Ship Descriptions:

0) Escape Pod: This is what you wind up in when your ship gets 
blown up. It takes 6 turns per hop to move, and it's totally
worthless. It's only purpose is to take you to stardock and buy 
a real ship. If you have no money, at least trade the pod for a 
Scout, as the pod has enough resale value to buy one. Only one 
redeeming feature, this ship cannot be captured at all, only 
destroyed, so if it's loaded with corbomite, it makes a nasty 
surprise for someone. You get a maximum of 2 pods per day, after 
that, you are dead until tomorrow.


1) Cruiser: TE=72, 3 turns,75 holds. This is the ship all new
players start out in. Not the best type of ship, take it
directly to stardock, and trade it for something else, 
preferably a freighter.


2) Scout Marauder: TE=41, 2 turns, 25 holds. Not good for 
trading, but it does have 2:1 combat odds, so it can be useful 
to attack other small ships. Some like to use them in invasions
when the "victims" are not online at the time. If there are no 
Quasar Cannons on planets in the sector, this ship's combat odds
(2:1) make it the cheapest way to mow down large quantities of 
sector fighters and heavily defended ships, very cheaply! You'll 
need a teammate there in a large ship to keep feeding you more 
fighters though, as it can carry only 250 fighters. Density 
Scanner only. This ship does not have an escape pod, so if you 
get killed in one of these, you're dead until tomorrow.

3) Missile Frigate: TE=59, 3 turns, 60 holds. Not a good trading
ship, or anything else. Useful only in that it can carry Photon 
Torpedos (max of 10). This is the only photon-capable ship that 
is available to evil players until 3 months or so into the game
when the Ferrengi start building Dreadnoughts. The technique is 
to shoot the P-torp from the Missile Cruiser, then teleport to 
a larger ship, and drive into the sector, quickly. One big 
drawback, this ship cannot carry a scanner (not even density), 
so you never know what's in the next sector, and that's really 
dangerous when you are carrying a Photon Torpedo! Yikes! It does 
come with a combat scanner which, when you start to attack 
another ship, shows you how many shields the other guy has, but 
this is not really a great feature as this is not an attack
ship. I see this ship only as a Photon carrier for evil players.


4) Battleship: TE=55, 4 turns, 80 holds. Not the best trading 
ship, but has excellent fighting odds at 1.6 to 1. It comes
with a built-in Combat Scanner which shows how many shields your
victim has when you attack. And with it's large fighter and 
holds capacity, it's probably pretty good for players who are 
just learning and are not going to be using all their turns 
each day anyway. Due to the fighting odds of this ship, it's 
hard to get killed in one! A perfect ship for casual players.


5) Corporate FlagShip: TE=84, 3 turns, 85 holds. A decent 
trading ship, and it has t-warp capability, which makes it OK 
for t-warp colonizing, if you can't get an ISS. Only the CEO of
each corporation is permitted to use one of these though. It 
comes with a Combat Scanner, to tell you how many shields your 
victim has when you attack.


6) Colonial Transport: TE=61, 6 turns, 250 holds. In spite of 
it's huge cargo capacity, it's high number of turns needed to 
move, makes it a poor trading ship. It cannot take ANY type of 
scanner, so you're always flying blind, and it's too damned 
expensive to by the holds. This ship is useful only for one 
single purpose, planet trading. More on this later.


7) CargoTran: TE=78, 4 turns, 125 holds. A so-so trading ship, 
but poor fighter capacity, and bad combat odds, and real
expensive to buy the holds. A poor choice, unless you just want 
to play out your turns very quickly.


8) Freighter: TE=100, 2 turns, 65 holds. Reasonable holds 
capacity, and 2 turns to move, makes it THE BEST trading ship.
It can carry a holoscanner for exploration, and it's cheap.

9) Imperial Starship (ISS): TE=93, 4 turns, 150 holds. A good 
trading ship, heavily armed, great fighting odds, can carry 
the Photon Torpedo (max of 5), and has T-warp capability. This
is the IDEAL ship for colonizing. A wonderful ship, but it 
requires an Imperial Commission to be able to get into one of 
these. They're expensive, and definitely worth every cent.


10) Havoc Gunstar: TE=52, 3 turns, 50 holds. Not a trading ship, 
but good for evil players for use in robbing ports. Nicely armed.
This is the only ship with T-warp capability that is available 
to players lacking an Imperial Commission and who are not CEO of 
their corporation.


11) Starmaster: TE=71, 3 turns, 73 holds. A reasonable trading 
ship, reasonably armed, etc. No T-warp. Get a Constellation
instead.


12) Constellation: TE=76, 3 turns, 80 holds. Reasonable trading 
ship, very much like the Starmaster, but 10% extra holds
capacity.  No t-warp capacity, but not a bad ship.


13) T'Kasi Orion:  TE=93, 2 turns, 60 holds. Very simmilar to 
the Freighter, but has density scanner only, no holoscanner, 
so is not suitable for exploration. Slightly better fighter 
capacity than the Freighter, but slightly less efficient trader.
Go for the Freighter instead.


14) Tholian Sentinel: TE=36, 4 turns, 50 holds. Not a trading 
ship, it's only single purpose is to sit in a sector and protect 
your corp's planets, especially when you're not online. While in 
a sector with your corp's planets, it defends at 4 to 1 odds, and 
when loaded with 4k shields, and 2,500 fighters, it will take an
invader in an ISS about 17,333 fighters to destroy it. Not bad 
when you're still poor. This defense works any time the ship is 
occupied by a corp member, whether online or not. No t-warp.


15) Taurean Mule: TE=88, 4 turns, 150 holds. An OK trading ship, 
but lousey combat odds, small fighter capacity, and no
holoscan or t-warp.


16) Interdictor Cruiser: This thing takes 15 turns to move.
Forget trading. If the player is in the game, the interdictor 
beam will hold fast any other ship that comes into it's sector, 
and can then be captured at leisure, like a spider eating a fly.
But, when the player is not in the game, the interdictor feature 
does NOT function. Also, the interdictor feature does not work 
in FedSpace. One possible use, planetary defense, as it can hold 
up to 100,000 fighters. The huge fighter capacity makes it ideal 
for large-scale invasions, as it can probably withstand the brunt 
of shielded Q-Cannons and survive.


17) Ferrengi Assault Trader: TE=79, 2 turns, 50 holds. Much like a
Freighter or T'Kasi Orion, but not as many holds for trading, and 
no scanner at all, yikes!  Sell this thing quick!


18) Ferrengi Battle Cruiser: TE=72, 3 turns, 75 holds. Sort of like
a Starmaster or Constellation, but not as good. They do have a nice 
resale value at Star Dock. Sell em!


19) Ferrengi Dreadnought: TE=66, 4 turns, 100 holds. Poor trader.
No t-warp. Sell it. However, evil players may wish to consider 
it as an invasion ship, as it *CAN* carry a single Photon Torpedo!
If only it had T-Warp!


Note on Ferrengi ships: These cannot be bought at Stardock, they 
can only be captured from a Ferrengi. This is easily done, but 
the Ferrengi carry Grudges! Which means that this particular 
Ferrengi will come and find you later in the game. Also, this 
alerts the Ferrengi Overlord who will raid the heck out of you 
after the game is about 2 months along. NEVER molest a Ferrengi 
ship!


20) Ferrengi Scorpion: ACK! This ship is piloted by the Ferrengi
Overlord, a game generated character, much like Captain Zyrain, 
and you cannot harm or capture it in any way. If you fire a Photon 
Torpedo at it, your torpedo will come right back at you, and YOU 
will get hit, and lose all your turns! The Ferrengi Overlord
character first appears in the game at around Day 45 or so. It's 
main function so far appears to be raids on player's sectors, in 
a totally random fashion. The Overlord T-Warps into any random 
sector, and if player's fighters or mines are there, they are 
immediately converted to Ferrengi fighters and mines. You receive 
a message from your fighters stating that they have been disrupted.
This ship type is a very recent addition to the game, and is not 
affected by Level 6 Planets, fighter attacks, mines, etc.
                        
21) Federation Starship: These cannot be owned by a player, they 
are only used by the 3 Federals. They are indestructable, and 
trying to attack them will get you killed, no matter what you are 
flying, or what armaments you may have.

SHIP SUMMARY:

The best trader is the Merchant FREIGHTER. It has every capacity 
except t-warp or photon torpedos, and is the trading ship of 
choice, especially for small players. Nothing, but nothing can 
out-earn this type of ship in trading. It's also great for evil 
players doing sell/steal, or robbing.

A great ship is the ISS, but it's expensive and requires a 
commission, and is therefore not available for evil players. 
Nothing beats this ship for colonizing, or for invasions.

The CorpFlag is available to the CEO of any corp, either good or 
evil, and makes a decent trader, and can be used for colonizing, 
and by evil players for various crimes. Nice ship if you cannot 
get an ISS.

The Havoc Gunstar is good for Evil players for robbing.

The Ferrengi Dreadnought is a good photon attack ship for evil 
players.

Another choice is the Constellation, a decent trading ship, 
reasonably armed with nice cargo capacity. It's only flaw is 
the lack of T-Warp.

New players might consider the Battleship, a so-so trader, but 
has large cargo capacity, and heavily armed. It is really hard 
to kill this thing. If you're tired of getting killed everyday, 
go for one of these, it's got 1.6 to 1 combat odds...nice. It 
lacks T-warp capacity.

