Whats the difference between ship classes?

[RedHaze1911]

Is it just C is better bigger and more expensive than than B and so on?

[Raven]

Basically, ship Class is determined by what type of Reactor you fit to your ship. C big, A small. Ship parts also link to Class, ie. A Class A ship can't use class B parts but a Class B can use Class A, etc. Class C has more power if you want a bigger ship/more habs.

You also have to up your skill level to pilot a higher class ship.

Not really bigger/better, it just depends on what you want. Class A is fine if you want a minimal build, you can also have a small Class C , that just doesn't use all the available power.

[DANEDANGER]

A clas have the faster speed up range while C class can move the most mass, B is a somewhat in between of the other classes. To me what helped was to reclass the A-B-C into A - Fighter class - B Destroyer sized - C Battleship/heavy transport

[xPEDx]

weapons are class restricted, and more powerful the higher the class. I can put a C class reactor on a ship, fit it with A class engines and B class gravdrive, it can equip C class Weapons , move like a small A class, and jump like a B class. ALL GOOD :)

[Kosevich]

Main advantage is max generated power of a ship reactor.
More power = more weapons you can install and maintain descent recharge rate.

Theoretically small A class ship can have alot of weapons and small engines (less power to engines). But that definitely will lead to very small cargo size (not enough engines power to provide thrust).

In practice big C class ship can have all advantages in one ship.
Huge engines, lots of weapons, strongest shield, additional hull integrity and all that with about 5-6k cargo space.
But all above require ALOT of skill points invested.

Your character need to be at least lvl 60 to unlock the best ship parts,
-Piloting lvl 4 to pilot C class ship (required to destroy at least 50 ships in space combat);
-ship engineering lvl4 to install top tier equipment;
-crew management (allow to hire crew that add higher than lvl 4 stat bonuses);
-Payloads (+50% additional cargo space);
-Shield mastery (increase shield power from 1600 to 3000+);
-advanced repairs;
-improved targeting;
-additional reactor power;
-...

HUGE investment in space ship skills required.
While class A ship is just grab ang go.

[Just Chill]

Don't forget that you get top speed of 180 (as displayed in the ship builder) only with Class A White Dwarf 3015.
All other versions of the White Dwarf engine only goes up to 150.

So adding a small Class C reactor to have access to the best weapons / Grav drives / Shields, but not adding too much parts to keep the mass down, will give you a very fast tiny ship.


But as written before, you need a lot of skills and at least level 60 to really have access to the best parts.

[AuddieD]

From my experience, a Class A does just fine most of the time. The benefit of a Class C is the available shields but, honestly, the best shield I have found, the Vanguard shield, is only Class B. You don't even need to finish the quest line to access Vanguard gear, only the first mission. The highest DPS weapons are Class A. The fastest engines that use the least power to run them are Class A. Granted, the highest reactor output is Class C but you can lower power needs by using particle beams vs enery/physical because particle does both types of damage and two pip engines to move a smaller ship faster. Fancy vs practical. Of course, Class C ships are a lot more impressive.

[Duneman]

A Class are your civilian clunker ships, maybe light scouts at best. You'll always be a bit vulnerable in an A Class ship. Some of their low power drain weapons can offset the low defense with a high combined offense.

B Class is your military grade ship, now able to use automated turrets and having 90% of the potential of C Class equipment. You'll get additional long range options as well with your weaponry.

C Class is if you want everything to be bigger, more hull and shields, more mass for cargo, etc. You can easily drag around 6,000-10,000 cargo while maintaining 100 points of Mobility.