Ships are broken into five tiers, including the starting Light Cruiser. The higher the tier, the more advanced the ship. Higher-tier ships offer more weapon slots and Bridge Officer seats. While tier 5 ships can offer an equipment advantage over a tier 4 ship, the power disparity between ships decreases as the tier increases, so an experienced player with a well-outfitted tier 4 ship could be as effective (or more so) as a less-seasoned tier 5 pilot.