Ship Usefulness

[Sayeth]

I was wondering,

As far as I know and read, I understood that as you gain rank as an officer, you will have access to new more recent, powerful, bigger vessels.

So my thought is, is there something that would keep me from always wanting to change ship ? Is every lets say, admiral will have the biggest, meanest ship or will I have a purpose in keeping my older, more upgraded ship?

In short, is bigger better?

[CherryTerri]

Well I would think bigger ships allow better upgrades to nacelles, weapons, equipment etc.

And maybe armor?

Since that is why they have more than one type of ship in SF anyway.

Though supposedly, Cryptic is toying with the idea you can keep older ships (which I think is pretty dumb but hey ... meh)

[callsign11b]

will depend on your style of play... depends if your alone or in a group.
How much you upgraded it.... ect.....
But bigger isn't always the best.

[TruthSeer]

I was wondering,

As far as I know and read, I understood that as you gain rank as an officer, you will have access to new more recent, powerful, bigger vessels.

So my thought is, is there something that would keep me from always wanting to change ship ? Is every lets say, admiral will have the biggest, meanest ship or will I have a purpose in keeping my older, more upgraded ship?

In short, is bigger better?

Bigger no, tier technically yes. One of the more resent Ask Cryptics explains it better.

[Welsh_Knight]

From what I've read I would assume that that would depend on what you really want to do with your ship. A smaller ship might be more maneuverable. Say if you take a smaller ship up against something significantly larger: If the larger ship gets just a couple of hits on you, you're ship is gone. But you're quick enough and more maneuverable that you can bring your phaser banks to bear on them more often than they can get theirs aligned with you.

and that's just the combat way of looking at it. I can only assume that if you go exploring that different types of ships have different levels of usefulness in different situations.

[TruthSeer]

From what I've read I would assume that that would depend on what you really want to do with your ship. A smaller ship might be more maneuverable. Say if you take a smaller ship up against something significantly larger: If the larger ship gets just a couple of hits on you, you're ship is gone. But you're quick enough and more maneuverable that you can bring your phaser banks to bear on them more often than they can get theirs aligned with you.

and that's just the combat way of looking at it. I can only assume that if you go exploring that different types of ships have different levels of usefulness in different situations.

Pretty much ya, from what we're told. I know personally once I get a Defiant I'm going to hold on and tight as long as possible.

[Welsh_Knight]

Pretty much ya, from what we're told. I know personally once I get a Defiant I'm going to hold on and tight as long as possible.

lol - awesome. Personally I wanna get my hands on an Intrepid if they have them in the game. (has anyone seen a screen that has one?) I mean, its not like I'll be all immature and go "I won't get this game without the intrepid class starship!" at the same time, I really want one, and then I'd hold on to it as long as I can.

[TruthSeer]

lol - awesome. Personally I wanna get my hands on an Intrepid if they have them in the game. (has anyone seen a screen that has one?) I mean, its not like I'll be all immature and go "I won't get this game without the intrepid class starship!" at the same time, I really want one, and then I'd hold on to it as long as I can.

When the game comes out don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure its safe to assume we'd see the classics. like the Intrepid, in the game. There would simply be way to many upset players if there wasn't.

[Welsh_Knight]

When the game comes out don't quote me on this, but I'm pretty sure its safe to assume we'd see the classics. like the Intrepid, in the game. There would simply be way to many upset players if there wasn't.

yeah...you've got a point there. That's why I'm assuming that I'll be able to have my intrepid :p

[Ill]

I was wondering,

As far as I know and read, I understood that as you gain rank as an officer, you will have access to new more recent, powerful, bigger vessels.

So my thought is, is there something that would keep me from always wanting to change ship ? Is every lets say, admiral will have the biggest, meanest ship or will I have a purpose in keeping my older, more upgraded ship?

In short, is bigger better?

This dev post will help

Is there a way to keep a ship you like and be able to upgrade it to be the equivalent to your avatar's level? For instance, if I want to stay with a Defiant class but my character is at Sovereign class level - is there a way I can get it to match a bigger ship’s capability?

The answer here is yes and no. You’ll start with a Tier 1 ship and you can certainly upgrade it and trick it out so that it’s comparable to a mid-level Tier 2 ship. However, a top of the line Tier 2 ship is going to be much better than even the most tricked out Tier 1. It has to do with growth capacity. There’s just more room for growth built into the higher tier ships. Of course, your skills and the skills of your bridge crew also affect how much you can do with your ship.
However, you do get to keep your ships. So, if you find yourself in a situation where an earlier ship would be more useful, you can switch back to it for that encounter. For example, you might want to shift back to a smaller and more maneuverable ship for running a blockade.