Ships Does the Imperial Clipper need a buff?

[Hooplah]

But when travelling, you'd want to use the 7A. Fuel scooping with a smaller scoop is tedious.

I have a scoop for all of my ships that I swap in when travelling. The only exception is the DBX which always has one fitted (mainly because the only thing the DBX is good for is travelling ). This is all part and parcel of running ships - personally I don't want additional module slots just so that we don't have to swap around. If that were to be the case, then we may as well just say that all ships should have every module.

I've been giving serious consideration to building an Explorer Clipper, myself. Fully armed and still with 30Ly range.

While a 7A Fuel Scoop is nice we have to deal with the limitations the Devs put into the game. So the basic math is one class higher than the fuel tank for the Fuel Scoop. It works for most ships. If going 30,000 LY out then maybe a bigger Fuel Scoop is wise. I might add that the 7B Fuel Scoop does an excellent job at a much lower cost. It works with my Cutter.

 

[Bob McBobblehead]

The FSD booster will have issues for the iClipper because you will have to give up two module slots because the fuel tank is tiny, only 16t.

My iClipper current config is

c3 multi cannon gimballed emissive
c3 multi cannon gimballed corrosive shell
c2 beam laser gimballed flow control
c2 beam laser gimballed flow control
All weapons all light weight G5

Utility mounts
Xeno Scanner
Shutdown field neutraliser
Heatsink
Wake Scanner long range

Optional slots
c7 Cargo
c6 Fuel Scoop
c4 FSD Booster 8ly (currently disabled)
c4 Fuel Tank
c3 Limpet collector
c3 3D Shields
c2 ADS
c2 DSS or SRV depending on what I'm doing.

Light weighting the ship I get 46ly unladen and 38ly laden jump range if the booster worked.
Top speed 470m/s boost 595m/s

 

[Ziljan]

Every imperial ship needs a buff because they aren't 2x better in every category than every other ship in their class yet. Currently they are at best only 1.5x times better than any other ship in their class. This is wrong and needs to be fixed in order to make sure that everyone flies imperial ships.

 

[Dutchman141]

Since the Python has no real competition I think that the Clipper could use a little buff, just to make it that smidgen more attractive.
An extra C5 slot would be nice, medium pad ability won't happen.

 

[Bob McBobblehead]

Just been trying a few things out with the Python. I'll be switching to the Python when the FSD boosters work for my main all rounder ship.

 

[Serpentis Ictis]

Best ship in the game.... at least the way I play it. I bought a cutter, wasn't as good. It's all about the looks! Fashion over Function!

Only thing is the fixed placement on the nacelle, but I found something called gimballed and turretted weapons....

And with a bit of engineering, speed, range, power all no problem whatsoever...

 

[StarfireIX]

The clipper is quite a beautiful ship. The boost and engine sounds are amazing. It's fast, sleek, and dangerous. But when I fly it I always feel like it would be better to just fly a python instead. The python is more expensive but has better cargo capacity, hardpoints, power distributor, power plant, combat profile, and can land at outposts. Does the clipper need a buff? And if so, what? [smile]

Weapon Convergence

 

[Zenith]

Nothing.
I like it as it is.

 

[Stealthie]

Funny sort of ship, the iClipper.

It's almost good for all sorts of things but there's always something else that's better for the job.
Almost a good cargo ship except Python.
Almost a good combat ship except Chieftain.
Almost a good large exploration ship except no real need for it.

If you're working your way up the ranks sensibly and you unlock the iClipper, there's all sorts of things you can use it for but it's one of those ships that gets left behind as you progress, IMO.

And it doesn't help that it looks like a shrivelled, hunchbacked, duck-faced inbred child of the Cutter.

I suppose it'd be nice if it could land on a medium pad though.

 

[C64Fan]

Weapon Convergence

That is the only thing I can think of too. Other than that I like it as it is.

 

[SAB380]

Change the 2 mediums to 2 large.
4 large weapons would make it quite unique.
Up the power plant in size.
Up the price of the ship to $40m

Most people would still prefer the Python due to cargo space and medium pad but this buff would make the choice interesting.

 

[Backelaer]

I would always prefer the Clipper over the Python, even if it has less cargo space and can't land on medium pads: it's handling is so much better and makes it so much more enjoyable to fly. It's one of the ships Fdev got right, price and capabilities are spot on in this case imo.

 

[Drelthar]

It'd be about 100X more likely to be used if it could use medium pads like the python.

 

[CMDR BOSLEY]

There are a ton of things i would change but the simplest and easiest would be converting a class4 optional to a class 5. That would open up a few new possibilities: class 5 shield, cargo, class 5 fuel scoop, armor since we dont get military slots.


All the other things i would change would require price change and proportional buffs to the competition as the fed trio shields suck too.

 

[kpmop]

...Only thing is the fixed placement on the nacelle, but I found something called gimballed and turretted weapons....

Well yeah, that's what everyone (possibly) does - it's just that with a small tweak we could have fixed weapons that converged in a useful manner - a bit more flexibility for little effort.

I'm all for adding more slots to ships - especially now there are so many options for limpets and plus the new FSD boosters. But generally I think the clipper is pretty much spot on. It'd be good if it could land on a medium pad, but that's not the end of the world.

 

[GG7]

The hardpoint placement is probably the biggest downside of the Clipper.

But based on the ship's design, I don't see how that could be improved upon without totally changing the way the ship looks.

If you buy one for non-combat roles, there really isn't anything terribly bad about this ship.

 

[Sylveria]

The only thing a Clipper needs fixed is the ability to land on a Medium pad.

Completely agreed here.

 

[CMDR BOSLEY]

Completely agreed here.

The clipper doesn't need to fit a medium pad, gutamaya needs to sell a medium pad ship.

The clipper would lose its large ship armor advantage against medium and small hardpoints if it were resized to a medium which would never happen anyway.

 

[Starender]

Bad shield, no military slots, bad for fixed weapons, firepower feels a bit weak for the size, and the clipper is very easy to hit due to size
Basically this ship is anything except a fighter


If only we had a competitor to the Python, maybe the Krait ? but till then the Python is the ultimate ship of ED.

 

[Aristide Rutilant]

I don’t know why you’d want to put a fighter bay in the Clipper. It’s already damn fast and manoeuvrable enough to BE the fighter, and it has more firepower.