When I tried the recently released Type-10, personally I was surprised at how bad it handled in supercruise. Otherwise, in my opinion it would make a decent exploration ship. But then the question became: exactly how bad is its supercruise handling when compared to those of the other ships? With no data on this, I set out to make my own. At first, I just stuck to explorer ships, but then I decided to go do multi-roles that are decent at exploration, and having done those as well, I then went to finish the rest as well.
Oh, and I'm posting this in the exploration subforum because in my opinion, exploration is where supercruise handling is the most relevant.
Thanks go to Edelgard von Rhein, Jackie Silver and Satsuma for sharing data from some of the missing ships!
I tested the times a full loop required, supercruising in deep space, at both 50% throttle and 100% throttle, setting the speed with keybinds. Note that I measured times with a stopwatch, so keep in mind the error from that! I didn't record and time videos, as that would have taken much longer. Also, I've rounded half up.
Oh, and for the record (on methodology), I tested all ships at four pips to engines, but that doesn't appear to make any difference. Neither did using different class FSD-s nor thrusters. The only thing you can do that affects your supercruise turn rate is where you set your throttle.
Finally, 50% throttle is where the supercruise turn rate is the best, even though the blue zone on the HUD is on 75%. Frontier might have set that element there perhaps because that's where acceleration would be the best, but I'm not sure - I haven't measured that. Also, do note that turn rate isn't symmetric: turn rate at 25% throttle is worse than at 75%, and it's also worse at 0% than at 100%.
You can find the data on Google Sheets at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cWCUSxvliZ3ly-RRulUeYqZ3hqOyCSRLze0KS1QBiBY/edit?usp=sharing, or here as a BBCode sheet:
[TR]
I sorted ships by their FSD classes. Personally, I find that a good way of categorising ships for exploration. "If I take this top-rolled FSD, what other ships could I use it in?" But having it as a spreadsheet can help you sort it differently, if you'd like.
Some of my observations:
Oh, and I'm posting this in the exploration subforum because in my opinion, exploration is where supercruise handling is the most relevant.
Thanks go to Edelgard von Rhein, Jackie Silver and Satsuma for sharing data from some of the missing ships!
I tested the times a full loop required, supercruising in deep space, at both 50% throttle and 100% throttle, setting the speed with keybinds. Note that I measured times with a stopwatch, so keep in mind the error from that! I didn't record and time videos, as that would have taken much longer. Also, I've rounded half up.
Oh, and for the record (on methodology), I tested all ships at four pips to engines, but that doesn't appear to make any difference. Neither did using different class FSD-s nor thrusters. The only thing you can do that affects your supercruise turn rate is where you set your throttle.
Finally, 50% throttle is where the supercruise turn rate is the best, even though the blue zone on the HUD is on 75%. Frontier might have set that element there perhaps because that's where acceleration would be the best, but I'm not sure - I haven't measured that. Also, do note that turn rate isn't symmetric: turn rate at 25% throttle is worse than at 75%, and it's also worse at 0% than at 100%.
You can find the data on Google Sheets at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cWCUSxvliZ3ly-RRulUeYqZ3hqOyCSRLze0KS1QBiBY/edit?usp=sharing, or here as a BBCode sheet:
Ship name | FSD Class | Pitch (50%) | Roll (50%) | Yaw (50%) | Pitch (100%) | Roll (100%) | Yaw (100%) | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sidewinder | Class 2 | 9s | 3s | 30s | 13s | 4s | 46s | |
Hauler | Class 2 | 11s | 4s | 30s | 16s | 4s | 46s | |
Adder | Class 3 | 12s | 4s | 30s | 16s | 4s | 45s | |
Eagle | Class 3 | 11s | 3s | 30s | 15s | 4s | 48s | |
Imp. Courier | Class 3 | 12s | 4s | 30s | 15s | 4s | 45s | |
Imp. Eagle | Class 3 | 12s | 4s | 24s | 16s | 5s | 38s | |
Viper Mk III | Class 3 | 12s | 4s | 30s | 18s | 5s | 48s | |
Asp Scout | Class 4 | 10s | 3s | 24s | 13s | 4s | 36s | |
Cobra Mk III | Class 4 | 10s | 4s | 44s | 14s | 5s | 1m 10s | |
Cobra Mk IV | Class 4 | 15s | 4s | 37s | 23s | 4s | 55s | |
Cobra Mk V | Class 4 | 10s | 3s | 16s | 16s | 4s | 26s | |
Diamondback Scout | Class 4 | 10s | 4s | 24s | 16s | 4s | 38s | |
Dolphin | Class 4 | 13s | 4s | 19s | 19s | 5s | 28s | |
Fer-de-Lance | Class 4 | 18s | 5s | 30s | 30s | 6s | 48s | |
Keelback | Class 4 | 14s | 4s | 32s | 22s | 4s | 50s | |
Mamba | Class 4 | 18s | 5s | 30s | 27s | 5s | 48s | |
Type-6 Transporter | Class 4 | 14s | 4s | 30s | 22s | 5s | 46s | |
Viper Mk IV | Class 4 | 14s | 4s | 30s | 22s | 5s | 48s | |
Vulture | Class 4 | 11s | 4s | 30s | 15s | 5s | 45s | |
Alliance Challenger | Class 5 | 18s | 5s | 26s | 29s | 6s | 41s | |
Alliance Chieftain | Class 5 | 18s | 5s | 26s | 28s | 6s | 42s | |
Alliance Crusader | Class 5 | 18s | 5s | 27s | 28s | 5s | 41s | |
Asp Explorer | Class 5 | 12s | 4s | 46s | 16s | 5s | 1m 7s | |
Diamondback Explorer | Class 5 | 14s | 4s | 29s | 18s | 5s | 45s | |
Fed. Assault Ship | Class 5 | 12s | 4s | 20s | 17s | 5s | 31s | |
Fed. Dropship | Class 5 | 18s | 5s | 26s | 29s | 5s | 41s | |
Fed. Gunship | Class 5 | 19s | 6s | 20s | 29s | 5s | 34s | |
Gutamaya Corsair | Class 5 | 18s | 5s | 36s | 29s | 6s | 58s | |
Imp. Clipper | Class 5 | 13s | 5s | 20s | 17s | 5s | 29s | |
Krait Mk II | Class 5 | 16s | 4s | 36s | 27s | 5s | 61s | |
Krait Phantom | Class 5 | 16s | 4s | 37s | 25s | 5s | 58s | |
Mandalay | Class 5 | 9s | 3s | 15s | 15s | 4s | 23s | |
Orca | Class 5 | 18s | 6s | 20s | 26s | 7s | 31s | |
Python | Class 5 | 16s | 4s | 36s | 25s | 5s | 58s | |
Python Mk II | Class 5 | 16s | 4s | 36s | 25s | 5s | 58s | |
Type-7 Transporter | Class 5 | 21s | 6s | 20s | 33s | 8s | 33s | |
Type-8 Transporter | Class 5 | 21s | 6s | 20s | 33s | 8s | 33s | |
Anaconda | Class 6 | 25s | 9s | 1m 2s | 39s | 10s | 1m 44s | |
Fed. Corvette | Class 6 | 17s | 5s | 45s | 27s | 6s | 1m 15s | |
Type-9 Heavy | Class 6 | 31s | 20s | 1m 2s | 50s | 24s | 1m 44s | |
Beluga Liner | Class 7 | 19s | 6s | 21s | 27s | 8s | 24s | |
Imp. Cutter | Class 7 | 25s | 8s | 46s | 41s | 9s | 1m 20s | |
Type-10 Defender | Class 7 | 30s | 21s | 1m 7s | 47s | 24s | 1m 41s |
[TR]
I sorted ships by their FSD classes. Personally, I find that a good way of categorising ships for exploration. "If I take this top-rolled FSD, what other ships could I use it in?" But having it as a spreadsheet can help you sort it differently, if you'd like.
Some of my observations:
- With small ships, a lot of the handling is the same. The small differences might simply come from measuring error.
- Based on this, the Cobra Mk III performs better as an explorer ship than I expected. Plenty of internals, excellent forward speed, decent jump range and decent SC handling - and quite cheap.
- The Clipper is a large ship, yet it handles like a small one - or even better than most of those, if you take advantage of its yaw. Plus it's the only FSD class 5 ship that can fit a class 7 fuel scoop.
- Speaking of yaw, those Saud-Kruger passenger ships are surprisingly good at it. I mean, at full throttle the Beluga yaws a bit quicker than it pitches. Must be the wings.
- The Type-10's terrible supercruise turning mainly comes not from its worse pitch rate, but the roll. I'd love to see data on the Type-9, see how it compares to that. But compared to others, it's twice as slow as even the Anaconda, and most ships would complete four loops by the time the T-10 does one.
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