Currently we have this as the layout of out our equipment pages:
Its not too bad, most classes are labeled with what class they are for, but its missing a few classes ( like Battlecruiser) and it has a few problems I elaborate on down below. And most of the time I find myself navigating equipment pages with this portal:
This doesn't seem very useful, as you need to remember which class of gun goes with what ship slot, and half the gun pages are out of sorts, being either used for turrets or just not used any more (class 5), or only have 1 entry (class 4 and 10).
Instead, I think it might be more useful set out like this
Guns:
Light Fighter Guns
Heavy Fighter Guns
Elite Fighter Guns
Fighter Ordinace
Bomber Guns
Bomber Torpedos
Forward Guns
Turrets:
Fighter Turrets
Transport Turrets
Gunboat Turrets
Cruiser Turrets
Cruiser Heavy Turrets
Battlecruiser Primary Turrets
Battlecruiser Heavy Turrets
Battlecruiser Secondary Turrets
Battleship Primary Turrets
Battleship Heavy Turrets
Battleship Secondary Turrets
Equipment:
CD
Cm
Cloaks
Mines
ID
Thrusters
Shields
Scanners
Armour Upgrades
Cargo Pods
Jumpdrives
Hyperspace Scanners
I just don't think there's much point in labeling the weapons by class, now that each class of weapon is designed for specific class of ship, so this way, now you don't need to remember which class of weapon is for which ship. Also, this would see changes such fighter torpedoes and missiles merged into one page, catering to all weapons that use the weapon class, with bomber torpedo's having their own page. An entire page just for Hellfire Rocket Pods and the Catapult missile each is pretty over the top too, so the class 4 page can be merged with either the Bomber Guns or Bomber Torpedo's page, and class 10 could become the combined fighter missiles/torpedo/MR/Maxim page. There's not really enough transport heavy turrets that making a whole new page also seems overkill, but Gunboats, Cruisers and larger could do with the separate pages for turret classes.
Alternatively, the rows could be labeled "Snubcraft" and "Capital Ships" respectively, and move the fighter turrets up to be with the snubcraft.
All in all, this should make the equipment overview pages easier to navigate and understand, especially for new players, as well as consolidating all weapons for one hard-point on one page, for easier comparisons.
Sorry for being slow to reply to this - I do indeed agree with most of the changes suggested above, particularly the ones regarding the Ship Equipment template. Will take a look at implementing it - thanks!
Not the final version. But it should work for now. Suggestions are welcome of course. Not sure if we really need the Class in the navigation template for example.