Ship Equipment Classes and Ratings

Quddus

Q
Ogidch said:
Some good points, and not sure if my understanding is correct as only been playing since the 16th.

But, using your examples with the bounty hunter scenario and a 3A and 4A thrusters. The 4A thrusters will weigh more than the 3A thrusters, but will also give more thrust as they can move a greater hull mass, so surely it therefore follows that this extra power will offset their greater weight and improve the ships manoeuvrability and top speed?
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Yeah I don't get this either.

Surely a heavier thruster will also give more thrust even on a lighter ship. I don't get this "optimal" stuff. Unless it's a bit like the speed being in the blue range i.e. need to hit the sweetspot. *confused*
 

BigBadB

B
HoshiQaVam said:
It's not as easy as saying "if it's blue it's better".

Whether or not a module is better, at least in regards to Thrusters, FSD, and Shields, depends entirely on your ship's mass - and therefore on how you're setting your ship up. So in order to maximise your ship's potential, you need to understand the relationship between mass and optimal mass.

A Trader (at least a good one, anyway!) is always going to have a heavy ship full of cargo. That means their optimal mass is going to be high.

A Bounty Hunter isn't likely going to be carrying cargo, and may not even install cargo racks, so will probably generally have a fairly light ship. That means their optimal mass is going to be low.

So let's say you're flying a Cobra, your mass (even fully laden) is never greter than 250t, and you've spotted two thrusters for sale both of which you can install;

Mark 4H Thruster. 250t optimal mass. 300t mass limit.
Mark 3A Trhuster. 150t optimal mass. 280t mass limit.

If you're a trader, you've filled your Cobra with cargo racks. When fully laden, your ship's mass is 270t. 270 is closer to 250 than 150, so the 4H thruster will give your ship a faster top speed than the 3A.

If you're a bounty hunter, you've probably ripped out those unnecessary cargo racks so your ship's mass is 170t. 170 is closer to 150 than to 250, so the 3A thruster will give your ship a faster top speed than the 4H.

To go a little deeper, let's say you've also found a Mark 4A Thruster, with 280t optimal mass. Clearly the Bounty Hunter is still better off with the 3A, but the Trader's 270t mass is closer to the 4A's optimal than the 4H's, so the 4A will be faster.

So you see, it isn't as simple as saying "My ship is a Cobra with a Mark 4 thruster slot, therefore I should just look for the best Mark 4 thruster". It's about your optimal mass.
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I don't think this is correct, at least for shield generators.

For shields, if your ship's hull mass (not the loaded/unloaded mass, but the hull mass listed in the shipyard) is greater than the optimal mass of the shield generator, your shields will be weaker. If your ship's hull mass is lower than the optimal mass of the shield generator, your shields will be stronger - and the research done so far by players suggests that the lower your hull mass is when compared to the optimal mass of the shield generator, the stronger your shields get, until your hull mass is half the optimal mass.

So for shields at least, if you want the highest possible shield strength, you want the shield generator with the highest optimal mass stat (but no higher than double your hull mass).

I would assume that thrusters work in a similar manner, but I must admit I haven't tested them myself.
 

Shads

Shads
HoshiQaVam said:
On the right of each of your equipment on the outfitting screen there are 2 numbers. The top number shows the level of the module slot itself, the bottom number shows the level of the module you have installed in it.

The rating (A, B, C etc) is the quality of equipment at that level.

So if your slot is level 4, you can equip up to a level 4 module in it, and the higher the rating (the closer to A) the better the module.
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Ermm... depends what your doing. If you want to explore and need light weight for jump range then D rated modules are better (apart from the FSD which should be A)
 

flAzer

flAzer
adoredtv said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5oo4iAPJ4Q&list=PLNxrmUjuEWPPZZrH3GBG95wJkG4V1OqWx
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Thank you for this - it does make things MUCH clearer for me, +1 ser ;)

Of particular interest is the Internals commentary you posted since it seems really, these are the customisable compartments.
(Customisable to the extent that these internals really gear towards the game play you want - i think!)

So when it comes to shields for example, CLASS/SIZE is should have the a minimum HULL MASS coverage for your ship.
I'm running around in an Adder currently, and its Max Mass is 150 tonnes.
CLASS/SIZE of 3 , if I go with a shield generator, should at least be a 3, since a 2 only supports 55/138 tonnes.
(CLASS/SIZE of 3 supports 165 / 413 tonnes, which is overkill but can't be helped I guess, again, if one insists on shields.)
 

adoredtv

adoredtv
flAzer said:
Thank you for this - it does make things MUCH clearer for me, +1 ser ;)

Of particular interest is the Internals commentary you posted since it seems really, these are the customisable compartments.
(Customisable to the extent that these internals really gear towards the game play you want - i think!)

So when it comes to shields for example, CLASS/SIZE is should have the a minimum HULL MASS coverage for your ship.
I'm running around in an Adder currently, and its Max Mass is 150 tonnes.
CLASS/SIZE of 3 , if I go with a shield generator, should at least be a 3, since a 2 only supports 55/138 tonnes.
(CLASS/SIZE of 3 supports 165 / 413 tonnes, which is overkill but can't be helped I guess, again, if one insists on shields.)
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For all this stuff, Shields, Thrusters etc the biggest you can get is the best. However if you're out trading in a smaller ship then you can certainly think about dropping a class or two of shield in order to get more cargo space - for example I happily ran around with an A3 Shield in my Asp so I could fit a 64 cargo bay in the size 6 slot and 32 bay in the size 5. Just be warned that this will probably get you killed in open play, but in solo you should be fine.
 
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Ravenhawke

R
Yup. Learnt the hard way about modules/class/ratings.

Equipped thrusters on my Eagle that exceeded its rating.

You can pretty much guess what the outcome was...

lol. Never even made it out the station door.
 

mbar

mbar
I have a question about B rating. B rating is the heaviest module of the class. Is B rating also the toughest to destroy? Is a larger power plant harder to kill than a small one?
 

mbar

mbar
Thank you. I'd thought I'd read some where that B modules were the military grade modules but I have not been able to find the info again.
 
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