Every day I check this forum, and despair over how dead it is. So in an attempt to add interesting content, I thought I'd start a thread about which ships are most and least popular among the Elite player base. The numbers are pulled from Inara, which is the single most useful tool we have in my opinion. But that means the numbers are only for those commanders that are registered there, not the entire player base. I'd reckon the numbers are representative however, if maybe skewed slightly towards more seasoned players, as fewer new players would be registered at Inara. The numbers reflect ownership, not flight time.

There are now 38 unique ships in Elite, though some are just Chieftains

The most owned ships are......

1 AspX. Not a surprise. Would have been my guess. Very versatile and affordable. Great jump and view. The surprising thing is Inara's numbers indicate it's owned by just 8.77% of commanders, which seems really low to me for the number one ship.

2. Anaconda A bit of a surprise given it's high cost. But because it's a ridiculous ship that FDev goofed when designing, it makes sense that so many want it. I have one too

3. Python No surprise here either. Perhaps the most versatile ship in Elite, and certainly one of the finest (and meanest) looking. If somehow it came to be that we could only own one ship at a time, the Python would be in the final.

4.Sidewinder Everyone owns a 'Winder at one point. And I guess many keep them in their fleets beyond their usefulness. Sentimental. I remember mine, which was sold a long time ago. I called it Heatseeker. Sniff sniff

5. Cobra Mark III Great ship. My first new ship after the Winder. I really felt like I was moving up when I got one of these. Fast, good looks, reasonably versatile. Sold it eventually, but fondly remembered. It's always floating in the back of my mid to get another and engineer the hell out of it just because.

6 Diamondback Explorer Happy to see it so far up this list. Fantastic little ship. I love it. I remember when I first had a ship that could exceed 20 light years jump range and how exciting that was (Cobra III). My DBX jumps more than 70. How times have changed.

7. Vulture I've often said the Vulture is the best bang for the buck in combat ships. Two large hardpoints and amazing agility. It's the Spitfire of Elite. I flew one for a very long time. Great ship, but no versatility. Dogfighting only.

8. Krait II I think it shows how FDev nailed this one that a relatively new ship is this high on the list. Like a Python, but faster, more agile and better view, though it has one less big slot and therefore can't carry as much. If only it didn't look like sh!t Fantastic ship, and the other one (along with the Python) that would be in the final if we could have just one.

9. Fer-de-Lance Arguably the best fighter in Elite. Some will disagree no doubt. But the best blend of firepower, speed, handling and shields in my view. My main combat boat. Some folks hate the offset pilot's seat. I rarely even notice it anymore.

10. Corvette A beast. No better heavy fighter in the game. Never flown it myself, but have witnessed it's awesomeness first hand. It's locked behind high Fed rank, and is quite expensive. So to see it in the 10th slot shows how capable it is. More than any other ship perhaps, this is a grind-target.

11. Cutter The third of the Original Big Three (Conda, Corvette, Cutter). Also rank-locked and expensive, it's the preeminent bulk cargo ship. When CGs were still a thing, I would always see that the Cutter was the most-flown at the event. I've not flown this ship, and it was a goal at one point (since I need goals), but maybe not so much any more. Core mining and reaching Trade Elite has reduced my need for big moneymakers.


The least owned ships

31 Orca Blasphemy! A wonderful ship. I've owned one for a long time. It's engineered to run very fast and very cool. I use it for sightseeing, transport and smuggling. Criminally underrated in Elite I think. Did you know when you hit boost it goes 'Ding' like the fasten seatbelts tone on jetliners? Yes, it does I also like it because no one else does. That has value.

32 Diamondback Scout. We are entering the strata of ships where I have little first hand experience. The DBS has a small dedicated following. But it suffers I think from not being good at anything really. There is always a better choice.

33. Mamba I know it's fast. It's fast.

34. Keelback I only just sold this ship. I liked it's versatility, and used it as my planetary landing ship for gathering raw mats. It's the least expensive ship that can fit a fighter bay, which is pretty cool. But I decided in the end that aside from the fighter, there is nothing the Keelback can do that one of my other ships doesn't do better. And I don't have any hired minions, so the fighter was just for joyrides.

35. Federal Dropship A bit of a surprise to me to see the Dropship so far down the list. Seems to have a good rep, but few seem to own it. Odd, that.

36. Cobra Mark IV Owes it's position mostly to being an exclusive to backers and preorders? A bit of a mystery. Folks that own it guard it's exclusivity. Repeated calls by non-owners to have it made public have gone unrequited. Kinda makes ya want one doesn't it? Even just to say it's trash

37. Asp Scout A bit like the DBS, a ship that struggles to find it's niche.

And the least popular ship in Elite Dangerous is......

38. Alliance Crusader It's a relatively new ship, but few like it, and even fewer own it. One of the Chieftain variants, and not a good one at that, if ownership is anything to go by. Just 0.39 % of Inara commanders own this ship.

The list is pretty much what I’d have suspected. Of the higher ranked ships, I’ve never flown an AspX, Annie, or the Cobra.

This thread was worth it just to learn Bo has never flown an AspX. Shocked I tell ya

DBX fills my explo/taxi slot. Not to mention, up until a 18 months ago all I did in ED was combat. An AspX is NOT that.

I found some of the positions surprising. The Dropship I thought would have been higher. I'm also a bit surprised that the Sidewinder ranks so far up the list. I could see top 10, but 4th is not what I would have expected even if you get them for free (and with a demographic that has the big three in the top ten). How many of us still have one? Anaconda being number 2 is surprising (I need an synonym for surprising). Number 2? 38 ships, and the Anaconda is second? Hard to believe for me.

I would have expected one of the T-ships to be top ten too. I made a mistake and left out the Alliance Challenger which is actually number 35. Here's the list.

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

Another interesting thing on that page is the distribution of pilot's ranks. The largest percentage of pilots in each discipline are Combat Dangerous, Trade Elite and Exploration Elite. Coincidentally, so am I. But that gives a good idea of the levels of the players that the ship results come from. These aren't noobs on average that are holding on to their Sidewinders

I'm surprised the DBX is so far DOWN the list actually. I actually prefer using it to my AspX, I love it's exploration-centric design and its looks. Very insectiod IMO and rather different to the others' "basic polygon geometry" that has followed it from the original Elite when polygons were valuable.

So is that list a list of ships currently owned, or a list of all ships that have BEEN owned? Because I might speculate that more people would have owned a DBX at some point, but then sold it. It's great value for money and for people who's natural inclinations go to exploration, it's a definite shoe-in as their first ship upgrade.

It has to be currently owned or Sidewinder would be 100% I reckon.

I've actually gone back and purchased Sidewinders... I'd forgotten how fun it and the Eagle are to fly around.

AspX was my 'go to' before the Krait MkII. Surprising about the DBX... the jump range on that is great, but it could use a few more module slots... haven't gone back to it since the bump of the two size one slots being added

I believe the AspX was in the game at launch and the DBX was added later. My guess is folks who bought an Asp wouldn’t have bought a DBX when they were released if they already owned a ship in that role that worked well. Just. A guess.

I’m interested in the idea that FDev screwed up the design of the conda- how did they do that?

It's the hull mass.

By comparison, other large ships...


Beluga 950t
Cutter 1100t
Vette 900t
T-9 850t
T-10 1200t

The Anaconda is 400t. It's silly. That's only 50 tons more than a medium Python. This is why folks can build 70 light year Condas. The Anaconda's mass should be double what it is.

Wow! I never realized that. I wonder why they haven't brought that into line. I know there would be a good deal of whining, but I don't think you can really argue the point.

And once again, NO LOVE for the Federal Gunship. My GO TO COMBAT TANK for a very long time before the Anaconda.... I originally bought it just because it was the first ship I could afford that mounted a Fighter Bay.

No reason for a DROP SHIP when you can have a GUNSHIP...just like the SCOUT versions (ASP, DB) are not worth the effort when the EXPLORER versions are more versatile

The stats may be somewhat misleading... I think on INARA it lists the ASPx as my main ship, but I haven't actually FLOWN it in quite some time...

That should be on a bumper sticker


Main ship is something you set on Inara isn't it? Not meant to be a calculated result based on flight time. You just click the little M to set it. I have no main ship set.

JC, I reckon FDev just don't want to shovel the salt. Been that way since the beginning, no sense in kicking up that dust storm eh? But it makes me curious if it was intentional, or an oversight that stuck. Did they intend it to be 1400 tons and someone just entered the wrong value? I wonder if they've ever chimed in on this?

Actually, I checked and the Fed Gunship IS shown as MAIN on INARA! One of the Happy 1% ers!!

I think I assumed the wrong thing when I said that the numbers are percentage of commanders owning that ship. It is probably more accurate to say that the percentages are the total number of owned ships. I bet all of those add up to 100%, and is a very different thing.

So therefore 8% of all the owned ships are AspX's, but since we can own as many ships as we want at the same time, must reflect a much larger percentage of commanders owning that ship. Am I making sense?

Cutter was the best pirate ship...

When pirates were a viable career. Not anymore, not for a long, long time.


Cobra MK IV was best combat ship for a little while, even better than FDLs. I murdered FDLs in my MK IV. But then Frontier, as they always do, ruined the ship by nerfing the crap out of railguns. Never been the same since. No shields, max hull plating kits, dual heatsink launchers and five railguns = gg any ship that wanted to dance. Last time I tried that after the nerf, my MK IV exploded from overheating... or my railguns would always melt themselves well before my ship would die. Balancing mastery at its finest--nerf the hardest to use weapon and make it the most useless. Awesome job, FD devs.

I wish there was a reason to come back to Elite. I wish someone would tell me Open was thriving again. I miss those days of extortion and villainy. Most fun I've ever had online.

Sucks that it ruined it for you, but I don't think five-rail 200t ships should be viable. Try two rails and something else. Rails are not useless in the current game. Give it another go and you might find something for you. Open I'd say is fine, but PvP perhaps not in a good place at the moment. I don't intentionally PvP, but I read the forums.

I just experimented in Coriolis with the Cobra Mark IV. Don't own one so never messed around with it before. Couldn't really make it be a ship for me. Straight hull tank it is, which isn't my thing. Lots of slots for it's size though so can be a good hull tank for sure. Five hardpoints is nice. Got good jump with it too. But it's too slow and the C3 PD is small for five hardpoints. Plenty of configuration versatility though.

I don't know how well it works in Coriolis, but the resting heat it shows for the Cobra Mark IV is pretty high, even with some thermal modifications. Is it a hot ship?

Another ship that I never owned that I did this with recently is the T-6. I was shocked at how fast it was after I ran it through a build. It was as fast as my FDL!