I finally reach Baron, bought my Clipper, and had all of five minutes before I sold it.

[CMDR Nef]

...I forgot why I sold it back in the GPP, it requires a large landing pad, which makes it useless to me in just about everything I do. 90% of the missions I take end at an outpost. :\ I forgot it was a pseudo large ship... A ship of that price range, and capactiy, could really do with foldable wings or something of the sort to remain competitive. It requires such an uphill battle to aquire the permit to be allowed to purchase it, and by that time, you'll surely have enough to outfit a much superior ship. Often times if there's something that requires a large ship, I'll taken an actual large ship, like an Annie. Anything smaller, if I need multi-role, the Python usually answers the call. Not much to compete with the Python. Could really use some more ships in that class range. Like the ASP E, it's the definitive explorer. Sure, you can use other ships, but it's the best at the role, and some other ships have to make undesired sacrifices to remain competitive against it. Variety is the spice of life afterall! additonal options never hurt! It's never fun to have the "almighty solution" to any problem!

 

[Armholeeio]

To be honest I'm not sure why the empire have two large faction ships, I would say whack another empire based ship for a medium pad. Naming convention would say it would be called a Sloop, give it one large and 3 medium hard points . Just slightly less internals than a Python and bam job done. The Feds could get as a counter one large vessel call it the federal assault carrier aimed at carrying a couple of fighters

 

[dangerzone]

A Clipper hater?

Get out.

 

[CMDR Nef]

A Clipper hater?

Get out.

Oh don't get me wrong, I love the Clipper. It's beautiful, one of the fastes, and can carry an A7 shield. It's just that I'm primarily an outpost runner, and a ship that can't land at a medium landing pad, is not something I can use. Again, if I were to say, bounty hunt, and was forced to take a large ship, I would just pick something like an Annie. That's why I wish the Clipper had folding wings or something, so it could land at medium pads. Or maybe the devs will one day add large landing pads to outposts.

 

[dangerzone]

Oh don't get me wrong, I love the Clipper. It's beautiful, one of the fastes, and can carry an A7 shield. It's just that I'm primarily an outpost runner, and a ship that can't land at a medium landing pad, is not something I can use. Again, if I were to say, bounty hunt, and was forced to take a large ship, I would just pick something like an Annie. That's why I wish the Clipper had folding wings or something, so it could land at medium pads. Or maybe the devs will one day add large landing pads to outposts.

What was an alliance commander doing in Cubeo anyway? Out of your neck of the woods..

Doing nice things, I hope.

 

[goemon]

Oh don't get me wrong, I love the Clipper. It's beautiful, one of the fastes, and can carry an A7 shield. It's just that I'm primarily an outpost runner, and a ship that can't land at a medium landing pad, is not something I can use. Again, if I were to say, bounty hunt, and was forced to take a large ship, I would just pick something like an Annie. That's why I wish the Clipper had folding wings or something, so it could land at medium pads. Or maybe the devs will one day add large landing pads to outposts.

yeah... i would like that. i would also like a speed buff on the python to 440+ m/s, and giving clipper and python AspE jumprange. it really sucks to make decisions...

more serious: all ships have pros and cons. the clipper has many many pros for its price-tag, its con is it can't land at outpost. with 2.1. its speed gets more crucial, also cargo transfer comes - things are getting much better for the clipper.

 

[CMDR Nef]

What was an alliance commander doing in Cubeo anyway? Out of your neck of the woods..

Doing nice things, I hope.

I'm only with the Alliance in spirit because of the old games. I've been with Lavigny for 17 weeks, lol. Spend most of my time in Imperial space, usually around Anum/Jura/HIP 2002 something. (The great bounty hunting one) Might switch over when the Alliance finally gets ranks and ships and all that jazz.

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yeah... i would like that. i would also like a speed buff on the python to 440+ m/s, and giving clipper and python AspE jumprange. it really sucks to make decisions...

more serious: all ships have pros and cons. the clipper has many many pros for its price-tag, its con is it can't land at outpost. with 2.1. its speed gets more crucial, also cargo transfer comes - things are getting much better for the clipper.

Uuugh, I hate when people use that, "just buff everything!" retort when someone mentions a problem with something... "I guess you want your starter pistol to fire nukes too, and have infinite ammo, and you want to fly like super jesus and shoot laser beams out yer butt and have the end-game raid loot just given to you!" ...But I digress. The only downside to it is far too much of a con in my book to even bother with it! Since like 1.3, any semi-profitable mission I've found ends at an outpost. "Deliver 33 slaves to Guandri outpost for 3,500,000cr." etc. I'd be left with, well, actually. Even the data delivery ones always end at outposts... I could in theory use it to farm Cubeo charity missions, but my Python has more hold space for less trips, while also being able to take the classified data delivery missions. It'd be like a combat focused ship, like a Vulture, not being able to equip shielding and HRPs. It would, kinda... Y'know, not be ideal, even if it was only 2,500,000 credits...
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The DBX could also use one more size 1 optional internal so it can be used to effect with Horizons.

 

[Crasher]

I'm mostly a lurker, and like, never post, but I just wanted to add my two cents too. I'm with the OP, the Clipper takes sooooo long to get, and by the time you get there, it's just not a great option... Sure it's fast, but it can really only be a fast pirate maybe? You can't sneak around with it... If you're gonna be smuggling, then it's a Cobra, or Asp, if you're taking it out as a large ship for combat, well, again, the actual large ships do it much much much better... It's in a weird niche of station only gameplay that I've never okay with, hence why It's always sat in some random station I forgot the name of. Never really used it because of that, the moment I got a Cutter, well, I honestly forgot the Clipper even existed to be honest... Who wants a large ship with only 2 large and 2 medium guns, when you can have 3 times the firepower, and 3 times the shield and hull??? It would actually be usefull if it could land at outposts!

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What was an alliance commander doing in Cubeo anyway? Out of your neck of the woods..

Doing nice things, I hope.

Oooo, I can almost taste the passive agressive RP coming from this post!

 

[DustyArne]

Also, in Horizons you can use the clipper somewhat more since outposts on planets do have large landing pads..

I will buy me a clipper if horizons will be there.

 

[CMDR Nef]

Also, in Horizons you can use the clipper somewhat more since outposts on planets do have large landing pads..

I will buy me a clipper if horizons will be there.

Really? They have large pads planetside? thank you for bringing this to my attention! And I hear most of the Fed grind is going on planestide via base assaults these days... Hmmm... Mayhaps I might have a use for one yet. Large multis, maybe underslung missile racks and make a heavy gunship out of her?

 

[Synergized]

A Clipper hater?

Get out.

Yeah! The Clipper is great!
*Proceeds to finish scratching the last of the imperial paint off of the clipper*

 

[Mole HD]

It still looks like a cross between a pantyliner and a Learjet.... and those Imperial cockpits...Why make them all look like badly designed public toilets with stick on rubber mats?

Enough with the whiteness, I'm not only going snowblind, I'm beginning to feel like a Stormtrooper

 

[goemon]

Uuugh, I hate when people use that, "just buff everything!" retort when someone mentions a problem with something... .

my problem with my python is speed ... which is why i have a clipper. my problem with my python is jumprange, which is why i have an AspE. my problem with a clipper is missing ability for landing at outpost. which is why i have a pyton (and AspE). basically, there is a solution for every problem, just not one for all at once.

 

[ARKCON]

The Clipper is great but it shines a bright light on the giant hole in the line-up where a 440m/s medium sized ship should be. Several speedster options for both large and small ships, I'd love to see a medium option added.

 

[CMDR Nef]

my problem with my python is speed ... which is why i have a clipper. my problem with my python is jumprange, which is why i have an AspE. my problem with a clipper is missing ability for landing at outpost. which is why i have a pyton (and AspE). basically, there is a solution for every problem, just not one for all at once.

Why not use something more practical for speed? Plenty of other ships can reach 400+ m/s, and aren't relegated to major stations only. My problem is not wanting the Clipper to do everything, it's merely to to have the Clipper be able to do anything at all... Same reason I won't be using the DBX anymore come Horizons for an exploration role, it simply does not have the internals for an exploration role come Horizons. It needs one more size 1 optional internal to be usable for exploration come Horizons. FYI, my Python is used for literally everything. It's huge, but can land at outposts, is fast, can jump 20-25ly, and can fit everything all at once. Full weapons set up, mining equipment, interdictor, all of it, all at the same time. Even a cargo scanner for pirating.

 

[goemon]

Why not use something more practical for speed? Plenty of other ships can reach 400+ m/s, and aren't relegated to major stations only. My problem is not wanting the Clipper to do everything, it's merely to to have the Clipper be able to do anything at all... Same reason I won't be using the DBX anymore come Horizons for an exploration role, it simply does not have the internals for an exploration role come Horizons. It needs one more size 1 optional internal to be usable for exploration come Horizons. FYI, my Python is used for literally everything. It's huge, but can land at outposts, is fast, can jump 20-25ly, and can fit everything all at once. Full weapons set up, mining equipment, interdictor, all of it, all at the same time. Even a cargo scanner for pirating.

yeah... python is a beast. but my experience from the beta is, that speed is much more crucial atm. i swapped python for clipper in beta. i will take out my python again today in the beta, and see, whether all the engineer upgrades make it again a great ship, because without them, i was more then once a sitting duck attacked by chaffing viper.... and as dusty has said, planetary landing pads are coming.

i have flown the clipper in 1.5. mainly for community goals in open - it is a great blockade runner; but you are right, it has a weak place since the cutter was introduced. i have also flown it for plabetary exploration - its speed makes it great searching for pois.

and don't be too sure about the DBE before 1.6 i was sure about that i have to skip it for the very reasons you name, but now i fly a lot as a smuggler. the AI is effected by cold running/silentrunning in the beta.

 

[CMDR Nef]

yeah... python is a beast. but my experience from the beta is, that speed is much more crucial atm. i swapped python for clipper in beta. i will take out my python again today in the beta, and see, whether all the engineer upgrades make it again a great ship, because without them, i was more then once a sitting duck attacked by chaffing viper.... and as dusty has said, planetary landing pads are coming.

i have flown the clipper in 1.5. mainly for community goals in open - it is a great blockade runner; but you are right, it has a weak place since the cutter was introduced. i have also flown it for plabetary exploration - its speed makes it great searching for pois.

and don't be too sure about the DBE before 1.6 i was sure about that i have to skip it for the very reasons you name, but now i fly a lot as a smuggler. the AI is effected by cold running/silentrunning in the beta.

The A.I.'s affected by silent running in the beta? Very interesting indeed... That would actually give my DBS/ a use again. Used to only use it as a silent runner against humans and occasionally the A.I. before I learned that the A.I. ignored silent running. Is the A.I. able to lock-on to you with gimbled weapons when you're in silent running? Or does it only affect their scanning capabilities? Man, 1.6/2.1 is just getting better and better. They've been fixing a lot of my long time problems/wishlists of things that should work, but don't. (Like the A.I. following the same rules that we do.)

 

[Sylon]

This thread is very interesting to me. I see the Clipper hailed as one of the favorites among many CMDRs, but seeing it's shortcomings is also something to consider when grinding out that Imperial rank. I am hoping that by the time I turn in my exploration data, and grind out that rank that I'll have more than enough money to outfit a Clipper exactly how I want it without having to sell my AspX or Vulture. That way, those 2 ships can maintain their places in my fleet and the Clipper can take some of the workload off my Asp without making it obsolete. Keep my Asp for CG's requiring an outpost, use the Clipper for everything else short of combat. The Vulture (and eventually upgrading to a FAS) obviously has that role.

I was stunned when I finally realized that the Clipper was only 20M. I never bothered looking at it because of the required Imperial rank. But since catching up on the lore of the game, maybe the Imperials aren't all that bad, lol. So now I'm interested in a Clipper. But the landing pad restriction, and the power planet made of paper, it's not a perfect ship, but no ship is. But it does seem like it's a pretty darn good one.

 

[goemon]

Is the A.I. able to lock-on to you with gimbled weapons when you're in silent running?

see here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=248568 - AI can#t lock on you out of auto-resolve distance, and therefor can't scan you or shoot at you with gimbals .... if you stay cold.

dev describes "eyeballing" of AI here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=236513&p=3645316&viewfull=1#post3645316 ... my impression from the beta is, that has been fixed, so it meets more or less players behaviour.

 

[VTEC DRIFTER667]

If you have 40m credits to waste throw two turreted size 3 beam lasers on top of the engines and two gimbaled size 2 multi-cannons onto the lower hard points. It's the setup I've been using on the Clipper since GPP and while you can't fire them for too long they tear the shields right off your opponents well enough, the top A spec capacitor charges them quickly as well.

I've even tried the same setup with two gimbaled size 2 beam lasers replacing the multi-cannons and just using them to increase the damage I do on an attack run, though there's not enough power to fire them for very long. Even so I find that the Clipper is at it's best using a hit and run style, come in fast ,smack them hard, and then put 3-4km between you and usually your opponent won't even be able to turn around fast enough to engage you, recharge any lost shields (I use Bi-Weave for this reason) and your energy, rinse and repeat.

I've tried the above tactic in a few PvP encounters and while it does sometimes work in a 1v1 fight, I doubt it'll work against a wing whether it's a Cmdr or NPC.

Anyway that's my take on the Clipper if it helps any. --Momentai :3