Hardpoints FAQ

[TeaLeaf]

A quick reminder from the RSI website describing what different hardpoints on your ship are capable of doing.

Hardpoints

Every ship has hardpoints on which a variety of different weapons can be mounted. Each hardpoint has a classification. A lower classification can always be mounted on a higher classification hardpoint, but not the other way around.

CLASS 1
Fixed Gun. This is your standard forward facing laser, neutron cannon, particle gun, etc.

CLASS 2
Articulated Gun. Think the guns in Freelancer or the smart weapons found in later Wing Commanders. Class 2 hardpoints are rarer and more expensive, but they allow guns to rotate on an arc rather than fire point blank.

CLASS 3
Pylon. This is where you mount missiles, ECM units, radar pods, drop tanks, additional ammunition, special scanners, etc.

CLASS 4
Turret. Uses the same fixed guns as class 1, but mounted in a separate area of the ship which may be crewed by another person. Turret slots can also mount pylon-type weapons (i.e. a tractor beam or a chaff dispenser.)

Class 5
Manned point defense turrets, generally mounted on larger ships and capital ships.

Class 6
Heavy manned capital ship turrets â€" used for ship-to-ship combat.

Class 7
Spinal mount lasers â€" heavy hitters that are effective against medium and large ships.

Class 8
Capital ship cannons â€" extended range heavy weapons used for capital ship battles in space

[Galatoni]

FYI. Class 9 slots are automated point defence turrets. They have been so far anyway.

[Gorion]

What's confusing about those Class 9's is that as per the other Class numbering format, the larger the number, the more massive the hardpoint/attachment they house.

So how does the number 9 fit into the whole Hardpoint Class numbering scheme.  Generally point defense systems are multiple small lasers, compared to the Phoenix with a single one.

[Galatoni]

Perhaps it's just meant to be a catchall. It'll likely change later as they add new things.
It's designed to target small fighters and missiles so I guess it could just refer to the automated nature of it.
Weak but it might be true.