Clipper tips for a Vulture pilot?

[digitalscream]

So...given the relaxed rank requirements thanks to ol' Emp's mild recovery, I found myself at Shinrarta last night and decided to buy a Clipper hull just in case I fancied having a go with it later on. I've left it there in storage without any upgrades, because I'm not really fancying it at the moment.

My question - how would I go about adapting my flight style from Vulture to Clipper? Obviously it's not going to be as agile, but I've seen CMDRs and NPCs pull off some quite impressive turns and the like in these things. How do you guys manage that?

I've already spotted that the outer hardpoints are going to need gimbals; that's pretty much a given. Strikes me that the best option is large gimballed beams and medium gimballed cannons, but I'm definitely open to suggestions.

What about shields? A7 + boosters?

 

[Crimson Kaim]

YOu can have one fixed weapon as well, just have to shoot a little bit "sideways". Just had a fight with a clipper commander. It has good shields as well as speed and fire power but lacks in manouverbility and the giant hitbox make it easy for me to hit it.

Be warned though, I myself use 3 chaff launchers so gimb. weapons are 100% disabled during a fight with me (and other commanders as well). If you decide to just do a boring PvE fight, you can even go full gimb.

 

[digitalscream]

YOu can have one fixed weapon as well, just have to shoot a little bit "sideways". Just had a fight with a clipper commander. It has good shields as well as speed and fire power but lacks in manouverbility and the giant hitbox make it easy for me to hit it.

Be warned though, I myself use 3 chaff launchers so gimb. weapons are 100% disabled during a fight with me (and other commanders as well). If you decide to just do a boring PvE fight, you can even go full gimb.

#1 - Good tip, thanks
#2 - I'm used to that - I use gimballed pulses on my Vulture. The thing is, I can just de-select the target and use them as fixed quite happily in a Vulture thanks to its tight turning circle. Not entirely sure I could do the same in a Clipper...it'd probably just have to be zoom 'n' boom.

 

[Arithon]

A clipper is fast and agile and can be well armed, but it is a passenger ship first and foremost and isn't a great fighter. It's shields (or lack thereof) are it's glass jaw. It's MJ strength with Class 7A shields (51M CR!) with four Class 0A Shield boosters is 550.80 MJ, compared to a Python's Class 6A shields (16M CR) with four class 0A shield boosters are 726.27 MJ!! This means it costs 35M CR more for a Clipper to have 75% of the shield strength of a Python when it has a whole class larger shield generator!

Also, the Clipper's wing pods are far apart, so with fixed weapons, you can only target distant or large ships. Gimballed or turreted weapons are a must on the wings as a result.

For my money, I use a basic clipper with turrets for mining, where if attacked, it's very good at running away. Fast.

EDIT:

Consider B rated Class internals, as these are armoured (hence the extra weight) so while not the most efficient, they are the toughest. You just sacrifice jump range.