Ships & Weapons

From nimble probes to planet-crushing titans — your fleet is your instrument of power. Understanding ship roles, weapon types, and armor matchups is essential for victory.

Ship Sizes

Ships come in four size categories, each built at different facilities.

Size Built At Role
Small Planetary Shipyard Fast, cheap, disposable. Probes, scouts, fighters, interceptors, freighters, mining vessels.
Medium Planetary Shipyard Versatile mid-weight. Colony ships, EW ships, ice drills, repair ships.
Large Orbital Shipyard Heavy hitters and haulers. Cruisers, battleships, carriers, bombers, bulk carriers, excavators.
Capital Moon Dockyard Empire-defining. Dreadnoughts and titans. Moon-only construction.

Recon Ships

Information is power. Recon ships explore the unknown and gather intelligence on your enemies.

Probe Small

Fast unmanned drone that auto-explores star systems. Send probes to map the galaxy around you — they reveal system contents and return automatically. No weapons, minimal HP, but among the fastest combat-zone ships in the game (speed 25). Light armor.

Requires: Probe Technology

Spy Probe Small

Stealth reconnaissance drone. Can be sent to enemy planets to gather intelligence — fleet composition, building levels, resource stockpiles. The quality of intel depends on your spy technology vs their counter-intelligence. Even faster than a regular probe (speed 28). Light armor, no weapons.

Requires: Signal Intelligence

Stealth Ship Small Laser

Cloaked vessel for covert operations. Very difficult to detect by enemy sensors. Armed with lasers for self-defense but primarily a stealth platform. Costs rare cryo-ice to build. Light armor.

Requires: Stealth Technology

Combat Ships

The warships of your fleet. From nimble scouts to unstoppable titans.

Small Combat Ships

Scout Small Kinetic

Fast patrol vessel and your first combat ship. Cheap to build in quantity, scouts are perfect for clearing weak pirate camps and providing escort. Light armor makes them vulnerable to focused fire. Kinetic weapons are effective against other light-armored targets.

Requires: Orbital Mechanics

Fighter Small Laser

Dedicated combat craft with more HP and firepower than scouts. The backbone of early military fleets. Laser weapons give balanced effectiveness against all armor types. Has rapid fire against probes and spy probes.

Requires: Laser Weapons

Interceptor Small Kinetic

The fastest combat ship (speed 18). Designed to hunt and destroy other small ships. Kinetic weapons shred light armor, and rapid fire capability (4x vs fighters, 5x vs scouts and probes) means interceptors chew through small craft at an alarming rate.

Requires: Fighter Doctrine

Large Combat Ships

Cruiser Large Laser

Heavy balanced warship. The first real workhorse of your fleet — laser weapons provide consistent damage against all armor types, and medium armor provides decent survivability. Good against both light and heavy targets. Has rapid fire against small ships (5x vs scouts, 4x vs fighters, 2x vs interceptors). Cargo bay 150.

Requires: Cruiser Design

Carrier Large Laser

Mobile base that projects power through its embarked assault shuttles. Heavy armor and high HP (2000) make carriers hard to kill. Their laser batteries provide versatile fire support while their real value is enabling ground raids. Huge cargo bay (3000) for transporting loot. Has rapid fire against small ships (3x vs fighters, 5x vs scouts).

Requires: Carrier Operations

Battleship Large Plasma

Capital warship with devastating plasma batteries. Heavy armor makes battleships the backbone of late-game fleets. Plasma is particularly effective against shielded targets. Has rapid fire against medium ships (4x vs cruisers, 5x vs interceptors). Expensive but extremely effective.

Requires: Battleship Design

Bomber Large Missile

Heavy anti-structure craft. Bombers wreck planetary defenses with rapid fire (3x against all defense building types) and are essential for softening up heavily fortified planets before assault. Missile weapons are effective against medium-armored targets. Heavy armor for survivability.

Requires: Bomber Wing Doctrine

Missile Cruiser Large Missile

Heavy guided missile platform. Fires long-range salvos most effective against medium-armored targets. Has rapid fire against small and medium ships (5x vs fighters, 4x vs interceptors, 3x vs bombers). Heavy armor and a modest cargo bay (120). A flexible addition to any fleet composition.

Requires: Missile Systems

Capital Ships

Moon Dockyard Required: Capital ships can only be built at a Moon Dockyard — they're too large for orbital construction. You'll need to colonize a moon first.

Dreadnought Capital Ion

Massive super-capital warship. Dreadnoughts bring overwhelming firepower and durability to any engagement. Ion weapons are devastating against shielded targets. Has rapid fire against large ships (3x vs battleships, 4x vs bombers, 3x vs missile cruisers, 5x vs cruisers). Slow, expensive, and terrifying.

Requires: Dreadnought Design

Titan Capital Ion

The ultimate warship. Only one Titan per empire. Armed with ion weapons that devastate shields, encased in unique shielded armor (the only buildable ship with this armor type), and possessing massive HP (200,000), a Titan is a mobile fortress. Has extreme rapid fire against nearly everything (20x vs scouts, 15x vs fighters, 10x vs interceptors, 8x vs cruisers, 5x vs battleships/bombers/carriers/missile cruisers, 3x vs dreadnoughts). It takes enormous resources and time to build — including rare dark matter.

Requires: Titan Design

Special Ships

Specialized craft designed for specific missions beyond conventional combat.

Assault Shuttle Small Kinetic

Armored dropship for ground raids. Carries troops to enemy planets to steal resources. Protected by medium armor — tougher than most small ships but still needs fleet escort. Kinetic weapons for self-defense.

Requires: Assault Tactics

Hacker Ship Small Laser

Electronic warfare specialist. During raids, hacker ships crack encrypted storage systems, allowing your raiders to locate and steal more resources. Light armor and laser weapons. Fragile but extremely valuable in raid fleets.

Requires: Assault Tactics

Colony Ship Medium

Massive colonization vessel that establishes new settlements. Consumed on use — the ship becomes part of the new colony. Requires 50 population to crew. No weapons, light armor. Essential for expansion. See Colonization.

Requires: Colonization Technology

Engineer Ship Large

Construction vessel for building outposts on asteroid fields. Consumed during outpost construction — the ship is dismantled to become the outpost foundation. Medium armor, small cargo bay (100).

Requires: Outpost Engineering

Electronic Warfare Ship Medium Ion

Jamming platform armed with ion weapons. Disrupts enemy targeting and communication during combat, reducing their fleet's effectiveness. Ion weapons are especially effective against shielded targets. Light armor.

Requires: Electronic Warfare

Mine Layer Small Kinetic

Deploys space mines in target systems. Mines damage fleets passing through, acting as area denial. Medium armor provides some protection during deployment. Kinetic weapons for self-defense.

Requires: Mine Warfare

Utility Ships

The workhorses of your empire — haulers, miners, and support craft.

Transport

Freighter Small

Standard cargo transport. Your first hauler — cheap and essential for moving resources between colonies. 500 cargo capacity, can also carry 100 mining cargo. Light armor. Requires Orbital Mechanics.

Transport Shuttle Small

Heavy-lift shuttle for extracting plundered resources during raids. Faster than freighters (speed 8 vs 5) and with bigger holds (850 cargo capacity). Light armor. Requires Transport Logistics.

Tanker Small

Specialized hydrogen fuel transport. Can only carry hydrogen but has 900 cargo capacity and very low fuel consumption (1.0). Extends fleet operational range. Light armor. Requires Transport Logistics.

Bulk Carrier Large

Massive cargo hauler with 3000 capacity — six times a freighter. Slow (speed 4) but the backbone of inter-colony trade routes. Medium armor. Requires Cargo Expansion.

Ore Freighter Large

Specialized bulk hauler with reinforced cargo bays. High capacity but restricted to ore and silicates only. More fuel-efficient than a bulk carrier. Medium armor. Requires Cargo Expansion.

Mining

Mining Vessel Small

Extracts basic resources from asteroid fields — primarily ore. Light armor. Requires Mining Fleet Operations.

Gas Collector Small

Atmospheric scooping vessel for gas cloud and quantum field harvesting. 400 mining cargo capacity. Light armor. Requires Mining Fleet Operations.

Ice Drill Medium

Armored drilling vessel for cryo-ice and quantum dust extraction from dense fields. 300 mining cargo capacity. Medium armor. Requires Rare Resource Extraction.

Excavator Large

Heavy mining platform that boosts fleet mining yield by 20%. Extracts resources from ore, ice, gas, and plasma fields, and can support specialized miners in every field type. 500 mining cargo capacity. Medium armor. Requires Rare Resource Processing.

Support

Repair Ship Medium

Mobile repair platform. Restores damaged ships and outpost structures in the field without returning to a shipyard. Medium armor. Requires Outpost Engineering.

Lunar Shuttle Small

Moon colonization transport. Consumed on use — establishes a colony on a moon. Light armor. Requires Lunar Operations.

Weapon Types

Five weapon types, each with different strengths against different armor types. Fleet composition matters — bring the right weapons for the job.

Weapon Character Strong Against Weak Against
Kinetic Mass drivers and railguns Light armor (1.25x) — shreds scouts and fighters Shielded armor (0.75x) — can't penetrate energy barriers
Laser Focused energy beams Balanced — 1.0x against all armor types No particular weakness, no particular strength
Plasma Superheated matter Shielded armor (1.25x) — overloads energy shields Heavy armor (0.90x) — thick plating diffuses the heat
Missile Guided ordnance Light armor (1.10x) and medium / heavy armor (1.05x) — guided salvos crack balanced hulls best Shielded armor (0.9x) — point defense can intercept
Ion Energy disruption Shielded targets (1.30x) — disrupts energy shields Heavy armor (0.85x) — less effective against raw plating

Armor Types

Each ship has an armor type that determines how much damage it takes from different weapons.

Armor Found On Characteristics
Light Probes, scouts, fighters, interceptors, freighters, stealth ship, hacker ship, EW ship, gas collector, mining vessel, tanker, transport shuttle, lunar shuttle Minimal protection. Fast ships rely on speed, not armor. Kinetic weapons tear through light armor (1.25x).
Medium Cruiser, assault shuttle, mine layer, engineer ship, bulk carrier, ore freighter, ice drill, excavator, repair ship Balanced protection. Missiles are slightly above neutral against medium armor (1.05x); kinetic and laser fire at full effectiveness (1.0x).
Heavy Carrier, battleship, bomber, missile cruiser, dreadnought Maximum conventional protection. Kinetic rounds have reduced effect (0.85x), plasma loses some bite (0.90x), and ion weapons are weak here too (0.85x).
Shielded Titan Energy barriers in addition to plating. Only the Titan carries this — plasma (1.25x) and ion weapons (1.30x) are the best counters.

Rapid Fire

Some ships have rapid fire — the ability to fire multiple times per combat round at specific targets. This creates hard counters:

Fleet Composition Matters: A fleet of 100 fighters can lose badly to 30 interceptors because of rapid fire. Always scout your enemy's fleet composition and build counters. See Combat for detailed battle mechanics.

Fleet Speed

When ships travel together as a fleet, the entire fleet moves at the speed of the slowest ship. A fleet of interceptors escorting a single freighter will crawl at freighter speed.

Plan your fleet composition accordingly — don't mix fast attack ships with slow haulers unless you need to.

Tip: The Explorer commander grants a ship-speed bonus across the whole fleet, and the Diplomat can opt into it via the Expedition doctrine. Both are great picks if you expect to cover a lot of distance.
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