Spaceships

A spaceship is a large aircraft fitted with a contained atmosphere and simulated gravitational pull. Spaceships are generally distinguished from aeroplanes and other spacefaring vessels due to their size and ability to traverse safely through vaccuum. Spaceships are also commonly built with a spike drive engine, to allow traversing larger distances in a shorter timeframe through metadimensional travel. Prior to the invention of the spike drive, spaceships were a rarity only found within the Sol system, but became a privately owned commodity during the First Wave of Colonization as asteroid mining technology allowed for mass production.

Since then spaceships have been central to the development and proliferation of human settlements across the Milky Way, and the transporting of goods to frontier worlds have been central to their environmental and economical survival. Space travel and settlement have stagnated since the Scream, as the jump gate network went offline and conventional spike drive ships are the only means of space transport between solar systems.

Types of ships
As ships are constructed using the same principles of architecture and production, the classifications of these ships are based both on size and functional capabilities within these structural parameters. The result thereby is different structural categories, where the universally accepted forms are:

Fighter-class ships:
 * Fighter - One-man gunships fitted with a single hardpoint for weaponry, and navigational computer for short interstellar drills.

Frigate-class ships: Cruiser-class ships: Capital-class ships:
 * Shuttle - Larger, slower craft largely intended for in-system interplanetary flight.
 * Free Merchant - Ships optimized for long-distance travel and cargo transport, sacrificing some military utility in order to make room for cargo and personal modifications.
 * Patrol Boat - Largely intended for in-system defense and customs inspection. Built to heavily outgun most of the traffic they are expected to intercept.
 * Frigate - Slower and more expensive ships with heavier armor and more free space for accomodating upgraded spike drives and advanced fittings.
 * Bulk freighters - Rare class of pre-Scream crafts built for extensive and large scale transport of commodities, and a low arsenal of defense.
 * Cruiser - Large scale military vessel with double the hardpoints of a fully weaponized frigate, and more than three times the energy output.
 * Battleship - Massive military class ship with a 50% increase in energy output from a regular cruiser ship, and capability of containing up to a thousand people.
 * Carrier - Rare and specialized type of capital ship, sacrificing the energy output of a battleship for the adaptive hardware fittings commonly used for launching an array of smaller ships.