Federal CorvetteMining

Mining is a slow, stationary business that makes you a magnet for pirates — and the Federal Corvette answers that threat more emphatically than any other hull. It carries a full mining suite and a near-capital ore hold across eleven optional internals, then mounts two huge guns, battleship armour and capital-scale shields on top. The pirate that interdicts a laden Corvette doesn't rob it; it dies. No miner is safer.

The catch is everything else. The Corvette is a warship pressed into mining, not a mining hull: it costs ~183M Cr before outfitting, demands a large pad, and sits behind the Federal Rear Admiral rank — one of the longest grinds in the game. It has no mining-specific bonuses, its 900-tonne mass and short jump range make hauling ore home a chore, and dedicated miners carry as much for a fraction of the cost and gates. The Corvette mines well; it just makes no economic sense to buy one for mining.

Three things make the Corvette a genuinely capable — if extravagant — miner:

• A near-capital ore hold. Three class-7 optionals plus deep mid-size slots leave room for a full mining suite and several hundred tonnes of ore behind it.
• Unmatched self-defence. The small and medium mounts carry the mining tools; the two huge and one large mounts carry guns. No raider survives interdicting it, and an SLF adds another layer.
• Capital tank. ~555 MJ base shields, battleship armour and two military slots mean it shrugs off the exposed minutes of cracking a motherlode in a hostile ring.

A near-capital ~700t hold and untouchable self-defence carry it, but a large-pad-only Rear Admiral gate, ~183M Cr price and zero mining bonus cap it at 64.

The 64/100 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 — large-pad miners

Among large miners the Corvette carries plenty and defends itself better than any of them — but the dedicated Type-11 and the Cutter out-mine it for less hassle, and the Anaconda matches its versatility with no rank gate. The Corvette's case is purely self-defence; on every other axis a peer beats it.

Other classes — the medium-pad miners

The mediums hold less, but they reach more stations, need no rank and cost a fraction of the Corvette. The Python in particular delivers the same "miner that defends itself" pitch on a medium pad with no grind. The Corvette only pulls ahead of these on raw tonnage and tank — advantages most miners never need.

At ~183M Cr the Corvette is one of the most expensive hulls in the game, and it sits behind the Federal Rear Admiral rank — a long grind up the Dropship→FAS→Gunship ladder. A mining fit — tools, refinery, limpet controllers, ore racks and a capital shield — pushes the all-in figure past 250M Cr.

None of that overhead earns ore faster than a far cheaper hull. The Cutter and Type-9 carry as much for less, and the Python or Type-8 mine well on a medium pad with no rank at all. Buying a Corvette to mine is paying a warship's price for a job a freighter does cheaper — it only adds up if the hull is already in your bay.

A mining fit that leans into the one thing the Corvette does better than any miner: surviving. The small and medium mounts carry the mining tools; the huge and large mounts carry guns so no pirate lives to rob you. Initial is buy-only; A-rated is the mining baseline; Engineered focuses on defence, mobility and heat — the mining tools themselves are not meaningfully engineered.

Earn Rear Admiral and buy the hull. The buy-only state is deliberately bare: one huge gimballed multi-cannon for teeth, a single 2D mining laser on a medium mount, and E-rated cores throughout. The bulkhead stays the free lightweight alloy — no military-grade plate to buy on a miner that wants to stay light for the laden ore run.

Everything that turns it into a fortress miner waits for the A-rated pass — the second huge multi-cannon and the gimballed beam, the seismic launcher, abrasion blaster and sub-surface missile, the capital bi-weave shield, the refinery and the limpet controllers are all left empty here.

What does go on stock: the lightweight-alloy bulkhead, a 5D hull reinforcement in the first military slot, and one 7E ore rack. A-rate the distributor and plant next so tools, limpets and guns will run together.

A-rating priority for a fortress miner:

• 1Power Distributor → 8A — Mining tools, limpets and the guns are power-hungry; A-rate the class-8 first. Engineered, run it High Capacity (charge-enhanced) to feed SYS and WEP — not engine-focused. ~22M Cr
• 2Power Plant → 8A — Run tools, limpets, a capital shield and two huge guns together. Re-roll Armoured, not Stealth — this hull needs the output, not a low signature. ~28M Cr
• 3Shield Generator → 7C bi-weave — Survive the exposed minutes of cracking a core in a hot ring. ~18M Cr
• 4Mining suite — 4A refinery; a 6A collector controller in the size-6 slot for maximum concurrent limpets, backed by 5A and 3A collectors and the 3A prospector; plus the seismic launcher, abrasion blaster and sub-surface missile. The heart of the mining loop. ~4M Cr
• 5Thrusters → 7A — Move and turn a 900t hull when the fight comes. ~22M Cr
• 6Frame Shift Drive → 6A — Offset the laden hull on the long ore run home.

The bulkhead stays lightweight alloy throughout — the 5D hull reinforcement and 5D module reinforcement do the armouring; the plate stays light to keep the laden hull moving.

Mining engineering is light and focuses on the ship, not the tools — the mining hardware itself isn't meaningfully engineered. Engineer for defence, mobility and heat; pin blueprints for remote G1→G5 application.

Recommended order

• 1Engineer the ship for defence and mobility — bi-weave shield, boosters, thrusters — not the mining tools.
• 2Low-Emissions plant keeps heat down across long mining sessions.
• 3FSD Increased Range to offset the heavy hull when hauling ore home.
• 4Leave the mining lasers, 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 Corvette mines ~480t of ore behind a 2,000 MJ shield, a heavily reinforced lightweight hull and two huge guns — no pirate touches it and no ring is too hot. It carries plenty and survives anything, but it does so at a cost and behind a rank no other miner asks for. The capability is real; the value isn't.

• The mining tools fit the small and medium mounts — keep the two huge and one large mounts armed so the ship is a fortress while it mines.
• Don't engineer the mining tools — they don't benefit; engineer the ship's defence, mobility and heat instead.
• A-rate the class-8 distributor and plant so lasers, limpets and the guns all run together.
• Only mine in the Corvette if you already own one — for raw tonnage or low overhead a Type-9, Cutter or Python is the smarter buy.