What's the iClipper good at?
- Thread starter rOmiLaYu
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fill it with frags and have some fun.I use it as a treat with premium ammo-)
verminstar
Banned
Ive flown a lotta ships but the clipper is without a doubt one of the most fun, and Im normally a fan of bigger ships so the large landing pad doesnt bother me. Im currently using mine fer most everything, especially combat missions...Ive started pirating in it too though mostly because I need materials from destroyed freighters...searching empty USS was too slow so I started creating my own.
Thing about the clipper is its fast...anything that can kill it cant keep up with it to kill it and anything smaller can be dealt with. It can get outta bother just as fast as it gets into bother basically, but its no hull tank and once that sheild is down, its time to run. That being said, an engineered 7a sheild can take a fair bit of abuse before it cracks, and thats one the big selling points on this ship.
Gun placement isnt great but this is offset by the fact ye can still turn faster than a python and have guns on target more than a slower less agile ship has. It takes time to learn how to fight with a clipper and ye need to be a bit more thoughtful in what fights ye pick, but I can take down npc deadly condas without breaking a sweat. Add in a 3.5m rebuy and its quite a nice little mission runner.
Its an acquired taste...its not the strongest ship in a fight but 9 times outta 10, it will be faster than whatever it cant kill and thats why it just wins with me. Sure, I can get a stronger ship and engineer the ballix outta it and just plough through the wildlife with ease...but wheres the fun in that? Clipper forces ye to engage the gray matter a bit more and as fer open play...a not huge rebuy coupled with that lovely speed and agility, 64t cargo capacity and even a 3a limpet controller...replaced by a scoop if Im travelling. Its small but does the job and using a bigger scoop just compromises the build too much.
Runs hot though and even engineering wont fix that entirely...it could but ye sorta need to run hot to get the most outta the ship so fit at least one heat sink and learn how to manage the heat. Unengineered, its still a good ship, but engineered, its a beast and I play in open 100% of the time now...never been ganked because nothing can catch me even if I lose the mini game ^
Thing about the clipper is its fast...anything that can kill it cant keep up with it to kill it and anything smaller can be dealt with. It can get outta bother just as fast as it gets into bother basically, but its no hull tank and once that sheild is down, its time to run. That being said, an engineered 7a sheild can take a fair bit of abuse before it cracks, and thats one the big selling points on this ship.
Gun placement isnt great but this is offset by the fact ye can still turn faster than a python and have guns on target more than a slower less agile ship has. It takes time to learn how to fight with a clipper and ye need to be a bit more thoughtful in what fights ye pick, but I can take down npc deadly condas without breaking a sweat. Add in a 3.5m rebuy and its quite a nice little mission runner.
Its an acquired taste...its not the strongest ship in a fight but 9 times outta 10, it will be faster than whatever it cant kill and thats why it just wins with me. Sure, I can get a stronger ship and engineer the ballix outta it and just plough through the wildlife with ease...but wheres the fun in that? Clipper forces ye to engage the gray matter a bit more and as fer open play...a not huge rebuy coupled with that lovely speed and agility, 64t cargo capacity and even a 3a limpet controller...replaced by a scoop if Im travelling. Its small but does the job and using a bigger scoop just compromises the build too much.
Runs hot though and even engineering wont fix that entirely...it could but ye sorta need to run hot to get the most outta the ship so fit at least one heat sink and learn how to manage the heat. Unengineered, its still a good ship, but engineered, its a beast and I play in open 100% of the time now...never been ganked because nothing can catch me even if I lose the mini game ^
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Just like others already mentioned, it's a great mining ship. I also use it when i want to build up merit for a PP faction. It's even the same ship, the modifications are small. The propspector limpet controller turns into a hatch breaker one, the refinery is replaced by a FSD interdictor and the mining lasers get replaced by actual weapons. Then it's ready to go to take disable Kumo ships, empty their cargo holds and bring the slaves to savety.
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As others mentioned, it brings the necessary firepower to disable the ships, it's agile enough to bring the firepower to the target (as long as you don't use fixed weapons, they are just too far apart), it has the shields to withstand some return fire, it has the masslock factor required to keep the targets there till you disable them, it has the cargo hold to bring the goods home and it has the jump range to do so in reasonable time.
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Perfect for merit collection, which is basically piracy. It's hard to find a ship which does that better.
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As others mentioned, it brings the necessary firepower to disable the ships, it's agile enough to bring the firepower to the target (as long as you don't use fixed weapons, they are just too far apart), it has the shields to withstand some return fire, it has the masslock factor required to keep the targets there till you disable them, it has the cargo hold to bring the goods home and it has the jump range to do so in reasonable time.
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Perfect for merit collection, which is basically piracy. It's hard to find a ship which does that better.
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Yeah basically.
There are better ships out there but they are way more expensive.
The only thing it's not as good at is combat. It's not a bad combatant, it just has not-so-good shields (it's a big ' target), not-so-good hardpoints (both number and placement), and the C6 distro while not bad is, well, not-so-good.
Otherwise it's fast, maneuverable, can hold quite a bit of cargo, and has basically only one drawback against a python, which I guess everyone knows about now and can be summarized with one character: "L".
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Just also noticed this passage and dare to correct: it's also not a too bad hulltank, either. It just usually is built as shieldtank, as it comes with rather good shields, so there's no real incentive to not use them.
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But if you want to go hulltank, it actually also beats some of the official hulltanks. Sure it comes with a bit less hull, but it more than makes up for that with internals. So just drop HRPs into some of the smaller slots, and you end up with a stronger hull than many official hulltanks. Now engineer the HRPs and you can end up with higher resists than many hulltanks field.
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And if that wasn't enough, the Clippers weapon placement is a big boon for a hulltank. Take a look at the FDs/FAS/FGS. They usually are seen as hulltanks, but hit them with one or two seekers (or two volleys of a pack-hound launcher), and their weapons usually go silent. Sure the hardpoints are "perfectly placed". They provide nice convergence and allow the use of fixed weapons, but they also are perfectly placed to have most weapons in one missiles blast radius. Even module reinforcement packages are of limited use there. They only absorb 25% of the damage for hardpoints, but thanks to all weapons taking that damage they still get used up quickly.
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In contrast, you can hit an unshielded clipper with several missiles and it still can fight. No matter where the missile hits, its explosion radius only damages and possibly disables one or two components. (And pack-hounds spread all over the ship, so while they damage many things, they don't disable anything, unless you land several volleys. ) This also means that module reinforcement packages last longer, as a single missile hit doesn't hit the MPR several times by affecting several hardpoints at the same time.
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That all being said, the first point still stands: the Clipper has much too good shields to disregard them. There's no real reason to set it up for hulltanking, but if you for some reason feel the need to fly a hulltank, the Clipper can actually be a reasonably good choice.
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verminstar
Banned
I thought about it and even have some mrp and hrp in storage, but a 7a sheild, 2 sb and a sheild cell make a bloody strong sheild. I use mine as a jack of all trades sorta ship, so I do put a mix of modules in, but Ill play around a bit to see what works and what doesnt...currently I just threw all efforts into having the strongest sheild possible and staying outta fights I know I cant win.
In saying that, Ive ignored the RNGeers fer almost 2 years though Im just a recent convert and am unlocking them as we speak, so attitudes will change once I get them unlocked although even with what I do have do far, its now a formidible little ship. G5 rolls on all the guns, although I am intrigued with missile builds...I just like how missiles work so more work needed to discover just what it can do with them.
I dont use any out of game resources to find out what builds work...I enjoy finding out on me own...adds to my game rather than takes anything away by copying how others do it, but kudos fer the advice...Ill not turn my nose up at that as I know Im still a bit of a noob when it comes to ships with guns. The two years previous were spent exploring in unshielded and unarmed ships, so combat builds are new to me despite the time already spent here.
Gotta say, Im loving the combat fer the first time since I started playing this game...the clipper is the ship that ignited that lust fer violence...the python was just bland and boring and made it so easy, my biggest challenge was staying awake. I didnt come here to play braindead unimaginative gameplay and the clipper is the ship that made me smile again...nuff said ^
eeeh....300 cargo?!? 248t of cargo if filled with NOTHING but cargoracks. than you need shields, a fuelscoop etc....for cargo hauling the clipper (L-Pad) is worse than the Python (M-Pad)
The shields are also very low, even if fitted with class 7 prismatics. They recharge at a good rate but due to the 4 utility slots, there is not much space for improving them.
so just to summarize:
- bad cargo capacity
- bad shields
- bad hardpoint placement
- bad jumprange
+ good speed
+ looks nice
+ imperial
In my opinion, they Clipper is a pure RP ship, but it isn't good at anything. Never found a reason to use one again. In times past, i have used it before i had the money for a Python, than i tryed to make a research ship (too less slots), now it collects dust as an experimental passenger ship (Orca is better).
i failed to find a use for the Clipper because he can do a lot of things, but he can't do anything good.
So it's a nice looking shiny brick of pride.
They're the impractical sports-car of Elite
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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It's a great recreational miner.
For everything else (including mining), there's a better ship.
For everything else (including mining), there's a better ship.
Find me something better for 21 mil (MSRP).
Asp Explorer
also....money is for most players nothing to think about anymore. 20mil...200mil....20bil.....there is no difference anymore. A simple trade mission of 16ly and 96t of goods brought me yesterday evening 7mil in one turn. Money isn't really which should stop someone from buying a Python
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Didn't know you could transport more than 192t of cargo using an Asp!Asp Explorer
Thanks for the tip!
The Clipper is good at pretty much everything. It's not the best at anything though which is why some people don't like it.
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/sign
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For most things, you can find a better ship, especially if you take the big 3 into account. But for many things the Clipper is a reasonably good choice.
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tried similar with the courier. Long range weapons increased the weight too much for my liking, which drastically reduced boost speed and FSD
Love my Clipper. Passengers, missions, and speed and sleekness. Not a shabby explorer. Miner. G5DD a definite must for that speeeed!
o7
o7
All those jobs you mentioned don't have a very tangible improvement by normal speed or turning rates.
In development it was known as the Imperial Trader, and it's a great multipurpose ship for 20-60MC. There's no better way of transporting 200T in style and safety without spending at least double the credits. It has speed to outrun all NPCs and most players, respectable jump range, and the hardpoints of a Federal Assault Ship for when you want to fight. ...With gimbals. It also has, and this is a verified science fact, the best cockpit in the game.
I just wish there was a reason to go back to it after moving on. The Cutter and other large ships move cargo better, and the Clipper's bad hardpoint placement makes it poor to learn fixed weapons with. My Clipper is relegated to engineer busywork mostly.
I just wish there was a reason to go back to it after moving on. The Cutter and other large ships move cargo better, and the Clipper's bad hardpoint placement makes it poor to learn fixed weapons with. My Clipper is relegated to engineer busywork mostly.