Drydock: Drake Ironclad | Star Citizen 4K

As a change from looking at in-game ships, this video delves deep into the Drake Ironclad armoured freighter in Star Citizen. The course of the video considers the history, specifications, as well as potential uses for the Ironclad.
#StarCitizen #4K
00:00 Introduction
01:34 Meta History
02:00 In-game Lore
02:17 Cost History
02:43 Design Purpose
03:16 Specifications
03:32 Components
04:25 Weapons
05:06 Crew
05:40 Amenities
06:47 Gameplay Use Cases
08:16 Fleet Role
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[@esteybarra]

A new Drydock always makes my day! Thank you Farrister, always exciting to hear your deliberations!

[@BazureSkyslash]

I just hope that by the time it actually goes into development they increase the height inside the cargo bay enough to be able to land a Vulture inside. I would love to be able to use an Ironclad as a mobile salvage base.

[@obaniehia]

That right there is a +1 for the liberator since the top pads can fit a vulture..

[@jasonmcclure5491]

​@@obaniehiaand this is why I still kept my liberator in my fleet but also added the base ironclad. The ironclad will be awesome at just cargo and possibly a little pirating. But just in case the ironclad is great ship transport and cargo I got a $25 CCU to the bmm

[@thegreatowigimon2]

@@jasonmcclure5491i have a bmm and agree with this, sadly i believe based on what the devs said bmm will be among the last ships they finish… 😔

[@jasonmcclure5491]

@@thegreatowigimon2 I'm afraid your right about being the last ship . I'll just keep the CCU in my hanger until we here about it getting a little closer to release in about 15 years

[@AccidentalFriendlyFire]

No, the LAST ship will be the Endeavour. ^^

[@snaggletoof1927]

I appreciate you taking the time and effort into making these Drydock videos for us, Farrister! They are always so enjoyable to watch. I wonder which model of the Ironclad has gotten the most pledges so far?

[@fmartingorb]

The Ironclad assault will become the perfect support ship for racing.

[@zman_o7]

If and when this ship ever comes out I will be getting one since I love space trucking. Good vid Farrister o7 😎👍

[@jedi_drifter2988]

Once we have Pyro and several other systems, then you will need the large/Cap ships to traverse these large systems. Stanton is one of the smallest systems in the game and designed small for testing. With Pyro on it's way and more systems coming, a ship like the Ironclad is almost a must have for a Firefly/Serenity nomadic style of play. Having a very flexible jack of most trades, depending on what you put inside the 1500 SCU hold is great. Whether it be a fighter for bounties, a ROC/Prospector/vulture, a C8R/Nursa or any combination. Myself, I want to do the long haul cargo runs and while doing that, explore opportunities to discover derelicts, rescue others, scan for resources etc. The Ironclad has extreme long range, 4 large shields and armored. I really hope CIG goes the rout of individual bunk rooms like the Corsair. The Ironclad could also be a mobile central hub for a land base, that can be moved from one resource rich environment to another. I feel that I will be able to pick up almost any mission in my journeys through the Deep dark of the verse.

[@AccidentalFriendlyFire]

Can't wait to see this. :-D Love this ship concept.

[@user-vi5wv9ht8l]

I am and always have been a Drake fan from my first Cutter,I love the attention to detail of the most basic things such as the lighting the way they flicker on and switches and rivets and seams on the metal plating and so on, so I had to have both,it took some doing and I had to convert a lot of my ships and paints and other items plus a substantial cash input but I managed it as well as converted other ships to more practical ships for better game play based on all the changes they have made for flight and combat,I have concentrated on the Trades,Combat,Exploration,Ground,Small, Medium,Large, and Capital, in every class,Example,My Roc,Prospector,Mole,Arrastra,Orion,The fact they came out at the end of Invictus event was somewhat cruel to do to all of us that we were doing our best to build our fleets up and convert smaller LTI ships to much larger scale ships like I did for the Perseus,Polaris,Ironclad,Ironclad Assault,RSI Apollo Triage,Aegis Sabre Firebird,2 Ursa Medivacs,2 CR8 Pieces Medivacs,Pulses total of 10 plus( 8 are for future upgrades or to break down quad packs to single ships later if necessary and keep LTI) 2 LX,1 NOX upgrade,1 Railen,1SAN'TOK.YĀI,I did not and will not buy the retaliator, I am not happy with the initial setup at all,in my opinion to little ship for to much money and poorly thought out,the only real use is a multi crew torpedo ship,If you don't have people in all your turrets you have no guns,there are no missiles available at all for this ship right now,the 6 shields are only 36k protection instead of a large shield at 100k it will cost you over 230k to upgrade those shields and only 135 to upgrade a large doesn't make sense.if you put the Cargo pods in to get the 72 SCU of storage and go it alone you have no pilot controlled guns,missiles,torpedoes,totally defenseless.is that great planning or what?if you have a full crew as a drop ship you have to keep every gunner you can on board when you land or you have no guns when you take off and return to pick up your ground crew, so that means you better be hauling at least 8 people and the pilot just to make any combat situation work well,the Corsair is a better ship for all of this,72 SCU all the time,100k shields,missiles ,guns galore and plenty of turrets and places to sit for ground deployment at only 250 dollars.If you didn't buy the whole kit for the Retaliator at 360 dollars it will cost you over 440 dollars separately to set it all up and the modules don't follow you around they are left back at your home port so if you need to change them out it's another trip back to get them switched out,Also I saw a video on ships just outrunning the torpedoes fired from the ship like they were nothing special because it's not a stealth ship like the Eclipse and they can see you coming from like 35 k meters,it's EM sig is 34590 and its IR is 15580 the Eclipse is only 4381 em and 4344 IR.That will get the job done at 300 dollars.Again great video and I can't wait to see how this stands up next to the Caterpillar side by side,also I have seen the Ironclad in a red/black paint scheme in some of the pictures can we get this it looks so cool and would look great sitting next to my Carrack red alert lol,still working on how to get a Kraken and if you have a Merchantman like I do do you really need to get a Privateer Kraken? losing the fuel tanks kinda stinks so I think the base Kraken is a better choice for me for a flight deck don't know how I will swing an Idris but I think I am a year out will see if Christmas is a good one lol.Take care and see you in the verse.BTW anyone who thinks I am nuts a little bit ,this is my only hobby besides other gaming and RPG/DnD every two weeks, I work over 60 hours a week in construction so I am always driving or at a job site working and I am lucky if I get a vacation but every 3 years it's a family business only get paid for the first 40 hrs so this is my treat to myself and I am helping make this game happen for myself and my sons.Thank you everyone who is working to make this game happen.

[@ea4857]

Great work my man, and sincerely, thanks for helping to fund SC! I'm hoping that soon development will pickup and we'll be seeing some compounded advancement and enjoying this game more and more with many of the promised ships starting to get released.

[@chrismoeller4517]

Never thought I'd end up putting this much money into SC, but I did buy the base version. I was more interested in the Anvil Liberator, but figured that this ship would help buy it in-game more easily than the other way around.

[@ea4857]

I'm in the same boat.. got an email welcoming me to some sort of club.. I was like, wait.. WHAT!?! I'm a whale!?!

[@novalis791]

If we get a ground vehicle that can fit within the Ironclad and salvage; that would be wild along with an Ursa Medical… lots of versatility scooping up ships, crunching them, and having medical backup. Speculation fun

[@greenmamba6943]

i love your voice. it is so nice to listen to.

[@AccidentalFriendlyFire]

I picked up a CCU to each of them immediately. The Assault is the one I like better, but i can also see some good use cases for the Base variant.

[@GrumpyChops]

Love the vids Farrister! Keep up the amazing work 👍🏻

[@arethunessamsonsen6245]

I'm surprised you didn't mention its nickname, "The Fatterpillar", but thanks for pronouncing Kraken correctly!

[@jedi_drifter2988]

I Like Vladerpillar ... because Drake has that Russian cold war utilitarian look IMO

[@joelellis7035]

I wanted to call it the "Super Cat", but it appears the rest of the SC community had other ideas.

[@Introverted_goblin_]

We thinking 2 or 3 years? Unless the ship team pumps out all the rsi ships in the next year, i dont see this one coming soon, even if Drake is next up.

[@davewills6121]

That's if all the new content, patches, Pyro and SQ42 go as planned, which i doubt as there's a tight time-frame to keep, and 1.0 is contracted to be live by april/25. As for the IC, its a kitbash slab, nothing special, yet won't be in game before 2027 as CIG have the: Polaris/Perseus/Galaxy/Zeus-E1/CL/MR plus a few more for 24/25. Its another concept, but its vanilla at best.......and we all have the CCU's

[@TheCurteousBear]

This could be fairly soon in the Drake line-up after RSI, if not first up. Much of its design will translate into the Kraken, so it's an important ship to get done, not to mention how popular the ironclad is, and Kraken has been. Given that though, even if it's the first ship in the Drake line-up, production likely won't start until 2026 at the earliest.

[@a.k.1902]

I had to buy one! Looks great 🙂

[@Tainted-Soul]

I got one as it looks great and I thought going on the pictures that the Vulture would fit , I was disappointed when I found out the hight limit. but as this is my first and only cargo ship oh well. it may stay it may not we will see.

[@Mike5Brown]

I was one of the lucky people who got the CCU before CIG realize their mistake of offering a $5 CCU. One thing that they did mention is having cargo loaded on the inside and outside, but then they didn't actually mention anything about that with the ironclad itself. I've seen speculation that you might be able to continually stack up boxes past the hanger doors.

[@CraigPaschang]

They almost certainly meant you can load the ship from the outside in space … through the large opening in the roof. Watch it again, it’s pretty clear.

[@leadpipejustice9253]

Polaris, Perseus, Merchantman, Orion, Odyssey, and Kraken says hi.

[@aipilot6795]

The ironCHAD! Excited to watch 🙂

[@RobertP-zk8vh]

snub carrier i like but 4 tonk or 2 tonks and 2 spartans and 34 troops is a very big ship, i was orginally going to use the starliner to move big troop deployments but the ironclad assault will do it much better.

[@aasishwarsaravana5748]

Looking at the specs, the ironclad would be a drake rival to the RSI Galaxy. The battle of the star citizen Industrial ship Titans continues!

[@jasonmcclure5491]

Just asking how is this the rival to the galaxy.

[@aasishwarsaravana5748]

@@jasonmcclure5491 personally, I think dimensions of both the galaxy and ironclad are almost similar, both ships have crew of 6 with possibly individual crew compartments just like the corsair, and while the ironclad has more cargo loading space and a open top, the galaxy equipped with the cargo module can also carry similar capacity of cargo, and possibly the rsi ursa rover, and the snub hangar can either fit a arrow fighter or can be filled with cargo all the way to the top! Anything concrete about the two ships will be known only if they release, but in the meantime, I am looking forward to both ships!

[@Kyle-sr6jm]

The ship backlog just rolled a natural 1.

[@ea4857]

😅😂😅

[@almightycaboose8192]

What would be cool if you link your vehicle kinda like Bluetooth to your ship so you can open or close ramps so you don’t have to get in or out of the vehicle

[@obaniehia]

That is technically a thing your ship is linked to your mobi with a ship recall button but it doesn't work of course. Thinking it'll be similar to nomans sky's ship summon mechanic

[@supersasquatch]

A snub fighter carrier with like 20 snub fighters

[@xxbeatleadxx]

this is going to be mandatory for piracy ops

[@friendlyspacedragon7250]

The Ironclad is a pretty neat ship. However, it does step on the toes of at least Hercules, Liberator and Crucible. While competition and options for the same job is always welcome, I can't shake the feeling that the Ironclad is powercreeping the old ships to obsolency.

[@comicmoniker]

Others have made some good points about how they seem to distinguish themselves from each other, but there definitely is a fair amount of overlap. Personally, I like that - even with megacorps behind them there's no way any one vehicle would have total market share of an entire role. But here's what I've seen people say are the others' strengths: - Hercules should handle better in atmo (not a insignificant thing for something dropping into a *combat zone* haha) and probably is better for a crew of 1 or 2 - Liberator has more flexibility in what ships it brings with the pads on top (which is why, even though I would love a Vulture to fit, I don't think they should raise the roof height of the Ironclad). Also I personally suspect the release of the Ironclad is going to lead to the Liberator getting reconcepted into something bigger, with more amenities. - Crucible can repair WAY more than the Ironclad can - even if we only look at the scarab module, the Crucible can repair hull damage and the Ironclad Assault can probably only repair components that have been taken out.

[@gizmo.427]

I'm still waiting for drake to release a mining ship

[@gareth0412]

I have it on my buyback list. I was hoping it would fit a ship that could extend its time off the grid or as a solo salvage vessel able to carry a vulture far out. I need a long term exploring vessel for me and 1 or 2 others. The Carrick and Odyssey aren't viable, the MSR has terrible range and too many doors, the Connie is ugly and old. Galaxy or liberator may be possible with other ships to support it's range.

[@AccidentalFriendlyFire]

When you say the MSR has terrible range I assume you mean in atmosphere? Because it has pretty good range in quantum, even with an XL-1.

[@Arystanbek98]

Turret platform ahhh ship

[@obaniehia]

It's like they make ships leave them in concept then bring another ship out in concept that... stats wise is better than the old one, also cheaper... **cough** liberator

[@AccidentalFriendlyFire]

The Liberator holds more ships and vehicles at the same time. That's not worse stats.

[@crazyeyecarl]

Since the Assault variant has a reinforced ramp I hope the base model just explodes whenever you put anything too heavy on it.

[@vsuhden]

Im guessing 2027

[@DeplorableInfidel71]

i bought an assault version. ill trade a few hundred scu for firepower and module repair. i am not planning on living in a civilized system.

[@timborghinitube]

Another flying brick.... I pledged for the other flying brick, the Liberator, because I thought it was a cool idea when they "released" it. However, there's absolutely zero updates on progress, and I wouldn't doubt it if they just come back and say, "Hey sorry, we changed the game mechanics too much, so now we have to change everything for the old ships, because it doesn't match up." Which is basically their current excuse for EVERYTHING lol. Don't get your hopes up for this flying brick. It's just another marketing scheme, and they're desperate for more revenue. Unfortunately, they're doing it in deceptive ways. I switched to the Polaris, and I don't even expect them to release it this year, even though they said that they would.

[@comicmoniker]

TBH I suspect the Ironclad is actually really good news for Liberator owners. The Liberator's pitch and concept art always felt a little half-baked to me, and now I'm guessing it's going to grow and add more amenities to differentiate it from the Ironclad. So, if you already own the Liberator, I think there's a good chance you're getting more ship than you thought. If the Polaris makes more sense to you, though, that's cool too! (Disclaimer: I don't own any of the big ships personally)

[@timborghinitube]

@comicmoniker I hope you're right, but I really don't expect them to release either the Liberator or Ironclad anytime soon. It took 9 years for a fully functioning Retaliator that is not yet fully functioning lol, let's not even begin on the rest of the backlog. o7

[@dasweallycool9714]

I love these capitals! But I just feel the actual gameplay for them is so far away! Ideally you'd want you and your crew to be able to bed log and come in and out seemlessly.. it's difficult enough to bed log at the moment and NOT turn up in the middle of Stanton's sun! That said, I have the CCU in my buybacks..

[@AccidentalFriendlyFire]

But it isn't a capital.

[@dasweallycool9714]

:p

[@blodrush25]

i have one Iron Glad but ithink that CIG f up here becouse the otehr one need to have less Cargo i cant see why the hell people need the base version when you have a better armored ship with more guns an can be use for more in the same glass they need to define whats cargo ship whats assalut ship is whats trop transport for me this is stupid that you make the same ship just better that can do cartgo as good as the other one eter you are a Assalut ship as they say or a Cargo ship/trader not both.,

[@AccidentalFriendlyFire]

The base version holds roughly 50% more pure cargo, and has an additional service cargo room for extra valuable stuff, compared to a larger door at the front, a repair/fabrication station. It also has tractor beams instead of weapon turrets; the Assault is NOT design for cargo, it's designed as a planetary landing craft for hauling troops and vehicles.

[@reamoinmcdonachadh9519]

The Ironclad is an ideal Mobile Pirate Command Center/ Loot Repository ship!

[@Beta-Beta-55]

second

[@Trigix11]

Blabla, not in 5 years

[@rustyneedles3743]

speculation ... mehhhh