Ship Builds & Load Outs PvE Imperial Clipper - any fitting tips?

[Lily from anim.o.v.e]

Class 3 cannons are slower and harder to hit with, I find. Even gimbled. I played with a mix of C2 and C3 on one side of the wing and just wasn't seeing the results I wanted. Also, damage output on the C3 lasers are higher and more of a useful all-rounder, I find. Dual C2 work just fine for me so far. Only the Anaconda takes any significant time to whittle down.

ok, thx I need to check this, i have so far never check out the C2 cannons so I was not aware of them being faster projectiles.

 

[mossfoot]

ok, thx I need to check this, i have so far never check out the C2 cannons so I was not aware of them being faster projectiles.

Yep, I had them linked with a C3 and the difference is clear. Also C2s fire more frequently. Since you're using them in close combat rather than distance anyway, it just works out better for me.

One thing I don't know about how beams work vs pulse and burst is the damage curve. if you hit with a burst or pulse, it's a solid hit, full damage is given. Even though a beam does more DPS in a dedicated hit kind of way, I wonder how much (or little) is imparted if you graze them.

I ask this because I found my gimbled C3 Burst laser to be insanely useful, and doing more damage dogfighting than my beam unless I had a solid lock. I still keep my C3 fixed beam, mind you, because against larger ships it's your best chance of knocking down shields before they can use their shield cells. But against smaller ships I'll just keep tapping to fire the gimbled burst and not even worry much about the beam unless the ship happens to be near the fixed sights. Tapping means you're not draining the capacitor nearly as much as the stats on a fixed beam would suggest, too.

 

[Lily from anim.o.v.e]

what I dislike about mixing a beam and a puls is the fact of having to switch guns then to use the ballistics and not being able to use any gun with an ow firegroup. I wish the game had at least 4 firebuttons.

 

[mossfoot]

what I dislike about mixing a beam and a puls is the fact of having to switch guns then to use the ballistics and not being able to use any gun with an ow firegroup. I wish the game had at least 4 firebuttons.

I hear you, but I manage to work around it. Hence the "tap" if I'm using only the gimbled pulse/burst, and holding the button down if it's also in my fixed beam sights. Are you wasting energy with the beam that isn't going to hit? Yes, but not very much. The high drain involved is assuming a full second of use, not a tap.

It also worked well when mixing cannons and railguns. Tap the cannon, it fires...the railgun needs to be held down to charge and fire so if you don't hold it down you won't fire the rail. In fact with C2 gimbled cannon and rail (or hammer) I found it worked very well because by the time the rail (or hammer) charged and fired, the cannon had reloaded and fired again. Good damage spread, but with time to abort if you lose your lock on the rail.

 

[Psycho Romeo]

When lasers don't lose size dependend damage, why 2 large lasers and 2 medium cannons and not the other way around?

Also, cannons and other large/hard hitting projectiles count as a size larger than they actually are when calculating their size-damage reduction. Medium cannons suffer no penalties from hitting large ships.

 

[mossfoot]

Also, cannons and other large/hard hitting projectiles count as a size larger than they actually are when calculating their size-damage reduction. Medium cannons suffer no penalties from hitting large ships.

So C2 cannons do more damage against large ships than C2 Multicannons?

Good to know!

 

[noldunar]

If you got a 6A prismatic shield you'd have slightly more shield at the same weight, and would free up the 7 slot for whatever you like. Also, getting reinforced armor wouldn't slow your build down at all but give you 40% more armor at the cost of less than a light year

I never did power play and don't plan on doing so, so a 6A prismatic shield is out of my reach. I wouldn't know what to do with the class 7 slot anyhow, since I got all the stuff I wanted fitted.

I will check out the armor though. Even though my boost speed won't be reduced it all depends on how much it reduces jump range. Will check out coriolis. Thanks for the advice, if it is really just less than a light year I might take the leap.

And regarding that other question from Lily from anim.o.v.e about the lasers and multi-cannons:
For smaller targets I will use the lasers only, so I need the big punch to finish them off quickly. I would do it the other way around if class 3 multi-cannons were available. For the reasons stated I don't like cannons (less ammo, slower projectile).

 

[Nuit_Shu_Heru]

My current "Jack of all Trades" PvE-Clipper
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=703,4zh4zh7u57u50_g0_g0_g01Q,319Y9Y7_8S9Y8I6k,7WA0AA7go7go4zM05U9qI2UI
.
Handles like a charm.
Never ran into anything it could not handle (PvE). The C2 are sometimes switched for Cannons or Frags, just depends on how I feel
Ammunition is usually only needed for things bigger than a Vulture or Asp. These or smaller are boiled up with just the Beams easily.
I do fly a combined FA on/off using the Clippers incredible abillity for strafing manouvers, which makes targeting easy and gives enough time for cooling between the runs.
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I usually run from PvP if I am outmatched - and with "run" I mean flying away, not Combat logging.
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Cheers
Nuit

 

[smintili]

Wow, that's a lot of input, thank you very much, folks.

I found a decent fitting I am using atm, just haven't gotten the money to upgrade everything to the Rating I would like it to have - but haven't gotten any problems with PvE so far, so thanks again!

 

[Mordu]

I'm running this load out (Same weapons as op). I'm open to any change suggestions. This set up seems to work just fine, it just seems a little meh to me (I got spoiled by the Vulture).

Imperial Clipper BH/REZ Loadout

Spoiler

[Imperial Clipper]
L: 3E/G Burst Laser
L: 3E/G Pulse Laser
M: 2D/G Cannon
M: 2D/G Cannon
U: 0I Heat Sink Launcher
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0A Shield Booster


BH: 1I Military Grade Composite
RB: 6A Power Plant
TM: 6A Thrusters
FH: 5A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 5D Life Support
PC: 6A Power Distributor
SS: 5A Sensors
FS: 4C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 16)


7: 7C Bi-Weave Shield Generator
6: 6A Shield Cell Bank
4: 4D Hull Reinforcement Package
4: 4D Hull Reinforcement Package
3: 3A Fuel Scoop
3: 3A Frame Shift Drive Interdictor
2: 1E Standard Docking Computer
2: 1C Advanced Discovery Scanner
---
Shield: 403.20 MJ
Power : 22.58 MW retracted (90%)
26.23 MW deployed (104%)
25.20 MW available
Cargo : 0 T
Fuel : 16 T
Mass : 802.8 T empty
818.8 T full
Range : 15.04 LY unladen
15.04 LY laden
Price : 107,857,960 CR
Re-Buy: 5,392,898 CR @ 95% insurance

 

[RabidRich]

4a fuel scoop makes a big difference on this ship IMHO, dropping one reinforcement to class 3 makes little difference. Also, I drop dock comp for class 2 AFMU. Then heat damage on modules can be repped. Can drop heatsink for kws then.

 

[Nuit_Shu_Heru]

Get rid of the 6A SCB. It's uselessly overpowered for your weak shields and shoots you into Heat damage right away.
Clipper runs idle at 36% Heat, the Class 6 SCB pushes it up to 137 % Heat which will cause about 6-8% Internal damage through heat until back below 100%
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My Suggestion:
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Keep the Size 6 empty or fit cargo space.
Get rid of the Hull Enforcements.
Pack a Size 4 Fuel Scoop (a Fuel Scoop has Zero weight) and Size 4 SCBs (this one only brings you to 97% heat when fired from idle)
Empty the Size 3 Slots as well or reserve for Cargo
Get rid of the docking Comp and put a 2A FSI in there.
Bring your Sensors down to 5D.
Finally get rid of the Bulkheads.
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Change both Lasers to Beams. You will run out of 4 Pips to Weapons Energy before the Clipper gets hot.
Make one of the beams fixed to maximize Damage.
Make a fire Group that only includes the fixed one, to have a save gun for Chaff users. The Clippers wide aimpoints are useless for unlocked shooting.
You'll have enough reserves to run everything with just disabling the Cargo Hatch.
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If you can't hit a Vulture savely with fixed Weapons, practise, it's not that hard.
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Done !
Your Ship will be about 140 Tonns (20% !!!) lighter which makes such a huge difference in Agility and Speed of the Clipper, that no Vulture can outmanouver you if you roll correctly an pitch up and down for change of direction.
If your shields get down Switch to 4-2-0 pips, dash away (5km distance), deactivate the Boosters, the BiWeave will be back online in about 15 sec, reactivate the Boosters, fire SCB, re-engage (Pips to 1-1-4 as the Opponent comes back into range). You will be back with full shields before the Vulture can catch up with you.
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Don't cripple your ships biggest asset: Speed !!!
If the Clipper goes over 700 tons it starts to behave like a flying brick.
The suggested loadout brings you down to 666 - 682 tons depending on how much fuel you currently carry (vs. the 802 - 818 you had before).
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Use your Speed: If you passed a nimble ship like a Vulture dash further forward ! With an avarage boost Speed of 420 you can get 2 km (5 sec) away, before even a Vulture can do a 180° flip.
Get to a save Distance before starting to turn, buying you the needed time to get your Opponent back in sight before closing in on it again.
Giving you enough time to flip around yourself and never ever give your opponent the ability to shoot at you, while you can't shoot at him.
If you want to go nasty, when you reached max velocity, disable FA, Zero Throttle and then start flipping while you are still dashing away.
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Try it. It's a really big difference.
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Cheers
Nuit
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Just for the sake of completeness - My current loadout:
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[Imperial Clipper]
L: 3C/F Beam Laser
L: 3C/G Beam Laser
M: 2D/G Cannon
M: 2D/G Cannon
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0A Shield Booster
U: 0A Shield Booster
BH: 1I Lightweight Alloy
RB: 6A Power Plant
TM: 6A Thrusters
FH: 5A Frame Shift Drive
EC: 5D Life Support
PC: 6A Power Distributor
SS: 5D Sensors
FS: 4C Fuel Tank (Capacity: 16)
7: 7C Bi-Weave Shield Generator
6: 6E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 64)
4: 4A Fuel Scoop
4: 4A Shield Cell Bank
3: 3E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 8)
3: 3E Cargo Rack (Capacity: 8)
2: 2A Frame Shift Drive Interdictor
2: 1C Advanced Discovery Scanner
---
Shield: 453,60 MJ
Power : 20,01 MW retracted (79%)
24,67 MW deployed (98%)
25,20 MW available
Cargo : 80 T
Fuel : 16 T
Mass : 668,5 T empty
764,5 T full
Range : 17,99 LY unladen
16,11 LY laden
Price : 84.076.240 CR
Re-Buy: 4.203.812 CR @ 95% insurance

Never needed a Heat Sink on this, watching the heat is all I ever needed.
To get into the green with the energy, just put FSDI, CargoHatch and FuelScoop on Priority 5. Done.
Only Thing this Beauty cannot handle alone: High Ranking Wings of high Tier ships (Wing of an Elite FdL with 2 Vultures was the only thing that ever got me down since Horizon - had to run).
I feel safer in it, than in my 270 Mio Python, when hauling Cargo.