Talk:Mamba/@comment-10291972-20190214055612/@comment-26444643-20190312180413

Yes. The FDL is better at killing. Yes, there are better tools for the job. Nothing, on paper, justifies its real existence.

But flying the Mamba with G5 dirty drives is just plain fun. It's the ship I find most enjoyable to fly amongst the asteroids of a HazRes. It's the most enjoyable ship to fly I have, weaving in around the asteroids at a speed far higher than is sensible.

The FDL feels like a luxury fighter, akin to a Bugatti Veyron or the like. You do everything in comfort.  ​​​​The Mamba, on the other hand has a no-frills approach, with little in the way of luxury. Putting bobbleheads in the cockpit almost feels like extraneous decoration. The Mamba feels like a fighter jet from the Top Gun era, an early model F-14 or something like that with the bubble canopy, tandem layout and, above all, its handling. I feel like Maverick and Goose when multicrewing it. In short, it makes me feel like a fighter pilot, not a heavily-armed chauffer.

I take it out for a spin and - whether it's good hunting or not - I come back  home with a smile... and that, to me, is justification enough for it to exist.