New ship: Panther Clipper

Ian Doncaster

Ian Doncaster
Maximum mass on 8E thrusters (unengineered) is 3360T, maximum on 8D+G5 DD is 3308T [1], so a ship which is heavier than those points in conventional configurations seems unlikely.

Set aside at least 700t for core internals of a similar size to the Cutter and a bit of extra weight for utility slots and assume the Panther's hull mass is about the same as its cargo capacity to match the various Type-N freighters and other bulk haulage designs, and that sets a maximum of about 1300t cargo capacity before it can't actually leave the dock in some reasonably normal setups.

[1] Admittedly if you're D-rating the thrusters on a Panther Clipper to "save weight" you may be working against the ship's intent, but I'm sure people will do it anyway.
 

Kzak

Kzak
"One... MILLION... tons!"

th.jpg
 

Cmdr. Numa

Cmdr. Numa
Ian Doncaster said:
Maximum mass on 8E thrusters (unengineered) is 3360T, maximum on 8D+G5 DD is 3308T [1], so a ship which is heavier than those points in conventional configurations seems unlikely.

Set aside at least 700t for core internals of a similar size to the Cutter and a bit of extra weight for utility slots and assume the Panther's hull mass is about the same as its cargo capacity to match the various Type-N freighters and other bulk haulage designs, and that sets a maximum of about 1300t cargo capacity before it can't actually leave the dock in some reasonably normal setups.

[1] Admittedly if you're D-rating the thrusters on a Panther Clipper to "save weight" you may be working against the ship's intent, but I'm sure people will do it anyway.
Click to expand...
Works for me. 1200-1300t cargo is all I want from it.
 

Cmdr. Numa

Cmdr. Numa
Dillon Fallon said:
As someone who has won CZs in a Beluga, a large ship being able to do combat isn't a high bar.

I wouldn't even trust FDev on the matter either after they said the Mandalay wasn't really a combat ship (it is).
Click to expand...
Uh, the Beluga has a flight model close to the Corvette and pretty darn good shields. Agree on the Mandalay though. I'm finally high enough rank in PP to kit it out with Cytos and Concord cannons. Though to be fair it has to be said that mine has the CG reward Grade 6 OC powerplant. That allows me the prismatic shield and the SCBs. And I'm happy I finally have a use for that size 5 plant. It had been sitting in storage very long, while the size 4 and 3 went straight into Vulture and Viper III.
 

Cheese Helmet

Cheese Helmet
Dillon Fallon said:
Whoops. Gone galactically off topic there!

Anyway, I'm going to be positive and predict that we are going to see a sizeable increase incapacity purely based off all the gameplay added since the Cutter originally came out. Colonisation, fleet carriers (tritium hauling) and even to some extent the buffs to metal prices have all given us more reason to engage with hauling, but without a big fancy purpose built trade ship being added. If the capacity close to a Cutter (which I'm used to and know exactly how it behaves, and as a multi-purpose ship I can do other stuff with it while hauling that lump of cargo) I'm not sure if I'm going to want to spend real money on something that isn't a noticeable improvement.

I mean, look at the T-8 versus the old king of medium pad trading, the Python.
Click to expand...
True, so if we look at the cargo difference, type 8 gave us a ~30% increase in medium pad cargo capacity. If the panther clipper follows the same ~30% over the type 9, it'll have around 1027t unshielded capacity.
 

Cheese Helmet

Cheese Helmet
Bob McBobblehead said:
The big difference between this ship and the others, is we have been waiting years for this one. So it needs to be great and not just okay.
Click to expand...
well 30% is more flat tonnage when its applied to already higher cargo capacity. Personally i think just over 1000T is good, what will make the ship great will be its other features such as manuverability, jump range, and shield/hull.
 

Helmut Grokenberger

Helmut Grokenberger
Cmdr. Numa said:
Agree on the Mandalay though. I'm finally high enough rank in PP to kit it out with Cytos and Concord cannons. Though to be fair it has to be said that mine has the CG reward Grade 6 OC powerplant. That allows me the prismatic shield and the SCBs. And I'm happy I finally have a use for that size 5 plant. It had been sitting in storage very long, while the size 4 and 3 went straight into Vulture and Viper III.
Click to expand...
Oh the Mandalay is so not a combat ship :D. Slight tangent: I am having a lot of fun with frags on the Mandalay, but over the last few days I've been starting to click with the concord cannons. They are a lot of fun. Put two of them on my Krait alongside three large beams, it was a hoot.

On topic: Still don't really care for the PC. I have no prior experience from other games and thus no emotional attachment to it. Unless it turns out to fly better than the Corvette and be an uber giggle combat football stadium, I'm going to sit this one out and watch from the sidelines. I've tried a bit of colonization and had a bit of fun with it, but I am officially done with hauling for now ;).
 

Dillon Fallon

Dillon Fallon
Cmdr. Numa said:
Uh, the Beluga has a flight model close to the Corvette and pretty darn good shields. Agree on the Mandalay though. I'm finally high enough rank in PP to kit it out with Cytos and Concord cannons. Though to be fair it has to be said that mine has the CG reward Grade 6 OC powerplant. That allows me the prismatic shield and the SCBs. And I'm happy I finally have a use for that size 5 plant. It had been sitting in storage very long, while the size 4 and 3 went straight into Vulture and Viper III.
Click to expand...
Well, I've not used a T-9 long enough to make have a combat build and the Beluga is going to be the least favoured of the remaining 'proper' large ships for combat. Basically what I mean is with the hardpoints that have already been mentioned, I'd be very surprised if the Panther couldn't do combat. Especially as I can't believe there's not going to be room to pack a lot of hull in there.
 

Cmdr. Numa

Cmdr. Numa
Dillon Fallon said:
Well, I've not used a T-9 long enough to make have a combat build and the Beluga is going to be the least favoured of the remaining 'proper' large ships for combat. Basically what I mean is with the hardpoints that have already been mentioned, I'd be very surprised if the Panther couldn't do combat. Especially as I can't believe there's not going to be room to pack a lot of hull in there.
Click to expand...
Impossible to tell right now. Even if we get the full internal layout today, we still won't know how well it flies, how strong the shields will be. That will have to wait until it's out.
 

Dillon Fallon

Dillon Fallon
Cheese Helmet said:
True, so if we look at the cargo difference, type 8 gave us a ~30% increase in medium pad cargo capacity. If the panther clipper follows the same ~30% over the type 9, it'll have around 1027t unshielded capacity.
Click to expand...
Problem is, you can't go much more than 30% on a T-8 without it being similar to an Anaconda. That's going to seem a little weird. No such issue with designing a Panther though.
 

Three Stars

T
I don’t think they’ve overshot/overcompensated on any of the new ships, with the possible exception of the Cobra Mk V, which is a god among small ships. All of the others show signs that good thought was put into their development in a way that made them interesting and fun and new, but not overpowering for their role, and with factors you have to compensate for. It’s the latter part that makes for interesting shipbuilding. I can’t say I love all of the new ships, but at least I can see their thought process which in most cases doesn’t completely obsolete what came before.

Not that they couldn’t botch the Panther, but I’m genuinely looking forward to seeing what checks and balances they put into its design.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom