Hull Classes, am I missing anything?

[MichaelJ007]

I've seen very few bonuses associated with hull type/size. Does ship size matter at all? For anything? I occasionally see a hull bonus like 5% shield recharge rate. But other than overall speed and acceleration, or how much stuff you can mount, does hull size or class matter?

[Jorgen_CAB]

Different hulls have quite different amount of slots for components of different types. They also have as you realized different integral bonuses that make them different from each other. They also have different layouts of weapons possible weapons components as well.

Aside from this both small and large ship is important as they fill different roles in combat. Smaller ships can easily make an opponent divide their fire on multiple targets as they are faster and more nimble than larger ships, larger ships pack more firepower in general.

They all have at least some different capabilities that is important and make them distinct from each other aside from their size.

[Joram]

Edited this as wanted to make sure was answering the right question. The lowest tech in a class is the smallest hull size and as well as least specialized for that task and then as you research different variations which AFAIK are always larger. I don't think you're asking about say size differences between say frigates and destroyers.

Size does matter because it translates into holding more or bigger things. In addition the different subtypes, or hulls, within a class have both a different bonus as well as different, albeit often slightly, slots for holding things In theory you could use those bonuses and slots for different roles within a class and min/max each one.

In practice though, since the AI doesn't know how to define an upgrade paths based on these subtypes, it's an exercise in frustration as your hard work will quickly be lost. Unless you like to micromanage all ship designs and upgrades. Then you might just be in heaven!

[Jorgen_CAB]

Edited this as wanted to make sure was answering the right question. The lowest tech in a class is the smallest hull size and as well as least specialized for that task and then as you research different variations which AFAIK are always larger. I don't think you're asking about say size differences between say frigates and destroyers.

Size does matter because it translates into holding more or bigger things. In addition the different subtypes, or hulls, within a class have both a different bonus as well as different, albeit often slightly, slots for holding things In theory you could use those bonuses and slots for different roles within a class and min/max each one.

In practice though, since the AI doesn't know how to define an upgrade paths based on these subtypes, it's an exercise in frustration as your hard work will quickly be lost. Unless you like to micromanage all ship designs and upgrades. Then you might just be in heaven!

Yes... I already complained about this before the games release that we can't just set upgrade paths for our designs. The AI might just have one ship of every class but I don't understand why we can't have several different types of frigates in our fleets and allow the AI to handle automatic upgrades, it makes very little sense to me.

We can do it manually but that is as you say a nightmare in a large empire.