Krait PhantomTrading

The Krait Phantom is an exploration-and-multirole hull pressed into trade. Stripped to cargo it carries about 190 tonnes — respectable for a medium, but well short of the dedicated transporters. What it brings to a trade route is movement: a 350 m/s boost and a long frame-shift drive let it outrun interdictions and chain distant markets faster than the slow freighters can plod between them.

As a trader it is a generalist, not a specialist. A Type-8 hauls more than twice its load; the Krait Mk II, its own sibling, carries more on the same pad. The Phantom's case is the commander who already owns one for exploration or multirole work and wants it to earn on the side — swap in cargo racks, run a loop, swap them back out. As a hull bought purely to haul, cheaper or larger options beat it.

Three things make the Phantom a workable trader:

• Fast for a hauler. A 350 m/s boost lets it submit-and-run from interdictions other traders must sit and absorb.
• Long legs. A high-mounted FSD gives strong laden range — it reaches distant or thin-traffic markets that a Type-9 grinds toward.
• Medium-pad, rank-free, cheap. Lands almost anywhere, costs ~35.7M Cr, and anyone can buy one.

A fast, far-reaching, rank-free medium that leads its class on jump range but carries only ~190t stripped, leaving capacity — the role's heaviest factor — as its main limiter.

The 62/100 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 Phantom is a mid-pack generalist. The Type-8 hauls double, the Python carries more behind a real shield, and even the Mk II out-loads it. The Phantom answers back only on speed and jump range — reasons to keep one, but not to buy one to haul.

Other classes — the big freighters and small haulers

Step up a class and the big freighters bury the Phantom on tonnage; step down and the small haulers undercut it on price and pad flexibility. The Phantom sits between: more capable than the small ships, far short of the dedicated freighters — a fast medium that trades, not a trade ship.

At ~35.7M Cr with no rank gate, the Phantom is affordable, but it is poor value bought purely to haul: a Type-6 carries comparable loads for a fraction of the price, and a Type-8 carries double for similar money. The cost makes sense only when the cargo racks are a second job for a hull already earning at exploration or multirole work.

A pure-trade A-rated fit lands around 46M Cr; engineering the drive, thrusters and shield brings the practical figure near 60M Cr. Most of that spend pays off across roles, not just trade.

A fast, lightly-defended cargo fit. Initial is buy-only; A-rated is the trade baseline with a bi-weave shield; Engineered maximises laden range, speed and protected tonnage. Run the hardpoints clean unless a route is genuinely hostile.

Buy the hull, leave the cores stock E-rated, and fill the five largest optional slots — the size-6, all three size-5s and a size-3 — with E-rated cargo racks for immediate hauling capacity on day one. The smaller optional slots stay empty until A-rating.

Leave the bulkheads at the stock Lightweight Alloy the hull ships with — never armour up a hauler. Every tonne of plate is a tonne of cargo and a slice of jump range given away to a fight the Phantom should be running from.

Leave the hardpoints and utility mounts empty to save mass and power — no weapons, shield booster, heat sink or chaff at this stage. The Phantom's defence is running, not fighting.

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

A-rating priority for a fast medium hauler:

• 1FSD → A — Laden range is the Phantom's trade edge; A-rate the drive first. ~6M Cr
• 2Thrusters → A — Keep the speed that lets it outrun interdictions. ~6M Cr
• 3Shield Generator → bi-weave — Survive long enough to high-wake out. ~3M Cr
• 4Power Plant & Distributor → A — Sustain the boost and the shield. ~9M Cr
• 5Cargo racks — Fill the rest; size the shield slot to the route. varies

Leave the bulkheads on Lightweight Alloy — do not spend on heavier plate. The shield and the boost buy the escape window; the hull just needs to outlast the high-wake.

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

Recommended order

• 1FSD Increased Range first — reach is what the Phantom adds to a trade loop.
• 2Dirty thrusters next to keep the speed that outruns pirates.
• 3Bi-weave shield Reinforced plus Heavy Duty boosters so a bad interdiction doesn't end the run.
• 4Lightweight life support and sensors to claw back a little laden range and cargo.

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

The bulkheads stay on Lightweight Alloy throughout; the G5 Lightweight Armour roll keeps mass off the hull rather than adding plate, so armour holds near its ~180 base while the jump range climbs. Survival is the shield and the boost, not the skin.

Engineered, the Phantom hauls ~190t (or ~158t behind a bi-weave) at ~400 m/s with a ~32 LY laden jump — a quick, far-reaching medium that runs from trouble. It carries far less than a Type-8 or the freighters; nothing in its class chains distant markets faster.

• Play to speed and range — A-rate the FSD and thrusters; the Phantom escapes, it doesn't tank.
• ~190t is its ceiling, and only stripped; a Type-8 carries double and a Type-6 hauls similar for far less.
• It is best as a second job — cargo racks on a hull already earning at exploration or multirole.
• It has exploration and multipurpose manuals too — this one is the dedicated trade build.