Please note that this list is subjective, though I try to be objective, there are also some general things regarding the list below:
Variants:
I will only be looking at the base variant when considering the position, yes many ships have variants that make it substantially better (or worse) but variants are incredibly hard to obtain even for players that have the Strategic Partnership Agreement for the Dawn Funding Scheme, the only variants that I will be taking into account are the ones players start of with (for FG300, AC721 and KCCPV2.0).
Energy Weapons:
Energy weapons scales incredibly well as Energy Resistance is % based, any ship that runs energy weapons is almost guaranteed to be A tier.
Physical Weapons vs Physical Armor:
When it comes to physical weapons, the higher the "alpha" damage (damage per shot/torpedo/missile), the better, as this allows the weapon to overcome physical armor to a better ratio/percentage.
Some physical armor values to keep in mind are:
- 5, base Frigate armor
- 20, base Destroyer armor
- 50, base Cruiser armor
- 80/110/120, upgraded Cruiser armor / base Carrier armor
- 160/180/240, base Battlecruiser armor
Repair UAVs:
Ships with repair UAVs are very valuable as it makes your fleet a lot more sustainable in the field for continuous combat, such as blockading privateer bases or tanking, any ships with repair UAVs is almost guaranteed to be A tier.
Aircraft Carriers (ships in general):
Ships that carry aircraft (corvettes or any of the 3 classes of fighters) rely heavily upon what aircraft you have, e.g. you can get the Solar Whale but if the CV-11003 is your only corvette you aren't gonna be dealing a lot of damage.
S-Tier: You definitely want to be running these ships, these are some of the best ships to have in the game and having them will make you a powerhouse. Tierlist Rating Meanings:
A-Tier: Excellent ships that performs very well in the field and can usually fight with any class of ships and deal high amount of damage, or the Guardian.
B-Tier: Solid ships that performs well and gets the job done, though unfortunately has some kind of short-comings or capabilities per command point that makes them fall short of A-tier.
C-Tier: Ships that are generally mediocre or just weak in general, while you can still run them perfectly fine, they are generally outperformed by B-tier ships.
D-Tier: Ships that are basically useless, hard to use or are simply the bottom of the barrel, yes they are can be used but are often better replaced by something else in a higher tier in most cases.
---------- S-Tier Rankings ----------
Constantine the Great:
Between it's Pulse cannon, insanely high alpha missiles (800 base damage) and status as a BC, this is one of the best ships to have in the game with excellent damage output that tear through everything in this game.
Focusing on both weapon systems is perfectly fine.
Slap 5 as reinforcement onto a fleet and you will have a fleet that can handle almost everything.
Eternal Storm:
With a heavier energy weapon, monstrous torpedo system and a missile system for DDs and CCs, it's an excellent ship that like all other S-Tiers, can tear any ship a brand new hole in its hull.
Focus on the Ion systems.
Excellent for also reinforcing a fleet to not be restricted by Command Points.
Spear of Uranus:
A freakishly tanky ship even for BC standards, while it lacks any energy weapon, between its bow railgun and other weapon systems, it can handle any ships easily while being able to take an absolute beating.
Focus on the Bow Railgun.
Just like any BC, reinforcing 5 is a great way to bolster a fleet.
Taurus:
Admittedly biased due to discussions I had with other players, but what sets this energy weapon ship from other energy ships in A-Tier?
Well it's Energy System allows for another 15% cooldown reduction (for 45% in total), and combined with the Prioritize Firepower Strategy, this ship is gonna be melting anything it will meet in the field with a incredibly low cooldown, which is why this ship deserves to be in S-tier above all the energy ships in A-tier.
---------- A-Tier Rankings ----------
Callisto:
With a heavy torpedo system and an anti-cruiser Strategy, the Callistro is a monstrous backline DPM ship that will be making short work of cruisers (and any other ships).
Focus mainly on the Torpedo system as it can be protected by the CAS066 armor wise.
CAS066:
The best "starter" ship by far, the CAS066s is a good multi-purpose ships that can take both a beating and dish out pain too.
Grab Physical Armor upgrades and focus on the Torpedo system, the Cannon system is too expensive for what its worth.
Cellular Defender:
Carrying high alpha Torpedo systems, this corvette can deliver punishment to anything it will meet in the field.
Chimera:
A monstrous frontline tanking cruiser that's like a miniature Spear of Uranus that can also deal solid damage.
Compared to the CAS066, it has more tankiness for somewhat weaker weapon systems and no base energy resistance.
Beef up its armor and cannon system.
CV3000:
As mentioned before, aircraft carriers relies heavily on the aircraft that you possess, however, it is here because it's high Command Point costs makes it create as a Reinforcement ship.
Guardian:
Here not for it's combat performance but immaculate supporting capabilities, Guardians will drastically increase the endurance of any fleet they are put in, making farming and tanking far more effective.
Prioritise the UAV system above all else.
Io:
Another frontline cruiser but bolstering an energy weapon and also a bit of evasion, the Ion cannon will easily burn through most foes.
Prioritize the Ion cannon, for how you want to protect the cruiser is up to you, between its Armor and Additional Proportion system.
Mare Serenitatis:
Having a rapid-firing high alpha Torpedo system, this frigate can easily bypass the armor of any ship in the game and deal excellent damage.
Redbeast 7-13:
Possessing high alpha missiles, this corvette can also beat up a lot of other ships it will be facing, with an anti-cruiser strategy to beef up its performance.
Ruby:
A frigate that carries a high alpha railgun, it's a frigate literally designed for punching new holes in CAs, CCs and BCs.
Chose Additional Charge over the strategy as the added damage is too valuable when fighting against large targets.
Tundra:
Here for the same reason as the Guardian, this destroyer possess repair UAVs that makes your fleet a lot more sustainable.
Upgrade the UAV system above all.
Solar Whale:
The complete same story as the CV3000, except with more Corvettes and less Fighters.
Stringray:
A heavy fighter made for bombing large targets, it will be able to handle any ship with ease but lacks any anti-aircraft damage.
Strix A100:
A medium fighter possessing energy weapons, it will make short work of any ship or aircraft you will come across.
Winged Hussar:
Between its high alpha cannon and missile system, this destroyer can handle anything it will be meeting.
If you are going to be engaging a lot of BCs, CCs, or player CAs with armor upgrades, transfer some Tech Points into its cannon system instead, as it missiles starts struggling against targets with armor higher than the base Cruiser.
Vitas-B010:
A heavy fighter that possess energy weapons instead, it can easily chew through any large targets but possesses not aircraft combat capacity.
XenoStinger:
A frigate that deploys energy combat UAVs to the field, it can easily make short work of all ships.
---------- B-Tier Rankings ----------
B192 Newland:
A medium fighter possessing good anti-aircraft capacity and modest anti-ship weaponary.
It remains at B-tier because its anti-ship cannon system won't be harming cruisers or destroyers with armor upgrades or anything above.
Bullfrog:
A heavy fighter that can dish out good damage and sieging capacity.
It remains at B-tier due to the Torpedo system not having a high enough alpha damage to contest with CAs with armor upgrades, CCs or BCs, but its rating can be considered B+.
Ceres:
A solid aircraft carrier that can carry 2 medium fighters (and below) that also repairs, making it good for carrying dogfighters.
It is in B-tier due to it being very reliant on the aircraft you have, but doesn't have the reinforcing elements that true Carriers have.
CV-11003:
A solid corvette that can dish out decent damage with its cannons.
It's in B-tier due to inability to hurt upgraded CAs, much less CCs or BCs.
CV-M011:
Also a solid corvette that wields missiles instead.
Like most ships in this tier, it struggles against anything above the base Cruiser armor.
Janbiya Aer410:
A medium fighter that can dish out excellent AA damage and anti-ship damage against at most base Cruiser armor.
KCCPV2.0:
While it technically qualifies for A-tier, the reason I am putting it here is due to it's somewhat underwhelming DPM performance and as such, should be set apart from the A-tier cruisers.
Aircraft variant carries 2 large fighters, which can be useful.
If you want to be technical about it, it's a B+ tier.
Light Cone:
Possessing pretty weak anti-ship weaponry for cruiser standards, it is here in B-tier to be set apart from A-tier cruisers.
While it has AA UAVs, due to whatever weirdness it doesn't seem to do a lot of AA damage.
Nebula Chaser:
Like all other corvettes in this tier, it can dish out decent punishment but will just tickle anything with armor higher than the base Cruiser's.
Predator:
An aircraft carrier, it can carry 4 medium fighters but doesn't have any repairing function.
It's missiles also offers decent damage against base Cruiser armor.
Reliat:
A frigate that utterly chews up other frigates and can ruin a destroyer's day, the low alpha torpedo system makes the frigate ineffective even against base Cruiser armor, though it can still find new purpose in PvP against other player's frigates and destroyers.
Sandrake:
A light fighter that specialises in AA combat, this dogfighter will make short work of enemy aircraft, but doesn't offer anything else.
It's value depends largely on what aircraft the enemy will have too.
Apparently this fighter doesn't target aircraft properly as of right now.
Silent Assassin:
The same story as the B-tier corvettes, it performs well but falls off against anything with armor higher than the base Cruiser's.
Spore A404:
A light fighter that also specialises in dogfighting.
A lot of the points for it is the same as the Sandrake's.
ST59:
The same as the KCCPV2.0 as it's here to be set apart from the entirety A-tier this time, the reason why it's in B-tier is its poor damage to Command Point ratio, dealing not a lot of damage for its cost.
Even then, it's still a mighty BC and is good for reinforcing, and just like the KCCPV2.0 has a rating more accurately described as B+.
Vitas A021:
A medium fighter that can dish out heavier punishment to ships with armor at most the base Cruiser in exchange for weaker AA capacities.
Void Effin:
The same song and dance of all the other corvettes of B-tier, it's weapon systems does possess higher alpha damage (though not enough to contest with armor above the base Cruiser's), so its rating is that ofB+.
---------- C-Tier Rankings ----------
AC721:
The meme destroyer itself, this ship struggles against base Cruiser armor.
The Logistic variant is good as storage for X8 and X10 utility ships and for transport quests, and for some forsaken reason has 5 armor instead of the usual 20 for destroyers.
The Dual variant is a lot better being a corvette carrier, but doesn't stop it from dropping down to C-tier overall.
If you want to be technical about it, the Dual variant is B tier.
Balancer Anderson SC020:
Back in the mysterious age of CBT2, this fighter actually conducted electronic warfare and would reduce the damage of enemy ships, such as BCs.
But alas, it now only offers a 50% evasion, this light fighter is a pretty inferior fighter that can only really conduct AA combat or attack frigates, but is outclassed by B-tier fighters.
Eris I:
While more orientated for combat and possessing base evasion, 40 base alpha damage makes this destroyer struggle significantly against anything with armor at least the base Cruiser's.
FG300:
It's cannons struggles even against the base Destroyer armor, and thus any of these ships won't deal much damage at all.
The Armored variant serves as an excellent meat shield for your frigates and destroyers with only 3 Command Points, especially with HP upgrades and thus can be considered B tier.
The Recon variant serves no combat purpose, but is a good trader and scout ship, and can be considered B- tier.
Mare Tranquilitatis:
Between 7 second 25 alpha damage and low DPM missiles, this frigate, while can punch cruisers with its missiles, is utterly woeful in its damage output (its combat statistics was better back in CBT2 before it gotten nerfed).
Even so, it can be considered to be of C+ tier.
SC002:
A light fighter that has the same story as the Balancer Anderson, it used to be able to conduct electronic warfare, but is now a mediocre AA & Frigate fighter with 50% evasion.
---------- D-Tier Rankings ----------
Carilion:
When it comes to scouting, liason and recon, all players already have FG300 Recon for such purposes at a lower command point cost.
It's utterly lackluster combat-wise (as you guess it, can't scratch base Cruisers), though it's higher combat capacity over FG300 recons arguably means it can perform niche roles such as killing utility ship.
Even so, it would be a lackluster ship to obtain.
Mare Nubium:
Not necessarily bad but a really niche ship, it has siege UAVs that does a lot of siege damage for its Command Point cost.
The problem lies in running it:
For cities fighting into a fleet would be detrimental as a lot of the combat is against the guarding fleets.
For PvP it can be used put on rare ocassions, it will be good against player bases but suffers the same issues as with cities.
For structures like outpost, it can be used in demolition fleets but a lot of other ships can get the job done, it's just simply more efficient as you can be more precise in the fleet composition and also faster since you can run an all frigate fleet.
New: Buildings have armor values too which effects the siege damage output too, so the amount of siege damage that the Mare Nubium can do is actually reduced to a significant degree.
NOMA M470:
The same story as the Mare Nubium.
