The Lakon Type-11 Prospector has always been something of an odd ship in Elite Dangerous. It looks industrial, it has dedicated mining equipment built in, and it has the mass and internal space to back that up, yet it has never quite had a clear identity of its own compared with other mining vessels. That could be about to change. Concept artwork for the upcoming Rhino SRV, Frontier Developments’ new surface-mining vehicle, shows a Type-11 in the background, strongly suggesting it will be one of the ships compatible with the Rhino’s new vessel bay.
If Frontier does use the vessel bay, the slot that replaced the Type-11’s old fighter bay, as the deployment system for the Rhino, it opens up a genuinely different way of building the ship: as a self-contained mining mothership capable of working asteroid rings in orbit and then landing to mine planetary surfaces with the Rhino, without giving up a major cargo or utility slot just to carry the vehicle.
An important caveat
It’s worth being upfront that none of this is confirmed by Frontier. At the time of this build, Frontier had not stated exactly how the Rhino will be implemented or exactly how the vessel bay will function in its final release. The Type-11 build outlined here is built around the reasonable assumption, based on the concept art, that the vessel bay becomes the Rhino’s dedicated deployment slot rather than requiring an additional optional internal compartment.
The goal: flexibility, not maximum profit
This build isn’t aimed at producing the maximum credits per hour. If raw mining efficiency is the only goal, larger ships with bigger cargo racks are a better choice. Instead, the aim is to turn the Type-11 into a complete resource extraction platform, one capable of asteroid mining, core and subsurface mining, and planetary surface mining with the Rhino, ideally with a multicrew setup taking advantage of the Rhino’s three-seat cockpit alongside the Type-11’s own crew seating.
Core ship configuration
Starting with the bulkheads, lightweight alloy is the recommended choice, since heavy-duty armour has a real impact on jump range and this build leans on engineering rather than raw armour plating for survivability. For the power plant, an engineered Armoured Class 6A is suggested as a solid baseline, giving durability without being excessive.
Thrusters need to prioritise manoeuvrability rather than outright speed, since this is a ship that will be landing on uneven planetary terrain and operating in potentially hostile environments rather than racing or running stealth. Dirty Drive Tuning, and Drag Drives where available, are suggested engineering choices to support that. For the frame shift drive, an engineered increased-range FSD (Class 5) paired with a Mass Manager experimental effect helps offset the weight of the build’s other components and keeps range at a workable level.
Life support can remain a standard Class 3D module, and the power distributor is recommended as a Class 7A with a Charge Enhanced engineering effect, potentially paired with Super Conduits. Given that mining equipment, limpet collectors, shields, and thrusters will all be drawing power more or less constantly during a mining operation, the power distributor is one module worth investing properly in rather than minimising cost on.
Weapons and mining hardpoints
The Type-11 Prospector comes with a Mining Volley Repeater as standard, which is treated as the primary mining tool in this build, supplemented with Subsurface Displacement Missiles and a Seismic Charge Launcher for core and subsurface mining. With the volley repeater fitted, dedicated mining lasers are generally unnecessary, freeing up hardpoint space that can instead be used for point defence or weapons capable of deterring anyone attempting to steal a hard-earned haul of materials.
Optional internals
For cargo, a mix of Class 6 and Class 5 cargo racks is recommended, alongside a multi-limpet controller (M2) to manage the various collector and prospector limpets the build relies on. A Class 4A shield generator, in line with the ship’s Stellar Edition default, provides a reasonable baseline, with room to experiment with bi-weave shields depending on playstyle.
The vessel bay is the centrepiece of this build’s logic: assuming it becomes the dedicated Rhino deployment slot, it does not need to compete with cargo, shields, or refinery space for a slot, which is what makes the whole concept viable. A refinery is included to process mined materials, along with a fuel scoop for longer expeditions, though that can be swapped for additional cargo space if range isn’t a priority. A detailed surface scanner is recommended for locating mining opportunities, alongside a prospector limpet controller, and a planetary approach suite is included since this build is intended to land, rather than relying on modules like supercruise assist or auto-docking, which the build deliberately skips in favour of components that support the ship’s actual working role.
Utility mounts
For utility slots, a pulse wave analyser helps locate mineable asteroid fragments, a point defence turret helps deal with limpets and small threats, a heat sink launcher manages heat during mining and combat, and shield boosters are recommended given that this is a ship meant to sit still in potentially contested locations rather than a fast, evasive vessel.
Why the Type-11 specifically
The core argument for this build isn’t that the Type-11 outperforms other mining ships in any single category. The Imperial Cutter can carry more cargo, the Python is more agile, and other ships mine faster in isolation. The Type-11’s appeal, in this build’s philosophy, is versatility: the ability to spend several hours mining without knowing in advance whether that means asteroid rings, planetary surfaces, or both, and being properly equipped for any of it. That means avoiding a maximum-cargo, minimum-shield setup, and instead building an industrial ship that can adapt to whatever mining opportunity presents itself, particularly once the Rhino and surface mining are available to test.
The Rhino was expected to launch in ARX Early Access in August 2026, and this build was put together in anticipation of that release, based on the confirmed information and concept artwork available at the time.
The complete module-by-module build walkthrough, including the full reasoning behind each engineering choice, is available in the video below:
