Frontier, please tell us if the Panther Clipper will ever leave spacedock

[Kellan Fell]

If memory serves right in FFE wasn't the Panther so big it could only do planetary landings? If that's the case, then we should see the Panther about the same time as we get Atmospheric landings and city spaceports...
Sometime a little after the 12th of Never...

 

[Genus]

XR3i - now you are really showing your age

If it had four pot wheels, I might have liked it.

 

[Mengy]

If memory serves right in FFE wasn't the Panther so big it could only do planetary landings? If that's the case, then we should see the Panther about the same time as we get Atmospheric landings and city spaceports...
Sometime a little after the 12th of Never...

But remember, both the Mamba and Krait were small fighters in previous games too.

Frontier can change any ship design to suit whatever they need it to.

 

[[VR] Goooost]

I always thought this ship would be a great sell for multi crew. I think that if they make it big enough it could be made multi crew only for balance reasons. Minimum viable crew could be 1 Commander and 2 AI (3 if you want a fighter), or 2 Commanders and 1 AI, or 3 players and no AI. Maximum could be a full squad and 3 AI (possibility of 4 fighters deployed). The idea is that for it to reach it's full, power-powered potential requires more players, which keeps it fair. If you fly solo you not only don't reach it's full potential but also place way more risk to fly it.
Docking could only be done at the capital ship docks, which are few and far between, making hotspots to encounter other commanders more common and also introducing a new reason for everyone not to immediately all switch to the panther clipper and ignore the other large ships.

 

[Kaocraft]

The Panther would be another alternative to the Anaconda and not the top end cargo ship everyone thinks and hopes it'll be?

Yuuuuuup.

 

[Quantis Trap]

If the Planther Clipper is just going to be a mega hauler and that's it, I don't think we need it.

If, on the other hand, it will bring with it other new features like having a small ship dock and only being land-able on planetary stations or something like that, then yet I want to see it.

The Panther Clipper has to introduce some new game play with it in other words.

 

[Mengy]

If the Planther Clipper is just going to be a mega hauler and that's it, I don't think we need it.

If, on the other hand, it will bring with it other new features like having a small ship dock and only being land-able on planetary stations or something like that, then yet I want to see it.

The Panther Clipper has to introduce some new game play with it in other words.

The problem with that though is whatever new gameplay it introduces becomes exclusive to the Panther Clipper by default. The ship becomes a prerequisite content gateway. it's a narrow ledge of tricky design, implementing a new ship which does things no other ships can do.

 

[Jukelo]

The problem with that though is whatever new gameplay it introduces becomes exclusive to the Panther Clipper by default. The ship becomes a prerequisite content gateway. it's a narrow ledge of tricky design, implementing a new ship which does things no other ships can do.

Yes, but I don't see how that is a problem?

And the thing is we don't need the Panther Clipper, so if Frontier add it they might as well add new mechanics with it. And those mechanics don't have to be exclusive to it: they could apply to other big ships that could come along at the same time as the Panther.
Frankly we already have way too many big ships, that behave qualitatively identical to the Sidewinder, why bother with the Panther Clipper if it doesn't add something new.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

But I can unofficially confirm from FX2017 chat that yes, ship exists as something they could do. So who knows. It would be exciting for it to be external docking.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

AFAIK we don't have "Big Ships" flyable in the Game yet. Not one.

All we have a variations of "Small/Medium/Large".

Going along with Hardpoint classes, we're basically missing "Huge Ships".
The type of Ships that launch other Ships as a basic MO of Operation (anyone remember the Anaconda Ship Descripton?).

500m to 2500m class. The type of Ship that deploys 10 Medium Ships to offload/onload Cargo, Refuel, Rearm, Repair or defend it along with its array of 20+ Turrets.
The type of Ship that doesn't primarily maneuver but performs Command & Control functions of its Integrated Defense Systems during Combat.

 

[TheSisko]

If the Planther Clipper is just going to be a mega hauler and that's it, I don't think we need it.

If, on the other hand, it will bring with it other new features like having a small ship dock and only being land-able on planetary stations or something like that, then yet I want to see it.

The Panther Clipper has to introduce some new game play with it in other words.

But....why? Why should the Clipper be held to a higher standard? No other ship offers unique gameplay. Its a Super-Space Cow and yes, I certainly need it . No other ship would carry so much, move so slow, feel so big and have so much to lose when attached by pirates / gankers. That's unique enough, regardless of how big it is.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

I will point out mega hauler also means huge ship for passengers, SLFs, SRVs, and so on and so forth. You would just need to justify such mini base design somehow.

Spacelegsz?

 

[Jukelo]

But....why? Why should the Clipper be held to a higher standard? No other ship offers unique gameplay. Its a Super-Space Cow and yes, I certainly need it . No other ship would carry so much, move so slow, feel so big and have so much to lose when attached by pirates / gankers. That's unique enough, regardless of how big it is.

We also didn't need half the ships we got, and I like to argue we shouldn't have the Conda, Type 9, Cutter, Corvette and Type 10 in the current state of the game either. Just because Frontier has spent a lot of resources on unecessary ship (although to be fair I guess each ship more than pays for itself in terms of paintjob sales) doesn't mean they should keep doing it.

 

[Mephane]

The Panther Clipper would be one of those ships for which Frontier will first need to add the ability to either dock to stations outside (ala X2) or to use smaller shuttles.

Nope, it's size is to fit on the large pad. This is from one of the earliest landing pad concepts:

 

[CookieJarviz]

The Panther Clipper in Elite could hold its own in most fights against expierences pilots. Smaller ships were scared to even fight it. The ship will be THE ship, the best at trading, decent at combat, and super strong. 200m Price tag I bet. It will be slow and un-manuverable.

 

[Kamiyoda]

The Panther Clipper in Elite could hold its own in most fights against expierences pilots. Smaller ships were scared to even fight it. The ship will be THE ship, the best at trading, decent at combat, and super strong. 200m Price tag I bet. It will be slow and un-manuverable.

So its going to be cheaper than the Cutter? Sweet

 

[Cmdr. Numa]

I'm really losing patience with how long FD have now held that ship back. I want this trading monster more than anything else in the game: To kick a damn multirole from the top hauler spot. The T9 and Anaconda have it right. The T9 is the sluggish high capacity ship with little self defense, the Conda is the faster and stronger multirole, but can carry less. That was even so before the T9 got buffed, though less pronounced. The Cutter is the step up from the Conda. Even faster, though more drifting, with still pretty high firepower and defense better than anything out there. The higher capacity alternative is the Panther.

But however angry I may be, I fully realize that this thread will get no response from FD whatsoever, like the many many before. FD will neither release it nor even give a date.

 

[xxThe_Dice_manxx]

So I make a quick picture to demonstrate how big the Panther is using the concept art as reference:

If you take Panthers bridge window and compared it to the Anacondas of course I'm assuming they are around the same size I then put a picture of the Conda beside the concept art of the Panther and shrunk the Conda until the bridges ruffly match giving us a rough estimate of size difference.

We're gonna need a bigger slot!

How come I can't post the picture?

 

[Kamiyoda]

So I make a quick picture to demonstrate how big the Panther is using the concept art as reference:

https://imgur.com/Y4RbysQ


If you take Panthers bridge window and compared it to the Anacondas of course I'm assuming they are around the same size I then put a picture of the Conda beside the concept art of the Panther and shrunk the Conda until the bridges ruffly match giving us a rough estimate of size difference.

We're gonna need a bigger slot!

All you did was put a picture of an Anaconda on next to a larger picture of a Clipper LX. And... Assumed the bridges are the same size for some reason .

Its not that big.

 

[Mangal Oemie]

There are no big volume trading gameplay in ED, that's why Panther isn't there. Devs say they have no role for it at the moment.

Have you seen the station repair requirements post Thargoid-attack? It's perfect for that. It should have been released with Chapter 4 to assist with the "incursion" state. Now it just means the repair requirements need to go way down or they will never get fixed up, again.