and cargo hatch. ~750k Cr
• 4Shield → 2C bi-weave + boosters — A fast-recovering landing-and-escape shield with two Heavy-Duty boosters. ~300k Cr
• 5Life support, distributor, sensors → D — D-rate the light modules to save mass for laden range. ~200k Cr
• 6Cargo racks — Fill every remaining optional to reach ~84 t behind the shield. ~500k Cr

Leave the bulkheads at stock Lightweight Alloy — no Military Grade. Every kilo of hull plating costs laden range, and an unarmed hauler has nothing to defend but its cargo, which it does by running.

The hauler engineering pattern: range on the FSD, boost on the thrusters, and a fast-charging bi-weave to survive the interdiction the Dolphin can't outrun outright.

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

Engineered, the Dolphin carries ~84 t behind a fast bi-weave, jumps ~30 LY laden and boosts near ~380 m/s — enough to run early commodity routes in comfort. The bulkheads stay Lightweight Alloy, rolled G5 Lightweight (Selene Jean) to shave hull mass — the gain is range, not protection. Its tonnage and pace still trail the real freighters; its comfort and small-pad reach do not.

• Buy it to trade only if you already want the hull for passengers or exploration — a Cobra or Type-6 is better value for pure freight.
• FSD and thrusters first; then a fast bi-weave and boosters, then fill every optional with cargo racks.
• It's a dual-purpose hull — the same ship makes a fine passenger liner and a cool-running explorer.
• For real tonnage, step up to a medium Type-8 or a large Type-9; the Dolphin is the comfortable first hold, not the last.