Self defence in a T9

[Ghworg]

I've worked my way up to a T9 for my trading ship. In all previous ships whenever I'm interdicted I just relied on running away, boost until FSD is off cooldown and jump. NPCs hardly ever broke though my shields, and certainly never caused serious damage before I jumped.

Things are different in the T9 though, the speed of it is that of an overweight tortoise. Boosting barely brings it up to the normal speed of most other ships, so I can't get out of range of any but the most retarded NPC. I had a very close call last week so decided to try out adding turrets, the result of that being my death today.

This is the current build I am using:
http://coriolis.io/outfit/type_9_heavy/ ... 1YbP9HcQ==

I could bump up the shield and/or add add shield boosters, or I could switch out the pulses for beams. Or maybe my tactics just suck and I need schooling there.

So, calling all expert T9 pilots out there. How do I keep my ship flying without losing too much valuable cargo space?

[Gorf]

I didn't have a T9 for long, but I recall being interdicted on pretty much every trip. Submit, boost once, jump out. Some pulse turrets shooting back at your agressor help...

[Xebeth]

I'd say dump the guns, stick on chaff and shield boosters and do the boost boost jump routine, come 2.1/1.6 and the new AI fighting is not what you'll want to be doing. A point defense might also be a good idea.

If you're not getting the boosts you need, up the distributor and PP and you'll only loose a fraction of a ly in jump range.

[IronDuke]

I had a T9 for a while (I actually did like it, apart from the really poor jump range).

I would dump the weapons add chaff and point defence (due to 2.1 release). When you are interdicted: submit, 4-pips to engines, fa-off, vertical thrusters up, chaff, boost, boost, boost and finally jump when you are clear. This worked for every encounter that I had, but, it depends on your flying style too. The key is not to engage in a fight as you will almost definitely, probably, maybe be faced with the insurance screen.

One other tip: keep your trade route to the lowest number of jumps possible. I used to have a two jump maximum limit and it worked well. Get a cheap ship (hauler or something) and explore some systems out if you have to find the optimal route.

Anyway, hope this helps.. and most of all Good Luck!

Edit: Xebeth had already explained this.

[KLED]

I raised about 100M last week in my old T9. 5A shield, two 0A boosters, point defense for missiles and heat sink launcher if your power plant doesn't like the boosting and FSD charging together. Don't bother with weapons, just submit and escape. I never lost a single tonne of cargo.

[Roger Wilco Jr]

All my best dying was done in a T9. I'd just have to fight when interdicted, and with 3x turreted beams and a couple gimballed burst cannons, I could handle most anything - except those high ranked Anacondas. Several times I just managed to get away with some percentage of my hull left, but twice I didn't make it. I may not have even been running shields to maximize cargo capacity. But that was before I learned about high waking out of the system. So I might keep the weapons to handle the smaller ships, but boost & jump when necessary. The T9 can take a lot of pounding, as long as you don't get stuck - mass locked - trying to jump to SC. But when you can upgrade to an Anaconda, the fight is a little more fair.

[Orkekum]

if you want a trader that can defend itself you want a conda

[Ghworg]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I shall be installing chaff and some SBs ASAP and dropping the weapons, hopefully that should keep me alive long enough to jump away.

As for the conda, it's in the plan but I am far away from the 170mil needed (build price + two rebuys) at the moment.

[Schmobius]

I realize you don't have the money (or probably the Imperial rank) right now, but the Cutter is an excellent trading ship. Better than the Anaconda in my opinion. The Anaconda is a little better at combat, but with a mix of turrets and gimbals, the Cutter can defend itself from pretty much anything but a high-ranked Anaconda or another Cutter (especially if they have friends). It can even defend itself from those if you get lucky, but a positive outcome is not assured. It also holds more cargo, and can carry many more shield boosters.

But it is expensive to properly outfit, and the rebuy is ridiculous. May be a goal to work towards though. I worked my way up to a Cutter mostly in an Asp and Python, then a short while in an Anaconda. The Asp and Python can be used as traders that can defend themselves, the latter being able to carry almost 200 tons of cargo with a good self-defense build. They carry less than a T9, but you can look at NPC pirates as extra income, not something to be feared.

[TorTorden]

A trading anaconda costs only 160mil. Has a 1k in shields.
Can jump 19ly while carrying 432t, just a few mil more than a t9 that granted carries about 30 tons more but is litterally a death trap.

I had to completely stop flying mine since I was getting interdicted and looking at a rebuy long before the fsd cool down had finished (and yes I submitted).

Think my t9 days only lasted a couple of weeks
In the anaconda I spent trading for several months and only had to run away from an interdiction once when it was an elite anaconda sniffing for my cargo.