Difference in Ship Classes?

[Cosamaru]

Ok so, I feel like this could be a horribly stupid question, seeing as I'm still super new, but I honestly can't find the answer to the question: What are the hardcoded differences (if any) between the five standard military ship classes? (Escort, Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, Capital Ship)

There don't seem to be any differences in component requirements or the maximum size, so...what exactly is the difference? Could you hypothetically have the exact same design, but one labeled as an escort and the other labeled as a Capital Ship? Is the only difference how the AI prioritizes the building and usage of the classes?

[PET]

From what I know the AI tends to prioritize the class for different things. Escorts will be used to patrol civilian ships... while a Capital ship might be used for big things... or smth like that.

That's if you let them on Automatic. Other than that you can use them yourself to know what type of ship it is. You can create a small escort ship that... will escort stuff.

You can create a Capital Ship with a lot of big stuff... like a Hyperdrive Jammer (forgot the name) and some fighter bays... stuff like that.

[Killface]

Check the in-game encyclopedia for a description on how the ships differ, in the Ships and Bases section.

I also remember somewhere in-game where you can check the attack value, defense value, etc. for each ship class. That, however, I cannot remember exactly where to look. Lol.

Hope that helps.

[smidlee]

From what I can tell this bascially gives you five different warships to build clicking on the icons. It helps keep your warships organized. ( click retrofit an escort will retrofit according to your latest "escort" design. )
You can build them any way you like as the name is used as reference. You can expect the AI capital ship be armed to the teeth compared to a destroyer though.

[Ri0Rdian]

Generally, this is for AI not for you, since every ship is usually defined by their size not class. Apart from special cases ofc (carriers, resupply) which have some requirements to fulfill on top of that.
I use it as way to tell those ships role apart. My capital ships are kinda slow lumbering monsters, with plenty of armor, shields, various boosting techs and loads of boarding crews. My tanks. Cruisers have the most firepower, but not a glasscanon. Destroyers are do-it-all ships, some design are mixed, some are used as a bombardement ships. Frigates are pure long range with ultra high speed and turning. Carriers are almost like capitals, but full of fighters and strong defense. :)

[BlackAlpha]

Here's a post I made not so long ago about this subject:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/261470/discussions/0/540743756979288694/#c540743757030106419

[Cosamaru]

Ahh thank you! That was a very good summary of how the AI treats the different classes.

[RedPine]

To summarize BlackAlpha, the ship classes exist to help the AI build ships appropriate to certain roles. The human player is free to use or ignore the ship classes at will.

Exception: Carrier ships are specialized to use extra fighters. Resupply ships are specialized for resupply.

Note: The player AI (automation), if turned on, can automatically assign ships of certain classes to certain roles, as follows: Escorts will only escort civilians. Frigates and destroyers can both escort civilians and be automatically assigned to a fleet. Cruisers and capital ships are automatically assigned to a fleet. If the player AI (automation) is turned off, the player can freely ignore these restrictions.

It might seem silly to have this many ship types, but due to the economy of ship maintenance, the complexity of ship combat, not to mention how insanely ships can be, having this many ship classes could be considered quite conservative.