Recommend me some ships

[D55]

Been going through trying out ships,editing them so i can buy them in a new custom start straight away,cheating money and painstakingly buying them and testing if i can dock ships on them,can they land,will they crash my game if i try pilot them.
The problem is its taking ages so i thought id ask here and hopefully people wont mind asking and ive made a thread in the right place.

Ships im looking for

TL: Can dock ships on to it up to M3 (but M6 would be nice),can dock itself at equipment docks and shipyards without crashing due to size or shape

M1: Same as above but as many turrets as possible

M6 Plenty of turrents/gun points and i must be able to pilot it which will mean it must be able to dock at all stations

M7 Thats fun to explore/fight

Im using this to find ships http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=274276 but if you have another source then please feel free to add it.

Been wanting to try this game since Friday but ive spent most of my free time since then learning to install scripts and working out which work,the ships are my final step so any help would be massively appreciated.

[Irrehaare]

Firstly, if you are having trouble with ships of such clases crashing due to size it's more like technical/gameplay problem rather then ship itself. Only ships that size are problematic are M2+ and Aran. Also, some stations couse troble (player headquarters).

Here is from where I get data about ships:
http://x3wiki.com/index.php/Ships
http://roguey.co.uk/x3ap/ships/
Tables on a wiki are awesome, but when checking out fighters remember they have different versions (raider, sentinel, prototype...).

TL: Many people chose either Split Elephant as first TL they (cheap, many fighter docks but small cargo hold) or Argon Mammoth (well balanced and with largest hold).

M1: These are carriers, so they usually have similar amount of turrets as M2 (destroyers), but much weaker generators, so they can hold long in a direct fight with destroyers. They are meant to deploy fighterwings (30M3s is a very strong thing on a battlefield) and they need protection. I'd recommend Raptor and Colossus (Argon and Split rules again), becouse of large hangardecks. If you want a destroyer go with OTAS Boreas.

M6: Just go into wiki ( http://x3wiki.com/index.php/M6; http://x3wiki.com/index.php/M6%2B ) and choose. Every M6 will be able to dock on every station, just as a rule. From what you said I think you are looking for playership; in such case I recommend Skiron or even better Hyperion if you can get one (without cheats - boarding). Also many people like Springblossom.

M7: My recomendation is Split Panther or Tiger. Or better yet both of them. With 20 Solanos in Panther you get quick, efficient and fairly cheap strike force that is fun to lead. Altough you may want to have a few M8s ready to jump to you to help with bigger stuff.

Honorable mentions: Xenon ships are hard to get but their M7, M1, M2 and M2+ are awesome and very quick to produce in headquarters. You'd still have to supply them with shields an turrets though. Drake and Mistral are best TS+ and TS ships and Ocelot is a cool TP. Guppy is a funny thing to deploy fighters but very easy to shoot down. Susanowa Prototypes and Aamon are probably best fighters you can get (apart from Terran stuff) and Nova Prototype or Solanos are good choice if you want to fill the carrier quickly.

Wish you luck ;)

Holy crap, you meant mod ships. oops...
I can't help with this, I've installed a lot of mods, but I've never wanted more ships in the game.

[D55]

Thanks though for the reply, I'm a long time x series player but I stopped at x3 reunion as I had so many great mods and ships loaded I didn't see much point in playing the newer games as they didn't bring more than I already had.
When it was all on offer a few weeks back I decided to get the bundle and try them out.
I pretty much know all the Base game ships and wanted to try some new ones so they stand out from the fairly basic designs.
I will try again tonight to add more ships and do some more testing

[Tiberius]

TL:
Mammoth
Ozias (not obtainable): can carry 12 TS.



M1: I dont really use this class, but i use split panther as substitute. Do not pick any terran ships (weak weapon selection for its class; over reliance on missile)



M6:
Vidar (ATF): good If you can feed M/AM ammo

springblossom (terran): strong m6 that is also very fast. very hard to arm (since its best wpn is experimental starburst)



M6+:
Hyperion (Paranid): arguably the best M6. can dock 2 fighters or smaller ship. Also can use one of the most powerful missile (wraith missile)

Acinonyx Prototype: if you're looking for m6 that can shoot boarding pods. Not really good against capital ships. Obtainable very late in the game.

Heavy centaur prototype (Argon): all around good corvette, good looking too.



M7: Pretty balance class. Almost every ship is good

Shrike: the most fun ship. great turret placement, shield capacity, and okayish hangar. also pretty cheap to buy.

Tiger: Can wield IBL, PALC and FAA. Fast and agile. Best mini destroyer of m7 class. Also its slim body makes it easier to dodge bullets.

Thresher: aka the sniper. Can wield some of the most powerful lasers in AP, but has limited laser generator, which is the reason you should use this ship as long range sniper.

Agamemnon (doesnt have hangar) and deimos: aka the brawler. Its strongest weapon is PSG, which destroy things but has limited range. Both have the highest shield of all m7 class.

And ofc the whole m7m class if your definition of fun is watching everything around you explode

[Tiberius]

Btw if you're planning to use carriers, you may want to look at bounce and beamdock mod. It will save you from the headache of X3 dumb AI

[D55]

I have bounce but i wonder if beamdock would solve my game crashes when i try dock a fighter on a modified ship,im going to have a search to see and it could solve my current headache of nothing i load in to the game will let anything dock on to it.

Youve been really helpful and i appreciate the input and advice/suggestions

Edit: Do you have a link to a working version of Beamdock for Albion prelude?