Frontier: Please show the Imperial Clipper some love in 2019 and give it a buff !

Does it? Speed aside, as this is mostly uselss in most situations... what exactly does the Clipper excel at, if you compare it to - say - the Python?

Ah, let's compare it to one of the best ships in the game, because that's reasonable. Especially when the Python costs almost 3 times as much to buy.

How about we nerf the Python instead?

The Clipper is great for many things. Not fantastic, but hey, its a multirole.

It makes a good:

Combat ship
Mining ship
Exploration ship
Piracy ship
Trade ship
Mission runner ship
Passenger ship

And maybe i'm missing a few.

I can say this with confidence because i've used a Clipper in all these roles.

Really, if you are having problems with a Clipper in combat then i don't know what to say. Its got great agility for a large ship and its speed is a major boon.
 
So many drawbacks stop this from being more useful:

These are trade-offs not drawbacks. Although I'm not a fan of FDEVs approach to ship role design (if explorer then: DBX, ASPX, now Phantom and Anaconda. If combat then: Vulture, FDL, maybe Chieftain. If trade then Cutter. If mining... you get the meaning). Why can't I make T-9 an ultimate long jumping explorer? I'd sacrifice that vast cargo space for bigger FSD.

Same with Clipper - I would love to exchange it's weapon slots for lower mass or bigger FSD. But FDEVs do not allow such freedom in outfitting and you must play along the rules. I don't like it much but I adapted. Somehow. YOu just need to cope with limitations and find use for it. Or look after different hull.


[*]No ability to land on medium pad

This puzzles me as well, why 2 large ships and no medium one. Clipper is such a perfect candidate. But I found the answer - engine nacelles. Simply, from the hull shape Clipper is physically too large for a medium pad. Or medium pad is too small for a Clipper. And that's it. Instead of breaking the visual design it was easier to set it as large ship.



[*]Small fuel tank

This may be an issue with regular usage. Right now I'm exploring in a Clipper, 7A fuel scoop feels too big and too fast, I scoop nearly 6t of fuel while passing the star, without even slowing down. 16t is enough to make just 3 jumps but with that scooping speed it doesn't concern me.

OTOH, it requires slot 7 scoop that could be fitted with something more useful for bubble running.


[*]Heavy mass

Ugh, mass can't be heavy. Grammar inquisition time :D Large. Large mass. Tho Clipper feels quite nimble, tanking under consideration it's large ship and that mass.


[*]Low shields (particularly odd relative to the Courier and Cutter which are known for great shield strength)
[*]Bad weapon convergence

No opinion here as I don't participate in activities that would make use of that parts of a Clipper.




The fantasy of course is the Clipper being able to land on medium pads but that requires a fair bit of rework on the ship and Frontier want to concentrate on new ships instead. Not going to argue with them ... instead how can we ask for the ship to become more useful:

Not going to happen. As mentioned above, physical size makes Clipper unfit for medium pad. Making Clipped medium ship would mean total redesign of a Clipper to fit into med pad or making med pad large enough for Clipper to fit in. Either case - GFX asset redesign which is not going to happen. Module buff / alteration is more probable, as it was already done with T-9 and DBX. Id place my hopes there.



  1. Increase fuel tank from 16T to 32T or even 64T
  2. Decrease the mass from 400 to 300

64 is bit excessive, 32t would be middle ground compromise. But along that mass decrease to counter fuel mass increase with/or FSD boost.




These two changes together would make it more useful as an explorer and long range traveller -

Well, mine currently has 52 LYs range. With guardian booster, engineered FSD, fuel scoop, afmu, double rover hangar, repair limpets with limpets. Currently on long range exploration journey and not complaining.
 
Ah, let's compare it to one of the best ships in the game, because that's reasonable.

Because I expected this reply I explicitely mentioned the Krait MK2 and Krait Phantom... Am I right assuming that I may not compare it to them either?

Maybe we should compare it to the Sidewinder... yup... Clipper is in a great position ;)
 
Clipper would be fine, if it were a medium ship. Given the standard fare you get for medium ships these days, it's unjustifiable to keep it a large ship.
 
Because I expected this reply I explicitely mentioned the Krait MK2 and Krait Phantom... Am I right assuming that I may not compare it to them either?

Maybe we should compare it to the Sidewinder... yup... Clipper is in a great position ;)

Well, Kraits are a bit better comparison, although they still cost twice as much as the Clipper....

The medium pad advantage is useful, depending on what you are doing, but otherwise, its basically trade offs.

So sorry, i'm going to maintain that the Clipper is a fantastic ship for its price. There is no other ship in the game that matches its versatility in its price range.

What do you actually struggle doing in a Clipper?
 
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I think the Clipper could do with a 20% speed buff, double the fuel tank and increase the shield multiplier by 10%, increase the supercruise turning speed, decrease the combat turning speed.
I'd settle for an aerial stabilizer and the new Gutamaya-style cockpit nobody's talking about because it doesn't exist. Medium pad access would be the most important thing, like the T7 but just a pipe dream.
 
Does it? Speed aside, as this is mostly uselss in most situations... what exactly does the Clipper excel at, if you compare it to - say - the Python?

- The Clipper has considarably lower internal space, despite being a large ship
- The Clipper has considerably weaker shields, despite being larger
- The Clipper has smaller core internals (PP and PD) despite being larger
- The Clipper has fewer hardpoints despite being larger
- To make things worse, these hardpoints have horrible convergence
- The Clipper has lower MLF, despite being larger.
- Being a large ship, it can't dock at Outposts, excluding it from doing the most profitable missions.

Sure, flying the Clipper feels good... it's cool, but let's be honest. Once you get over it, what's left to rectify chosing a Clipper?

And before you are saying the Python is an anomly... just compare it with the Krait MK2 or the Phantom... same result.

So all that is left is that it's faster... but... so what? Speed is probably the least useful stat for a multi role ship. I would prefer it being 20% slower but better in all the other regards.

And that's in a great position? Really?

So far, there's no bounty hunter who was able to catch me in my pirate Clipper.
 
So far, there's no bounty hunter who was able to catch me in my pirate Clipper.

It used to be the fastest combat-capable ship in the game (ignoring some small ship EPT-builds)... its only noteworthy feature. The Mamba destroyed even THAT advantage, though.
 
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It used to be the fastest combat-capable ship in the game (ignoring some small ship EPT-builds)... its only noteworthy feature. The Mamba destroyed even THAT advantage, though.

Mamba can't mass-lock the Clipper and PIPs recharge isn't enough fast to shoot and boost at the same time... indeed ok, I've to admit, it was the one who was very very close to break my escape.

But didn't work :D
 
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The Clipper is amazing, yes its big but its got space, speed and agility to be the ultimate pirate machine. Its also cheap, half the price of something comparable and has enough weapons to bully traders with.
 
Nothing can masslock anything atm, as far as players are involved. This is a known bug, though. The Mamba and Clipper both have a MLF of 12, so once the bug is fixed, they can mass-lock each other.

Yeah, that's the current situation (forgot about the bug) so more speed for the Clipper or bigger MLF?
 
What we need are a medium Imperial ship and a small Federation ship.

For Empire something between AspX and Python could have a niche. More shield oriented than clipper but not quite as high as Courier or Cutter, two large and two medium hardpoints with better convergence than the clipper but not as fast, alright explorer but not quite good for hauling.

For Federation I'd say a Core Dynamics Sidewinder with two medium hardpoints to the sides of the cockpit and armor plating all over to replace the outdated Eagle for military purposes. Engrossing dakka, good agility, not so much survivability or flexibility in fitting. I think that sounds fun to fly.
 
For Federation I'd say a Core Dynamics Sidewinder with two medium hardpoints to the sides of the cockpit and armor plating all over to replace the outdated Eagle for military purposes. Engrossing dakka, good agility, not so much survivability or flexibility in fitting. I think that sounds fun to fly.

Not really...

Being a Core Dynamics model, I think we can regard the Vulture as a small federation ship, though.
 
Perhaps Frontier could add an option to "modify" the ship to fit medium pads, but loss of the two wing engines and only get one on the main body.
Like an Imperial Clipper "Phantom"/Rocket.

It would drastically alter how the ship handles. We will lose the ability to turn fast and instead get stealth and speed.

Now we just have to define the difference between the Krait Phantom and this new type of Imperial ship. Perhaps even more speed but less maneuverability.

It would look like a rocket and would need to fold itself to fit a medium pad.

Or just allow the normal Imperial Clipper to fold its wings to fit a medium pad.
 
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