Most popular ships

[Les Grossman]

Are there any relevant polls or general consensus on which ships are currently most and less popular?

Just curious which ships majority of players prefers and why.

[LiMiT™]

Most popular is definitely the 'conda and/or the imperial clipper/cutter ships though I think most people like them so much only because of the looks. Too fancy and white for me. Anaconda is good for anything you can come up with. Has cargo space, has lotsa guns, is big, can jump very far even without engineering. Good for combat, good for trading, good for exploration. Python is sort of like the anaconda but less of everything because it's an earlier ship (progression wise, cheaper, smaller etc).
I guess the rest comes down to preference and what would you like to focus on more but these are definitely the most popular.

[s0laris]

I got enough credits to outfit an Annie but i am sticking with my Python because it does not require large landing pad. Im sure ill put my hands on one later but right now i kinda enjoy farming engineering mats with my Python. And only a minor change internally to turn the ship into a Robigo Mines - Sirius Atmospherics passenger liner without having to swap ship.

[Veritas]

For ship lanched fighters, the Taipan and Gu-97 are really good if a player is controlling them. Otherwise the AI pilots are really good in the Condor, particularly the one with fixed multicannons on it

For small ships:

-Eage/Imperial Eagle: Fast, cheap rebuy/A-Grade, ample firepower-- very good for winging up with other players and arranged PvP

-Viper MK III: Potent offense and good manueverability make it a good combat and PvP ship. Don't bother with the MK IV though

-Cobra MK III: Good PvE/jack of all trades. The Space Pancake. Not very good for PvP though since it is so huge for its class.

Diamondback Explorer: Surprisingly solid combat ship, and it gets 4 utility hardpoints. Fantastic jump range make it one of the best and cheapest options for exploration

Vulture: blatantly OP combat ship but not much else to say about it as it's average or worse at everything else

Medium Ships:

-The federal Drop/assault/gunships are hull tanks and are far better for PvP than PvE, but they're fun to fly if you use FA off constantly and like the hull tank playstyle.

-Krait MKII is well rounded, hard to go wrong here. It also is very hard to hit from directly behind or the front with fixed guns, but it is a pancake from top/bottom.

-Python is just good all around. Can't go wrong there.

-Alliance Chieftan is a really solid and manueverable ship for its class, I like it. Don't bother with the Challenger or Crusader though IMO, they're downgrades rather than sidegrades.

-Fer-de-Lance has been and proably always will be the most OP medium ship for combat, but it isn't very good at multirole. Mamba is getting reworked supposedly so I dunno about its competitor.

I can't speak much about the other ships, other than hauler is sad, the asp scout is a joke, and trade ships are boring, flying bricks so whatever.

[Les Grossman]

Yeah, Conda being top one is quite obvious I guess, but I didn't know Python would come second.

Personally I like Fed Corvette more than Conda, both by looks and feels more powerful. Hope one I'll be rich enough to afford it.

[Les Grossman]

Originally posted by Snazzy Dragon:

Viper MK III: Potent offense and good manueverability make it a good combat and PvP ship. Don't bother with the MK IV though

Thanks for tips on Fighters, that may come in handy in future, but on Viper, maybe that's just me, but I did some testdrive on MKIII, then switched to MKIV which I fly still. Stat wise it definitely looks better than Cobra, and MKIV in particular appeared quite flexible. I have it as real multi-purpose, and quite great at it so far. MKIII is good, but build wise it's quite restrictive. I can't fit nearly as many stuff as I can shove inside MKIV.

[fnberger]

Here's the hard facts: https://inara.cz/galaxy-statistics/

[Agony_Aunt]

Asp Explorer is apparently the most popular

https://inara.cz/galaxy-statistics/

EDIT: Ninja'd

[fnberger]

And if your going for multirole (which arent as good in combat as pure battlecraft) you'll probably step Adder - Viper 4 - Asp Explorer - Python.

[LiMiT™]

Originally posted by Space Hobo:

Yeah, Conda being top one is quite obvious I guess, but I didn't know Python would come second.

Personally I like Fed Corvette more than Conda, both by looks and feels more powerful. Hope one I'll be rich enough to afford it.

Same here. I worked hard for my corvette. Never going to sell it. Love my space door wedge. You don't have to be the best at everything. Always go for what you like more, not what we tell you because at the end of the day you are going to be working towards your ship and if you end up flying something that others told you is the best but you end up saying "mmmyeaaa it's nice but...it's not the other ship I wanted *sadface*" you're gonna lose interest...at least as long as you don't plan on wrecking thargoids or bountied condas in a T9. In this case listen to us when we tell you: DON'T. :)

[Les Grossman]

@fnberger
Thanks for that poll, that's what I was looking for it seems.

However, my next step as multipurpose I plan to be Krait MKII, and I already have a build in mind.

[OGNocturnal]

Corvette,Asp,Beluga,Type 9 i mostly use out of all the ships,ive had a stint in the chieftain killing goids and ive recently fitted the krait,needs engineered, il try it out in the new year.

[Inscydeus]

My favourite ship was the Krait mk2, it's the Krait Phantom now; it has a lot of subtleties that make it a better ship for me than the mk2. While the mk2 has higher base hull, on a meta bi-weave hulltank build, the mk2 has less integrity unless it sacrifices it's fighter bay (which is it's greatest advantage in the first place). The Phantom also has a higher hull hardness rating, better sustain due to the one less large and is 50m/s faster than the mk2 while retaining the maneuverability and ability to perma-boost on two pips.

[Henry Hatsworth]

The Krait mk 2 seems like it would be a fun ship to stuff guardian tech into, especially with guardian launched fighters. It's popularity is catching on, though I have too much love for my python to completely replace it.

Also, I think more needs to be said about the corvette rather than specifically usuage facts. It's a popular ship on the top of a lot of people's "endgame" ships, something to lust after and look at fondly while working toward it, even if not in a direct path. Something to day dream about. Because of the high cost and rank requirement, not many people have access to it, but many people look at it and would love to fly it some day.

[RyBo]

Go to the Elite Dangerous store. All the ships with a "ship kit" are the most popular.

[pyr0kid]

Originally posted by Snazzy Dragon:

For ship lanched fighters, the Taipan and Gu-97 are really good if a player is controlling them. Otherwise the AI pilots are really good in the Condor, particularly the one with fixed multicannons on it

For small ships:

-Eage/Imperial Eagle: Fast, cheap rebuy/A-Grade, ample firepower-- very good for winging up with other players and arranged PvP

-Viper MK III: Potent offense and good manueverability make it a good combat and PvP ship. Don't bother with the MK IV though

-Cobra MK III: Good PvE/jack of all trades. The Space Pancake. Not very good for PvP though since it is so huge for its class.

Diamondback Explorer: Surprisingly solid combat ship, and it gets 4 utility hardpoints. Fantastic jump range make it one of the best and cheapest options for exploration

Vulture: blatantly OP combat ship but not much else to say about it as it's average or worse at everything else

Medium Ships:

-The federal Drop/assault/gunships are hull tanks and are far better for PvP than PvE, but they're fun to fly if you use FA off constantly and like the hull tank playstyle.

-Krait MKII is well rounded, hard to go wrong here. It also is very hard to hit from directly behind or the front with fixed guns, but it is a pancake from top/bottom.

-Python is just good all around. Can't go wrong there.

-Alliance Chieftan is a really solid and manueverable ship for its class, I like it. Don't bother with the Challenger or Crusader though IMO, they're downgrades rather than sidegrades.

-Fer-de-Lance has been and proably always will be the most OP medium ship for combat, but it isn't very good at multirole. Mamba is getting reworked supposedly so I dunno about its competitor.

I can't speak much about the other ships, other than hauler is sad, the asp scout is a joke, and trade ships are boring, flying bricks so whatever.

all this is true, but its worth noting how the hauler does have quite a lot of jump range.