Type-10 DefenderMining

Mining is a slow, stationary business that turns a laden ship into a pirate magnet — and the Type-10 answers that with sheer durability. Lakon's anti-Thargoid fortress doubles as a heavy miner: nine hardpoints (four large, three medium, two small) carry every mining tool you need and still leave mounts for a gun battery, its deep class-8 internals hold a full refinery, limpet controllers and a large ore rack, and the single highest armour base of any ship (580, climbing far higher with reinforcement) means it simply tanks the pirate that interdicts it mid-session.

The catch is that it pays for that durability in mobility and access. It is large-pad only, so it skips medium-pad outposts; it is brutally slow (179 m/s) to reach a ring and to reposition between rocks; and its shields are feeble for the hull, so survival rests on armour, not a shield bubble. It carries less than the bulk haulers (Type-9, Cutter) and lacks the dedicated mining edge of the Type-11, and it costs more than either. For a commander who already flies a Type-10 and wants it to mine valuable cores in dangerous rings without ever fleeing, it is a genuinely capable, near-indestructible platform — just not the efficient choice.

Four things make the Type-10 a workable heavy miner:

• Mounts a full suite plus guns. Nine hardpoints fit lasers, sub-surface missiles, a seismic charge launcher and an abrasion blaster for laser and core mining — and still leave mounts for a turreted gun battery.
• Deep internals, large ore hold. A class-8 optional plus a long internal ladder house a full refinery, prospector and collector controllers, a surface scanner and a large cargo rack together.
• It out-tanks every pirate. The highest armour in the game, with military slots for reinforcement, means it absorbs an interdictor's attacks rather than fleeing — no escort needed.
• Rank-free. Despite its Federal associations it needs only credits; anyone can fly one.

It rates 70 on the single highest armour in the game (580 base, ~5,000+ engineered) plus a 9-hardpoint full-suite-and-guns fit, limited by a ~528 t hold the bulk haulers beat and a 165M-Cr, large-pad-only, glacial frame.

The 70/100 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-pad miners the Type-10 sits in the middle. The Type-9 and Panther haul far more ore for the same pad, and the Type-7 does it cheaper; the Type-10's edge is that it tanks and fights off the pirates that gut those flimsy haulers. It out-mines the combat hulls (Clipper, Corvette) on hold size while matching their survivability — a durable compromise rather than a leader.

Other classes — the dedicated, capital and medium miners

The dedicated and capital miners out-haul or out-specialise the Type-10 and most are far faster, while the Python delivers most of its self-defence on a cheaper, quicker medium hull. The Type-10 beats them only on raw toughness — it is the miner you take into the worst rings when surviving the attention matters more than tonnage, speed or pad access.

At ~125M Cr the Type-10 is a major purchase with no rank gate. A mining fit — tools, refinery, limpet controllers, a large ore rack, hull and module reinforcement and A-rated cores to run it all — brings the all-in figure to around 165M Cr, more than the dedicated trade-miners and the Python.

You pay for durability, not tonnage per credit. A Type-9 holds more ore for less, the Type-11 mines more efficiently, and the Python defends itself on a cheaper, faster medium hull. The Type-10 earns its price only if you value being near-indestructible above all else — or already own one and want it to mine.

A heavy mining fit for laser and core work that keeps a turreted gun battery and deep armour for self-defence. Initial is buy-only; A-rated is the mining baseline; Engineered focuses on armour, mobility and heat — the mining tools themselves are not meaningfully engineered.

Initial is a bare frame: buy the hull — it ships with stock Lightweight Alloy bulkheads at no cost — hang a single 2D Mining Laser (Fixed) on the first large hardpoint, and run the stock E-rated cores (8E plant, 7E thrusters, 7E FSD, 5E life support, 7E distributor, 4E sensors) on a 6C fuel tank. Every weapon, utility and military mount stays empty.

The rest of the mining suite — the second laser, the seismic charge launcher, the sub-surface missile, the abrasion blaster, the refinery and the limpet controllers — and the whole defensive layer — the turreted multi-cannons, Pulse Wave Analyser, the shield booster, heat sinks, point defence and the military hull/module reinforcement — all wait for the A-rated pass, not this one.

The only optional fitted buy-only is an 8E Cargo Rack in the class-8 slot; the bi-weave buffer and the remaining cargo racks come later. Nothing here needs an unlock — it is all purchasable.

A-rating priority for a durable miner:

• 1Power Distributor → 7A — Mining tools and limpets are power-hungry; A-rate first. ~14M Cr
• 2Power Plant → 8A — Run lasers, limpets, turrets and reinforcement together. ~18M Cr
• 3Bulkhead, hull & module reinforcement — Keep the stock Lightweight Alloy bulkhead (a 1,200t hull punishes heavy plate), then stack 5D hull and 5D module reinforcement in the military slots plus a 2D hull reinforcement in an optional; armour is the tank, not the shield. material + Cr
• 44A Refinery + 3A limpet controllers — The heart of the mining loop. ~4M Cr
• 5Thrusters → 7A — Recover the barest mobility a 1,200t hull allows. ~15M Cr

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

• 1Heavy-Duty hull reinforcement first — armour is the Type-10's tank, so deepen it before anything else.
• 2Low-Emissions plant keeps heat down across long mining sessions and feeds the suite.
• 3Dirty thrusters for the barest mobility, and a Reinforced (+ Fast Charge) bi-weave buffer over the armour.
• 4FSD Increased Range eases the jumps to distant hotspots; leave the mining lasers, controllers and refinery stock.

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

Engineered, the Type-10 mines a ~420t hold behind thousands of points of armour — an engineered Lightweight Alloy bulkhead plus the hull/module reinforcement stack, kept light so the 1,200t frame still moves — and a turreted gun battery. The bi-weave is a thin buffer, not the tank; the armour is. It works cores in the worst rings and shrugs off the pirates that come for the haul. It carries less than the bulk haulers and stays slow and large-pad bound, but none of them mines as durably.

• Tank on armour, not shields — fill the military slots and an optional with hull/module reinforcement; the bi-weave is just a buffer.
• Go turreted on the defensive guns — the Type-10 can't hold fixed fire on an agile pirate while you mine.
• Don't engineer the mining tools — they don't benefit; engineer the armour, mobility and heat instead.
• Remember the large pad — plan refuel/sell stops at large-pad stations only, and accept the slow transit to and from the ring.