Introduction

Welcome to the most complicated complicated part of the game. This is due to the amount of customizations available and the possible combinations available if one chooses to. Due to the nature of the beast it is important to know what every weapon does. At this point I am still learning but as techs and tactics change you will eventually have to be knowledgeable on what counters what. In terms of balance, I am not sure if the game is balanced up to this point however I do notice Corvette swarming becoming popular.

Defence

Here explains the type of defence available and how ships survive out in space.

Shields

The first line of defense if equipped, otherwise the ship will just have a hull. Shields regen at 1% per day. The feature of shields is that they are effective against energy weapons. However they are weak against kinetic weapons and consume power. Shields are good for hit and run tactics early game due to its shield regeneration and is favored because of it. Shields are more expensive than armor however a ships survival is more important than its cost in most cases.

Armor

Armor is the second layer of defense if equipped. It does not regenerate like shields unless equipped with Armor Regeneration. The feature of armor is that it is effective against Kinetic weapons and does not consumer power. However they are weak against energy weapons. Prior to the 2.0 patch armor used to be based on a damage reduction formula which was difficult to calculate for people and thus was changed to a HP style. Armor is cheaper than shields but required to be repaired when damage. Unless you have the Armor Regeneration, this type of defence will require frequent visits back to a shipyard for repairs, especially when retreating via FTL.

Hull

Hull is the ships HP, if it goes 0 it gets destroyed. Hull is based on the ship type, typically the smaller the ship the smaller the hull. Hull HP can be changed if Crystal Plating is equipped otherwise hull will be dependent on the type of ship. Hull does not generate unless you have Hull Regeneration so will require trips back to a shipyard for repairs throughout the game.

Auxiliary

Auxiliary are extra modules that go into the Auxiliary slots of a ship. They can significant add bonuses and benefits depending your ships purpose.

• Advanced/Improved/Reactor Boosters +100 +50 +20 Add power respectively to your ship. This can be useful as excess power gives a small bonus, at most 10%, evasion, speed and weapon damage. 
• Regenerative Hull Tissue +2 Armor regeneration +1 Hull Regeneration heals your ships each day, useful for making hit and run tactics even more effective. 
• Shield Capacitors +10% Shields is good for increasing shields if your ships have a lot of shields or need that slight boost. 
• Advanced/Afterburners +20% Speed +10% Evasion/+10% Speed +5% Evasion is useful for giving your ships that extra boost in Evasion or boosting their overall speed for faster close range combat or as aid to a fleet that requires to travel faster within the system. 
• Auxiliary Fire-Control +5 Accuracy is useful for adding accuracy which will also slightly increase tracking. 
• Enigmatic Encoder +20% Evasion is extremely handy for your Corvettes as they will be more likely to survive combat with an 80% base evasion rate with this equipped. 
• Enigmatic Encoder +5% Accuracy +5 Tracking is an upgraded Auxiliary Fire-Control and is best for ships with Point Defence and autocannons.