Imagine that you're flying a huge brick with a small cockpit at the front. There is no finesse or agility to it. There's also not too much speed or range. This is you, flying Federal Gunship in Elite: Dangerous.

According to the Elite: Dangerous wiki page, the Federal Gunship is a support combat ship, which means that it is not worth buying her if you are planning to explore or trade. Also, you can forget about community goals, unless you are engaging in CG as the pirate faction -- i.e. killing everything moving in your sights.

The truth is, the Federal Gunship is worth your pretty penny for only one task -- the very sufficient killing of other ships. Therefore the ship is preferred by skilled players going into pirate lore or fans of PvP.

What is interesting, however, is that the Federal Gunship is barely ever mentioned as the best option for PvP. Fer-de-Lance, the Federal Assault Ship, and the Vulture are often the first choices for a lot of commanders. So, I am not sure why the Gunship is not placed in top three of PvP ships. After all, she is the tanked version of Federal Assault Ship.

At the end of the day, it is all about how are you planning to prepare your ship for the fight. And I think I found the most sufficient set up, presented in "The Git Gud Guide to the Gunship" by Rinzler o7o7o7 below:

The solution for any commander trying to master the Federal Gunship is the set up of as many multicannons as possible. In tandem with all available tanking options, this combo makes the ship worth a buy.

How to prepare your dream ship without spending money on experiments

All Elite: Dangerous commanders know that they can set up builds on the Coriolis Website and check how is it going to work when it comes to energy and jump distance.

My suggested fitting, inspired by Rinzler, consists of multicannons powered by as many A modules as possible in power department. With military-grade composite bulkheads, prismatic shield and all available hull and shield enhancers, this looks very serious.

Having these fittings, the Federal Gunship is not going to lose anything from poor agility, speed or jump range. Certainly, though, she is going to be exactly what she is supposed to be: a mean and tough gunship.

With additional improvements applied by engineers to weapons efficiency and power, improvements around energy distribution and shields, the Federal Gunship can easily go toe to toe with the Fer-De-Lance, which is always seen as the symbol of PvP dogfights.

However, it is important to remember: a tanked hull, shields or even multicannons are not going to make anybody top dog amongst PvPers. Skills must be there as well.

The Federal Gunship is not an easy boat to fly. She handles like a brick and quite often, commanders feel that she is underpowered compared to her mass. The common mistake, though, is to treat Gunship as other medium-sized fighting ships. She is certainly not a dog-fighting master. Most players trying to play the Gunship similar to Fer-de-Lance fail quite badly and sell her very quick, leaving not too positive comments on Elite: Dangerous forum.

So how do you use the Federal Gunship? It feels that the best option for this ship is to switch off flight assists, adding a little bit of agility to her movements. Keep the Gunship to the front of the enemy and avoid too much turning, as this is one thing she cannot do very easily. And use all multicannons constantly, raining bullets on the opponent.

The best thing about playing Elite: Dangerous is that there are no two identical ships. Every time you decide to buy a new one, you need to spend time learning the ship's ins and outs.

In the case of the Federal Gunship, before you will be even able to buy her, it is necessary to go through some Federation pilots ranks. Those can be achieved by doing missions. Before you will be in position to think about Gunship, you must achieve rank of Ensign.

But, there is one more reason why the Federal Gunship is worth buying -- the Federal Gunship is one of the sexiest looking ships in the game. This is, of course, if you are fan of big industrial-looking flying bricks.

Definitely, the Federal Gunship is worth buying in Elite: Dangerous. If anything, you should at least give her a test flight. She is certainly one of those ships to keep, if you properly understand her.

What is your experience with Federal Gunship? Are you running different fitting on the ship? Did you keep it or perhaps you decided it is too difficult? Let us know in the comments below!