Equipment

INTRO GOES HERE

Guns

	Power	Damage Type	Fire-rate	Durability	Space (m3)	Mass (t)	Value	Requirements
200 KJ Laser	8	Conventional	1	5	1	2	1,000	None
500 KJ Laser	15	Conventional	1	5	2	3	25,000	None
1 MJ Laser	16	Conventional	2	5	4	5	65,000	None
2 MJ Laser	29	Conventional	2	5	7	9	115,000	None
5 MJ Laser	41	Conventional	2	5	12	15	195,000	None
10 MJ Laser	73	Conventional	2	5	20	27	375,000	None
20 MJ Laser	131	Conventional	2	5	36	49	675,000	None
50 MJ Laser	197	Conventional	2	5	54	73	1,150,000	250,000xp
100 MJ Laser	245	Conventional	2	4	81	110	3,360,000	Faction Rank 5
Crystal Pulse	250	Magnetic	2	3	60	46	>122,981?	Loot from Crystals
Huge Crystal Pulse	350	Magnetic	2	4	92	120	348,000	Loot from Fractals

Magnetic weapons do 50% damage to shields.

Guns are the primary weapons of combat.

A chicken was applied to a 200KJ laser. If it was cooked perfectly at this intensity after 5 minutes, what will happen when it is subject to a 50MJ laser in a chamber pressured at 50TPa for approximately 5 seconds? - Porkian A-level Horticulture exam paper
Guns are THE tool for killing things. Missiles and turrets are all very well, but on their own, they're pants without GUNS. Guns (or lasers more specifically) have two factors that come into consideration during conflict. The 'fire-rate' is the number of volleys that laser will fire in 1 round of conflict. The 'power' is... pretty self-explanatory. Contrary to obvious belief though, having big guns is not always good.
Killing things straight away with big guns increases your experience greatly, but without the chance to shoot at (or get shot at) the NPC for a long period of time, this doesn't do you many favours for your skills. So ideally, for skilling you want a BIG fire rate, with a small power. With PvP (where you don't want to mess around) go big. And go mental.

Turrets

	Power	Damage Type	Fire-rate	Durability	Space (m3)	Mass (t)	Value	Requirements
Tiny Omega Cannon	80	Conventional	1	5	30	30	100,000	None
Rail Turret	31	Conventional	3	5	42	46	225,000	None
Omega Cannon	800	Conventional	1	5	300	300	1,000,000	None
Blowhole	100	Conventional	3	2	2	2	160,000	Distinction 18 2,000,000 xp Loot from Cephalopod

Turrets have superior tracking abilities than Guns, so you will find your Turrets to have a higher hit-rate than your Guns.

Lasers aren't nearly as cool as guns. You can roast a chicken with a laser. You can EXPLODE a chicken with a BAZOOKA.
Turrets essentially give you that extra 'umph' of fire-power or extra shots of xp (depending on which variation you dwell on). Unlike lasers, these have ammunition - so you have to restock every once in a while (buy lots of ammunition from planets before heading out on a spree with these because they don't last long). However, their upkeep is quite a drain financially, so make sure you're in a position that you can sustain yourself! The rail turret is the best for skilling, the Omega cannon for killing stuff. NOTE: You have to buy the ammunition which corresponds with the turret you're using but you can choose from the same three 'flavours' for whichever gun you use.

• Interestingly enough, the Atlas is the only ship capable of sustaining two Omega Cannons. With Anti-matter ammunition, these two cannons will deal more damage than 4 50MJ Pulse Lasers! Pirates will have to think twice after encountering an Atlas equipped with Omega Cannons and Flying Bananas!

Turret Ammunition

	Power	Damage Type	Quantity	Crate Size	Space (m3)	Mass (t)	Value	Requirements
Tiny Omega Cannon Ferrous Ammo	0.7x	Conventional	200	200	8	8	20,000	None
Tiny Omega Cannon Uranium Ammo	1.0x	Conventional	200	200	8	10	50,000	None
Tiny Omega Cannon Anti-matter Ammo	1.3x	Conventional	200	200	8	12	150,000	None
Rail Turret Ferrous Ammo	0.7x	Conventional	400	400	7	7	16,000	None
Rail Turret Uranium Ammo	1.0x	Conventional	400	400	7	9	42,000	None
Rail Turret Anti-matter Ammo	1.3x	Conventional	400	400	7	11	122,000	None
Omega Cannon Ferrous Ammo	0.7x	Conventional	200	200	16	16	200,000	None
Omega Cannon Uranium Ammo	1.0x	Conventional	200	200	16	20	500,000	None
Omega Cannon Anti-matter Ammo	1.3x	Conventional	200	200	16	24	1,500,000	None
Blowhole Ammo	1.0x	Conventional	800	800	2	2	40,000	None

You can't fire a watermelon from an Omega Cannon - Famous Native American Proverb
You get ammunition from planets in these funny things called 'crates' (previously dispatched in large marrows; it's surprising how hollow they are, it was only a matter of time before common sense shone through).
You can either go for cheap and weak (Ferrous), or expensive and powerful (Anti-matter). If you want to skill, go for Ferrous ammunition (it'll give you just as much skill as higher levels, if not more from prolonging the creature's suffering through your practise) - if you want to kill big mommas (Note: this isn't an NPC... yet?) go for Anti-matter (it kills them quicker, so saves your hide... or hull).
Unfortunately, the funny thing about ammunition is that it runs out - and it's possible that you'll be bombarded by irritating (*some neoPlatian followers actually find these soothing) messages saying 'oi... another crate's been emptied mate!' (or along the lines of that... ships haven't developed personalities... yet) but never fear, you can turn these off via the options menu (Hallelujah!).
Clearly turrets are worth their weight in skilling (if you have the funds to spend on them), but for PvP? Are turrets worth it?
Well put it this way, if two equally skilled, almost equally equipped people were to start forking each other, the one with the turrets would win. (Assuming that you have the space available to equip a turret after your laser loadout, of course)

Missiles

	Power	Damage Type	Reload Time	Speed	Guidance	Space (m3)	Mass (t)	Value	Info
Z-001	40	Conventional	0	100	100	3	3	3,500	None
X-1100	80	Conventional	5	145	145	2	2	5,000	None
Sunburst	220	Conventional	6	150	165	6	6	18,500	None
Nova-12	420	Conventional	12	140	85	12	12	30,500	None
Titan	800	Conventional	6	150	130	18	18	250,000	Faction Rank 5
Debilitator Missile	25	Conventional	4	125	150	12	14	125,000	Special: Disable opponent guns Faction Rank 10
Pronged Spike	350	Conventional	5	125	150	2	2	10,000	Distinction 10 Loot from Anemone
Venomous Stinger	550	Conventional	4	75	250	2	2	34,000	Distinction 15 Loot from Slurg
Flying Banana	600	Conventional	4	180	200	5	5	60,000	Loot from Space Monkey
Large Crystal Spike	750	Conventional	4	225	230	5	6	32,000?	Loot from Fractals

'He took aim, fired, then ran for his life' - Extract from novel 'James Bond: The Man with a Banana Gun'
There has long been controversy over the nature of the consistency of the much-sought-after 'Flying Banana.' A number of conflicting theories have arisen (including TNT, C4 and R2D2) but, as is generally agreed by scientists, the most likely source of the banana's destructive power is humble chocolate digestive (which, when exposed to a blend of pure oxygen and gunpowder, reacts very violently)...
Regardless of this, what's certain is that missiles are useful in doing hefty lump sums of damage to other players and large NPCs.
To change the order that missiles are fired (you may want to save your best until last), visit your in-depth ship description (click your ships name on the right of the nav screen) and there should be a link under the equipment manifest.

Shields

	Strength	Recharge Rate	Durability	Space (m3)	Mass (t)	Value	Requirements
Light Shield Generator	450	15	10	5	8	170,000	None
Standard Shield Generator	800	25	10	8	14	970,000	None
Heavy Shield Generator	1,450	40	10	24	28	1,530,000	Distinction 6
Deep Shield Generator	2,850	60	12	30	22	1,450,000	Faction Rank 5

Shields cost 1*shield points recharged to repair, but recharge for free at the recharge rate per shield tick (every 30 seconds)

Engines

	Speed	Fuel type	Fuel Capacity	Fuel Consumption	Durability	Space (m3)	Mass (t)	Price	Requirements
Solar Sail	1	Sunshine and butterflies	-	-	3.00	45	8	9,000	None
Impulse drive	30	Hydrogen Gas	5	0.15	5.00	25	35	5,000	None
Phase Drive	70	Hydrogen Gas	8	0.25	6.00	70	75	294,000	Distinction 7
Anti-matter drive	85	Anti-Matter	9	0.01	5.00	65	70	825,000	Faction Rank 5

Before you go anywhere, you'll need an ENGINE. The solar sail doesn't require fuel - you simply equip and launch (equianch?) but it DOES take up a lot of room... It could well be debated that it makes up for this in that you don't need any space taken up by fuel onboard...
A drive of some kind requires that you have hydrogen gas on hand, but is faster (takes less APs) and takes up less room (though weighs more). All in all, a good deal better... most of the time.
Also, it's well worth getting the phase drive - 3 times the speed = 3 times more done than with the impulse. The increased space taken up is well worth the boost.

The speed of a drive also affects a drive's evasion bonus. Though this bonus is said to be small.

Specials

	Space (m3)	Mass (t)	Price	Requirement
Ablative Armor Plating	24	26	230,000	Faction Rank 10
Ambush Computer	3	2	135,000	None
Ambush Teleporter	2	2	50,000	None
Automatic Refueler	1	1	1,500	None
Cloaking Device	10	7	51,000	None
Coronal Gas Harvester	4	4	7,600	Distinction 5 2500 xp
EMP Anti-Cloaker	32	28	21,000	None
Field Analyser	16	18	150,000	25,000 xp
Heavy Ore Harvester	6	5	15,000	1,000xp
Hydrogen Harvester	3	2	4,500	None
Light Ore Harvester	4	4	7,500	None
Long Range Sector Scanner	0	0	5,000	None
Nebula Harvester	2	2	11,000	None
Precious Ore Harvester	7	6	35,000	10,000 xp
Phase Shift Generator	18	16	90,000	Faction Rank 6
Remote Resource Scanner	6	4	30,000	7500 xp
Sustainable Hydrogen Harvester	4	2	8000	None
Telemetry Scanner	24	26	260,000	100,000 xp
Universal Harvester	8	7	850000	Faction Rank 5 250,000 xp
Water Harvester	5	5	15,000	Distinction 5 3,500 xp

MY WORD. When faced with such an extravagant list of extravagancey, I can only turn my head right. - The average purchaser with a slightly odd psycological condition...
GAWP. There are a lot of items in this section! Special items are used for very specific roles and it's almost certain that you won't be needing all of them at once (unless you're slightly odd). Their descriptions can be viewed by hovering your mouse over each one (try this in-game dufus; obviously won't work in the wiki!) - but here's an overview anyway (we love pages which scroll down to your socks).

The AMBUSH COMPUTER is required for you to set AMBUSHES (unsurprisingly); and good news: FLIPPANT inc. (the manufacturers of the ambush stuff) have recently announced that their computers now allow ambushing just about anywhere - an improvement from their literal take on the term, where you could only ambush on dense patches of foliage in the morning. The AMBUSH TELEPORTER is required for you to set a retreat point from your ambush; so once you've ambushed them, you'll run away and (providing you have a cloaking device) try to cloak someplace you've set earlier (in case you didn't finish them off). Though the teleporter isn't compulsory for ambushing to happen, it's a good idea to get one anyway.

The AUTOMATIC REFUELER refuels your ship... Wait for it... AUTOMATICALLY. Amazing. This is 1 item you MUST have; if you speak fluent French, then you probably wouldn't say "C'est très utile!" - but it'd be true.

The CLOAKING DEVICE allows you to CLOAK. I know; taxing stuff.

The EMP ANTI-CLOAKER uncloaks nearbye NPCs which might be lurking. Your success rate is dependant on your hacking skill and the NPCs' cloaking skills though, so don't be too expectant of overwhelming success to start with. Also, the word is on the space lanes, you can uncloak SPACE LEMONS if you do it enough+; who knows? chance_to_uncloak = user_hackskill^3 / (user_hackskill^3 + opponent_cloak_skill^3);

The FIELD ANALYSER lets you know who harvested the tile you're on last. It's mostly used for pushy administrations behind factions who want their turf in pristine condition. So there is a way to ENCRIMINATE strip-miners.

All the devices described above and the telemetry scanner at the very bottom can be used in the pane to the left of the nav screen - underneath your current ship health and STUFF.

The LONG RANGE SECTOR SCANNER gives you a map of the surrounding sectors (why they couldn't just call it 'map' is anyone's guess...). You can access it on the top right of the nav screen.

+Yeah I made this up... Shoot me.