Imperial Cutter

Template:Quote The Imperial Cutter is a ship manufactured by Gutamaya for the Empire. It serves as the Imperial Navy's counterpart to the Federal Corvette, and purchasing it requires achieving an Imperial Navy rank of Duke. The most expensive ship on the market, the Imperial Cutter epitomizes Gutamaya's synthesis of form and function. While the Federal Corvette surpasses it in terms of sheer firepower and the Anaconda excels at versatility, the Imperial Cutter still wields a formidable array of weapon hardpoints, the largest maximum cargo capacity of all ships, and enough armour and shields to shrug off damage from all but the most tenacious attackers.

Overview

The Cutter is a heavily armed ship, featuring four medium hardpoints: two on the nacelles and two on the chin; two large hardpoints on top of the ship and a single huge hardpoint on the chin. The pilot's seat is offset to the right of the ship, one co-pilot's seat being located to the pilot's left and the other one behind this. Notably, the exterior lights on the ship change color from blue to red once hardpoints are deployed. It has 8 utility mounts and can carry a Fighter Hangar for Ship-Launched Fighters.

With a staggering 792 tons of max cargo capacity, the Imperial Cutter has the largest cargo bay of all playable ships in the game, making it an ideal ship for traders. However, it is also the most expensive ship in the game at a cost almost three times higher than a Type-9 Heavy, which has a max cargo capacity of 788 tons; only 4 tons less. It also has a lower cargo capacity when shielded, as the Type-9 can equip a lower class Shield Generator. The very high rebuy and repair costs of the Cutter makes shieldless runs incredibly risky, so it is important to keep this in mind as every bump and scratch will cut rather heavily into profits and like the Type-9, it is very difficult to dodge an Interdiction in the Cutter. Combined with its required Imperial Navy Rank can make the Cutter a much less appealing ship for traders.

Unlike the Type-9 Heavy, it is extremely well-shielded, very fast for its size, and heavily armed, giving it far greater survivability and allowing much better use of it as a combat ship, especially in the piracy role, as it is capable of rivaling a Federal Corvette, Anaconda or Type-10 Defender in combat. In addition, with plenty of internals available to mount mining accessories while still leaving the largest open for cargo holds, excellent speed for moving from asteroid to asteroid, and a sufficiency of medium weapon mounts, the Cutter is an excellent choice for mining; if rather excessive. Keeping a shield generator on will let it handle most NPC pirates; however, the Type-9 will outdo it in terms of cargo capacity in this scenario.

When compared to the other two of the big three, the Corvette and Anaconda, the Cutter has several notable downsides; other than just the price tag. It has a much lower jump range than the Anaconda; though better than the Corvette and while it has impressive combat potential, its Class 7 power distributor isn't quite as able to effectively keep all its hardpoints effectively powered when compared to the Class 8 of the other two; thus the ship slightly pales in combat potential compared to the other two. While its manoeuvrability may be off-putting to some, it can easily be alleviated with Engineering, allowing the Cutter to reach slightly over 28 degrees of pitch on certain builds. Compared to the significantly cheaper Type-10, it has the same manoeuvrability and fewer hardpoints although its superior placement and good speed give it a huge advantage over a Type-10 in combat; it also has much higher pitch and yaw speeds.

The Cutter is a very effective multi-purpose ship. The ship sacrifices the exploration focus of the Anaconda and combat focus of the Corvette for trading potential. Thus traders looking for a powerhouse ship complete with style will usually find the Cutter very satisfactory, while fighters and explorers may find the Corvette and Anaconda more useful respectively, depending on preference.

The Imperial Cutter has an available 12 piece cosmetic ship kit that can be purchased from the Frontier store which allows you to "remodel your ship in your personal style". The ship kit is purely cosmetic and does not affect gameplay in any way.

Purchase Locations

System	Station	Date Seen	Notes
Shinrarta Dezhra	Jameson Memorial	Always available	10% discount, Founders Permit needed
Brestla	i Sola Prospect	Always available	20% surcharge
Avalon	Noctilux	Feb. 10, 2018
Guuguyni	Shen Terminal	Nov. 8, 2017
Harm	Gentil Hub	Feb. 1, 2018
Nahua	Fuller Vision	June 18, 2017
Minanes	Rutan Terminal	Sep. 1, 2017
Giryampi	Cottenot Terminal	Mar. 13, 2018
Lampade	Charlois Dock	Apr. 29, 2018
Arjung	Hiyya Orbital	June. 28, 2018
Yimanbin	Farkas Port	May 26, 2018
Tialocan	Richer Port	August 28th, 2018
Arjung	Hiyya Orbital	Oct. 30th, 2018	15% discount
Ct Tucane	Arantila	31.10.2018

Outfitting

All ships are highly customisable through the Outfitting menu of Station Services. Listed below is the default load-out for the Imperial Cutter.

Category	Default System	Default Rating	Default Class	Max Class
Medium Hardpoint	Pulse Laser (L)	F	1	2
	Pulse Laser (L)	F	1	2
	Empty	--	--	2
	Empty	--	--	2
Large Hardpoint	Empty	--	--	3
	Empty	--	--	3
Huge Hardpoint	Empty	--	--	4
Utility Mount	Empty	--	--	0
	Empty	--	--	0
	Empty	--	--	0
	Empty	--	--	0
	Empty	--	--	0
	Empty	--	--	0
	Empty	--	--	0
	Empty	--	--	0
Bulkheads	Lightweight Alloys	I	1	8
Reactor Bay	Power Plant	E	8	8
Thrusters Mounting	Thrusters	E	8	8
Frame Shift Drive Housing	Frame Shift Drive	E	7	7
Environment Control	Life Support	E	7	7
Power Coupling	Power Distributor	E	7	7
Sensor Suite	Sensors	E	7	7
Fuel Store	Fuel Tank [x64]	C	6	6
Internal Compartments	Shield Generator	E	8	8
	Cargo Rack [x128]	E	7	8
	Cargo Rack [x32]	E	5	6
	Empty	--	--	6
	Empty	--	--	6
	Empty	--	--	5
	Empty	--	--	5
	Cargo Rack [x4]	E	2	4
	BDS	E	1	3
	Empty (Military Compartment)	--	--	5
	Empty (Military Compartment)	--	--	5

• (L) = Loaned
• [x#] = Capacity
• BDS = Basic Discovery Scanner

Notes

• The Imperial Cutter was added in the 1.5 "Ships" update on December 15, 2015.

Guides

• File:CUTTER VS CORVETTE VS ANACONDA ELITE DANGEROUS

Videos

• File:Built To Perfection - Elite Dangerous Imperial Cutter
• File:The Imperial Cutter, because size matters
• File:Imperial Cutter - Power, Superiority, Excellence
• File:👽 Wing VS Thargoid Cyclops Variant (Third Person View)
• File:Geysers, Fumaroles and the sights along the Road to the Northeast.
• File:Elite Dangerous The Longest Undocking... In the World.
• File:Elite Dangerous 1.5 Ships - Imperial Cutter

Gallery

• Imperial Cutter Concept Art
  Imperial Cutter Concept Art
• Imperial Cutter
  Imperial Cutter
• Cutter sideview
  Cutter sideview
• File:Cutter profile.png
• File:Cutter 3-4.png
• File:Cutter stern.png
• One huge and two medium hardpoints right below the cockpit
  One huge and two medium hardpoints right below the cockpit
• Two medium hardpoints on engine nacelles
  Two medium hardpoints on engine nacelles
• Two large hardpoints on top of the ship
  Two large hardpoints on top of the ship
• Cutter ready for an FSD jump, heat radiators deployed
  Cutter ready for an FSD jump, heat radiators deployed
• Cargo scoop/docking bay
  Cargo scoop/docking bay
• Cockpit view, UI turned off
  Cockpit view, UI turned off
• On a landing pad, note the little lights
  On a landing pad, note the little lights
• Combat with a wanted Anaconda
  Combat with a wanted Anaconda
• Imperial Cutter cockpit rear
  Imperial Cutter cockpit rear
• Imperial Cutter cockpit
  Imperial Cutter cockpit
• Huge Hardpoint Detail
  Huge Hardpoint Detail
• Black Friday paintjob
  Black Friday paintjob
• Black Imperial Cutter over Earth-like
  Black Imperial Cutter over Earth-like
• Imperial Glory
  Imperial Glory
• Imperial Cutter side profile while landed on a planetary body
  Imperial Cutter side profile while landed on a planetary body
• On patrol
  On patrol
• Thruster's chemtrail's light effect
  Thruster's chemtrail's light effect
• Gutamaya Imperial Cutter Blueprint
  Gutamaya Imperial Cutter Blueprint
• Imperial Cutter chrome
  Imperial Cutter chrome
• Vibrant Green Cutter (Weitz Landing, Kapperapai)
  Vibrant Green Cutter (Weitz Landing, Kapperapai)
• Imperial Cutter ship kit
  Imperial Cutter ship kit
• Imperial Cutter gold
  Imperial Cutter gold
• Imperial Cutter rear and SRV
  Imperial Cutter rear and SRV