Any difference other than cosmetic between ship types?

[Trip]

Are all ship types essentially the same other than the number of expansion tech / cargo spots? I own 2 fighters, a solar ship, hauler, and an exotic. Other than outside appearance, they all feel the same when upgraded.

[Mr. Bufferlow]

No super differences. Explorers have the best warp range of the ship types. Now that the easy way to get to the center of the galaxy does not involve warping...and actually very few things require warping great distances, there is no significant differences when they are fully upgraded.

Back in the original game, the types did have specific pluses and minus features and you had to make the tough call. You could only have one ship at that time.

Over the updates, they have given players what they wanted - tons of ships and tools and no barriers for upgrading. This is great if you have a cosmetic look you want, but kind of ruins the challenge if you are looking at ships or tools as unique items that provide specific benefits depending on how you want to play the game. They did have unique values that had a big impact on your game, but not anymore.

[Trip]

That is what I figured but did not want to hear. It cheapens the experience by taking away the unique value each ship had to offer.

[Prescient Stones]

Originally posted by Trip:

That is what I figured but did not want to hear. It cheapens the experience by taking away the unique value each ship had to offer.

Whoa...seems this is a matter of choice and Feel.. I like many, Feel the explorer is an unsung treasure in that it "seems" to catch and kill the enemy faster. Lands on a dime, and doesn't get all tangled up in the squadrons fighters.

Ones, solar ships are great for hunting down. Organic Frigates. It can just last before refilling the tank on the long Pulse drive search's for whale songs. yet in a battle you squadron will get hung up in your sails.

Even the High ass Explores with the funky wings will tangle, so will the long finned Exotics, Fighters and Sentential.

Over my many saves, the lil firefly exotic has been battle tested even before it was tricked out with S-Class mods.


oh and this thread I meant to copy in but missed.
https://steamcommunity.com/app/275850/discussions/0/4365752495734417236/#c4365752495737309688

[BigKahuna]

They are not entirely the same. Refueling, repairing living ships requires different materials and upgrading them takes special space encounters. Solar ships have unique tech installed, utilising their solar sails to boost pulse drive performance, recharging the drive and improving maneuverability. Sentinel ships are unique too, don't know about their differences in detail though. Lastly yes, explorers, shuttles, fighters and haulers can all end up with same stats on S class and all maxed out nowadays. But depending on which stats you care about that is a significant grind which varies notably in length depending on the ship class.

See here for all details: https://nomanssky.fandom.com/wiki/Starship

[caseyas435943]

Originally posted by Trip:

Are all ship types essentially the same other than the number of expansion tech / cargo spots? I own 2 fighters, a solar ship, hauler, and an exotic. Other than outside appearance, they all feel the same when upgraded.

They all get different buffs. But you don't need them. Just pick a ship you think looks cool and you are golden.

This is not a hard game. Doing 50K damage with your ship will murder anything is seconds. Doing 150K is just over kill. Numbers you don't need.

If it dies in 2 seconds or 1 what doing it matter, it's dead.

The game is about Tec slots. Get a ship with the most and you are good. The most comes on S class ships to start when you find them. All ships can have the same ending number, but a C class will cost you more in upgrades to get them where a S will not.

For what I always put on my ships I need 28. Once a find one or can cheaply make one (that looks cool of course) I use it.

Sometimes the game just forces you to take a ship you think it ugly. Case in point I'm on a new save. Got a quest fighting to space to go find a Sentinel ship. Never seen that quest before so why not.

I land get the mirror and brain. I click on the ship and it's a S. Really? I'm still in my starter ship barely 3 hours old and a butt ugly S class Sentinel ship is right there. Sadly, I had to take it. The upgrade put quite simple was too much to pass up. Even though it's on ugly looking ship that I can hardly wait to replace. The game was mocking me with it.

"Go on take it."

"No!"

"But look at me I'm an S with all those tec slots. Look at those 4 super charged slots nicely stacked on the right side. Think of all those tec slots as well."

"Fine! But don't think I'm keeping you."

"We will see."

The game mocks.

[Guh~hey~hey~♫]

Depends on their rank, but once max rank their class bonus kinda make a difference yeah.
- Fighter does up to almost twice the damage of other ships with the same level of upgrade (the only starship class that really matter imo)
- Explorer/science vessels have the highest hyperdrive range (not that it matters once you get a freighter, but can be usefull early on.... if you manage ot get your hands on an S-rank explorer at that stage of the game)
- Haulers have the biggest shield
- Exotic, solarsails and interceptors have good stats all across the board, none as high as the best stat of the 3 specialist above tho.... they have higher shield and hyperdrive range than a fighter but never higher damages, higher damages than a hauler or explorer but less shield than a hauler and less HR than an explorer.
They have another difference: Their take-off and landing are slightly longer because of that small animation they play when doing so (folding, unfolding of moving parts).
Might get really annoying after a while.....
- Shuttles have bonuses at everything (kinda like exotic, solar and interceptors), but all at very low levels. Only advantage: they are cheap, so you might wanna exchange your starter ship for one to have more slots early on.

If you're not sure, get your hands on the best fighter you can find and stick with it..... that's for a reason that all unique starships are of that class....

[Prescient Stones]

Originally posted by caseyas435943:

The game was mocking me with it.

"Go on take it."

"No!"

"But look at me I'm an S with all those tec slots. Look at those 4 super charged slots nicely stacked on the right side. Think of all those tec slots as well."

"Fine! But don't think I'm keeping you."

"We will see."

The game mocks.

I want to see the video of when you haul that ugly ship to be SLAGGED!

the narration is just as good. But a video to go with it would be awesome.

[caseyas435943]

Originally posted by Prescient Stones:

Originally posted by caseyas435943:

The game was mocking me with it.

"Go on take it."

"No!"

"But look at me I'm an S with all those tec slots. Look at those 4 super charged slots nicely stacked on the right side. Think of all those tec slots as well."

"Fine! But don't think I'm keeping you."

"We will see."

The game mocks.

I want to see the video of when you haul that ugly ship to be SLAGGED!

the narration is just as good. But a video to go with it would be awesome.

I've trash squids for the parts.

I'll go looking for a cool looking Solar in an outlaw station get an S it that ship will be gone.

The game knows I hate Sentinel ships and squids. I've already seen 3 squids in this play through. I couldn't get myself to even buy them or the parts. They have to be the ugliest ships in the game.

When I first saw one, I thought that's cool it's going to open up somehow when you take off like a solar ship does and look cool. Nope. It keeps that butt ugly look parked or flying.

Who designed that ugly thing should never be in ship design again.

[frazzled]

If I could change one thing in NMS, it would be to establish real differences that matter between the starships. Haulers should be huge. Fighters should be vicious. Explorers should have legs thiiiiiiiiiiiis long. Shuttles should be extremely thrifty.

Living ships should be able to self repair.
Sentinels should have something odd, like a stealth/cloaking ability.

Exotics should have unique, variable mixes of the above features (except in a small size.) That would make them fun to seek out to see what the RNG creates.

As it is, it almost doesn't matter what you fly. Any ship can do it all.

[Johnny in the Clouds]

I managed to collect a squadron of v'ykeens all flying solar ships. All really mobile and fast in battle. They can be upgraded on the freighter but it was more fun to seek out new and improved ships in the system. The current squadron seems a lot more 'reliable' than my previous set of a mixture of ships that even included a Hauler (c class). Whether upgrading the Hauler to an s would have made a difference I don't think so, but anyway I found a fun system with solar ships to choose from : ) I'll probably change them again some time to a squadron of interceptors if that's possible.

Funny really we never see (or I have missed) NPCs landing living ships. Now I think about it I don't think I have seen NPCs landing interceptors either. It would be good even if we can not buy them or get a smart remark like 'go find it yourself' or 'grah, go away no sell' says the grumpy vy'keen.

[Doctor Teo]

Originally posted by caseyas435943:

"Go on take it."

"No!"

"But look at me I'm an S with all those tec slots. Look at those 4 super charged slots nicely stacked on the right side. Think of all those tec slots as well."

"Fine! But don't think I'm keeping you."

"We will see."

The game mocks.

Been there. It was a 3+1 SC slot setup Exotic, with the 1 slot so close that it could effectively be a 4, it was just offset by one to the right from being perfect. But looks wise, it had JUST the big bottom wings, which I think was weird as hell. It sat in my freighter hangar for ages. I thought about doing some save editor manipulation to turn it into a death ball, but I kept putting it off.

Finally found a gorgeous A-class Hauler. I tried saying no to it, but it had the right wings, the right back, had that nice 'working ship' vibe, while also having a 3 slot. Needed to make room, and finally ditched that Exotic.

[Teratus]

There are differences, some can be pretty big ones but any ship can be upgraded to the point where it's vastly superior to anything that can threaten you.

If you want to min/max though you'll spend a lot of time looking for that perfect ship even among it's own type.
There is an element of RNG with the ships base stats.

So for the most part go after the ships you really like the look of more than anything as how much you like a particular ship will effect how much you want to use it a lot more over how capable it actually is.

[Johnny in the Clouds]

Originally posted by Teratus:

There are differences, some can be pretty big ones but any ship can be upgraded...

If you want to min/max though you'll spend a lot of time looking for that perfect ship even among it's own type.
There is an element of RNG with the ships base stats....

Key are the base stats when comparing identical looking ships and class. The higher the basic stat the better. Those stats can be seen by viewing the ship with the Analysis Visor. Any stats in brackets indicate the base stats, or if no brackets, that is the basic stat but without tech added to improve it.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2986575364
*** About ships - in the cockpit while flying the ship can make use of the power divert function ( UP on the controller D-Pad.) Cycling through the control choices by pressing the button will increase power to either shields, engine or weapons or balanced.

It does make a difference in battle, but it is easy to forget to use it and to forget which selection is set. Though I think there is a visual display reminder in the cockpit.

But only skilled heroes truly are masters of the Power Divert Button lol

[esturias]

They have some differences in stats, but that's completely irrelevant. For 90% of my gameplay time, I used a B class shuttle, because it had a lot of slots and good damage stats.
It's pretty lame that nothing really matters. Would be awesome to have big haulers with lots of slots and maybe even mining capabilities, versus fighters which really shine at... well... fighting.

[gNg]

I'd love to have a reason to keep different types of ships for different purposes instead of just having one that does everything.
Can you imagine the squeals of protest from people whose favourite ships got "nerfed" if HG made this happen though?