Items are static, with varied availability - their appearance in stations is gated by faction, regional difficulty, and so on. Some are further gated by your rank in a guild. Same for ships.
So, personally, I don't consider it an ARPG, not in the sense that I'd normally call anything an ARPG. I consider it a space trader with more conversation stuff. Weirdly it has more 'roleplaying' than any of the ARPGs I've worked on, because you really can play it evil, and you really do have conversation choices that affect outcomes. But that's not really what you're asking about.
Here's how ships/stuff works.
The ships each have different sizes and maneuverability, hull/shield strengths, speeds, broadside ports, secondary ports, subsystem slots, and turret mounts.
Playing a dreadnaught is a lot different than playing a corvette. In a dreadnaught, you're going to get hit, you're not that maneuverable, but you have a ton of firepower - up to 16 turrets, and 20 broadsides per side. A corvette has a handful of turrets, and a few broadside ports, but is nimble enough to dodge, to legitimately block shots with battlefield obstructions, and it's just a heck of a lot easier for enemies to miss.
I don't think bigger is better. It's definiteley different though. I usually work my way up to, and play with, a mid-sized frigate that is maneuverable and has a reasonable number of turrets.
You can buy different hull/shield/deflectors, and soup up a small ship to make it quite viable. Lots of people like the Barracuda, which only has a couple of broadside ports, and really not that many turrets, but it's fast as hell. It sure doesn't feel anything like flying a dreadnaught.
Your weapon choices I think have a lot do with how you play - whether you prefer extreme long range weaponry, or whether you get up close, whether you lay mines and detonate them from a distance, how you manage turrets (do you actively control them or leave them to the ai?)
For instance, I constantly switch between turrets and broadsides. I also buy ordnance targeting, and individually pick off torpedoes before they can get close (or sometimes I get the subsystem that absorbs concussive damage if it hits a deflector and uses it to recharge shields). I never use mines and favor heat-seeking secondaries, and I tend to fly in close, try and get in the 'pocket' behind a big ship's broadside batteries and chisel through really fast. I also tend to pick beam turrets off of big ships before closing in.
I think there's a pretty good variety of combat approaches though, and Erich never does loadouts like I do.
Some people play with no broadsides AT ALL, which works for them
