Drake Cutter Q&A Now that the Drake Cutter has been added to the 'verse, we posed a few questions to the vehicle team about the new, versatile starter ship. Here are the answers, straight from the designers themselves.
How does the Cutter's armor compare to other ships in its class? Compared to other ships in its class, the Cutter is relatively tanky to offset its lower-than-average shields. This is achieved partly via its armor and partly by the base structure being stronger.
What advantages and disadvantages does this ship have versus the other starters in its class? Aside from the slight armor advantage mentioned earlier, the Cutter has a full interior, a healthy four SCU of cargo, and generous quantum and hydrogen fuel tanks.
How does this ship handle, maneuverability-wise? For its size, it’s relatively fast in a straight line but is let down by the smaller maneuvering thrusters, which don’t allow it to change velocity at higher speeds particularly well.
Does the Cutter have any docking collars? It does not have a docking collar.
Do you see the Cutter being used as a snub or stevedore for ships it fits within, in the way the Pisces serves the Carrack? The Cutter is probably too big of a ship to find much use in this category for anything but the largest of our ships, where it could certainly fill the role of a runabout. It’s a much larger and heavier ship than our more typical runabouts though, so it’s going to be quite a bit slower and more costly to fuel. However, it does have the advantage of being able to carry more than just people.
What ships will the Cutter fit inside? At present, just the 890 Jump. However, it’s classified as an XS (Size 2) ship, so any future ships with that hangar size will accommodate it.
Can the Cutter carry any land vehicles? This wasn’t a requirement of its design and, as such, none are officially supported. However, you’ll find that a few of our smaller vehicles currently fit, such as the Drake Mule and Greycat STV.
Is the cockpit separated from the cargo area to prevent venting, or is this all considered one area for the purposes of life support? The Cutter is split into three areas: the cockpit, hab, and rear. The toilet is considered part of the hab for this purpose, so warn anyone else aboard.
What are the Cutter’s living amenities like? Barebones is probably the nicest way to put it: you’ve got a bed with your very own reading light and a bathroom module. There’s also a little bit of shelving space to put things on and a personal storage locker.
What weapons can the weapon locker fit? The weapon locker has room for two pistols, one longarm (such as rifle, shotgun, or LMG), one special weapon (such as a rocket launcher or railgun), and a MultiTool.
Combat-wise, where is the Cutter supposed to fit in the overall scheme of things? The Cutter is quite low in the combat rankings; it’s not a combat-focused ship by any metric and its loadout reflects that. It’ll have difficulties against anything combat-focused, such as an Arrow or Gladius, but will hold its own against the other starter ships.
How does the signature of the Cutter compare to other starter ships when being scanned? It has a slightly larger cross-section than most of the other starter ships due to just being bigger, but the IR and EM will be very similar as it has the same size and variety of components.
Can the external lighting be controlled by the pilot? Only the main headlight is controlled manually. The external lighting is triggered by the power state of the ship.
Do the missile doors have clearance to open when the Cutter is landed? They do, but we’d recommend not attempting to launch missiles whilst landed…
Disclaimer The answers accurately reflect development’s intentions at the time of writing, but the company and development team reserve the right to adapt, improve, or change feature and ship designs in response to feedback, playtesting, design revisions, or other considerations to improve balance or the quality of the game overall.