Your fleet is your power projection in Starforge. It's how you capture territory, protect your base, raid enemy supply lines, and contribute to alliance warfare. Understanding ship classes — not just what they do, but how they interact in fleet compositions — is what separates commanders who win fights from commanders who lose them.
This guide covers every ship class in the game: stats, roles, upgrade paths, and practical fleet composition guidance for every stage of the game.
The Ship Class Hierarchy
Starforge uses a six-tier ship class system, loosely correlated with cost and combat power:
1. Scout
2. Frigate
3. Destroyer
4. Cruiser
5. Battleship
6. Dreadnought
Each class above the previous is more powerful and more expensive to build and maintain. The mistake most new commanders make is treating this as a linear progression — build scouts, upgrade to frigates, ignore scouts. That's wrong. Every class has a persistent role in late-game fleet composition. A Dreadnought without Scout cover is vulnerable; Scouts without capital ship backup get wiped.
Scout Class: Eyes Across the Galaxy
Role: Reconnaissance, early warning, harassment, cloaking screens
Key Stats: Highest speed in the game, lowest HP, minimal weapons, exceptional sensor range
Scouts are the fastest ships in Starforge. A Scout fleet can cross three star sectors in the time it takes a Battleship fleet to cross one. Their sensor range reveals cloaked Void Syndicate ships when they get within a certain proximity — making them essential intelligence tools even at late game.
Combat Role: Scouts don't win fights — they shape them. A screen of Scouts ahead of your main fleet provides advance warning of enemy positioning, intercepts enemy Scout screens, and pursues damaged enemy ships that break from a losing engagement. In fleet combat, enemy fire prioritises by hull size: your Dreadnoughts will take the brunt of enemy damage while your Scout screen targets enemy artillery and support ships.
Upgrade Path: The Scout-MK2 adds a light torpedo launcher and ECM jamming capability. The Void Stalker variant (Void Syndicate exclusive) adds permanent cloaking, making it one of the most feared intelligence tools in the game.
Fleet Composition Tip: 3–5 Scouts per combat fleet as a standard. More during deep-reconnaissance missions into enemy territory.
Frigate Class: The Backbone
Role: General combat, base defense, escort duty, early-game offense
Key Stats: Balanced HP and firepower, moderate speed, low maintenance cost
Frigates are the core of every fleet from early game through mid-game. They're cheap enough to lose without catastrophic setbacks, tough enough to matter in a fight, and versatile enough to fill multiple roles depending on their module loadout.
Combat Role: Frigates absorb damage that would otherwise hit your more valuable capital ships. In fleet formation, Frigates operate in the middle tier — between the Scout screen and the Destroyer/Cruiser line. Their railgun armaments are effective against both Frigates and Destroyers; they struggle against capital ships without numerical advantage.
Module Flexibility: The Frigate hull has four module slots, more than a Scout but fewer than larger classes. Key loadout variations:
- Assault Frigate: Dual autocannons, armour plating, afterburner — fast, aggressive, high DPS for its cost
- Defence Frigate: Shield generator, repair drone, point defence turret — used to protect capital ships from missile attacks
- Scout Frigate: Extended sensors, ECM suite, fuel cell — maximised for reconnaissance missions
Fleet Composition Tip: In early/mid game, a fleet of 8–12 Frigates is your standard offensive unit. In late game, keep 4–6 Frigates per capital ship as an escort screen.
Destroyer Class: Force Multiplication
Role: Anti-Frigate sweep, fleet screening, fast strike missions
Key Stats: High damage output against small/medium hulls, moderate HP, good speed
Destroyers are specialists: they exist to kill Frigates and other Destroyers with brutal efficiency. In fleet engagements, a Destroyer wave tearing through an enemy Frigate screen before your capital ships engage dramatically reduces the damage your heavies absorb.
Combat Role: Destroyers operate on the flanks of fleet formations, targeting enemy support ships and artillery positioned behind the enemy's main line. Their speed and firepower allows them to collapse an enemy rear before the main engagement concludes, trapping the enemy fleet between two fires.
Critical Weakness: Destroyers are vulnerable to concentrated capital ship fire. Never advance Destroyers into a battlespace where enemy Cruisers or Battleships are present without capital ship support to absorb their fire first.
Fleet Composition Tip: 2–4 Destroyers per capital ship. Assign them flank duties in formation settings, not frontal assault.
Cruiser Class: Sustained Firepower
Role: Mid-range combat, siege support, sustained damage dealing
Key Stats: High HP, excellent damage output against capital ships, moderate speed, heavy fuel consumption
Cruisers are the first true capital ship class. They have enough HP to absorb punishment, enough firepower to threaten Battleships and below, and enough module slots (6) to be meaningfully customised for specific operational roles.
Combat Role: Cruisers anchor the middle of your fleet formation. They take fire from enemy capital ships while dealing consistent damage back. Unlike Battleships and Dreadnoughts, Cruisers are mobile enough to reposition mid-battle in response to tactical developments — an important capability in dynamic engagements.
Solar Empire Advantage: Solar Cruisers equipped with the Stellar Beam module deal 25% bonus damage and penetrate 15% armour. In a Cruiser-on-Cruiser engagement, a Solar Cruiser beats a Terran or Void equivalent at equal tech level. This is why Solar alliances build Cruiser-heavy mid-game fleets before transitioning to Dreadnoughts.
Fleet Composition Tip: 2 Cruisers per Battleship in standard compositions. For siege operations, increase the ratio — Cruisers are more cost-effective than Battleships for sustained bombardment damage.
Battleship Class: The Hammer
Role: Heavy assault, defensive anchor, fleet command vessel
Key Stats: Massive HP, the highest DPS of any non-Dreadnought class, slow speed, very high maintenance cost
Battleships are the dominant combat unit from late mid-game onward. A single Battleship in a fleet engagement changes the math entirely — enemies must prioritise it or accept catastrophic damage, and prioritising it means other fleet elements operate under reduced pressure.
Combat Role: Battleships operate at the core of your formation, surrounded by Frigates and Destroyers acting as ablative armour. Their firepower focuses on enemy capital ships and fortified structures. During planetary sieges, Battleships are your primary bombardment platforms — their long-range artillery reaches surface installations that smaller hulls cannot touch.
Fleet Command Bonus: Battleships designated as fleet flagships grant +10% combat bonus to all ships in the same fleet. Always designate your strongest Battleship as fleet commander.
Key Vulnerability: Battleships are slow. Enemy Scout harassment can force them to divert resources to combat while your main battle line never closes to optimal range. Always screen your Battleships with fast Destroyer escorts when advancing into contested territory.
Fleet Composition Tip: 1 Battleship per 3–4 Cruisers. More than this strains fuel logistics; fewer and you lack the hitting power to crack fortified positions.
Dreadnought Class: The Last Argument
Role: Alliance warfare, world boss raids, sector domination, prestige projection
Key Stats: Largest HP pool in the game, devastating multi-target weaponry, extremely slow, enormous resource cost, requires Tier 4 Shipyard
Dreadnoughts are the apex of Starforge's ship hierarchy. Building one is a statement: you have the industrial capacity, the resource generation, and the alliance protection to field the most powerful single unit in the game.
Combat Role: A Dreadnought does not participate in normal fleet engagements — it determines them. When a Dreadnought enters a sector, every other fleet in that sector is under threat. Their multi-target weapons can hit three enemy ships simultaneously, their HP pool makes them impervious to anything below Cruiser-class, and their unique ultimate ability — a full-sector energy pulse that damages all enemy fleets present — has decided more territorial battles than any other mechanic in the game.
Dreadnought-Specific Factions:
- Void Colossus (Void Syndicate): Can activate 60-second cloaking. The only capital ship in the game that can become temporarily invisible.
- Solaris Throne (Solar Empire): Beam weapon configuration with Stellar Overcharge compatibility. The highest single-target damage output of any ship in the game.
- Titan Guardian (Terran Federation): +40% HP vs base Dreadnought. Impossible to destroy quickly; outlasts opponents in attrition engagements.
- Merchant Titan (Free Traders): Converted hauler hull; 60% reduced combat effectiveness but can carry 500% normal cargo. Primarily used for logistics and market dominance plays.
The Cost Reality: A standard Dreadnought requires 50,000 Metal, 30,000 Crystal, 15,000 Refined Components, and takes 5–7 real-time days to construct at a Tier 4 Shipyard. You cannot build one casually. Every Dreadnought is an alliance investment — its construction should be planned, scheduled, and defended.
Fleet Composition for Dreadnought Operations: 1 Dreadnought, 3–4 Battleships, 6–8 Cruisers, 4 Destroyers, 6 Frigates, 4 Scouts. This full-spectrum composition maximises the Dreadnought's survivability and prevents enemy flanking tactics from isolating your most expensive asset.
Building Fleet Compositions That Win
The critical insight that most commanders miss: no fleet composition is universally superior. The right fleet for a territorial siege is different from the right fleet for a world boss raid, which is different from the right fleet for intercepting a hauler convoy.
Build for purpose:
- Raiding: Speed-optimised Scout and Destroyer fleets that hit fast and retreat before a counter arrives
- Siege Warfare: Battleship-heavy with Cruiser support and defensive Frigate screens around your artillery
- Boss Raids: Balanced full-spectrum fleet with Cruiser heavy composition for the boss's Overcharge phase
- Defence: Frigate screens supported by Battleship fire from within your base's shield perimeter
The galaxy doesn't reward the commander with the most expensive ships. It rewards the commander who deploys the right ships, in the right role, at the right moment.
Build your fleet. Know every ship in it. Use them wisely.