Imperial Eagle: Difference between revisions

{{Distinguish|Eagle MkII}}

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{{Quote|Based on Core Dynamics’ Eagle, Gutamaya's Imperial Eagle places greater emphasis on speed and combat than its predecessor. The ship's armour and shields have been enhanced, and one of the small hardpoints of the original has been replaced with a medium hardpoint. Naturally, these features have made the ship heavier and less manoeuvrable than its predecessor, but the Imperial Eagle remains a solid choice for those seeking a high-speed attack ship.|In-game description}}

The '''Imperial Eagle''' is a [[Ships|ship]] manufactured by [[Gutamaya]] for the [[Imperial Navy]]. Introduced in 3199 as an [[Empire|Imperial]] variant of the [[Core Dynamics]] [[Eagle MkII]] multi-role fighter,<ref name="EE">''[[Elite Encounters RPG]]''</ref> the Imperial Eagle has more speed, durability, and firepower than the original, but these enhancements come at the cost of agility and handling.<ref>[https://community.elitedangerous.com/node/228 Dev Update (16/07/2015)]</ref> This has resulted in a more specialised [[combat]] vessel that the Imperial Navy and its allied fleets have primarily deployed as an interceptor. Unlike other Imperial ships, the Imperial Eagle does not require any [[Ranks|rank]] in the [[Imperial Navy]] to purchase.

Compared to the [[Eagle MkII]], the Imperial Eagle boasts superior armour and shield strength, and exchanges one of its predecessor's Class 1 hardpoints for a Class 2 hardpoint, allowing to carry more firepower. This comes at the expense of agility, since the Eagle MkII is more manoeuvrable, but not speed; in fact, with [[Enhanced Performance Thrusters]] and [[Engineers|Engineering]], the Imperial Eagle may be the single fastest ship on the market when traveling in normal space, surpassing larger ships built for speed including the [[Mamba]].

The Imperial Eagle is a slightly more viable choice for [[combat]] than the Eagle MkII due to its Class 2 hardpoint, but the reduction in agility means the pilot may have more difficulty in aligning the ship and its weapons with any targets and reliably inflicting damage. On the other hand, the Imperial Eagle's speed allows to escape most encounters where it is outmatched, providing the pilot can keep the ship out of danger long enough to break free of any [[Mass Lock]]. Unfortunately, apart from style, combat is the ship's only strength, as it lacks the cargo capacity to serve as an effective [[trader]], and its jump range and internal compartments are too limited to recommend it as an [[explorer]].

The Imperial Eagle's hardpoints are located as follows: one Class 2 hardpoint on the top of the ship behind the cockpit, and two Class 1 hardpoints mounted side-by-side on the underside of the main fuselage in front of the bump that contains the cargo scoop. As with the Eagle MkII, the Imperial Eagle has a confined cockpit with a restricted range of vision, and only a single pilot seat.

*''(M) = [[Military Compartment]] reserved for [[Hull Reinforcement Package]], [[Module Reinforcement Package]], or [[Shield Cell Bank]]''

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