Cotto Light Miner Mk 3

Cotto Light Miner

Propulsion / Maneuvering

• Main Thruster - Large Ion
• Retro Thrusters - 4 Small Ion
• Directional - Left / Right - 2 x Small Ion
• Directional - Up / Down - 4 x Small Ion

Power

• 2 x Standard Batteries

Armament / Equipment

• 2 x Drills
• Ore Detector
• Antenna
• Cargo Connector
• 1 x Gattling Gun (fixed forward)

Storage

• 2 x Medium Storage Containers

Pros

• Inexpensive (only 28 Thruster Comps)
• Swift to turn

Cons

• Poor Thrust / Weight ratios when fully loaded

Advisories

• Turn 180` and use main thruster to decelerate

Background

The Cotto Light Miner is a budget miner that peaked in popularity about 2 deccdes ago, mainly with the corporations, who favoured price over performance.

The Mk 1 was a total failure, owing to its woeful lack of thrusters (only 2 small ions for retro and 3 small ions for main thrust) which lead to a breaking distance, when loaded, of a little over 3 kilometres from top speed to a full stop. The Mk 2 features the same number of thrusters as the Mk 3 but in a different configuration, fixing some of the thrust issues. However, the styling on the Mk 2 came in for much criticism, described by many as "lazy and too angular". The Mk 3 was restyled with a more curved "retro-future" aesthetic. It was this model that was most popular (despite having a slightly greater mass than the Mk 2).

At the peak of its sales, the parent company was aggressively bought out and production stopped. Rumours persisted of a very limited number of prototype Mk 4s making it onto the market but any "examples" that have surfaced have quickly been proven to be similar designs from different companies or customised Mk 2s or Mk 3s.

While basically superceded by more modern and efficient designs there are still quite a few examples of this little workhorse, still on active duty, in some of the less populated areas of space.