What's the difference between similar ships?

[Midas]

Typically I'm seeing Freighters (looking at a Helios vs a Selene currently) where one of the two variants has slightly more cargo space and hull value, and doesn't seem to have anything else offsetting it. I'm sure the 'weaker' looking variant must have some advantage, but I'm not seeing anything obvious in its stats of equipment options. So why would I choose something like a Selene over a Helios when the Helios just has better cargo and hull?

[Diomedes]

One could be faster or easier to handle, more shields, mount more turrets etc etc. Though there are always going to be superior options in the end of the day.

[Midas]

Originally posted by SmashStomp:

One could be faster or easier to handle, more shields, mount more turrets etc etc. Though there are always going to be superior options in the end of the day.

So I have to go through all of its options and compare it all one by one? There's no way to see in an overview what the perks are of one variant to another?

[Wraith]

in the encyclopedia there is a ship comparison tab.
Use that to compare ships.

[Gregorovitch]

I think it depends on the extent that you want to min-max and obsess over small efficiencies. Except for one thing thing, the difference between L and M class freighters.

Using L class freighters over M's is extremely efficient (profitable) in certain situation and extremely unprofitable in others. The reasons are quite complex but the bottom line is that if an L freighter usually, almost always, delivers a full load then is it is going to pay you hand over fist but if not then you should always use M's. If L class freighters are viable at all for a particular assignment then the bigger capacity the better, speed is not that important.

Other than that comparing M freighters is mostly about speed vs capacity, the faster ones usually have less capacity than the slower ones. Whether speed is more important than capacity or visa versa for a particular freighter depends on the typical routes it will be flying, i.e. the actual trades it does. It is entirely situational. It is also extremely difficult and time consuming to monitor all your freighter's precise work patterns such that you could possibly calculate accurately whether speed > capacity or visa versa for any given assignment.

I have not noticed any meaningful difference in survivability between different M class freighters, I don't think guns and shields are worth bothering to compare.

For these reasons one might argue that if you pick a model that has average speed and average capacity you can't really go wrong. You could also say that in the grand scheme of things it doesn't actually matter one jot what M class freighter you use, just buy any one you fancy or toss a coin rather than obsess over it.

Put it this way, choosing the location of your station and deciding what production modules to build for it, what to sell, is 100x more important to your bottom line than obsessing over what model of M class freighter you assign to the station.

[Xenomorph]

In this example, there really isn't much of a difference... to make a difference. They cost the same, hardpoints are the same, just the other statistics vary a bit. One is slightly faster with slightly lass cargo, other slightly slower with slightly more cargo. These slight differences are more important to players obsessed for max efficiency and numbers then to someone who just cares about something that can go from A to B and deliver the popcorn.

All this changes when you go for ships between races, tho. If i want a ship to manually haul from A to B, by all means go for max capacity you can get your hands on, even Teladi garbage. For auto traders and any mod traders, any Buffalo would do. For capped ships, well, i don't look the horse in the teeth. Something that was not mine and becomes mine is just fine 🙃

But like Gregorovich well said, don't obsess over any of this. Just get something. You can't lose, and at some point you'll even forget about much of the stuff you have.

[Midas]

Originally posted by Wraith:

in the encyclopedia there is a ship comparison tab.
Use that to compare ships.

This is handy, thank you. Didn't know it existed.

[Midas]

Originally posted by Xenomorph:

In this example, there really isn't much of a difference... to make a difference. They cost the same, hardpoints are the same, just the other statistics vary a bit. One is slightly faster with slightly lass cargo, other slightly slower with slightly more cargo. These slight differences are more important to players obsessed for max efficiency and numbers then to someone who just cares about something that can go from A to B and deliver the popcorn.

All this changes when you go for ships between races, tho. If i want a ship to manually haul from A to B, by all means go for max capacity you can get your hands on, even Teladi garbage. For auto traders and any mod traders, any Buffalo would do. For capped ships, well, i don't look the horse in the teeth. Something that was not mine and becomes mine is just fine 🙃

But like Gregorovich well said, don't obsess over any of this. Just get something. You can't lose, and at some point you'll even forget about much of the stuff you have.

Yeah, I'm not really obsessed over it, I was just not sure what was missing from that info, since when you're looking at the ships in the build/buy menu, all the speed stats are 0 anyways, so the only difference I was seeing was cargo and haul.

[Xenomorph]

Originally posted by Midas:

...all the speed stats are 0 anyways, so the only difference I was seeing was cargo and haul.

Personal opinion, when making decisions like this, always go for speed. In a game where we can spend hundreds and hundreds of hours on, but only have limited time to enjoy every once in a while, i rather do things faster.

If that makes sense ;)

[arrak]

Originally posted by Xenomorph:

Originally posted by Midas:

...all the speed stats are 0 anyways, so the only difference I was seeing was cargo and haul.

Personal opinion, when making decisions like this, always go for speed. In a game where we can spend hundreds and hundreds of hours on, but only have limited time to enjoy every once in a while, i rather do things faster.

If that makes sense ;)

Yep, that most sense-able sense, i call wisdom :)
To speed, one can also add "acceleration rate"
...hariba-riba :D

[CreatorOfWorlds]

Note that the encyclopedia will have more info on ship stats in v4.0 then currently in v3.3