Imperial Courier

The Imperial Courier is a mainstay of the Empire's fleet. It is a beauty to behold while still packing a good punch. Officially the class is used to provide transport for officials that don't warrant the use of a Cutter or Interdictor. However its flexibility means that it fills many roles for the Imperial Navy and prominent citizens.

— In-Game Description

The Imperial Courier is a fast multipurpose ship manufactured by Gutamaya for the Empire. It is one of the smallest ships available, barely larger than the Sidewinder MkI and with a mass lighter than all ships except the Sidewinder and Hauler. Although able to be adapted to several roles, the Imperial Courier's agility and medium hardpoints make it especially well-suited for combat.

OverviewEdit

The Imperial Courier is well armed and very well shielded for its small size, making it a great 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.

The weapon hardpoints are located in the following places: 1 medium hardpoint at the front of each engine nacelle, and 1 medium hardpoint underneath the nose. Utility mounts are located 1 on top of each nacelle and 2 more in-line top centre of the hull behind the cockpit canopy.

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.

Purchase LocationsEdit

System	Station	Date Seen	Notes
HIP 5623	D'Arrest Ring	December 29, 2018
V374 Pegasi	MacKellar Hub	May 15, 2017	Cutter, Clipper and Eagle also here
Caspatsuria	Binney Dock	February 21, 2017
Kou Mantes	Espenak Port	February 9, 2017	61,342Ls from Arrival Point
Bediangu	Gent Orbital	February 8, 2017
Almad	Heinkel City	December 27, 2015
Manianscudo	Miller Port	December 27, 2015
Yaque	Hague Gateway	December 27, 2015
Xuanduna	De Lay Terminal	July 31, 2015
Summerland	Henry O'hare's Hanger	June 6, 2015
Kokobii	Bauman Station	July 20, 2015	Not Available, February 17, 2018
Tagoman	Brorsen Port	January 23, 2017
Murato	Tietjen Ring	June 6, 2015	Not always available
Biliri	Fan City	Dec 31, 2015
Dongzi	Penrose Ring	June 5, 2015
Kuwemargl	Baillaud Ring	June 6, 2015
Bielonti	Ahmed Dock	June 8, 2015
Pandemonium	Hirayama Port	June 9, 2015
Yen K'uie	Siddha Gateway	June 9, 2015	Not always available
Synteini	Both Major Stations	June 9, 2015
Njiri	Helin Dock	June 21, 2015
Miphifa	Happis	June 23, 2015
Buricasses	Walotsky Gateway	June 23, 2015
Kuparilda	O'Neill Port	July 1, 2015
Chona	Smoot Station	July 1, 2015	Not Available, January 4, 2016
Regir	Grushin Dock	July 3, 2015	Not available, December 1 2016
Hip 20277	Fabian City	July 6, 2015
Orang	Dilworth City	July 10, 2015
Facece	Peters Base	July 13, 2015	Requires System Permit
Vaka	Zenbei Oribital
Marrallang	Coggia Terminal	September 27, 2015
Kamocan	Danforth City	October 22, 2015
LTT 9810	Kerimov Dock	May 15, 2016
Baldr	Keldysh Gateway	May 20, 2017	15% Discount Not always available
Beta-1 Tucanae	Adams Orbital	December 4, 2015
CD-86 4	Cummings Dock	December 24, 2015
Misisture	Gelfand Dock	January 9, 2016
Wangal	Rothfuss Orbital	July 27th, 2017	10% discount. Cutter/Clipper/Courier/Eagle here too.
LTT 9156	Korolev Hub	February 6, 2016
HR 706	Wright Terminal	January 20, 2017	10% discount
Iado	Boscovich Terminal	January 21, 2017
Aonii	Jackson Port	January 23, 2017
Hollos	Bharadwaj Hub	January 25, 2017	No more Empire Ships, 10th December 17
Shinrarta Dezhra	Jameson Memorial	January 26, 2018	10% Discount, Founders Permit Needed
HIP 20277	Fabian City	April 10, 2018	Eagle/Courier/Clipper available
Sauraratec	Murakami Ring	April 26, 2018
Lampade	Ashman Dock	April 29, 2018	Cutter, Clipper, and Eagle also here
Sokolsci	Manarov Vision	June 16, 2018
Lampade	Charlois Dock	July 21, 2018	All Imperial ships available

Outfitting Edit

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
	Planetary Approach Suite (H)	I	1	1

• (L) = Loaned Module
• [x#] = Capacity
• (H) = Requires Elite Dangerous: Horizons, reserved solely for Planetary Approach Suite

VideosEdit

GalleryEdit

See alsoEdit

• The Imperial Courier from previous Elite games on Alioth Wiki

v • d • e Ships
Playable	Civilian Adder Anaconda Asp Explorer Asp Scout Beluga LinerH Cobra MkIII Cobra MkIVH Diamondback Explorer Diamondback Scout DolphinH Eagle MkII Fer-de-Lance Hauler Keelback Krait MkIIH Krait PhantomH MambaH Orca Python Sidewinder MkI Type-6 Transporter Type-7 Transporter Type-9 Heavy Type-10 DefenderH Viper MkIII Viper MkIV Vulture Federation Federal Assault Ship Federal Corvette Federal Dropship Federal Gunship Empire Imperial Clipper Imperial Courier Imperial Cutter Imperial Eagle Alliance Alliance ChallengerH Alliance ChieftainH Alliance CrusaderH Fighters F63 Condor Gu-97 Taipan XG7 Trident XG8 Javelin XG9 Lance Upcoming Fleet Carrier
NPC-only	Farragut Battle Cruiser Majestic Class Interdictor Megaship Thargoid Interceptor Thargoid Scout
Lore/Concepts	Asp MkII Krait MkI Merlin Narwhal Liner Panther Clipper The Hunter Thargoid Mothership
Ships marked with H can only be purchased & used by pilots who own Horizons. The Cobra MkIV is only available to pilots who preordered Horizons.

v • d • e Ships by type
Battlecruiser	Farragut Battle Cruiser Majestic Class Interdictor
Bulk Cruiser	Asteroid Miner Agricultural Vessel Bulk Cargo Ship Dredger Prison Ship Science Vessel Survey Vessel Tanker Tourist Ship
Carrier	Fleet Carrier
Combat	Alliance Challenger Alliance Chieftain Alliance Crusader Diamondback Explorer Diamondback Scout Eagle MkII Federal Assault Ship Federal Corvette Federal Gunship Fer-de-Lance Imperial Cutter Imperial Eagle Mamba Type-10 Defender Viper MkIII Viper MkIV Vulture
Fighter	F63 Condor Gu-97 Taipan XG7 Trident XG8 Javelin XG9 Lance
Flight Operations Carrier	Detention Centre Rescue Vessel Wells-class Carrier
Freighter	Hauler Keelback Type-6 Transporter Type-7 Transporter Type-9 Heavy
Generation Ship	Generation ships
Multipurpose	Adder Anaconda Asp Explorer Asp Scout Cobra MkIII Cobra MkIV Federal Dropship Imperial Clipper Imperial Courier Krait MkII Krait Phantom Python Sidewinder MkI
Passenger Liner	Beluga Liner Dolphin Orca
Thargoid Ship	Thargoid Interceptor Thargoid Scout