Imperial CutterMining

Mining keeps you stationary and laden for long minutes — a beacon for every pirate in the ring — and the Imperial Cutter answers that threat better than any other big miner. Its huge mount and six lesser hardpoints carry the full mining toolset (lasers, sub-surface missiles, a seismic charge launcher for cores, an abrasion blaster) and a real gun, while ten optional internals swallow a refinery, a wall of limpet controllers and an ore hold approaching 700 tonnes. Behind it all sit the strongest shields in the game.

That combination — near-capital tonnage, apex shields, and brisk speed for a 1,100-tonne hull — makes it the safest high-volume miner there is. Where a Type-9 mining the same hotspot is a sitting duck and an Anaconda merely survives, the Cutter shrugs off the interdiction and destroys the pirate that comes for the haul. The price is Imperial Duke rank, a ~200M Cr hull and a large pad — but for filling a fortune of ore from a dangerous ring without an escort, nothing carries more, more safely.

Four things make the Cutter a superb high-volume miner:

• Vast ore hold. Ten optionals carry close to 700 tonnes of ore even with a full mining suite and a big shield fitted — capital tonnage per trip.
• Mounts every tool and a gun. A huge mount plus six others fit lasers, a seismic launcher, sub-surface missiles and an abrasion blaster, with room left over for a real weapon.
• It can't be robbed. The strongest shields in the game plus eight utilities make a laden Cutter near-impossible to crack, and brisk speed lets it outrun what it won't fight.
• Deep internals for the full suite. Refinery, prospector and multiple collector controllers, a detailed surface scanner and the ore racks all fit at once.

Apex shields (~2,500 MJ engineered) plus a ~640 t practical ore hold and a full tool-and-gun fit make it the safest high-volume miner; Duke rank, ~200M Cr and large-pad-only handling cap it below the dedicated Type-11.

The 92/100 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 Cutter is the defensible-volume champion. The Type-11 out-specialises it and the Type-9 matches its ore for far less, but neither can survive a dangerous ring the way the Cutter does. For filling a huge hold under threat without an escort, it leads its class on safety.

Other classes — medium and dedicated miners

The medium miners land more flexibly and cost far less, and the Python defends itself superbly on a medium pad. But none approaches the Cutter's ore hold, and none combines that capacity with apex shields. The Cutter's niche is maximum defensible haul — the miner you take into the richest, most dangerous rings to fill a fortune in one sitting.

At ~200M Cr and behind the Imperial Duke rank, the Cutter is a major commitment. A mining fit — tools, refinery, a wall of limpet controllers, ore racks and a prismatic shield — pushes the all-in figure past 280M Cr.

Mining can fund the climb both ways: rich core sessions earn the credits, and your Imperial-rank journey toward Duke is the same ladder you may already be on for the trading or combat Cutter. The same hull then re-roles to bulk trade or a combat flagship at no extra outfitting beyond a module swap.

A complete mining fit for laser and core work that keeps a gun and the game's best shield for self-defence. Initial is buy-only; A-rated is the mining baseline; Engineered focuses on shield, mobility and heat — the mining tools themselves are not meaningfully engineered.

Earn Duke and buy the hull. Buy-only, the Initial state is a bare mining starter: a single 2D Mining Laser (Fixed), a 0A Pulse Wave Analyser to spot rich rocks, a 2E Refinery, one Collector and one Prospector Limpet Controller, and a Detailed Surface Scanner. The hull ships with stock Lightweight Alloy bulkheads — they stay; on a miner the prismatic shield is the tank, not the plate.

Leave the huge and medium gun mounts, the seismic launcher, sub-surface missile and abrasion blaster empty for now, and skip the prismatic shield, its booster wall, the shield cell bank and the hull reinforcement — all of that arrives in the A-rated pass.

Fill the big optionals with stock E-rated cargo racks; the power plant, thrusters, FSD and distributor stay E-rate until you A-rate them.

A-rating priority for a defensible capital miner:

• 1Power Distributor → 7A — Mining lasers and limpets are power-hungry; A-rate first so the suite never browns out. ~18M Cr
• 2Power Plant → 8A — Run tools, limpets, a prismatic shield, eight utilities and a gun together. ~25M Cr
• 3Shield Generator → 8A Prismatic — The Cutter's edge; survive the long, exposed minutes of cracking cores. ~25M Cr
• 4Refinery → 4A + limpet controllers → 5A/3A — The heart of the mining loop. ~6M Cr
• 5Thrusters → 8A — Reposition between rocks and outrun trouble. ~20M Cr
• 6Frame Shift Drive → 7A — Reach distant hotspots and haul a full ore hold home.

The military slots earn their keep here too: a 5A Shield Cell Bank to reset the prismatic between pirate passes, and a 5D Hull Reinforcement under it. The bulkheads stay Lightweight Alloy — armour is the backstop, not the wall; Heavy-Duty engineering comes later without buying a heavier plate.

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

• 1Engineer the ship for defence — prismatic shield Reinforced (G5) plus Heavy-Duty boosters — not the mining tools.
• 2Low-Emissions plant keeps heat down through long mining sessions.
• 3Thrusters and FSD for repositioning, reaching distant hotspots and 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 Cutter fills a ~640t hold of ore behind a 2,500 MJ shield — and if that drops, Heavy-Duty bulkheads and a reinforced hull (~1,600 effective) plus a Thermo-Block shield cell keep it alive long enough to break contact, gun ready. It cracks cores in the richest, most dangerous rings and destroys the pirates that come for the haul. Only the dedicated Type-11 out-specialises it, and only the slower, flimsier super-haulers carry more raw tonnage — none does it as safely.

• Keep a gun and a prismatic shield — the Cutter's edge is being unrobable while laden with a fortune of ore.
• Don't engineer the mining tools — they don't benefit; engineer the shield, plant and mobility instead.
• A-rate the distributor and plant so lasers, limpets, the big shield and a gun all run together.
• It turns slowly — line up rocks deliberately and let the shield, not agility, keep you alive.
• Mind the large pad and the Duke rank gate — both are part of the cost; for a cheaper big haul a stripped Type-9 mines comparable ore.