Elite Dangerous is primarily a game about exploring the unknown, undertaking dangerous missions, and blasting the occasional pirate. However, one area of Elite Dangerous that’s commonly overlooked is its deep economic system. A robust system of supply and demand facilitates gameplay centered around traversing the galaxy in search of the most profitable trades. It can be quite lucrative.
Along the way, traders might do some sightseeing, they’ll definitely have run-ins with booty-seeking scallywags, but their main focus is the art of the deal. They’re in search of places to buy low and sell high. There are missions for trading, and they often offer generous rewards, but many traders instead spend their time trading along routes known to have the highest profits. As the 41st Ferengi Rule of Acquisition says, “profit is its own reward.”
The Indomitable
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The Indomitable excels at hauling huge loads of cargo across any distance. Unladen, it can travel across the bubble in just three jumps or five with a full cargo hold. It has enough speed to be fun to fly and to escape pirates. It’s good for trade missions or just bouncing back and forth on trade routes. With this build, commanders can rest assured that they’re maximizing their potential trade profits in style.
The Indomitable | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Speed | Jump Range | Shield & Hull | Cargo | Features |
| 291 m/s Max 466 m/s Boost | 37ly Laden 50ly Max | 2,074 mj Shield 1,619 Hull | 664t |
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The following information describes the specific choices in the build and offers some customization options. Check this build out on Coriolis to examine it more closely.
The Ship
The best ship for this build is the Imperial Cutter. It has the best shield output potential of any ship and an incredible amount of cargo space. It’s also a sleek, stylish head turner. With some delicate engineering, the Imperial Cutter can squeeze out an impressive Jump Range too. It has the heftiest price tag in the game, but there are many ways to make money fast in Elite.
Hardpoints
This ship doesn't need a single weapon. The only dangerous thing this ship can do to another ship is run into it, and with 664t of gold onboard, that isn’t advisable. This ship is a runner not a fighter. If interdicted, commanders should focus on boldly running away. When it comes time to take the fight to the pirates, check out the Best Fully-Engineered PvE Combat Ship Build for ideas.
Utility Mounts
The Utility Mounts prioritize defense over all else. Shield Boosters reinforce the shield, a Point Defense Turret shoots down incoming hatch breaker limpets and missiles, and the Chaff Launcher confuses the enemy’s targeting. The Heat Sink Launcher is a nice-to-have. Learning to use these Utilities is one of many skills commanders should learn.
- 0A Shield Booster with Heavy Duty and Super Capacitors.
- 0A Shield Booster with Resistance Augmented and Super Capacitors.
- 3x 0A Shield Boosters with Thermal Resistant and Super Capacitors.
- 0I Heat Sink Launcher with Lightweight.
- 0I Point Defence Turret with Lightweight.
- 0I Chaff Launcher with Lightweight.
Core Internals
The following Core Internals give this build the range, maneuverability, and endurance it needs for long hauls and avoiding pirates. The priorities lean toward keeping things lightweight, but also providing protection and speed:
- Reactive Surface Composites with Lightweight and Reflective Plating. The Lightweight modification is necessary to keep the Jump Range high, and Reflective Plating helps mitigate the low thermal resistance of Reactive Surface Composites. There’s enough absolute armor here too that the ship can take a few hits from a Plasma Accelerator.
- 5A Power Plant with Overcharged and Doubled Braced. Overcharged only needs to be done up to Grade 4 to power the ship. Going to 5 just lowers its Integrity by another 5%. Doubled Braced will help keep that Integrity just a little higher.
- 7D Thrusters with Dirty Drive and Drag Drives. Speed is important when it comes to running from pirates. With these fully engineered, the ship can retreat at an impressive 466 m/s.
- 7A Frame Shift Drive with Increased Range and Mass Manager. No surprise here. This is just what the ship needs to squeeze out that glorious 50ly Jump Range.
- 7D Life Support with Lightweight. 7:30 of emergency life support ought to be more than enough time to get away in the extremely unlikely case that the canopy is broken.
- 5A Power Distributor with Charge Enhanced and Stripped Down. Charge Enhanced keeps the Boost Interval down to six seconds and Stripped Down cuts out a few more tonnes of weight.
- 7D Sensors with Lightweight. Lightweight enhancement for lightweight Sensors; it just works.
- 5C Fuel Tank. Downsizing to the 5C helps keep the weight down, but for long hauls it might be a drag. Feel free to switch this back to the 6C if that’s the case.
Optional Internals
The following Optional Internals provide mostly cargo space, but a few key pieces are here too. This ship might not be able to compete with the best exploration ship build in versatility, but thanks to the Guardian FSD booster, it has an impressive Jump Range nonetheless:
- 2x 8E Cargo Racks. There’s an incredible 512t of cargo space between these two.
- 6A Prismatic Shield Generator with Enhanced Low Power and Hi-cap. This shield, properly assisted by the Shield Boosters, provides 2,074mj of shielding with >36% resistances all around. It can be replaced with a Reinforced 6A shield for similar results.
- 2x 6E Cargo Racks. These two racks tack on another 128t of cargo space.
- 5H Guardian Frame Shift Drive Booster. For trips that don’t require more than a 25ly Jump Range, this can be replaced with another Cargo Rack.
- 5A Fuel Scoop. This can also be replaced for short hop trade routes that don’t require fuel scooping stars along the way. In the meantime though, don’t leave home without it!
- 3D Hull Reinforcement Package with Thermal Resistant and Deep Plating. This tiny, 4-tonne module completely neutralizes the terrible thermal resistance of Reactive Surface Composites in exchange for a gentle averaging out of the other resistances. It adds a noticeable amount of armor to the hull too. Make sure to place this in the Military slot.
- 3D Module Reinforcement Package. Covering the modules a bit more means it’s nearly impossible that the ship’s Power Plant or Thrusters will suffer catastrophic damage. Make sure to place this in the Military slot.
- 4E Cargo Rack. Rule of Acquisition #97: “Enough is never enough.”
- 3E Cargo Rack. Rule of Acquisition #242: “More is good; all is better.”
The Indomitable is a build for the trading extraordinaire. It’s fast, it jumps far, and it’ll never lose a load to pirates. Commanders that can afford to put this together will have a permanent space truck they can use to haul precious materials around the galaxy in style. It’ll take quite some time to pay for itself, but it takes a long time to do anything in Elite. With this build, commanders can rest assured that their space hauler is optimized for what they need: a high Jump Range, impenetrable defenses, incredible speed, and hundreds of tonnes of cargo space.
Elite Dangerous: Odyssey is available for PC.