Ship Builds & Load Outs Imperial Clipper What do you use your Imp Clipper for?

[wetwire]

I own every Imperial ship and many other brands and have this desire to find the right job for the Imperial Clipper but keep encountering design issues.
I keep running into a few problems when trying to decide on what role to put my Clipper in.

Trade: It is a large ship, so this excludes it from being a good cargo running ship for small stations that only support medium and small landing pads. Compared to the Cutter or Type 9 & 10 cargo space the Clipper feels lacking.
Combat: The size 6 Power Distributor and Power Plant give me troubles when outfit for combat, They feel under powered for a large ship compared to others in the same weight class. The Federal Assault ship seems to have nearly identical core internals and its a Medium size and only has to worry about a size 4 optional internal.
Exploration: I could reasonably get her to push a jump range of around 50-53ly which is impressive for a large ship, but the Anaconda obviously makes this an odd choice for this role. And many other medium ships fair better in this aspect.

My impression of the Clipper is that she should have been a medium class ship as her stats seem to be on par with others of that size.
So my question is as the title implies. What role do you use your Imperial Clipper for?

 

[shadowhand]

When I first got mine, it was a huge step up from my previous ships, the Cobra MKIII, and Imperial Courier, cargo-wise. So for a while there I used it to do cargo missions. Couldn't grab all of them, obviously but enough that it fairly quickly earned its own purchase price back, and enough to a-rate everything.

Then I used it as a PvE bounty hunter for a long while. The canopy is super fragile, and it pretty much needs gimballed guns if you want to hit anything with all 4 at once, but it's a fast ship and it maneouvers beautifully.

These days it's mostly just a very large and very fast ornament I keep around for the sake of nostalgia. But for its price and utility, it was a good stepping stone until I had enough ranking and capital to buy more specialized ships (I replaced it with a Fer-de-Lance for the bounty hunting and any of my other large ships are better for trading of course.)

I suspect it would be a very good mining ship, but I honestly have no interest in mining. I'd rather be shooting the pirates than blasting asteroids.

 

[Just Paul]

Fragging, Ramming, Basking. In that order.

 

[wetwire]

Mining with the Clipper, Perhaps.
Currently i use a Krait MK II for mining. so using Coriolis i threw all the modules i had from my Krait MK II into the Clipper and the power distributor is one size too small to support everything, Even after subtracting one of three Medium Burst laser that the Krait uses as defense. On the side of the Clipper, it could carry more cargo by about 36T and have a faster straight line speed to run from pirates. But some compromises would need to be made on the modules to reduce power consumption. The shielding on the Clipper is noticeably smaller because its a 6A Shield Generator on a large ship, This was to give it the extra cargo space. If i put a 7A on the clipper i would end up with less cargo and shields then the Krait.

I still like the idea of converting the Clipper to a Mining ship, but still will come across issues selling material to medium stations, which is where most void opals fetch the best price.

 

[wetwire]

Fragging, Ramming, Basking. In that order.

Fragging as in how Battlestar Galactica uses the term? Using the Clipper in that framework makes way more sense. A pleasure cruiser for those lustful imperials. The 128T cargo rack converted into a dance hall, dining and strip joint.

 

[Arry]

CGs, Power play, fitted with class 6 cargo and class 4 cabin and so running general missions, for both; smuggling if I can find them.

Defiantly not combat, it sucks.

But generally, the main thing I use it for. Is just looking good.

 

[fu9ar]

It is basically a faster and fancier Type 7.

 

[wetwire]

CGs, Power play, fitted with class 6 cargo and class 4 cabin and so running general missions, for both; smuggling if I can find them.

Defiantly not combat, it sucks.

But generally, the main thing I use it for. Is just looking good.

A general mission runner is not a bad idea. Currently using an old Cobra MK IV for this role but outfitting the Clipper in the same manner turns out pretty nice. Has all the same capabilities due to the number of optional internal slots and packs a better punch and protection then the small ship. Granted i wont be dog fighting in the clipper like i would with the Cobra but that is the nature of large ships. Running all projectile weapons really helps the power plant and distributor to accommodate other internals. Will need to spend quite a bit of engineering time to have it match the Cobra but this is a good use of the Clipper so far.

 

[BradHann]

Mine is outfitted for (all types of) mining. It's not the best ship for the job, but I don't much care for mining so the 128t cargo limitation suits me fine - once it's full, I'm just about at the end of my patience anyway.

 

[wetwire]

Mine is outfitted for (all types of) mining. It's not the best ship for the job, but I don't much care for mining so the 128t cargo limitation suits me fine - once it's full, I'm just about at the end of my patience anyway.

I totally can agree with the mining patience. Only after 70T out of 100T in my Krait i'm ready to call it quits and sell the cargo. And this is only deep core mining. If i included all types of mining i would just stop after one asteroid. Not to mention the hand full of chunks in the refinery that are waiting on just 1% more so it can drop it into cargo.

 

[CMDR CMDR Clarkson]

I use mine for exploration. On my current voyage, I took it out to Beagle point and Ishum's Reach with DW2 and am now making my way back in the general direction of the bubble, taking occasional detours as I go along. So far I've been out wandering the black for 9 months.

At 47ly jump range it's not the fastest, but it's still equipped to handle multiple situations as they arise. For example, engineered thrusters for landing on high g worlds (it handled 9.77g worlds with no problem), mining lasers along with two SRVs for material gathering, repair limpets for Hull Seal duties while on DW2, etc. The maneuverability in supercruise and the large fuel scoop are great for long expeditions. It does have some shortcomings, but for me the Clipper's been great for both long and short term exploration.

 

[Hooplah]

Greetings,

Starting out it was a fast trade ship to make the credits to outfit a trading Python. Then the Python bought everything else with help from a Cutter. I completed the Empire King military rank with it in ADITI. It also did a lot with the Fed rankings to unlock the Corvette. Later the Python completed Federation Admiral with the rescue missions. I maxed out both for future updates. What is the military ranking for a Fleet Carrier in December?. Start another thread.

With 192 cargo, 650 boost, Two medium mining lasers and two large beams for pirate issues it was my go to mining ship for a long time. There were compromises such as travelling somewhere, storing a fuel scoop and add a cargo rack, then go mining. Being a large ship note that miners have no need for outposts to get paid. Alas new mining toys required more space which the Python provided. Still if I focused mining to just Void Opals...

For combat forget the relatively paper shields. Great flying not getting shot at is better. I have better combat ships and consider it more of a support ship for Multi-Player and PvP. Given hundreds of posts on the Forum and Reddit others tend to agree.

Meanwhile the "gas mileage" is probably worse than a Hummer H1 in real life! I've needed to install a 3C fuel tank at times. Note supercharging an FSD at a newtron star in the bubble does help to fly to engineers faster. Start another thread.

The Clipper with at least engineered thrusters and FSD gets around, is fast and probably the most maneuverable large ship in the game. The Orca is the closest still behind but between the two which hard points would a player want? It provides player smiles even when SRV prospecting, ED live stream meet-n-greets and other play styles.

Yesterday I purchased a ship kit for it. Frontier didn't charge me extra for the bug where the Clipper cannot hyperspace to another system with the ship kit installed. That was thoughtful of them. Meanwhile flying it again brought back some memories and lots of smiles. I miss mining with the Clipper. In ED it is not always about the specs and at times more about the positive emotions. Look for them and you won't be disappointed.

Regards

 

[wetwire]

I use mine for exploration. On my current voyage, I took it out to Beagle point and Ishum's Reach with DW2 and am now making my way back in the general direction of the bubble, taking occasional detours as I go along. So far I've been out wandering the black for 9 months.

At 47ly jump range it's not the fastest, but it's still equipped to handle multiple situations as they arise. For example, engineered thrusters for landing on high g worlds (it handled 9.77g worlds with no problem), mining lasers along with two SRVs for material gathering, repair limpets for Hull Seal duties while on DW2, etc. The maneuverability in supercruise and the large fuel scoop are great for long expeditions. It does have some shortcomings, but for me the Clipper's been great for both long and short term exploration.

This is fair. Any ship honestly can make a good exploration ship, the Clipper is no exception. In fact on paper it fairs pretty well in this role. My personal problem is exploration is a large pill i have trouble swallowing. Maybe in my mind im jaded to think of exploration like star trek, which ED is nothing like that. You find one system after another but no interesting random events to write home about. The most excitement ive had exploring was finding those notable stellar phenomenon, but once the newness wore off and finding you can't really interact with them that faded. The other was testing a black hole limits, then i found i could fly though the thing and that ruined it. They have changed that to have an exclusion zone you can't pass, but that does not really help the situation. I was at least expecting to be spaghettified for my insane attempts. Maybe i was hopping exploration would be more dangerous. Something that forced you to combat the hazards space for a unique discovery.

 

[wetwire]

In ED it is not always about the specs and at times more about the positive emotions. Look for them.

This is good advise. I could just be going about it the wrong way. Fly the Clipper because we enjoy it not for what it can or can't do. This is honestly the reason i fly the Cobra MK IV, not because its better at something but because i enjoy the craft. I started the post because i do like the Clipper, but have just struggled with what to do with it. When you have 21 ships in dry dock, not including duplicates some just get left behind because they don't fill the role you plan on doing that day. This is where the Clipper falls for me.
I wonder if this is how Jay Leno feels when deciding what car to drive.

 

[Arry]

This is good advise. I could just be going about it the wrong way. Fly the Clipper because we enjoy it not for what it can or can't do. This is honestly the reason i fly the Cobra MK IV, not because its better at something but because i enjoy the craft. I started the post because i do like the Clipper, but have just struggled with what to do with it. When you have 21 ships in dry dock, not including duplicates some just get left behind because they don't fill the role you plan on doing that day. This is where the Clipper falls for me.
I wonder if this is how Jay Leno feels when deciding what car to drive.

My issues with the Clipper are:

It used to be one of the fastest ships. Engineers killed that.
Needs a large landing pad; so half the game is out of bounds.
It is supposed to be good at combat. But it only good for running away and recovering, for a second go at the target. I fight bigger and better things, in my Cobras.

As you have said. The Cobra is king, because they are so much fun, to play this game with. i spend most of my time, in mine. III & IV alike.

 

[Captain Willard]

I have three. I fly them more than all the others.
1. Explorer, a 50ly jump is fine by me. The handling in SC is second to none and easy to land on hi g worlds.
2. A dedicated void opal miner.
3. An engineering ship to gather all mats, data, whatnot.
I prefer fast nimble ships and the clipper excels at both.

 

[Northpin]

I have the same issue - trying to convince myself to get one - and until now this is all i could come:

1) Deep Core miner, 192t cargo, but the convergence means one need to adjust a bit else a lot of seismic charges will get wasted
It would require 4A prismatic, else the shields will will suck even more.
It could be converted to laser mining, but with only 4 limpets it will be terribly slow - it really needs an extra size 5 optional internal for the Clipper to start to be useful.

2) Scout hunter, with 4 ax mc turrets it should shred scouts quite fast

3) Leisure Explorer, 51.7ly jump
It would also make a decent Material Gatherer

4) Haz-Res / Bounty Hunter

But, for every role there is a ship that can do it way better :/

 

[Screemonster]

Like Northpin suggested, I use mine for core mining. My loadout is pretty similar to the one he posted, main differences are I've downsized to a 5A plant, run a 6A fuel scoop, a 4A refinery, and the C2 slot has an FSD booster in it. Only 128t (+10 for the refinery hoppers) but I tend to find I'm running low on seismics by the time I fill that space up anyway, and that extra jump range and 18 second scoop time make the trip to a good sell system (or an out-of-bubble hotspot) a breeze.

 

[wetwire]

I have the same issue - trying to convince myself to get one - and until now this is all i could come:

1) Deep Core miner, 192t cargo, but the convergence means one need to adjust a bit else a lot of seismic charges will get wasted
It would require 4A prismatic, else the shields will will suck even more.
It could be converted to laser mining, but with only 4 limpets it will be terribly slow - it really needs an extra size 5 optional internal for the Clipper to start to be useful.

2) Scout hunter, with 4 ax mc turrets it should shred scouts quite fast

3) Leisure Explorer, 51.7ly jump
It would also make a decent Material Gatherer

4) Haz-Res / Bounty Hunter

But, for every role there is a ship that can do it way better :/

These are all great builds, Thanks for the detailed links and special notes for each.
Do have one question. Why does the exploration build have a Rail gun and Pulse Laser. Are these used in exploration in some manner?

 

[Northpin]

These are all great builds, Thanks for the detailed links and special notes for each.
Do have one question. Why does the exploration build have a Rail gun and Pulse Laser. Are these used in exploration in some manner?

The rail is there to use fuel if you need to make that longest jump possible. (initially i forgot to put plasma slug on rail - but i edited the post, 10x)
The laser, just in case you want to visit a Guardian Space Installation for Guardian SLF blueprints. I've also added a PDT, for the occasional Guardian Planetary Installation