Ships My Clipper's dreadful and fatal maiden voyage :'o( and questions...

VR andysonofbob

VR andysonofbob
Yesterday.

For the last few days I had been frantically farming Hi REZ getting about 3 mil per hour in order to could get the Imp Clip while it was on offer and requiring zero rep.
Bought it, limped it back to my farm spot in WISE 1800, jumped back into my A spec'ed Vulture to grind for better equipment for the clipper. Plan was to get the Clipper A spec'ed and then own that HIREZ

Slowly, bit by bit, grinding with my Vulture to outfit the Clipper with A-Spec'ed goodies. The Vulture worked for me like a faithful hound dog! Running away when things got hairy but always tearing back at the tail pipes of 'condors when the shields recharged. It had stamina too and it and I knew each other so well we could farm this REZ site for hours, without coming close to the ship suffering hull damage. That Vulture was sweet!

Finally we managed to pack the Clipper with the final fitting: A Grade shields. Time to teach those pirates in my fav REZ zone a lesson! Switched from Vulture to Clipper. Woot Woot Woot! I click the launch button...

Phone rings, the garage lets me know how much it would cost to repair my car and MOT. Nooo! Not cheap. :(

Get back to game. Ship destroyed. What? Destroyed by station police because I had been lingering. Nooooo! I couldn't pay off the insurance for the ship because I had spent it all on the shields. Noooooooooooo! I hadn't even got to fly her properly. :'o(

Sat for about a minute. Crushed. I have no idea how long the offer in Imperial space will last. Do I have time to grind again?

Looked at the Vulture. Thought of the Glorious Clipper that I just have to own. Looked back at my trusty, reliable Vulture. I wonder if it was aware of me calculating the value of her equipment. Or whether it felt any form of betrayal as I swapped out its military grade hull for the light alloys and gutted its combat equipment for fuel tanks and jump range. I like to think it was wagging its faithful tail to the end.

I got the Clipper and she flies like a sick lazy pig in HIREZ. Miss that Vulture.

Moral of that story: ALWAYS retain the insurance because bad things are bound to happen some time or other.


Questions:
Can I make the clipper better at stamina combat? Like my Vulture was?
If not, what is a good use for it?

Thanks
 
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chagnampra

chagnampra
Ouch! I sympathise, it's easy to forget what state you left your ship in when you have to step away from the game for a moment. It happened to my Anaconda after I had defended myself, having been pulled out of SC. Stepped away from the PC for a few moments to find my beloved Conda being swarmed by additional ships which had slipped into the same instance! Hull was blasted away to within an inch of its life...

Yeah, insurance is a MUST, no matter what. I have only flown without insurance on a couple of unavoidable occasions and I wouldn't recommend it. Always do your sums before investing in a new ride (as I'm sure you will be doing from now on, eh?).

As to your question about the Clipper, I have literally just sold mine. I previously loved everything about it, UNTIL I got into combat! Fought a FGS and ended up with 57% hull, even though I was popping shield cells. The shields (which were prismatic ones) just didn't hold out for very long and the hull (military grade) didn't seem to hold up much better. I dare say, mirrored or reactive armour may be better in certain situations, but I did expect better from a 100 million outfitted ship. Also, the wide class 3 hard points need to be gimballed, which is easily countered by chaff. Basically, I loved it for it's style and speed, but suddenly realised that was about it! Good as a cargo ship, as it can haul a decent amount and run away from interdictions (defending itself, if absolutely necessary).

But as a dedicated combat ship? Maybe invest in the strongest shields, armour and hull reinforcement packages. Otherwise, a Vulture is still preferable and much, much cheaper.
 

GammaZ

G
Clipper is very different ship compared to vulture.
First of all it is not dedicated combat ship, it is multirole one.
It is one of the fastest ships in game, vulture - one of the slowest. But clipper is less maneuverable obviously.
Clipper shield is not that bad, it is actually a bit better than vulture can practically have, but in relation to its size it is weak, yes...
Also gimballed weapons are required to be able to fire at something smaller then anaconda with all weapons at once.
Class 6 power distributor and power plant allows to use more power hungry weapons, like large beams, and two additional medium hardpoints add some weapon variety (as example - you can use multicannons/cannons there).
Used fairly simple loadout with 2 C3 gimballed beams + 2 C2 gimballed milticannons and 6A shield in RES/CZ. It actually feels better than vulture. More fun and kills faster. But you need to be carefull, it is not python/anaconda style "tank"...

Also... try courier while you are at it, it is fairly cheap and a lot of fun to fly. Comparable to vulture in terms of combat capabilities, but with different style.
 
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Stressfest

Stressfest
Clipper is fast and excels at that. Great for smuggling and is fairly decent at NPC fun and a fair battering ram at PvP but the shields are woeful.. even an A7 with 4 boosters won't stand upto wings too well. If combat is your thing the Vulture is the best option for the money. My next choice would be FDL... maybe the Fed assault ship, although I've yet to try it for myself. The weakness in shields is made up for in the agility of the clipper, that's where it shines and is why I tend to use it for smuggling or the inglorious task of mining. :eek: It's a multi-role ship and damn fine one but if you want that guise in a more tankier build, I'd opt for the Python. My guess is you'll be grinding in RES for a while yet though.. :)
 
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newman1702

newman1702
Everything will feel sluggish after the Vulture - but the Clipper is actually very maneuverable for it's size. She just needs to be flown appropriately - you're faster than almost anything and the firepower beats that of the Vulture, as well. Her top shield power may not be amazing for how much it costs, but unlike the Vulture this ship has ample power and internals - allowing me to have a 7A shield with 3 boosters, which gives you an ok-ish shield, and still has enough juice to run SCB's and beam lasers. Combined with it's speed (second to none without boost, and the Cobra's the only ship that can overtake you boosting; but that's hardly a threat if you're in an A rated combat Clipper) the ship is actually quite powerful as long as you don't try to outmaneuver smaller nimbler ships; get some distance instead and hit them while making a pass - this will completely nullify their maneuverability advantage. I've used this ship in HI and HazRES sites to great effect, never even felt threatened. It kills fast, is fast, looks great - can't really fault it.
 
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Flavourless

Flavourless
Clipper is fantastic as a fast trader. Beats me why anyone would try to use it for combat. Your Vulture is much better in that role.
Sorry to hear about the high integrity costs for the car.
 

Digistruct0r

Digistruct0r
I've found Clipper being very good at strafing targets, but weapon placement pretty much restricts you to using gimbals. And it's kinda sad that even with A7 it has somewhat crummy shields. Nevertheless, slapping a prismatic generator and a couple of boosters negates the issue somewhat, but then the power draw goes through the roof and so does the weight...

That said, with proper skills (which I do not yet completely posess) Clipper is an awesome ship. Just mind the engine nacelles when docking, it's still a large ship even if it doesn't feel like one.
 
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Cdr Voorheez

Cdr Voorheez
Flavourless said:
Clipper is fantastic as a fast trader. Beats me why anyone would try to use it for combat. Your Vulture is much better in that role.
Sorry to hear about the high integrity costs for the car.
Click to expand...
It excells as a fast trader, the name gives it away: Clipper was a fast tea trader.
I love my clipper a lot. I am even thinking of configuring her as an explorer.
 

Jerakeen

Jerakeen
Hit escape, click on exit to main menu. Takes seconds and saves millions. In your situation it even saves you from having to fly through the letterbox as you'll find yourself 10km away from the station when you reconnect.
 

MrFuddyDuddy

M
OP has learned a harsh lesson that I too have felt, always log off if your going to AFK unless of course your docked already then AFK away I guess. I've lost at least 2 Vultures to saying to a buddy or 2 "Brb gotta go pee/grab something to eat/drink " only to come back to the Insurance screen, luckily I also have millions upon millions of credits saved up and I never ever exceed my buybacks, which was another harshly learned lesson that stripped me of my FDL a couple months back.
 
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paganpenguin

paganpenguin
I wish I could say that the maiden voyage of my Clipper went better, after all my daughter's neglect meant that there was no longer a FDL waiting for me (by the way she's still going on eBay, currently no bids though which seems a shame ;)), but it didn't. Not by a long shot.

Taking a bit of advice to get a Clipper and load it out for trade so that I could "fast track" my way back onto the bridge of a FDL, I forgot the cardinal rule of always holding money in reserve for insurance - not spending everything I had on a short (and I thought safe) route. Need to remind myself that the name of the game is Elite: Dangerous.

Okay, I will put my hand up and state that all of what happened was my fault, no external influences (except my lack of coffee) so nothing but pilot error is to blame. Simply put, I had bound Silent Running to the button I usually assign to boost... well do I really need to draw the dots? :D Took me several failed boost attempts to figure out what was happening while during this time a wing of NPCs were taking pot shots at my hull. Looked at rebuy screen sans any credits and no daughter awake to blame!

Currently sitting in an Imp Courier looking at a tiny bank balance and planning my way forward...
 
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