We're not talking about fun though, we're talking about agility. Gunship is no way more agile than a python.
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Newcomer / Intro So, what was your first BIG ship?
- Thread starter Evil_Merlin
- Start date
We're not talking about fun though, we're talking about agility. Gunship is no way more agile than a python.
I have both and I must disagree. Gunship is more agile. It has far better yaw.... although it's hard to talk about these ships as engineering makes the difference. Python is faster and better shielded. No SLF though.
I honestly don't mean this as a challenge but perhaps one (or more) of the fans could explain the attraction of the Clipper to me?
I suppose it might be suggested that it's an alternative to the Python at half the cost but using a large pad is going to have a big hit on it's practicality.
Must admit, when I first saw one for sale at a station (after achieving sufficient rank to buy one) my knee-jerk reaction was "Yes please!" but then, when I looked at the stat's, and especially the pad size, I just couldn't justify it.
Course, if you're just flying it 'cos it's a damned fine looking ship, that's a perfectly valid answer too. [up]
Speed.
Before enhanced thrusters it was practically the fastest ship in game, and even with enhanced thrusters you will need really light loadout to be faster than clipper.
And with all this speed it has reasonably good internals, can fight reasonably well and is overall good multipurpose ship. With disadvantage of being big, yes...
Basically clipper is much bigger version of cobra...
Also, while medium pad sounds like a good thing, after flying big ships for a while i just got used to not being able to land on them and... is there anything really usefull you can have only on outposts? Especially with all the surface stations since 2.0... i do not think so... sure there are some profit opportunities there, but nothing more...
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As GammaZ stated above, a big reason is the speed and unique flight characteristics, and the size limitation is less restrictive since Horizons. The Clipper is quite decent for cargo capacity and jump range in a multipurpose build, and can even make a good explorer due to its excellent cockpit view and good internals.
Also, a combat setup in a Clipper takes a lot of work/expertise, but is deadly in the hands of the right pilot.
Aaaand the excellent views in general, it is a VERY nice looking ship - for those who are into that whole Imperial thing. I think part of what makes the Clipper special is its love/hate status. It tends to bring out pride in the owners
For me it is the only big ship that is fun to fly, I.e. it is fast and agile while still packing reasonable firepower and cargo capacity. Not that I don't fly the others but I always need a fix of something fast/agile now and again. Even my Asp feels quick and agile compared to the Cutter I just put in dock.
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I do also fly a python (amongst others) and must say that after engineering the thrusters I do find it to be a much better thing to pilot. I don't really like flying tanks, but different people like different things and I think us Clipper fans are in a minority.
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One point though, it really is not a good idea to judge a ship by its stats. What they feel like to fly can be quite different than what the stats say it should be like.
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I do also fly a python (amongst others) and must say that after engineering the thrusters I do find it to be a much better thing to pilot. I don't really like flying tanks, but different people like different things and I think us Clipper fans are in a minority.
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One point though, it really is not a good idea to judge a ship by its stats. What they feel like to fly can be quite different than what the stats say it should be like.
For me it was basically this:
At that time for me it was the ship with the nicest looking cockpit which was also affordable and looks awesome on the outside too (for screenshots).
I thought to myself: When i have to spend all that time in the same cockpit i might as well go with one that looks pretty
I first bought a Clipper not because I particularly liked her (Well, I like her design a lot, except for that Airbus-ey nose) but because it was the cheapest big ship. (At that time, the pre-buff T7 was an utter crap)
But I fell in love with pretty much everything on that ship ('cept that Airbus-ey nose. :|). Sound, speed, agility (don't let the stats fool you!), even the weapons, though I had issues with being forced to use gimbals, at first.
But the main reason isn't anythinng stat-related. Clipper simply feels incredibly satisfying to fly. You never have a feeling that the ship isn't capable of performing things you want from her. She fits me like a second skin. That was my main gripe with Python and ultimately the reason I decided to skip that ship completely. In Python I was never able to shake off a feeling that the ship doesn't like me. She literally fights against every pilot's input. Not so in the Clipper. Clipper feels like when you take a dog for a walk. Eager to do anything you want.
imho, anyway.
Clipper is great and true "Feel good" ship to return to every time I want to just have a great time. I use Courier and Cutter more, these days. But Cutter as a bit boring and too safe, and Courier is fun but a little bit too twitchy. (I'm getting old, probably, but maybe I just over-did it with engineering. 750m/s starts to be kind of "too fast for comfort") Clipper is just... right.
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Missions! Missions missions missions!
Given how important missions are for the BGS, it's an important condieration for a ship - it's the reason I never bought an Anaconda on my first account, and have no intention of buying on on my reroll! The Python is the biggest practical ship for me.
With that said, if that's not your interest in the game, then there's no reason at all to stick to the Python, and that speed is certainly very important.
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Thanks for the insight. [up]
Funny thing is, I just realised that, when it comes to ships I don't plan to use for combat, I don't actually pay much attention to their real-space speed at all.
The only Imperial ship that I had that "gotta have it" feeling about was the Courier.
As a Dune fan, it was exactly how I saw Vorian Atreides' ship in my head (and, come 2.3, mine will duly be named "Dream Voyager").
Having said that, I also bought an iEagle just cos I like the way it looks in white and there's also a Cutter on the shopping list (when I can be bothered to grind the rank) so I'll probably end up buying a Clipper as well, just to complete the set.
Funny thing is, I just realised that, when it comes to ships I don't plan to use for combat, I don't actually pay much attention to their real-space speed at all.
The only Imperial ship that I had that "gotta have it" feeling about was the Courier.
As a Dune fan, it was exactly how I saw Vorian Atreides' ship in my head (and, come 2.3, mine will duly be named "Dream Voyager").
Having said that, I also bought an iEagle just cos I like the way it looks in white and there's also a Cutter on the shopping list (when I can be bothered to grind the rank) so I'll probably end up buying a Clipper as well, just to complete the set.
Had the dropship for all of 1 hour.
Its a brick.
And one that gets its handed to it in most combat situations.
The Clipper is such a unique ship. Not sure why people compare it to the Python but if comparisons must be made:
1: Much, much faster and more maneuverable.
2: Comperable cargo size
3: similar jump range
4: far cheaper to outfit
5: much safer ship to fly in open
I have both ships and find them both very useful but one doesn't replace the other by a long shot. My old clipper has got to be the safest ship to do mining in open bar none as there isn't much that can catch it at boosts approaching 550 ms (forget how much exactly). Any thing that can catch it, it can destroy (and that's in a mining config). Python is far more vulnerable to ambushes and masslock locations.
Edit: I suppose a cutter might catch it as well but that's what high wake is for and besides, the clipper can run circles around the cutter.
1: Much, much faster and more maneuverable.
2: Comperable cargo size
3: similar jump range
4: far cheaper to outfit
5: much safer ship to fly in open
I have both ships and find them both very useful but one doesn't replace the other by a long shot. My old clipper has got to be the safest ship to do mining in open bar none as there isn't much that can catch it at boosts approaching 550 ms (forget how much exactly). Any thing that can catch it, it can destroy (and that's in a mining config). Python is far more vulnerable to ambushes and masslock locations.
Edit: I suppose a cutter might catch it as well but that's what high wake is for and besides, the clipper can run circles around the cutter.
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Again, that grind in the Imps is just killing me. Absolutely killing me.
Yeah, that is more than fair enough. I got mine when the rank wall was temporarily down.
Oh man... see now that I would jump on. I think the Imperial stuff looks great... but not worth the grind.
Then don't rush it. Simply move into imperial space and do your stuff, like you did before and do a couple of mission, here and there, as you go. It will take several months, but you won't get bored to death by grinding.
Just don't grind - get an imp slave / anything with profit loop and run up your credit balance and the odd mission that fits with your play will gradually increase your position. My first Duke came from doing the Centum Imperialis trade circuit (don't know what that is like these days) and my second was from just bumbling around a small group of systems building up my credit balance.
P.S. Only ran up the Duke thing for that cargo supertanker, the rest are just pretty when they explode.
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Yes, you are right, BGS does not interest me... for some reason it feels like some artificial number-game instead of "alive universe", or something, it is supposed to be. I do missions from time to time, but as i do not care about BGS i just find ones i can take without outposts, it is not hard.
On the other hand i enjoy doing something in those backwater systems with outposts only from time to time, but for this i usually choose something like cobra or vulture, depending on what i am going to do there...
Yeah, the rank wall is steep. In my opinion, too steep.
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This is how I play as well. I don't have the rank I need and won't for some time, but I'll get there eventually and I'll enjoy myself the whole time.
Exactly. It took me almost a year to get to a Clipper, when I originally started. And I didn't even have the money to buy her at the time I got to Baron.
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