Federal assault will it make FDL and Clipper Obsolete ?

Having had a look at the Upcoming Federal Assault ship, it certainly looks like on paper it will surpass the FDL easily in terms of practical firepower, maneuverability and on par in speed terms. Looking at medium size (hit box) is quite a bit smaller than the Clipper and just shy of the clipper's boost speed with much better trusters etc, as a pure combat vessel, it appears to surpass the clipper and the FDL. Still wonder who thought it a good idea to make the FDL's pitch amongst the lowest in the game, never mind the obnoxious huge gun placement with an even worse weapon selection for available for it.

Is the all new Federal Assault ship the vulture's big brother ?

What do you think, its up on the wiki if you want to see its stats.
 
Shield is weak. Even vulture and clipper have more shield, not even speaking about fdl. 340mj with 5A shield and 3*A0 boosters... FDL can have ~700 in practically usable loadout IIRC.
Speed is... mediocre. Yes, it is not slow. But here are a lot of ships with boost speed close to 400. Even vulture can boost 395. Clipper can boost ~440. Not even close.
And finaly it is not cheap, around 70-80M for full A-grade... i am not sure that it is worth it compared to vulture...

Overall seems that it is not completely useless like dropship, but it cannot be called "best" for anything either...
vva.PNG
 
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Indeed. It looks a bit like a class cannon shieldwise, although it does have generous fittings and fair amount of low slots. Might be one of the ships that could get some use out of prismatic shield modules in some way. [edit] It does have a lot of hull hit points, 1050 with better bulkheads. That will start mattering more once losing your power plant does not automatically blow up your ship.

Something like this (quick and terrible fitting :p ) : http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=70Q,5TE5TE5Rg5Rg0_g0_g0_g01Q,319Y9Y7_8S7_6k6k,7Sl7iW7gy7fO7dq9qI
 
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It won't make them obsolete.

The Clipper is an excellent trading and pirate ship. The FAS not so much ;)

And if it can beat FdLs remains to be seen. I see them roughly on par... the FAS has much weaker shields, so they could be alpha'd out by a competent FdL commander. An FdL pilot doesn't have to fear alpha damage.
 
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Bazorlag,
The problem with prismatic shield is that you can not use power-hungry weapons with it, or you will run out of power. So you are stuck with pulses and multicannons instead of beams and PA-s, which is not good...
One thing i will definitely try with FAS is this, should be a lot of fun, but shield is just terrible...
 
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It won't make the Clipper obsolete as she's really a fast, tough trader more than a combat ship. Clipper is flawed at combat due to being really easy to hit with pants shields and terrible weapon placement. But she's a brilliant trader or pirate as she carry 200t of stuff and still outrun anything except a cobra and kill any NPC in the game.
 
I am very curious about this also. There are many factors to take into consideration though.. I think the deciding factor is how well each ship will handle and maneuver, compared to the other, and not necessarily shield strength. Technically a python has a similar handling rating as a FDL, but the FDL, in the right hands, can outmaneuver a python quite easily... So if the FAS can outmaneuver the FDL (which I am really skeptical about) it would make the FDL's shield superiority null and void.
 
Shield strength is one point, other is how many SCB you can stack :). From this side, FAS is the big brother of Vulture.
Personally , I'd remove SCBs from the game, instead if you are docked at a station, your shields are recharged immediately.
 
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I will be ignoring Shields on my FAS, just stock up the hull. It will be excellent for 1 and only 1 fight before limping back to base for repairs. Its a different sort of combat vessel
 
Like the Vulture the FAS is agile even with D grade thrusters, granted the shield is an issue but the power plant changes may make armour an effective option, I don't see the FAS replacing ships it's priced well but has enough limitations to remain balanced and even a modest build can be very effective.

http://coriolis.io/outfit/federal_a...044d040302242h.Iw18cQ==.IwBj4yNI?bn=FAS basic

I don't use SCB's myself but I believe they should be limited to one bank per ship, possibly integrated into the shield generator.
 
I am very curious about this also. There are many factors to take into consideration though.. I think the deciding factor is how well each ship will handle and maneuver, compared to the other, and not necessarily shield strength. Technically a python has a similar handling rating as a FDL, but the FDL, in the right hands, can outmaneuver a python quite easily... So if the FAS can outmaneuver the FDL (which I am really skeptical about) it would make the FDL's shield superiority null and void.

{On Paper}
The FAS out pitches and Rolls a FDL by a significant margin, it's lateral thruster's are not as good however and inparticular they have an awful spool up time so changing direction can be a pain. However this is somewhat balanced by the fact it has the best Pitch speed of ANY ship in the game when at very low or very high speeds (i.e a long way from the blue zone). Like the FDropS it does very nicely when drifted and turning. (figures are available in my sig, note they are not for full optimised ships, which will be ~116% faster, but FAS and FDL are both easy to get to 50% optimum mass).

Oh and apparently the FAS can boost more often than the FDL so it is slight "faster" in a straight line.

[I also have to admit I have only flown a FDL in my testing so it may have some super secret way to make it turn quicker that I am not aware of]

Shields are pants but you can stock up on SCBs and have the power to use them, it really benefits from prismatic shields as it's current class 5 is too small for it's hull mass. If Frontier change it so Hull tank is viable (i.e reduce Pulse laser module sniping) it will be a beast but in the current Meta I'd expect to see shields down, module failure, insurance.

To answer the OP question I don't see it as making either of the Clipper or FDS obsolete, ignoring the multirole aspect of the clipper as I suspect this is a combat question:

FAS vs Clipper. Better turning, better hardpoint placement, smaller profile vs lower shields and lower SCB stacking potential. The clipper retains it's key aspect, that it is faster than anything and for players which value that I don't see it being replaced.

FAS vs FDL. I think will come down to personal preference as the ships seem to have their own trade offs between each other.

In terms of Wings I don't see the it replacing the Clipper that most wings seem to have at least one of, It'll probably become another alternative addition like the FDL is now.
 
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The FAS can't possibly replace neither the Vulture, the Clipper or the FdL.

Its too different from any of these ships to replace them.

It will provide an welcome and nice alternative, with different combination of advantages and disadvantages than other stated ships.
 
We have it on Xbox. It absolutely is not a glass cannon. Okay the shields aren't great but who needs shields on a tank? This thing cannot be killed. You get its shields down using your HyperDeathKill™ Battle Python™ and you think it's game over. And then it out-maneouvers you and kills you to bits in zip seconds flat.
She's a megaVulture. Don't underestimate her.

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It won't replace the Vulture though, it's too expensive. It won't replace the Clipper either, it fills a totally different role.
 
I flew one and was immediately transported to a kid like state.. thought I was Oscar the grouch in Sesame street sitting in his garbage can.
 
The FAS can't possibly replace neither the Vulture, the Clipper or the FdL.

Its too different from any of these ships to replace them.

It will provide an welcome and nice alternative, with different combination of advantages and disadvantages than other stated ships.

This is the most accurate post I've seen on the subject. Well done, sir.
 
We have it on Xbox. It absolutely is not a glass cannon. Okay the shields aren't great but who needs shields on a tank? This thing cannot be killed. You get its shields down using your HyperDeathKill™ Battle Python™ and you think it's game over. And then it out-maneouvers you and kills you to bits in zip seconds flat.
She's a megaVulture. Don't underestimate her.

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It won't replace the Vulture though, it's too expensive. It won't replace the Clipper either, it fills a totally different role.

Thank you all for the replies, i guess time will tell, if the above is accurate, then yes the FAS will be the dominating force in combat. Its a pity its so ugly, but that shouldnt have a bearing on ship balance. If the above is true, i cant see the FDL being able to take on or keep its role vs a FAS. The price seems fair, but all in all taking it stats and the above observation from Cmdr BongoBaggins, its on my shopping list. The FDL certainly needs a price reduction or a redesign if this things agility is that good. Its unfair to include the clipper in this comparison as its more a multi role ship. it will be totally outclassed in combat though.
 
Thank you all for the replies, i guess time will tell, if the above is accurate, then yes the FAS will be the dominating force in combat. Its a pity its so ugly, but that shouldnt have a bearing on ship balance. If the above is true, i cant see the FDL being able to take on or keep its role vs a FAS. The price seems fair, but all in all taking it stats and the above observation from Cmdr BongoBaggins, its on my shopping list. The FDL certainly needs a price reduction or a redesign if this things agility is that good. Its unfair to include the clipper in this comparison as its more a multi role ship. it will be totally outclassed in combat though.

Ugly is subjective. While I don't really like the placement of its control surfaces (if you can even call them that), I do like that it looks like it can take a beating. I've been a fan of the utilitarian design of the Dropship series for a long time. It is a pity that the FAS is the ugliest of the 3, but I still like its overall design. I really wish the Gunship and Dropship weren't both hot garbage, though.
 
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