Imperial Courier

Template:Quote The Imperial Courier is a ship manufactured by Gutamaya for the Empire. Described as the quintessential Imperial ship that epitomizes elegance of form while packing a good punch, the Imperial Courier is one of the smallest ships available, barely larger than the Sidewinder MkI and with a lighter mass than all ships except the Sidewinder and Hauler. Although able to be adapted to several roles, the ship's agility and three medium hardpoints make it especially well-suited for combat. Officially, the Imperial Courier is used to provide transport for Imperial officials who do not warrant the privilege of an Imperial Cutter or a Majestic-Class Interdictor. However, its flexibility means that it fills many roles for the Imperial Navy and prominent citizens of the Empire.

Overview

The Imperial Courier is well armed and very well shielded for its small size, making it a punchy and evasive fighter in combat. In terms of agility, it ranks somewhere close to the Viper MkIII. While it has a good pitch rotation speed, its slightly weaker vertical-lateral thrusters cause the Courier to drift more than the Viper. Even though the Courier has the same top boost speed as Viper, due to its low hull mass relative to modules, it is slightly slower and can't boost as often as the Viper, dropping down from the top speed faster.

The Imperial Courier's shields are much better than the Viper MkIII's and Cobra MkIII's, being almost on par with those on a Vulture. Unlike the Vulture, the Imperial Courier does not have such severe power management issues, and is thus better able to equip Shield Boosters and Shield Cell Banks.

While the Imperial Courier can achieve an excellent jump range between 30-50 ly with Engineering, it is not suited for long-term exploration. The Courier's diminutive size and light weight works against it in this situation: it can only fit a Class 3 Frame Shift Drive. Thus, to keep the ship's mass low and achieve that 50 ly jump range requires undersizing the core internals and eschewing utilities along with most modules suggested for exploration, including a Planetary Vehicle Hangar. While this does not mean the Courier should never be used for exploration, there are better ships to choose from for the role, such as the Diamondback Explorer.

File:Convergence icourier.png

Imperial Courier hardpoint convergence

The weapon hardpoints are located in the following places: one Class 2 hardpoint at the front of each engine nacelle, and one Class 2 hardpoint underneath the nose. Of the four utility mounts, one is located on top of each nacelle, and the remaining two are behind the cockpit canopy on the ship's dorsal surface. The cockpit has only one pilot seat, and thus the ship is not compatible with Multicrew.

Purchase Locations

System	Station	Date Seen	Discount
Shinrarta Dezhra	Jameson Memorial	Always available	10% discount
Brestla	i Sola Prospect	Always available	20% surcharge
Lalande 4268	Lowry Ring	May 28, 2020	15% discount
BD-15 447	Good Enterprise	May 28, 2020	15% discount
Regira	Clayton Orbital	May 28, 2020
V374 Pegasi	MacKellar Hub	May 28, 2020
Izanagi	Manakov Ring	May 28, 2020
Oto	Gauss City	May 28, 2020
Vequess	Agnews' Folly	May 28, 2020
Atlantis	Kimura Terminal	May 28, 2020
Lombi	Xin Hub	May 28, 2020
GD 140	Liwei Terminal	May 28, 2020
Tau-1 Hydrae	Priestley Port	May 28, 2020
LHS 274	Teller Port	May 28, 2020
LTT 606	Jeremy	Mar. 16, 2021

Outfitting

Main article: Outfitting

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

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
Utility Mount	Empty	--	--	0
	Empty	--	--	0
	Empty	--	--	0
	Empty	--	--	0
Bulkheads	Lightweight Alloys	C	1	8
Reactor Bay	Power Plant	E	4	4
Thrusters Mounting	Thrusters	E	3	3
Frame Shift Drive Housing	Frame Shift Drive	E	3	3
Environment Control	Life Support	E	1	1
Power Coupling	Power Distributor	E	3	3
Sensor Suite	Sensors	E	2	2
Fuel Store	Fuel Tank [x8]	C	3	3
Internal Compartments	Cargo Rack [x4]	E	2	3
	Cargo Rack [x4]	E	2	3
	Shield Generator	E	2	2
	Cargo Rack [x2]	E	1	2
	Cargo Rack [x2]	E	1	2
	Empty	--	--	1
	Advanced Docking Computer	E	1	1
	Supercruise Assist	E	1	1
	(PAS)	I	1	1

• (L) = Loaned Module
• [x#] = Capacity
• (PAS) = Reserved solely for the Planetary Approach Suite or Advanced Planetary Approach Suite

Notes

• The Imperial Courier was added to Elite Dangerous in the 1.3 Powerplay update released on June 5, 2015.

Videos

• File:I am Courier - Elite Dangerous Imperial Courier
• File:Gutamaya Imperial Courier BMW ad Mashup
• File:Ship Introducing Imperial Courier - Elite Dangerous Short cinematic video
• File:A Pirates Life Aint Easy
• File:Elite Dangerous A Moment of Zen
• File:The Imperial Courier Elite Dangerous

Gallery

• Sneak peek concept art of cockpit from Newsletter #65
  Sneak peek concept art of cockpit from Newsletter #65
• Possible Empire Courier Sketches
  Possible Empire Courier Sketches
• Sneak peek from Newsletter #67
  Sneak peek from Newsletter #67
• Sneak peek cockpit view from Newsletter #71
  Sneak peek cockpit view from Newsletter #71
• Sneak peek cockpit view from Newsletter #71
  Sneak peek cockpit view from Newsletter #71
• Ship model concept art
  Ship model concept art
• Gutamaya Imperial Courier Blueprint
  Gutamaya Imperial Courier Blueprint
• Imperial Courier cockpit
  Imperial Courier cockpit