In a future 3.x patch we plan to assign every ship and every item a component class. This means players will only be able to put an item of that class into a ship that can utilize it. Military – The best overall at that item’s functionality, at the expense of emissions and cost. Civilian – The most common, wide range of behaviours to suit cost, options to approximate all other categories but not as specific. Stealth – Vastly reduced signatures/consumption at the expense of functionality. Industrial – Reliably high output and low wear, high emissions. Competition – Higher performing than military but at the expense of durability and stealth, performance over everything. At present, no ship is restricted to a single class of item, with each having at least two classes and virtually all of them featuring Civilian as an option. While this system is still in development, the idea at it’s core is to prevent players from making certain ships too powerful within respective areas. We still want there to be an enormous amount of customization available, but this system we’re still developing would do things like limit the chances of finding a Military Spec 85X or a Stealth Herald simply due to people buying the best items of that type. Please CIG. Don't go down this route. It will limit so many ships' roles. This will already make ships feel even more limited than they do now and make the pool of items we can choose from when customizing our ships, even smaller. A lot of others have already commented on this and I don't want to overreact but this is genuinely something that I believe is a mistake. Especially considering I should be able to make a military Spec 85X or Stealth Herald as it would provide variety and help to balance the game because no matter what ship you have, you would be able to build it, so to speak, to suit your needs. Edit: More customization allows for more replay-ability of the game as it allows people to try out different configurations. People make crazy vehicles all the time in real life and there are no laws against it. Why should there be in SC? It isn't like every freelancer you see will be a crazy looking clown mobile. NPCs will help fill the verse in.