FACTIONS

Solrain:
Medium-fast ships, heavy, fast-recharging shields. A little light on firepower, lots of flexibility in ship loadout because of a large number of MODx slots. (MODx are worth reading up on in JOSSH). All Solrain ships have buckets of cargo space... the Solrain Fighter-class ship, the Intensity can carry a full set of equipment in it's hold to re-equip a downed squadmate. The Solrain Bomber and Medium Fighter are top-of-the-line, and they have a good Light Transport as well. Solrain ships are fairly forgiving for a new pilot; the glut of Flashfire MODxes they can equip can ensure their survival in situations where any other ship would be  gunned down before it could escape. Solrain ships often utilize hit and run techniques in combat to gain the maximum advantage from their fast-recharging shields. Solrain ships can generally re-equip to a fairly good degree from their home stations. Solrain are typically RPed (Roleplayed) as greedy, profiteering traders. Which they are. Assassins, Mercenaries, Pirates, Traders, or  Factionalists. To piss off a Solrain pilot, call him a Smurf.

Quantar:
Usually have the fastest ships in a given class. They also have a medium load-out of MODx slots. Quantar ships rely on maneuvrability to evade incoming fire; the Quantar fighters, the Typhoon, is an ideal wolf-pack ship. Their speed can carry them out of most trouble; only scouts or an Intensity can really catch them up, and if you are a skilled pilot, you can evade and escape from those also. The Quantar level-3 ship, the Gust, is an amazing combat vehicle simply because it is so small. It is almost impossible to hit with ammo weapons, and can accelerate amazingly quickly, plus can spin on a dime. The Quantar cargo tow is slower than the others, and is generally felt to be sub-standard. The Quantar Light Transport frankly kicks ass. It can carry the same number of missiles as a Solrain Bomber, and boasts two large-size gunmounts as well as a decent turn of speed and hefty armour. The Quantar Medium Fighter and Bomber both rock as well. Quantar ships require a high level of skill to get one-on-one kills against a ship of equivalent type, but they are very good in wolfpacks. Quantar ships usually have more armour than Solrain ships, but the same shielding as Octavian ships (less ) One problem with the Quantar fighter is it's reliance on a  powerplant from Amanath, that is massively expensive and requires a trip through dangerous unregulated space to obtain.Quantar combat squads are normally RPed as religious zealots. There are, of course, plenty of Quantar traders and factionalists as well. And miners. Miners are wierdos. The derogatory name for a Quantar is "Rocklicker" or something of this vien.

Octavians:
Octavian design philosophy is basicly that bit from the Matrix;

"What do you need?"

"Guns. Lots of guns."

Yeah, so it isn't subtle, so sue me. Try and sue me, and I'll blow you up. That's pretty much Octavians for you. Octavian ships forgo speed, shielding, cargo space and MODx slots for Guns, Armour and Power. The Octavian Fighter, the Phoenix, is the slowest, with the least MODx slots. It is very good as acting as a target for missiles. However, getting in front of it is a mistake that you will regret. Note that you won't regret it for very long The Raptor Bomber is in a similar vien, but it's even slower, and you'll have even less time to regret your mistake in. This is compensated by the fact that it's the size of a reasonably large moon. Anyone failing to hit a Raptor needs an urgent sight test and/or amputation of the head due to unreasonable levels of incompetance. The Octavian Light Transport is a pile of rubbish that is affectionally known as the 'Turkey' or 'That Piece Of Shit'. The Octavian Cargo tow is great, the Light Fighter is rather shoddy, and the less said about the Albatross, the Octavian level 3 ship, the better. The Octavian Scout is really the shining star of the Imperial Navy; it's the fastest ship in the entire game and wolfpacks made up of 5-6 scouts can tear apart a force many times their size. The one problem with it is that the shielding is slightly less effective than tissue paper and they can be swatted out of the sky amazingly quickly, if you can hit them. Octavians are usually roleplayed as factionalists, mercenaries, or Psychotics. If you want to piss off an Octavian, don't bother; it'll all end in tears. Well, blood, more likely, but there you go.

I'm Octavian and I'm a hard-line factionalist borderline-psychotic. Nice to meet
you.

*twitches while drooling on keyboard*