Imperial or Federation

[Gavin Burke]

I've been playing ED for 6 months (literally to the exact day) and have mainly been Fed aligned, though I recently spent time ranking Imperial for the iCourier as I prefer light and nimble ships which has more shield than hull, even though now I'm flying a Vulture and not the said iCourier!

Sooo, with my combat preference in mind, would I be better suited going Imperial as the Clipper looks to be a more agile, shielded ship than say the FAS??

As an FYI, it's a game and I couldn't care less about slaves or whatever fictionaly thing happens in games so not bothered which of the two I align to - I'm here to ask purely just about the ships.

 

[mp4x]

Sounds like you may enjoy the FDL as a ship, too, and you needn't worry about Superpower ranking to buy it

 

[bootsam]

+1 for the FDL. Its as nimble and agile as a Vulty but with more power. Great combat ship. Some say its the best one. I have a lot of love for the vulture but its really just a local ship for local wars. The FDL can be so much more.

I liked my clipper, she earnt me lots trading. Quick and all that but I never rated her for combat. However as combat isnt my game style I am not best placed to asses it that way.

For me its between the Vulture and the FDL. I never bought any of the FAS type variants.

 

[Gavin Burke]

Sounds like you may enjoy the FDL as a ship, too, and you needn't worry about Superpower ranking to buy it

I was gonna jump from my Viper to the FDL (as I have the CR's) but stepped to the Vulture first to get more combat experience, so guess I'll practice further before making the step up (and round trip of engineers again!! lol)

+1 for the FDL. Its as nimble and agile as a Vulty but with more power. Great combat ship. Some say its the best one. I have a lot of love for the vulture but its really just a local ship for local wars. The FDL can be so much more.

I liked my clipper, she earnt me lots trading. Quick and all that but I never rated her for combat. However as combat isnt my game style I am not best placed to asses it that way.

For me its between the Vulture and the FDL. I never bought any of the FAS type variants.

Guess I'll head for the FDL next then, I have unlocked the FDS but it was expensive and big and clunky, seemed to have a load of big slots I didn't want so yeh, will avoid the Fed ships and prolly go for the FDL once maybe I rank to Master...

 

[mp4x]

To continue on, I really enjoyed the Viper, and loved the Vulture for combat - it's still one of my favorite ships. I tried the FAS and the FDL at the same time, but I found the FDL was more suited to how I fly, and I don't like 'hull tanking' either so the FAS was sold off. They're both similar in overall ability, but the FDL was an easier fit into my fleet and, man, does it have some firepower.

 

[Threeofseven]

I vote for the Clipper. It's my favorite ship in the game. The shields are not so strong but it's super fast and rocks bi-weaves probably better than any other ship. I do not care much for the empire but I love their ships (all parked in Fed space).

I see a lot of people are recommending the FDL, it's a fine ship but everyone and their brother has one which makes it nothing special. Last night at the CG I looked at the local player contacts and the list read 7 FDLs. Last thing the galaxy needs is another FDL man.

 

[Trafalgar Law]

The Clipper is an extremely fun and balanced ship to fly. It's as fast and maneuverable as a much smaller ship and has a decent amount of firepower. It's a multirole vessel so is great for mission running and with a few upgrades to it's shields it can easily handle all aspects of the game. It does have it's downsides, it's a large target, can't land at outposts, has weak vertical/lateral thrusters (can make dodging more challenging), average shields and has widely spaced hardpoints that make using any fixed weapons extremely awkward (on the other hand their wide position means they'll rarely get destroyed by enemy fire). Well worth getting the rank for in my opinion and as you like nimble ships, I think you should enjoy it.

 

[Gavin Burke]

I vote for the Clipper. It's my favorite ship in the game. The shields are not so strong but it's super fast and rocks bi-weaves probably better than any other ship. I do not care much for the empire but I love their ships (all parked in Fed space).

I see a lot of people are recommending the FDL, it's a fine ship but everyone and their brother has one which makes it nothing special. Last night at the CG I looked at the local player contacts and the list read 7 FDLs. Last thing the galaxy needs is another FDL man.

Maybe I should've pointed I play Solo or Private ALL the time time, never ever ever Open (why would I want to be in some strangers instance?!?), so I'll just be PvE'ing - but now you've mentioned the Clipper, that has put the cat amongst the pigeons - will have to do some fits on Coriolis as I like speed, agility and run bi-weaves

 

[Hooplah]

The fun factor...

I went Viper, Vulture, FAS then the Imp Courier. All are great at what they do but for me the Courier is so much fun! I really get into the battle with it. Same for the Fer de Lance and the Clipper. While many swear by the FDL the Clipper has some combat maneuvers worth exploring. I see more Clippers in PVP combat interdictions than FDLs so figure that one out. Just put gimbaled or turret (lower damage) weapons on those engine nacelles per the wide targeting convergence and anything desired on the body. Fly them both and have a blast (pun) plus adding to one's combat skills.

 

[CMDR Shane Kannigan]

Sounds like you may enjoy the FDL as a ship, too, and you needn't worry about Superpower ranking to buy it

Just a few community goals, and lots of RES hunting and a friendly neighbourhood Li Yong Rui system XD

As far as my experience goes, the ICourier is one awesome ship. The vulture might be the slightly more effective, but the cockpit for the Courier looks phenomenal. It's like a fighter jet. Also, Imperial ships are cool eye candy.

I may be a biased imperial, but they did give me ranking up mission after mission. I went to Duke in a single day. I couldn't even complete one rank up that other ones popped out. Meanwhile the feds only gave me the cadet rank even though I basically wiped a few planets worth of Pirates in Kremainn back in my early days.

Here is my build. Put the Rail gun in the middle and fire at the power plant for tons of damage. You can swith it up for gimballed multicannon/cannon or even a PA if you want something else.

https://coriolis.io/outfit/imperial...l0440022of2v666.Iw18UA==.MwBjIRgkCY+BxoBYTOUA

And here is with some engineering tinkering.

http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=A070,...wPcIqobKlhX05U0BX_04xo01IM068MGA38qpDIoPcKwPc

 

[Hooplah]

...I may be a biased imperial, but they did give me ranking up mission after mission. I went to Duke in a single day. I couldn't even complete one rank up that other ones popped out. Meanwhile the feds only gave me the cadet rank...

On a side note ranking is really about setting up the systems and missions to increase the reputation efficiently then use any well equipped ship to do it. Given that the Clipper easily advanced me to Rear Admiral and Duke in the least amount of time plus generating credits for the next toy to buy.

 

[Noctover]

I have no experience at all with FED ships, so cannot help there.

However...I have the FDL and the IClipper, both A rated, the Clipper being my main ship. The Clipper is considered weak in combat (for good reason) but i use it all the time over my FDL.

The FDL is a great ship, i found it makes me lazy with 800 shields i barely bother pip management mid fight, nothing it cant beat. The Clipper has weak shields, even with grade 7A's, and the hard point location means fixed weapons are all but useless.

The Clipper though has such a unique combat style which is perfect for me...Its fast, very fast, and it can out turn anything, it means you need to be a good pilot to actually use the ship because a moderate amount of up time on your shields will see you in hull. With a 7C Biweave, Mil grade armor, hull reinforcement, mod reinforcement and an AFU, you'll be very quick, very agile, very tough hull, pack a great amount of punch and just overall feel more involved than in the FDL (imho).

The Clipper drifts, many people hate that, but once you master her....That drift can be very useful. Furthermore, I cant remember the last time i saw another commander in a Clipper, people rather go for Python, makes it a little more niche.

Also had the Courier, loved it .

 

[ozrix84]

i'd say the fed ships are better at combat

 

[Hooplah]

i'd say the fed ships are better at combat

LOL. It's the CMDR skills not the ships.

 

[ozrix84]

LOL. It's the CMDR skills not the ships.

triggered

 

[Garbarrage]

FAS hull tanks, but power is an issue. Repair bills stack up on hull tanks though.

FDL needs some Engineering to get the most out of.

 

[StiTch]

Looks like you already picked Imp ships.

Good choice really provided they suit your style. Fed ships have more firepower and the handling is a little cleaner, but Imp ships tend to have shields, speed and in places quick handling.

The iClipper you mention has potent pitching, which makes it more forgiving on less skilled players. It's uniquely capable with FA fully on even as a large ship. It doesn't have the strong shields you're after but works very, very well for combat with C7 bi-weaves, a C6 AFMU, and HRPs/MRPs everywhere else.

 

[Gavin Burke]

As far as my experience goes, the ICourier is one awesome ship. The vulture might be the slightly more effective, but the cockpit for the Courier looks phenomenal. It's like a fighter jet. Also, Imperial ships are cool eye candy.

I love the cockpit of the Vulture, I think that's like a fighter jet as you can see all 180 around plus up top too, much much better than the Viper for sure

The FDL is a great ship, i found it makes me lazy with 800 shields i barely bother pip management mid fight, nothing it cant beat. The Clipper has weak shields, even with grade 7A's, and the hard point location means fixed weapons are all but useless.

The Clipper though has such a unique combat style which is perfect for me...Its fast, very fast, and it can out turn anything, it means you need to be a good pilot to actually use the ship because a moderate amount of up time on your shields will see you in hull. With a 7C Biweave, Mil grade armor, hull reinforcement, mod reinforcement and an AFU, you'll be very quick, very agile, very tough hull, pack a great amount of punch and just overall feel more involved than in the FDL (imho).

I have 1,048 shields on my Vulture, or 890 if equipping my KWS (depending if I'm going to Res or CZ), but still power manage to keep them healthy - and it's a biweave too!!

FAS hull tanks, but power is an issue. Repair bills stack up on hull tanks though.

FDL needs some Engineering to get the most out of.

Yup I want shields more than hull as I leave the fight when down to my last ring (actually doesn't happen much, I seem to be very efficient at getting behind my targets) - and ofc I'd engineer anything before I took it to combat (all core internals plus shield and weapons)

Looks like you already picked Imp ships.

Good choice really provided they suit your style. Fed ships have more firepower and the handling is a little cleaner, but Imp ships tend to have shields, speed and in places quick handling.

Yeh my fighting style is fast and stick to the six of the target, I don't like slowly facing a target and having a western style draw

 

[NCFCpaul]

Despite your preference for the Imperial ships I'd cast another vote for the FDL. With burst lasers and going against the grain I always liked, and still do, the huge plasma accelerator. Without any engineering it's the only weapon that a bullseye can disable the power plant of any of the big three in a single hit.

Alright it's a great shot but I am rubbish at combat and still manage it from time to time. When I get shields off another ship I know nothing else has the same manoeuvrability and punch combined. I much prefer the PA to the huge multicannon. Engineer both for preference. Also try to engineer your lasers to do something about the heat- it can run a little warm from time to time!

 

[StiTch]

Yeh my fighting style is fast and stick to the six of the target, I don't like slowly facing a target and having a western style draw

You'll find against skilled combatants there is no "sticking to their six", and neither the iClipper nor Fed ships will achieve something similar. The iClipper is great for laying down damage and using the pitching to keep on target quickly as you shift out of harm's way - effectively evasion tanking, taking some damage but using manoeuvres to minimise the amount of damage they can actually lay on you. The FDS/FGS want to play drift combat which can be just as evasive, but with no speed, you have no control of engagements.

If not already considered, you may just be a great candidate for the iCourier...