Claude_GlystraFirst day playing with my T-9: here are my impressions:

Handling:

Take a brick, wrap it in lead, attach a couple of bottle rockets and slap a big heatsink on the nose. Scatter various prayer books around the flight deck and set up a chill tent somewhere behind the pilot's seat. Anything that helps you deal with the screaming terror attacks you get when you warp into a system and your ship noses towards the closest sun like a puppy in a park full of bitches on heat.

I nearly broke my joystick trying to force some commitment to survival. I swear there is a Marvin on board, depressing the systems or something...

Interdiction:

Forget it, see above. While you're running away like a tortoise with a limp and a bad cough, you better hope that you packed your heavy duty shell, because it's gonna get badly chipped while you bash that boost button curled up in a foetal position in the driver's seat, trying to futilely minimise your target profile.

Weapons:

Just turret everything - at least you'll have the fleeting joy of a personal fireworks display. Make sure to colour your weapons fire to something vivid, for added effect.

Cargo space:

Yes.

Aesthetics:

I got mine to look fairly nice, actually. Vibrant green makes it look like one of those big beetles you sometime see flying around decimating your flowers.

To summarise: I took on a couple of trading missions just to see what the expereince was like. With a little research (thanks, Inara and Excel!) I managed to haul about 1000 or so tons of bauxite, which netted me roughly 90M in 2 hours. Not really that bad, in my book. Sure, there are probably a lot more lucrative ways to go currently. The downside is the constant interdictions, which take time to resolve.

I did manage to total one interdictor (probably by sheer luck) - my loadout was a couple of focused 1G lasers, and 3 turreted medium overcharged multicannons. It was a Master DBX NPC. If I'd been interdicted by a real player I would have been facing rebuy a couple of times, I think.

I'm not thrilled. I'm going to keep it, though, because I'm sure there will be a need for a Volvo of a spacecraft someday. Boxy, but good-ish.

MAVERICKbirdyWait. There are people who fly WITHOUT SCAssist?

Are they masochistic or something?

Episparhwhy would you put a weapons on type-9

Claude_Glystra(...) after the first time I tried it and realised it does not avoid planets (...)

Eizoe If you're using it as a space trucker and don't mind getting lazy, slap the SC assist and enable that option that stops you on jump. otherwise on jump hit whatever button kills the engine as soon as possible and readjust.

I actually managed to evade just a handful of interdictions. I like to call it "catching the wave"
Basically you are going to lose in the first half but try as best as you can, then in the last half predict where the vector will travel and align to "catch" it then just flow with it. Because in the last half all progress is doubled (in my experience at least) it should net you just enough positive score to escape it. Don't have the faintest idea how I pulled it off the first time but I did. I never submit solely because I take every interdiction as "training."
Fun ship though, especially when you accidentally hit your boost key in the middle of an asteroid belt and get thrown off target by 4 whole km plus lose 30% of your hull.
Twice.

MAVERICKbirdyWait. There are people who fly WITHOUT SCAssist?

Are they masochistic or something?

Amata Lirein

MAVERICKbirdyWait. There are people who fly WITHOUT SCAssist?

Are they masochistic or something?

No, they just want to play the ultimate game of chicken: You in your T-9 vs its Seriously Unimpressed Nemesis (also known as an S.U.N.)

Claude_GlystraIt's essentially the same effect

EpisparhOnce you jump just zero your throttle

Sakashiro

Yup, as soon as the countdown starts, the keypress will be remembered. Also works for entering supercruise at 30km/s, or at 75% throttle if you're already near your destination and don't want to overshoot.