Best ship for each class

[Foodoman]

Hey guys! Just curious as to what the best ship for each class and why. Thanks guys!

[Fox]

That question isn't really answerable, since it all depends on what use you are planning to put the ship to, what you need it for.

For example, in standard freighters, the Boron Dolphin usually has the highest freight capacity, which is important in a trading vessel. But they also tend to be very slow, and can be pipped to good deals by Split Caimans, which are much quicker but have less cargo space. And both of them may be outclassed by Teladi ships in terms of shield strength, since the Teladi are known for making their ships highly shielded. And that's not taking into account other factors such as price, availabillity, upgradabillity, etc etc.

It's the same for every class. All ships have strengths and weaknesses, and which would suit you best depends on your play style and the job you need the ship to do.

Best advice I can give is to check out the X3 wiki, that has stats for pretty much every ship on there. You can look up all the ships in a particular class, compare their statistics with each other, and decide which one you would like the best based on that.

[Tripps]

Aldrin M3s are the best fighters, Springblossom is the best M6(some think Hyperion Vanguard(or something like that) and i see their point, my preference is the 'blossom). As for M7/M1/M2 its mostly a matter of opinion.

[Destin Faroda]

The German X-fanpage Seizewell has a nice ship database which allows you to easily compare ships according to class or race. Even if you're not German, it should still be understandable.
http://seizewell.de/x3ap/schiffe/ships.php
Personally, I like the Terran and Aldrin ships, but that's just a matter of taste.

[$300]

The best site for comparing ships in my opinion is Roguey's website. http://roguey.co.uk/x3ap/ships/

Right then, assuming you're playing vanilla..:

On paper, the Terran ships, but most of all the ATF ships, will always be better than any Commonwealth ship of the same class. Superior stats all around.

This is supposedly "balanced" by the fact that Terran and ATF ships are harder to equip efficiently since the Terran economy was neglected by egosoft. Among other things, they don't have any protein paste blending facilities which is their main food ingredient, so the Terran faction slowly starves to death upon game start. There are also way less Terran weapon factories than Commonwealth factories, so equipping even a single M2 is a pain.

It is a quantity versus quality type of deal. Commonwealth ships require less investment and are cheaper to produce, Terran ships are superior but more expensive and require a weapon production infrastructure set up by the player. If you commit to going Terran, you're in for some headaches.

Among the Commonwealth, I prefer the Split ships. Their fast, aggressive glass cannon "kill 'em dead before they can kill me" attitude fits my playstyle perfectly. :)

[=)]

I capped a Spitfire M3 (terran or atf cant remember).. its freaking fast like 400m/s and if you can get the guns for it.. f'ing nasty. also has the essential rear turret for anti missile cover.
My requirements for an M3 fighter are 150+ m/s, atleast 3 25mj shields and a rear turret for the missile spam.
The nova prototype you start with is good but its laser energy and recharge is so crap it can barely kill another m3 before running dry even if I dont miss much. (plus did they nerf HEPTs or what?!)

[Foodoman]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von =):

I capped a Spitfire M3 (terran or atf cant remember).. its freaking fast like 400m/s and if you can get the guns for it.. f'ing nasty. also has the essential rear turret for anti missile cover.
My requirements for an M3 fighter are 150+ m/s, atleast 3 25mj shields and a rear turret for the missile spam.
The nova prototype you start with is good but its laser energy and recharge is so crap it can barely kill another m3 before running dry even if I dont miss much. (plus did they nerf HEPTs or what?!)

My Nova Raider has grown on me a bit. I've put 4 partical accerlators and 4 mass drivers on it. and I find it rips through stuff easy.

[GanksThor]

M1 : idk
M2 : I or Wallhalla because most Firepower,or sleek M2 like Boreas or Tyr because you can easy avoid Shoots
M3 : Thor very fast and deadly
M4 : idk
M5 : Pegasus fastest Ship
M6 : Springblossom (very fast and your Turrets never miss)or Hyperion (a lot of Turrets,good Speed )
M7 : Q
M7M : Cobra ,best for boarding
M8 : idk
Tm : Zephyr Strong shields and Speed

[Fox]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Profi Skateboardbrecher:

M5 : Pegasus fastest Ship

Not to be picky, but where did you get the idea the Pegasus was the fastest M5? It's only the joint-8th fastest...seven other M5s are quicker than it (not counting the special ships), and the fastest of them all is the Teladi Kestrel.

Source: X3 Wiki

http://x3wiki.com/index.php/M5

[Destin Faroda]

According to Seizewell, these are the fastest M5s:
Argon Blitz (1320 m/s)
Argon Starburst (1140 m/s)
Pirate Harpy (635 m/s)
Teladi Harpy (605 m/s)
Split Jaguar Improved (602 m/s)

The best M6 is, hands down, the Springblossom due to its superior speed and maneuverability. Besides, Starbursts are excellent anti-fighter weapons and M/AM are useful too as they donn't eat much weapon energy.
It is not recommended for OOS battles though.

[Fox]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Destin Faroda:

According to Seizewell, these are the fastest M5s:
Argon Blitz (1320 m/s)
Argon Starburst (1140 m/s)
Pirate Harpy (635 m/s)
Teladi Harpy (605 m/s)
Split Jaguar Improved (602 m/s)

Why does it call the Arrow 'Blitz' and the Kestrel 'Harpy'? Are those the names in another language, or is there another reason? Names from TC not AP perhaps...?

And yeah, as I said in my post above, I was not counting the special enhanced and reward ships in my assessment, hence why I said that the Kestrel was the fastest. The Arrow, Starburst and other enhanced ships are in a separate league as far as I'm concerned, since they're unique and can't be bought/captured.

[Destin Faroda]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von "Rhymane":

Are those the names in another language, or is there another reason?

I've copied the names from the German Seizewell ship table.

[Fox]

Hm, interesting. Egosoft must have named them different things in different languages then o.O

[Hydra_360ci]

Actually... the Pirate Kestrel is faster than the Teladi version.
But it's hard to acquire... Have to cap it.

Likely the Harpy on that list is the Kestrel.

http://x3tc.hgam.net/x3_tc_ships/list.php?class=9&race=0&o=4&d=0&s=&p=0