Best ships for specific purposes

[v_make]

Many have tried to make a list of the best ships, but most tried to find a ship by class that is superior in every field which is unrealistic considering the nature of various missions. This post tries to maintain a list of the best ships for specific purposes.
Some ships are all good but speed, which can be improved by pandora crates. These ships are marked as tuned versions.
All-purpose ships like Hyperion Vanguard will not be discussed here. Ship price is not considered. Assume a late-stage game.
There would definitely be purposes I am not familiar with, like mining. Welcome to share and discuss.

COMBAT

OOS gate defense: firepower, shield, speed
　Valhalla
　Megalodon
notes: firepower is more important than shield considering the strengthened hull in FL. Speed usually determines the first to shoot. Megalodon wins Kyoto no matter who attacks first, as tested via experiment. Valhalla is of course stronger but cannot be bought. See here for tips on capturing Valhalla.

OOS moving combat: speed, firepower, shield
　Boreas
　tuned Megalodon
　tuned Valhalla
notes: since you are gonna use pandora crates... speed is no longer a limit, but Valhalla still suffers from jump disability

IS M7M: missile launch tube, cargo, speed, shield, anti-missile
　Cobra (fastest by default)
　Skirnir (Terran's choice)
　tuned Gannet (largest cargo)

IS M7M boarding:
　Sirokos

IS M2: PBC, FBC, speed, shield
　Boreas
　I
notes: beam weapons are significantly stronger than traditional weapons in the hands of AI

Jump beacon capture: ability to chase and neutralize a Sabre
　Scorpion

LOGISTIC

Universe trader, commodities transportation: speed, cargo, shield
　Mule armored Transporter (largest speed*cargo by default)
　tuned Owl Miner XL (largest cargo)
notes: you need lots and lots of pandora crates to make Owl Miner XL an actual option because speed is much more important than cargo especially when cargo is already 18250 in Mule's case.

Marine storage: TP, speed, cargo
　Ocelot (fastest by default)
　Geochen Miner (largest cargo, XL)
　Angel (largest cargo, L)

Station building: cargo, speed
　Atmospheric Lifter

Ware storage, cargo extension (TS), shipyard weapon duplication: cargo
　Owl Miner XL

Cargo extension ^1(M3): cargo
　Blastclaw Prototype

Satellite network deployment: M level, cargo, speed
　Enhanced Jaguar

Mapping: M level for the triplex scanner, speed
　Enhanced Jaguar

Player missions: TP, cargo, XL, speed
　(tuned) Geochen Miner (largest cargo, the only XL cargo)
　Ocelot (smaller cargo, L cargo, but fastest by default)

Ship repairing M7C: hanger
　Ariadne

Ship carrier for transportation: hanger, speed, cargo
　M3 level:
　　Advanced Chokaro
　TS level:
　　Ozias
　capital level:
　　Aran

Mobile Mining ^2:
　Base ship: TS docking, cargo, speed
　　Ozias
　Nividium miner ship: XL, speed
　　Geochen Miner
　Other miner ship: XL, cargo
　　Owl Miner XL

Reference
1. viewtopic.php?f=199&t=448699&sid=56420b ... d#p5135853
2. viewtopic.php?f=199&t=448699&sid=56420b ... d#p5135932

[Sovereign01]

By all accounts the Boreas has been considerably weakened compared to previous games, with most of its turrets only being able to mount half the number of weapons they used to.

I actually do have two captured Valhallas, and a Kyoto. Once I can obtain enough PSPs to arm both ships I'll be able to actually use them in battle. With the Valhalla, to bring it into a battle I imagine jumping an M6 carrying a jump beacon ahead of the Valhalla, deploying then collecting the beacon, jumping the V in and docking the M6 before raising hell. That factory making the guns is taking forever to upgrade!

What about other M6 & M7 ships, and perhaps the best M5/4/3+ ships? I've never made serious use of small ships, though the Arrow is a useful companion to the Kogarasu Maru as I can race through Teladi sectors to find missions that award agents since they are always in demand.

[v_make]

By all accounts the Boreas has been considerably weakened compared to previous games, with most of its turrets only being able to mount half the number of weapons they used to.

Boreas is good at speed, and is still superior to M7. With the gate defended by a Mega or Valhalla, Boreas is safe to patrol the sector. Also, Boreas is one of few M2s that can mount PBC (others are Brigantine and I), combining its small size it is highly efficient in IS combat.

I actually do have two captured Valhallas, and a Kyoto. Once I can obtain enough PSPs to arm both ships I'll be able to actually use them in battle. With the Valhalla, to bring it into a battle I imagine jumping an M6 carrying a jump beacon ahead of the Valhalla, deploying then collecting the beacon, jumping the V in and docking the M6 before raising hell. That factory making the guns is taking forever to upgrade!

Valhalla actually does not fight too good IS due to its huge size. Its guns can not concentrate on a target, and it moves too slowly. Maybe I'm using it wrong...
I also captured 2 Valhallas and haven't seen any more for more than 1 week in-game. Maybe I need to destroy some Kyoto for it to spawn again.

Spoiler

Show

Moon shipyard can duplicate any Terran weapons if you want to exploit

What about other M6 & M7 ships, and perhaps the best M5/4/3+ ships? I've never made serious use of small ships, though the Arrow is a useful companion to the Kogarasu Maru as I can race through Teladi sectors to find missions that award agents since they are always in demand.

M6 and M7 are kind of all-purpose ships which are hard to specialize in specific missions. Spring Blossom was a good transporter ship in TC and AP but it can not be mass produced anymore in FL.
M5 Arrow is good at speed, but with too small an S-level cargo... Maybe use it as an asteroid scanner? I may as well use Enhanced Jaguar.
Personally, I always prefer Hyperion Vanguard over Maru but you see, it all boils down to personal preference, playing style, and other factors that can not be categorized as specific ship purposes.

[Jimmy C]

I also captured 2 Valhallas and haven't seen any more for more than 1 week in-game. Maybe I need to destroy some Kyoto for it to spawn again.

You need to destroy the Tyr. There is a distinction between Terran and ATF ships in this regard.

[Sovereign01]

I also captured 2 Valhallas and haven't seen any more for more than 1 week in-game. Maybe I need to destroy some Kyoto for it to spawn again.

You need to destroy the Tyr. There is a distinction between Terran and ATF ships in this regard.

I had a Valhalla spawn after killing the original Tyr (using the missile jump trick), I captured it and (some time later) its replacement. I've left alone the Tyr that spawned later, at some point I may capture it. I had hoped it would be a similar situation with the Odin/Woden but every time I killed the Odin it would be another Odin that replaced it, I must have done this half a dozen times with the same result each time.

Moon shipyard can duplicate any Terran weapons if you want to exploit

If only it was that easy, Terran rep requirements for the PSP are above what I can attain while my Split rep is at +9. The PSP factory finally finished upgrading, it has a 5-hour production cycle, producing 20 units at a time. Three cycles will give me 60, enough for a Valhalla (32) and a Kyoto (24). Accounting for the 18 the factory produced between upgrades reduces that to two, totalling 10 hours in-game.

In TC the Hyperion was my favourite ship, in AP it was the Springblossom. The Maru is superior to the Hyperion in most respects except the Hyperion can dock 2 ships to the Maru's 1.

[DanKara]

but every time I killed the Odin it would be another Odin that replaced it, I must have done this half a dozen times with the same result each time.

I'm not sure the ATF-capitals are bound by grouping like M2/M2+ and M1/M1+. In my games there are atleast 2 ATF-Battlegroup consisting of (any) one M1-M2+ and either 4 Skirnirs or 4 Aegirs. I suspect the Wodan / Valhalla can spawn in any of these groups (but only in those)... raising havoc in Terran Space (or time played?) led to more of these ATF-Battlegroups in my game. So I would suggest to extend your treatment to all of these Battlegroups.

If only it was that easy, Terran rep requirements for the PSP are above what I can attain while my Split rep is at +9. The PSP factory finally finished upgrading, it has a 5-hour production cycle, producing 20 units at a time. Three cycles will give me 60, enough for a Valhalla (32) and a Kyoto (24). Accounting for the 18 the factory produced between upgrades reduces that to two, totalling 10 hours in-game.

You seem to have forgotten your Cargo-Hacking-Tool . Most of the time the Terran/ATF-capships have their PSP's not active in weaponslots but in cargo. Even if you limit your self to stealing only 1 PSP per try and switching target-ship after each try (and avoiding save scumming) I think you would equip your Val way faster (and a bit cheaper too)...


... and on OP-topic:
In X3FL I am using the following ships I deem 'superior' in any way
- Geochen Miner (TP+ from NMMC) - as playership - because of XL-Cargo and Speed (little tuned) - for Taxi-, Personel- and Marines-Transport
- Athena (ATS sponsored by Duke) - because ... who would not use a gift? - as MORT (or ST/UT, though if ever again I would use Hyperions still)
- Kogarasu Maru (Terran Plot) - for literally everything else
- Blastclaw Prototyp (M3+ from Pirates) as StorageExtender/Livepod for the MARU with the ability to hold additional 5 marines

[Sovereign01]

but every time I killed the Odin it would be another Odin that replaced it, I must have done this half a dozen times with the same result each time.

I'm not sure the ATF-capitals are bound by grouping like M2/M2+ and M1/M1+. In my games there are atleast 2 ATF-Battlegroup consisting of (any) one M1-M2+ and either 4 Skirnirs or 4 Aegirs. I suspect the Wodan / Valhalla can spawn in any of these groups (but only in those)... raising havoc in Terran Space (or time played?) led to more of these ATF-Battlegroups in my game. So I would suggest to extend your treatment to all of these Battlegroups.

If only it was that easy, Terran rep requirements for the PSP are above what I can attain while my Split rep is at +9. The PSP factory finally finished upgrading, it has a 5-hour production cycle, producing 20 units at a time. Three cycles will give me 60, enough for a Valhalla (32) and a Kyoto (24). Accounting for the 18 the factory produced between upgrades reduces that to two, totalling 10 hours in-game.

You seem to have forgotten your Cargo-Hacking-Tool . Most of the time the Terran/ATF-capships have their PSP's not active in weaponslots but in cargo. Even if you limit your self to stealing only 1 PSP per try and switching target-ship after each try (and avoiding save scumming) I think you would equip your Val way faster (and a bit cheaper too)...


... and on OP-topic:
In X3FL I am using the following ships I deem 'superior' in any way
- Geochen Miner (TP+ from NMMC) - as playership - because of XL-Cargo and Speed (little tuned) - for Taxi-, Personel- and Marines-Transport
- Athena (ATS sponsored by Duke) - because ... who would not use a gift? - as MORT (or ST/UT, though if ever again I would use Hyperions still)
- Kogarasu Maru (Terran Plot) - for literally everything else
- Blastclaw Prototyp (M3+ from Pirates) as StorageExtender/Livepod for the MARU with the ability to hold additional 5 marines

In my game the ATF only ever has one M1 & one M2 (I check via the all-seeing eye)- kill one of either and another from its group spawns- the Valhallas always spawn with Skirnir escorts, Odins with Aegirs, both have a dozen Valis with them too. Similar happens with the Terrans, who have a Kyoto as well as the regular Osaka and Tokyo. Kyoto is actually far easier to board as its escorts are virtually nonexistent.

For Nividium mining I would use Geochens and Mistrals, got a dozen of each operating from their own Ozias. For Nividium the speed is more important, for other minerals, capacity is king so Owls are best.

[v_make]

You need to destroy the Tyr. There is a distinction between Terran and ATF ships in this regard.

It works! And the replacement respawns really fast. It seems the Valhalla/Tyr battle group would always respawn at the Moon.

[Sovereign01]

You need to destroy the Tyr. There is a distinction between Terran and ATF ships in this regard.

It works! And the replacement respawns really fast. It seems the Valhalla/Tyr battle group would always respawn at the Moon.

That's been my experience, it'll then slowly move through the sectors westwards. I encountered (then blew up ) a Tyr that got as far as Pluto.