Warships of Cosmic Starship

There are 49 capital ships in Cosmic Starship, from 14 civilizations. You fly one as your flagship; others can be hired as allies or sent on expeditions. Every ship has its own main gun, a passive bonus, a signature skill and an ultimate power, and each one fills one of five fleet roles.

Fleet roles

  • Vanguard: Vanguards hold the line. Go in first, take the attention of the enemy capitals, and use the power where the enemy is thickest. As a hired escort, a vanguard flies ahead of you, pulls the fire of nearby hostiles onto itself every 5 s and takes 25% less damage.
  • Artillery: Artillery wants range. Fight from the edge of your gun range, keep something between you and the enemy fighters, and spend the power on clumps of ships. As a hired escort, an artillery hangs back and lobs a heavy shell at the biggest hostile within 1,000 every 4.5 s.
  • Carrier: Carriers win by numbers: keep the hull out of the thick of it, launch the wing early and let the extra fighters soak fire for your squads. As a hired escort, a carrier launches a wing of four fighters every 18 s (up to eight at once); they fly with your squads.
  • Support: Support hulls make the whole fleet last longer. Stay near your squads, time the power for the moment a fight turns, and let escorts do the killing. As a hired escort, a support every 6 s repairs and recharges the shields of you and every ally within 460.
  • Striker: Strikers hit hard and move fast. Pick a target, close in, use the power and get out with a boost before the return fire lands. As a hired escort, a striker hunts the craft attacking you, and hits small craft 50% harder.

Main guns

  • Rail: long, precise shots that land at once. The steadiest gun in the game.
  • Bolt: rapid fire that spins up the longer you keep shooting, and slows down again when you stop.
  • Plasma: every hit leaves the target melting, so it takes more damage from everyone for a moment. Stacks.
  • Missile: homing shots that hit much harder against targets already low on hull.

Earthforce

Humanity’s defenders: gunmetal warships with spinning gravity drums, X-frame fighters and a Starlink constellation that links them all. Now they are going out through the gate.

Verdant Choir

Their ships are living cities. A lost queen can turn a war into a migration.

Iron Mandate

Siege fleets built around armored reactors, spinal weapons and absolute obedience.

Aurelian Concord

They remember the builders of the gates—and the reason the gates were sealed.

Veil Nomads

Their patchwork arks can bend distance. Their alliances are less predictable.

Korrath Dominion

Honour-bound raiders who ram, board and duel. They respect only those who stand and fight.

Myrr Tidekin

Kilometre-long living tide-ships that rise singing from gas giants. Humanity’s first friends, if humanity answers.

Tessellate

Self-assembling tiles that remember everything they touch. Destroy one and two remember it.

The Lumina

Coherent light riding solar sails. They speak in sunrise and fight with the sun itself.

The Hollow

Ships emptied by the thing beyond the Fracture. They do not talk, and they do not break.

Varenn Regency

An old empire of noble houses, gilded crescent warships and long memories. Their courtesy is a weapon; so are their mass drivers.

Selene Covenant

Pearl-hulled crescent cruisers that hide from sensors and strike with focused beams. They fought the thing behind the gate once before, and remember losing.

Gilded Throne

Parasite lords who rule a hundred worlds as gods from golden pyramid motherships. Their gliders darken the sky of every world that will not kneel.

Elder Conclave

The last of a race older than the gates: grey motherships, beam transport and ion cannons. They watch the younger species and step in rarely.