Minotaur Raider - what to do with it?

[Carador]

Hi! I recently got attacked by a pirate with her Minotaur Raider and managed to take over the ship with my Elite. Now I don't really know what to do with it. It's a fine looking ship, so I don't really want to sell it. Looking at the weapons layout I don't think that it's very effective fighting fast little S or M ships. It hasn't got the storage capacity to do trading and it's not very fast, so exploring isn't an option either. Has anyone used it as a player ship, even early game? I'm sure it's great when fighting L or XL ships, but that's late game stuff for me, so maybe I'll just keep it at the dockyard until I know what to do with it.

[Belteguesian]

It's a fine ship, especially for the start, where you should not engage in battle i offers great protection (the starter ship always has tinfoil for hull) and some more guns, in case you find yourself in front of a Khaak, or a Xenon M or N. If you don't want it sell it for dear money that you probably need. I'm putting a small spoiler for you to help with the start.
In the PHQ mission (the one with the Boron), depending where you have met him, you'll have to go back once. next to your waypoint is an abandoned Frigate (Gorgon if it was in PAR, HOP or Split space, Centaurus for ARG HAT and ANT, Osprey for TEL, MIN and SCA, this will be a fine free ship to use from there on, usually well equipped by itself

[Carador]

You could be right. I haven't thought about defensive capabilities. I'll try it out, thx!

Interesting part with the free ship. I found the Cerberus in Black Hole Sun, but I watched a video on YouTube where somebody found a Cerberus as well while doing that mission, but in Fires of Defeat. So I don't know if that's 100 % accurate.

[...]

It can be used to capture L Freighters and Miners, as it can carry enough marines. Once they've had a few training runs, it should be fine for Behemoth Plunderers as well.

It can be used as the poor man's Cormorant, an armored transport. While it's smallish cargo hold isn't suitable for most goods, it can make an effective trader for certain high value goods (shield components, etc.) that the SCA loves to target.

It's even suitable as a player ship in the early game, with some mods installed, if you happen to capture one with Mk3 engines and thrusters.

[HoloByteus]

It's a pretty tough ship and good for pilot training. it seems to live longer than Nemesis, Osprey and Dragon's in combat. I arm them with Teladi shields, argon flak turrets and split engines & Tau's. I also don't buy them but capture then when they accost my Traders... it's a rather fun game play. I also second the good Capture fleet option, holds about 15 marines if I recall.