Standard Sci-Fi Fleet: Difference between revisions

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* ''[[Humongous Mecha]]'' - Many universes which feature these may use them instead of or in addition to conventional space fighters. Alternately, many have [[Transforming Mecha]] that change ''into'' Fighters for space combat. In even rarer cases they can transform into capital ships.

* ''Shuttle'' - Commonly used to transfer personnel or material from one ship to another, or down to the surface of a planet. Usually lightly armed, although Combat/Assault shuttles that sacrifice their carrying capacity for guns are not unheard of. Civilians may own these for personal transport.

** ''[[Drop Ship]]'' - A specialized shuttle-like craft specifically made to carry troops from a ship to the surface, even into the middle of a battlefield or under fire. Always heavily armored, and usually armed to boot.

** ''[[Drop Ship]]'' - [[Awesome Personnel Carrier]] <small>[[Recycled in Space|IN SPACE]]</small>. A specialized shuttle-like craft specifically made to carry troops from a ship to the surface, even into the middle of a battlefield or under fire. Always heavily armored, and usually armed to boot.

** ''[[Drop Pod]]'' - Instead of deploying infantry together in ships, transports will sometimes drop individual soldiers or [[Humongous Mecha]] in pods or very heavy armor. Also comes in a ship-to-ship variety for marines.

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* ''Space Freighter'' or ''Cargo Ship'' (No, not ''[[Cargo Ship|that]]'', we mean it literally this time) - A ship whose purpose is to ferry goods from one planet to the next. Usually lightly armed, if at all. Mostly a background ship.

** ''Blockade Runner'' - Smaller than most Cargo Ships, this is commonly used by smugglers and rebels, who soup up the engines and, if necessary, can give it extra guns and armor if it needs to fight. You're probably thinking of the ''[[Star Wars|Milennium Falcon]]'' (or the ''[[Firefly|Serenity]]'', or the ''[[Cowboy Bebop|Bebop]]'') right now, and you'd be right on the money. This is the go-to ship class for the [[Space Western]] settings. May be piloted by a [[Space Trucker]].

** ''Q-ship'' - Taking the idea of the Blockade Runner to an extreme, a Q-ship is a Cargo Ship that is retooled into a warship, but still retains the outward appearance of its original form, so the enemy doesn't realize that it's armed until it starts shooting them. These can be used to defend supply convoys alongside or in place of normal escorts, or to sneak a fighting unit past the eyes of the enemy until it's too late. Note that a Q-ship is now ''primarily'' a warship, not a cargo hauler, so a ship like the Milennium Falcon would not be an example, as it is a freighter, it just happens to be armed for bear. Basically, if it isn't designed to be mistaken for a normal cargo ship until the enemy is being blown to bits, it is not a Q-ship.

** ''Q-ship'' - Taking the idea of the Blockade Runner to an extreme, a Q-ship is a Cargo Ship that is retooled into a warship, but still retains the outward appearance of its original form, so the enemy doesn't realize that it's armed until it starts shooting them. These can be used to defend supply convoys alongside or in place of normal escorts, or to sneak a fighting unit past the eyes of the enemy until it's too late. Note that a Q-ship is now ''primarily'' a warship, not a cargo hauler, so a ship like the Milennium Falcon would not be an example, as it is a freighter, it just happens to be armed for bear. Basically, if it isn't designed to be mistaken for a normal cargo ship until the enemy is being blown to bits, it is not a Q-ship. Improvised warships may come close - a freighter may need very little work for conversion into a missile barge, as long as other ships are present to complement its weak sides.

** ''Tender'' - A military use freighter that can be used to extend the range of a fleet by carrying extra supplies (~~ie,~~ food, fuel, etc.) Obviously they won't always be seen, because a fleet will tend to try to operate within its normal range, but occasionally it may need to go beyond those limits, at which point a Tender becomes invaluable.

** ''Tender'' - A military use freighter that can be used to extend the range of a fleet by carrying extra supplies (food, fuel, etc.) Obviously they won't always be seen, because a fleet will tend to try to operate within its normal range, but occasionally it may need to go beyond those limits, at which point a Tender becomes invaluable. Much the same goes for ''Ammo ships'' - they are not going to participate in routine patrol or base defense missions, but are going to tag along for large or remote operations, unless the setting completely disregards projectile weapons.

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* ''Troopship'' - Not much more than a flying barracks, these will be seen in almost any invasion (unless the fleet uses [[Military Mashup Machine|Mashups]] instead). It will almost certainly carry [[Drop Ship]]s to take a beachhead and shuttles to beef it up, but it may additionally have the ability to actually land on a planet. Since it's already a drop-ship Carrier, in pressing times it may be forced to forgo the majority of its troops and act as an improvised Carrier for other small craft. On occasions, technically a ship of one of the other classes fitted to accommodate a troop compartment. This is most likely the place you'll see a [[Space Marine]] steps out from.

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* ''Colony ~~Ships~~'' - These generally aren't very well armed, even if only because they tend to be outdated more often than not. They carry everything you need ~~for~~ a colony: ~~Equipment~~, construction materials, animal and plant specimens, living environs~~, and lots of colonists~~. Sometimes designed to become raw materials for the colony, especially in the slower-than-light models. Comes in [[Generation Ships|Generation Ship]], [[Human Popsicle]] sleeper ship, [[Terraform|Terraforming]] seeder ship, and vanilla [[Faster-Than-Light Travel|FTL]] colony ship flavors.

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* ''Troopship'' - Not much more than a flying barracks, these will be seen in almost any invasion (unless the fleet uses [[Military Mashup Machine|Mashups]] instead). It will almost certainly carry shuttles, but it may additionally have the ability to actually land on a planet. In pressing times it may be forced to forgo the majority of its troops and ~~be forced to operate~~ as an ~~impromtu~~ Carrier. On occasions, technically a ship of one of the other classes fitted to ~~accomodate~~ a troop compartment. This is most likely the place you'll see a [[Space Marine]] steps out from.

* ''Yacht'' - An unarmed (usually), [[Starship Luxurious|often spacious and pleasant]] civilian ship, designed to carry VIPs from A to B, in style and comfort. Usually these will have an escort.

=== '''Capital Ships''' ===

The most powerful warships in a fleet; when people talk about fleet strength, counting capships is the quick and dirty way to do it. The presence of just ''one'' of these in an area can influence strategic calculations. These ships tend to be expensive to build. So expensive, in fact, that in "realistic" settings (well, the ones where [[Space Is an Ocean|space fleets function like WWII surface naval fleets]] anyway, which isn't actually realistic) they are almost never deployed without escorts and the captain will usually have an admiral on the scene to answer to in the squadron/task force/fleet. In other settings, these get treated as extra-big cruisers. Either way, unless you're in a huge fleet battle, losing one of these is a big deal. A uniquely big one may be [[The Mothership]].

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* ''Battlecruiser'' - In real life, this was a ship as fast as a cruiser but with the firepower of a battleship, meant to combat enemy cruisers where a battleship couldn't be spared. In practice, battlecruisers ended up serving with the main battle fleet because their firepower was too valuable to pass up, but where their lack of armor became a liability. In science fiction, usage of "battlecruiser" may vary. A lot of the time science fiction works just ditch the "battleship" name and instead call their biggest, most powerful ships "battlecruisers", probably because "battleship" sounds archaic (and battlecruiser ''does'' ~~sound~~ [[Rule of Cool|cooler]]). If the fictional work has both battleships and battlecruisers, then expect the latter to be slightly smaller versions of the former, as it often did happen in Real Life too.

* ''Ship of the Line/Battleship/Dreadnought'' - A massive ship, usually the largest ship in the fleet, bristling with big guns. The navy's [[Mighty Glacier]]. (Note that the term "fast battleship" exists, because some of them, like the Iowa, were really fast in addition to having shitloads of guns and armor. In the real world, being huge meant that they had more room for sailes/engines/reactors, meaning that [[Bigger Is Better]] in almost every respect. However in sci-fi, they practically always move at a snail's pace because [[Lightning Bruiser|really heavily armed and armored AND really fast ships]] would leave those [[Artistic License Economics|taking Artistic License with Economics]] the question 'Why do we make anything else ?' For the rest of us, the answer is logistics and economics. Even strategy games, which often abstract or handwave away advanced economic concerns, recognise that bigger ships take more resource and time to build while requiring more crew or advanced AI control. Depending on the faction's economic capabilities, it's simply not possible to build only capitals.)

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* ''Battlecruiser'' - In real life, this was a ship as fast as a cruiser but with the firepower of a battleship, meant to combat enemy cruisers where a battleship couldn't be spared. In practice, battlecruisers ended up serving with the main battle fleet because their firepower was too valuable to pass up, but where their lack of armor became a liability. In science fiction, usage of "battlecruiser" may vary. A lot of the time science fiction works just ditch the "battleship" name and instead call their biggest, most powerful ships "battlecruisers", probably because "battleship" sounds archaic (and battlecruiser ''does'' [[Rule of Cool|sound cooler]]). If the fictional work has both battleships and battlecruisers, then expect the latter to be slightly smaller versions of the former, as it often did happen in Real Life too.

* ''Carrier'' - An [[Airborne Aircraft Carrier]] several thousand feet (plus!) higher. Lightly armed, but carries Space Fighters of all kinds, and is usually escorted by other Capital Ships. Somewhat like [[Squishy Wizard]] of Capital Ships, especially when no Science Vessel is at hand. Sometimes has a [[Mook Maker|built in factory]].

* ''Carrier'' - An [[Airborne Aircraft Carrier]] several thousand feet (plus!) higher. Lightly armed, but carries Space Fighters of all kinds, and is usually escorted by other Capital Ships. Somewhat like [[Squishy Wizard]] of Capital Ships, especially when no Science Vessel is at hand. Sometimes has a [[Mook Maker|built-in factory]].

* ''[[The Battlestar]]'' - Wields both guns and fighters, and is more often than not the Flagship of the fleet (unless a Dreadnought is on the scene). If the series only has one type of ship, it's usually this. See the trope for details.

* ''The Worldship'' - [[That's No Moon]], that's a space station! These are basically mobile Space Stations, which may be used as homes by nomadic civilizations (especially a [[Horde of Alien Locusts]]), or as crowning achievements in engineering by a large spacefaring society. See also [[Big Dumb Object]].

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Some ships stand out due to various unique constructions or abilities, and are less noted for specific size or roles. These aren't found in every series, but appear often and are notable enough to warrant special mention:

* ''Detachable Drive'' - An uncommon class of ship or Small Craft that basically serves as a flight system to allow a ship type of similar or smaller size to move further than it is normally designed to (Faster Than Light travel for an extreme example). These are often little more than a drive system, fuel, and an external docking mechanism for the craft to attach to (see also [[Mecha Expansion Pack]]). Commonly used by [[Space Fighter|Space Fighters]] or [[Humongous Mecha]], although versions for larger ships are also seen from time to time. They're always ''way'' cooler than mere Space Tugboats.

* ''Missile/Torpedo Boat'' - A ship whose main armament consists almost entirely of missiles and/or torpedoes. A few universes, [[Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better|due to their technological development]], may have ~~their~~ ~~entire~~ fleets be basically this.

* ''Missile/Torpedo Boat'' - A ship whose main armament consists almost entirely of missiles and/or torpedoes. A few universes, [[Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better|due to their technological development]], may have the main fleets be basically this.

* ''Minelayer'' - If [[Space Mines]] are involved, something must carry them to where they will be used. Though even then this job may be given to missile boats or freighters. May also be a [[Mook Maker|mobile munitions factory]], however.

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* ''Colony Ship'' - These generally aren't very well armed, even if only because they tend to be outdated more often than not. They carry lots of colonists and everything you need to start a colony: equipment, construction materials, animal and plant specimens, living environs. Sometimes designed to become raw materials for the colony, especially in the slower-than-light models. Comes in [[Generation Ships|Generation Ship]], [[Human Popsicle]] sleeper ship, [[Terraform|Terraforming]] seeder ship, and vanilla [[Faster-Than-Light Travel|FTL]] colony ship flavors.

* ''Mining Ship'' - A mobile base for mining and ore processing. May dispatch and maintain swarm of mining robots digging a planet or large asteroid, or slurp up small asteroid fragments with [[Tractor Beam]]. In the latter case it may carry specialized weapons to break bigger stones into rubble. Depends on the setting, but in various forms tend to crop up in more logistically-minded ones.

* ''Science Vessel'' - The [[Squishy Wizard]] of space, these ships generally aren't meant for combat but have specialised equipment and capacities that can be [[Improvised Weapon|repurposed as weapons]]. Typically equipped with advanced sensor arrays, [[Reverse Polarity|Polarity Reversers]], and a [[Deus Ex Machina]] or two if you're lucky.

* ''Space Gun'' - ~~the~~ ~~Spaceborne~~ equivalent to the ~~[[BFG]]~~, the Space Gun is a ship (usually of the smaller classes, but some can be ~~the size~~ of a ~~Battleship,~~ ~~Dreadnought,~~ ~~or even~~ Space Station) that consists of a command bridge, the biggest weapon they could find (up to, but not always, a [[Wave Motion Gun]]), the engines to move it around, and little else. Space Guns are usually [[Glass Cannon|Glass Cannons]] that add to the overall firepower of a fleet due to their ability to punch well above their weight, but are otherwise vulnerable and have to be screened by fighters and other ships.

* ''Space Gun'' / ''Monitor'' - The spaceborne equivalent of the self-propeled artillery, the Space Gun is a ship (usually of the smaller classes, but some can be of any size up to Space Station) that consists of a command bridge, the biggest weapon they could find (up to, but not always, a [[Wave Motion Gun]]), the engines to move it around, and little else. Space Guns are usually [[Glass Cannon|Glass Cannons]] that add to the overall firepower of a fleet due to their ability to punch well above their weight, but are otherwise vulnerable and have to be screened by fighters and other ships.

* ''Space Station/Star Base'' - Usually rivaled in size only by the Battleship and Dreadnought (or in more extreme universes, Worldship) classes, these are (relatively) immobile structures used for all kinds of duties, from habitats, to fortresses, space ports, factories, and the like. [[Colony Drop|Colony Drops]] are always a danger when these things get knocked out of orbit. If the space station is even bigger than a [[World Ship]], it might be a [[Dyson Sphere]].

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* ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]'' has the title ship as an Assault Carrier, with a number of cruisers on both sides, and a Jovian Worldship.

** However, it's referred to in show (and in the original title) as a "High-mobile Battleship", making it a fast-battleship or battlecruiser.

* Played with in the [[Crest of the Stars]]. There are several superficially recognizable ship classes, all with the familiar names... But then you suddenly understand that these names are ''translations'' from the local [[Con Lang]] and all these classes reflect completely different fleet organization and tactics. What about their battleships being completely [[Point Defenseless]] [[Macross Missile Massacre|missile platforms]] and shifting all point defence onto special ship class, and so on...

* Played with in the ''[[Crest of the Stars]]''. There are several superficially recognizable ship classes, all with the familiar names... But then you suddenly understand that these names are ''translations'' from the local [[Con Lang]] and all these classes reflect completely different fleet organization and tactics. What about their battleships being completely [[Point Defenseless]] [[Macross Missile Massacre|missile platforms]] and shifting all point defence onto special ship class, and so on...

** It's really not that different honestly the Battleship thing is the only real oddity, but even that's not that odd. Indeed real world adaptions of the [[wikipedia:Arsenal ship|"Arsenal ship"]] concept which was basically just a barge with a tiny crew and like 500 missile tubes might have used the BB or battleship hull numbers to reflect their role as heavy offensive warships. Further all point defense is ''not'' shifted onto a single ship class. More or less all the ships have some, often quite a bit, of point defense, but the dedicated vessels have even more, but then AA ships exist in the real world as well. They're not used that much differently either really the Battleships bombard at range, the cruisers are the main force that mixes it up closer, the AA ships protect from missiles, and the little frigates scurry around out in front being blown up in droves as cannon fodder.

** The main fleet mainly consists of destroyer, cruiser, corvette and carrier. Destroyer as [[Fragile Speedster]]. Cruiser as [[Mighty Glacier]]. Corvette are purely point-defense against missiles and are defenseless against any destroyer or cruiser. Carriers have no fighters nor guns, instead launch crazy amount of AI controlled suicide bombers. Each of them have their own weaknesses, even the mighty cruiser can be blown up in one hit by a destroyer if its shields are down. Although a cruisers' main gun can blow up a destroyer in one hit, because lighter ships travel faster in hyperspace in the series, it makes sense for a team of destroyers [[Zerg Rush]] on the much slower cruisers, hoping with [[More Dakka]] a lucky shot could sent its shield out of commission long enough for other destroyers to deliver the fatal blow.

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* The [[Honor Harrington]] series uses all of the above, and adds a few more namely the Dreadnought as the second largest ships in most fleets, and the [[Bigger Is Better|stupendous]] Super Dreadnoughts, which carry enough firepower to depopulate a planet, and are at one point described as having enough energy weapons to shatter a small moon, though that may have been hyperbole.

** Except fighters. They are explicitly mentioned as completely unfeasible in their situation. There are some smaller ships taking their tactical niche, mostly missile defence and tying the lighter fleet units, but these aren't tiny single-seat tin cans, but warships in their own right, almost the size of a pre-war destroyer (incidentally, called "tin-cans" ''in-universe'') without the hyperdrive and crew count is closer to that of a WWII-era bomber than a traditional starfighter. Initially, they started out as some sort of gunboat/torpedo boat analogue: Too small to be used for anything other than patrol duties except in some very specific and unlikely circumstances. The one time they prove to be a serious threat (if not an effective one) to a modern warship, it is because they were some place they weren't expected to be, mistaken for a group of friendly patrol ships, ''and'' the warship in question nearly stumbled blithely right into their gunsights. Once propulsion and powerplant technology catches up a bit, and strategists allow for some changes in space combat doctrine for these small ships <ref> mainly, bow "walls" allow them to be shielded while attacking nose-on to the enemy with a capital-grade [[Fixed Forward-Facing Weapon]], rather than presenting them a broadside</ref>, they mature into the [[Goddamn Bats]] that we know and love from the later books.

* Another, stand alone book by David Weber, [[The Apocalypse Troll]], begins with two full [[Standard Sci-Fi Fleet]] battle groups. All of the cruisers and destroyers on both sides are either destroyed or go incoherent before the big ships make the [[Time Travel|Takashita Translation]] but after that there is still the Defender (a [[The Battlestar|Battlestar]]) and an enemy dreadnaught and a carrier surviving. They proceed to blast the crap out of each other across time and space until only the fighter wing commanders from both sides become the [[Sole Survivor|Sole Survivors]] and a [[Terminator Twosome]] since they find themselves a handful of centuries in (their) past.

* Another, stand alone book by David Weber, ''[[The Apocalypse Troll]]'', begins with two full [[Standard Sci-Fi Fleet]] battle groups. All of the cruisers and destroyers on both sides are either destroyed or go incoherent before the big ships make the [[Time Travel|Takashita Translation]] but after that there is still the Defender (a [[The Battlestar|Battlestar]]) and an enemy dreadnaught and a carrier surviving. They proceed to blast the crap out of each other across time and space until only the fighter wing commanders from both sides become the [[Sole Survivor|Sole Survivors]] and a [[Terminator Twosome]] since they find themselves a handful of centuries in (their) past.

* ''[[The Lost Fleet]]'' is a fully formed armada based on real-life navies. The core fleet elements are battlecruisers, battleships, and heavy cruisers screened by light cruisers and destroyers. There are no dedicated carriers, and their Fast Attack Craft are rarely used and would be considered corvettes rather than fighters. Either way, they are woefully short-ranged, weak and easily destroyed; in practice, the smallest relevant ship class is the destroyer. The Syndicate Worlds "Hunter-Killer" ships straddle the line between heavy fighters and light corvettes. Also of note are the "fast fleet auxiliary" ships, which are basically mobile factories and repair shops. The only thing "fast" about them is their capacity to get in trouble.

* Averted in the prototypical [[Space Opera]]. In the Lensman Series virtually every warship mentioned is called a battleship as anything less has little or no chance of survival, though at one point the Galactic Patrol did introduce special ships and tactics to overcome a temporary technological deficit.

** Actually the Lensman Series does have a variety of spaceships. The fleet invading the Second Galaxy, for example, is described as having scout cruisers, light cruisers, cruising bombers, heavy defensive cruisers, maulers, battleships, super-dreadnaughts, and what may be the ur-example of the banner ship: "Technically the Z9M9Z, socially the ''Directrix'' and ordinarily GFHQ." In addition there are one- and two-man speedsters, space tugs, space freighters, space liners, and science ships, among other things. What's lacking are the short-ranged small craft - shuttles, fighters, drop pods etc.

* Peter F. Hamilton's ''Night's Dawn Trilogy'' features most of the ship classes from the standard fleet. However, due to the demands of FTL travel in this setting, all mechanical (Adamist) interstellar vessels need to be spherical, meaning the ships in the fleet differ only by size, whilst retaining a similar look. Nevertheless, they are divided into frigates, destroyers and battlecruisers. The [[Living Ship|bio-tech]] [[Sapient Ship|sentient warships]] (voidhawks) also serve as interceptors and scouts thanks to their superior FTL and maneuverability. The big difference to the standard fleet is the lack of fighters, for the reasons of practicality. Instead, high-speed, high-G drones called 'combat wasps' actually do the fighting thousands of kilometres from their motherships.

* The [[CoDominium]]: Standard space navies tend to have capital ships and small auxiliaries. Pournelle was aware of the various roles different ship types played. In fact, he choose the type of the [[Cool Ship|INSS MacArthur]] based on its capabilities.

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** Actually Traveller does have bombers. Or rather can. Mention is made of craft optimized for close orbital/atmospheric work, and some would of course drop gravity bombs.

** Big ships are the deciding factor in any given [[Traveller]] battle however no fleet can do without small ships as they can help dominate space or prevent domination and are thus an important strategic asset. In the Intersteller wars, a vast Vilani armada could be paralysed because Terran raiders had done so much damage to the space lanes.

* ''Starfire'' has all of these classes except humongous mecha, surpassing the battleship in size with the Super Dreadnought and the even-larger Monitor. Not surprising, since David Weber (of ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' fame) was a major contributor to this game's development.

* ''[[Starfire]]'' has all of these classes except humongous mecha, surpassing the battleship in size with the Super Dreadnought and the even-larger Monitor. Not surprising, since David Weber (of ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' fame) was a major contributor to this game's development.

* ''[[GURPS]]: Spaceships'' has given stats for everything but a worldship (though it does get a name check).

* ''[[Double Star]]'' has Command Ship (battlestar type), Battleship, Battlecruiser, Cruiser, Destroyer, Transport and Fighting Transport (blockade runner type), Orbital Fighter (planetary defence - 0 moves) and Robot Fighter.

* ''[[Alternity]] Warships'' has customizable system, but has different basic hull types of 5 size classes and military or civilian design, with tradeoffs between Wounds ([[Hit Points]]), Toughness (scale for hitpoints), Maneuverability, Hull Points (volume for systems), cost, etc. Thus it's still better to start customization from the correct type, though it may depend on the circumstances.<ref>E.g. Heavy transport has same Toughness as Light cruiser, 2x wounds and slightly over 4x hull points, but 4x cost, is easier to hit by 2 steps and has maneuverability worse by 1 step, so it's less apt to jink. If you need modest carriers, which is better depends on the enemy: if the main threat are long-range beams from capships, you won't need specific defensive systems, your try to not get hit and then have 2x total durability for your money and a lucky hit may make only 1 of 4 ships sitting ducks; however, big swarms of missiles or small craft will hit anyway if not swatted, so it's worth being a fat target for 128 extra points that allow ''lots'' of defenses, power (for rapid-fire lasers instead of basic PD guns) or ammo (256 low-tech missiles with flak warheads) for them and/or interceptors - and if multiple hits get through ''this'', it can repair 2 systems at once, while a smaller ship probably would be crippled or destroyed.</ref> Ammo carriers are mentioned (as ships typically making use of ordnance transfer system). Orbital stations and ground bases are also split to 10 basic types in categories from Light to Superheavy, but there are no tradeoff, they just get bigger and sturdier. Escape pods, boarding pods, probes and various drones are as uniform as missiles, so they are under ship systems rather than small craft.

** Small (no heavy armor, no "free" repair checks). Military: Fighter, Strike fighter (bomber), Cutter (patrol boat, ground assault), Scout, Escort (light convoy, gunboat/missile boat). Civilian: Launch, Courier, Trader, Fast freighter, Fast transport. Stations:

** Light Ships (no superheavy armor). Military: Corvette (tougher escort, long-range gunboat), Frigate (long-range scout, heavy escort, light destroyer), Destroyer. Civilian: Hauler (tug), Industrial (may be mining ship, mobile outpost, etc).

** Medium Ships. Military: Light cruiser (frame for escort carrier, assault transport, raider, diplomatic or scientific vessel, etc), Heavy cruiser, Armored cruiser (frame for light/assault carrier or poor admiral's flagship). Civilian: Medium freighter, Clipper, Medium transport.

** Heavy Ships (2x repair attempts/round). Military: Battlecruiser, Battleship, Fleet carrier. Civilian: Tanker, Liner, Heavy transport.

** Super-heavy Ships (3x repair attempts/round). Military: Dreadnought, Super-carrier, Super-dreadnought (''rich'' admiral's flagship), Fortress ship (Dreadnought + Fleet carrier = "[[Battle Star]]" or "Worldship"). Civilian: Super-freighter, Colony transport (hauls a self-sufficient town with houses and industry, plus populace for it, some assembly required).

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Almost everything is possible in ''[[Star Ruler]]'' The game's default designs include Fighters, Bombers, Destroyers, Assault Carriers, Freighters, Star Bases, Space Stations, and Colony Ships. Using the ship designer allows almost anything else to be built - mobile factory starships larger than stars, for example.

* ''[[EVE Online]]'' has Frigates, Destroyers, Cruisers, Battlecruisers, Battleships, Carriers, Dreadnaughts, <s>Motherships (bigger carriers)</s> Supercarriers and Titans (ginormous capital ships). Theres also fighters which are npc controlled and launched from Carriers and Supercarriers, ~~aswell~~ as various non-combat ships and specialist ship types (such as interceptor or electronic warfare)

* ''[[EVE Online]]'' has Frigates, Destroyers, Cruisers, Battlecruisers, Battleships, Carriers, Dreadnaughts, <s>Motherships (bigger carriers)</s> Supercarriers and Titans (ginormous capital ships). Theres also fighters which are npc controlled and launched from Carriers and Supercarriers, as well as various non-combat ships and specialist ship types (such as interceptor or electronic warfare)

** Almost all Eve Online ships carry drones which are unmaned Fighters. Some very tiny ships qualify for Battlestar status if drones and guns satisfies the Fighters and guns requirement. The definition of a Fighter blurs even further because Frigates handle exactly like you would expect a Fighter to and are the only ship like that a player can pilot. It gets even wierder with the Taranis class Interceptor (Frigate) which is a small highly mobile ship with almost no armor that can launch several drones.

** Carriers, Dreadnaughts, Supercarriers and Titans have piddly slow speeds compared to the subcapitol ships. There are actually no engines designed to fit on them leaving them to rely on maneuvering thrusters once on a battlefield. The only real way to position them is managing the FTL systems used to deliver them to the battlefield, warp drives and jump drives, so that they land where you want them. This leaves them feeling pretty stationary once they get into combat. To go even further Carriers and Dreadnaughts can enter triage and seige mode respectively which leaves them immobile but much more effective at their roles. Also all but the dreadnaught fill suport roles. The Carriers and Supercarriers do healing and transport including taking backup ships into combat for plaers who got exploded. Titans have clonebays aboard so players can spawn there if they die, and can open jumpe bridges which allow entire subcapitol fleets to move long distances rapidly. Hence they fill the World Ship role to some degree.

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** The ''[[Blue Planet]]'' mod adds the United Earth Federation's "frigates", which are a classic example of a Gundam-style Assault Carrier.

* The ''[[Halo (series)|Halo]]'' series is chock-full of these. The human and Covenant navies conform to the standard frigate/cruiser/etc. hierarchy, and all soldiers bear naval ranks (even the Master Chief is [[Captain Obvious|named after a real-life navy rank: Master Chief Petty Officer]]). Both sides make heavy uses of dropships, and there is an actual ship called the Dreadnought. Also includes examples of World Ships (High Charity) and Space Guns (the orbital "Super MAC" platforms). Though it bears mentioning that the UNSC ships called Cruisers and the Covenant ships called Assault Carriers, while having their eponymous function, also have the heavy muscle in ship-to-ship engagements to double as Battlestars. The Supercarriers for both sides take this [[Up to Eleven]]. To give you a good estimate of how big Covie Supercarriers are, they are roughly [http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100926180736/halo/images/8/8a/Assault_vs_Super_n_comp.jpg 5 times the size of the Assault Carrier] (shown on bottom left corner). Halo Wikia puts them at 27 km, bigger than even [[Star Wars]] 's Banner Ship example. There are giant repair and refit stations, too, on the human side: essentially giant squares of titanium a kilometer on a side. They were able to repair and refit six destroyers at a time, and even saw combat {{spoiler|used as giant sacrificial shields large enough to protect an entire human fleet.}} Even larger than those, the ''Hopeful'' was built by welding two of those together, sandwiching a couple fusion power cores, jump engines, and basic defenses... and also building a gigantic state-of-the-art-hospital the size of a small city inside. What happens when you build a Tender ship the size of a Battlestar? This.

* [[Homeworld]], being a [[Real Time Strategy Game]] [[In Space]], is built around this, including pretty much every ship type above, using most of them verbatim: Fighter (including Bombers and Interceptors), Corvette, Frigate, Carrier, Cruiser, Destroyers, Dreadnoughts. The Mothership is a Battlestar and a Colony Ship, and there are examples of most other ship types.

* ''[[Homeworld]]'', being a [[Real Time Strategy Game]] [[In Space]], is built around this, including pretty much every ship type above, using most of them verbatim: Fighter (including Bombers and Interceptors), Corvette, Frigate, Carrier, Cruiser, Destroyers, Dreadnoughts. The Mothership is a Battlestar and a Colony Ship, and there are examples of most other ship types.

** The Mothership isn't really a Battlestar as its weaponry is insignificant against anything except Small craft, it does tick the Colony ship and Aircraft carrier boxes though. Its also worth noting that there are major differences between Corvettes, Frigates and Destroyers. The frigate is pretty much exactly as described at the top of the page, while the Destroyer is large and powerful enough to qualify as a Capital ship in the classifications used here. The Corvette falls under the Small craft category, a well armed Shuttle is probably the closest match. Thus we're talking ships that can cut a swathe of destruction against most fighters and also, in reasonable numbers at least, threaten larger vessels. Unless said vessels have weapons that can track and hit Small craft, in which case the Corvette force is going to have casualties, possibly lots.

*** According to the game's own classification system, Frigates include all of the smaller Capital Ships and include everything from smallish conventional warships to ion-cannon-based Space Guns to pocket carriers. The Destroyer/Missile Destroyer is the next step up, the first of the Super-Capital vessels (which include the Carrier and Heavy Cruiser). Meanwhile, Corvettes include anything that falls below the Strike Craft/Capital Ships line, but is bigger than a fighter. (It's actually quite simple, provided you don't try to map any semblance of real-world classes onto it.)

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*** It's also mentioned that dreadnoughts are at their best as long-range artillery pieces. Which is why the best tactic against them is to close in to "knife range", thus avoiding their main gun. This requires the use of smaller ships to protect the dreadnoughts. This is why the ''Destiny Ascention'' is threatened in the first game. The geth ships appear way to close for it to use its main gun effectively.

** The Reapers' fleets consist of a mixture. The big, Sovereign-sized ships are simply referred to as "capital ships" while much smaller Reaper warships are referred to as "destroyers." They also include troop transports and "processor" ships which {{spoiler|turn organics into husks or raw material to be used to assemble more Reapers.}}

* ''[[Master of Orion]]'' had ships classed as follows: Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, Battleship, Titan, Doom Star. Fighters, bombers ~~and~~ heavy fighters were mountable as weapons on any craft or launched from ground bases. Troopships could also be brought along to invade particularly desirable colonies.

* ''[[Master of Orion]]'' had ships classed as follows: Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, Battleship, Titan, Doom Star - though those are size classes not related to equipment other than in "how much it can carry"; unfortunately, AI builds [[Master of None|mediocre "a bit of everything"]] designs rather than optimized for specific roles. Fighters, bombers, heavy fighters were mountable as weapons on any craft or launched from ground bases, ships also may have assault shuttles allowing a [[Boarding Party]] to enter a non-disabled ship. Troopships could also be brought along to invade particularly desirable colonies.

** ''[[Master of Orion]] III'' had even more classes, such as Battle Cruisers, Dreadnaughts, and Superdreadnaughts.

* ''[[Galactic Civilizations]]'' has tiny (fighter), small (bomber), medium (corvette), large (cruiser) and massive (battleship) chassis for ships, and space stations. Depending on what you stick on the chassis, they may fill several of the above-mentioned roles -- you can, for instance, make a massive-sized colony ship by sticking several colony modules on a massive chassis.

* ''[[Galactic Civilizations]]'' has tiny (fighter), small (bomber), medium (corvette), large (cruiser) and massive (battleship) chassis for ships, and space stations. Depending on what you stick on the chassis, they may fill several of the above-mentioned roles - you can, for instance, make a massive-sized colony ship by sticking several colony modules on a massive chassis.

* ''[[Sword of the Stars]]'' has ships divided into destroyer, cruiser and dreadnought sizes, with each size having different choices for chassis and weapons loadout that can serve several of the above roles (the freighter and colony ships are destroyer-size though later techs allow for cruiser versions, a torpedo ship can be made by giving a cruiser the torpedo section and filling all its medium/large turrets with missiles, the Siege Driver tech lets you build a dreadnought-size space gun, etcetera). In lieu of space fighters are AI-controlled drones and assault shuttles (bombers, carried individually by destroyers).

** The sequel ups the ante by introducing the new leviathan-class ships, super-sized dreadnoughts. The destroyer meanwhile has been relegated to the role of escort ships without FTL drives and are deployed from larger-sized vessels when they arrive at battlefields.

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* In ''[[EV Nova]]'', the Federation and Auroran Empire each have an interceptor, a fighter-bomber, a gunship, a light cruiser, and a carrier. The Federation adds a scoutship, while the Aurorans later develop a fast battleship designed for close-range brawling. The Polaris use [[Living Ship|living ships]] equivalent to fighters, gunships, frigates, destroyers, and two types of [[The Battlestar|battleship/carrier hybrids]]. Meanwhile the Rebels have an interceptor, fighter-bomber, three different gunships, and two different cruisers.

* ''[[Battlestar Galactica Online]]'' has three main classes - Strikes, which are [[Space Fighter|Space Fighters]], Escorts and Lines. Each class is also subdivided into four different types - Interceptors, Assaults, Command and Multiroles. While the Basestar and ''Pegasus'' can be used, this is only through renting for up to an hour using the most valuable currency and they act as pure combatants without the option to launch fighters. There are Carriers that can carry player Strikes, but no true Battlestars as they can't really contribute to a direct fight. NPC-only classes include drones ranging from human-sized to Strike-sized, automated asteroid weapons platforms and Freighters.

* ''[[Vega Strike]]'' has tactical roles assigned to all vessels, used by combat AI to choose priorities and actions for targets in [[Tactical Rock-Paper-Scissors]], encompassing variety of missiles, small craft, capships and turrets:

** '''Shuttle''' - cargo-hauling small craft, not meant to fight much; most have weak weapons and maneuverability, but good thrust to lug extra mass; top priority: Support, Shuttle.

*** The starting Llama is at the "small package trade" end of the spectrum: better agility and decent weapon hardpoints, but modest hold, filling which with metals will still make it painfully obvious that thrusters are too weak for dense cargo.

** '''Interceptor''' - maneuverable, but fragile; weapons are light or with limited ammo; top priority: Bomber; middle-priority targets include Mine and Heavy Missile.

** '''Fighter''' - medium to few heavy weapons; top priority: Interceptor, Fighter, Scavenger.

*** There are cloaked ones, but they don't have a special class and are more of "scout" than "submarine" - they are small and an active cloak disables most other systems.

** '''Scavenger''' - reserved for pirates from armed Shuttle to underequipped Escort; got the same priorities as Fighter, except targets Cargo (i.e. [[Tractor Beam]]s loot) and Shuttle as well as Support when there are no defenders to fight.

** '''Bomber''' - sub-capital ship with heavy shields and weapons, but low agility; top priority: Capital, Carrier, Base < EscortCapital < Support < Mine (as a sluggish target).

** '''Escort Capital''' - lighter armed capships; top priority: Escort Capital < Carrier < Support < Capital < Base.

** '''Capital''' - most capships, including heavily armed freighters; top priority: Carrier < Capital < Base < Escort Capital < Support.

** '''Carrier''' - launches small craft, got capship weapons too; top priority: Escort Capital; low priority: Carrier,Support < Capital.

** '''Support''' - various unarmed or lightly armed vessels from small couriers to bulk freighters; top priority: Support < Shuttle.

* ''Stars!'' has basic classes defined by hull types, but customization goes far beyond that, of course - useful [http://wiki.starsautohost.org/wiki/Category:Ship_Design designs] for Battleship alone include all-missile, beam/sapper, torpedo/jammer and missile/sapper/jammer subclasses with different logistical and operational properties. And then there are universal hulls - a [http://wiki.starsautohost.org/wiki/Frigate Frigate] may carry 2 Scanners + 3 Mines, 3 Beams, 3 Fuel Tanks (long-range scout), or 5 slots of Scanners (in case of stealthy neighbours), and depending on the situation, Privateer may be good for anything from freighter to colonizer to minelayer to, indeed, freighter-hunter.

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' has everything from drones and "tanks" (small craft with a relatively big cannon used both in planetside missions and as interceptors in space) to battlestar equivalents like Ob'enn Thunderhead, but adds its own classes.

* ~~''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' adds its own class-~~ Battleplates, colossal armoured ships designed to take asteroid impacts the hard way. They are designed to carry enough [[Subspace Ansible|hypernet-linked]] drones to create a wide enough perimeter around a planet, to have enough time to react to a relativistic asteroid aimed at the planet, and ~~also~~ ~~carry~~ ~~enough~~ ~~weaponry~~ to destroy said relativistic asteroid with extreme speed. This also makes them very good at destroying everything else. They are unusual in that [[Gravity Master|~~the~~ ~~bulk of their~~ armament ~~uses~~]] [[Artificial Gravity|gravy]], rather than the usual railguns, lasers ~~and~~ particle beams. Only humans build these, and they are among the most feared individual vessels in space.

** Battleplates, colossal armoured ships designed to take asteroid impacts the hard way. They are designed to carry enough [[Subspace Ansible|hypernet-linked]] drones to create a wide enough perimeter around a planet, to have enough time to react to a relativistic asteroid aimed at the planet, and are able to deflect and/or destroy said relativistic asteroid with extreme speed. This also makes them very good at destroying everything else (as in, can compress smaller ships into neutronium once their shields either fail or quickly run out of power due to constant overload). They are unusual in that [[Gravity Master|their primary armament]] is [[Artificial Gravity|gravy]], rather than the usual railguns, lasers, particle beams and missiles - though they do carry small ships, heavy missiles, point defence turrets and whatnot. Only humans build these, and they are among the most feared individual vessels in space.

** At one point the characters consider adding another category to this list when they get their hands on a particularly large [[Nanomachines|Fabber]], basically a [[Mobile Factory]], and consider adding engines, a helm and crew quarters so they can christen it ''Scrapyard of Insufferable Arrogance''. Mainly to make fun of the [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens|Ob'enn]].

** ~~Petey~~ adds another variation called Penetrators, which are basically (sometimes) recoverable missiles which also contain a drop-pod. Flung up to near-c by a launcher, a single one can capture an Ob'enn Thunderhead by simultaneously scramming the main annie plant (and do so safely most of the time, which in itself is very impressive), and implant an agent to subvert the AI.

** Fleetmind adds another variation called Penetrators, which are basically (sometimes) recoverable missiles which also contain a drop-pod. Flung up to near-c by a launcher, a single one can capture an Ob'enn Thunderhead by simultaneously scramming the main annie plant (and do so safely most of the time, which in itself is very impressive), and implant an agent to subvert the AI. There are also what they call "Extortionators" for their use in [[Gunboat Diplomacy]] - relatively small weapon platforms slapped on the main power source bigger than everything a battleplate packs put together.

* ''[[Crimson Dark]]'' has most of the above. Both sides have fighters, bombers, frigates, destroyers, and carriers. The Republic calls their big warships Battleships, while the Alliance equivalent are called Heavy Cruisers. Their are also a variety of civilian freighters seen in the comic.

* ''[[Crimson Dark]]'' has most of the above. Both sides have fighters, bombers, frigates, destroyers, and carriers. The Republic calls their big warships Battleships, while the Alliance equivalent are called Heavy Cruisers. And then there's Behemoth class - probably classifiable as [[The Battlestar]], since it was described as "Not so much a ''ship'' as a mobile ''station''". Their are also a variety of civilian freighters seen in the comic.