THE NEW SHIP HUNT: Stats do NOT upgrade randomly

[Rexxer]

I noticed most people looking for ships focus on the general type, form and skin or color, etc. What seems to be missing is something more telling. It's default name. The stats of the ship are directly related to the name. (Technically, the term "skin" is also related to the name, but you can't google the looks as easily as a name).

I recently did some scrapping experiments which shows the same named ship (not the same ship per se, but same name class) will upgrade consistently to the same stats, so upgrading is far from random. For example, if an A-class "Murgatroy's Delight" upgrades from a stat set of say, 20/50/140/300 to an S-class stat set of 50/100/175/410, then all "Murgatroy's Delight" ships will endpoint at those stats, whether you start from C, B, or A. I found some small explorers for example that consistently upgrade near the max for all explorers large or small. So the max seed it upgrades to is correlated to the ship's name, but is also vaguely related to its ship type (explorer, fighter, shuttle, hauler) which is what most people normally classify ships by.

For example, in one station I focused on a small explorer to see how different ships with the same name would upgrade. I chose a small grasshopper explorer named CM7 Nemura and upgraded a number of these Class A ships to Class S:

(Stats are in order: damage, shields, hyperdrive, manoeuvrability)

Ship 1: Class A: Stats: 56.4/ 184.0/ 129.4/ 380.9
Ship 2: Class A: Stats: 55.9/ 180.9/ 143.4/ 391.9
Ship 3: Class A: Stats: 56.2/ 170.2/ 126.5/ 380.9
Ship 4: Class A: Stats: 56.4/ 178.4/ 145.8/ 387.7

Every ship, despite having different Class A stats, when upgraded to Class S were the same:
Ship 1-4: Class S: Stats (78.9/ 189.9/ 171.6/ 425.2)
All the same outcome. The same.

I also tried B and C versions, and they also upgraded the same in S-class.

I then tried other small explorer types, and the final outcome was different between differently named ships, but not for the same named ship. I even found one *small* explorer that upgraded to 180 hyperdrive in S-class, which is what many large S-class explorers often peg out at.

I then branched out to shuttles and fighters. The same. The name of the ship is related to the final S-class stats. And it is predictable if you know the ship name.

This means the real hunt should be at random stations throughout the galaxy to find the ship that upgrades most the stat you want for your personal ship. Fly to a station, pick out the Class A ships, then trial upgrade them to see what their stats max out to. Once you know the default name of the ship, you know its seed, and you know exactly what stats you will end up with when upgrading to S. No matter which random class of it flies into the station you are at.

I'd love to know which ship names drop the best stats in each ship category. But where are the lists for these ships? I can't find any.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

Good researching! Not sure I agree with your conclusion. Just keep in mind that once you leave C class, there are diminishing returns on ship stats. At the far end, it is really only warp distance that has any practical value.

The original game was all C class...but there were no other classes at that time. A fully upgraded C class can take on anything in the game...know that because I actually did that on one of my NEXT saves.

Warp is the primary deciding factor...and even that becomes pretty minor in a specific ship type. Exotics have the best overall stats, and now that they can be upgraded to 48/21 slots are probably the best choice.

The main takeaway is still the same as the original game. Want a tank? pick a hauler. Want a hybrid hauler/explorer...get a shuttle. Want great warp range and good view, get an explorer. Want a good view and fairly comparable warp range...get an exotic.

You can "cheat' the stats using the save game editor, so talking plain vanilla.

[Rexxer]

Originally posted by Mr. Bufferlow:

Good researching! Not sure I agree with your conclusion. Just keep in mind that once you leave C class, there are diminishing returns on ship stats. At the far end, it is really only warp distance that has any practical value.

The original game was all C class...but there were no other classes at that time. A fully upgraded C class can take on anything in the game...know that because I actually did that on one of my NEXT saves.

Warp is the primary deciding factor...and even that becomes pretty minor in a specific ship type. Exotics have the best overall stats, and now that they can be upgraded to 48/21 slots are probably the best choice.

The main takeaway is still the same as the original game. Want a tank? pick a hauler. Want a hybrid hauler/explorer...get a shuttle. Want great warp range and good view, get an explorer. Want a good view and fairly comparable warp range...get an exotic.

You can "cheat' the stats using the save game editor, so talking plain vanilla.

I agree hyperdrive range is the only stat worth chasing. Even in the early game, shields and damage were almost meaningless since shielding is essentially infinite if you have enough Sodium Nitrate to recharge them with. Infinite shielding means infinite damage as well since pirates don't recharge their shields, (or if they do, they can't do it faster than the starter ship's guns can take them down).

Manoeuvrability, however, that's a creature comfort. It's important. Fortunately, explorers have both high hyperdrive range and high manoeuvrability, and that was why I picked small explorers as my initial test sample. The surprise was that you can get a small grasshopper explorer off the rack and upgrade it to 3000+ hyperdrive range and 48/21 inventory. Better than the old "large" explorers.