Ship fitting
Ship fitting is how a hull becomes a build. Every hull has a fitting grid, and every module is a shape that has to be placed on it. There is no power or CPU budget. A fit is limited by the cells and hardpoints the hull has, by heat, and by the build rating that the breach you want to enter allows.
The grid
A hull's fitting grid is a silhouette of cells. Each cell is one of four kinds.
| Cell | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Battery hardpoint | Turrets, the mining laser and the repair projector |
| Subsystem hardpoint | Modules you switch on yourself |
| Propulsion hardpoint | Propulsion modules |
| Core slot | Passive modules and conduits |
Each hull's page shows its grid, and Ships compares the counts.
Module shapes
A module covers between one and six cells. The shapes in use are 1 by 1, 1 by 2 (the most common), 1 by 3, 1 by 4, 2 by 2, 2 by 3, an L of three cells and a T of four. A module can be turned in quarter turns: press R while dragging it. Its ports turn with it.
Placing a module
A module can be placed where all of these hold:
- Every cell under it is a cell of the grid, and none is taken.
- A Battery, Subsystem or Propulsion module covers at least one hardpoint of its own kind. The rest of the module can lie on any cells. A core module needs no hardpoint and can sit anywhere, hardpoints included.
- The number of Battery modules fitted does not exceed the number of Battery hardpoints on the grid.
- No more than six turrets of one family are fitted. See Turret batteries.
- The same Regalia piece, or the same Artifact, is not already fitted.
- The module is identified. See identification.
- The ship has fitting access (below).
The Equip action tries every position and every rotation and picks the one that covers the fewest hardpoints, so a core module does not use one up.
Dropping a Battery, Subsystem or Propulsion module onto a fitted module of the same kind swaps the two. The replaced module goes to the hub stash, so the swap only works where a stash is available, and only if the replaced module is idle.
The ship's stats are recalculated every time a module is added, moved or removed.
Built in
The harpoon, the boost drive (Micro-Thrust Drive) and the drift drive (Impulse Drive) are part of the hull. They are not fitted from the grid.
Active and passive
Core and Propulsion modules are passive: they are on for as long as they are fitted. Subsystem modules, turrets and the mining laser are switched on by you.
A passive module's bonuses apply all the time. An active module's bonuses apply only while it is running, or, for modules that weaken an enemy, to the target you have selected. A module aimed at a selected target switches off when you lose line of sight to the target or it leaves your sensor range for more than a moment.
Stacking
Bonuses of the same kind do not simply add up.
- Percentage bonuses to the same stat are ranked strongest first. The strongest counts in full, the second at 95.8%, then 84.1%, 67.7%, 50%, 33.9%, 21%, 11.9%, 6.3% and 3%. An eleventh adds nothing. Bonuses and penalties are ranked separately. Resistance bonuses follow the same rule.
- Flat bonuses, such as +4 cargo slots, add up with no penalty.
- Exempt: the hull's own quality and affinity bonuses.
A bonus to a turret stat that is rolled on a turret affects only that turret. The same bonus on any other module affects every turret. Missile stats on a launcher and mine stats on a mine deployer work the same way.
Where you can refit
Changing a fit needs fitting access: the ship is tethered by harpoon to a refit terminal and authorized there.
- In a hub. The pad's refit terminal needs no hack. A ship arriving in a hub is tethered to it automatically. While tethered at the pad your modules are off, nobody can target you, and reactor fuel refills.
- In a Breach. Some maps have refit terminals. Tether to one and hold for the hack, which takes 8 seconds. Once you are authorized, tethering again skips the hack.
- Not in a fight. A hostile act against another player blocks terminal access for 30 seconds and breaks the tether. You also cannot change the fit while one of your modules is active on another ship, or another ship's module is active on you.
- Only idle modules. A module can be removed or replaced only when it has no target, is not cycling, and is not cooling down or reloading.
Rearranging your own cargo needs no terminal. Moving anything onto or off the fitting grid does, and so do reaching the hub stash and loading charges by hand.
If a refit lowers your maximum hull or armor, the damage you had already taken stays, but the change cannot destroy the ship.
Repairs
Any refit terminal you are authorized at also repairs the ship, for ORE.
| Repair | Cost |
|---|---|
| Armor | 5 ORE per 100 HP |
| Hull | 10 ORE per 100 HP |
| A burned control rod | 10 ORE |
A hub pad takes the ORE from your stash. A terminal in a Breach takes it from the ship's cargo.
Ships and fits
A ship is an item. Its fit and its cargo travel with it, and you switch ships from the hub stash while at the pad. There are no saved fits. The fitting screen has Share Fit, which copies a link that other players can open as a read-only view.
The rest of fitting
| Ports and conduits | Ports, what fills them, and the conduits that feed on them. |
|---|---|
| Turret batteries | How turrets of one family fire as one weapon. |
| Heat | Zones, control rods and what a SCRAM does. |
| Signature and sensors | What makes you easy to hit, and how far you can see. |
| Build rating | How a ship is rated and what the rating gates. |
| Rarity and quality | The tiers a module can roll, and its modifiers. |
| Affinity | A hull's own progression track. |
| Consumables | Items that change a module or the grid itself. |
| Tek Ciphers | What goes in a port, and the harmonics they form. |
| Regalia | Set pieces that must touch to work. |
| Cargo | Capacity, the secure hold, and what survives a loss. |
| Ship stats | Every line on the fitting screen. |