Ships The Imperial Courier is amazing!

[Pastor Priest]

Nice build, but always hate the ammo constraints of rail guns.

It's my first time using one. And while the ammo is limited, I tested it out last night, and it hits like a truck. I caught a Sidewinder with it, and instantly removed two shield rings.

I have a couple questions, though. First, this thing isn't nearly as agile as the Vulture, and up close, the pilon weapons seem to lack convergence. Should I be using gimballed instead of fixed? Second, is the rail gun a hit scan weapon? I don't see the lead indicator you would normally see with cannons, and when I do try to lead, even the tiniest bit, I seem to overshoot.

 

[Starlanced]

Yes, gimballed are needed for upclose. The railgun doesn't need any lead. It's not as agile as a vulture but something about it makes it fly smooth and swoopy which I love, also using the vertical thrusters you can practically make it turn within its own radius.

I'd love to use a fragment canon but also very low ammo which on a weapon like that makes it useless.

 

[Logios]

is the rail gun a hit scan weapon?

Yes it is.

 

[Night Hawk]

I have just picked up my Courier today and I am really impressed with the package so far.

Been cruising Empire space in my FDL for the last week trying to get my ranking up to Serf so I could buy a Clipper. Finally got my Naval Ascension mission earlier today, so I dropped into a nearby High Tech station to spend some credits. I was still undecided about a Clipper, so I thought while I had the chance I would try out the Courier to see what all the hype was about.

My loadout is A rated for all the major components and I went for the 2 Pulse/ Rail Gun combo as a starting point. Having decent size power plant really helps (4A same size as my Vulture), but the shields are incredible for a small ship - with boosters my shields are 540mj. Its a similar type of loadout to my FDL - mainly bounty hunting/missions and CZ.

After setting up the module priorities I headed out to a nearby high intensity RES to see how it performs in combat. Cruising out of the station I was immediately impressed by the sound and maneuverability, after the FDL it felt very slick, a bit like my Vulture in a lot of ways.

I dropped into the RES and the first ship that I scan is a wanted "Dangerous" Clipper - oops, I wished I was back in my FDL. I was hoping for a small ship instance and now I get to play with the big boys. After a quick check of the rebuy value (375K Cr), thats cool I can afford to lose plenty of ships that cost 10% of my FBL rebuy.

So I decided to really test this little ship out. Here I go, just flown this baby out of the showroom and here I am taking on its big brother - oh well nothing ventured.....

I execute my standard tactics for engaging in RES, while he is scanning me I am dialling up his powerplant, then I wait till he turns away in disgust at no cargo!! Then I drop in close behind and a little low and open up with all I have got. I must have taken him by surprise because he did not go evasive or boost away.

The little class 2 pulse laser dropped his shields while I stayed on his tail out of that deadly barrage of fire. I quickly repositioned with my thrusters to get a clean shot at his power plant and fired the lasers and railgun for all it was worth. It was not long before I could see the powerplant dropping to 50% then 10% and a little while later "Boom" one less pirate clipper After that I was straight into Pythons and Dropships - the Courier certainly packs a punch and can handle plenty of punishment as well.

So I am really very impressed with my new ship so far, its just a joy to fly, I might leave the FDL parked for a while as I cruise around the Empire systems looking for bounty - after all what better ship could you have in Empire Space??

 

[Pastor Priest]

I switched up my Courier a bit, and I must say, it is MUCH more enjoyable now. I switched the fixed pulses to gimballed, and since it felt sluggish, I dropped the military composite. Oh, and knowing the rail gun has no lead helps a good deal. It's not quite as deadly as the Vulture, but very close, and a blast to fly. I took on a master Python and Sidewinder last night for an assassination mission , and didn't even lose a shield ring.

 

[Dr Roly]

At first I wasn't impressed with the courier, then I noticed the price: About £6.5mil fully upgraded. It's a very good price given its shield and weapon strength and definitely worth 2x the price of an A-spec Viper. The speed and agility are average and the distributor is not great, but still not bad considering the price.
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The experience of flying a Courier is what really makes it special though.

 

[Futuristic Kung Fu]

Nice and weird, exactly how I like my Gutamaya ships!

 

[ParadoxZen]

They're available in Pandemonium too. Somewhere close by down there, also has D2 gimbled beams, which work very well in the nose with a pair of multicannon.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

The courier has got to be one of the best ships you can take on an assassination mission. Three vultures and a python? One SCB. Maybe two.
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1) It's fast. Anything fast enough to catch it probably doesn't pack the firepower to take it out before you can jump away.
2) It's durable. Seriously, very durable. It's got one of the best shield coefficients of any ship in in the game compared to its largest internal.
3) It's full of power. This enables many different set ups. Do what works best for you.
4) It's cheap. Throw these into stupid situations. It's fun. You can afford it (it will probably even still be profitable).
5) It's got the utilities. Booster. KWS. Chaff. Chaff. You cannot go wrong with this set up. Heck, drop the booster for more chaff.
6) It's got the hard points. A central nose hardpoint - how awesome is that? Doesn't sound impressive on paper, but three medium is quite nice.
7) It's small. Do not underestimate how awesome it is to be eagle sized.
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Drawbacks? It runs a bit hot, so you gotta be careful of that.
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For assassination missions, I run a beam under the nose and two frag cannons. These things have power for days - I have two of my four SCBs active at a time, because I can. The frag cannons will take a CIII from shieldless to zero in less than a second, and the courier has no issue getting in ideal range. Bigger stuff might take ten clips, but I've yet to walk away from an assassination mission without a few rounds left in the cans.

 

[AntiDisco]

Besides several hundred of millions in assets I will fly the Courier exclusively until the release of 1.4. Got bored with all the money and rank grinding and beeing nearly invincible at the same time. It has my favourite cockpit so far and I finally have to pick my fights carefully and think about things like tactics again.
Got it equipped with gimballed burst lasers and an Imperial Hammer, it's not the most effective setup but so much fun and the weapon effects are just awesome!

Spoiler

 

[Redbubble]

I liked this ship a lot. This ship may look like a toy spaceship but you will need to take it seriously.

Its not the weapons that make this ship good its the fact you can put better shields in it and have the power to run them. This ship is a mini Vulture. A really good shield tank.

Its drawback is the thermal properties. It does not like fuel scooping. To fill it up you will need to make several passes and keep a close eye on the temperature.

The fact all the weapons are medium is good. Why you ask because medium weapons are penalised when attacking medium size ships and have a lower penalty against large ships. I put 2 gimbled burst lasers in side pod and a gimbled multi-cannon under the nose.

I think this ship will be perfect for bounty hunting and assassination. The limited cargo space means it will not be a good pirate.

 

[Night Hawk]

Just noticed today that you really need to have 2 Pips in SYS to help keep the capacitor charged if you are taking fire, with only 1 pip it takes ages to recharge - guess its penalty for only having a small power distributor.

Luckily it still has plenty of speed with no pips in ENG and also handles extremely well - feels a lot like a Vulture only its faster.

 

[Phantasma]

The Courier saved me from almost quitting Elite for a while. The same thing the Vulture did before.
Before 1.2 i was so bored in my Asp, no interesting ship seemed to be in range. The Vulture taught me the joys of Combat and earned me the money for my Clipper.
And after 1.3 i got a major burnout coming up during the cheerless grind for a A7 power plant for the Python so i bought a Courier out of curiosity.

Did take a while but now i even prefer it to the Vulture.
No power problems, the very strong secondary thrusters make maneuvering very interesting and even in a full combat setup i got space for a bit of cargo and a good fuel scoop so travelling (which i do a lot) is not as strenous as its in the Vulture.
Sure, its offensive capabilities are a bit lacking, the small power distributor remains the only objection i have but the exceptional shields balance that out for me.
Initially thought the two rings in the front view would get on my nerves but i got accustomed to them surprisingly fast. And other than that the view in the cockpit is just grand.

In PvE i can take out every ship i lay my eyes on, it just needs a bit more time.
Its only limiting factor is weight, tried it with 3 A class shield boosters and a d one but that butchered my agility too much for my likings. 92,5 tons including fuel seems to be the exact sweet spot for me.

If Frontier can make future ships as interesting as the Courier without their usual strategy of applying some arbitrary crippling faults to justify other gimmicks (hello FDL), i'm very excited what the future holds.

 

[Night Hawk]

Agree with you there - the Courier certainly is great fun to pilot and does seem more balanced than the Vulture (and FDL for that matter).

I was not too sure about the cockpit when I first saw it, but you quickly get used to the canopy reinforcement, reminds me of the F14 canopy in my other favourite sim. At least its a central position and preferable to the offset pits and it also looks very cool when you have a blue HUD

You also need a higher Empire rank to purchase a Courier (and Clipper) now, so I am really glad I decided to pick one up last week.

Lets hope FD can come up with more smaller/medium ships that are interesting and not so compromised.