Build a fleet of specialized vessels. Outfit each ship for its role, manage your hangar, and deploy the right tool for every job. From nimble scouts to massive colony ships, your fleet defines what you can accomplish.
Ships in Stars Beyond are tools, not trophies. Each vessel is designed around a specific role in your operation. A mining barge extracts ore. A freighter hauls cargo between stations. A scout maps uncharted systems. The right ship in the right place at the right time is the difference between a thriving operation and a stalled one.
Your hangar is where it all comes together. Ships are stored, maintained, upgraded, and deployed from the hangar bay on your station. Starting with a single berth, the hangar expands as your station grows, eventually housing an entire fleet of specialized vessels running simultaneous operations across the star map.
Every ship is modular. Swap out engines for more speed or fuel efficiency. Install better scanners for exploration runs. Expand cargo bays for longer haul routes. The base hull determines the ship's role, but the modules define how well it performs.
Six hull classes, each built around a distinct role in your operation.
Fast, lightweight, long-range. Scouts are built for exploration: mapping new systems, surveying asteroid fields, locating derelicts. Minimal cargo space but excellent sensor suites and fuel efficiency. The first ship sent into unknown space.
The workhorse of resource extraction. Equipped with mining lasers, ore scanners, and reinforced cargo bays. Slow but purpose-built for long shifts in asteroid fields. Multiple tiers available, from small prospectors to heavy excavators.
Maximum cargo capacity, optimized for hauling. Freighters move raw ore, refined materials, manufactured goods, and colony supplies between stations. Route planning and fuel management determine profitability. The backbone of any trade operation.
A light patrol vessel for area defense. Corvettes protect mining operations and trade routes from hazards. Not a warship, but capable enough to deter threats and escort valuable shipments through risky sectors.
A massive, specialized vessel designed to establish new settlements. Carries prefab habitat modules, life support systems, agricultural equipment, and enough supplies to bootstrap a colony. Expensive to build, slow to move, but essential for expansion.
Built for wreck recovery and derelict exploration. Equipped with cutting lasers, tractor beams, and a docking collar for boarding operations. Can process wreckage on-site. The specialist's choice for turning abandoned hulks into profit.
The base hull sets the role; modules define how well it performs.
Determines travel speed and fuel consumption. Standard engines are reliable and cheap. Performance engines burn more fuel but cut travel time significantly. Efficiency engines do the opposite: slower but far cheaper to run on long routes.
Defines how much a ship can carry. Standard bays handle general cargo. Reinforced bays are needed for dense ores and heavy materials. Refrigerated bays keep biological cargo viable. Expanding cargo capacity is often the first upgrade.
Controls scanning range, resolution, and the types of signatures detected. Better sensors find richer asteroid deposits, locate hidden derelicts, and map systems more thoroughly. Essential for scouts and mining barges alike.
Structural integrity and environmental resistance. Standard plating handles normal operations. Reinforced plating is needed for dense asteroid fields where debris impact is common. Thermal plating protects ships operating near stars or in volcanic zones.
Determines how many crew members a ship can support. More crew unlocks operational bonuses: faster mining, better scanning, more efficient processing. Larger ships benefit most from full crews working specialized stations.
Role-specific modules. Mining lasers for barges, docking collars for salvage cutters, long-range fuel tanks for scouts, colony deployment bays for colony ships. Each ship class has unique module slots that define its specialty.
The hangar is the central hub for all ship operations. Every vessel in your fleet is stored, repaired, refueled, and upgraded here. Starting with a single berth, the hangar can be expanded as your station grows, adding more slots for a larger fleet.
Ship maintenance is ongoing. Vessels returning from operations need refueling and repairs. Wear and tear from mining runs, long haul routes, and salvage operations accumulates over time. Keeping your fleet in good condition is a running cost that scales with fleet size.
From the hangar, ships are assigned to operations: mining runs, trade routes, exploration missions, colony supply deliveries, salvage expeditions. A well-managed hangar keeps every ship busy and every operation supplied. Idle ships cost money. Working ships make it.
Every ship in the hangar slots into one of these core operations.
Scouts survey uncharted systems, map asteroid fields, and locate points of interest. Exploration data feeds into every other activity: new mining sites, salvage targets, colony locations, and trade route endpoints.
Mining barges and excavators work asteroid fields to extract raw ore. The foundation of your economy. Multiple miners can work the same field, and dedicated haulers can shuttle ore back while miners stay on-site.
Freighters move materials between stations, colonies, and markets. Trade routes can be set up and optimized for maximum efficiency. Logistics keeps production chains fed and colonies supplied.
Colony ships establish new settlements, and freighters keep them stocked with food, building materials, equipment, and personnel. A growing colony is a hungry colony. Supply lines are the lifeline.
Buy low at one station, sell high at another. Freighters running optimized trade routes generate passive income based on market conditions across the star map. Longer routes carry more risk but higher margins.
Salvage cutters and reclaimers recover materials, components, and data from derelict ships and abandoned stations. Every wreck on the star map is a potential salvage target with unique finds.