Favorite combat ships!

[Falcrack]

I have a wharf and am putting together the infrastructure to support a large fleet for galactic conquest. But, I don't know what ships I should buy blueprints for and include in my fleet. What are your suggestions and preferences for each of the ships in the following classes? Also, whether you prefer the Vanguard or Sentinel variant.

XL Carriers:
Colossus
Zeus
Condor

XL Supply ships:
Nomad
Atlas
Stork

L Destroyers:
Behemoth
Odysseus
Phoenix

M Frigates:
Cerberus
Minotaur
Gorgon
Nemesis
Osprey
Peregrine

S Fighters:
Discoverer
Eclipse
Elite
Nova
Quasar
Pulsar
Pegasus
Perseus
Theseus
Nodan
Buzzard
Falcon
Guillemot
Kestrel

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

My combat fleet vessels are currently a mix of vessels for a variety of reasons but the main ships I would choose from as a matter of preference are

• XL Ships
  1. Colossus Sentinel
  2. Zeus Sentinel
• L Ships
  1. Behemoth (both variants)
  2. Odysseus (both variants)
• M Ships
  1. Nemesis (both variants)
  2. Gorgon (both variants)
  3. Osprey (both variants)
  4. Cerberus (both variants)
  5. Minataur Raider
• S Ships
  1. Pulsar
  2. Eclipse

[Reactivist]

I only buy/manufacture vanguards of the combat ships, sentinels seem to be about more storage space and less speed so I only use those for transport ships.

XL
Colossus - looks better than the others

L
Odysseus mostly as more powerful and I can dock my Nemesis on them
Behemoths look good so I have some of these also

M
Nemesis is probably my favourite ship in the game as its a nice all rounder, lots of guns, fast, good shields, way less cumbersome than the "frigate" types

S
Perseus - very fast(maybe fastest S ship?), great for dog fights and escaping if get into trouble, handy for mapping sectors, dropping satelites and general scouting.
I quite like Eclipses as they look good and have good weapons, useful to put on carriers, but worse in every respect than a Nemesis for personal use.

[Dirk-Jan]

99% of the time I'm cruising in a pimped Nodan V (all exceptional upgrades) using asteroids or stations as a shield for the occasional missile and hoping that an S ship with a rear turret will be provided in a vanilla update soon.

[Tomonor]

I only buy/manufacture vanguards of the combat ships, sentinels seem to be about more storage space and less speed so I only use those for transport ships.

It's sort of lost in translation, but Vanguards should be "Aggressor" variants while Sentinels should be "Defenders". Raiders should be the variant with more cargo, because these are supposed to be 'pirate-esque' vessels.
I logically imagine these to be configured as:

Aggressors:
-more speed for rapid response and hit&run attacks
-less cargo and shield capacity to free up space for bigger engines/lighter chassis

Defenders:
-more firepower
-bulkier with reinforced armour and better shielding capacity
-prominently weaker engine capacity for these are supposedly tactical ships

Raiders:
-moderate firepower
-moderate shielding
-increased cargo capacity for the stolen loot


Sorry I brought this off-topic. On topic, I will probably fill up my armada with cheap, expandable ships, because raw firepower gets the job done best.

[Lazerius]

I have a wharf and am putting together the infrastructure to support a large fleet for galactic conquest. But, I don't know what ships I should buy blueprints for and include in my fleet. What are your suggestions and preferences for each of the ships in the following classes? Also, whether you prefer the Vanguard or Sentinel variant.

XL Carriers:
Colossus
Zeus
Condor

XL Supply ships:
Nomad
Atlas
Stork

L Destroyers:
Behemoth
Odysseus
Phoenix

M Frigates:
Cerberus
Minotaur
Gorgon
Nemesis
Osprey
Peregrine

S Fighters:
Discoverer
Eclipse
Elite
Nova
Quasar
Pulsar
Pegasus
Perseus
Theseus
Nodan
Buzzard
Falcon
Guillemot
Kestrel

I recommend buying all combat ship and component blueprints for whichever 2 factions are closest to your Wharf/SY. Start with Fighters and work your way up to XL.

Those factions will buy them (especially if they're at war with each other), and this will fund you to buy all blueprints in the game.

For your own ships, also be sure to get Teladi max MK shields and Paranid max MK engines. Also, your list leaves off the variants of each ship. Depending on what your goal is for the ship, a Sentinel variant may be amazing, while the Vanguard is steaming garbage. For others, the opposite is true.

As far as blueprints for "best combat ships," there's at least a dozen other threads covering people's favorites, so I won't go into that.

[Lazerius]

I only buy/manufacture vanguards of the combat ships, sentinels seem to be about more storage space and less speed so I only use those for transport ships.

If the ship is intended to be area defense for a gate or station, you may find the sentinel will outperform the Vanguards. For a capital ship in that position, they usually have much more hull, and can carry more missiles. For the most part, speed becomes irrelevant when you want a ship to stay put.

[mr.WHO]

I also prefer sentinels over vanguards for capships.
For fighters I sometimes pick vanguards if I want speed.

XL: Zeus
L: Odysseus
M: Cerberus (drone frigate, missile boat), Nemesis (combat ship)
S: Eclipse, Pulsar, Nova, Discoverer (basically non-Argon fighters sux).

[Rastuasi]

For your own ships, also be sure to get Teladi max MK shields and Paranid max MK engines.

Everyone says this cause they only see that one is better than another on visible stats but not all the stats. Teladi have best shield capacity, but garbage regen. Paranid have fastest forward thrust on engines, but take longest to speed up and slow down along with worse maneuvering speed. For me, those work on some ships, but not any that I personally pilot. Those negatives aren't shown on the GUI, but you can see them in the game files.