Don't pay much attention to all the mega factory and fleet shenanigans ppl post over here, it's not fun, but flying ships and doing things yourself, is :) You'll start to get into it, and figure things out. TL DR, just keep playing, and be a bit ambitious with what you want to fly yourself. It has a higher skill cap, since you have to get up close and personal to use it to full potential, which leaves very little wiggle room against K, I and stations with tons of guns, definitely something you HAVE to fly, not park and take the shots. The Behemoth is cheap and tanky, with great engine protection - those AI buggers LOVE going for the engines - and long range main guns, a big plus - tho undergunned in comparison - and you can get it for free by the dozens, the Odysseus can carry a M and S on deck and is all around good, the Rattlesnake has the most main guns (4), the most turrets and is the fastest, but it's squishy, no M pad, and main guns have the shortest range. I still have to pick my fights, of course, M shields don't recharge quick enough for hit and runs.Ī frigate is definitely the most versatile ship you can fly, but only so much you can do with it.

It's hard to fly and to stop, but i wouldn't want it any other way.

It's squishy, carries 25 crew (perfect for boarding Plunderers, which was my initial source of income), goes over 1000m/s on thrusters, over 8k travel and over 9k on boost (something like that) with purple engine and mass mods. I still fly a Frigate about 300 hours into this save, started as Split and got a Cobra, of course. On a Frigate you can carry some 2 S ships in hangar, gives you options for boarding and you can engage things you'd run away from otherwise. Forget about Teladi Frigates, they're kinda junk. The Paranid Gorgon and the Split Cobra are much better. The Cerberus will be readily available, since you're Argon, and it's tanky, but counts for little for being slow. Instead, you should think about getting a frigate.

Going from an Elite to a Nova and a Quasar is not upgrading, it's just flying something equally small but with maybe other options.

Quasar vs pulsar game 4x