The FDL is probably a bit better for combat, but they are so different that a lot depends on the set up and the style of each pilot. There are too many variables just to outright predict the outcome of any particular encounter. Between these two, it can be a true rock, paper, scissors battle.
The FDL has more shield power and perhaps more total weapons potential, but the Clipper has the speed to dictate the terms of engagement with the option to run before getting too beaten up. It's a close call and I bet the proponents of each will be pretty equally split.
The FDL has more shield power and perhaps more total weapons potential, but the Clipper has the speed to dictate the terms of engagement with the option to run before getting too beaten up. It's a close call and I bet the proponents of each will be pretty equally split.
I had an ad hoc 1v1 with Battleship Kickass' war Clipper a few months back while I was in an FDL.
I retreated after I forced him to burn eight plus SCB uses. Neither of us suffered any hull damage or lost shields at any point.
It was during one of the combat CGs and he was running his A7 shield + quad A booster + 15-20 SCB use + pulse laser + cannon setup to destroy novice pilots by the truckload. Immediately prior to the engagement, where we mutually drove each other off , I saw him kill two Vultures, and Asp, and a Cobra, while being chased by an additional Python, Viper, and myself. I kept up the chase, even as the pilots I was attempting to protect selfishly turned back to continue collecting bonds (that they would never live to turn in). Kickass lead me away from assistance (I knew he was doing this, but I was also confident in my own ship and piloting). Once we were the only people for about 30km, he turned around and engaged, closing to point blank range so he could use one pulse laser and both cannon, with four pips to sys, while attempting to ram my FDL. He clipped me once, but I manged to avoid any further contact while reverskied in a winding, spiraling circle looking for an opening, as I chipped away with my weaker set of weapons (my favored large beam was too power hungry in this situation where I dared not move pips off sys for any length of time). After about four minutes of this he had used eight or nine SCBs, pausing once for a second to disable some and enable more, while I had used all five of my twin charges. At this point I retracted my weapons and entered SC to resupply, and saw him do the same a moment later.
About fifteen minutes after this we winged up, along with one other pilot, and shot down about thirty CMDRs in the same CZ in the next ninety minutes, including the two that abandoned the chase against him earlier.
Anyway, Battleship Kickass is one of the better Clipper pilots out there, and I am probably one of the better FDL pilots. Neither one of us really knew what we were getting into at the time, and I'm sure there are things we both would do differently in future encounters. And there have been other encounters. Normally, I ignore him (though not entirely, because he is trying to ram you the whole time with a 750 ton ship with good shields) and destroy his less competent wingmen, then leave before I get sucked into a trilogy.
Clipper's weapons loadout, though not hardpoint location, is superior to the FDL's. A fully padded Clipper also doesn't fall too far below a more well rounded FDL in shielding. The one I mentioned above actually had almost exactly the same standing base shield strength as the FDL setup I was running (~555MJ). It's speed an mass also make it very dangerous in a collision, a fact that aggressive Clipper pilots will take advantage of.
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