Imperial Clipper

The very definition of a multipurpose ship, the Imperial Clipper is a versatile vessel well suited to a variety of roles. A generous quantity of internal compartments has made it very popular with miners, while a sizeable cargo hold and robust defences have endeared the vessel to traders. Impressive straight-line speed rounds out the ship's profile, and makes it one of the most distinguished members of the Gutamaya family.

— In-Game Description

The Imperial Clipper is a large ship produced by Gutamaya for the Empire. It is the quintessential Imperial ship that epitomizes elegance of form while delivering speed and agility, and purchasing it requires achieving an Imperial Navy rank of Baron. Due to its balance of speed, luxury, and strength, it is used for transporting valuable items and personnel of importance across the Empire. The Imperial Clipper is quite popular among pirates and is considered to be the less expensive, smaller brother of the Imperial Cutter, but its strengths lie in the adaptability of its design rather than its combat performance.

Overview

Pilots of any profession may appreciate the Imperial Clipper's high potential speed; with fully upgraded Thrusters, it is comparable to that of smaller ships such as the Cobra Mk III and the Imperial Eagle. Additionally, its pitch rotation and yaw speed are higher than most ships, making it feel like a very hefty, weighted-down Eagle with a Boost Speed that is similar to that of the Cobra Mk III. Its only drawback, and likely the reason for its low overall agility rating, is its poor lateral thruster strength. Combined with very weak shields for its size and wing-mounted hardpoints ill-suited for fixed weapons, the ship is difficult to recommend for combat even with a specialized build. The Imperial Clipper is also one of the widest ships on the market, which can make manual docking complicated for less experienced pilots. Compared to the similarly-priced Alliance Chieftain, the Clipper has superior shield strength and cargo capacity, but less overall firepower and weaker armour.

Its speed and manoeuvrability fall off more heavily when laden compared to other ships, meaning it loses that advantage when trading. Nonetheless, the ship is capable of carrying 248T of cargo, which is impressive given its price point and multirole capabilities. The Type-7 Transporter may be cheaper and can haul more cargo than the Imperial Clipper, but is not nearly as viable as an armed trader that can confront attackers as well as evade them if necessary.

The Imperial Clipper is also a good Miner with high cargo and numerous internal slots, but its two Class 2 and two Class 3 hardpoints can be constricting. Taking the Clipper out to mine means either sacrificing damage output to equip the necessary mining tools, or mining with moderate defences and reduced mining efficiency. The ship's large body can also prove problematic when moving in clustered asteroid fields and Planetary Rings.

With around 28Ly of jump range potential, the Imperial Clipper is an average vessel for exploration. It is more than capable of doing the job and is a good choice for jobs that require travelling long distances, but ships like the Asp Explorer easily outclass it in this role and cost substantially less.

Imperial Clipper hardpoint convergence

The weapon hardpoints are located as follows: one Class 3 large hardpoint on the top of either wing-tip nacelle, and one Class 2 medium hardpoint on the underside of either wing where the wing attaches to the main fuselage. The wing-tip mounts are very far from centerline and will have trouble converging their fields of fire unless used with gimballed or turret mounted weapons. The underside mounts although closer together, also suffer the same field of fire convergence issues although to a lesser degree than the wing-tip mounts. Due to this, fixed weapons generally are not easy to use with this ship. However, if two fixed weapons are placed on the same side of the ship, it is possible to use fixed mount weapons.

The pilot's seat is offset to the right of the centerline of the ship while the copilot's seat is offset to the left of the centerline. Although the ship is compatible with Multicrew, it cannot equip a Fighter Hangar.

Purchase Locations

System	Station	Date Seen	Discount
Shinrarta Dezhra	Jameson Memorial	Always available	10% discount
Brestla	i Sola Prospect	Always available	20% surcharge
LTT 11103	Korniyenko Terminal	Mar. 11, 2018	15% discount
Baldr	Keldysh Gateway	Mar. 11, 2018	15% discount
Bandizel	Hahn Orbital	Mar. 11, 2018	15% discount
Eotienses	Parkinson Dock	Mar. 11, 2018	10% discount
V374 Pegasi	MacKellar Hub	Mar. 11, 2018	10% discount
Alit	Rittenhouse Dock	Mar. 11, 2018	10% discount
Wong Guin	Heiles Terminal	Mar. 11, 2018	10% discount
Achenar	Dawes Hub	Aug. 15, 2019
Achenar	Bell Terminal	Mar. 11, 2018
Ra	Kazantsev Dock	Mar. 11, 2018
Alectrona	Marley City	Mar. 11, 2018
LFT 78	Coye Orbital	Mar. 11, 2018
Yokusu	Edwards Port	May 14, 2019
Arigens	Ordway Ring	Apr. 21, 2018
Sauraratec	Murakami Ring	Apr. 26, 2018
Rabh	Friedman Terminal	Mar. 5, 2019
Shente	Hawker Station	Aug. 15, 2019
LTT 606	Jeremy	Oct. 10, 2022

Outfitting

Main article: Outfitting

All ships are highly customisable through the Outfitting menu of Station Services. Listed below is the default load-out for the Imperial Clipper.

Category	Default System	Default Rating	Default Class	Max Class
Medium Hardpoint	Pulse Laser (L)	F	1	2
	Pulse Laser (L)	F	1	2
Large Hardpoint	Empty	--	--	3
	Empty	--	--	3
Utility Mount	Empty	--	--	0
	Empty	--	--	0
	Empty	--	--	0
	Empty	--	--	0
Bulkheads	Lightweight Alloys	I	1	8
Reactor Bay	Power Plant	E	6	6
Thrusters Mounting	Thrusters	E	6	6
Frame Shift Drive Housing	Frame Shift Drive	E	5	5
Environment Control	Life Support	E	5	5
Power Coupling	Power Distributor	E	6	6
Sensor Suite	Sensors	E	5	5
Fuel Store	Fuel Tank [x16]	C	4	4
Internal Compartments	Cargo Rack [x64]	E	6	7
	Shield Generator	E	6	6
	Cargo Rack [x8]	E	3	4
	Empty	--	--	4
	Empty	--	--	3
	Empty	--	--	3
	Cargo Rack [x2]	E	1	2
	Empty	--	--	2
	Supercruise Assist	E	1	1
	(PAS)	I	1	1

• (L) = Loaned Module
• [x#] = Capacity
• (PAS) = Reserved solely for the Planetary Approach Suite or Advanced Planetary Approach Suite

Videos

• File:Gutayama Imperial Clipper ad
• File:Elite Dangerous Film Competition 2015 - The Imperial Clipper EliteDangerous
• File:The Imperial Clipper Elite Dangerous
• File:Clipper VS things
• File:The Imperial Clipper - All Purpose, All Style? -Elite Dangerous Ship Review-
• File:Elite Dangerous - Gutamaya's- iClipper Advert
• File:The Byakhee - Destination Maia (Elite Dangerous)

Gallery

• 
  Imperial Clipper concept art
• 
  Imperial Clipper in space
• 
  Imperial Clipper landed on a planet
• 
  Imperial Clipper cockpit and planet Capitol in Achenar
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  Imperial Clipper cockpit docked
• 
  Gutamaya Imperial Clipper Blueprint
• 
  Imperial Clipper cockpit with UI disabled
• 
  Imperial Clipper in planetary ring
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  Imperial Clipper in White Hangar
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  Imperial Clipper on Fleet Carrier
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  Imperial Clipper chrome paintjob