Starship types in the Peripheries File revision no.: 2.4 Classification: Open

This document depicts the various types of starships that have been encountered throughout the peripheries. Some of these ships are not a class but unique artefacts, while other classes have fallen into disuse and are not encountered anymore.
A more detailed description of each ship type is found below the overview table.


This file has been compiled for the DTR Stellar Armada and the DTR Explorer Corps.




Special ship operating abilities



Some races or affiliations have special abilities affecting their ship operation. These are (in alphabetical order):


CIA - The Confederate Intelligence Agency has designed an advanced propulsion sequencing system that allows them to employ their thrust engines with better efficiency. The Base Speed factor of all ships in the CIA is 0.6 instead of the normal 0.7.


CLN - Clan starships are sturdy and massive designs which can have a fourth coat of thorlium armour, making them even more resistant to damage. On the down side they require twice the normal crew complement. It should be noted, however, that the Clan culture could not recover from the last war against the Dewiek and Dominion and now seems to be doomed to extinction.


DEN - Although they have lost much of their technology, the Dewiek Elder Nation is still one of the technologically most advanced cultures in the peripheries. In addition to any specials mentioned in the list below, all their starships have a Base Speed factor of only 0.5 and a 25% better shield efficiency.


DOM - Dominion disregard for even the most basic safety regulations allows them to pack 25% more items into their starships. This also means they can mount 25% more thrust engines, making Dominion starships faster than they would normally be. In addition, the DOM can put a fourth coat of thorlium armour on their ships where most other affiliations are restricted to only three of these.


FCN - In accordance with their avian nature, the Falconian Empire produces starships that are exceptionally lightweigt constructions. They can fit 100% more items into their hulls, but a Base Speed factor of 1.3 means they do not get a significant speed advantage from the low mass of their starships. In effect, they can build normal starships using only half the amount of hulls.


FEL - The Felini have evolved in an isolated system, their only means of interstellar travel being an unstable wormhole connection. For this reason their starships are not designed for system jumps involving commonplace jump technology. FEL starships risk damage if they attempt jumps requiring more than 2 jump engines.


FGZ - Designs of a high technology culture, Flagritz starships require no maintenance and also have more efficient thrusters resulting in a Base Speed factor of 0.5.


A ship's base speed is calculated by dividing its total hulls by the number of thrust engines mounted, and multiplying the result with the Base Speed factor, usually 0.7. In the list below the Best Basespeed given is also taking into consideration the different Base Speed factors some races may have with their own ship designs. The number given in brackets is the best basespeed calculated from maximum thrust engines installed in the engine section and a Base Speed factor of 0.7 in all cases where the actual speed is different from that number.
In the case of the CIA and DOM, who can fly all human ship classes, their speed advantage is not noted as it does not depend on the ship design itself but the affiliation using it (unlike aliens operating their own ship designs which cannot be used by other races).
For similar reasons, an affiliation's special abilities with regard to cloaking or space combat are not mentioned in this list as they are tied to the ship's operators rather than to the ship's design and would be applicable to any ship operated by that affiliation.




Starship types

Class ID	Designation	Best Base Speed	Best Gravity Rating	Command Hulls	Main Hulls	Engine Hulls	Minimum shipyard class	Designed by	Specials
1	Yacht	0.8	6.0	3	4	5	1	EEM	Easily available at most starports.
2	War Galley	1.1	4.8	6	6	6	1	EEM	-
3	Light Freighter	1.2	4.3	4	10	6	1	EEM	-
4	Corvette	1.2	4.2	7	10	7	2	EEM	-
5	Surveyor	1.4	3.6	6	12	6	2	EEM	Favourite TRN ship to start with.
6	Fast Freighter	1.3	3.8	4	15	7	2	EEM	-
7	Destroyer	1.5	3.4	7	15	7	3	EEM	-
8	Medium Freighter	1.6	3.1	4	21	7	3	EEM	Can only use missiles and fighters in combat.
9	Survey Cruiser	1.3	3.9	8	16	9	4	EEM	-
10	Heavy Freighter	1.9	2.7	4	26	7	4	EEM	Can only use missiles and fighters in combat.
11	Light Cruiser	1.5	3.4	9	20	9	4	EEM	-
12	Heavy Cruiser	1.5	3.4	10	22	10	5	EEM	-
13	Space Liner	1.8	2.8	9	40	12	6	EEM	-
14	Battle Cruiser	1.8	2.9	11	29	10	6	EEM	-
15	Supra Freighter	2.1	2.4	4	45	10	6	EEM	Can only use fighters in combat.
17	Frigate	1.7	2.9	20	58	20	7	DTR/CNF	-
20	Nebulon	1.5	3.3	23	64	26	8	DTR	Natural morale decline halved. Enemy accuracy -25%. Cargo space limited to 500 MUs.
24	Patrol Cruiser	1.7	2.9	20	58	20	7	IMP	-
40	Ship of the Line	1.6	3.2	30	75	30	8	IMP	Natural morale decline halved. Cargo space limited to 500 MUs.
28	Deep Explorer	1.1	4.7	10	28	19	7	FET	Biolab and physics lab built in. FET crews get a free surface exploration once per turn.
?	Pioneer	1.2	4.0	15	67	31	8	FET	Double life support capacity. 200 Jammers built in. Can only use fighters in combat.
25	Belter	1.2	4.1	8	25	14	7	SMS	Can GPI a sector in 5 TUs.
21	Lugger	2.0 (1.8)	2.5 (2.8)	5	130	33	8	SMS	Incapable of space combat. Main section space limited to mines, SMS mines, outpost security, stargate keys and 1 MU size items requiring no life support.
16	Indiaman	2.0	2.5	4	75	17	7	GTT	Can only use fighters in combat.
23	Behemoth	2.0	2.5	5	110	25	8	GTT	Incapable of space combat. Can only land at colony starports.
(27)	Courier	1.5	3.3	10	39	15	7	SSL	200 Jammers built in.
19	Battleship	1.6	3.1	28	80	30	8	CNF	Natural morale decline halved. Cargo space limited to 500 MUs.
29	Infiltrator	1.0	5.0	10	25	18	7	CIA	Can cloak for 6 TUs.
(31)	Runner (RAT version)	1.1	4.8	4	32	17	(7)	RAT	Cloaking affiliations can cloak for 12 TUs.
31	Runner (CIA version)	1.1	4.8	4	40	22	7	RAT/CIA	Cloaking affiliations can cloak for 12 TUs.
30	Templar	1.5	3.2	13	45	17	7	BHD	Double life support capacity.
38	Tempest	2.0	2.5	15	100	25	8	BHD	Double life support capacity. Can only use fighters in combat. Main/Functional section limited to 500 MUs.
26	Free Trader	1.4	3.5	6	40	15	7	AFT	Can system-jump in 15 TUs.
?	Carrier	2.0	2.5	12	90	22	8	AFT	Can only use fighters in combat.
?	Super Carrier	2.0	2.5	12	90	22	8	AFT	60 MU hullshift. Incapable of space combat. Can only land at class 5+ colonies.
18	Man o' War (formerly "Attack Cruiser")	1.8	2.9	20	60	20	7	DOM	-
22	Predator	1.2	4.2	16	32	20	7	RIP/DIE	-
47	Nemesis	1.3	3.8	23	60	30	8	RIP	Shield Enhancer: Shields +25%. Cargo space limited to 500 MUs.
?	Flagship	1.9	2.7	30	100	30	10	?	Pulse Generator: Pulsar Beam damage +120%.
(21)	Mega Hauler	2.0	2.5	5	90	20	8	EEM/IMP	Can only use fighters in combat.
(18)	Super Hauler	2.6	1.9	5	125	20	?	EEM/IMP	Incapable of space combat.
?	Dreadnought	2.1	2.4	30	95	25	?	EEM/IMP	-
?	Pocket Battleship	1.8	2.7	23	70	22	7	EEM/IMP	-
?	Troop Carrier	1.3	4.0	5	60	25	10	?	Enemy accuracy -25%. Double life support capacity. Can cloak for 20 TUs. Can only use fighters in combat.
?	Star Carrier	2.1	2.4	20	130	30	10	EEM/IMP	?
?	Survey Scout	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?
?	Hermes	1.1	4.4	20	70	40	?	EEM	Double life support capacity. Can cloak for 20 TUs.
?	Far Courier	1.2	4.0	20	40	20	?	?	-
?	Luxury Liner	1.4	3.5	9	40	16	?	?	Natural morale decline halved. Can only use fighters in combat.
?	Luxury Cruiser	1.8	2.7	15	90	25	?	?	Natural morale decline halved. Double life support capacity.
?	Merchantman	1.5	3.4	12	100	35	?	?	Can only use fighters in combat.
?	Messiah	1.6	?	?	?	?	?	?	Enemy accuracy -25%. Double life support capacity. Can cloak for ? TUs.
?	Cog	1.9	2.6	8	60	15	?	KAS	Versatile ship in use with many different human and alien affiliations.
?	Transporter	2.2	2.20	10	100	20	?	KAS	-
?	Galaxy Cruiser	2.0	2.5	30	250	60	8	KAS	-
?	Diplomatic Cruiser	1.2	4.2	16	32	20	?	KAS	-
(32)	Squidy Class Hulk	2.2	2.3	8	35	9	1	DNA	-
?	Naplian Cruiser	1.8	2.8	9	40	12	1	DNA	-
?	Garbage Scow (Prototype)	2.2	2.3	4	50	10	?	DNA	-
?	Garbage Scow	2.6	1.9	5	125	20	7	DNA	Repairs impossible. Starts with 30% hull damage.
47 (5)	Cygnet	1.3	3.8	6	12	6	1	?	-
39	Felucca	1.4	3.5	6	30	12	?	HVE	Can cloak for 20 TUs.
?	Seeder	?	?	?	?	?	?	HVE	?
?	Alien Caravel	1.7	2.9	20	58	20	?	HVE	-
?	Invader	1.7	2.9	80	260	90	?	HVE	Enemy accuracy -15%.
41	Ranger	0.9 (1.2)	5.6	8	15	9	?	DEN	Can GPI a sector in 5 TUs. Probing systems and GPI built in.
43	Claw	1.2 (1.7)	4.2	20	55	20	?	DEN	Natural morale decline halved.
34	Wayfarer	1.1 (1.6)	4.5	9	70	22	?	DEN	-
42	Trader	1.5 (2.1)	3.3	5	95	20	?	DEN	Natural morale decline halved. Can only use fighers in combat.
32	Wolflord	1.5 (2.1)	3.3	40	110	30	8	DEN	Natural morale decline halved.
?	Direwolf	1.3 (1.8)	3.8	40	130	40	?	DEN	Double life support capacity.
35	Scout/ Scout Explorer/ Gun Ship/ Gun Boat	1.1 (1.5)	4.5 (3.4)	12	20	10	5	FGZ	-
33	Freighter	1.3 (1.9)	3.8 (2.6)	4	40	10	6	FGZ	Can only use fighters in combat.
36	Baseship (formerly "Flagritz Baseship")	1.6 (2.2)	3.1 (2.2)	70	200	50	7	FGZ	-
?	Resurector	1.4 (1.9)	3.6 (2.6)	25	55	18	?	FGZ	-
44	Cheetah	1.2	4.3	8	20	12	?	CLN	-
(45)	Mammoth (obsolete version)	1.9	2.7	6	80	20	(8)	CLN	Can only use fighters in combat.
45	Mammoth (upgraded version)	2.1	2.4	25	160	37	8	CLN	Can only use fighters in combat.
46	Grizzly	1.7	2.9	35	100	35	7	CLN	-
?	Raider	1.4	3.6	7	35	14	?	FEL	-
?	Marauder (FEL design)	1.8	2.7	40	80	28	?	FEL	-
?	Dropship	2.1	2.4	40	180	44	?	FEL	-
(12)	Skyhawk	1.4	3.6	10	22	10	5	FCN	40 MU hullshift. Base Speed modifier of 1.3.
(14)	Raven	1.6	3.1	11	29	10	6	FCN	40 MU hullshift. Base Speed modifier of 1.3.
(15)	Condor	1.9	2.6	4	45	10	7	FCN	40 MU hullshift. Base Speed modifier of 1.3. Can only use fighters in combat.
(22)	Dreadwing/ Guardian Cruiser	1.1	4.2	16	32	20	8	FCN	40 MU hullshift. Base Speed modifier of 1.3.
?	Intruder	1.2	4.2	40	30	30	?	HXM	-
?	Marauder (HXM design)	1.4	3.3	40	60	33	?	HXM	-
?	Ravager	1.6	3.1	40	90	36	?	HXM	Possibly special damage distribution for greater toughness.
?	Dominator	2.0	2.5	60	150	45	?	HXM	Can cloak for ? TUs.
?	Alien Vessel (Type A)	? (15.3)	? (0.3)	70	400	11	?	TCA	Living organism. Incapable of landing. Base Speed modifier of ?.
?	Alien Vessel (Type B)	? (15.5)	? (0.3)	70	450	12	?	TCA	Living organism. Incapable of landing. Base Speed modifier of ?.
?	Mining ship	?	?	10	150	4	?	TCA	Living organism. Size is an estimation. Incapable of landing. Base Speed modifier of ?.
?	Unknown Class	?	?	?	?	?	?	ARC	Bioships of many hundred hulls.

The following classes are known to exist, but there is insufficient information available to present them here in full. Unlike ships on the list above, of which either a configuration or an actual EEM registry number of a ship of this class is known, neither is true for the following classes:
Generation Ship, Interstellar Freighter, Slipstream, Spider Warship






Finally there are two general classifications that describe a ship's condition rather than the class it used to belong to:
Hulk, Wreckage




Details on the various ship classes



(Ship type designations given in alphabetical order)


Alien Caravel - The exact origin of this ship class could not be confirmed. Evidence suggests that the Alien Caravel ship class was originally a Hive starship design. Only a single Alien Caravel survived the Hive war, this being the Alien Intruder (4381) later operated by the Wimbles (WMB). The Wimbles are said to have obtained the ship from the Flagritz, who in turn had granted asylum to the Hive and merged them into their society.
It is unknown what became of the ship after the WMB ceased to exist as an independent nation. It is thought that lack of care and maintenance eventually led to the destruction of the last Alien Caravel in the peripheries.


Alien Vessel - This designation was used for the TCA ships that were bolstering Hexamon forces in the Acrux war. Later analysis indicates there were two distinct (although very similar) subtypes of this class, probably on account of the biological nature of the ship. It is actually surprising that the differences between individual ships were so small.
According to Hexamon sources, who described these particular TCA ships as designated warships, the living ships had decided to help the Hexamon in their war against the DD&D Alliance. Two of six ships were destroyed in combat. Only three others have appeared since. Later, when the Hexamon withdrew from Acrux it is believed that the TCA ships once again played a vital role by providing transport for the HXM.


Attack Cruiser - (see Man o' War)


Baseship - Technologically ahead of the human race by centuries, the legendary Flagritz Baseships are more than twice the size of even the latest and biggest human warship designs but they are just as fast as most of these. They inflicted horrendous losses to the human cruisers facing them during their invasion in '95 and in their skirmishes with the GTT warfleet in mid-'97. Later, their aura of invincibility was severely damaged by the huge imperial warfleet that turned back the second Flagritz assault in '98. Many Baseships were derelicted or destroyed in their attempt to defend FGZ colony Fessin Hole which nevertheless fell after weeks of vicious fighting.
After the second Flagritz war had died down, many of the surviving Baseships were relegated to transport duty in safe areas. The FGZ had realized their potential as trading vessels and were reluctant to see all of those valuable behemoths destroyed by the IMP and allied fleet.


Battle Cruiser - Considerably bigger than a Heavy Cruiser, the Battle Cruiser can be described as a dedicated warship although it is not nominally specialized in space combat. Since they were the biggest warships commonly available to humans at the time, Battle Cruisers saw extensive action against the infamous Flagritz Baseships during the first Flagritz war, where many were lost to the incredible firepower of the aliens.
Battle Cruisers are rarely seen anymore; most were upgraded, but some still serve as second-line warships to this day. However, most Battle Cruisers are now used as cargo conveyors or explorer vessels due to their poor combat potential compared to modern warships.


Battleship - The Confederate answer to the IMP Ship of the Line was a very similar design of their own. The Battleship has a bigger main section than its counterpart, enabling it to carry more weapons or shields. The price to be paid for this, however, was a slightly inferior speed and a smaller command section which means that while the Battleship may be slightly superior in firepower, it is slower than a Ship-of-the-Line and therefore cannot withdraw from an engagement if the enemy decides to press on. On the other hand, this perfectly suits the CNF fighting style and leadership attitude.


Behemoth - The Behemoth carries on with the design philosophy behind its predecessor, the Indiaman. In an attempt to produce a ship with maximum cargo capacity the GTT ignored some minor flaws in the concept. As a result, the impressive Behemoth suffers from a number of drawbacks that severely limit its usefulness: Like all specialized merchant vessels this class is incapable of space combat; in the case of the Behemoth not even space fighter operation is an option because the cargo hold is unsuitable for supporting hangar equipment. Like with the Supra Freighter, the command unit has been kept at an absolute minimum which makes the ship both vulnerable and incapable of carrying any significant amount of cargo that requires life support. Worst of all, however, is the fact that the exceedingly fragile structure of the ship makes landing operations very dangerous. In fact, only starport facilities at colonies can handle the complicated procedures required to safely land a Behemoth. For this reason Behemoths usually only land in order to perform maintenance or drydock repairs. They cannot land at mining outposts where the immense cargo capacity of a ship of this size would have been most useful.


Belter - Always looking for new profits, the SMS maintains an explorations division that is often underestimated. To support their requirements they designed their own exploration ship which perfectly suits their specialized interests. The Belter is a fair exploration vessel by all standards, but its true strength lies with finding possible mining sites. Their expertise in this area allowed the SMS to equip their design with a specialized ground radar dish and auxiliary sensor arrays that allow GPI computers to gather geological data considerably faster than on other ships, even rivalling the performance of technologically more advanced races such as the Dewiek. A GPI installed in a Belter can accurately assess the mineral wealth of a given ground sector within only 12 hours [5 TUs].


Carrier - The AFT-designed Carrier is the most versatile bulk freighter available. It is slightly smaller and also slightly slower than comparable ships, such as the Tempest, the Behemoth or the Lugger, but unlike other cargo conveyors of comparable size its cargo and functional sections limited only by the size of the main section. On the down side, the Carrier's command section is too small to provide full life support of the cargo section without cryogenic upgrade and, like all designated cargo ships, it cannot withstand the stresses that come with combat maneuvering and thus cannot employ space weapons. However, the Carrier can indeed double as a space fighter carrier and in this role it has a capacity unparalleled by any other human ship produced in the peripheries. This makes it a valuable asset in a secondary military role, so valuable in fact that Carriers are a popular ship type even though slightly inferior to other bulk freighters in their primary role. The liberal AFT policy to provide such a ship to all interested parties for an adequate price has also gone a long way to make Carriers a common sight at many starports.
A few Carriers within the Association of Free Traders are being used in a way that became known as the "Super Carrier". This is not another ship type; in fact those are common Carriers but they carry three times their nominal cargo capacity simply by ignoring some safety regulations and literally act as tugs for bundles of bulk cargo and external cargo containers attached to the outer hull. Accordingly, those grossly overloaded freighters are denied docking permission at all EEM and certain other hiports and cannot land at most starports. It would seem, however, that the revenue is worth the drawbacks. The first and best known Super Carrier certainly was the notorious AFT Carrier True Sky (2811) under the command of the late Honest Ted, who died when the True Sky was destroyed in a pirate raid in 18/'99. Few other AFT starcaptains appear to be bold (or greedy) enough to take the risk. Certainly no starcaptain outside the AFT is.
When asked about the safety of their Super Carriers AFT sources claimed they were merely utilizing EEM cargo procedures: The EEM alledgedly licensed the AFT to use them with the restriction that they would not interfere with EEM trade hence they could not dock at EEM colonies. Considering the immense carrying capacity of the famous EEM Ghost Fleet, which is said to move whole colonies in one go, this explanation is not entirely untrustworthy.


Cheetah - The smallest vessel produced by the CLN, the Cheetah is frequently used as a small scout or explorer vessel. In this role it is slightly bigger than its counterparts among other races, but that appears to be the only fact about the Cheetah worth of note. Its speed, size and hull configuration are within common parameters for small exploration craft and are similar to the ships used by other races. With the demise of the Clan culture it is likely to perish from the peripheries soon.


Claw - The Claw is a medium-sized all-purpose ship of Dewiek design similar to the human Frigate/Patrol Cruiser. Its deployment is very limited, though, because the popular Wolflord and Direwolf classes outclass the Claw is all aspects but speed without suffering any limitations. Dewiek starcaptains always prefer these other ships when given a choice. Accordingly the Claw class is not produced anymore and is gradually being replaced by bigger and more modern designs.
Normally, Dewiek ships cannot be operated by other species but a single Claw has been rigged for human pilots, and has seen service with the Dominion for some time. It is registered as DOM Rebirth (3783). Due to an EEM clerical error it had received a new EEM registry number in the past although it remains the same ship.


Cog - A very unusual design, the Cog class was designed by the Kastorian Military Junta (KAS) who exclusively produce it at the shipyards of KAS Rubis. Initially it appeared to be intended exclusively for export but meanwhile, years after initial launch of this class, the KAS navy has suddenly been supplied with a large number of Cogs that were rigged for combat and sent as far away as the Cluster and Noctollis periphery to defend KAS assets there.
The sturdy Cog is suitable for every purpose from trade to combat, but excels at nothing. Its size and performance appear to be a compromise between literally all thinkable uses: It would be a fair explorer if its engine section was a little bigger, it would be a fair freighter if its main section was a little bigger and it would be a fair warship if its command section was a little bigger. As it is, the Cog is second to more specialized designs in each role but remains usable for everything. In addition, the simple construction can be operated by a wide range of different species - Cogs have been in use with Humans, Naplians, Squamaara, Dewiek and Flagritz, to name just a few. This versatility has made it quite popular, although meanwhile most human affiliations favour the AFT-produced Carrier in the role formerly filled by the Cog.


Condor - The biggest Falconian freighter design is a true bulk freighter and rivals the AFT Carrier for cargo capacity and speed. Like all FCN ships it is a very lightweight construction that requires only half as much hull structure as a comparable human ship which makes it cheap in construction but also unduly susceptible to damage. Like all dedicated freighters it cannot mount space weapons but the Condor is capable of deploying space fighters; in fact it is the standard FCN fighter carrier craft in addition to its freighter role.


Corvette - By modern standards the Corvette is a tiny ship with a grossly oversized command section. Few affiliations can be bothered to upgrade to "only" a Corvette when they could easily produce far bigger and better ships and since its main section is smaller than that of a Surveyor it is out of the question as an upgrade for most independent starcaptains. These factors have made Corvettes a very rare ship class in the peripheries.


Courier - The Courier was invented by the Stellar Spices and Liquors (SSL) enterprise. Accused of smuggling and conspiracy and assaulted by FET military forces, the SSL was forced to withdraw from the peripheries and nobody remains to produce Couriers anymore. A few of these ships are still in service with various affiliations, no doubt because of their remarkable innate resistance against attempts to scan their configuration and cargo. They are used as small freighters, explorers - or smugglers.


Cygnet - It is uncertain who invented the Cygnet class. The Cygnet is basically a variation of the EEM Surveyor design modified for aliens to use it. While humans cannot operate a Cygnet, the same design is in use with almost every non-human spacefaring race, including the Dewiek, Falconians, Flagritz, Krell, Squamata and Wimbles. It is similar in size and capabilities to its human counterpart, except for the Falconian version which has twice the payload capacity of other Cygnets.


Deep Explorer - Frontier Exploration and Trade is not only an imperially chartered cartel but also an attitude among starcaptains under the FET banner. As an affiliation specialized in exploration, the FET could capitalize on first-hand experience when they started to design their own explorer vessel. As could be expected, the Deep Explorer is one of the best explorer designs available in the peripheries. It has excellent speed, yet its spacious proportions allow for sufficient equipment, supplies and cargo to be taken along. Unlike any other ship the Deep Explorer has built-in physical and biological research laboratories that would fill two main hulls on other ships; in addition, the ship's facilities have been designed to allow trained FET personnel to utilize them at peak efficiency.


Destroyer - Probably the oldest human warship design in existence, the Destroyer class is more or less extinct now. It is only slightly larger than a Surveyor, too small to warrant the effort of upgrading, and considering its tiny size it is rather slow. With unsatisfying parameters in all aspects, the Destroyer is not really a choice ship for anybody and a rare sight accordingly.


Diplomatic Cruiser - This design came as a complete surprise when it first appeared in the Yank system under KAS banner in early '99. The single Diplomatic Cruiser known to exist was a customized ship registered as the KAS Crusaider (3637), and was known to be the personal flagship of Blzar of Rubis. Just over a year later it had disappeared again, presumably due to faulty design and maintenance shortfalls. The design was basically a copy of the RIP Predator; it is unlikely, however, that the KAS will go through the lengths of building a customized ship to mimick an existing design a second time after this failed attempt.


Direwolf - Titanic warships of the ancient Dewiek culture, Direwolf class starships are a testimony to the technological skills of their creators. The Dewiek Elder Nation (DEN) managed to restart production of Direwolf class starships only recently; until then they had only managed to recover several ancient derelicts which now once again serve as command ships in the Dewiek warfleet. Since the secrets behind the production of these behemoths have been rediscovered the Dewiek Elder Nation has been able built up a fearsome warfleet again.


Dominator - Probably the most notable of the Hexamon ship classes, Dominators are usable for a variety of roles. Their extensive main section has room for more cargo than any human bulk freighter; at the same time the command section is big enough to provide sufficient life support for the entire main section. But the Dominator is not restricted to transport duties: Its main section is fully functional and can be fitted with a fearsome weapons arsenal which makes them exceptionally dangerous warships or fighter carriers. On top of this they are excellent troop transports/assault vessels because they can cloak from enemy sensors for brief periods of time, enough to deliver their cargo through any blockade. Combined, these factors make the Dominator one of the most versatile and dangerous ships known.
A number of Dominator class vessels survived the Hexamon wars. Most of these were tugged away for research by the Dominion but two others were sold to the Kastorians as spoils of war. These ships were then sold back to the HXM survivors and became property of the ANT eventually, who are the survivors of that race after the ultimate downfall of the Hexamon culture. These two ships are now registered as the ANT Xeediitae (1002) and the ANT Cruidiitae (4793).


Dreadnought - The Dreadnought class was only available for a very short period at the shipyards of the EEM colony Hypso, and is thought to be of inner empire design just as the Pocket Battleship that appeared around the same time. Although they had a fearsome potential as warships, easily matching the latest Detinus Republic, Confederate or even Imperial designs in the peripheries, their versatility and sheer size made Dreadnoughts more valuable as freighters than as warships. Ironically, one of these potentially devastating warships, the SMS Lightning, was accidentially destroyed in a pirate raid while being used as an unarmed transporter.
The Dreadnought class was extinct in the peripheries until late '99 when Admiral Duke West from the inner empire defected to the Confederacy, bringing his Dreadnought class ship along. The CNF Coir Anmann (4094) is now in confederate service.


Dreadwing - The largest Falconian warship meant to be equipped with conventional weaponry instead of space fighters (which the Falconians appear to favour) is roughly comparable to the DTR Frigate or Nebulon or the RIP Nemesis designs in size. It shares the typical FCN lightweight construction which makes it cheap to produce but the ship's structure is too weak for a warship; even thorlium armour may not help to improve a Dreadwing's survival chances in a close encounter. Accordinlgy, they are a very rare sight in the small FCN navy.


Dropship - Little is known about these behemoths. They are the biggest ship class used by the Felini, and as freighters they even outclass the upgraded Mammoth class designed by their Bast brethren from the CLN. The feline grace of the Bast race seems to have inspired their engineers to design a starship far bigger than what most other races would dare to operate, yet its speed and performance in space travel belie its hulking dimensions. The technical shortcomings of the FEL regarding jump technology have not spared the Dropship class, however: It can only safely jump half the distance commonly covered by starships of other races, and is prone to malfunctions and jump damage when attempting to jump beyond its limited range.


Far Courier - Another ship type represented by only a single ship in the peripheries, the origin of the Far Courier class is unknown. The single ship operated by the Detinus Republic was registered as the DTR Coherent Light (2847); it was destroyed in a pirate strike in 26/200. It is thought that this was another ship class taken over from the DNA merger, but it remains uncertain where the Democratic Natives Alliance had obtained the ship from.
The configuration of the Far Courier was similar to the Frigate but with a considerably smaller main section. Except for being a unique design this medium-sized starship appears to be hardly worthy of note.


Fast Freighter - While it is indeed faster than most ships, the "Freighter" designation can only be considered a joke on this class when comparing it to modern freighters, or any modern starship in fact. Its size, speed and performance are roughly equivalent to the popular Surveyor design which has largely superseded the Fast Freighter in all roles.


Felucca - A ship design from the insectoid Hive race, the Felucca class is neither big nor very fast. Like all HVE ships is built largely from organic material and has a very organic appearance. From its configuration it appears to be an explorer vessel. There is one peculiar aspect that deserves notion: Due to its small size and the low metals content in its internal structure, combined with a layer of Korondite (or a similar compound) built into the outer hull, this sneaky ship can bypass sensors far easier than other designs. It can actually cloak for a full 48 hours [20 TUs], making it an excellent ship for covert operations.
With the demise of the Hive their ships also largely vanished. Only two Felucca class starships remained in service under Flagritz command when the HVE merged with the FGZ; one of these was captured by the SMS during the second Flagritz war and is now exhibited as a tourist attraction at their colony SMS Farcry. The other Felucca was registered as FGZ Crikity Pod (1496). It is believed to have been destroyed by Dominion forces, which would mean the Felucca class is extinct at this time.


Flagritz Baseship - (see Baseship)


Flagritz Scout - (see Scout)


Flagship - Similar in size to a bulk freighter but with none of the restrictions associated with cargo ships, Flagships are fearsome warships but can serve equally well as freighters or troop transports. Only an Admiral is given command of a Flagship. Since they are a relatively new design and require very large and highly advanced shipyards in their construction their deployment is very limited. In addition, the logistical support required for those ships means that only one such ship can be built and maintained per class 10 colony. Currently the GTT is known to have a Flagship, the GTT Claidheamh-Mor (2568), which has seen extensive service against the Falconian Empire in the Storm system; another one, the CLN Imperator (1376) was built by the CLN shortly before their downfall.


Free Trader - Some peculiar anomalies were utilized to create a jump drive initiator that was 25% more time-efficient than was normally considered possible according to the laws of physics. Because the new jump technology was deemed too unpredictable no government authorized its use. Only an independent shipyard in pay of the AFT dared to build a ship around this experimental drive unit - the Free Trader design was born.
Aside from its unusual jump engine configuration, the Free Trader is an average medium sized starship equally suitable for exploration and trade. It is now in regular production by the AFT; many free traders and independent starcaptains favour its unparalleled long-distance efficiency. Its medium size limits its use as a bulk carrier, however, and the ship never became really popular due to the element of uncertainity connected to its unusual drive technology even though no Free Trader has ever been lost to a misjump to this date.


Freighter - The Flagritz attempt to construct a dedicated freighter to fill in the gap between their hulking Baseships and their tiny Scouts produced the Freighter class, a mediocre ship by all aspects. It is slightly more efficient for cargo haulage than a Baseship because it has only minimal command circuitry but with less than half the cargo space, there is little hope to see Freighter class ships deployed in large numbers as long as Baseships are available. Accordingly, production of the Freighter class has meanwhile run out with only a handful ever produced.


Frigate - When they escaped into the Darkfold periphery the DTR refugees brought the blueprints of the latest imperial starship design, the Patrol Cruiser, with them. Their technical expertise allowed the joint CNF and DTR technicians to copy the design and produce an identical version of their own, labelled Frigate.
For performance and capabilities, see Patrol Cruiser.


Galaxy Cruiser - Built by the Kastorian Military Junta in the Yank system, their Galaxy Cruiser class may not exactly be an example for advanced technology but the designers made good for its low-tech nature with sheer size. Even though painstakingly slow for a warship the spacious main section can be fitted with a devastating array of weapons, and the command section resembles that of large human warships such as the Ship-of-the-Line, the Battleship (both of which are considerably smaller than the Galaxy Cruiser in total size) or the Flagship. Unlike those dedicated warships, however, the Galaxy Cruiser can double as a freighter and is frequently used in this role by the Kastorians. The best known ship of this class is the KAS Raven (2037) which is based in the Yank system.
The KAS flottilla of "system ships" in the Skord system is thought to consist of Galaxy Cruisers but so far nobody dared to take a closer look at them.


Garbage Scow - When a part of the Democratic Natives Alliance merged with the Detinus Republic, the DTR took over a few starships previously in operation with the DNA. Among these was one ship designated Garbage Scow class, DTR Plymouth Sound (2134), the origin of which remains unclear. Some evidence supports the rumour that this ship has indeed been thrown together from scavenged parts by the inhabitants of the moon Airburst in the Ruin system where a large DNA colony was located. This background would also go a long way to explain the queer design and configuration of the ship, which in fact was a class of its own.
DTR crews and technicians felt decidedly uneasy about the ship, and eventually it was decomissioned and replaced by a Tempest class cargo ship (DTR Mimosa) in 16/197.
Years later, when the DNA organisation re-emerged in the peripheries, they constructed hulking behemoths of a similarly untrustworthy design. These ship, while built in a similar fashion to the late Garbage Scow and also bearing that designation, had little to do with the initial design (the new design is therefore often referred to as the Garbage Scow Mk. II, but it has also been nicknamed the Garbage Heap). Patched together from unsuitable parts of bad or worse quality, without any redundant circuits even for critical systems and defying the laws of probability every second of their operation those new Garbage Scows are huge, in fact matching the legendary EEM Super Hauler in size and performance parameters. With these ships the DNA are fully capable of competing with established trading organisations, provided they do not break up in transit! It took the Democratic Natives Alliance a long time to find a shipyard prepared to construct Garbage Scows for them (due to their size they require class 7 facilities which are beyond the initial technical capabilities of the DNA) and even after the outlaws of IND Opportunity agreed to build some Garbage Scows for the DNA nobody except the rugged and foolhardy DNA crews themselves would dare to fly such a starship.


Generation Ship - Basically self-contained miniature colonies, these huge ships were used in the initial human expansion program to set up the first interstellar colonies of what would become the Stellar Empire. They were designed to land on a planet and be turned into a colony, providing basic structurals, life support, factories etc. and serve as boot colony at new colony locations. With the invention of jump engines they became obsolete but even now, more than one-and-a-half centuries later, some of these behemoths may still be on their journey.
The SSL enterprise alledgedly found and salvaged one such colony on the planet Falderal in the Mattalot system and moved the recovered items to their colony SSL Alcatraz. It is rumoured they even obtained a second Generation Ship but if this is true, the fate of that second ship remains a mystery. Since the SSL has withdrawn from the peripheries it is unlikely that these rumours will ever be substantiated.


Grizzly - Mainstay of the CLN navy, Grizzly class starships serve as both traders and warships. They are strong, bulky constructions with a massive engine section and have all the elegance (and resilience) of a large piece of rock. In case of need Grizzlies are easily outfitted to become dangerous warships. In this role they are somewhat larger than human warships and only slightly smaller than their Dewiek counterpart, the Wolflord class. However, the Clan ability to apply a fourth layer of thorlium armour makes their ships far more resistant to battle damage than other ships and can give them a decisive edge over their enemies. Surprisingly, although a number of Grizzlies was available to the CLN at the time these ships were not deployed against the Dewiek and Dominion attackers in any significant numbers when they overran the CLN positions in the Cluster Periphery. One Grizzly was destroyed by the Confederacy in a brief conflict near the end of the war, the remaining ships retreated to major CLN strongholds.
Because of their large command section Grizzlies can mount sufficient life support systems to sustain a full complement of over two thousand lifeforms it the spacious main section which makes the ship an excellent bulk freighter with an option for live cargo, usually Bast colonists or warriors. It would appear that the few remaining ships were rigged for transport rather than combat when the end came for the CLN. It is now highly unlikely that new Grizzly class starships will ever be built, although a number of the sturdy vessels remains in existence to this day.


Gun Boat - (see Scout)


Gun Ship - (see Scout)


Heavy Cruiser - The Heavy Cruiser is just what its name suggests: A heavier version of the Light Cruiser. The command and main sections were enlarged to increase the ship's combat performance as was the engine section in order to maintain the Light Cruiser's speed.
While the result was in fact a more powerful cruiser, the command section is oversized for an explorer or trader while the increase in main section capacity is just too small to remedy the increased upgrade cost compared to a Light Cruiser. It still performs adequately as an all-purpose starship but other designs are better suited for virtually all mission profiles and where space combat is concerned the old cruisers are outdated by an era.


Heavy Freighter - Biggest of the first EEM line of freightercraft, this ship class is the only one of these still big enough to arouse at least a little interest with specialized bulk freighters around that can haul five times the cargo a Heavy Freighter could. Its bulky construction limits the Heavy Freighter to using space fighters and missiles in space combat, a minor drawback considering that as a freighter it tends to carry no weapons at all.


Hermes - The Hermes class is an experimental EEM design. There is some evidence that it is of modular design and can be easily customized to adapt to a new mission profile, including changes to the hull configuration! Only a single Hermes class ship is known to exist, this being the EEM Celebrist (462). The EEM use it to test their identification systems; for this reason the Celebrist often has a different affiliation code (in the past it was scanned as CIA and DNA, among others) although it remains with the EEM at all times.
The EEM Celebrist is equipped with a number of specials, including advanced life support systems that can sustain twice as many lifeforms per life support unit mounted, state-of-the-art cloaking ability and Kastorian Advanced Landing Software. It is also armoured with four layers of thorlium armour.


Hulk - The Hulk class designation is applied to starships of various classes which have been rigged for use by scavengers, most notably the DNA. They are as unreliable as the DNA Garbage Scows; the only real difference is that while the latter is produced by the DNA, Hulks are other ships refitted for operation by DNA crew. A good example for a Hulk is the first ship that received this designation, the DNA Fluffy Bunny (4262) which actually used to be an Intruder class survey ship of the Hexamon race. It is a mystery how the DNA managed to operate the ship as even the Dewiek who had captured it were unable to use it. With their obvious skill at scavenging the DNA are likely to turn many other alien ships into a ragtag collection of Hulks yet.


Indiaman - The Galactic Trade and Transport enterprise was the first imperial firm to start a R & D project into a new ship class of their own. The result was the Indiaman, basically an advanced version of the older EEM Supra Freighter with a 66% increase in cargo capacity and a better speed. As could be expected Indiaman class starships saw extensive service with the GTT and since it was the biggest cargo conveyor available in its time it proved to be a valuable asset in boosting GTT colonies.
While it may have been ahead of other designs back when it was designed, today the Indiaman is only an average freighter with no special abilities, and has been replaced in service by later, bigger designs including its successor, the GTT-produced Behemoth.


Interstellar Freighter - These ships are the only ships capable of travelling between the peripheries and the core empire of humanity. Only six such ships are known to exist. Five of these are operated the EEM; the sixth is said to be in possession of "Dodgy" Dave Munroe, an infamous privateer and entrepreneur.


Intruder - Like all Hexamon ships, the Intruder has an eerie appearance resembling a large metallic insect. It appears to be the smallest Hexamon ship class even though its mass easily compares to the largest human bulk freighters. However, the configuration of this particular Hexamon ship is puzzling analysts to this day: The Intruder is the only known ship class where more mass has been allocated to the command circuitry than to the main (or engine) sections. The reason for this remains unknown as the ship has no further special abilities. Its excellent speed and large command section suggest that this ship is intended to serve primarily as an explorer. Only one Intruder exists to this day, but it has been modified by its new DNA owners and now registers as Hulk class.


Invader - This is not really a ship class because all individual ships are somewhat unique - no two would look exactly alike. This is because the Hive-built Invaders are not starships in the common sense but rather a spaceworthy hive of some sort, built by the drones of that insectoid race. Accordingly, its outer appearance is that of a randomly grown object rather than a spaceworthy vessel. Nothing could be more misleading. The Invader is just as spaceworthy as any starship built by other races, including an extensive command section (capable of providing full life support, good command/control facilities and strong shielding) and hardpoints for interchangeable equipment and full power and functional control support of the entire main section. Despite its enormous size the ship's biotechnical design even provides inertial damping, which was considered a great engineering breakthrough when the DTR managed to construct their Nebulon with similar capabilities. It is a testimony to the unbelievable skill of the Hive race - the Invader class starship even rivals the feared Flagritz Baseships for potential, and those are generally regarded as true masterpieces of ship building.
Although it is a very alien design, the Invader is among the most capable ship classes in existence. If the hostile HVE had been able to construct more of these behemoths, the Hive war might have taken a much different course. Luckily, only a single Invader-class starship is known to exist. The HVE used it to evacuate their queen under the cover of Korondite when IMP and FET forces stormed their homeworld and continued to bomb it from orbit even after the HVE had been defeated. After evacuation, the ship remained with the Yank Kastorian Military Junta (KAS) who still operate it. Its registry entry reads as KAS Colonizer (3334).


Infiltrator - This sneaky CIA design is specialized towards the scouting, reconnaissance and espionage aspects of exploration. It is one of the fastest human ship classes known, and boasts an integral cloaking device that can obscure other tracking systems for up to 14.5 hours [6 TUs]. For this reason the Confederate Intelligence Agency has been very reluctant to provide Infiltrators to other affiliations. Its cloaking ability, together with its amazing speed and (albeit limited) cargo space make it the preferred vesself for a variety of dangerous missions including blockade running, boarding actions, spionage and smuggling.


Light Cruiser - Among the first human warship designs was the Light Cruiser which, as its name implies, was not quite state-of-the-art even in its heyday. Its simple design, however, allowed the ship to be produced even at rather small shipyards, and this made it the mainstay of the fledgling space navies.
As with most early human designs the Light Cruiser was constructed as a multi role spacecraft. Although optimized for space combat it could serve equally well as a transporter or explorer vessel. Even today Light Cruisers are built for the latter purpose or for later upgrading.


Light Freighter - A tiny ship by all measures, the undersized command section is the only aspect about this ship that could possibly mark it as a freighter. While it is fairly fast, its small size effectively precludes its use as a cargo conveyor or in fact for any purpose that could not be fulfilled by a Yacht as well. For this reason, Light Freighters have never been popular and are rarely encountered anymore.


Lugger - The SMS technicians who developed the Lugger had a very precise idea of what their ship should be able to do and what was superflous. Without the need to produce yet another jack-of-all-trades they could concentrate on the important parameters and came up with a highly specialized starship that absolutely excels in the task it was designed for but is almost useless for everything else: Specialized in outpost servicing, the Lugger is incapable of providing life support for its cargo hold which is, in fact, not even pressurized. Accordingly, the cargo is limited to ores or small manufactured goods that can be exposed to vacuum as well as outpost equipment. Worse yet, the Lugger cannot install any items in its functional section except for stargate keys. The cargo hold was, however, fitted with hardpoints that were specially designed to accomodate outpost security modules, standard automated mining units and the famous SMS Inflatamines for transport. Since this is almost exclusively the kind of cargo the SMS deals in (aside from the ores) the ship's narrow specialisation in outpost support and ore transport is a fair price to pay for the biggest cargo hold available to any human starship. The only real drawback is that since the Lugger cannot carry jump engines in cargo it cannot swap engines and has to keep its jump engines in the engine section which makes it slower than it would normally be.
The Lugger design was colloquially known as the Ore Carrier prior to its official launch as Lugger class.


Luxury Cruiser - Slightly larger than a modern AFT Carrier, the astounding Luxury Cruiser is slightly faster and also sports a highly advanced life support system than allows it to provide life support to its entire main section regardless of its comparatively small command section. The whole design easily meets all requirements for a modern bulk freighter, but surprisingly this ship class appears to be a very ancient design: CIA operatives have literally dug out the only Luxury Cruiser known to this date and found the ship to be several centuries old! Unfortunately they have so far refused to provide more details about their find.
The ship is in regular service with the CIA, registered as the CIA Super Chief (2236).


Luxury Liner - Although the Luxury Liner could be an early version of the EEM Space Liner judging from its configuration, this class, too, is shrouded in mystery. Similar to the Luxury Cruiser class the CIA have only been able to recover one of these ancient relicts under mysterious circumstances. It is now in use as the CIA Las Vegas (3248).


Mammoth - The CLN attempt to produce a freighter design of their own resulted in the Mammoth, an entirely mediocre ship that fell short of its intended capabilities and was in fact outclassed by the older Grizzly class even in its primary role. Accordingly, only very few Mammoth class vessels were produced.
Frustrated at the poor performance of the initial design the CLN later commissioned a complete revision of the ship. The upgraded Mammoth class, which was first launched in early '99, was generally met with awe. Its main section dwarfs that of most other bulk freighters or warships short of the infamous Flagritz Baseships. As could be expected from a cargo ship the Mammoth design has retained a slow speed and is restricted to space fighters in combat. Since it is not thought to be a warship, however, this is nothing to limit the value of one of the biggest cargo ship types in the peripheries. Unfortunately only a handful of these ships could be produced prior to the demise of the CLN, and only one single ship, the aptly named CLN Hell Comes Your Way (4838) survived the combined Dewiek and Dominion onslaught.


Man o' War - Cut off from mankind for generations, the Dominion culture learned to thrive on minimal ressources and actually managed to create a new ship design to meet their increasing requirements. Surprisingly, the DOM Attack Cruiser (which was later renamed to Man o' War) is configured very similar to the Frigate/Partol Cruiser designs which the other human nations devised at around the same time. However, the Dominion way of stretching ressources and pushing things to the limits meant that in their hands, their Battle Cruisers/Man o' Wars performed far better than their counterparts even though their design is only slightly larger in the main section. Of course, the strictly utilitarian attitude of the DOM means that the interior of the ship strikes "common" human crew as almost alien.
Reunited with the rest of humanity, the DOM have gained access to other, better ship designs through trade and politics. Like with the Frigate/Patrol Cruiser, the old Man o' War design has therefore largely fallen into disuse now.


Marauder - Two different starship types have received this designation. The first of these appeared to be the standard Hexamon all-purpose ship. It was rather large judging from total mass but in comparison to similar ships from other races its command section was oversized, and the greater mass did not come with more room in the main section. It should be noted, though, that these HXM Marauders were surprisingly fast considering their overall size. They saw massive deployment as warships in the Acrux war where they proved to be formidable foes, but none of these ships survived the downfall of the Hexamon race.
The other Marauder class is is a large and versatile starship type used by the Felini (FEL), roughly comparable to the CNF Battleship. Like all FEL starships it suffers from partial incompatibility with pulac based jump technology.


Medium Freighter - Even in its heyday the Medium Freighter was not a popular design, seen as a compromise between speed and size and already suffering from a weak structure due to cheap design which only allows it to use missiles and space fighters in space combat. Outclassed in all aspects by more modern ships, the Medium Freighter is another design that has largely fallen into disuse. Another reason for this is that, like with all early freighter designs, its command section is even smaller than that of a Surveyor, which makes upgrades of existing ships to Medium Freighter class a losing bargain.


Mega Hauler - Preciously few of these ships have been built by the EEM, possibly as prototypes. By standards at the time these ships were huge - their size and performance puts them in line with today's standard bulk freighters such as the Carrier.
The last Mega Hauler known was the RIP Mustang (344). When it was still known as RIP Blood Angel it was used by the pirates to support boarding actions against DTR freighters in early '96. It was later scavenged for parts by the pirates, most of which went into the construction of a Nemesis-class warship.


Merchantman - A formidable cargo ship that can be used by humans, but is unlikely to have been designed by humans. It is faster than even the most advanced human-built bulk freighters of this size but just like these it is not capable of mounting life supports for its entire cargo hold.
The true origin of this ship is a mystery and all attempts to copy the design have failed. Like the Luxury Liner and Luxury Cruiser classes, only a single ship of this class exists. An ancient derelict, it was originally recovered and made operational by the RAT affiliation. Eventually the ship ended up in Dominion hands, and is now registered as the DOM Ramsey Campbell (44).


Messiah - A single ship of this class has been seen in the peripheries, the BHD Deliverance (1655). The only information available from the Brotherhood describe the Messiah design as "larger than a Battleship" with a base speed factor of 1.6 and a variety of special systems including an advanced inertial damping system similar to the DTR Nebulon, a cloaking device and the improved life support performance also found on the BHD-produced Templar and Tempest classes.


Mining Ship - The first contact with the TCA race occurred when a TCA Mining Ship laid waste to a small colony in imperial space. A warfleet was detached to engage and destroy the alien vessel which later turned out to be a largely automated mining ship that had "mined" the colony by accident. The designation "Terran Colony Annihilators" for these still largely mysterious aliens comes from this first encounter (according to Hexamon sources, the true name for this race is actually T'cath). No second live TCA Mining Ship has been encountered since, although several wreckages and "dead" TCA ships have been found. During the Acrux war the TCA sent warships to support the HXM but these were of a different type (labelled "Alien Vessel" by the Alliance targeting computers) and served as warships for the HXM.


Naplian Cruiser - After a prolonged reorganisation and after the greater part of their followers had aligned themselves with the DTR or the FGZ the Democratic Natives Alliance (DNA) re-emerged as a political organisation in '99. The new DNA already had plans ready for an upgraded version of the infamous Squidy Class Hulk, which they had labelled the Naplian Cruiser. Like its predecessor it was a very low-tech design built from simple modular parts that could be built at literally any backwater starport. Surprisingly, though, the Naplian Cruiser proved to be far safer than the Hulk. Its configuration and performance resemble that of the EEM Space Liner. It is entirely thinkable that DNA agents obtained much of the technical details from the EEM but the surprising fact remains that their Naplian Cruiser is easier to produce than its EEM counterpart. Interestingly, however, not a single Naplian Cruiser has actually been built to date. Speculations abound that the EEM has found a way to prevent deployment, at least for the time being.


Nebulon - Mainstay of the Detinus Republic Stellar Armada, the venerable Nebulon class attack cruiser is the technologically most advanced human warship built to this date. While both the Empire and the Confederacy tried to construct bigger warships that simply could pack more firepower, the skilled DTR technicians saw the potential in the Patrol Cruiser/Frigate design. Following a thorough revision of the design and its capabilities, the whole construction was optimized for space combat. In accordance with suggestions from one remarkable Ensign from the DTR Stellar Armada who had shown a great personal interest in the Frigate, an advanced inertial control system was devised for the Nebulon that allows for an unparalleled maneuverability - Nebulons can evade enemy fire far better than any other ship class known.
The Nebulon bears an uncanny resemblance to its predecessor, the Frigate/Patrol Cruiser. It is even slightly smaller even though it has a larger payload capacity in all sections. This is because as a pure warship the Nebulon was designed to be far more compact and practical, and because only cutting edge technology was used in its construction.


Nemesis - A surprisingly advanced and dangerous warship considering its origin, the Nemesis class was created by pirates as a fast interceptor that could catch up with all but the fastest cargo ship classes in the peripheries. Like the DTR-produced Nebulon the Nemesis design is based on the aging Frigate/Patrol Cruiser. In this case, the engine section was drastically enlarged and a clever rearrangement of the defelector shield dishes along the modified fuselage resulted in a 25% increase in shield efficiency. As a result the RIP Nemesis is the fastest dedicated warship in the peripheries and perfectly suited to the needs of its designers. It certainly is any freighter's nightmare.
Initial reports of this ship class called it the Fast Frigate, but this was more a descriptive reference.


Patrol Cruiser - The last of the cruiser-class all-purpose line of ships, the imperial Patrol Cruiser was a state-of-the-art warship that was only in its design stages during the first periphery wars. Like its predecessor, the Battle Cruiser, the Patrol Cruiser was designed as an all-purpose ship of moderate to slow speed but here the similarity ends. More than twice as big as a Battle Cruiser, the Patrol Cruiser serves in a variety of roles. Due to its large command section it can mount more sensors and battle computers/cybernetic minds than any previous human warship design; actually the Patrol Cruiser is a fearsome warship even by modern standards.
Alternatively to its military role, it can carry far more cargo than a Supra Freighter (also being slightly faster) and can even hold sufficient life supports to support its entire cargo hold, making it the best and biggest passenger ship commonly available in imperial space.


Pioneer - After they had already produced an excellent explorer design, the Deep Explorer, the FET saw no need to further improve that ship class. Instead, their follow-up ship design project aimed at producing an exceptionally fast freighter with a cargo hold sized somewhere between older large freighters and modern super-large bulk freighters. In addition it was equipped with state-of-the-art technology: Life support systems aboard a Pioneer work at double efficiency, and the ship also boasts an integral jamming system that only a colony can hope to penetrate with its sensors. This makes the Pioneer a very efficient ship compared to other freighters when taking into consideration its speed advantage and life support capacity, and a very useful ship at that considering the dubious nature of many FET deals. As could be expected, since it was not designed to be a warship, the Pioneer has no weapon hardpoints and therefore can only use space fighters in combat which have to be launched from the cargo bay doors.
Because of its integral jamming system, the Pioneer class has also been referred to as the Fast Courier in the past, obviously in reference to the similar built-in protection against over-inquisitive scanner operators in the older SSL-designed Courier class starships.


Pocket Battleship - Basically an enlarged version of the Patrol Cruiser, the Pocket Battleship design sacrifices a little speed for a considerably bigger main section allowing it to pack an impressive firepower. It is smaller than the Dreadnought class that appeared in the peripheries at the same time, but still considerably faster. The design appears to be a predecessor to today's specialized warship designs, being only slightly smaller and slightly slower than these. When it first appeared, it was second only to the Dreadnought class in firepower and combat potential among all human warship designs.
Only one Pocket Battleship ever appeared in the peripheries, where it changed hands a number of times and eventually ended up in RIP hands. The RIP Empress Sarah (1001) is now probably one of the most well-known starships in the peripheries.


Predator - The Predator class was a joint venture between the a pirate group, the Raiders of the Interstellar Peripheries (RIP), and the Darkfold Independent Exterminators (DIE), an unscrupulous mercenary enterprise from the Confederacy that is not active in the peripheries anymore.
Its small size belies the grave danger this pirate design poses for legitimate space traffic. Designed as a fast scout and interdictor, the agile Predator can catch up with and engage anything but the fastest exploration vessels. It is frequently armed with Ion Cannons and in this configuration can derelict most starships with a single lucky hit. However, while perfectly suited for the standard DIE hit-and-run tactics or RIP capture operations, Predators are unsuitable for common military action where raw firepower instead of precise dereliction is preferred. Therefore even those few that are captured off the RIP by other affiliations are often upgraded to other, bigger ship classes.


Raider - A rather small ship class deployed by the Felini, little information is available about the Raider class at this time. Its performance analysis is unassuming. The design is obviously meant to fill the gap between the tiny Cygnet class scouts and the large Marauders and super-large Dropships used by the FEL. The Raider can serve as explorer or small cargo ship. For the aggressive FEL it would also be the ship of choice for boarding actions and the delivery of small ground combat forces. In naval combat, however, its small size generally precludes deployment of the Raider class for any role except that of support ship.


Ranger - Ranger class starships have served the Dewiek for thousands of years. It is a small explorer design with highly sophisticated electronics which can perform functions normally associated with a GPI computer, planet probe or system probe all by itself. The Ranger's onboard systems are actually superior to common human GPI computers as they can accurately assess the mineral wealth of a given ground sector in only 12 hours. In addition the Ranger has excellent speed but is still large enough to carry gear and personnell for prolonged exploration missions. All in all it is a well-constructed ship not too unlike the human Surveyor class that will remain in service for many years to come.


Ravager - The Ravager is the second-largest starship class deployed by the HXM and, like all of their ships, looks like a metallic insect with dozens of extremities. Comparable in mass and configuration to the CNF Battleship, the Ravager appears to be the main Hexamon warship class but, like all Hexamon ships, it can also be used for cargo duty. Unlike other Hexamon ships, though, this design appears to be optimized for space combat. After the battles in the Acrux system, Alliance personnell reported that the Ravager class may have advanced inertial damping; others suggest the ship's internal structure appears to absorb destructive energy better than normal. Neither could be confirmed, though.


Raven - A medium sized standard FCN ship, the Raven class is the Falconian counterpart to the human Frigate/Patrol Cruiser, the Dominion Man o' War or the Dewiek Claw with comparable size, speed and capabilities. It appears to fill a gap between their Skyhawk and Dreadwing classes. Of course, being a Falconian ship design, the Raven is built using only half as much structural mass as comparable designs and thus far cheaper to build.


Runner - Raiding, Aquisition and Trade (RAT) was a cartel operating on the very edge of legality and had a reputation as smugglers and petty pirates. They were eventually driven from the peripheries but they left a legacy - the Runner class starship. This was a dedicated blockade runner with a medium sized cargo hold but incredible speed for a freighter. Better yet, the ship was designed with a cloaking device that could keep the ship under cloak for almost 29 hours [12 TUs]. This cloaking device unfortunately proved to be a faulty design: It is unreliable and prone to failure. Therefore, only affiliations with experience in cloaking technology such as the CIA, FET or RIP can make use of the device.
After the downfall of the RAT the CIA secured the Runner blueprints for themselves and, after some minor modification aimed mainly at further enlarging the main section to its current configuration, have been producing the ship for their own use ever since.


Scout - Slightly larger than a Cygnet, the Scout is an average all-purpose starship of Flagritz design (accordingly, early registry entries register this class as "Flagritz Scout") and a common sight in Flagritz territory. Several minor variations exist: The basic version, known as "Scout" is the version built by the faction under the FGZ Xenophobic Ataman; the Warfare Ataman faction deploys a similar ship classed "Gun Ship" or "Gun Boat" and the Trading faction has labelled theirs "Scout Explorer". The differences between those classes are negligible.


Scout Explorer - (see Scout)


Seeder - Little is known about this ship class, except that it was built the Hive race and may have been the ship class to carry their Queen eggs to new worlds. No Seeder class starship seems to have survived the Hive war, and none have been spotted since.


Ship of the Line - The imperial standard warship is a behemoth designed exclusively for space combat. It is considerably bigger and somewhat faster than the Patrol Cruiser but completely lacks its versatility. In comparison to other ships it has a very big command section to install targeting computers and adequate shielding. Like other designated warships it has a cramped interior and only a limited cargo hold; most main section space is allocated to weapon hardpoints and other combat equipment.
Ships-of-the-Line (or SoLs) are generally associated with the IMP military and have seen extensive action in all their major military actions. SoLs are not only the mainstay of the Imperial Stellar Patrol but are also supplied to imperial enterprises and allies to serve their military interests.


Skyhawk - Smallest of the ship types designed by the Falconians, the Skyhawk is only slightly smaller but also slightly faster than the Raven class, and accordingly slightly better suited for exploration duty. The differences are marginal, however, and both designs are hardly remarkable except for their lightweight construction.


Slipstream - Only rumours exists about this ship as nobody could ever provide solid proof of its existence. It is supposed to be a unique customized starship (and therefore a class of its own) operated by the mysterious "Hunter" who in turn is said to work for the infamous "Dodgy" Dave Munroe of Freedom City. About the configuration and abilities of the Slipstream nothing is known; however Hunter is said to be an expert at locating and tracking other ships which may or may not be connected to his customized ship.


Space Liner - It is believed that the Space Liner design is rather old already yet EEM starports in the peripheries would only start to sell Space Liners starting in early '98. It is unknown why this class was not made available earlier; rumour has it technical problems delayed admittance to the public and led to repeated changes in the design before it was finally passed. Had it been available earlier, the Space Liner would clearly have been the ship everybody was waiting for. Unlike all other freighters of the time, the Space Liner not only sports a large main section only slightly smaller than the venerable Supra Freighter but also the command circuitry required to mount sufficient life supports and full functional capability for its entire main section. Properly refitted it could even rival Battle Cruisers for combat potential.
Today the Frigate/Patrol Cruiser designs or other, even more specialized ships like the Templar, Tempest or Pioneer classes fulfill the role of a passenger ship far better yet the Space Liner has been surprisingly well received in the peripheries after its late launch. It remains a general purpose ship just large enough to meet modern requirements, and is generally seen as a good stepping stone for later upgrading.
Sometimes the Space Liner is referred to as Star Liner, but this appears to be an early designation from a time when the ship was still being designed by the EEM.


Spider Warship - Only a single ship of this class ever appeared in the peripheries. It was a DOG warship, probably the flagship of a small DOG fleet, and was destroyed by CLN forces. Nothing else is known about this ship class.


Squidy Class Hulk - Named after their popular leader, this ship class was designed by the Democratic Natives Alliance (DNA). It was remarkable because it was such a simple construction that most technicians felt uneasy about operating one. While its overall performance can adequately be described as poor, the primitive design allowed Squidy Class Hulks to be built at virtually every shipyard (even if only at class 1) which made it the biggest ship available to its designers who were a rather low-tech organisation.
The DNA disbanded and merged with other affiliations, including the DTR who saw no point in producing this class of ships. Generally, with the advent of more advanced space faring cultures, the DNA had access to far better ship designs and the Squidy Class Hulks fell into disuse. When the DNA reappeared as an affiliation in early '99, they had already devised an improved version labelled the Naplian Cruiser to replace this older design.
The last Squidy Class Hulk known was the DTR Naplian Ethos (1833). It was destroyed in a pirate strike in early '97.


Star Carrier - First scanned by DTR vessels in late '99 during a mission in the Madonna system, where it accompanied a strong IMP task force, the Star Carrier class appears to be of inner empire design and a recent aquisition of the imperial navy in the peripheries. The Star Carrier scanned was the IMP Atlas (4828). Its abilities can only be guessed although detailed scans are available that allow to pinpoint the size and hull configuration quite accurately. The configuration scanned marks it as a fearsome warship, more precisely a space fighter carrier. As the IMP appear to be incapable of producing ships of this class at their own shipyards, the Star Carrier class made only a brief appearance in the peripheries as the IMP Atlas was destroyed by defending Falconian and Krell forces during an imperial strike into the Storm system in 32/200.


Super Carrier - (see Carrier)


Super Hauler - Alledgedly an experimental EEM design, little is known about this ship class except name and configuration. This data draws the picture of a hulking freighter with a truly impressive main section and a less impressive speed - the Super Hauler is the slowest ship class known. The whole design keeps in line with the design philosophy behind the early EEM freighter designs which was followed up by the GTT in their own, larger designs. The Super Hauler design is even bigger than the infamous GTT Behemoth and while it is also incapable of space combat, it appears to have a better structural integrity allowing it to land anywhere. This would probably make it the most capable human bulk freighter. Unfortunately, no single Super Hauler appears to have survived the turbulent life in the peripheries to this date.


Supra Freighter - With an ever-increasing demand for cargo haulage, freighter designs grew in size, too. The Supra Freigher was an experimental design from the inner empire, aimed at building a freighter that was twice as big as any other design at the time. The result was a fragile needle-shaped ship with a big engine section and only a minimum of command circuitry to keep operation costs low. Standard cargo containers were to be attached along the needle, representing a huge main section.
At first the design appeared to be a catastrophic failure: The ship's structure was too weak to withstand the stress of combat maneuvering, making the use of space weapons impossible. In addition, the tiny (and cheap) command unit proved to be too primitive to install life support units for the cargo containers, limiting the carrying capacity to non-living bulk cargo. And it was the slowest ship built to date. These factors made it easy prey for pirates which was expected to make the ship very unpopular.
However, regardless of these drawbacks the Supra Freighter quickly became the most popular bulk freigher there was. It proved to be more efficient than the smaller freighter designs, even with its slow speed. Better yet, the military navies quickly found out that by using modified containers, Supra Freighters could easily be refitted as space fighter carriers, a practice that is still used as an emergency military refit program in times of need.
All in all the Supra Freighter design is only slowly losing its role as the mainstay of all mercantile navies, being gradually replaced by the latest generation of much larger and/or specialized cargo conveyors. It remains one of the cheapest, most efficient and most easily available freighter designs even though it only has half the cargo capacity of its modern successors.


Survey Cruiser - One of the preciously few early EEM designs still in common use, the Survey Cruiser still performs adequately as an exploration vessel. For this reason it is still employed by various nations as well as independent starcaptains where a cheap and easily available exploration ship is required and a Surveyor is deemed too small for the task. The Survey Cruiser is rather spacious which allows it to carry adequate exploration gear; more importantly, this design also has retained the speed advantage that could be expected of such a small ship.


Survey Scout - A ship with a mysterious background, the SMS Tokyo (1401) was found to be operating in the Capellan Periphery in mid-'99. It is thought that the ship may have come from the inner empire but no further details are known.


Surveyor - One of the most common human ship classes, this trusty design has earned a reputation as simple but reliable over the decades. It is one of the oldest human ship types in existence but an excellent design still favoured by new starcaptains. It excels at nothing but usually gets the job done. Today, the Surveyor is the yardstick against which all new ship classes are measured.


System Ship - (see Galaxy Cruiser)


Templar - The potential and technical expertise of the Brotherhood is often underestimated because they are primarily a religious group. With the Templar class starship they proved that they were indeed excellent technicians. The BHD Templar falls somewhere between two categories: It is smaller, but also faster than the Frigate/Patrol Cruiser designs which the warring human nations were constructing at the same time, and was obviously not thought to be a warship. It was neither a dedicated freighter, on the other hand, since it was fitted with overly large command and engine sections in comparison to a main section only matching that of the aging EEM Supra Freighter. Unlike freighters of the time the Templar also had a strong internal structure and functional hardpoints to fit weapons into its entire main section. In the end it proved to be a true multi-purpose ship that was equally well suited for combat and cargo duties (and saw a lot of both). Even today some Templars are encountered on exploration duty for the Brotherhood.
A notable fact about the Templar class is its spartan design. The BHD monks equipped the ship with a life support system that could sustain twice as many lifeforms as normal, but only because they stretched the ressources and paid no attention to comfort, or even adequate living conditions (by other standards).
A single Templar class ship was registered as Templar: Envoy by EEM records. This was the BHD Dark Matter (2297). The reason for this is unknown; the ship is not in operation anymore.


Tempest - The Tempest class transport vessel was designed by the Brotherhood and is one of the most popular conveyors available; however the BHD is reluctant to supply ships to outsiders. Its size and speed match those of other bulk freighters but unlike those, the Tempest is designed to provide life support for its entire cargo hold. Like on its predecessor, the Templar, this was achieved not only by designing a bigger command section than it would normally be expected of a cargo ship but also by reducing life support standards aboard. The Tempest is a primitive construction by all standards and better suited to transport cattle than passengers: The cargo hold consists of two empty decks between the command and engine sections. Cabins were considered unneccessary luxury aboard a Brotherhood vessel, and the sanitary installations are spartan accordingly. In addition, since the ship was designed to be a freighter only a quarter of the large main decks is equipped with the power conduits and C3 nodes required for functional equipment.


Transporter - First scanned accompanying a fleet of Cogs in the Noctollis periphery in early '99, the KAS Echo One (3722) was the only Transporter class starship ever seen in service. It is a unique prototype of a KAS attempt to construct a bulk freighter rivalling human class 8 designs. The comparatively low technological level of the Kastorian Military Junta resulted in a mediocre ship that is slightly inferior to similar ships like the AFT Carrier. Therefore it is unlikely that any more Transport class ships will be built by the KAS and the project apparently was scrapped, as was the Echo One within a year of its initial launch.


Troop Carrier - Its configuration marks the Troop Carrier as a highly specialized ship. It is fast but also capable of evading enemy fire both by means of a cloaking device and advanced inertial damping should it be caught up in a fight. The ship is highly optimized towards the aim of safely delivering over a thousand troops into even the hottest combat zones, a mission profile hitherto reserved for Runners operated by the CIA.
The only known Troop Carrier known is the CNF Polaris (470). It is uncertain how the CNF obtained the ship; rumour has it the Troop Carrier accompanied an inner empire Admiral and his Dreadnought class ship when they defected to the Confederacy.


Unknown Class - This designation was given to the ARC ships encountered in the Dewiek Home Periphery. As they appeared to engage any starship on sight they were declared public enemies by the DEN and destroyed accordingly to lift their blockade of an ancient Dewiek world. Unfortunately no Architect ships have been encountered elsewhere. Little is known about the mysterious Architects and their huge starships but research into those destroyed in Dewiek space indicates that they are at least in part biotech. Size assessments failed to produce conclusive results but it is thought that the mass of each ARC ship was equal to several hundred standard hulls. They "feed" on the debris and stray paticles in the orbit of planetary bodies to sustain their plasma projector weapons and appear to be operating with an artificial intelligence. The AI of the vessels encountered was largely decayed, and two appeared to react entirely on "instinct" and basic combat automation. Nothing else could be established.


War Galley - This exceedingly rare ship is slightly larger than a Yacht and can thus operate somewhat more independent, yet it does not have the speed advantage a Yacht has and is still too small for most tasks. Since the same effort and only a little more money are sufficient to produce a much larger starship, War Galleys are the stepchild of any shipyard in the peripheries.


Wayfarer - This is a very unusual ship class built by the Dewiek. It is somewhat smaller than their Trader class freighter, but considerably faster. In fact its excellent speed combined with a still fairly sized cargo hold make this ship more popular (and useful) that the Trader class. Like the latter, though, the Wayfarer is only rarely preferred over the famous DEN Wolflord. For this reason production has been stopped just like with the Claw and Trader classes, and the remaining ships may be decommissioned soon.


Wolflord - Wolflord class starships have served the Dewiek as their main starships for several thousand years already, and the class is still in production by the Dewiek Elder Nation. After all this time its propulsion and shield systems are still superior to their human counterparts. With the possible exception of their small Ranger-class explorers the Wolflord class was the single most popular ship class among the DEN until the re-introduction of the Direwolf class warships. The slender behemoth can easily carry amounts cargo rivalling the largest human bulk freighters at a roughly 25% better speed. In the past Wolflords had been rigged as warships, but now Direwolf class ships exclusively fill out that role for the DEN. Yet, the Wolflord class can now look back on several millenia of successful service and still is one of the most versatile ship types known. This sheds some light on the incredible skills of the ancient Dewiek culture.


Wreckage - This is a catchall-designation for ships that have received devastating damage from combat, sabotage or scavenging and are far beyond repair although not yet destroyed. It is still possible to scavenge hulls from a wreckage.


Yacht - This generic term classifies a variety of spaceworthy vessels that share some common features: All craft termed Yacht are exceedingly fast and have only a very small main section, so small in fact that they cannot carry anything else when equipped with a full complement of four jump engines. This seriously limits their usefulness for most purposes.
Yachts are readily available as pleasure craft and can be bought at several starports for very low prices. In combination with their speed this makes them excellent reconnaissance ships such as the Confederate Ranger scout ships or the refitted shuttles employed by pirates to scout their prey. Alternatively, they can mount basic exploration equipment instead of jump engines. It is common practice to have a fleet of Yachts jump into an unknown system, accompanied by a single freighter which takes the Yachts' jump engines and distributes labs and other equipment to the small ships in turn.





We have tried to make this ship database as complete and accurate as possible. If you have information that is not on this list, please contact the DTR about it.


For the greater glory of the Republic!