Type-6 TransporterMining

Mining is the trade where a cheap hull can still earn well, and the Type-6 is the cheapest medium ship that fits a real mining suite. Its eight optional internals take a refinery, a prospector controller, collector controllers, a detailed surface scanner and a couple of ore racks, while a class-3 shield slot keeps a small bubble of protection around you during the exposed minutes of working a rock. On a medium pad it reaches almost every ring system, and its good laden range gets you out to the pristine hotspots that pay.

The catch is its hardpoints: just two small mounts. That fits a mining laser and an abrasion blaster for surface and laser mining comfortably, but there is no room for the full seismic-charge-plus-sub-surface-missile-plus-abrasion-blaster trio that efficient core cracking wants. The ore hold is small too — a fraction of what a Type-8 or a capital miner carries. The Type-6's case is simple: get mining cheaply, learn the loop, and bank the profit toward a hull built for it.

Four things make the Type-6 a workable budget miner:

• Cheapest way into mining. Under a million credits and no rank gate — the most affordable medium hull that fits a real mining suite.
• Internals for a full laser suite. Eight optional slots take a refinery, prospector and collector controllers, a surface scanner and ore racks.
• Medium-pad and good range. Reaches almost every ring system and lands at outposts; the laden jump gets you to the paying hotspots.
• Light and nimble. Quick to line up on rocks and quick to high-wake away when a pirate interdicts the haul.

A medium-pad, no-rank, sub-million-credit hull that fits a full laser-mining suite cheaply, but ~64t practical ore and only two small hardpoints cap it as a starter.

The 62/100 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 — medium-pad miners

Among medium miners the Type-6 is the budget floor. Everything above it carries more ore, mounts more tools, or defends itself — but all cost several times as much. The Keelback edges ahead on its fighter bay for defence; for the cheapest functional laser miner, the Type-6 is the entry point, then you graduate.

Other classes — the dedicated and capital miners

The dedicated and capital miners out-haul and out-specialise the Type-6 by a wide margin, but all need a large pad and far deeper pockets. The Type-6's only real rival below it is the small-pad Cobra Mk III — cheaper and lands anywhere, but smaller still. The Type-6 is rung one of the mining ladder: the cheapest medium miner, then you scale up.

At ~867k Cr the Type-6 is cheap, with no rank gate. A working mining fit — tools, refinery, prospector and collector controllers, ore racks and a small shield — brings the all-in figure to around 6M Cr, less than a bare Python hull.

That low cost is the whole point: mining profits in a Type-6 compound fast into a Type-8 or a capital miner. For maximum ore per trip or any real self-defence, a purpose-built miner wins easily; for getting into mining for almost nothing, nothing is cheaper.

A complete laser-mining fit on a budget, with a small shield to survive a pirate long enough to flee. Initial is buy-only; A-rated is the mining baseline; Engineered focuses on range, mobility and a tougher shield — the mining tools themselves are not meaningfully engineered.

The buy-only state is deliberately bare: take the hull (~867k Cr) on its stock E-rated core internals and fit the one tool you can't mine without — a 1D Mining Laser on a small hardpoint — plus a single 5E Cargo Rack for ore. The bulkheads stay the hull's stock Lightweight Alloy — free with the chassis, and the right plate for a miner that lives on jump range, so there's nothing to buy here.

Everything else stays empty at this stage. The second hardpoint (abrasion blaster), the Pulse Wave Analyser, the refinery, both limpet controllers, the class-3 bi-weave shield and the detailed surface scanner are all left off the buy-only sheet — they come with the A-rated pass.

It barely earns as a miner yet; the point is to get the hull and primary laser cheaply, then A-rate the plant and distributor so the full suite runs without browning out.

The A-rated pass also fills out the mining suite — the abrasion blaster, a 0A Pulse Wave Analyser, a 4A Refinery, the 1A prospector and 1A/3A collector controllers and a 1I detailed surface scanner — alongside the core-system upgrades, in this priority:

• 1Power Distributor → 3A — Mining lasers and limpets are power-hungry; A-rate first. ~600k Cr
• 2Power Plant → 3A — Run lasers, limpets and a shield together. ~800k Cr
• 3FSD → 4A — Reach the distant hotspots that pay and haul ore home. ~1M Cr
• 4Shield Generator → 3C bi-weave — Survive the exposed minutes of working a rock. ~400k Cr
• 5Thrusters → 4A — Reposition fast and flee when a pirate interdicts. ~800k Cr

The bulkheads stay the stock Lightweight Alloy throughout — a miner spends nothing on plate, banking that mass on jump range, shield and ore instead. There's no military swap on this hull.

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

• 1FSD Increased Range first — reach the paying hotspots and haul ore home efficiently.
• 2Low-Emissions plant keeps heat down through long mining sessions.
• 3Small bi-weave shield and a booster so you survive long enough to flee a pirate.
• 4Leave the mining laser, abrasion blaster, 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 Type-6 laser-mines a ~64t ore hold behind a modest shield, for almost nothing — a profitable first miner that reaches the hotspots and gets the haul home. The engineering stays lightweight throughout: G5 Lightweight Armour on the stock Lightweight Alloy bulkheads and a Stripped Down power distributor, both shaving mass to protect the jump range that gets you to the paying rocks. Its hold stays small and its two hardpoints cap the tools it can carry; its job is to earn cheaply and fund a real miner.

• Run it as a laser miner — two small hardpoints can't carry the full core-mining trio.
• Keep a small bi-weave shield; the Type-6 is lightly built and pirates target laden miners.
• A-rate the distributor and plant so lasers and limpets run together without browning out.
• Don't engineer the mining tools — they don't benefit; engineer range, mobility and the shield instead.
• It's a starter, not a keeper — bank the ore profit toward a Type-8 or a capital miner.