Federal Dropship preparing to take of from a Coriolis station.
The Federal Dropship proved to be a disappointment to me. It is a combat ship with good weapons and decent cargo capability so I thought this would be great for those cargo or passenger missions where there is risk of being interdicted.
But the steering is really annoying! When trying to enter or exit a space station, the ship seems to overshoot so you have to adjust your steering a lot! The Python only score 2 in manoeuvrability but I think it actually handles better than the Federal Driftship!
The jump range is limited and the steering is kind of annoying - maybe some engineering updates can improve on this?
The Federal Dropship has good weapons and good component protection and can take some serious beating. With one Class 3 and four Class 4 weapons + two Class 4 Military slots this should be a nice combat ship for the price - but due to the bad manoeuvrability it can be hard to hit fast moving targets. So it is actually not that great for combat.
For an armoured cargo or passenger transport or mining vessel it should do fine; but I don't recommend going into combat in a Federal Driftship.
Federation rank requirement: Midshipman or higher.
| Price: | 14.313.210 cr |
| Max range: | 18,22 ly |
| Max cargo: | 164 t |
| Speed: | 250 m/s |
| Boost Speed: | 350 m/s |
| Maneuverability: | 3 ← This is a lie! It feels more like 1! |
| Weapons: | Large + 2 x Medium + 2 x Small |
| Internals: | 8 slots: Class 6 + 2 x Class 5 + Class 4 + 2 x Class 3 + Class 2 + Class 1 |
| Utility: | 4 |
| Military: | 2 x Class 4 |
| Fighter Bay: | - |
| Landing Pad Size: | Medium |
Federal Dropship vs Federal Assault Ship vs Federal Gunship
The Dropshop is the cheapest ship and also has the weakest weapons; it can mount 1 Large and 4 Medium weapons so it certainly is powerful, but the bad maneuverability make it weak in combat. I do not recommend it for combat but you could use it as an armoured cargo or passenger ship or as a mining ship. It is the fastest of these three ships, so it will do fine for cargo runs; it can carry 164 t, which is almost the same as the Gunship, that costs more than twice as much as the Dropship.
The Assault Ship has slightly better jumprange than the other two and it has way better maneuverability but not as agile as a Vulture. With 2 Large and 2 Medium weapons it is a powerful yet agile combat ship. It has the lowest cargo capacity (96 t).
The Gunship has more firepower; it can mount 1 Large, 4 Medium and 2 Small weapons. It also has 3 Class 4 Military slots - the other ships only have 2. It can carry 168 t cargo so it can also be used as a small cargo or passenger transport with powerful weapons. Or as mining ship. The maneuverability is worse than the Dropship but the extra weapons, extra military compartment and stronger shield and hull make it survive longer in combat.
