Ships

The Condor, a common ship in the Sector

Ships are the core unit of Starsector's combat gameplay, and play a key role in the campaign layer as well.

There are several ship types: Frigates, Destroyers, Cruisers, and Capitals are independent ships, small Fighters are deployed from other ships, and immobile Stations are not part of the fleet but can participate in combat. Ships can also be classified according to their design type (commonly Low Tech, Midline, and High Tech), by purpose (Warship or support ship), or by their designated role (Carrier, Freighter, or Battleship).

Terminology

A ship's full designation may appear as "ISS Runabout, Kite-class Support Shuttle". ISS Runabout is the ship's name, Kite is the class, Support is the Refit variant, and the Kite hull has a Shuttle designation.

• The most essential part of a ship's identity is its class, which defines a ship's appearance, fundamental role and capabilities.
  • The long form of a ship class's name includes its designation, a single descriptive word (e.g. carrier, frigate, freighter) which may have a modifier (light carrier, heavy frigate, combat freighter).
  • Some ship classes can come in different versions, known internally as skins. For example, the Kite (A) is a distinct Hegemony version of the Kite. They usually swap weapon mounts, ship systems, and built-in mods that an ordinary refit cannot change change. Occasionally other changes are made - the Brawler (TT) has extra ordnance point.
• Each class exists in one of a few size categories, e.g. the Lasher is a frigate while the Atlas is a capital.
• Each class has one or more variants that specifies its armament and other elements of its loadout, and has a name describing its intended purpose. For instance, the Onslaught's Outdated variant is armed with more traditional weapons such as the Mark IX Autocannon, will the Elite variant has more expensive weapons like the Storm Needler.
  • The player can use the Refit Screen to design a customized variant for each of their ships, or assign a stock variant using the Autofit functionality on that screen. NPC ships encountered in the Sector will typically have a semi-randomized variant based on one of the game's stock variants.
• Each individual ship also has a name that is generated randomly or assigned by the player in the Refit Screen; this is purely cosmetic.
• Classes with similar in-universe design philosophies or origins are grouped together by design type, e.g. Low Tech or Pirate. This is cosmetic but can indicate how the ship is intended to be used.

Hull Size

A ship's size-class has some direct effects but most differences are on a class-by-class basis. Bigger ships are tougher and more powerful but are slower and costlier to buy and operate.

Direct Effects

Property	Frigate	Destroyer	Cruiser	Capital	Notes
Typical hullmod cost ratio	1	2	3	5	About 65% of hullmods have this ratio. An 'average' ship typically has 50:100:150:300-400 ordnance points, with civilian or lower-quality classes having less and higher-end classes having more.
Max Flux capacitors and vents available at refit	10	20	30	50	Flux Regulation technology skill increases max capacitors and vents by 5.
Base sensor strength and profile	30	60	90	150	Base value, before modification by Civilian-grade Hull, Phase Field, or other hullmods.
Acceleration % available when strafing	100%	75%	50%	25%	Heavier ships are usually less maneuverable even at the same top speed.

Skills

Skills that improve ship performance usually provide bonuses to all ships, piloted ships, or ships with officers. Some skills have increased or exclusive bonuses for specific size categories.

• The Elite Impact Mitigation skill has different bonuses for frigates/destroyers and cruisers/capitals.
• The Point Defence and Target Analysis increase damage against different ship sizes, while Coordinated Maneuvers gives larger nav and command point recovery bonuses for deploying smaller ships. Wolfpack Tactics increases the damage of frigates and destroyers attacking ships larger than themselves and increases their peak operating time.
• Gunnery Implants provides larger ECM bonuses to smaller ships when Elite.

Ship Designations

Each ship class has a designation (E.g. 'carrier'), which may have a subtype (e.g. light cruiser).

• Frigates, Gunship, Destroyers, Cruisers, Battlecruisers, and Battleships are typical warships. Gunships are frigate-sized and battlecruisers are capital-sized.
• Light or heavy subtypes are common and are closer in performance to the size-class above or below them.
• Some ship statistics vary smoothly across and between size class but other statistics have clear performance bands. A light destroyer and heavy frigate are quite similar but have key differences.

Specialized Ships

Specialized ships are built differently to a normal ship. They can be completely specialized like a carrier or can be a subtype of another ship, like a phase frigate or transport.

• Carriers have built-in hangars for fighter squadrons but are otherwise (typically) less capable.
• Phase Ships replace their shield with a phase cloak. High-Tech phase ships come with a Phase Field that improves sensor performance for the whole fleet.
• Modified ships are civilian ships adapted for combat. The retain civilian-grade hulls and can't match real warships. These ships are named as a Mk II or Mk III ship version and are popular with factions like the Pirates.

Support Ships

Support ships provide campaign layer support instead of combat support. They carry cargo, fuel, & crew, augment the fleet's burn level % sensors, and increase the efficiency of salvaging, Smuggling, surveying and raiding. Most are civilian vessels, with reduced sensor capability and poorly suited to combat.

• Freighters have high cargo capacity. Combat freighters have sufficient armament and protection to be viable in combat, at the expense of cargo capacity and cost-efficiency.
• Tankers have high fuel capacity and extend the range of a fleet. These are civilian vessels.
• Transports carry crew and marines. Troop/phase transports have unique built-in hullmods to support raiding.
• Salvage Ships (Salvage Rig or Shepherd) supports salvaging with the Salvage Gantry hullmod.
• Tugs (Ox-class only) improve the maximum burn level of the entire fleet.
• The Venture and Apogee cruisers and the Shepherd have good cargo/fuel capacity and Surveying Equipment. This mod and the High Resolution Sensors on the Apogee can be installed on any ship.

• 

  The Mule, a Low Tech combat freighter

• 

  The Heron, a Midline carrier

• 

  The Afflictor, a High Tech phase frigate

Fighter

Fighters are the smallest type of ship and come in squadrons of 1 to 6. They are deployed from a carrier's hangar bays. They do not have the logistic needs of full-sized ships and do not impact the campaign layer. They are usually much faster but more fragile than independent ships. Destroyed fighters are replaced over time by the parent carrier.

• Interceptors, Heavy Interceptors, and Interceptor drones exist to fight against and dominate other fighters.
• Fighters and Heavy Fighters perform well against small ships and other fighters.
• Bombers can be effective against larger ships but are typically more expensive.
• Support Fighters can only escort their hosting carriers and have good point defense capabilities.

Stations

Stations are built in place and cannot move, or join a fleet. They can engage in combat and otherwise behave like a stationary ship.

• Common stations come as High Tech, Low Tech or Midline stations. They can be built by any faction at a colony, and may orbit a planet or exist independently.
• Stations are built as Orbital Stations then upgraded to Battlestations and Star Fortresses.
• Stations consist of a central Citadel and connected modules which have their own weapons and defenses and be destroyed separately.

Tech level

Most ships belong to one of three 'design types': Low Tech, Midline, and High Tech. They are not better or worse than another level, but reflect different design philosophies. Tech level has no direct effect on the ships.

Low tech fields cheaper ships favoring armor and ballistics, commonly with low maneuverability. Midline ships are typically highly specialized, and overall the approach is balanced between low and high tech. High tech ships are expensive, mostly use energy weapons, rely on their shields, and are highly mobile, often using hit-and-run tactics.

	Low Tech	Midline	High Tech
Color palette	Red and brown	Yellow	White and blue
Armor	Very high	Adequate	Low
Shields	Inefficient, narrow	Average, mostly frontal	Efficient, often 360 degree or omni
Weapons	Ballistics, some missiles	Depends on the ship	Mostly energy
Mobility	Low Many ships have Burn Drive for forward mobility	Average	High
Phase ships	Few, low quality	None	Common
Carriers	Common	Common	Very rare

The Pirate and Luddic Path design types are generally conversions from standard ships. Other, hidden factions outside the Core Worlds may also use their own design types.

Ship statistics

Ship statistics in the order displayed in in-game information screens. For an explanation of the mechanics behind the statistics above please see: Hull, Armor, Shields, Engines, Movement, Combat Readiness, Ordnance Points, Refit Screen, Economy, Sensors, Damage, Flux, ECM, Hullmods, Ship Systems, Weapons, and Refit Screen. Most advanced/hidden stats are not important to the player but some are. The movement (acceleration, turn rate) can be crucial.

Logistical data

Logistical
CR per deployment	Percentage of combat readiness removed after a combat engagement
Recovery rate (per day)	Percentage of combat readiness recoverable per day
Recovery cost (supplies)	Cost in supplies to recover the CR lost from one deployment, base equal to maintenance cost
Deployment points	Cost to deploy in a combat engagement, base value as maintenance cost
Peak performance (sec)	Time in seconds a ship can engage in comabt before combat readiness starts to decrease
Crew complement	Fraction of the skeleton crew on-board, which is a combat readiness multipler
Hull size	Size-class of the vessel. Has some direct effects
Ordnance points	Number of ordnance points to refit the ship with
Maintenance (supplies/mo)	Monthly supply cost of the daily maintenance needed to keep combat readiness from draining
Cargo capacity	Contribution to fleet cargo capacity. Typically proportional to maintenance cost
Maximum crew	Contribution to fleet crew and marine capacity
Skeleton crew required	Marks the upper bound of the crew complement needed to run the ship
Fuel capacity	Contribution to fleet fuel capacity. Typically proportional to fuel consumption
Maximum burn	The lowest maximum burn in the fleet determines the maximum fleets speed on the campaign layer
Fuel / light year, jump cost	Rate at which fuel is consumed in hyperspace and amount consumed when using a jump point or an emergency burn
Sensor profile	The five largest sensor profiles in the fleet contribute to how visible the fleet is(sensor profile)
Sensor strength	The five largest sensor strengths in the fleet contribute to fleet detection range

Combat performance

Combat performance
Hull integrity	How much damage can be taken by the hull in combat
Armor rating	Measurement of armor density of the hull; mitigates against hull integrity damage
Defense	Type of defense - typically None, Omni Shield, Front Shield, or Phase Cloak
Shield arc	Degrees of shield coverage
Shield upkeep/sec	Soft flux generated each second shields are raised
Cloak activation cost	Flux cost to activate phase cloak defense
Cloak upkeep/sec	Flux cost per second to maintain phase cloak
Flux capacity	Amount of flux the ship can handle before it becomes overloaded
Flux dissipation	Rate at which flux is reduced
Top Speed	Maximum movement speed, in any direction, in a combat engagement

Other parameters

Other paramaters
Flux Capactiors	Number of ordnance points assigned to increase flux capacity, maximum based on hull size
Flux Vents	Ordnance points assigned to increase flux dissipation, maximum based on hull size
Weapon flux/sec	Flux generated per second when weapons are firing. Only displayed on the refit screen.
System	Name and description of the ship system
Special	Displays only for ships with a secondary ship system, giving the name and description
Mounts	List of weapon mounts and hangar bays available
Armaments	List of weapons and wings currently installed
Hull mods	List of mods built into the ship, s-mods, and other hullmods. D-mods are highlighted

Advanced and hidden stats

Advanced/Hidden Parameters
Acceleration	How fast a ship can increase its speed. Larger ships can only strafe/reverse at a fraction this rate
Deceleration	How fast as ship can decrease its speed
Turn rate	The maximum speed a ship can change its heading
Turn acceleration	How fast a ship can start to turn and come to its full turn rate
Mass	Heavier ships will have higher momentum during ramming maneuvers
CR loss rate	Rate at which combat readiness is lost after peak CR time is reached - defaults to 0.25/sec
ECM	Bonus to the ECM rating of the fleet, provided by certain modules
Nav Bonus	Bonus to the nav bonus of the fleet, provided by certain modules
Cost	Base market value of the ship. Buy price is set to base 120%, sale price is 50%, and a d-modded ship 20%
Size	Actual in-game size of the ship. It's not exactly hidden, but a numerical value is not easily comparable
Hints	List of behavioural tags. Relevant to player carriers with CARRIER, COMBAT, and NO_AUTO_ESCORT tags which determine will set a ship to engage with fighters, engage directly, and/or hide near friendly ships
Tags	Relevant here to set if a ship's blueprint will be included in the common High Tech, Low Tech or Midline blueprint packages

Mothballing

Mothballed ships are ships that have been "packed up," with most main systems put into a long-term hibernation state. Mothballed ships do not provide cargo or crew capacity, and do not require supplies for maintenance or a skeleton crew; they do, however, consume their normal amount of fuel to get tugged around. Effectively, a mothballed ship is a "packaged" ship which is tugged around by the rest of the fleet.