Firestorm class or standard class ship

[Walt von Keisel-Walther]

Is there any difference between both? I noticed some people saying one misses certain weapons and equipment.

[Gunchitus]

I always go Firestorm, looks way better imo. The weapon differences are like not having torpedoes right away but you re-gear your ship pretty fast if you're actually looking for space battles in Chapter 2. Fly what you want, its cosmetic more than anything.

[Balekai]

Yeah I went for the Firestorm too, which actually may be the best starter ship since it starts with more overall up front firepower (I believe better macro cannons and an extra short ranged macro weapon in the prow rather than missiles).

Basically it's better to just outright eliminate enemy ships per turn for the first 3ish battles, because you don't have any good manoeuvrability abilities until you level. So you can't really run away and let the missiles do the work. In the beginning they're just a wasted weapon slot if you don't want to take damage which again, could be used for finishing enemies right away rather than the next round or whatever with the missiles.

Gunchitus is also right when he says you will upgrade quickly. By the end of Janus/start of Dargonus, you can pretty much replace all your starting weapons with much better weapons including 2 good lances, and the best missiles in the game being the Aeldari "Audacity of Janus" missiles (you get them from a Janus Chronicle event. They have no internal turn cooldown on use which is what makes them so powerful, in addition to 4 strong missiles doing 30 damage each).

My Chapter 2 experiences in detail and how I dealt with Ship/Colony upgrades to get the most out of upgrading both:

https://steamcommunity.com/app/2186680/discussions/0/4038104984929792177/

Lastly the Firestorm ship looks cool and I believe has a unique skin compared to all other ships, making your small frigate ship feel much more special. Like Mass Effect's Normandy, or the Andromeda in the Andromeda series lol. :D

The model for the other special ship class you get with the winged statue on stop of it, shows up in game as an enemy ship class now and then I believe.