Hull

A hull is the basic and most important component of a ship or starbase design.

The only tech required to use advanced hulls is Construction and ironium is the most common mineral used in their production. Some PRTs and LRTs are barred from using certain hulls while some others enable the use of unique models.

A hull's vital statistics include:

• Fuel capacity (mg)
• Armor (dp)
• Base initiative
• Mass (kT)

Hull type determines the number and types of components which can be mounted on it. Most slots specify the maximum number of components that can be placed in them (all items in one slot must be identical) and can be even left empty, with the exception of the engine slot, which always requires a full complement of engines.

Some hulls sport "General Purpose" slots where any component can be mounted, except engines, mining robots, bombs and orbitals. (Anything I missed? --Misza)

For example, the Large Freighter hull:

• requires exactly two engines
• can mount up to two shields or armor items, but all must be of the same type - you can't even put two different shields in there
• can mount up to two scanners, electrical or mechanical components - again, all (if any) must be of the same type
• in addition, it has a cargo space of 1200kT (which can be augmented through the use of a Cargo Pod

Hulls by class

The following is a classification of all hull types, as specified by the Stars! Technical Reference Guide.

Colonizer hulls

Contrary to some newbies' belief, these are not the only hulls that can have a colonizer module mounted - any Mechanical (or General Purpose) slot can accommodate them. No Cons technology is required to build these.

• Mini-Colony Ship - HE only; this is the only hull that can use the Settler's Delight engine
• Colony Ship

Bomber hulls

• Mini Bomber - Cons 1
• B-17 Bomber - Cons 6
• Stealth Bomber - Cons 8; SS only
• B-52 Bomber - Cons 15

Scout hulls

All hulls of this type, while owned by a JOAT race, have a built-in scanner.

• Scout
• Frigate - Cons 6
• Destroyer - Cons 3

Warship hulls

• Cruiser - Cons 9; initiative 5
• Battle Cruiser - Cons 10; initiative 5; WM only
• Battleship - Cons 13; initiative 10
• Dreadnought - Cons 16; initiative 10; WM only
• Nubian - Cons 26; initiative 2

Freighter hulls

Hulls of this class require a substantial amount of germanium to build. The SS can use their Cargo Cloak only on this hull class.

• Small Freighter - 70kT base cargo
• Medium Freighter - Cons 3; 210kT base cargo
• Large Freighter - Cons 8; 1200kT base cargo
• Super Freighter - Cons 13; 3000kT base cargo, IS only

Armed Freighter hulls

Hulls from this class have a low germanium but high ironium cost (as compared to regular freighters).

• Privateer - Cons 4; initiative 3; 250kT base cargo
• Rogue - Cons 8; initiative 4; 500kT base cargo; SS only
• Galleon - Cons 11; initiative 4; 1000kT base cargo
• Meta Morph - Cons 10; initiative 2; 300kT base cargo; HE only; all slots are GP; often used by the MT

Mine Layer hulls

Ships of this class can only be built by a SD race. Doubles the efficiency of all mine layers on board. (Is this retained after fleet is transferred to non-SD player? --Misza) Yes, it is.

• Mini Mine Layer
• Super Mine Layer - Cons 15

Fuel Tanker hulls

Ships of this class manufacture fuel each year and add a bonus to repair rate of ships in the same fleet.

• Fuel Transport - Cons 4; 750mg fuel cap; 200mg fuel per year; heal rate +5%
• Super-Fuel Xport - Cons 7; 2250mg fuel cap; 200mg fuel per year; heal rate +10%

Remote Miner hulls

This is the only ship class that can have mining robots mounted on them.

• Midget Miner - up to 2 robots; ARM only
• Mini Miner - Cons 2; up to 2 robots
• Miner - Cons 6; up to 6 robots; ARM only
• Maxi Miner - Cons 11; up to 10 robots; unavailable for OBRM
• Ultra Miner - Cons 14; up to 12 robots; ARM only

Starbase hulls

Only starbase hulls can sport Orbital modules. Some can build ships, depending on the space dock capacity. Starbases are also of special significance to AR races, as the type of hull in orbit determines the maximum population capacity of that planet. However, taking down such a starbase kills the entire population.

• Orbital Fort - no space dock; 250k AR pop
• Space Dock - Cons 4; 200kT space dock; 500k AR pop; ISB only
• Space Station - unlimited space dock; 1000k AR pop
• Ultra Station - Cons 12; unlimited space dock; 2000k AR pop; ISB only
• Death Star - Cons 17; unlimited space dock; 3000k AR pop; AR only