Equipment

Guns and Turrets

Guns

Class 1 Class 2 Class 3 Class 4 Class 5 Class 6 Class 7 Class 8 Class 9 Class 10

Turrets

Class 1 Class 2 Class 3 Class 4 Class 5 Class 6 Class 7 Class 8 Class 9 Class 10

Almost every ship has a number of hardpoints dedicated to mounting Gun or Turret weapon systems. They are the primary damage dealers in any kind of space combat, be it a small dogfight or a giant fleet battle involving multiple capital-class vessels.

Class 1 is the designation given to the superheavy weapons designed to be mounted on Bomber-class ships. There are three guns in this class - the famous Supernova Antimatter Cannon (often lovingly abbreviated to SNAC), the superheavy Nova Torpedo with it's giant blast radius and the mysterious Singularity Cannon "mounted" on certain Slomon K'Hara vessels. These guns are capable of seriously harming Capital Ships. Class 6 guns are bomber weaponry as well, but, unlike Class 1 "guns" they actually are somewhat gun-like. While they are still rather slow, they do pack quite a punch and are not nearly as energy-intensive as their Class 1 brothers (and can also be fired much more rapidly).

Class 2 to 5 guns are civilian-grade self defense weapons, and while they pose no

Class 9 guns in action

threat to a serious attacker, they may be enough to fend off a marauding Rogue wing disrupting trade lanes.

Class 7 through 9 guns are military-grade weapons; the higher the class, the heavier they hit and the more energy they consume. Guns from the Class 7 and 8 are primarily used on Light and sometimes Heavy Fighters, while Class 9 guns are mostly made for VHFs. Class 10 and Codename guns are occasionally used to add some extra punch to a VHF's or SHF's loadout, although using too many of them tends to be a bad idea as they are a high drain on the powerplant.

Turrets have different classes as well, with classes 1 through 3 matching class 2 to 5 guns, classes 4 and 5 matching class 8 and 9 guns, class 6 turrets being bomber weapons and classes 7 and up being heavy weapon systems mounted on larger ships such as Gunboats, Transports, Cruisers and Battleships.

Special armaments

Special armaments

Torpedoes Missiles Mines

Torpedoes are the heaviest weapons VHFs can mount. They are quite similar to Class 1 Bomber armaments but, unlike their big cousins, do not pack enough power to crack the hulls of warships. Instead, they are utilized by skilled fighter jocks to inflict devastating hits onto fellow dogfighters. There are both ammo- and energy-based torpedoes, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.

A "Nuke" floating in space

Missiles do more damage than guns when they hit their target and have homing capabilities, but they can also be avoided using countermeasures. Skilled missile pilots use their cruise disruptor to detonate them while still closing in on their target, but many experienced pilots prefer mines because of their higher payload.

Mines, especially the feared "Nuke", have a fairly large blast radius and tend to deal immense damage to every ship less or equally armed as a Transport. A common strategy is to use them together with one's cruise disruptor, using the fast CD missile to detonate them while one's enemy is passing by.

Support systems

Support systems

Countermeasures Cruise Disruptors Cargo Pods Scanners Thrusters Shields Armor IDs

CMs quickly expire after being dropped into space

Support systems have various applications. They are mostly defensive items or communication equipment with the Cruise Disruptor being a notable exception which has a multitude of offensive applications. Cargo Pods exist purely for the sake of RP and serve no gameplay purposes. IDs are special rule-related items - every player has to mount one, and they identify you as a member of a certain group or faction. In RP, IDs serve to identify the faction of an other player easily. You cannot take hostile actions against a player by basing yourself exclusively on his ID since it would be metagaming.. Armor upgrades multiply the armor value of your ship and for all but the most talented jocks, equipping a Mk VIII hull upgrade unit is paramount for being able to compete against other experienced combat pilots.