Much like its predecessor, Everspace 2 has a number of ships geared up for various playstyles. From hard-hitting heavies to nimble scout ships, there’s a little something for everyone. That said, the list below looks at the Everspace 2 ships currently available as of version 0.4.16xx.
I discuss their strengths, weaknesses, and some potential tactics and loadouts. I also go over ship devices and provide some suggestions that worked for me that you may find useful.
Everspace 2 Ships List
The Sentinel
The game sees us starting off in a Sentinel medium class fighter ship, and for good reason. This is a great middle-of-the-road option; pound for pound, it is the most versatile ship in both Everspace and Everspace 2.
The Sentinel comes out of the hangar with a good balance between shields, armor, and hull strength. Additionally, its special bonus — calibration — grants a 30% duration buff to consumables. That extra time on your damage or energy boosts may be the deciding factor on making it out of the fight or seeing the death screen.
The Sentinel’s ultimate ability — static overload — is visually stimulating (wreathing the ship in arcing electricity and letting you fire electrical arcs for a duration), but I didn’t find myself using it all that often.
Tactics and Loadout Suggestions
The Sentinel is balanced to the point that you could use it in multiple roles. I played through the entire current main storyline in one.
For my loadout, I went with a thermo gun and rail gun for my primary weapons and homing missiles and mines for my secondaries. The rail gun lets you pick off pesky drones at a distance, while the thermo gun’s guided ammo helps for fast-moving ships that close the distance with you.
The homing missiles give you a hefty punch of damage, and the mines are great when enemies cluster together.
The Interceptor
After progressing through the first few main story missions, you’ll be sent to a station where you can purchase other ships. That’s where you’ll get your hands on The Interceptor.
This Everspace 2 ship also falls into the medium hull category, though it has less in the way of shields than the Sentinel. Thankfully, it more than makes up for that with its loadout.
The Interceptor’s special — the power converter — allows you to automatically dip into your boost power as a secondary energy source for weapons. This is great if you’re using something like the gauss cannon or coil gun, both of which eat through your weapon energy supply quickly.
Tactics and Loadout Suggestions
Speaking of loadout, the Interceptor can carry three primary and secondary weapons, giving you a bit more versatility. This allows you to have all three of the current Everspace 2 secondary weapons available, as well as options for short/medium/long-range engagement.
My personal loadout is the thermo gun, coil gun, and rail gun. You can soften up targets at range with the rail gun, have homing ammo for speedy ships with the thermo gun, and the coil gun packs a punch against both shields and armor.
The Scout
The Scout is a nimble, strike-from-a-distance type of ship. It has essentially no shields, no armor, and a paper-mache hull. But what it lacks in defense, it makes up in pure sniping power and speed.
The Scout’s special power — ranger — grants it a 2% damage increase for every 100m between it and the target enemy ship. That means that with the sniper-like rail gun, which has a range of 3,500m, you can expect to do a whopping 60% extra damage per shot!
Stack that with the Scout’s ultimate ability — Shadow strike — which makes it invisible and ramps the damage up to a possible 300%, and you’re basically one-tapping most enemies.
The Scout isn’t without its drawbacks though. With one of the smallest cargo holds, it’s not the best choice for scavenging asteroid fields or derelict stations. This can be negated with some upgrades that become available later on in the main quest storyline, however.
Tactics and Loadout Suggestions
The name of the game with The Scout is snipe and move. The rail gun is a must for the Scout since it has the longest range in the game presently. The mine launcher would also be a great choice as a secondary to finish off ships that might close the distance before you can finish them off.
The Striker
The Striker is a close-range brawler meant to be in heat of the battle. With slightly lower shields than the Sentinel, it does boast slightly more armor and hull health, as well as three primary weapon slots.
Its special ability — close combat — gives it a 5% damage buff for every ship within 500m, capping off at 30% bonus damage. Coupling this with the Striker’s ultimate ability — quantum tether — you’ll be able to link all the nearby enemies together to spread out the damage done, effectively hurting all enemies in the area while being able to focus on one at a time.
Tactics and Loadout Suggestions
The Striker is a force of chaos meant to be in the middle of the fray, so a good weapon loadout would be the scatter gun, thermo gun, and autocannon as primary weapons. The gauss cannon could also be a good choice since its rate of fire increases the longer you fire it.
It would also do well with both missiles and rockets in the secondary weapon slots.
The Gunship
The Gunship is an absolute unit with thick armor plating and high hull hit points. The downside is that it basically has no shields to speak of, and it has the slowest speed of all current Everspace 2 ships. It does have the largest cargo hold and four primary weapon slots but again suffers from only two consumable item slots.
The Gunship’s special ability — arsenal — allows gives it what essentially amounts to a double fire rate, but that’s counterbalanced with double energy consumption as a trade-off. The ultimate — an automated turret — is a bit lack-luster compared to the other ships already mentioned in this list.
Tactics and Loadout Suggestions
The Gunship is essentially a brick with guns strapped to it. Handling is sluggish and movement is slow, but if it hits, it’ll turn enemy ships into space debris.
As for a potential loadout, thermo guns feel like a must; the homing ammo will be a godsend for all the fast-moving ships around you. The scatter gun and autocannon might not be bad either for their sheer amount of output.
As far as secondary weapons go, I’d consider doubling up with two sets of rocket pods, because the name of the game is overwhelming force when it comes to this ship. 
Ship Devices
While each ship has its own special and ultimate ability, each ship is capable of also mounting two ship devices. These devices fall into two categories:
- Warfare devices
- Support devices
These devices also feature their own form of upgrading as you gain levels. Personally, I feel that each ship should be running the energized boost device. It’s a great way to escape when you’re swarmed, great for repositioning as the Scout and Gunship, and great if you jump into a fight you’re unprepared for. It’ll get the distance you need to jump out nine out of 10 times.
As far as the rest of the ships go, I used the following devices in my secondary slot:
- Sentinel: Annihilator Virus for when I found myself surrounded and wanted to damage all enemies, then boost away
- Interceptor: Missile Defense System to help deal with getting swarmed by vipers and bombers in the later sections
- Scout: EMP Generator to stun enemy ships that get too close, allowing me to escape or reposition
- Striker: Quantum Entangler to punish enemies for damaging my ship while in the thick of combat
- Gunship: Nano Transmitter for helping repair hull damage a ship would take if enemies got through the absurd volume of fire
Hopefully, this Everspace 2 ships guide has given you some helpful knowledge when it comes to picking a ship to main. I’d love to know what builds you’re running on what ships, so if you feel like sharing, please drop a comment down below!
