Starships

Starships are space craft capable of traveling between star systems, using mass relays and the FTL mass effect drive.

Large Military Vessels
Larger warships are classified in one of four weights:

Frigates
Frigates are small, fast ships used for patrolling and for screening larger vessels. On their own, frigates do not pack much of a punch, but when operating in "wolf-pack flotillas", they can often overwhelm larger vessels. Geth dropships are classed as frigates. Systems Alliance frigates are named after great battles of human history (Iwo Jima, Hastings, Agincourt, Normandy). Frigates are capable of entering a planet's atmosphere and landing on the surface, but must first deactivate their kinetic barriers for re-entry.

Cruisers
Cruisers are middle-weight combatants, faster than dreadnoughts, and more heavily-armed than frigates. Cruisers are the standard patrol unit, and often lead frigate flotillas. In the Alliance Navy, cruisers are named after Earth cities (New Delhi, Tokyo). Cruisers cannot land on medium or high-gravity worlds, but do possess the ability to land on low-gravity planets.

Carriers
Carriers are dreadnought-sized vessels which carry a large number of fighters. They are usually kept at a distance from any engagement because they are not maneuverable enough to survive heavy bombardment. Alliance carriers are named after great leaders, artists, and intellectuals from human history.

Commander Shepard describes fighter carriers as an example of humanity demonstrating its ability to "think outside the box", which is evidenced by the fact that the Systems Alliance was the first to field these vessels.

Dreadnoughts
Dreadnoughts are kilometer-long capital ships mounting heavy, long-range firepower. They are only deployed for the most vital missions. A dreadnought's power lies in the length of its main gun. Dreadnoughts range from 800 meters to one kilometer long, with a main gun of commensurate length. An 800-meter mass accelerator is capable of accelerating one twenty-kilogram slug to a velocity of 4025 km/s (1.3% the speed of light) every two seconds. Each slug has the kinetic energy of about 38 kilotons of TNT, about two and a half times the energy released by the fission weapon that destroyed Hiroshima.

The Treaty of Farixen stipulates the amount of dreadnoughts a navy may own, with the turian peacekeeping fleet being allowed the most. As of 2183, the turians had 37 dreadnoughts, the asari had 21, the salarians had 16, and the Alliance had 6 with another under construction. During the year 2185, the dreadnought count is 39 turians, 20 asari, 16 salarians, and 8 humans. Alliance dreadnoughts are named after mountains of Earth (Everest, Kilimanjaro).

Dreadnoughts are so large that it is impossible to safely land them on a planet, and must discharge their drive cores into the magnetic field of a planet while in orbit.

Combat Support Craft
Smaller vessels are exclusively used in a support role to the warships during combat:


 * FIGHTERS are one-man craft used to perform close-range attacks on enemy ships.
 * INTERCEPTORS are one-man craft optimized for destroying opposing fighters.

Shuttles
Shuttles facilitate transfer between large ships without the need to dock, or between a starship and the ground. Some models like the UT-47 Kodiak Drop Shuttle are capable of independent FTL travel.

Corvettes
Corvettes are small, ten-man craft used to perform combat and survey missions.

Starship Attributes

 * Disruptor torpedoes
 * GARDIAN
 * Javelin mounts
 * Heat dispersal systems
 * Ablative armour
 * Kinetic barriers
 * Sensors
 * Mass accelerator weapons
 * Thrusters

Notable Starships
Asari
 * Destiny Ascension - an asari dreadnought and flagship of the Citadel Fleet in 2183.

Collector
 * Collector Cruiser - a cruiser used by the Collectors in their colony attacks.

Human


 * Arcturian Jade - a luxury passenger liner attacked by batarian terrorists.
 * SSV Hastings - a Systems Alliance frigate deployed to Sidon in 2165.
 * SSV Normandy - a stealth ship developed by a joint human and turian effort.
 * Normandy SR-2 - a redesigned model of the Normandy SR-1, built by Cerberus.

Mercenary
 * Purgatory - a prison ship controlled by Blue Suns mercenaries.
 * Shadow Broker Base - the headquarters for the Shadow Broker's intel operation.

Merchant


 * MSV Cornucopia - a derelict freighter recently returned from the Perseus Veil.
 * MSV Fedele - a private ship equipped with biological research modules.
 * MSV Majesty - a merchant ship raided by privateers.
 * MSV Ontario - a ship commandeered by biotic terrorists.
 * MSV Worthington - a ship set adrift in the orbit of Antiroprus.
 * MSV Broken Arrow - a freighter hijacked by the geth.
 * MSV Hugo Gernsback - an Alliance vessel sent to colonize 2175 Aeia.
 * MSV Strontium Mule - a merchant ship raided by the Blue Suns.

Quarian
 * Rayya - one of the three Liveships in the Migrant Fleet.
 * Idenna - a former batarian cruiser converted by the Migrant Fleet.
 * Alarei - a lab ship used to perform tests on geth technology.

Reaper
 * Sovereign - a Reaper vanguard.
 * Harbinger - the Reaper that controlled the Collectors.
 * Derelict Reaper - the inactive remains of an ancient Reaper orbiting Mnemosyne.