MandalayPassenger

The Mandalay is Zorgon Peterson's SCO-native medium explorer, and it can be fitted for passengers the same way any roomy medium can — but it is a conversion, not a liner. Fill its optional internals with economy cabins and you get a medium-pad tourer that lands almost anywhere and jumps further than its rivals; what you don't get is the Saud Kruger dedicated-liner comfort bonus, so passengers pay ordinary rates and earn less per seat than a Dolphin a quarter its capacity.

Its real passenger case is reach and access: the SCO FSD chains scattered sightseeing beacons in fewer hops than the medium field, and a light hull on a medium pad services outpost destinations the Beluga and Orca can't dock at. Against that, capacity is shallow — a single size-6 economy cabin is the largest berth block it can carry, three size-1 slots hold no cabins, and there is only one premium-cabin slot — so it earns least per trip of the passenger field.

Four things define the Mandalay as a passenger hull — two for it, two against:

• Class-leading reach. The SCO-native FSD keeps scattered scenic drop-offs one hop closer than any other medium tourer, even laden with cabins.
• Cheap medium-pad access. ~16.5M Cr, no rank or permit gate, and a light hull that lands at outposts the large liners can't reach.
• No comfort bonus. A Zorgon Peterson hull, not a Saud Kruger liner — every seat pays standard fares, so it earns least per passenger of the role.
• Shallow capacity. A single size-6 economy cabin is the largest berth it carries; three size-1 slots hold no cabins, so headcount caps near ~66 with a shield fitted.

Strong SCO range and cheap medium-pad access lift it, but a shallow ~66-seat cabin count with no size-1 cabins and zero liner comfort bonus make it the least-suited dedicated passenger hull.

The 54/100 headline is a verdict against the passenger 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 passenger specifically, split by landing-pad class. The Cabin cap. column is total optional-internal capacity — room for cabins; the rating is the same 1–100 suitability verdict used across the site.

Same class — medium passenger ships

8 medium-pad passenger hulls carry a rating, led by Lynx Highliner (90). Every same-pad rival lands where this one does — the direct field to shop.

Other classes — the liners

The large-pad passenger field (9 rated), led by Beluga Liner (95) — bigger pads and bankrolls. They out-muscle this hull on the numbers, but sit a pad class away.

Other classes — the shuttle-class

The small-pad passenger field (2 rated), led by Dolphin (80) — cheaper hulls and tighter pads. They undercut this hull on the numbers, but sit a pad class away.

The Mandalay's hull is around 16.5M Cr for Odyssey owners buying with credits (non-Odyssey owners must unlock it with ARX first). There is no rank or permit gate. A cabin fit is cheap to outfit — the cabins themselves are inexpensive and the only real spend is the FSD, thruster and shield engineering.

For a commander who already owns a Mandalay for exploration, the passenger conversion costs almost nothing extra: swap the scoop and AFMU for cabins and it doubles as a tourer. Bought purely to carry fares, though, its low per-seat pay and shallow headcount make it poor value against a Dolphin at a tenth the price or a Python that stacks twice the seats.

A medium-pad converted-liner fit: economy seating plus one premium first-class cabin, a bi-weave shield for safety and a max-range SCO FSD. Initial is buy-only; A-rated is the working baseline; Engineered stretches range and trims mass. There is no Saud Kruger comfort bonus here, so the case is reach and cheap medium-pad access, not per-seat pay.

Buy the hull (~16.5M Cr) on its stock E-rated cores and its default Lightweight Alloy bulkheads — the lightest plating, free at purchase — then fit just the two largest economy cabins (the 6E and 5E Economy Passenger Cabins) for ~48 cheap berths.

Everything else starts empty: all four utility mounts, the size-4 bi-weave shield, the premium first-class cabin and the spare size-3/2/1 internals are left as — until the A-rated pass adds them.

A-rate the FSD and thrusters first for range and the mobility to shake an interdiction.

A-rating priority for a converted tourer:

• 1FSD (SCO) → 5A — Range is this hull's only role advantage; A-rate it first. ~5M Cr
• 2Cabin mix — Economy cabins for volume plus a 4C First Passenger Cabin for the odd VIP fare. ~1M Cr
• 3Shield Generator → 4A bi-weave — A size-4 is the smallest that deploys over the 230t hull. ~3M Cr
• 4Thrusters → 5A — Mobility and escaping interdiction. ~5M Cr
• 5Power Plant → 5A, Power Distributor → 5A — Power for cabins and shield; a deeper boost reservoir. ~5M Cr
• 6Life Support → 4A — Endurance; drop Sensors to 5D to save mass. ~1M Cr
• 7Utilities — fill all four mounts — 0A Shield Booster, point defence, heat sink and chaff to break gimbal locks and dump heat when interdicted. Keep the stock Lightweight Alloy bulkheads. cheap

The passenger engineering pattern on a cool-running SCO hull — range first, then mobility and shield. Felicity Farseer (maxed) carries the FSD; pin blueprints for remote G1→G5 application.

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

The bulkheads stay Lightweight Alloy throughout; the engineered G5 Lightweight blueprint trims hull mass to feed the laden jump. Engineered, the Mandalay carries ~66 economy passengers, reaches scenic drop-offs the medium field can't in one hop, and lands at outposts closed to the big liners — but earns no comfort premium, so per-trip income trails every dedicated liner. Its case stays narrow: range and access, not headcount or pay.

• No comfort bonus — don't expect liner-grade payouts; the same cabins earn more on a Dolphin or Lynx.
• Size-1 slots take no cabins, so headcount caps near ~66 with a shield fitted.
• Its medium pad reaches outposts the Beluga and Orca can't — a genuine flexibility edge.
• It's a conversion, best flown when already owned for exploration; bought purely for fares it's outclassed both ways.