Type-9 Heavy
Heavy Freighter

Description

The Type-9 Heavy is Lakon Spaceways large freighter class. This ship is built to transport large cargos, a job it does very well, but it doesn't stand up well in a fight.

The Type-9 Heavy is a heavy freighter and is one of four freighters manufactured by Lakon Spaceways. Currently it has the third largest cargo capacity of any ship available, and is roughly competitive with the much pricier Anaconda as a trader. Pilots that can afford an Anaconda frequently prefer them for trading, as they feel the greater FSD range and manoeuvrability makes up for the slightly smaller cargo capacity, allowing the Anaconda to move more cargo more quickly overall, and to a wider variety of destinations. This is at least partly a matter of 'feel', however, and many pilots continue to use the Type 9 as a trader even after obtaining Anacondas.

The Type 9 exhibits worse manoeuvrability and lower speeds than any other ship in the game; it has extreme difficulty in shaking smaller ships from its blind spot. Its five weapon hardpoints, including three medium mounts, allow it at least some defense. Equipped with turrets, they can at least force smaller ships to operate with caution and give the Type 9 a chance to escape, but its shields and armour are nearly as bad for its size as its manoeuvrability. Most combat ships have at least a good chance to take it down if it doesn't get away quickly enough.

It first appeared in the development diary videos and in some of the live streams done by Frontier. Later it appeared in the early Alpha stages and is one of the four ships that was in the first release of the Premium Beta.

Many pilots have problems fitting through the entrance of Stations while they're first getting used to the Type 9, and it can therefore be very expensive for a new pilot to get used to. A Standard Docking Computer can be useful for players who have trouble docking this ship.

Type-9 is one of two ships in the game that boasts an open Class 8 internal module (the other one being the Imperial Cutter), although putting anything but a Cargo Rack into the Type 9's class-8 module slot eliminates a major portion of its cargo capacity and virtually neutralizes it as a serious trading ship.

It should also be noted that the the type-9 heavy has better manoeuvrability when stopped, even though it isn't very useful in combat, it's handy for docking.