10 questions that need answers

1) does the amount of of components decrease the speed or is it weight and the surface area of armor or how does that work
NO

2) what effects acceleration? same as above?
ENGINES AND EXTRA COMPONENTS LIKE EMERGENCY PROPULSION. I'm not sure weather the total weight of the ship also affects that. Probably does in balance mod.

3) where can I see the speed of the ship I just created, I see acceleration but where is the max speed it can achieve?
THE OVERVIEW SCREEN WHICH HOLDS ALL YOUR SHIP DESIGNS GIVES YOU ACCESS TO MULTIPLE TABS WHERE YOU CAN FIND INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR SHIP

4) if I have shields vs armor on a ship would it be faster? (same weight and everything)
NO DIFFERENCE IN SPEED

5) would it be best to not do a ton of research in storage so my storage will be smaller and therefore my ships will be faster
NO USE FOR THAT ALTHOUGH THAT RESEARCH WILL INCREASE THE RANGE OF YOUR SHIPS IF YOU PUT SUPPLY DEPOTS ON BORD. ALSO YOU WILL BE ABLE TO STORE MORE RESOURCES ON YOUR WORLDS WITH THE PROPER FACILITIES.

6) does the diff engine types do anything for speed and acceleration or are they just storage and movement
I THINK SO... THE ENGINES ARE MORE POWERFUL AND MAKE YOUR SHIPS FASTER

7) I know its not really speed related but tractor beam weapons, do they have a good range? cause I seem to have a problem with enemies running away all the time
Dunno.. I did see some nice examples but... depends on the mod

Do your ships get slower when you research the hull types? or is it just that ships of a larger class move slower. or both
In balance mod they do. But more engines help

9) (I know its random but) What does small weapons research do?
Gives you smaller versions of existing weapons you own that you can place on fighters and ground units

10) What do afterburners do exactly? they say in combat they provide extra movement...so if I had a really really really long battle would a fighter run out of fuel and stop moving?
It would become really slow in moving and would be a sitting duck for longer range weapons on the normal ships

Thanks in advance
Pyroman

pardon my caps

I'm assuming you are speaking about Stock games...

1) The Ship's speed is unrelated to the number/weight of the component. Every ship has a maximum number of engines you can put in. In stock is 12 for many ships types (frigate, destroyer and so on). Only the biggest ship types has less movement (dreadnought and baseship).

2) Accelleration is fixed, change only for ship types (frigate, destroyers, etc), and bigger a ship types, slower the accelleration.

3) If you right click on the design description (the box upper left) you can see you ship movement. The max speed the ship can achieve in combat is the same.

4)Shields and Armors don't change speed.

5)No, because weight don't matter on speed.

6)Different level od the same engine (ie. Ion Engine) don't change anything but supply storage, but different engine (ie. Ion Engine, Contra Terre Engine, ecc) change movement. Every Engine has a movement bonus value, 0 for the Ion Engine to 4 for the Quantum Engine. Accelleration is not related to the engine.

7) The max range of the Tractor Beam is that of the most direct fire weapons: 90.

8 ) Different level of same ship (ie. Frigate) have same speed and acc. This values change only on new ship hull (Frigate, Destroyers, etc...).

9)Small weapon research the small type version of your already researched weapons. Ie. If you has Depleted Uranium Cannon lvl 15, if you research Small Weapons to lvl 1, you discover Small Depleted Uranuium Cannon lvl 1, if you research to lvl 15, you discover small DUC lvl 15, but if you discover Small Weapons lvl 16, you don't discover anything until you research DUC lvl 16.

10) Afterburners add combat movement for Fighter, letting them moving VERY VERY fast. And they don't run out of fuel, as I can see. But remember that the longer a battle can go is 5 minutes...

I hope it will be usefull!!!

alot of my answers will probly be the same as others, but i feel like hanging out in the FAQ forum for one so i'll offer my input and knowledge

1) does the amount of of components decrease the speed or is it weight and the surface area of armor or how does that work

- no ship additions in stock or the mods ive played slow the ships total speed

2) what effects acceleration? same as above?

- each componenet has its own structure, esentially weight, im not meaning the space it takes up, with each level of the component normaly increases this, making the ship harder to kill... but all this weight does slow a ships acceleration and turning. even if you upgrade the hull so it can hold more but you dont add anything nor upgrade components then it will still slow the acceleration and turning. its generally very minor the effects, but they are there.

3) where can I see the speed of the ship I just created, I see acceleration but where is the max speed it can achieve?

- on the design page it should be near the top, in stock a newly created frigate with full basic engines is 12

4) if I have shields vs armor on a ship would it be faster? (same weight and everything)

- would affect speed itself, tho i'd imagine lots of armour verses a decent amount of shielding would weigh the ship down more and slow its accelleration and turning

5) would it be best to not do a ton of research in storage so my storage will be smaller and therefore my ships will be faster

- i'd say yes its worth it, for the same reasons mentioned in a post above, increased range and stuff. an anyway increased hull structure is good, especially if your ship has the components layed out in a way that lets the cargo/supply components get hit first... and no i cant remember what that is.. id love to know it again myself.

6) does the diff engine types do anything for speed and acceleration or are they just storage and movement

- movement points is speed, ive been trying to remember that term movement point through the whole of typing this up. im not sure if they affect acceleration at all...

7) I know its not really speed related but tractor beam weapons, do they have a good range? cause I seem to have a problem with enemies running away all the time

- ive never found out what their ment to be used for in a really effective way... even in mods.

8 ) Cool Do your ships get slower when you research the hull types? or is it just that ships of a larger class move slower. or both

- depending on the mod some hulls get slower after sumut like light cruiser, but ive seen one once where the destroyer class was a smidgen faster than friget. tho if your meaning researching the same hull, say frigate 1, then getting frigate 2, then yes this does slow its acceleration, but not its movement points, for the reason given in explaining question 2

9) (I know its random but) What does small weapons research do?

- as mentioned above shrinks some of your normal weapons into a form useable by fighters and troops.

10) What do afterburners do exactly? they say in combat they provide extra movement...so if I had a really really really long battle would a fighter run out of fuel and stop moving?

- they gain more movement points, im not sure if it uses extra supply or not, tho logicly it should. but i doubt it would use up enough over a battle to empty the fuel tanks.. unless you have supply guzzling weapons and not enough supply pods to compensate.
as for running out in battle, if they ai is good it should resupply from another ship like the carrier if it can, ive never had a fighter battle go on long enough to find out if the ai for that function is set up for fighters.

thats me done with your questions, i hope i've been helpfull and not just confused matters.
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Grand Lord Exelsiar of the Azra-Dun Commonwealth, at your service

#1: No added component will decrease the speed of a ship in stock (Stock = the game as provided in the box)

#2: I have not yet found anything that affects acceleration. It seems to rely entirely on numbers found within the VehicleSizes.txt file.

#3: A good question. While making your ship, you can click the section above the components list to change what information it gives. max speed, along with cargo space, shields, crew, and attack/defence bonuses are all found within.
As others have said, this information can be found, one the ship is created, in it's overview.

#4: No. I do, however, wish it did. it would be a good concept for a mod.

#5: Again, component weight and number doesn't seem to matter. The only reason not to research this tech, is if you desperately need a different tech.

#6: Just storage and movement. using the method listed in #3, i attatched several engines and checked the turn-rate each time. No changes. ever.

#7: Crap-tastic range. the only thing they are gode for, is to pull a ship you can allready hit into a better, easier-to-hit-them range.

#8: Sort of. In stock, you are simply no longer allowed as many engines. In Balance mod, engines provide a set amount of movement points, and ships require so much to move 1 hex. EX: frigates need 40 points. a level 1 Ion drive grants 125 points.
Battleships need more points than that 1 engine can provide.

#9: as stated, this grants you smaller, fighter and troop sized version of weapons you allready have. For example, you have level 8 Meson blaster, and level 2 Antimatter Torpedo.
Researching Smaller weapons to level 4 would grant you level 4 Small meson, and level 2 small anti-matter.

#10: They do exactly what they claim to do. Fighters move faster in combat. In balance mod, this is a multiplier added to the total speed.
I'm uncertain how Stock determines the speed boost.
Fighters will not run out of supplies from moving in combat, only from weapons fire.
The same holds true for your ships.

I hope I have been as helpfull as everyone else.

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I'll make one later.