Thruster confusion

777Driver · Dec 28, 2014

Need a little help.

Am upgrading the thrusters on my Clipper. The ship weighs 819T

I have two choices

Rating C
Class 6
Optimal Mass 1200T
Max mass 1,800
Cost 1.8 million credits

OR

Rating B
Class 5
Optimal Mass 770T
Max mass 1150
Cost 1.7 million credits

The B5 class is closer to my current mass, but the fact that the C6 can push so much mass would suggest it is better?

Feldspar · Dec 28, 2014

Try them both and report on your findings. You can sell modules for the same price you paid for them (someone confirm this, please).

Yanaran · Dec 28, 2014

Yes, the higher the optimal mass rating, the better. The ship will feel like a bus with the B5 thruster.

Commander Dave · Dec 28, 2014

The more mass the thruster is capable of moving the better it will be as long as it exceeds your ship's mass.
That 5B will not do the job. It will be like fitting a 1.6 litre engine to an S Class. The 6C outperforms it by a considerable margin.

777Driver · Dec 28, 2014

Commander Dave said:
The more mass the thruster is capable of moving the better it will be as long as it exceeds your ship's mass.
That 5B will not do the job. It will be like fitting a 1.6 litre engine to an S Class. The 6C outperforms it by a considerable margin.

Ok thanks, but I have D5 installed, OPT MASS 630, Max Mass 945. It handles the ship fine, my max boost is near 400, that's pretty good for such a heavy ship. The ship by default is faster than a Cobra. So that is what confuses me, how much extra performance is that 6C going to give me.

Feldsar brings up a good point, I'll buy them booth and do a little test run. One other thing to mention, that A5 costs 5 million, the OPT mass is 840T, thats nearer to my ships mass and lower than the 6C. I think it get's a lot more complicated than finding thrusters with the highest OPT MASS.

Cheers

Yanaran · Dec 28, 2014

777Driver said:
I think it get's a lot more complicated than finding thrusters with the highest OPT MASS.

It really doesn't.

The higher the better.

777Driver · Dec 28, 2014

Yanaran said:
It really doesn't. The higher the better.

Ok, so I tested this and got some interesting results. The speed increase was practically zero. I tried each thruster upgrade, took off from 61 Cygni, flew at max speed, boosted 3 times and then flew the approach back to the station.

My original thrusters - D5 - Max speed 300, boost 380

B5 - Max speed 300 max boost 390
C6 - Max speed 300 max boost 396

But here's the interesting part, the C6 seems to decelerate and accelerate faster, the B5 is much slower at decelerating the ship. The ship definitely 'feels' different depending on what thrusters you choose.

I will go with the B5, it weighs 20T less, and prefer the heavy inertia feel. I would be surprised if you can coax much more speed out of the Clipper, only the little viper is slightly faster. Someone mentioned they got over 400 boosting with the Clipper, I guess that's the A5.

Yanaran · Dec 28, 2014

Didn't say the difference in speed is massive, just higher optimal mass = better. According to tests posted on reddit, the benefits in order are: acceleration, followed by speed and lastly turn-rate.

Anyway - there's no reason ever to downgrade from class 6 to 5, as for every class 5 drive you can choose there's a class 6 one that outperforms it at lower cost. For example the C6 one will be better than the A5 and cheaper. The D6 is probably also better than the A5 and even cheaper than your current choice of B5.

DirkLarien · Dec 28, 2014

is he serious ?
Your ship speed limit is pretty much same always (higher boost speed - you answered that one yourself - higher acceleration.)
Thruster upgrade = maneuverability upgrade.

OVMorat · Dec 28, 2014

Does a thruster upgrade also improve your turn rates? I've noticed the lateral/vertical improvement with class C thrusters in my Sidewinder, but I'm not so sure about X/Y/Z on the stick/pedals.
Thanks!

777Driver · Dec 28, 2014

Yanaran said:
Didn't say the difference in speed is massive, just higher optimal mass = better. According to tests posted on reddit, the benefits in order are: acceleration, followed by speed and lastly turn-rate.

Anyway - there's no reason ever to downgrade from class 6 to 5, as for every class 5 drive you can choose there's a class 6 one that outperforms it at lower cost. For example the C6 one will be better than the A5 and cheaper. The D6 is probably also better than the A5 and even cheaper than your current choice of B5.

Ok cool, I am seeing the error of my ways, I was thinking it was an A6 instead of an A5. No D6 thrusters available here, as mentioned I like the heavier feel I get from these B5 thrusters, as long as the top speed is good I'm happy.

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OVMorat said:
Does a thruster upgrade also improve your turn rates? I've noticed the lateral/vertical improvement with class C thrusters in my Sidewinder, but I'm not so sure about X/Y/Z on the stick/pedals.
Thanks!

Am pretty sure it does, the Clipper is very heavy, I didn't notice any real increase in maneuverability, am sure the stats did slightly increase on paper. Yaw is assigned to my pedels, it's still pretty sluggish, but that's how I like these big ships, cant wait for my type-9

I'll hop into an Eagle if I want the fighter jet experience.

Yanaran · Dec 28, 2014

It does sound like the D6 would be the perfect fit for you, but given the choices you have I'd still go with the C6. From your tests it seems to be an aspect of the Clipper that speed increases are so small. The Python for example goes from 338 to 383 boost speed when changing from E6 to A6 thrusters, a huge gap by comparison. The A5 on a python falls in between D6 and C6 in performance, but both of those are much cheaper.

777Driver · Dec 28, 2014

Yanaran said:
It does sound like the D6 would be the perfect fit for you, but given the choices you have I'd still go with the C6. From your tests it seems to be an aspect of the Clipper that speed increases are so small. The Python for example goes from 338 to 383 boost speed when changing from E6 to A6 thrusters, a huge gap by comparison. The A5 on a python falls in between D6 and C6 in performance, but both of those are much cheaper.

Thanks for your advice. I will keep a look out for a D5, glad to be finally getting a grip on thruster ratings with large ships.

Yanaran · Dec 28, 2014

That's cool, thanks for saving me the time to test it in the Clipper myself. I was curious how fast it would go but your tests seem to indicate very little increase so it probably won't do much over 400.

I also have to backtrack on what I said earlier as there does indeed seem to be something "more to it" than just optimal mass, which is hidden from view. The A5 drive on the Python outperforms the E6 even though the E6 has a higher optimal mass, at least in speed (didn't test acceleration or turning). So it seems to be a combination of 'optimal mass' and 'rating' when comparing across classes, if both are 900 tons the one with the higher rating will be better. For thrusters in the same class, higher rating is always = higher optimal mass so there it works as expected. I don't quite understand why this would be...

Speeds in my 600t Python:
E6 - 256 normal 338 boost
A5 - 271 normal 357 boost
A6 - 290 normal 383 boost