Once again I come to the rescue...honestly

Power Rating refers the Class of the guns it can take

Optimal Power is usually irrelevant
Maximum Power is the max weapon class it can take

IE
Optimal: 8
Maximum: 10

That means the ship can take Class 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 10 Guns

Optimal 2
Maximum 3

This mean the ship can take Class 1,2 and 3 GUns

Simple enough?

One swift knee in the happy sacks an hell go down like anyone else!

Lets go down to the Ammo Store, break out the nukes, strap one to me head an Ill nut the smegger into OBLIVION!!

Killzone, the man with a Nuke duct tapped to his head

From what I read somewhere, if I remember correctly, the optimal rating means if you equip the ship with all optimum level guns, you can fire for 30 seconds continuously before you drain your power. But if you're a good shot, you shouldn't have to worry about that.

Trent: It's not the time, it's the sides that keep changing.

Either way, it's usually better to equip according to the ship's maximun power rating.

strafe!

Just a confirmation of an earlier statement, according to the official guide, a ship with all optimal class weapons can fire for 30 seconds before needing to re-charge. --- VH16

I am Nobody; Nobody is Perfect; Therefore, I am Perfect

Continuously for 30 secs? i just fire when the ship is in front of me. I suppose if your one of those peeps who keep shooting (So that when the ship comes into target, it gets hit) that could be useful.

well as i see it that this is liek a realtion to the ships' wep batteries notice that if the ship have a small wep batteries to its wep lvls that thje optimal wep class is 2-3 lvls lower than the max?