Ship Classes

These are the common classifications of warships in the Astral Skies setting, going from smallest to largest. Different organizations, shipyards, and polities will sometimes call ships by different classifications, but in general these are the ones most commonly used.

• Fighters
• Combat Mech (space variant)
• Shuttle
• Corvette/Pinnace
• Frigate
• Destroyer
• Cruiser
• Battlecruiser
• Battleship
• Dreadnaught
• Superdreadnaught
• Leviathan
• Mobile Station

A few things to note about warships.

• Combat mechs, fighters and shuttles are generally too small to carry an astral transference engine.
• Not all ships that are large enough to use an astral transference engine do so, particularly in regards to in-system cargo transports and some defensive starships. Some ships instead use the services of astral ferries to go into astral or leave it, and use the space for other purposes.
• Some common references to types of starships are in reference to their role, rather than their size. Carrier is a type of role, as is the common light cruiser or heavy cruiser.
• Carriers normally have a complement of fighters or combat mechs, but some use shuttles or corvettes as well.
• Light cruisers focus on point defense and damaging vessels smaller than themselves. Heavy cruisers are designed with heavier armor and focus on fewer, more powerful weapons.
• Most starships which are large enough tend to have hangar space for a few fighters or shuttles.

In addition, there are also various civilian ships that largely use the same classifications. The exception are cargo ships, which don't adhere to any specific size chart, as they range anywhere from a fighter to a mobile station in size, though most freighters are mid-size and have relatively light armament and armor.