Type-9 HeavyTrading

The Type-9 Heavy is Lakon's dedicated bulk freighter and, for years, the credits-only answer to 'how do I move the most cargo?'. Eleven optional internals — topped by two class-8 slots — let it pack close to 790 tonnes when fully racked, a figure only the Imperial Cutter and the newer Panther Clipper Mk II exceed.

It earns its keep on volume, not finesse. The hull is slow (132 m/s base), turns like a moon, and carries almost no shield or weaponry in a trading fit. The trade-off is access and economy: no rank gate, a hull cost well under the Cutter's, and the lowest effective cost-per-tonne-hauled of any easily-obtained ship. The community treats it as the workhorse you graduate to from a Type-6/Type-7 and only graduate past if you chase a Cutter or Panther.

Three things make the Type-9 a dedicated trader rather than a multirole that happens to carry cargo:

• Two class-8 optional slots. A pair of 256-tonne cargo racks is the foundation of its ~790-tonne ceiling — no other credits-only hull has this much rackable volume.
• Eleven optional internals. Even after fitting a shield, a Guardian FSD booster and a fuel scoop you're still carrying the bulk — the slot count absorbs the survival kit without gutting capacity.
• A genuinely tough hull. 864 base armour means that even with a light shield it shrugs off the occasional interdiction long enough to high-wake out.
• No rank gate, low hull cost. Unlike the Cutter (Imperial Duke) it's a straight credits purchase, so it's the realistic bulk hauler for most commanders.

Role-leading ~790 t cargo at zero rank and ~72M Cr makes it the bulk benchmark; near-defenceless survivability (light ~300 MJ shield, 132 m/s) is the only real limiter.

The 94/100 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 the trading role specifically. The role column is maximum cargo — the tonnes you can actually move per trip in a sensible (shielded, jump-capable) fit.

Same class — large-pad traders

On a large pad the hierarchy is simple: the Panther Clipper out-carries everything, the Cutter matches the Type-9's volume while being faster and far tankier, and the Type-9 undercuts both on price and access. The Type-7, Anaconda and Clipper are lighter mid-volume options — not upgrades, just different points on the speed-vs-capacity curve.

The step down — medium & small traders

You drop to a medium only when you need medium-pad access (outposts, some colonisation depots) — that's the Type-8's whole pitch. Otherwise none of these is an upgrade for bulk: the Type-9's job is maximum tonnage on large pads, and it does that better than everything except the Cutter and the Panther.

The Type-9 is a straight credits purchase — no rank, permit or engineer gate — at most shipyards that stock large ships. At ~72M Cr for the hull it's a serious investment, but it's a fraction of the Imperial Cutter's ~208M and asks for no Imperial rank grind, which is exactly why it's the realistic bulk hauler for most commanders.

The trading fit is cheap relative to the hull: cargo racks, a Guardian FSD booster and a light shield. Use Inara's commodity and route tools to find loops that pay back the hull quickly — a well-chosen loop clears the purchase in a handful of runs.

Frontier sells a Type-9 Trading Jumpstart on the ARX store: the hull plus a worked, lightly pre-engineered trading loadout aimed at getting you hauling immediately. It's a fast on-ramp, but the usual pre-built caveats apply — the stock modules can't be stored or transferred and sell for 0 Cr.

Treat the Jumpstart as instant access to the role rather than a permanent fit: keep and engineer in place the A-rated cores (engineering a stock core does not void the free rebuy), and simply add cargo racks to the open optional slots.

The whole build ladder on one screen. Initial is a cheap buy-only bulk starter; A-Rated is the best buy-only bulk-and-range fit; Engineered trims weight for laden range without losing a single cargo rack. Plans and costs follow in sections 07-09.

Goal: start hauling bulk immediately for the least extra spend. Rack the big optional slots — both class-8s and the class-7, then on down through the class-5, a class-4 and a class-3 — for the bulk of your tonnage. Add a 6A Frame Shift Drive so a laden run still jumps usefully, a light 6C bi-weave shield so an interdiction doesn't instantly kill you, and a 4H Guardian FSD Booster to claw back the range the cargo costs you.

Keep the thrusters at 7D and the power plant at 6D — light and cheap, you're not dogfighting, you're surviving long enough to high-wake. Leave the hull on stock Lightweight Alloy: a trader buys range, not armour. One 0D shield booster and a heat sink launcher round out the utilities; the remaining two utility mounts (point defence and a second booster) and the smallest optional slots (a class-3, the class-2 and the class-1) stay empty until you A-rate. This buy-only bulk fit adds roughly 10–15M Cr over the hull and immediately moves serious tonnage.

To reach the best buy-only bulk-and-range fit before engineering, upgrade in this order:

• 1Fill every cargo slot. Class-8s first, then work down to the class-1 — A-rating tops off the last 3E/2E/1E racks; capacity is the entire point of the hull.
• 2FSD at 6A + 4H Guardian FSD Booster. Range is what cargo costs you; buy it back here. The Guardian booster is materials, not credits.
• 3Light 6C bi-weave shield. Cheap to power, regenerates fast, and turns a fatal interdiction into a survivable one.
• 4Power Plant to 6A; leave LS & sensors at light D-rate. Hull stays Lightweight Alloy. Power headroom for the shield and boosters, and weight off for range — a hauler doesn't trade jump range for plating.
• 5Fill all four utility mounts. Point defence against missiles, plus two 0A shield boosters to thicken the thin bi-weave for the run home; the fourth mount is the spare the Type-9 always leaves open.

Trading engineering is light and all about range and weight — you never engineer for combat on a hauler:

Recommended order

• 1FSD — Increased Range + Mass Manager (Farseer). The one roll that matters; it directly raises laden jump and shrinks your route times.
• 2Lightweight the cores — LS, Sensors (Farseer). Lower optimal mass means more range per laden jump.
• 3Power Plant — Low Emissions or Armoured (Hera Tani). Cool, efficient power for the shield and booster; Armoured if you want extra module durability.
• 4Shield — Enhanced Low Power (Lei Cheung). Keeps the light shield cheap to run so you can spend power on the FSD/booster.

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

The two numbers that decide a trader's earnings are cargo and laden jump, and engineering pushes the Type-9 to ~720 tonnes at ~28–32 LY laden — the sweet spot where each run is both huge and reaches the next station without a dozen hops. The FSD roll is, as ever, where the value lives. The hull stays on light alloy for range, but a Heavy Duty roll on the bulkhead and an Engine-Focused distributor mean a full boost off an interdiction and enough plate to outlast the bi-weave if a pirate sticks.

• It cannot fight — don't try. A trading Type-9 has no meaningful weapons or agility. Against interdiction, submit, boost away and high-wake; against PvP gankers, prefer Solo or a Private Group for valuable runs.
• Large pad only. It can't dock at outposts or many planetary ports — if a route ends at a medium pad, that's the Type-8's job, not the Type-9's.
• The hull is genuinely tough. 864 armour means even a light-shield fit can eat a few hits while you spin up the FSD — lean on that, not on dogfighting.
• Mass-lock matters. Its high mass-lock makes it hard for small ships to mass-lock you into staying — once your FSD is charged, you leave.
• It also mines. The same huge hold makes a strong laser-mining platform — see the Type-9 Heavy Mining dossier for that configuration.