Elite and the space cow

[BallSweater]

I've been rockin out some missions based out of Robigo and have saved enough to pick up a type 9.
My thought is that it'll be a good trucker for Aisling Deval PP deliveries.

Now I'm a bit drunk and tired as I am trying to adjust for my next night shift, of work, yet I can't help but think this isn't going to work quite like I have thought...
I have read that the space cow doesn't run away very well. My conclusion is that I can kill small ships, that interdict me, and hopefully run from the big ones. I was interdicted by a small courier ship just now and it took all but 5 seconds to realize that there is no fighting in a space cow fitted for hauling with a few guns strapped on.
Am I best off looking at a trading conda or what's the best way to deal with interdictions in the cow.

Thanks!

- Also sorry to the guy that I blocked from landing at an outpost. I was afk as you know

[Loriath]

I ran a Cow for a while, and hell yeah it made me money. It was slow, lumbering and had no offence except for a Ram. I had the best shields I could fit, boosters and chaff and I still had lots of repair bills if anything more than Eagle took me out of SC.

I even put Turrets on it. No difference. It had enough Hull to survive unless it was a wing, and I got used to it. Pay to play

Never had a Conda, but I got rid of the Cow to do get a Python. LOVED it. The cow had its uses, but if I was doing PP stuff and the chance of being shot at was higher than normal trading, I would say be prepared to pay for repairs, and make sure you have at least a couple of Rebuys.

[TorTorden]

Type 9 for merit delivery is from what I can say a terrible idea, doing any kind of pp in non combat capable ship is pointless.
Also the jump range is ridiculous at 13 ly, even a 20 ly jump loop turns into a 5 stop route with the t9 and I have tried.
It's amazing how much work decreases just by having another 5-6 ly jump range.

My trading conda which can survive any interdiction and kill most unless there are anaconda's involved (my pds is a little to downgraded for those, but I can easlily ditch them too) only cost 50 mil more than a type 9 and carries 432t cargo with a jump range of nearly 19ly fully laden, unladen it's 30ly. Totally worth it.
For me going from a t9 to a conda was going from losing 12 mil everytime an npc tried to interdict you to: "hello free fuel".

I don't see a point running shields on a t9 either, even using the class 8 slot (which costs you 256t cargo) it still has barely more shields than a viper, and being so big every single hit will hit you.

I assume we are going for the diaguandri and Lembava 15% off systems.
Building a very basic "death trap imo" type 9 is 83 mil.
My Anaconda that albeit is 100t less but can survive anything the game has thrown at me is 143 mil
For doing power play stuff anything but a conda or python is suicide imo, cause you will be interdicted a lot.
Also you might as well keep your merit cargo even at 400, and swap a cargo hold for a decent fuel scoop at least a 5c (replaces a 32t bin, thus making your cargo exactly 400t and gives you 19.5ly laden jump range)

[clivewil]

I have read that the space cow doesn't run away very well

i don't know if i was very quick or just lucky, but i managed to beat every interdiction in my T9. a couple of them were Cobras, which are supposedly very fast and shouldn't have had any trouble catching old Tiny and shooting her full of holes

my 'run' technique is the same regardless of the ship i'm in - i instantly submit, and when the drop-down animation is playing - immediately after the 'submitting to interdiction' message disappears from the screen - i then have a couple of seconds to max the throttle. as soon as the animation ends and i have control again, my throttle is already up and i immediately hit boost and keep boosting until i'm ready to enter SC or HJump

your mileage may vary, but the above worked for me every time. (obviously versus another player i wouldn't have escaped so easily, but that does not concern us here at Mobius)

[Darwin]

Personally, I would bypass the T9 if possible if you are doing PP and post 1.4 where the AI has been tweaked. Jump range is terrible, and you lose turnaround time with the slowness. Difficult to get speeding fines when undocking (did try, just to say I got one), but do get impatient overtakes...
I went that way though - Trade fit Cobra, Asp, Clipper, Python, T9, Conda.

[LionOfNarnia]

I have read that the space cow doesn't run away very well

i don't know if i was very quick or just lucky, but i managed to beat every interdiction in my T9.

'Twas the same for me. 112 Mcr load-out, 480 tons, 70 hours of grinding, no insurance claims. Only thing I'd change with 20/20 is, I wouldn't even change the stock weapons. You never get to use them anyway.

It's cargo hauling guys - it's not supposed to get exciting.

Just EFFICIENT.

[CMDR Abil Midena]

The best, and perhaps only, use for a T9 is when you have found a <13ly single jump trade route. With shields, you can pull around 7M/hr. If you have trouble finding one, try centering on one of Torval's systems that has a good supply of impi's, and trade out of there.

I run my T9 with no weaps, no chaff, no scb's....just a 6A shield and cargo space. The shields are just there to give me enough time to high wake following an interdiction.

[BallSweater]

Thanks everyone for your relevant replies and TorTorden for the extreme details. This has been more helpful than expected.. holy crap I'm about to fly into the sun!

Cheers =)

[TorTorden]

I am curious what combat ranking clivewil and LionOfNarnia has.

It is probably just me being unlucky but within three days I lost three-four full loads of cargo at about 8 or 12 mil each counting cargo and rebuy after I hit dangerous it seems the game really do not want me to fly anything not combat capable has been "not so fun" hence why i like the anaconda.

Most of these times it felt as if the game just decided to kill me one loss was a wing consisting of at least one deadly python, possibly two and a viper, the interdiction game glitches and places the escape vector behind me and trying to, submit after that happens doesnt take, so four pips to engines and drop chaff.
No love.
Before the fsd cooldown has even started to count down my shields are gone.
Before I hit 80% hull my power plant explodes...
Welcome to the insurance screen.

Well I dust of my helmet and go again, this time a high ranking anaconda is waiting for me on the very next run.
I am now on first-name basis with the rescue crew..

I ditch the cow and buy a python, after about four or five weeks I give Bessie another shot. Guess what happens before I even make back the 10% sell off cost..

[LionOfNarnia]

As it says on my license, Master.

30% towards Dangerous.

Guess you were just unlucky.

But I think if I ever decide to push my trade rating, it'll be after I can afford a cargo-conda - without trading in 'Monty, of Course'.