Imperial Clipper: Difference between revisions

 

The '''Imperial Clipper '''is a [[ship]]''' '''manufactured by [[Gutamaya]] for the [[Empire]]. The Imperial Clipper is the quintessential Imperial ship that epitomizes elegance of form while delivering speed and agility. Because of its balance of speed, luxury and strength, it is used for transporting valuable items and personnel of importance across the Empire. It is quite popular among [[Pirate|pirates]] and is considered to be the less expensive, smaller brother of the [[Imperial Cutter]]. To purchase the Imperial Clipper, pilots must have earned the rank of Baron in the [[Imperial Navy]].

Pilots of any [[profession]] may appreciate its speed; with fully upgraded [[Thrusters]], it is comparable to that of smaller ships such as the [[Cobra MkIII]] 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 MkIII. Its only manoeuvring drawback, and likely the reason for its low overall agility rating, is its poor lateral thruster capability; the vertical-lateral thrusters are very weak compared to those of other ships. This weakness, combined with very weak [[shield]]s for its size and wing-mounted [[hardpoint]]s ill-suited for fixed weapons, limits the Imperial Clipper's efficiency as a PvP [[combat]] ship even if the shields are upgraded to maximum. The Imperial Clipper is also currently the fifth widest ship controllable by players, which may pose a challenge with docking. Compared to the [[Alliance Chieftain]], which has a similar price tag, it has better shields, but less damage output and worse armour. However, the Clipper is better at multi-purpose roles.

 

Speed and manoeuvrability fall off more heavily when loaded than other ships, bringing it back to more common speeds and turn rates when hauling cargo. However the ship is capable of carrying 248T of cargo. While this is quite a lot less than what the [[Type-7]] can carry, the Clipper is very capable of defending against pirates and its high manoeuvrability lets it dodge interdictions easily, making the Clipper viable for armed traders. The ship's high speed also lets it escape with ease.

The ship is a good [[Miner]] with high cargo and lots of internals. The downside is the ship has only two medium hardpoints and two large. This means either sacrificing a huge amount of damage output by equipping Class 2 Mining Lasers or Seismic Charge Launchers in Class 3 hardpoints, or settling for sub-par mining speed. The ship's large body can also prove problematic in clustered asteroid fields and Planetary Rings.

With around 28Ly of jump range, the Clipper is an average vessel for exploration; its more than capable of doing the job and is a good choice for jobs that require going long distance but is not the best for a dedicated explorer.

Both the ships interior and exterior are luxurious in design, the engines sport a radically different sound than other ships, and the large cockpit canopy features an unobstructed view of space. The [[Imperial Cutter]] has a similar appearance to that of the Clipper, albeit much larger.

The weapon hardpoints are located as follows: One Class 3 large hardpoint on the top of each wing-tip nacelle (total of two class 3 mounts), and One Class 2 medium hardpoint on the underside of each wing where the wing attaches to the main fuselage (total of two class 2 mounts). 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.