Krait Mk IITrading

The Krait Mk II is a combat-leaning multirole medium that can trade, not a hull built to. Strip it of guns and fit cargo racks and it carries ~230 tonnes — ~166 once you keep a shield — on a medium pad that lands almost anywhere, with no rank gate to clear. The same hull that bounty-hunts and mines can pick up a trade contract or run a profitable loop without buying a second ship.

But measured purely as a freighter it sits in the middle of the pack. The Type-8 hauls far more on the same medium pad; the cheap, efficient Type-6 moves nearly as much cargo for a fraction of the cost; and the large freighters carry three to five times as much. Where the Krait Mk II earns its keep is that it can defend itself on the route — three large hardpoints and real speed mean it isn't a sitting duck when interdicted — and that trading is just one hat a versatile hull already owns.

What the Krait Mk II brings to a trade run:

• Decent medium-pad cargo. ~230 t stripped, ~166 t with a shield — respectable for a hull that also fights.
• It can defend itself. Three large hardpoints and four utilities mean an interdiction is a fight you can win, not a robbery you survive.
• Fast and rank-free. A 330 m/s boost outruns most pirates, and anyone with the credits can fly one.
• Dual-use. The same engineered hull bounty-hunts, mines and explores — trade is a module swap, not a new ship.

Medium-pad access, ~600+ MJ shield and three large hardpoints make it a defensible mid-pack hauler, but a modest ~166 t protected hold against dedicated freighters caps it at 64.

The 64/100 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

Among medium traders the Krait Mk II is a mid-pack hauler. The Type-8 carries far more, the Type-6 hauls nearly as much for a fraction of the price, and even the Python out-cargos it. Its edge over them is firepower and pace — it can fight and flee where the dedicated freighters can only run.

Other classes — capital and small traders

The large freighters carry several times the Krait Mk II's hold and define bulk trading; the small traders are cheaper and land anywhere but move little. The Krait Mk II sits between them — a defensible medium that hauls more than the small ships and fights better than any of them, but never competes with the dedicated freighters on capacity.

At ~45.2M Cr the Krait Mk II is no cheaper than a fully kitted dedicated trader, so buying one for trading alone rarely makes sense — the Type-8 hauls more for less. Its value is amortised: if you already fly one for combat or mixed roles, a stored set of cargo racks turns it into a hauler for the price of the modules.

Outfit it specifically to trade — A-rated cores, a bi-weave shield and a full cargo loadout — and the practical figure lands near 72M Cr, more than a comparable Type-8 trade fit carrying twice the cargo.

A defended cargo fit on a versatile hull. Initial is buy-only — strip it and pack cargo racks; A-Rated is the trade baseline with a bi-weave shield and a pair of self-defence turrets; Engineered maximises laden range and protected hold while keeping enough teeth for the rare interdiction you can't outrun.

Buy the hull — it ships with stock Lightweight Alloy, so the bulkhead costs nothing — and drop E-rated cargo racks into the three roomiest optional slots (two size-6 and one size-5) for immediate hauling; every other optional stays empty until the A-rated pass.

Leave the hardpoints and utility mounts bare buy-only — no turrets, shield boosters or launchers yet — and run the stock E-rated cores with the class-5 fuel tank to keep the first outlay small.

There's no shield at this stage — the first size-6 slot holds a cargo rack, not a generator — so treat Initial as a cheap unarmed test hauler and add the bi-weave plus self-defence turrets at the A-rated step before flying risky routes.

A-rating priority for a defended hauler:

• 1FSD → 5A — Laden jump range sets route efficiency. ~6M Cr
• 2Thrusters → 6A — Keep the speed that escapes pirates when full. ~6M Cr
• 3Shield Generator → 6C bi-weave — Protect the cargo and recover fast under fire; add two 0A shield boosters to multiply it and a 3C shield cell bank for an emergency top-up. ~5M Cr
• 4Power Plant → 7A — Run the shield, boosters and turrets together. ~7M Cr
• 5Power Distributor → 7A — Sustain boost and shield cells in a scrap. ~5M Cr

The trading engineering pattern: range, pace and a protected hold. Felicity Farseer (maxed) carries the FSD; pin blueprints for remote G1→G5 application.

Recommended order

• 1Increased-Range FSD with Mass Manager first — range is the trader's efficiency.
• 2Dirty thrusters to keep a laden boost that outruns pirates.
• 3Bi-weave shield Reinforced (G5) with Hi-Cap plus Heavy-Duty boosters to protect the cargo.
• 4Low-Emissions plant for cool, quiet running; fill the rest with the biggest cargo racks.

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

The bulkhead stays Lightweight Alloy across all three states; the engineered pass runs Lightweight (Armour_Advanced) G5 on it, trimming hull mass and adding ~8% kinetic/thermal/explosive resistance — resilience without the jump-range cost of heavier plate. Engineered, the Krait Mk II hauls ~166 t behind a recovering bi-weave shield at ~370 m/s, jumps ~22 LY laden, and can win or flee an interdiction. The Stealth/Cooled power plant, Thermal-Vent beam and Heat Sink Launcher keep its heat signature low — a quiet, self-sufficient hauler, just one that carries a third to a fifth of what the dedicated freighters move per trip.

• A-rate the FSD and thrusters first — range and laden boost define a trader's efficiency and escapes.
• Keep a bi-weave shield; the Krait Mk II is at its best as a hauler that can defend its cargo.
• Don't buy one purely to trade — the Type-8 and Type-6 move more per credit. Use a hull you already own.
• It has combat, mining and multipurpose manuals too — this one is the cargo build.