Ships are space-faring units produced by shipyards.

Cargo ships are used to transport resources. It is advisable to include cargo ships on Attack missions since combat ships generally lack the cargo capacity necessary to collect the enemy's resources. Cargo ships are also well-suited for resource delivery between planets.

While Heavy Cargo ships can carry the most resources relative to their build cost, Light Cargo ships become significantly faster at Impulse Engine level 5. The Storm Transporter¹⁾ serves as a hybrid between Cargo and Combat, having higher cargo capacity than most combat ships and as much attack power as a Light Fighter. Although the Battle Fortress is a combat ship, its cargo capacity of 1 million also makes it suitable as a transport ship.

Combat ships include the Light Fighter, Heavy Fighter, Cruiser, Battle Cruiser, Heavy Cruiser²⁾, Battleship, Planet Bomber, Star Fighter and Battle Fortress. They all have different sizes and advantages. Light Fighters and Heavy Fighters are often used as fodder to protect more expensive ships. However, Heavy Fighters are unpopular due to their high crystal cost and are only effective against Cruiser fleets. Battleships are the cheapest heavy ships in terms of both cost-effectiveness in attack power and deuterium consumption. Cruisers and Battle Cruisers are perfect for destroying fleets consisting of Light Fighters and Battleships due to their high Rapidfire. Heavy Cruisers are stronger and tougher than standard Cruisers, at the cost of speed and fuel efficiency. Planet Bombers, Star Fighters, and Battle Fortresses are perfect for cracking defenses. Planet Bombers have high Rapidfire against many defensive structures while Star Fighters offer more damage and armor. The Battle Fortress is by far the largest ship, only taking damage from heavy ships as its shield absorbs everything else.

Spy Probes are intended for spying on other planets. These probes can easily be repelled by other ships since they possess neither attack power nor shields. Detection („espionage defense“) is only made possible by ships. If no ships are stationed at the target, the chance of detection is always 0% (defensive structures do not detect probes). The number of ships determines the probability that the Spy Probes will be shot down. However, the attacker still receives a Spy Report even if no probes return and the defender still receives an Espionage Defense message (containing the identity of the attacker) even if no probes are „detected“. The more probes sent, the higher the chance of detection, but the more detailed the Spy Report. The amount of information a Spy Report contains depends on the number of Spy Probes sent and the difference in Spy Technology level between the players involved.

Colony ships allow colonization of uninhabited planets. When a Colony Ship colonizes a new planet, the ship is dismantled (i.e. single use). Even though a return time will be indicated in the Overview, if colonization is successful, the Colony Ship will not return. However, the Colony Ship may return if no planet was found, if another player has beaten you to it, or if you have reached the maximum number of planets that can be achieved at your current Astrophysics Research level. Escort ships will unload any resources brought along to the new colony and then return to their origin.

Recycler ships are used to dismantle Debris Fields (DF) that form after battles. However, they are very slow. Flying from a planet to it's local DF takes up to 20 minutes (at a speed of 10%, a maximum of 3 hours and 30 minutes). The Recycler receives speed upgrades at Impulse Engine level 17 and Hyperspace Engine level 15. The Optimized Recycler³⁾ has greater cargo capacity than a standard Recycler and is significantly faster (at least until the Recycler upgrades).

Solar Satellites generate energy without taking up the valuable space (fields) of a planet's surface. Unfortunately, they are easily destroyed in battle. The farther a planet is from the sun, the less energy its satellites will provide.

See also:

• Rapidfire
• Fleet
• Research
• Combat Values
• Combat System
• Combat Report
• Flight Time