The YT-1000 freighter was a saucer-shaped starship that had a front-facing, centered cockpit that was surrounded by a pair of mandibles. The cockpit had large transparisteel windows that were retrofitted from Barloz-class freighter cockpit canopies. The freighter was 28 meters in length and was manned by a crew of two. It had consumables for two months and could reach speeds of 740 kilometers per hour. A stock YT-1000 was equipped with sublight engines, a navigation computer, sensor suite, and a Class 3 primary hyperdrive with a Class 16 backup hyperdrive. The freighter came armed with a standard laser cannon. A new YT-1000 was priced at 85,000 credits, while used ones were priced at 20,000.
The YT-1000 worked both as a freighter and as a transport. It could carry up to four passengers and had a cargo capacity of 75 metric tons.
The YT-1000 freighter was designed by the Corellian Engineering Corporation as an experimental departure from their YG series and as a possible replacement to the "tired" Barloz-class freighter. Inspiration for the new freighter was taken from the ancient XS stock light freighter. As such, the YT-1000 was designed as a saucer-shaped freighter, with a cockpit centered atop the hull.
CEC released the YT-1000 as a limited run to largely positive response. Surveys indicated consumers liked the design of the YT-1000, but would be willing to pay more for a larger, more modular ship.
The YT-1000 freighter was succeeded by the YT-1200 transport and the YT-1210 transport. Neither ship was more significantly advanced than the YT-1000, but the two introduced the the side mounted cockpit that would be common on subsequent YT-series freighters.
In 14 BBY during the Age of the Empire, a YT-1000 freighter known as the Reticent was captured by Imperial Moff Wilhuff Tarkin and Darth Vader. The Reticent was at least a century old and was owned by a Koorivar captain who acquired it in 17 BBY from an information broker named Knotts.
In the new Star Wars canon, the YT-1000 first appeared in the 2014 James Luceno novel Tarkin. The freighter made its first appearance in the Star Wars Legends continuity in Gamemaster Toolkit: Live-Action Adventures, a gamebook published by West End Games in 1996.
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