some things i dont get

ok, let me just say that i'm new to the forum and new to the game. I like it alot and play it all the time.
However some things are very vague and i can't find the information i want. I don't want to spoil my fun by looking in the walkthrough so here's what i'm asking. I'm currently in act 2. I just found Lucrecia's horde.

1. How do you get other ships? I've seen alot of other ships and i'm pretty sure i can assume you can get those ships but how? Do i have to capture them in some way? Or do i have to find them? Or do i get them when the game evolves?

2. Whats the case with heat sinks? I traded a beta heat sink instead of my gamma heat sink and now i have a sealed heat sink, but the manual doenst say which one is better. It just says that there are five types but not which five and a list from good to bad or something like that.

3. minor question. How do you turn the stealth module on and off? I can do it with the active sensors and the sigal mask, but not with the module. Since it hinders my manouvrebility, i think its important.

If any of you people are willing to help me (because i'm sure these aren't the toughest questions) i'm really grateful.

Hi Emjeha. You do get other ships later on in the game (and in fact you're getting close to getting the next one). The game will have a total of 3 major ships (the tug and two others) and two minor ships (the Command module and the Storm Petrel which is lost in the beginning).

The heat sink issue is both difficult and simple...typically the higher priced sinks are the best. When a new one is offered on the trade screen it is usually better than what you currently have (except the sealed heat sink...I think that just lowers your emmisions profile...makes the ship more stealthy). Many of the ship components did not get the documentation they deserved.

The Stealth Module cannot be turned on or off (except by taking it out of the ship's loadout before you launch).

Hope this helps. Welcome to the forum.

thank you. This solves my problem completely.

originally posted by Shane
When a new one is offered on the trade screen it is usually better than what you currently have

True, except for the Beta. In increasing order of effectiveness:
Alpha
Sealed
Beta
Gamma <-yep, you started with a better one than you got for those Solar Panels
Delta
Omega
Various heatsink upgrades, once you have them, can be added to any of these to improve their effectiveness.

The Sealed is slightly worse than the Beta (2500 vs 2550 heat loss), but reduces your brightness by 0.1. This is largely pointless; you don't need it even for missions where stealth is taken into account.

originally posted by emjeha
Since it hinders my manouvrebility, i think its important.

I think that's probably just encyclopaedia fluff; the stealth program may have some manoeuvrability impact, but it's not noticeable if it does. If you're worried, though, as Shane said, just don't load it; its brightness modifier is only 0.06 even if you have the best CPU available, so you'll be hard-pressed to tell the difference.