ships are sold at stations that have alliance with the superpower they are aligned to, if any
They being the faction that controls a station plus the secondary faction in the system, there IS a pattern but its more dependent on tech level.
non super power ships are sold at independent owned stations this mostly applies to fed specific ships and empire specific ships
the ship class and certain modules are also dependent on the tech level of a station
the rest of the ships are more dependent on the tech level
for those that doubt or did not know this, try it
select corvette and see
select imperial cutter and see
select alliance challenger and see
all ships are dependent on at least 3 criteria as to where they are sold
for best results to test, use the default SOL
also, supply and demand just like modules and commodities.
meaning they can be sold out.
eddb is easy, select stations from eddb main menu
top left text box(Station sells ships), select the ship
bottom left text box(reference system), type in name of system you are in, or where you want the search centered from
click find stations
presto you have a list
if you don't want to fly around a lot for modules put some vital ones in the top right text box(Station sells modules), as many as you like
but best is the vital ones, the more you put in the fewer stations you will get in the results
fsd(frame shift drive), thrusters, power plant, armor(you need to know the names to get the box to help you fill in, just armor won't work)
do not select carriers, make sure it is no, to include fleet carriers, it will just waste your time.