Ships Empire needs a Medium size ship

[himurastewie]

Step One: Buy FdL
Step Two: Buy Tacticool Paint Pack
Step Three: Apply Tactical Ice

Instant medium iShip.

Spoiler

 

[Psycho Romeo]

The Clipper should be able to land on Medium Pads.
Simple as that

What.

That'd be broken. The clipper of all things does not need a buff.

If you count the capabilities and not the price tag, the courier almost fits right up there with the asp and the vulture, probably right in line with the AS. It's definitely a league above the CIII and viper despite its size and cost, thanks to its utility mounts. Also, a nose mounted hard point is simply amazing.

I do think we need a faction locked ship for imperials just above the asp and below the federal triplets, but that area is hurting so badly a non-faction locked ship would probably be a better idea.

 

[Confidenze]

Not that simple, you would need to shrink the clipper quite a lot for that. That Ship is really big.

I think I've said it before, but I'll gladly say it again:

Make the Clippers wings/engines "collapsable". So that they would retract when landing gear deploys making the ship able to fit medium pad.

 

[Undecided]

I'd imagine a medium imperial vessel to be a lighter and faster python. Same armament (three large, two medium, possibly a better power distributor just for kicks), but trading away armor and internal space in favor of better speeds and maneuverability, with stronger shields by natural consequence. It'd fulfill the role of heavy fighter and attacker; a direct counterpart to the Fer De Lance, but with a more consistent and reliable armament. The icing on the cake would be to have it in this package:

View attachment 85968

A thoroughbred killer.

Funny thing is you're describing the old Imperial Courier from Frontier: Elite 2. I still have no idea how that thing turned into a light fighter.

 

[Rottcodd]

Empire: "We have large ships, we have small ships - but we need a medium size ship!"

Alliance:"... we would like a ship." *cries*

 

[Phantasma]

I would love that.
Initially i hoped the Courier would turn out to be a medium ship, at least the concept art gave me that impression.

But if a new Gutamaya ship would follow the new 1.5 ship design principles, it will break my heart... so careful what we wish for.
The times when we got performers like the Vulture, FAS, Courier or Diamondback Scout sadly seem to be over for now.

 

[Gryphorim]

I'd love a trimmed-down Clipper variant. I already posted my Imp' Caravel idea: basically a Clipper with reduced "hump" at back, and retractable wing nacelles, with 4 Medium hardpoints and similar internal space as the basic Dropship, designed to be a lighter, faster Dropship counterpart.
I'd also like to see some changes to Fed ship line-up, namely removing rank restriction from Dropship, adding a rank-locked mil-spec Vulture, and redoing the aesthetic of the "winglet-deluxe" Gunship.

 

[Hooplah]

Hmm...Take a look at the Asp Explorer (medium size?) and the Imp Courier specs. Besides Cargo an maybe Mass the numbers are relatively close.

 

[ArcticFenrir]

I'm on board for this. But we also need some medium ships to slot in between the Asp and the FDL that aren't faction locked. And the Federation needs a light fighter too.

 

[Dunkel Reynolds]

The Clipper should be able to land on Medium Pads.
Simple as that

I agree with the other comments...as awesome as it would be, it really would make the Clipper way OP. It's a small trade off for having the otherwise best multi-role ship in the game, but to mention the best looking

 

[GP40X]

Hmm...Take a look at the Asp Explorer (medium size?) and the Imp Courier specs. Besides Cargo an maybe Mass the numbers are relatively close.

But you are talking about a large difference in Mass. Imperial Courier is only a 35 ton hull while the Clipper is 400 ton. We need a 280T to 350T Imperial Medium class ship.

Proposal for new Medium Class Imperial Ship

Name: Trireme

Size: Medium

Hull: 320-350 Tons

Agility 6/10 to 8/10

Standard Compartments:
Class 6 Power Plant
Class 7 Thrusters
Class 6 Frame Shift Drive
Class 5 Life Support
Class 5 Power Distributor
Class 5 Sensors
Class 5 Fuel Tank

8 Internal Compartments: 6, 6, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2 (maybe split one of the size 2 compartments into two size 1 compartments for a Planetary scanner and a Detailed Scanner/Docking computer) .

5 Hard Points: 4 Medium, 1 Large

4 Utility Mounts

Hull Design should be classic Empire Design but keep the Nacelles close in similar to the USS Defiant (I know, WRONG universe).

Price should be somewhere between the Asp and the Python (Closer to the Python price).

This ship would fill the role of a Medium Empire specific Trader/Explorer.

Anyone see any holes in the proposal (other than FD will probably do something completely different)?

 

[DragoonKnight]

I'm on board for this. But we also need some medium ships to slot in between the Asp and the FDL that aren't faction locked. And the Federation needs a light fighter too.

There are enough light fighters in the game
eagle
dbs
asp scout


We need an Exploration ship that is not the ASP or DBE. Something that will trade weapons hardpoints for internal slots and jump range. Something that will land on medium pads and very high G worlds without a problem. Something that is better than the 300 year old ASP Explorer.

 

[DragoonKnight]

But you are talking about a large difference in Mass. Imperial Courier is only a 35 ton hull while the Clipper is 400 ton. We need a 280T to 350T Imperial Medium class ship.

Proposal for new Medium Class Imperial Ship

Name: Trireme

Size: Medium

Hull: 320-350 Tons

Agility 6/10 to 8/10

Standard Compartments:
Class 6 Power Plant
Class 7 Thrusters
Class 6 Frame Shift Drive
Class 5 Life Support
Class 5 Power Distributor
Class 5 Sensors
Class 5 Fuel Tank

8 Internal Compartments: 6, 6, 4, 4, 3, 3, 2, 2 (maybe split one of the size 2 compartments into two size 1 compartments for a Planetary scanner and a Detailed Scanner/Docking computer) .

5 Hard Points: 4 Medium, 1 Large

4 Utility Mounts

Hull Design should be classic Empire Design but keep the Nacelles close in similar to the USS Defiant (I know, WRONG universe).

Price should be somewhere between the Asp and the Python (Closer to the Python price).

This ship would fill the role of a Medium Empire specific Trader/Explorer.

Anyone see any holes in the proposal (other than FD will probably do something completely different)?

Biggest problem: It is locked behind Empire rank
2nd problem: Your design looks like it is a very agile fighter, not an explorer / trader.

Class 7 thrusters implies a fighter, especially in that weight range. 7A thrusters allow you to be at 1080 T and have optimum agility. It should be class 6 (same as Clipper, FAS, and FDL)
Does need a Class 7 FSD for exploration.
Hard Points are similar to FDL and imply that this is a fighter. 4 Medium sounds about right for an explorer / trader.
Fuel Tank should be Class 6 - it is an exploration vessel. Traders can always swap out to a class 4 o 5 if it bothers them.
Life support should be Class 4 (same as python)

Again, no more empire / federation specific ships. Ranks are a royal pain to increase now. Just let us buy the ships with credits as is.
Or better yet make it part of the lore that this ship is an Alliance ship available for purchase to anyone.

oh and the name... when I think Trireme, I think of this
http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net..._(Civ4).jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150327003648

How about The Serpent? Since Elite apparently likes snake related names

 

[Poseidal]

A medium Imperial ship would be about Asp or Fer-de-Lance size and mass. It could go much lighter with the same profile, and have the FSD at 4 to have a decent jump range, or Asp heavy (maybe more) with a 5 FSD.

 

[Stealth Gamer92]

I always thought clipper is a medium ship lol
cause that just makes more sense

I still see the Clipper as a medium ship, but the "vanity wing's" force it to use large Pad's.

 

[Stealth Gamer92]

I'd love a trimmed-down Clipper variant. I already posted my Imp' Caravel idea: basically a Clipper with reduced "hump" at back, and retractable wing nacelles, with 4 Medium hardpoints and similar internal space as the basic Dropship, designed to be a lighter, faster Dropship counterpart.
I'd also like to see some changes to Fed ship line-up, namely removing rank restriction from Dropship, adding a rank-locked mil-spec Vulture, and redoing the aesthetic of the "winglet-deluxe" Gunship.

LEAVE MY GUNSHIP ALONE!

 

[DragoonKnight]

A medium Imperial ship would be about Asp or Fer-de-Lance size and mass. It could go much lighter with the same profile, and have the FSD at 4 to have a decent jump range, or Asp heavy (maybe more) with a 5 FSD.

A Class 4 FSD is not enough at the masses suggested (350 Tons +)
4A at 400T results in 14.45
An exploration ASP is 280T for the hull and about 130 T of equipment.
So 350 + 130 = 480
So if you want to go 30LY at 500T, then you need something bigger
5A at 535T results in 23LY
6A at 601T results in 36.5LY

Since it has to be bigger than an ASP and an upgrade to the ASP, around 400 T seems like a good ballpark weight for the hull.

 

[Poseidal]

A Class 4 FSD is not enough at the masses suggested (350 Tons +)
4A at 400T results in 14.45
An exploration ASP is 280T for the hull and about 130 T of equipment.
So 350 + 130 = 480
So if you want to go 30LY at 500T, then you need something bigger
5A at 535T results in 23LY
6A at 601T results in 36.5LY

Since it has to be bigger than an ASP and an upgrade to the ASP, around 400 T seems like a good ballpark weight for the hull.

Check my signature for the 'luxury exploration' ships that I have. It has a class 4 FSD (Urutu and Mocassin family) but they have a light hull. They were designed to be a smaller ship though.

For a class 5, we are looking at more than Asp mass, but it would be weird to have the smaller ship with a larger base hull than the Clipper, though you can make it up with modules to an extent.

 

[Thebadmf]

I agree. We need the ...
... Imperial Cobra
View attachment 85849
Sorry for the poor photoshopping. I didn't even try to make it look good.

Why does this remind me of the USS Defiant?

Re the OP, definitely. Asp upgrade, 20-40m CR price, minimal weapons, 385-410 boost, great jump range, good internals (2 class 1 slots for those scanners plus 120-200 ton cargo is trade mode) and must be a medium. I don't really care who makes it as long as Lakon is barred from the party.

 

[Dunkel Reynolds]

The Clipper is only 20 million...something between Asp and Clipper should be in 12-15 million range, maybe.

Four medium hard points seems a good compromise.

Range needs to be upper 28-30 when kitted out. With enough internals to runs all the exploration gear.

Shields in the 200-250 range with A class normal or bi-weaves around 150-200?

I see nothing wrong with making it Imperial or an Asp clone/competitor.