The Imperial Clipper needs a buff/rework

Tried turning around in one?



It would be better to have a fresh ship than mess about with existing ones- the Clipper (in fact any ship) can have a decent range now with Guardian FSD boosters.

Wouldn't say the turning speed of a Cutter is a "significant" disadvantage. It's bad, yes, but not significant enough to be a big problem unless it's PvP.

Oh I would definitely agree a fresh ship would be better, but that's unlikely to happen this year. I also agree that the Clipper can reach a decent range, 50ly is not terrible by any means. However, ships comparable to the Clipper can reach better jumpranges without sacrificing too much. Balancing of the ships in Elite is all over the place yes, but now it's more reasonable to give the ships that lack behind a little a bit of a boost then to downgrade the other ships. Downgrading would cause a far bigger outcry than the current FC's.
 
Wouldn't say the turning speed of a Cutter is a "significant" disadvantage. It's bad, yes, but not significant enough to be a big problem unless it's PvP.

Its bad enough to be a downside in comparison to the other big 3.

Oh I would definitely agree a fresh ship would be better, but that's unlikely to happen this year. I also agree that the Clipper can reach a decent range, 50ly is not terrible by any means. However, ships comparable to the Clipper can reach better jumpranges without sacrificing too much. Balancing of the ships in Elite is all over the place yes, but now it's more reasonable to give the ships that lack behind a little a bit of a boost then to downgrade the other ships. Downgrading would cause a far bigger outcry than the current FC's.

Which leads to a creeping homogenization of ship abilities- with lots of ships being good all rounders and very similar except in appearance.
 
The Clipper for me is almost purposely built to fly in open. Others have mentioned it makes for a great pirate vessel. It's my go to for Power Play reinforcement, CG's when they were a thing or even going to PvP hotspots and knowingly putting my rear facing a gank wing confident in the knowledge they can't catch or kill me. Few things are more satisfying that FA off boosting away from a gank wing while taunting them "run run as fast as you can. You can't catch me I'm the gingerbread man"

https://s.orbis.zone/6q_3
 
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Anything they did to the Clipper now, would invariably ruin it for someone else.

And lets be honest, all the arguments to change it consist of personal percieved issues with the ship rather real ones.

It cant land on a medium pad, it is a large ship. If you want a medium ship, so you can land on a medium pad, buy a medium ship.

If however you want a large ship that can do many things, then maybe the clipper is the ship for you.

Why try and force a designated role on a ship that does not need a designated role. Enjoy it for what it is, or go fly something else that you deem better.

There are plenty of ships that do not fit my needs, so i do not fly them. I do however fly the ones i like. I have three Viper MK4s for instance, all quite different builds, and I enjoy flying each of them. And I do have a clipper. It has ended up being one of my favourite ships, despite what i consider its issues in certain areas.

So, no FDev, do not change this ship.

But... Do consider releasing tbe mighty Cobra MK4 to the masses. Any new ship (to the majority) in these times would be greatly recieved. 🤔
 
I'd be happy with an Imperial medium ship. They don't have one currently. Even if you take into account SK designs (which may prove contentious) - they don't have one.

Hell, I'd even be happy if it's no good. Short of reskinning the AspS I'd buy (at least) one anyway.
 
The clipper needs a medium pad by making the nacelles a lot less wide, a second c7 optional,
a huge hardpoint underneath, 6 utility slots, one class higher FSD and thrusters, and an automatic cockpit cat.

Change my mind.
The huge hardpoint ought to go on the top aft of the fuselage, look at the top view of a clipper, its almost like they had modelled the hatch for it:
Du8hIDBWoAES5GV


Pretty soon this topic will need its own section on the forums
Or roll it into patch notes ;-)

As a pilot that loves the Clipper I would not want a higher jump range because just flying it is heaven and to get where I need to be would mean less time flying it. The Clipper should remain as a ship you choose to fly for no reason other enjoying the views getting to where you want to go.
I love the clipper, exclusively flew one for nigh on a year, but they need something, as essentially by flying a clipper instead of any other ship you are handicapping yourself.

[snip] The Anaconda still has a hull mass of 400T, the Beluga is still not the best passenger ship, etc etc. If they truly wanted to balance the ships they would have to fundamentally change the game as is. The Asp Scout does need fixing, so does the Clipper imo.
The ships you mention are a whole world of hurt each, but sortable, however it wouldn't take much to make the clipper great, many great suggestions have bene posted in this and the other thread about the clipper. And if only some rather than all of the suggestions were implemented, it would nudge the clipper into a niche rather than making it meta. However the Python & FDL meta's maybe need another ship to compete against? Personally I'd like to see the clipper be given more teeth, so for me that would be a shield modifies increase, a class 4 hardpoint top centre aft of fuselage where the panelling looks like hardpoint hatch exists already, and a couple of additional utility slots would be a bonus. This wouldn't be OP it be balanced against its limited powerplant and power distributor forcing its pilots to be on top of their game with pips management, especially if compared to a python which has class 7 power plant and dristributor compared to the clippers class 6 components.

For me at least, some ships in ED need to be 'special' in that they are at the extremes- all rank locked ships should be this. The Imperials have this nailed, the iEagle, Courier, Clipper and Cutter all are amazing machines but also have significant downsides, but this makes them interesting. Its why I mentioned the FAS- because its the Fed X ships that need some gravy as the Alliance non locked ships outshine them- they just don't stand out any more.
We in the empire got the bum deal on ships:
1588695581909.png

To start off the feds have 4 ships vs our 3, speaking of rank locked ships so excluding our iEagle and their vulture and regular eagle. Thier Rank 5 ship, the FAS, is comparble to our rank 7 ship, the clipper. We don't have a rank 5 ship at all. Compare the cutter against its fed equivalent, there is a parity of performance, albeit in different areas. However, with the rest of fed vs empire ships, we take a kicking.

Compare the Dropship againse its rank 3 equivalent the courier, medium dropship vs small courier, dropship 4M + 1 L hardpoints vs courier's 3M, dropship can carry 166 cargo to the courier's34, drop ships hands down beat the courier on armour and is equal on shields. Courier being smaller is faster and more agile.

Clipper is woefully specced when compared against its oppoite number, the rank 7 gunship... With the clipper being slightly more agile, but drifts more than the gunship, clipper has weaker base shields, less hull armour, and is outgunned by 2/4/1 S/M/L hardpopints on the FGS vs 0/2/2 S/M/L hardpopintson the clipper.

You only get close to parity if you compare the rank 5 FAS to the rank 7 clipper, which makes sense as there is no rank 5 imperial ship. When caompared toe to toe on specs alone, the FAS has slightly more armour, which makes sense as it has a slightly heavier hull, slightly better base shields (eh? - arent imperial ships meant to be shield tanks?), Clipper normal speed is faster than the FAS, but the boost speed of a FAS is close to that of a clipper. The clipper jumps further and carries more cargo, but that is to be expected when comparing a large light weight hulled ship vs medium heavily armoured ship.

Technically, assuming Rubbernuke is correct in saying the alliance ships outshine the fed ones, the pecking order now goes:
  1. Alliance ships (x3)
  2. Federation ships (x4)
  3. Empire ships (x3)
So it should be the empire that get the gravy he mentions, perhaps as a medium well armed super shieldy porcelain vase hulled combat/multipurpose python/gunship equivalent? Or low hanging fruit option might be to implement some of the suggestions in the recent threads about the clipper?
 
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Looks over the Imperial ships parked in the hanger.
"Which one do I want to fly today?"
"The Imperial Eagle, maybe I could go racing that sounds fun."
"The Courier, Hum some dog fighting sounds interesting."
"The Cutter, Perhaps some trading or just about anything in excess."
The Clipper covered in cobwebs and dust.
"Curse your Clipper why are you still in my hanger? You are like piano lessons i enjoy having but have no real use for."
 
If the Clipper is to stay a large ship, give it a C7 PS and Distro, a third large hard point underslung on the nose, and a larger gas tank.

Then I'll throw away my Krait...
 
The huge hardpoint ought to go on the top aft of the fuselage, look at the top view of a clipper, its almost like they had modelled the hatch for it:
Du8hIDBWoAES5GV



Or roll it into patch notes ;-)


I love the clipper, exclusively flew one for nigh on a year, but they need something, as essentially by flying a clipper instead of any other ship you are handicapping yourself.


The ships you mention are a whole world of hurt each, but sortable, however it wouldn't take much to make the clipper great, many great suggestions have bene posted in this and the other thread about the clipper. And if only some rather than all of the suggestions were implemented, it would nudge the clipper into a niche rather than making it meta. However the Python & FDL meta's maybe need another ship to compete against? Personally I'd like to see the clipper be given more teeth, so for me that would be a shield modifies increase, a class 4 hardpoint top centre aft of fuselage where the panelling looks like hardpoint hatch exists already, and a couple of additional utility slots would be a bonus. This wouldn't be OP it be balanced against its limited powerplant and power distributor forcing its pilots to be on top of their game with pips management, especially if compared to a python which has class 7 power plant and dristributor compared to the clippers class 6 components.


We in the empire got the bum deal on ships:
View attachment 172120
To start off the feds have 4 ships vs our 3, speaking of rank locked ships so excluding our iEagle and their vulture and regular eagle. Thier Rank 5 ship, the FAS, is comparble to our rank 7 ship, the clipper. We don't have a rank 5 ship at all. Compare the cutter against its fed equivalent, there is a parity of performance, albeit in different areas. However, with the rest of fed vs empire ships, we take a kicking.

Compare the Dropship againse its rank 3 equivalent the courier, medium dropship vs small courier, dropship 4M + 1 L hardpoints vs courier's 3M, dropship can carry 166 cargo to the courier's34, drop ships hands down beat the courier on armour and is equal on shields. Courier being smaller is faster and more agile.

Clipper is woefully specced when compared against its oppoite number, the rank 7 gunship... With the clipper being slightly more agile, but drifts more than the gunship, clipper has weaker base shields, less hull armour, and is outgunned by 2/4/1 S/M/L hardpopints on the FGS vs 0/2/2 S/M/L hardpopintson the clipper.

You only get close to parity if you compare the rank 5 FAS to the rank 7 clipper, which makes sense as there is no rank 5 imperial ship. When caompared toe to toe on specs alone, the FAS has slightly more armour, which makes sense as it has a slightly heavier hull, slightly better base shields (eh? - arent imperial ships meant to be shield tanks?), Clipper normal speed is faster than the FAS, but the boost speed of a FAS is close to that of a clipper. The clipper jumps further and carries more cargo, but that is to be expected when comparing a large light weight hulled ship vs medium heavily armoured ship.

Technically, assuming Rubbernuke is correct in saying the alliance ships outshine the fed ones, the pecking order now goes:
  1. Alliance ships (x3)
  2. Federation ships (x4)
  3. Empire ships (x3)
So it should be the empire that get the gravy he mentions, perhaps as a medium well armed super shieldy porcelain vase hulled combat/multipurpose python/gunship equivalent? Or low hanging fruit option might be to implement some of the suggestions in the recent threads about the clipper?

You are mistakenly using rank to match ships rather than seeing what the ship itself can do.

The Empire have the best set of ships out of the three- varied, unusual. The Feds have variants, and the Alliance have variants on variants.
 
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Reread my post, I start by comparing the Rank 7 Clipper to the Rank 7 gunship then say screw this lets compare it to the more closely matched Rank 5 FAS.
 
Frontier needs to fix <insert item here> threads just keep coming back over and over and almost none of ever focus on the the real problems of Elite Dangerous. This all too familiar one is no exception.
 
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Technically, assuming Rubbernuke is correct in saying the alliance ships outshine the fed ones, the pecking order now goes:
  1. Alliance ships (x3)
  2. Federation ships (x4)
  3. Empire ships (x3)
So it should be the empire that get the gravy he mentions, perhaps as a medium well armed super shieldy porcelain vase hulled combat/multipurpose python/gunship equivalent? Or low hanging fruit option might be to implement some of the suggestions in the recent threads about the clipper?

Since the T10 is alliance commissioned similarly to the medium alliance trio would that not count as 4 alliance ships (ignoring the lack of rank lock)?
 
Since the T10 is alliance commissioned similarly to the medium alliance trio would that not count as 4 alliance ships (ignoring the lack of rank lock)?
Sounds even better when we put it like:

Technically, assuming Rubbernuke is correct in saying the alliance ships outshine the fed ones, the pecking order now goes:
  1. Alliance ships (x4)
  2. Federation ships (x4)
  3. Empire ships (x3)
So about that medium pad, powerful, imperial, combat ship...
 
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