Build rating
Build rating is the number the game uses to size up a ship. The fitting screen shows it as Ship Build Rating. It decides which breach tiers you can enter and how much a kill is worth.
The rating of an item
An item's rating is its base rating plus whatever its modifiers add, multiplied by its quality.
- Each rolled modifier adds a share of the item's base rating, by the modifier's tier: 11% at T1, 22% at T2, 33% at T3 and 44% at T4.
- A Tek Cipher adds its own rating to the module it is attached to.
- A harmonic adds 1,000.
- A Regalia piece is rated at 1.75 times its base module.
- A change made to the hull's grid with a grid consumable adds the consumable's rating to the hull.
Only ships, modules, conduits and drones are scaled by quality.
The rating of a ship
A ship's build rating is its fitted rating plus its cargo rating.
The fitted rating is the sum of:
- the hull's rating;
- the rating of every fitted module. A linked Regalia piece counts for more: 2 times its base module with two pieces linked, 2.25 times with three, 2.5 times with four;
- a term for affinity points spent on the hull. The first point adds 30 and each further point adds 15% more than the one before: about 200 in total for 5 points, 610 for 10 and 3,070 for 20.
The cargo rating is 25% of the rating of everything in the cargo hold.
What it is used for
| Use | Rule |
|---|---|
| Entering a breach | The ship's build rating, cargo included, must be within the tier's limits. See Breach tiers. |
| Trains | A train that leads to a breach region will not take a ship rated above that tier's maximum. |
| Affinity XP for a player kill | 1.5 times the victim's build rating |
| Merits for a kill | Based on the victim's fitted build rating. See Merits. |
| Recycling | ORE equal to 25% of the item's rating |
| Identifying an item | ORE equal to 10% of the item's rating, at least 1 |
Raising and lowering it
Because cargo counts, a ship can be over a tier's maximum on the way out and under it on the way in. Emptying the hold, fitting lower-quality modules or leaving affinity points unspent all lower the rating. The tutorial says it from the other side: "Place the array anywhere on the grid; your ship's build rating will increase as soon as it's installed."