To Clipper or not to Clipper

Bacon Sarnie · Apr 1, 2015

After a few days grinding away I've managed to get my Empire rank up to Baron and now have enough cash to part ex my Vulture in and probably do a few upgrades to an Imperial Clipper while still having enough to fly insured.
Question, do I wait or do I get it now and do a bit of hauling/mission grinding in it to get some more money?

Battleship Kickass · Apr 1, 2015

How much moolah do you have? You don't need a whole lot to make one flyable. Just remember that you are a higher social class than the average player pilot now and as such you no longer dock your own ship. Always have a docking computer.

Bacon Sarnie · Apr 1, 2015

A few credits shy of 13 million
I would be a fair bit higher but *booooost ASTEROID SPLOOOOOODE* 2 times in 2 days and for some reason bounty hunting has been terrible the last 2 nights

Battleship Kickass · Apr 1, 2015

13 million more than the clipper cost? That is plenty.

Bacon Sarnie · Apr 1, 2015

Er no, 13 million total, I will have about 4.5 mil left after trade in of Vulture.

snotface · Apr 1, 2015

if you want to haul, get the clipper, if you want to make a lot of cash first use the vulture. I can make 3.5 mil per hour in my class A vulture just grinding away at ringed planets. Clippers are fast and you could make lots of cash hauling or doing missions, but for combat keep vulture.

Alpha087 · Apr 1, 2015

I'd argue the Vulture is better at combat since the Clipper can't really do fixed weapons.

Bacon Sarnie · Apr 1, 2015

I must be doing something really wrong, I've never managed to make more than 1 million or so an hour hunting in RES, even worse at Nav beacons :/

Serpentis Ictis · Apr 1, 2015

snotface said:
if you want to haul, get the clipper, if you want to make a lot of cash first use the vulture. I can make 3.5 mil per hour in my class A vulture just grinding away at ringed planets. Clippers are fast and you could make lots of cash hauling or doing missions, but for combat keep vulture.

Agreed, I have used both for combat and whilst the clipper holds its own the vulture is far better. That said, im back in the clippee trading....

Battleship Kickass · Apr 1, 2015

Edit nevermind you need quite a bit more to make one fight worthy IMO.

Bacon Sarnie · Apr 1, 2015

I think I'll stick with the Vulture a little longer. Try to alter my bounty hunting ways. Snotface, ringed planets? Not RES sites?

Draxxen · Apr 1, 2015

I waited until I could upgrade to use my clipper as trade vessel.
The very least you need to count into the change is a frameshift drive upgrade. Not necessarily all the way to grade A, but as far as you can.
Weapon loadout depend on what power plant you end up with and purpose of the ship. I actually started off with a 3A power plant and no weapons, trading in solo until I could upgrade a bit.
Like this

Poseidal · Apr 1, 2015

I made sure I had 10 million after trade in and upgrading to D-grade (A FSD) for trading. She will then pay for herself with her trading capability.

10 million should be enough for an emergency rebuy and capital to start trading with.

Shadowed · Apr 1, 2015

I went from Vulture -> Clipper with no regrets. The Clipper easily allows 1 fixed class 3 weapon, but has more firepower, speed, and so much more power. The Clipper is 25-50% faster in kill time and can even do 240t trading when you first get the ship. The Clipper is superior to the Vulture except in shield strength and maneuverability. With A thrusters, the Clipper feels like a far more grown up fighter than the Vulture.

Tono Kopec · Apr 1, 2015

You need more money to make it combat-worthy. I've spent 50m on a Clipper that I mainly use for trading (smaller shield, more cargo space etc)