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Cutter
April 18, 2026 at 04:49 PM
Initial version (2026-04-18)
Cutter is a small, fast ship class in Windrose, used primarily by factions as a scouting and raiding vessel. Player-facing Cutter entries exist in the game database, but they are not built at the Wharf like the Brig, Frigate, or Ketch. At sea the Cutter appears most often as an AI-controlled scout belonging to a faction, where it serves as a fodder encounter during patrol flags: low hull, good speed, quick to sink in a fair broadside.
Property | Value |
|---|---|
Family | Cutter |
Description | A swift and nimble raider |
Player variant hitpoints | 500 |
Player variant top speed | 21.5 kn |
AI variant hitpoints | 200 (most factions); 500 for the scripted Quest variant |
AI variant top speed | 17.3 kn (most factions); 21.5 kn for the Quest variant |
Crew capacity | 30 |
Cutters share a single mobility profile across all variants. The top gear reaches 21.5 knots in calm wind, and the class has the highest turn-rate numbers of any ship family, which matches its in-game role as a quick-turning raider.
Gear | Speed | Turn Rate | Turning Radius |
|---|---|---|---|
Gear -1 | -5 kn | -11°/s | — |
Gear 0 | 0 kn | 9.5°/s | — |
Gear 1 | 2.3 kn | 15°/s | — |
Gear 2 | 8 kn | 17°/s | — |
Gear 3 | 15 kn | 16°/s | — |
Gear 4 | 21.5 kn | 15.5°/s | — |
The Cutter family includes eight entries in total: faction-flagged AI scouts that patrol open water, a scripted Quest Cutter used in mission context, a player-classified Default Cutter, and a higher-hull Default variant.
Variant | Kind | Faction | Hull HP | Top Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Brethren Scout | AI | 200 | 17.3 kn | |
Bucaneer Scout | AI | Bucaneers | 200 | 17.3 kn |
Smuggler Scout | AI | 200 | 17.3 kn | |
Scout | AI | Civilians | 200 | 17.3 kn |
Cutter | AI | 200 | 17.3 kn | |
Cutter (Quest) | AI | Quest | 500 | 21.5 kn |
Cutter (Player Default) | Player | Default | 500 | 21.5 kn |
Cutter (Player Default, hardened) | Player | Default | 700 | — |
Cutters fill the scout slot in faction fleets. Their low hull (200 HP for faction scouts) means they fall to a couple of well-aimed broadsides from a stock 12-pound battery; they are the ship you sink to clear a patrol marker rather than the ship you fear in a head-on fight. The Quest Cutter is the exception: its 500 HP and 21.5-knot top speed make it closer to a player-tier ship when scripted missions call for it.
Cutters cannot be captured. Boarding an AI Cutter lets the player clear the deck in melee, but the hull does not transfer to the player roster. Any loot drops into the inventory, and the ship either sinks or remains as a static wreck. See Boarding for general capture rules.
Player-kind Cutter entries exist in the game data but are not produced at the Wharf and have no published unlock method at the current Early Access version. Unlike the Brig, Frigate, and Ketch classes, no Ship Plans entry has been surfaced for the Cutter family, and the Shipwright's Workshop does not list Cutter hulls as a buildable keel. Encounters with the AI scouts are therefore the only reliable way to see a Cutter at sea in the current build.
Ships for the top-level ship index
Ship Types for the broader class overview and lore context
Naval Combat for the general ship-vs-ship ruleset
Boarding for the boarding and crew-clearing mechanic
Brig for the next-size-up player-buildable class
Brethren of the Coast, Smugglers of Port Royal, and Blackbeard for the factions that sail AI Cutter variants
