Talk to me about the Imperial Clipper

Ragpicker

R
Now then fellow Commanders,

I'm currently in a reasonably tricked out Viper - see the below build:

[Vulture]
L: 3E/T Burst Laser
L: 3C/F Beam Laser
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: 0B Kill Warrant Scanner


BH: 1I Lightweight Alloy
RB: 4A Power Plant
TM: 5E Thrusters
FH: 4B Frame Shift Drive
EC: 3E Life Support
PC: 5A Power Distributor
SS: 4B Sensors
FS: 3C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 8)


5: 5A Shield Generator
4: 4E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 16)
2: 2E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 4)
1: 1E Shield Cell Bank
1: 1C Frame Shift Drive Interdictor

I use it for RES farming and highly paid cargo missions...

The single ship that causes me the most problem is the Imperial Clipper. I find that 1v1 (with Dangerous or above cpu pilot) I end up usually beating it but after its demolished my shields, eaten my hull and often with my canopy open.

How do I get my hands on one of these bad boys? Are they as good as I think they are? Are they worth the effort of getting?

I've currently got about 10mil cr plus the ship by the way...

Oh, and has anyone got any suggestions to improve my Vulture? I find its lack of power plant really limits it, and when I try to do some power management it doesn't make much difference...

Thanks in advance!

:D
 

PavelKCZ

PavelKCZ
Ragpicker said:
Now then fellow Commanders,

I'm currently in a reasonably tricked out Viper - see the below build:

[Vulture]
L: 3E/T Burst Laser
L: 3C/F Beam Laser
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: 0B Kill Warrant Scanner


BH: 1I Lightweight Alloy
RB: 4A Power Plant
TM: 5E Thrusters
FH: 4B Frame Shift Drive
EC: 3E Life Support
PC: 5A Power Distributor
SS: 4B Sensors
FS: 3C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 8)


5: 5A Shield Generator
4: 4E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 16)
2: 2E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 4)
1: 1E Shield Cell Bank
1: 1C Frame Shift Drive Interdictor

I use it for RES farming and highly paid cargo missions...

The single ship that causes me the most problem is the Imperial Clipper. I find that 1v1 (with Dangerous or above cpu pilot) I end up usually beating it but after its demolished my shields, eaten my hull and often with my canopy open.

How do I get my hands on one of these bad boys? Are they as good as I think they are? Are they worth the effort of getting?

I've currently got about 10mil cr plus the ship by the way...

Oh, and has anyone got any suggestions to improve my Vulture? I find its lack of power plant really limits it, and when I try to do some power management it doesn't make much difference...

Thanks in advance!

:D
Click to expand...

Buy the A rated thrusters and go with 2x gimballed pulse lasers. The Vulture can outmaneuvre almost anything, so it is not necessary to have turret laser. And with pulse lasers, you can fire almost indefinitely.
 

Kirk-Fu

Banned
K
>Turreted burst laser
>E-grade gear
I can see why you're having problems. This is the only Vulture I'll fly these days, it's best used for sticking right behind the enemy's engines and constantly hammering away at their powerplant, not suitable for prolonged facetanking;

[Vulture]
L: 3E/G Pulse Laser
L: 3D/F Pulse Laser
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: 0D Kill Warrant Scanner
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0C Shield Booster


BH: 1I Lightweight Alloy
RB: 4A Power Plant
TM: 5A Thrusters
FH: 4A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 3D Life Support
PC: 5A Power Distributor
SS: 4D Sensors
FS: 3C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 8)


5: 5C Shield Generator
4: 4D Shield Cell Bank
2: 2A Fuel Scoop
---
Shield: 454.03 MJ
Power : 14.77 MW retracted (95%) 16.99 MW deployed (109%) 15.60 MW available
Range : 16.68 LY
Price : 15,775,084 CR
Re-Buy: 788,754 CR @ 95% insurance
 

Jesse30

Jesse30
Ragpicker said:
Now then fellow Commanders,

I'm currently in a reasonably tricked out Viper - see the below build:

[Vulture]
L: 3E/T Burst Laser
L: 3C/F Beam Laser
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: 0B Kill Warrant Scanner


BH: 1I Lightweight Alloy
RB: 4A Power Plant
TM: 5E Thrusters
FH: 4B Frame Shift Drive
EC: 3E Life Support
PC: 5A Power Distributor
SS: 4B Sensors
FS: 3C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 8)


5: 5A Shield Generator
4: 4E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 16)
2: 2E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 4)
1: 1E Shield Cell Bank
1: 1C Frame Shift Drive Interdictor

I use it for RES farming and highly paid cargo missions...

The single ship that causes me the most problem is the Imperial Clipper. I find that 1v1 (with Dangerous or above cpu pilot) I end up usually beating it but after its demolished my shields, eaten my hull and often with my canopy open.

How do I get my hands on one of these bad boys? Are they as good as I think they are? Are they worth the effort of getting?

I've currently got about 10mil cr plus the ship by the way...

Oh, and has anyone got any suggestions to improve my Vulture? I find its lack of power plant really limits it, and when I try to do some power management it doesn't make much difference...

Thanks in advance!

:D
Click to expand...
The Clipper is fine ship especially chasing target and for trading, but it has some weak ass shields and very expensive to upgrade. So like every Cmdr here stick to the Vulture for bounty hunting. Good luck.
 

Crimson Kaim

Crimson Kaim
Your Vulture loadout seems weird to me. 5E Thrusters and 1E shield cell bank with a 5A shield?

I would recommend you sell your turreted laser and replace it with a fixed or gimballed beam laser (fixed prefarred if you can aim good enough). Or even better, with a gimballed class 3 cannon for module damage.

The clipper itself is a weak target to kill, me for example, I currently fly an Imperial Courier (I am Federation though) with 2 gimballed Multicannons (class 2) and one fixed beam laser (class 2).
The beam laser deals enough damage to the clipper due to its large hitbox and inability to turn around.

To kill a clipper (or any larger ship) you must outmanouver them by using either FA off or your manouvering thrusters (I use the second tactic as I am still not familiar with the first one). The key is to stay behind their thrusters so you can't be targeted by gimballed or fixed weapons. Use your chaff launcher to confuse enemy turrets and continously pull down their shields.

When their shields are down, target the power plant. If the power plant is down you kill the target even though the hull is above 0%.


Conclusion:

- Sell turreted laser - replace with cannon.
- Buy a 4A or 4B shield cell bank

This should be good to kill any clipper.

Ofcourse, you have to have some skills. Even the most expensive Python recently failed against my Courier in a duel with just one beam laser. Don't underestimate small ships :)
 

Darth-Simba

Darth-Simba
I prefer my clipper, never have any power issues. Mine is fully A rated except shields which is C7. Also D life support and sensors. With x4 burst lasers it melts through pretty much anything. And with my 430 boost speed I can get the hell out of there should I need to.

I worked hard for my Baron rank and I also do love the clipper. Sure it's large and easy to hit, but a good player clipper pilot is a force to be reckoned with.

I've had a vulture and a python but, I sold both to get back to my clipper. She is worth about 80 million and still not fully kitted out, just need military grade alloys and she is all done.
 

DatJames

D
There are two ways to use the clipper...Sensible which is something like this http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=703,5Rr5Rr7u57u53wU0_g0_g0_g,2-9i9Y7_8S9Y8S6k,7WK0AA7go7go4zW5DI5Bk9qm (Yes its not the best but its great for the money, you'll have around 440M/s boost and with 4 pips the shields are good enough...I've killed many player Vultures with this setup...The 2 4A Banks will restore ALL your shields when used together)

Or...If you have more money...Do this: http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=703,7Px7Px7OX7OX3we0_g0_g0_g,319Y9Y7_8S9Y8S6k,7Vs0AA7go7go4zM7fE7dg9qm ...4 pips systems, 1 engine, 1 weapons...Hit the boost and as you ram into them fire the cannons...Against NPC Pythons in RES zones your 3rd shield bar will go slightly red but in the process you will break his shields completely and do around 40-80% hull damage (Depends on how lucky you are) then you just fire once more with the cannons and boom :D

Same power setup on both..2 4A banks will always be on and put cargo hatch, FSD, FSD Interdicter and Fuel scoop on Priority 2 (and in the 2nd setup you cant run all the banks just 2 at a time)
 

Ragpicker

R
Some great advice here fellas, thanks!

I keep looking to change my weapons but haven't strayed too far from my current system as I found a great RES, however I'm going to have to move to find some other gear I think. I'm currently in Valta if anyone is interested.

So the way to go is gimballed Class 3 pulse lasers, better thrusters and shield cell banks?

I'll have a look around and see what I can find - ta!

Wrt the Clipper, obviously I need to get some more cash but also need to get a Baron rank. How do you achieve that? Sorry for the noobiness!
 

Ragpicker

R
So I've just gone 5A thrusters and 2x class 3 gimballed pulse lasers.... What a difference! Although really cheap, the pulsed lasers are so much more effective than the beam or burst from the same class....

Seems strange to me that something 10x more expensive is 10x less effective!

Thanks again!
 

Trafalgar Law

Trafalgar Law
Ragpicker said:
So I've just gone 5A thrusters and 2x class 3 gimballed pulse lasers.... What a difference! Although really cheap, the pulsed lasers are so much more effective than the beam or burst from the same class....

Seems strange to me that something 10x more expensive is 10x less effective!

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

That's because the Vulture doesn't really have the power to get the most out of Beams.
 

Ragpicker

R
Trafalgar Law said:
That's because the Vulture doesn't really have the power to get the most out of Beams.
Click to expand...

How so? Is it not a case of they either work or they don't? - See, although I've been playing this game since the 80's I still have an AWFUL lot to learn!!

If I knew a bit more about why certain weapons work better than others in certain circumstances I would be able to make better choices - thanks in advance!
 

DatJames

D
Ragpicker said:
How so? Is it not a case of they either work or they don't? - See, although I've been playing this game since the 80's I still have an AWFUL lot to learn!!

If I knew a bit more about why certain weapons work better than others in certain circumstances I would be able to make better choices - thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

The amount of time you can fire before they overheat is determined by the Distributor...So generally you want Pulses on weaker class Distributor ships (Like the Vulture) Also Pulses will always have more DPM (Which is suited for long haul) due to using so little power each time they shoot...Beams usually are just for a quick burst which will drain the WEP bar then you swap to a kinectic weapon to ruin the hull as the WEP recharges/put more pips in ENG/SYS...So you may wanna try 1 C3 Beam and a C3 cannon
 

Yomamas Fett

Yomamas Fett
I've been messing around with the Vulture since parking up my Orca and Python; I fought and killed a high rank NPC Clipper wing (3, 1 master 1 dangerous, 1 deadly) that mugged me in a High RES.

Saps only had gimples, so I only ever lost 1 ring of shields before the chaff kicked in (with all 3 firing at me as I was finishing an elite Viper), ended the 3rd clipper with full shields and half my chaff remaining, never used a SCB:

[Vulture]
L: 3C/F Beam Laser
L: 3C/G Cannon
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: 0I Chaff Launcher
U: 0D Kill Warrant Scanner
U: 0A Shield Booster


BH: 1I Lightweight Alloy
RB: 4A Power Plant
TM: 5D Thrusters
FH: 4A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 3D Life Support
PC: 5A Power Distributor
SS: 4D Sensors
FS: 3C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 8)


5: 5B Shield Generator
4: 4E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 16)
2: 2A Shield Cell Bank
1: 1D Hull Reinforcement Package
1: 1C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 2)


Hull pack is there for testing and to fill an empty slot (not lost shields yet so no idea what to make of it)
B Class shields are only because Ive never found the A Class (just been flying her a few days)
1 Fixed beam can be fired almost continuously with 4 SYS/2 WEP or 2/2/2 setups, I think I was 4/2 during the Clipper fight.
Large Cannon are fun to use so I stick them on most builds.

15m covers the cost and insurance; and it will make that in about 3-4hours of bounty work, 10 hours if you're unlucky tops.


EDIT: Decent Clippers are at the 70-90m ballpark, so you've got a way to go still :)
 
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PavelKCZ

PavelKCZ
Ragpicker said:
How so? Is it not a case of they either work or they don't? - See, although I've been playing this game since the 80's I still have an AWFUL lot to learn!!

If I knew a bit more about why certain weapons work better than others in certain circumstances I would be able to make better choices - thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

Search a forum. There is a long thread about weapons and various calculations around weapons. You can simply calculate how long your laser will able to fire continuously, what will be the damage, what will be a sustained damage per second etc. It is a question of gun parameters, power distributor parameters, number of pips to Weapons etc.
 
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