New ship: Panther Clipper

Hi All :)

Should it turn out much bigger to satisfy all the colonisers' wet dreams, it would mean a change of direction in development.

The question is, was the decision to announce the Panther Clipper as a forthcoming ship having any connection with Colonisation.
I personally think it does, though why it wasn't included in the Colonisation features initial update I haven't a clue why not. You could say that it's a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted if we look at it this way.🙃
The Corsair's release in this case perhaps should have been 'swapped' for the Panther's recently revealed (theoretical) entrance into the game.?

Was the general concept of a suitable ship for Colonisation trucking actually overlooked I wonder?... and were FD waiting to see how the Colonisation's Beta panned out with ships already in the game first as to whether 'another' ship was needed but with more cargo capacity than the ships we have presently.
The whole game at the moment seems to be still well and truly in the Beta stage, and I'm really not sure whether we'll ever get out of it in the next 6 months or so as with the introduction of both updates (BGS & Colonisation) imho has introduced so many unexpected consequences, bugs and all the other features and content having periods where they stop working as intended.
Anyway, I can see I'm getting off topic, though in a sense it could be seen as it's all connected to some degree.

Okay! ☺️...The Panther's cargo capacity, I'm thinking somewhere around the 2000t mark or perhaps even slightly higher if we include those class 1 and 2 cargo modules.
Anything radically smaller than this (minus 500t or so) wouldn't be logical in the Colonisation sense. As for the ship being used for something else, CG's is one avenue of use with general trading being obviously another aspect of it's usefulness.
Though how would it affect the game in general (without Colonisation being a factor) might not be apparent at the moment, until it enters the game.

It was interesting seeing the bridge concept artwork, maybe we'll at some point actually get a more player interactive npc crew structure as some players are wanting. I'm all for this as I usually play in Solo, but I'd also like this interactivity, if programming of these npc's was carried out in a more complex (not complicated) manner.
To have the animation and interactivity with you 'npc friends' and crew would be a giant step up from the static aspect of the present npc's in some areas of the game.
I mean, we have animated npc's at various space stations we can interact with at the moment so...🤷‍♂️

The Panther (imagined) in it's present state isn't going to be a combat ship in the true sense imo, but like it's predecessor I'd imagine it's defensive capability would be enormous...(should it be?)...at least in potential shielding and defensive 'technology'. There might be some reasonably large weapons slots, but I have an idea that this might be where the Panther might be weakened. Some players might disagree with me here as they are already probably thinking of this ship in a more combat oriented situation with very large weapons slots being a 'must have'. :D
Frontier's FE2 Panther was really one of the 'end ships' in that game, only hampered by it's jump distance capacity and perhaps acceleration. In this game unfortunately there is a need for balancing the ships weapons and other criteria, so I think it will be interesting to see how Frontier accomplish this for the final product while still keeping this ships iconic character! ;)

Edit...If you've read this long tome from start to finish I salute you! 🫡...:LOL:

Jack :)
 
Being able to gimbal that amount of engine thrust downwards on a planetary surface should hopefully see it reach orbit quite quickly. Well, a lot faster than my Imperial Cutter.
 
1000, adequately shielded and SCO optimized would be what I would like to see. More would be better, but it should make 1000 shielded.
Yeah, and I don't mind that it's going to be slow, just don't make it slide like Cutter.

I worked on flying the Cutter, got to where I could land it on a 1 g planet reasonably well, but it's not fun to fly.

Took out the T-9 last night and really enjoyed it. It's drift is controllable, it bleeds speed fast, you can really have a bit of fun. The Cutters controlability is just too fine an edge, slightly overshoot and there's no way to recover.

Some thing that would make it seem big is if the acceleration to speed was drawn out over several seconds, that would be cool.
 
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Design wise, I kind of hope that the magic marker squad made the black bits 'separate' (as in it never detaches but is a cargo container in game) so we have the white bits as the actual vehicle- a bit like the Sky Cranes

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So although its head canon when it lands the rear detaches rather than everything being a continuous hull.
 
6101t capacity
100 Ly jump
Can Mass Lock a gas giant
777 M/s in free space, fully laden
So well shielded and armoured it can crash into the aforementioned GG and move it somewhere convenient in the system.

But then, I know as well as others this is just a fabrication - it seems both FD and players enjoy absolutely bland... (going from comments made by others when I've had a little fun fabrication, good is bad...)
well if "the potato chonk flying brick"(i say it from a deep love to it) insist it can mass lock a star , dont dare to let it use its "hold my drink" ability :ROFLMAO:
 
The T10 isn’t that difficult from memory, the Beluga can be a pain because of the tail. - I didn’t fly one long enough to get used to it.
The spoiler on the T-10 has a tendency to get stuck on toaster rack if you come in a bit high...
What am I, a Corsair?!

How dare you good sir!
Look, he's not saying you got a big nose. Maybe implying...
6101t capacity
100 Ly jump
Can Mass Lock a gas giant
777 M/s in free space, fully laden
So well shielded and armoured it can crash into the aforementioned GG and move it somewhere convenient in the system.
I'll definitely buy the stellar version of that ship...
Maybe, but you could say the same about the Mandalay which many expected to break the 100 ly barrier. Yet it is a huge success even for other roles than just exploration. People tend to focus on only one number when a new product is announced, after release this dissipates and you discover all the possibilies. An SCO-optimised Cutter-equivalent obtainable for ARX instead of the rank grind would still be a winner, I think.
Not so much if you already have a cutter... If it's nothing more than a SCO optimized version of the Cutter I won't buy it.
Thankfully they nerfed my "Trailblazing" station so I won't be needing this. 😊
You a funny guy... In reality, that "rebalance" takes 2-5 years so don't hold your breath!
 
Brother Sab on his stream reckoned about twice the Type 9 Heavy capacity (as it's about twice the length), so 790 x 2, say 1600 tons cargo capacity allowing for the fact it's all one "hold" not two hulls joined together :D

It doesn’t seem like it’s anywhere near twice the length..
 
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