X3 Ship Classification Guide

This is a ship classification guide based on the X Series classifications, and adapted to fit (as best as it can) with Space Engineers. Instead of being based on size or mass, this system will primarily classify ships by their role and armament.

Introduction

There are about 3 other ship classificaion guides here on the workshop, all of which are excellent but with each of them I noticed a trend. They all seem to focus really heavily on the mass of the ship for classifications. A few of the mass requirements got a bit rediculous, relying on ships being hundreds of millions of Kilograms in mass. I know that the workshop is laden with enourmous ships that very well fit those classifications, but this guide is meant to be a bit more practical. Even though those enormous 30 Million kg ships are fun as hell, in a true PVP or survival situation, you most likely won't have the resources to build, or have the CPU to effectively use those massive ships. So we're going to cover more managable ship sizes. Most of these classifications are generalizations of ships rather than specific arbitrary rules about mass. This system is directly inspired by the X games ship classifications, but they've been modified to fit with Space Engineers.

X3's Ship Classes

The X Games classify ships primarily in 2 types. With sub- types for more description.

	Capital	Escort	Fighter	Other
Combat Ships	M1 M2/M2+ M7/M7M/M7C	M6/M6+ M8	M3/M3+ M4/M4+ M5	M0
Transport Ships	TL	TM		TS/TS+ TP

Combat Capital Ships

Now here we go. Down to what in the heck all those numbers and letters mean.

---M1 Class---
An M1 Class capital ships are Carriers. They can most certainly be heavily armored (keeping in mind that does NOT mean they specifically have to have heavy armor blocks) and dangerous, but their primary goal is to deliver and support M3's, M4's and M5's. That's not to say they can't participate in direct combat though. These could also double-act as logistics, or command ships. Resupplying pther ships or directing the battle.

• Support Role
  
• 10+ Turrets or Launchers (Usually for AA)
  
• Heavily Armored Large Ship

The "Valhalla" C-101 Carrier made by [7th] The Dirty Wizard is a perfect example of an M1 Class.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=290698168

---M2 Class---
M2 Class capital ships are Destroyers. These play a more direct combat role, rolling into a fight armed with plenty of misile turrets, heavy armor, and maybe even a few direct fire missile luanchers. You wouldn't need many of these babies to do some serious damage.

• Primary Combat Role
  
• 10+ Turrets or Launchers
  
• Heavily Armored Large Ship

---M2+ Class Variant---
The M2+ is the denotation for a Heavy Destroyer. As the name implies, these guys are the stronger older brother of the M2 Class.

• Primary Combat Role
  
• 16+ Turrets or Launchers
  
• VERY Heavily Armored Large Ship(These would be made from Heavy Armor Blocks)

The "Atmora" B-101 Battle Cruiser, also made by [7th] The Dirty Wizard is a perfect example of an M2 or M2+ Class.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=298315101

---M7 Class---
M7 Class capital ships are frigates. These are the bread and butter of your fleet. Not quite as armed as destroyers, but a bit tougher than the Escort class. These are larger ships with a few turrets and direct fire missile luanchers.

• Primary Combat Role
  
• 6+ Turrets or Launchers
  
• Moderately Armored Large Ship

---M7 Class Variants---
The two variants of the M7 Class are the M7M Missile Frigate and the M7C Light Carrier. The missile frigate would have a plethora of direct fire missile launchers or even a specialized player-built weapon, while the Light Carrier, as the name suggests, carriers fighter class ships. Both of these variants would stay near the edges of a battle and support the primary combat ships.

Combat Escort Ships

"Escort" is the class given to ships that are bigger than fighters, but not big enough to be frigates.

---M6 Class---
M6 class are corvettes. They're usually well prepared to lead a squadron of fighters or escort some of the bigger capital ships. They're versatile in design and can be made from large or small blocks. Depending on the role of the ship, they have a number of uses from AA, to missile defense or attacking capital ships. These ships are faster rather than heavily armored.

• Primary Combat Role
  
• 6+ Combination of gatling guns and small rocket launchers, or 2+ Turrets or large launchers
  
• Moderately to Lightly Armored Large or Small Ship

---M6+ Class Variant---
The reason the M6+ gets it's own section is becuase the M6+ can apply to a lot of ships. From minelayers to large gunships or refuel and resupply ships, M6+'s cover the things that don't seem to fit under an M6 Rating. They're usually similar in size to the M6, but can even be as big as an M7. M6+'s are generally more heavily armed and armored than the M6 counterpart, but since this and all designations are pretty flexible, that's not always the case.

---M8 Class---
M8 class ships are bombers. These are small but heavily armored ships meant to to some serious damage to the larger capital ships. Generally slower than the fighter ships of similar size, bombers carry a huge armament of small ship rocket launchers, or player-made bombs that can be carried in some fassion. They aren't meant to get into dogfights with fighters, and primarily want to drop their payload, get out, and rearm.

• Support Role
  
• Rockets or other payload
  
• Heavily Armored Small Ship

Combat Fighter Ships

Here is where the counter-intuitive nature of the system is a bit more apparent.

---M3 Class---
M3 class ships are fighters. General idea of a space-fighter hasn't changed for a while. A small, manuverable craft generally designed for combating other fighters or attacking escort or capital ships in large numbers. They're carried by either M1 or M7C class ships and deploy in squadrons.

• Secondary Combat Role
  
• 4+ Gatling guns and Launchers
  
• Moderately Armored Small Ship

---M3+ Class Variant---
M3+ class ships are heavy fighters. Bulkier and more heavily armed than the M3, heavy fighters are used to destroy other fighters, bombers, or even escort class vessels. They're carried by either M1 or M7C class ships and deploy in squadrons.

• Secondary Combat Role
  
• 6+ Gatling guns and Launchers
  
• Heavily Armored Small Ship

---M4 Class---
M4 class ships are interceptors. These are very quick, lightly armed and armored small ships used for fast hit an run attacks. They aren't meant to be used in dogfighting as much as the M3 or the M4+. They're carried by either M1 or M7C class ships and deploy in small squadrons.

• Tertiary Combat Role
  
• 2+ Gatling Guns or Launchers
  
• Very Lightly Armored Small Ship

---M4+ Class Variant---
M4+ class ships are light fighters. Faster than the M3, and more well equiped for dogfighting than the M4, these ships use speed to their advantage, drawing fire or flanking enemy fighters during combat. They're carried by either M1 or M7C class ships and deploy in squadrons.

• Secondary Combat Role
  
• 4+ Gatling guns or Launchers
  
• Lightly Armored Small Ship

---M5 Class---
M5 class ships are scouts. They stay out of direct combat, and are only used for recon or cannon-fodder. They are the fastest of the fast, able to get out of a sticky situation in a flash and report back to the fleet. They're carried by either M1 or M7C class ships and deploy in pairs or alone.

• Support Role
  
• 0+ Any Weapon (The M5isn't meant to be used in any sort of combat)
  
• Little to No Armor

Combat Other Ship(s)

Oh you've been waiting for this one...

---M0 Class Ships---
M0 class ships are motherships. These are THE most heavily armored, largest, and most badass of any ship class. These are what you see on the workshop all the time. These ships are so massive they will drop your framerate from 60 to 4 in a single glance. Despite their current impracticality of use in an actual PVP or Survival game due to the limitations of the game or in-game resources, these would manage to take out entire bases, fleets, and other M0 ships.

• Primary Combat Role
  
• Rediculous Amount of Gatling and Missile Turrets or Launchers
  
• Heaviest Armored Large Ship

You would never see one of these in a PVP match and be able to effectively play the game. As of right now, consider M0 Ships a myth, or target goal for the games engine if you want.

Transport Capital Ship(s)

---TL Class---
The TL class ship is a massive freighter. The size of M1 ships, these frieghters can carry an inordinate amount of cargo. Be it ore, components, or whole ships, these enourmous monsters of industry can carry damn near anything.

• Freight Role
  
• No Armament but a Mind-Boggling Amount of Cargo Space
  
• Moderately or Lightly Armored Large Ships

Transport Escort Ship(s)

---TM Class---
TM class ships are military transports. While they don't play any kind of combat or even supporting role, they carry vital supplies for any fleet, repair components, replacement fighters, ammunition or fuel. Being military, they have heavier armor, and maybe even a few turrets for light defense.

• Freight Role
  
• 1+ Turret for Light Defense
  
• Heavy to Moderate Armor

Transport Other Ships

---TS Class---
TS class ships are transports. They ferry basic supplies and freight across a system. They can carry anything and have no real specialization. They get things from one place to another in an effecient manner.

• Freight Role
  
• No Weapons
  
• Light or Unarmored Large or Small Ship

---TS+ Class Variant---
TS+ class ships are heavy transports. Similar to their TS counterparts, these super freighters carry larger amounts of goods and are more protected, but sacrifice speed. They can be used in a number of situations.

• Freight Role
  
• No Weapons
  
• Heavily or Moderately Armored Large Ship

---TP Class---
TM class ships are personnel transports. They take people between stations, ships or even enemy ships. While those may seem like different roles, it's a TP class no matter what. They're used in a variety of situation.

• Transport Role
  
• None or Light Weaponry
  
• Moderately or Lightly Armored Large or Small Ship

What About Utility Ships?!

Utilities Unique to Space Engineers

Unlike the X games, a major part of Space Engineers is the process of mining and building your ships. As well as grinding them down if something goes bad. So, instead of just lumping it in with the Transports or something lame, I'm making new classifications for utility ships.

---UM Class---
UM class ships are mining ships. They can be small or large, and precisely what the name says it's supposed to do. Mine things!

• Utility Role
  
• No Weapons, Any Number of Mining Drills
  
• Moderately to Lightly Armored Large or Small Ship

---UW Class---
UW class ships are welding ships. They can more quickly assemble ships than a hand welder, and are integral in construction and repair of other ships and stations.

• Utility Role
  
• No Weapons, Any Number of Welders
  
• Moderately to Lightly Armored Large or Small Ship

---UG Class---
UG class ships are grinding ships. They can quickly fix a mistake, or salvage destroyed or disabled ships after a battle.

• Utility Role
  
• No Weapons, Any Number of Grinders
  
• Moderately to Lightly Armored Large or Small Ship

---UR Class---
UR class ships are refining and assembling ships. They take ore or raw materials and convert them into usable components required to craft ships.

• Utility Role
  
• No Weapons, Any Number of Refineries and Assemblers
  
• Moderately to Lightly Armored Large Ships

So Where Does MY Ship Fit In?

Unlike the other guides which generally have arbitrary classifications based on the mass of a ship, this guide stays away from those completely. But to give some sort of sense of scale, I'll give examples of size based on the easy start ships. (Used here as Easy Large: EL, Easy Fighter: EF, and Respawn Ship: RS)

Combat Ships

M0 Mothership

5 X EL

M1 Carrier

2X-3X EL

M2 Destroyer or M2+ Super Destroyer

1X-2X EL

M7 Frigate

1X EL

M6 Corvette

1X- 2X RS

M8 Bomber

2X EF

M3 Fighter or M3+ Heavy Fighter

1X-2X EF

M4 Interceptor or M4+ Light FIghter

1X EF

M5 Scout

.5X-1X EF


Transport Ships

TL Capital Freight

2X-3X EL

TM Military Transport

1X-2X EL

TS Transport and TS+ Heavy Transport

1X EL

TP Personnel Transport

.5X-1X EL

Utility Ships

UM Miner

*Variable*

UW Welder

*Variable*

UG Grinder

*Variable*

UR Refinery and Assembler

*Variable*

Closing

This guide is exactly that. A GUIDE. Instead of setting special conditions to make a ship a certain class, ultimately the class of the ship is up to you. Lets say you made a really cool, specialized ship, but UH-OH. It doesn't meet the qualifications for any of the ship classes! That's okay. So what you'd do is find the closest thing to what you made and what's availible. If your ship is missing a few turrets to be classified as a Destroyer, that's okay too. This guide is based off of another game that didn't include mining or welding or grinding in it's classifications, so I added a new section for it. So you can add new classifications for your ships too. In the end, classifications are just loose groupings rather than strict requirements.

[kawaii_warcriminal]

for example

UD: utility drone (UMD: utility mining drone, UGD: utility grinding drone, UWD: utility welding drone)

TU: transport drone

MD: military drone.

basically put the first letter of any class in this guide (M,U,T,etc.) and put d afte it (d: drone)

[kawaii_warcriminal]

you should add how to classify observation craft and or stations/satellites

[Darmandorf]

There are a few hings I've been meaning to change. Put more examples on there, get rid of the size chart because I rant on about not classifying ships by size then do exactly what I said I hate XD And my hope for this game is that one day, we can have at least two M0's in a fight, along with a myriad of other enourmous ships, and keep the framerate above at least 30 the whole time a massive battle is raging.

[Bones The Great]

One day somebody will bring a M0 to a fight, and on that day all of us and our frame rates will sh!t bricks.

On another note, you guide is very well written, explained, and organized, I applaud you sir!

[Darmandorf]

Well thank you sir, I know it's pretty wordy.

[BigWillyG]

I'm gonna favorite this now, and I promise I'll read the whole thing eventually.

[Darmandorf]

Well I'm glad at least someone agrees with me. And it's not to say that an M2 MUST go in and be the center of the combat. You can have a long range or support M2 class.

[DarrikVkir]

Nice list! I always prefer the lists like this one, based on what the ship is designed for, rather than mass. The X-series classification isn't varied enough in roles for me (I use the type classification from Honor Harrington, at least for big ships), but it does cover all the basics. Mass never defines a role - you can have an M7 that's 1Mkg or 10Mkg, it all depends on your scale.

[Darmandorf]

Well, since there isn't a section for drones in X3, just make a new one. D for drone and then a number or just the other word. A DS or D1 I guess.

[AcapitalA]

Wait, i have one question.


What is the classification of a suicide drone?