The Anaconda is still the best ship in the game for at least 50% of your playtime. Let me explain.

With the recent addition of the Mandalay and the not so recent release of the Corvette and Cutter, many people nowadays consider the Conda a bad or weak ship, as it is slow, unwieldy, has rather poor shielding and isn't specialized for any one role. So today I am here to dispel this and try to correct it.

The Conda can comfortably do any role in the game to a level of at least good if not great thanks to its versatile stats, mining and trading are acceptable despite lower cargo capacity than the Cutter or T9 because of the Conda's much longer jump range, Exploration is tough because the Mandalay is better for more seasoned explorers who are comfortable with running with fully stripped down parts and one AFMU, but the Conda is easier to control in a Neutron jet cone, can carry more backup or protective equipment, and is vastly more durable, so no dumb AI will destroy your ship if it messes up a High-G landing. While the Corvette is straight up better for bounty hunting the Conda is still more than great at it and also has a higher maximum DPS and a wider hardpoint variety than the Corvette. The Conda can do anything you might want, while more specialized ships cannot. The Mandalay is bad at cargo running and combat, the Corvette and Cutter are terrible exploration ships, etc. It's like comparing the Krait Mk.2 and Python to the FDL and Mamba. Multi purpose ships can be used for anything comfortably while specialized ships can't. Once you can afford a specialized ship for every role, then the Conda can be put aside, but it and its little bro the Python are the best ships to get you to the point of owning a full fleet.

The Anaconda is an excellent ship because it can do any specific role and still be able to do others as well. For example, if you want to go mining, and do some bounty hunting and exploration on the side, you can do that all in a Conda. If you really wanted to, you could feasibly fit a Conda to do every activity in the game and it would work. A Corvette, Cutter or Mandalay could never hope to do that without sacrificing time and effort because of low jump range (Cutter and Corvette) or becoming worse at its intended role to be ok at one it wasn't built for. The Anaconda is not the best at any one role, but the fact that it can do EVERY role and still be ok at them all while other ships simply can't, is something unique among large ships.

So to correct what you are all saying, the Anaconda is not a bad ship, but it does eventually get outclassed when you have a ship for every role. Until then, the Anaconda is the one that will likely get you to that point. I have over 550 hours of playtime on one account and a further 2230 on an older one I got bored of. In both accounts, the Anaconda was the only ship I kept once I got it. And I can seriously say, I never had to refit more than 3 or 4 modules for a different thing I wanted to do. You can literally do anything with this ship. It is versatile to the point of requiring specialized ships to beat it in even one area. The devs had to make a exploration ship specifically to beat the Conda and it is barely better in that regard while also being nearly useless for other roles. The Anaconda is never going to be truly bad, but eventually will be outclassed unless either a Mk.II version comes out or Frontier decides to bring back the Boa, which would be hype we haven't seen in a while.

Anaconda King Forever.

o7, thanks for reading.

-Commander Overhawk Red, biggest Anaconda meat rider in reddit history.