Small Cargo
The Small Cargo is the first transport ship available. It is the workhorse of early resource hauling and farming. At Impulse Drive level 5, it switches drives and nearly doubles its speed.
Base Stats
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Cost | 2,000 Metal · 2,000 Crystal |
| Drive | Combustion Drive (upgrades to Impulse Drive at I-Drive 5) |
| Base speed | 5,000 (Combustion) → 10,000 (Impulse at I-Drive 5) |
| Cargo | 5,000 units |
| Fuel | 10 deuterium/hour |
| Base weapons | 5 |
| Base shield | 10 |
| Base hull | 4,000 |
| Prerequisites | Shipyard level 1 |
Requirements
- Shipyard level 2
- Combustion Drive level 2
Drive Upgrade
At Impulse Drive level 5, Small Cargos switch to Impulse Drive:
| I-Drive Level | Speed |
|---|---|
| 5 | 10,000 |
| 7 | 14,000 |
| 10 | 20,000 |
Rapid Fire
| Against | RF Value |
|---|---|
| Espionage Probe | ×5 |
| Solar Satellite | ×5 |
| Crawler | ×5 |
Takes rapid fire from: Heavy Fighter (×3), Battlecruiser (×3), Deathstar (×250)
With 5 base attack, Small Cargos are entirely useless in combat. They will die to almost anything. Never send them without a proper combat escort.
Tips
Send batches of 10–50 Small Cargos with your Light Fighter raiding fleets to haul back resources from inactive targets.
Getting Impulse Drive to level 5 is a huge quality-of-life upgrade. Small Cargos suddenly travel at 10,000 base speed — almost as fast as combat ships.
Once you can build Large Cargos, switch to them. 5,000 cargo over 25,000 cargo with similar speed is not worth the extra fleet slots.