Fer-de-Lance
Template:Quote The Fer-de-Lance, commonly abbreviated as FDL, is a ship manufactured by Zorgon Peterson. It is a heavy combat ship, featuring a hull that is more resistant to smaller weapons than other ships of its class.[1] It is one of two medium ships capable of mounting Class 4 weaponry, the other being the Mamba. Although fast, manoeuvrable, well armed, and well shielded, the Fer-de-Lance suffers from a few notable drawbacks: poor jump range, a small fuel tank, and a limited number of internal compartments for its size.
Overview
The pilot's seat of the Fer-de-Lance is to the right of the centre of the ship, having the co-pilot's to the left and slightly further back. The canopy glass offers a phenomenal field of view; having more than 90 degrees vertically, and more than 180 degrees horizontally.
The Fer-de-Lance is a Heavy Combat fighter. It is unbeaten in raw damage for a medium ship, but has high defence and mobility. Even the big three; Anaconda, Imperial Cutter and Federal Corvette should operate with caution against the Fer-de-Lance, as the Fer-De-Lance's agility and speed allow it to easily stay out of their firing arc. The mobility it possesses enables it to take out large ships by dodging their weapons whilst dishing out damage. The shields and armour on the ship are exceptionally good, although slightly lower than those found on the Python. The large Power Plant on the ship lets it have all hardpoints and Shield Generator powered without needing engineering. This lets you equip many high power modules, allowing it to easily power a Prismatic Shield as well as Shield boosters without many issues, letting it easily surpass other ships in shield power. Its sole downside in combat is its mass lock factor, sitting at only 12. Several medium ships as well as most large ships can easily flee from a Fer-de-Lance, making it worse at pirating than the Python; especially due to its tiny cargo bay. The Fer-de-Lance also functions brilliantly as an Anti-Thargoid ship, having huge damage output and it can easily deal with Scouts, and has no trouble equipping as much AX weaponry as possible. In the right hands, the Fer-de-Lance is one of the few ships capable of soloing a Thargoid Interceptor.
The ship suffers due to its specification as a fighter, and it is virtually unusable in any other role. The jump range falls just short of 21lys without engineering; the 4th worst in the game, making it one of the least useful exploration vessel. It can't effectively chase targets across the bubble or hunt down bounties, and will have serious trouble jumping away to the nearest Interstellar Factor to clear its own bounties. It has a cargo capacity of 70t max; extremely poor for its price and size, making pirating, trading and mining very unviable.
The Fer-de-Lance is essentially a bigger Vulture; unbeaten in combat potential for its size but is terrible in every other role. The ship therefore is perfect for Bounty Hunters and can rack up profits in Resource Sites extremely fast. It makes a very poor Pirate when compared to other similar ships however due to its terrible cargo space and low Mass Lock and the fact that the extreme firepower is often overkill in the role. For Thargoid fighting, it's a perfect ship, and can easily outperform the Alliance Chieftain and Type-10 in this role.
The weapon hardpoints are located as follows: two top mounted class 2 hardpoints on the nose, about a quarter of the way back from the tip, two side mounted class 2 hardpoints, at about the ship's midpoint, and a single bottom mounted class 4 hardpoint in the centre of the ship's frame. Four out of six utility mounts are located around the huge hardpoint on the bottom, with the other two being behind the cockpit, next to the fins on top of the vessel.
The Fer-De-Lance has a relatively low heat signature, and is well-suited for both shielded (using a shield cell does not result in a major overheating, and the strong base shielding can be improved further with shield boosters) and shieldless stealth builds (small heat output, durable hull and the ability to mount several heat sinks without sacrificing other utility modules allowing for prolonged silent running).
The Fer-De-Lance has different heat radiator animations for general heat dissipation and Frame Shift Drive charge up for hyperspace. While both feature the animation of the same yellow/orange lighted radiators, the Frame Shift Drive charging animation also features blue lighted radiators and two blue beams. The blue beams are projected from slightly behind the cockpit and are visible from the cockpit from the side windows on both sides.
The Fer-de-Lance has an available 16 piece cosmetic ship kit that can be purchased from the Frontier store, allowing you to "remodel your ship in your personal style". The ship kit is purely cosmetic and does not affect gameplay in any way.
Purchase Locations
| System | Station | Date Seen | Discount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shinrarta Dezhra | Jameson Memorial | Always available | 10% discount |
| Brestla | i Sola Prospect | Always available | 20% surcharge |
| Momus Reach | Ralphus | Jan. 18, 2019 | 15% discount |
| Lembava | Goldstein Port | Jan. 18, 2019 | 15% discount |
| HIP 9989 | Capek Orbital | Jan. 18, 2019 | 15% discount |
| Ix | Scully-Power Station | Jan. 18, 2019 | 15% discount |
| YZ Ceti | Clement Orbital | Jan. 18, 2019 | |
| Anlave | Kobayashi City | Jan. 18, 2019 | |
| Avalon | Persephone | Jan. 18, 2019 | |
| Eotienses | Parkinson Dock | Jan. 18, 2019 | |
| LHS 331 | Dyr Enterprise | Jan. 18, 2019 | |
| Ross 112 | Egan Orbital | Jan. 18, 2019 |
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 Fer-de-Lance.
| Category | Default System | Default Rating | Default Class | Max Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medium Hardpoint | Pulse Laser | F | 1 | 2 |
| Pulse Laser | F | 1 | 2 | |
| Empty | -- | -- | 2 | |
| Empty | -- | -- | 2 | |
| Huge Hardpoint | Empty | -- | -- | 4 |
| Utility Mount | Empty | -- | -- | 0 |
| Empty | -- | -- | 0 | |
| 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 | 5 | 5 |
| Frame Shift Drive Housing | Frame Shift Drive | E | 4 | 4 |
| Environmental Control | Life Support | E | 4 | 4 |
| Power Coupling | Power Distributor | E | 6 | 6 |
| Sensor Suite | Sensors | E | 4 | 4 |
| Fuel Store | Fuel Tank [x8] | C | 3 | 3 |
| Internal Compartments | Cargo Rack [x16] | E | 4 | 5 |
| Shield Generator | E | 4 | 4 | |
| Cargo Rack [x8] | E | 3 | 4 | |
| Empty | -- | -- | 2 | |
| Empty | -- | -- | 1 | |
| Planetary Approach Suite (H) | I | 1 | 1 |
- (L) = Loaned Module
- [x#] = Capacity
- (H) = Requires Elite Dangerous: Horizons, reserved solely for Planetary Approach Suite
Notes
- In the original Elite it was faster than the Cobra (but not playable).
- Added to game in version 1.2.
- Some weapons on the huge hardpoint clip into the bottom of the hangar when viewed in Outfitting.
- The radiators on the outside of the engine pods glow blue while FSD is charging.
- Prior to 1.5/2.0 the ship utilized a class 5 powerplant, resulting in major power issues.
Trivia
- The Fer-de-Lance length (73.6 m) is similar to a Boeing 747-300 (70.66 m).[2]
- Fer-de-Lance is French for "spearhead" (or more literally, "iron of the lance" or "tip of the spear") but also maintains the snake-themed naming common to Independent ships, as it can refer to various members of the Bothrops genus of snakes, also sometimes called lanceheads.
Videos
Gallery
- Concept art from newsletter 57
- Fer-de-Lance docked at a station
- Fer-de-Lance top view docked
- Fer-de-Lance weapons deployed
- Fer-de-Lance docked close up
- Fer-de-Lance top diagonal ship closeup
- Fer-de-Lance top side view
- View of Fer-de-Lance showing medium hardpoints
- Fer-de-Lance rear side close up
- Fer-de-Lance launches from a planet
- A Huge Gimballed Cannon mounted on the Fer-de-Lance
- Cockpit by CMDR Klepto
- A Fer-De-Lance preparing for a hyperspace jump. Note the blue light beams and blue lit hull sections that only appear while the frameshift drive is charging.
- FDL and a gas giant
- A Fer-De-Lance mining in an ice ring as seen in Newsletter #121
- FDL in combat
- FDL engines
- Zorgon Peterson Fer-De-Lance Blueprint
- Fer-de-Lance landed
- Vibrant Green FDL above Earth
- Fer-de-Lance cockpit
- Fer-de-Lance in Witch-space
- Zorgon Peterson, Fer-de-Lance ad in a station art
- Black Fer-de-Lance top
