To my mind, the wording of optimal vs maximum mass makes me think it should work as follows:
1) As long as you are below the optimal mass you see no benefit from using higher rating thrusters of the same class (e.g. 4B with optimal mass 385T will gain you nothing over 4D with optimal mass 315T if your ship and all modules only weighs 300T, it'll just needlessly use more power [and actually weigh a fair bit more for the module itself]).
2) Between the optimal and maximum mass, the responsiveness of the ship to both acceleration/braking and turning in any axis gradually drops, as you get further from optimal and closer to maximum. Possibly maximum speed also gets lower. So in cargo ships you need to account for what your mass might be with a full hold (or deal with the fact that the ship doesn't respond as well fully laden), but with pure combat/exploration ships with no cargo space you can run it right to the line of 'optimal'.
3) Beyond maximum mass the ship would not actually be able to move, so the game will not allow you to fit thrusters which have a maximum mass lower than the current ship weight (can you fit the thrusters first and then later on install modules that push you over the limit and get stuck?).
The thing is, i've seen people advocating a very different opinion, saying that even if your ship weighs only 300T you would see a significant improvement in turning responsiveness/radius etc by going from a 4D (315T optimal) to a 4A (420T optimal) set of thrusters. I've done a bit of googling but have failed to find a definitive source either way, so I was hoping someone in the community (or one of Frontier's staff) could tell me how it works at current. Is there any benefit to using higher rated thrusters than you currently have if you are below the optimal mass of your current thrusters?
1) As long as you are below the optimal mass you see no benefit from using higher rating thrusters of the same class (e.g. 4B with optimal mass 385T will gain you nothing over 4D with optimal mass 315T if your ship and all modules only weighs 300T, it'll just needlessly use more power [and actually weigh a fair bit more for the module itself]).
2) Between the optimal and maximum mass, the responsiveness of the ship to both acceleration/braking and turning in any axis gradually drops, as you get further from optimal and closer to maximum. Possibly maximum speed also gets lower. So in cargo ships you need to account for what your mass might be with a full hold (or deal with the fact that the ship doesn't respond as well fully laden), but with pure combat/exploration ships with no cargo space you can run it right to the line of 'optimal'.
3) Beyond maximum mass the ship would not actually be able to move, so the game will not allow you to fit thrusters which have a maximum mass lower than the current ship weight (can you fit the thrusters first and then later on install modules that push you over the limit and get stuck?).
The thing is, i've seen people advocating a very different opinion, saying that even if your ship weighs only 300T you would see a significant improvement in turning responsiveness/radius etc by going from a 4D (315T optimal) to a 4A (420T optimal) set of thrusters. I've done a bit of googling but have failed to find a definitive source either way, so I was hoping someone in the community (or one of Frontier's staff) could tell me how it works at current. Is there any benefit to using higher rated thrusters than you currently have if you are below the optimal mass of your current thrusters?
