Pardus/Ships

Faction (Federation, Union, and Empire) ships are restricted to pilots that have joined that faction. All ships have another requirement, other than cost. In the case of Neutral ships it is experience Level; in the case of Faction ships it is another sort of experience: Faction Ranking.

Armor and Hull stats are interchangeable, with respect to the default equipment; ships can be roughly compared to each other by comparing the totals of their Armor and Hull values. However, a ship with a more Armor offers potentially superior protection, as this armor can be upgraded.

For example, when comparing the Imperial Spectre to the Shadow Stealth Craft, the Spectre has 60 more total Armor + Hull, because although the Shadow has almost twice as much Armor, it has only a bit more than a third the Hull value. This advantage disappears when both are upgraded to *2 armors such as Tritanium; the Spectre ends up with 20 less A + H. Upgrade once again, to *3 armor, and the Shadow becomes clearly superior in defense, with 300 more A + H than the Spectre. All this upgrading comes at a price, of course, but the example shows that the Armor + Hull system allows for a more complex and varied approach to damage protection.

For more on ship statistics, see the Ship layout section of the Fighting page.

After 500,000 Action Points played and a suitable Reputation (low for the Shadow Syndicate, by getting bounties for being caught in possession or trading illegal goods, and high for the Esteemed Pilots Syndicate, by running missions), a player can join one of the two syndicates. With syndicate membership and a high enough Competency rating, obtained by completing neutral missions, players can buy Syndicate ships.
 * Syndicate Ships

Syndicate membership allows access to other equipment besides ships. Faction-only equipment Specials cannot be used on syndicate ships and syndicate equipment cannot be used on Faction-only ships. See the Pardus Instruction Manual, section Syndicate Bonuses

Neutral ships
All neutral ships are available to every player, regardless of faction. These ships are limited by how much exp you have. These ships are quite common since everyone can get them and they can be used to fill the holes in one faction's ship tree if players cannot find a good ship to proceed in.

Sabre
New pilots
 * General all purpose

The Sabre is the ship you will start out with unless you are a Ska'ri, in which case you will start out with a Rustclaw. It is a starter ship with just a gun mount to allow you to fight space maggots to rank/exp up to a better ship and get out of it. It is not recommended that you spend much money on this ship, since you will easily outrank it. You should just trade and do some basic fighting in this ship to get money for a new ship, and jump out of it. Pirates will target these ships because they symbolize that the player is new and does not know how to fight back or alert people of a pirate's presence. However, with its small size, being the third smallest in the game, it is often used as a way to train cloaking by more experienced players looking to jump into a large ship like the Liberator and retain the ability to cloak. It is a small tradition of to-be Scorpion pilots to jump into a sabre with a union cloaking device and train their cloaking in it.

Level: One

Cost: 15000

Rustclaw
New pilots
 * Small trader

The Rustclaw is another starter ship like the Sabre but has the sole purpose of being a trader. The Ska'ri will start out with this ship. Its comparably large cargo hull is made for new players to trade in and make money to get into a new ship. It is also the ship that new players will get to build their first building in, since it will have the cargo space. It is not recommended for fighting, even though the ship's image may say otherwise, it has low armor and will not last long.

Level: Two

Cost: 21500

Interceptor
New/learning fighters
 * Light fighter

The Interceptor is a low-end fighter solely for the purpose of gaining rank and exp. It is the first neutral fighter, with a missile slot as well as multiple guns; it has low cargo capacity, making it also the first neutral ship unsuitable for trading runs. It is a fairly capable fighter but will not stand up when fighting other players. When fully equipped, very little space will remain in it making it hard to transport commodities. For that purpose, a magnetic scoop is advised.

Level: Three

Cost: 74000

Lanner Mini
Semi-experienced players
 * Medium Trader

The Lanner Mini is one of 2 ships that cannot equip any weapons or missiles! This makes it defenseless in combat, but it is rather difficult to destroy due to its small size and excellent armor. It also has slightly more cargo then the similarly-priced Harrier. The complete lack of weaponry makes it less popular then most neutral ships.

Level: Four

Cost: 382000

Harrier
Semi-experienced players
 * Medium trade/fighter hybrid

The Harrier is the first neutral hybrid, having large cargo as well as sufficient missile and gun mounts. It is a true hybrid, adequate at either of two tasks and excelling in neither. Harriers are also called 'Pelicans' because of their shape. It is a very capable ship and a good ship for trading when neutral since no good trading ships exist at this point and the next one that comes close is about 67,500 exp away.

Level: Five

Cost: 420000

Mercury
Middle class fighters
 * Medium fighter

The Mercury is the first PvP fighter in the neutral line of ships. It has almost the same base Armor + Hull as the Harrier, but because the Armor value is much higher, it benefits more from armor upgrades. It has a fairly small size, for stealthing, and the same total of gun and missile mounts as the Harrier, but one more gun. Guns are easier to use than missiles. This ship is a very popular ship for ranking and skilling.

Level: Six

Cost: 426000

Hercules
Experienced traders
 * Medium trader

The Hercules is a trade class ship with two guns mounts and ten missile mounts. It has quite low armor for its Level and offers a very large profile to missiles. It is a good trader that pilots from all factions jump into since it has a nice cargo hull of 255. Neutral pilots will find it difficult to gain the experience in a Mercury, from the Mercury's 25,000 to the Hercules' 79,000.

Level: Seven

Cost: 1320000

Lanner
Like its younger sibling, the Lanner is a pure trade vessel, which can carry no weapons. It has 30 tons more carrying capacity than the Hercules, and 45 more Armor + Hull points, although because it has a considerably higher armor value, it can be boosted to be much more defensive than the Hercules. On the other hand, a Hercules with all the guns removed is superior in that potential attackers will not know that it cannot counterattack, and is cheaper.

Level: Eight

Cost: 1575000

Hawk
Experienced fighters
 * Heavy fighter

The Hawk is a high-end fighter designed for skilling and fighting. It is held in high regard in the community being the only ship aside from the Doomstar with 5 gun mounts. There are variations, PASC, Nighthawk, and NHD. It however, has no missile mounts, making ambushing less attractive in this ship. It is well suited to survive ambushes however, being small and having high armor. Its cargo is quite cramped, which puts off some people from getting the better weapons put on it.

Level: Nine

Cost: 1700000

Gargantua
Experienced fighters
 * Medium battle-ship

The gargantua is regarded as a fairly poor ship as a fighter, and an OK hybrid. It has about the same number of missile and gun mounts as the Scorpion, Dominator, and Gauntlet from all of the three factions, but its other stats are inferior compared to these ships in the same class. Very few people are in this ship due to how poor it is statistically and prefer to use a faction warship.

Level: Ten

Cost: 2950000

Behemoth
Experienced traders
 * Large trader

The Behemoth (BBB) is one of the game's best traders having the third best cargo space and a hull of 720 for explosives missions. This ship is a very popular choice for Neutral, Federation, and Union pilots since it has the highest cargo that they can get. It is jokingly called a "big brown box" (BBB). Despite its looks, it is a very capable ship for traders and package rankers alike.

Level: Eleven

Cost: 4995000

Liberator
Very experienced fighters
 * Large battle-ship

The Liberator was designed as a battleship/trader hybrid, but it falls short of that, excelling only at killing. It has the highest exp requirement of all the neutral ships making it only for the veteran players. It is a universal fighter used by all 3 factions but it is set up radically changes depending on what faction the pilot is in, due to special equipment. This is particularly true with the union, where it is set up to make a heavy weapon laden tactical fighter.

Level: 12

Cost: 16995000

Union ships
The Union has only 8 exclusive ships. The Union offers technologically advanced hardware outfitted to ships that are typically inferior to the other two factions in firepower. However, their ships can prove to be very powerful when properly equipped with the unique Union equipment, including the exclusive Union-only level VI conventional armor, heavy shields, cloakers, counter measure equipment, and interferometers.

Rustfire
Learning pilots
 * Fighter/trader hybrid

The Rustfire ('Rusty') is the first Union ship, but it is not available until the second Union Rank. If it is to be compared with the Rank One Federation Wasp and Empire Ficon, the comparison is favorable, and like the more directly comparable Rank Two Federation ship, it is superior to the Rank Three Neutral. It is a hybrid between a trader and a ranker with two gun mounts and a missile mount. Pilots who fly it typically trade in it to make money for particle lasers, then rank up to a Marauder or a Junker. It is a well made hybrid that almost everyone who joins the Union gets into at one point or another.

Rank: Two

Cost: 32500

Marauder
Learning fighters
 * Light fighter

The marauder is a Rank Four ship designed for skilling and gaining rank and exp. It compares unfavorably with the Rank Four Federation Viper Defense Craft, Empire Shadow Stealth Craft, and Neutral Mercury, with considerably weaker Armor + Hull than even the SSC. It is recommended by many people to just exp up to a Mercury rather than to use this ship for fighting.

Rank: Four

Cost: 200000

Junker IV
New traders
 * Small/Medium trader

The junker IV (junker) is a mid-level trade ship for the union. It offers a large cargo of 210, making FWE at this point better money than stocking. It has a strong hull, making explosive missions quite feasible at this point and the cargo allows it to package rank easily. Because it is the only trade ship available at this point short of exping to a Hercules, many pilots get in this ship after a Rustfire then make money and rank for a better ship such as an El Padre.

Rank: Five

Cost: 780000

Slider
Semi-experienced fighters
 * Fighter/trader hybrid

The slider is a mid-level hybrid available at rank accountant. Many pilots looking for a combination of trading and fighting in the union choose this ship, although it will become outdated in fighting once they get to a rank requiring you to kill NPCs that require serious firepower and armor. Many people choose to use this ship as a hybrid package/assassination ranker, as it has high cargo space, strong hull, and good firepower. However, that is generally what people use it as, people looking to trade should look a rank lower at the Junker or a rank higher at the El Padre.

Rank: Six

Cost: 1330000

El Padre
Fairly experienced pilots
 * Medium trader

The El Padre (Padre) is a mid-level trader for the Union. It is the highest level pure trader in the Union, though the later Hercules and Behemoth have more cargo space. It allows good midgame trading for pilots before or during gaining rank for the Hercules. Its performance is quite good for its class.

Rank: Seven

Cost: 1650000

Chitin
Experienced fighters
 * Fighter (Ambusher)

The Chitin is one of the Union's best ships being regarded as the ultimate ambush craft, often serving in ambushes and combat. It is the Union equivalent of the Federation's and Empire's Nighthawk series and PASC. Its combination of 4 missile and gun mounts are reflected by the Union's ECCM making the NN-550's almost as effective as the Empire's MKII missile considering the opponent has an ECM.

Rank: Eight

Cost: 2310000

Horpor
Experienced fighters
 * Fighter/trader hybrid (Ranker)

The Horpor is an effective fighter/transporter ship having the gun mounts it needs to fight NPCs and the capacity to transport materials. It is not an incredibly popular choice, but people who use it are satisfied with its performance. Many people use it to do package missions and assassination missions at the same time. It does not hold up well in PVP combat however, its armor is somewhat low, it is a large ship, and it has no missile mounts.

Rank: Ten

Cost: 5050000

Scorpion
Very experienced fighters
 * Large battle-ship

The Scorpion is the pride and glory of the Union. It is considered as being one of the best battleship class ships in the game with all things considered such as price, rank, and equipment set ups. Like the Liberator, it is normally set up to be a tactical fighter with the ability to cloak, destroy buildings, fight, and ambush break. It is comparably better to the Dominator and the Liberator in stats, and is powerful enough to hold up to a Mooncrusher. Many pilots going into this ship choose to jump in a Sabre to practice their cloaking.

Although its base Armor is only tied for last place (in the Battleship class) with the Neutral Liberator, when fully upgraded to the Union-only level VI armor conventional armor the Scorpion is the most defensive ship in the game in terms of Armor and Hull, with 4300 Armor + Hull vs the Federation Doomstar's 4305 at level V armor.

Rank: Twelve

Cost: 15125000

Federation ships
The Federation has twelve ships, the most of any faction, and access to the twelve Neutral ships. They are a progression of equally fine fighters with no significant downside, although they typically are not of large cargo capacity, except the ships focused on trade. The best mid-rank ships in the game, and with the addition of the subscription-only War Nova, the best end-game ship also.

Wasp
Well worth getting to skill up to higher Federation ships. Slightly cheaper but slightly less defensive than the Empire's Ficon; the Union's first ship requires the second Rank.

Rank: One

Cost: 20,000

Adder
The Empire's second ship is significantly superior to the third neutral ship, the Interceptor; the Federation superiority in low end fighters over post-Ficon Empire ships begins here, where the Empire ships diverge to add the markedly poor Tyrant trader.

Rank: Two

Cost: 35,000

Thunderbird
Superior in every way except as usual, cargo capacity, to the same-rank Spectre. It is even cheaper. The Union has no Rank Three ship.

Rank: Three

Cost: 121,000

Viper Defense Craft
Better Hull value than the same-rank Shadow Stealth Craft, which itself is markedly superior to the same-rank Union Marauder.

Rank: Four Cost: 183,000

Babel Transporter
The first Federation vessel with over 200 Cargo,

Rank: Five, the same rank requirement as the Piranha Cost: 532,000

Piranha
Rank: Five, the same rank requirement as the Babel Transporter Cost: 556,000

Nighthawk
As usual with stealth ships, lower A + H and weaponry than same-rank ships. However, when compared with even the Phantom Advanced Stealth Craft, which is three Ranks higher, it still has better A + H and only one less missile, highlighting the Federation's superiority in stealth vessels.

Rank: Six Cost: 2,000,000

Nighthawk Deluxe
More of the same only slightly better, as compared with the Nighthawk. The usual low A + H and weaponry compared with same-rank Empire ships, but more of both than the Union Trader El Padre.

Rank: Seven, the same rank as the Mantis Cost: 3,000,000

Mantis
Rank: Seven, the same rank as the Nighthawk Deluxe Cost: 3,300,000

Extender
Rank: Eight Cost: 4,100,000

Gauntlet
Rank: Nine Cost: 8,900,000

Doomstar
Highest Armor in the game. Fully upgraded, the second most defensive ship in the game in terms of Armor and Hull, with 4185 Armor + Hull at level V conventional armor vs the Scorpion's 4305 with Union-only level VI armor.

Rank: Eleven Cost: 34,750,000

War Nova
Subscription only.

Empire ships
Empire has the best starting ship, and then is in second place until the last non-subscription ship. Its 'stealth ships', in particular, are no better at stealthing than Federation ones, and are uniformly weaker in Hull value. It is all about the exclusive Empire weaponry, and skilling up to the final ships; in terms of pure attack power, the Mooncrusher is the best ship in the game, with the possible exception of the subscription-only War Nova.

Ficon
The best Rank 1 ship, with 15 Armor + Hull more than a Wasp, and 30 more armor.

Rank: One Cost: 21,000

Tyrant
Lowest armor in the game. Lowest Armor + Hull in the game. Relying on the strength of the Ficon to make it to the next Empire ship or the neutral Interceptor might be a better choice.

Rank: Two

Cost: 38,500

Spectre
The Spectre shows some of the promise of future Empire behemoths: good Armor + Hull (although significantly lower than the Thunderbird), good weaponry, and good carrying capacity as well.

Rank: Three

Cost: 190,000

Shadow Stealth Craft
An eggshell hull but the same armor as the Federation stealth craft of the same rank, the Viper Defense craft.

Rank: Four

Cost: 310,000

Venom
At Rank Five, considerably better A + H than the Level Seven Neutral Hercules, with one more missile mount than the Level Six Neutral Mercury. As is to be expected when comparing with specialized ships, namely the the Rank Five Federation ships Babel Transporter trader and Piranha fighter, it compares negatively with their speciality and favorably with their weakness.

Rank: Five

Cost: 964,000

Constrictor
Same number of weapons mountings as the Venom, with two extra guns and two less missiles. At Rank Seven, almost as good A + H as the Level Ten Neutral Gargantua, with the same number of gun and missile mountings. Unlike the Venom, when comparing with the Nighthawk Deluxe stealth ship, it compares favorably. Compared with the Rank Seven Federation Mantis hybrid vessel, it has less armor.

Rank: Seven

Cost: 1,500,000

Phantom Advanced Stealth Craft
As usual for stealth craft, lower weaponry and cargo capacity. As usual for Empire stealth craft, low hull value also.

Rank: Nine

Cost: 2,720,000

Dominator
Adequate cargo capacity and the same number of weapon mounts (10) as the Constrictor, with two missile mounts converted to gun mounts for a total of four. The same weapon setup as the Gargantua, which is the same Level as the Dominator's Rank, but considerably better A + H, so any flaws are not a reason to go looking for a neutral ship.

Rank: Ten

Cost: 3,650,000

Boa Ultimate Carrier
Highest cargo capacity in the game. Equivalent to the Doomstar in rank requirement, with which it compares favorably only in cargo capacity and Hull value; it has a lower Armor + Hull value and lower Armor value, thus upgrading to much less total A + H. However, it has 40% more weapon slots than the top-ranked Union Scorpion.

Rank: Eleven

Cost: 8,250,000

Mooncrusher
The Mooncrusher has the highest Rank requirement in the game. In terms of raw attack power, it is easily the best ship in the game. However, its defense, 3645 Armor + Hull at level V armor, is third place, only a little better than the Neutral Liberator at 3585 level V.

It has 1/3 more weaponry than the Doomstar, vs 15% more Armor + Hull, fully upgraded. It has double the weapons of a Scorpion, vs 18% more Armor + Hull, given level VI armor. If the destination is worth a hard journey, it really is a prize worth waiting for.

It has the second best carrying capacity in the game, behind the Boa Ultimate Carrier

Rank: Thirteen

Cost: 37,900,000

Rover
Available with Competency level Six and membership in the Shadow Syndicate.

Reaper
Available with Competency level Nine and membership in the Shadow Syndicate.

Blood Lanner
Available with Competency level Ten and membership in the Shadow Syndicate.

Sudden Death
Available with Competency level Twelve and membership in the Shadow Syndicate.

Trident
Available with Competency level Seven and membership in the Esteemed Pilots Syndicate.

Celeus
Available with Competency level Ten and membership in the Esteemed Pilots Syndicate.

Vulcan
Available with Competency level Eleven and membership in the Esteemed Pilots Syndicate.

Liberator EPS
Available with Competency level Thirteen and membership in the Esteemed Pilots Syndicate.