It would immediately appear that you'd always want to use a LBB2 (second edition) maneuver drive in any ship built under LBB5, whenever you can.
There are some limits. The first is that LBB2 TL limits on maneuver drive power (Gs*Tons) are sharply constrained by TL, since LBB3 does not split out drive type (MD, JD, PP) by TL.
The second is that the main design penalty for maneuver drive capacity in smaller ships is the power plant fuel requirement.
The third is that if you're not intermixing drives, agility is almost invariably limited to a maximum of 5 since LBB2 power plants cannot have a rating higher than Pn-5, and computers larger than Mod/2 draw energy points.
A fourth is that TL affects LBB5 power plant size if you're intermixing LBB2 and LBB5 drives. I personally dislike the concept of intermixing them, as it's cherry-picking from systems with different underlying purposes.
I'll lay out some tables in subsequent posts, unless someone (hi, @AnotherDilbert!) wants to run them first.
There are some limits. The first is that LBB2 TL limits on maneuver drive power (Gs*Tons) are sharply constrained by TL, since LBB3 does not split out drive type (MD, JD, PP) by TL.
The second is that the main design penalty for maneuver drive capacity in smaller ships is the power plant fuel requirement.
The third is that if you're not intermixing drives, agility is almost invariably limited to a maximum of 5 since LBB2 power plants cannot have a rating higher than Pn-5, and computers larger than Mod/2 draw energy points.
A fourth is that TL affects LBB5 power plant size if you're intermixing LBB2 and LBB5 drives. I personally dislike the concept of intermixing them, as it's cherry-picking from systems with different underlying purposes.
I'll lay out some tables in subsequent posts, unless someone (hi, @AnotherDilbert!) wants to run them first.
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