Imperial Clipper good in combat?

[CMDR Derrida]

Very slightly... like 1-2% stronger than a 6A. It is considerably cheaper, though, but a lot heavier.

Thanks for this advice! I will go back to the class 6 shield then as it would be nice to free up that 7 space for a bit of trading. Oh, could the weight of my class C7 shield affect fuel? - I've noticed that although the jump range is very good, I need to fuel scoop every other planet.

In a PvP situation with 2 equally skilled pilots i think the vulture would have the upper hand, but the clipper would be able to flee. It could be very close though.

Pro clipper:
Faster, more fire power

Contra clipper:
weaker shields, need gimballed (can be countered in PvP), although the clipper is manouverable, the vulture is better here, much bigger target.

While RES hunting the clipper should be killing even faster than the vulture though.

Gimbled can be countered in pvp, yes, but I think the Vulture is very restricted weapon wise. The vulture needs A class shields/at least one good shield booster (preferably A0)/whatever shield cell your remaining power will alow you. It's that trio that makes it so tough and the reason I call it the 'bully boy' ship at the moment - being used quite widely in the Diso community goal to threaten traders and smaller ships (and it's less painful on the rebuy if an FDL or Anacaonda or experienced pilot takes you out) and unfortunately, it seems to be the weapon of choice of space station 'respawn' killers - a mutation of griefers. However, having this trio in place means you can only use pulse (even one fixed beam means a defence sacrifice), whether fixed or gimbled, which although is powerful against smaller ships, personally I find a waste of two big hardpoints.
I've yet to be convinced one way or another by the pvp chaff/fixed question. In another thread I posted about this question, some players posted their videos in response which seemed to support a combination of fixed and gimbled weapons (heat sync etc) as the ultimate pvp fighting method at the moment, but this seems to involve having an FDL or higher with enough hardpoints to be able to mix this. In theory, the viper and cobra should be able to give the vulture a hard time in this way, but the few fights I've had against Cobras in my Vulture (I practise pvp mostly with my wingmen) have resulted in me winning (with some luck) through mid air collision sending their hull down to single figures (and then shouting stop over Skype )
PS I literally cannot go to RES Zones anymore...I get so bored there and you never get a proper one on one fight with an NPC anaconda there...cops do it all for you...I know it's a money spinner though

 

[jmp470]

In a PvP situation with 2 equally skilled pilots i think the vulture would have the upper hand, but the clipper would be able to flee. It could be very close though.

Pro clipper:
Faster, more fire power

Contra clipper:
weaker shields, need gimballed (can be countered in PvP), although the clipper is manouverable, the vulture is better here, much bigger target.

While RES hunting the clipper should be killing even faster than the vulture though.

Just unlock your target and your gimballed weapons become fixed. Then keep the prey on 1 side until the chaff runs out.... works like a charm... Once it does, hit them with everything again.

 

[CMDR Derrida]

Just unlock your target and your gimballed weapons become fixed. Then keep the prey on 1 side until the chaff runs out.... works like a charm... Once it does, hit them with everything again.

Regarding the Vulture, I think if you're going to de-target, you might as well play fixed, as you'd have more power in a chaff fest (picture two vultures with one A0 shield booster and three stacked chaff launchers). I find de-targeting a pain against anything bigger than an ASP (talking NPC here) as you have to re-target the subsystem which is fiddly while firing, however, I will give this another go.
It's a shame (although I've not put this to the test) that Clipper guns can't run fixed or it would be nice to mix fixed and gimbled together. Hence my original question way up above about whether you can put up a good fight if attacked by another player who is not running gimbled but using stacked chaff (when you're flying the clipper).
I will let you know about some of my own findings when I test my clipper (with it's current stats) against my wingmen's Vulture's later (chaff stacking etc) - we mostly play to knock each other's shields down.

 

[Cmdr Bernard]

With Chaff stacking I'd bet my money on the Vulture, but let's see how it turns out.

"Reverse rare pirating", I like that idea.

 

[RabidRich]

C3 burst are particularly good on this ship. Utilising "tap fire" and "hold fire" you can actually get 2 extra pseudo-fire groups.

Example: on right side I have a gimballed large burst and a med gimballed multicannon. If I want to save ammo I just tap fire every second and I get the burst volleys at 95% of their sustained dps. The multicannon won't spool up.
Holding fire gives full dps of both weapons. Effectively the multicannon improves the energy efficiency of my right mouse button applied damage.

On left side I run fixed large burst and fixed med pulse. A tap gives the burst volley and one tiny pulse, efficient enough against small targets or subsystems. But once in close against anything cobra or larger, I can get both left side aimpoints firmly on target and hold for a burst volley every second and 3-4 pulse pews every second. 40dps at 7.25damage per energy. Efficient shield stripping.