Core components

Version

Please help with verifying or updating older sections of this article. At least some were last verified for version 2.8.

This article is for the PC version of Stellaris only.

Ships

Ship

Ship designer

Core components

Weapon components

Utility components

On the right side of the designer, one can select options for different subsystems of the ship. Most of them are required and it is not possible to design a ship without some version of them, but few of them are optional, having the option to install no subsystem in its slot.

Reactor

A ship's reactor generates power for its other systems, and a new ship design cannot be created if it has negative power. Excess power slightly increases a ship's evasion, movement speed, and damage.

Reactor	Corvette		Destroyer		Cruiser		Battleship		Titan		Defense platform
	Cost	Power	Cost	Power	Cost	Power	Cost	Power	Cost	Power	Cost	Power
Fission Reactor	10	75	20	140	40	280	80	550	160	1100	20	200
Fusion Reactor	13	100	26	180	52	360	104	720	208	1450	26	260
Cold Fusion Reactor	17	130	34	240	68	480	136	950	272	1900	34	340
Antimatter Reactor	22	170	44	320	88	620	176	1250	352	2500	44	440
Zero-Point Reactor	28	220	56	430	112	800	224	1550	448	3200	56	575
Dark Matter Reactor	37 1	285	74 2	550	148 4	1030	296 8	2000	592 16	4200	74 4	750

FTL drive

This subsystem is optional, although without an FTL drive the ship is incapable of moving between systems.

Jump drives allow the ship to make a direct jump within a limited range, indicated by a yellow dotted circle. Initiate a jump by selecting the fleet, clicking the "Initiate Jump" button and left-clicking the target. After jumping the fleet spends 200 days recharging, during which time it suffers -50% sublight speed and weapons damage.

FTL drive	Cost	Power	Jump charge time	Other
Hyper Drive I	5	10
Hyper Drive II	10	15	-25%
Hyper Drive III	15	20	-50%
Jump Drive	20	30	-70%	Can make jumps outside the hyperlane network
Psi Jump Drive	20	30	-80%	Can make jumps outside the hyperlane network with +50% greater range

Computer system

This component predominantly improves fire-rate as well as various performance, like evasion, tracking, accuracy, or weapons range, depending on behavior type.

When in combat, every military ship will advance to within a certain distance of its target and fire its weapons, while staying at the intended distance. The engagement range is determined by the ship's designated role and will apply regardless of the effective range of the ship's weapons. Weapon range modifiers will also increase this range. Ships that have similar roles will typically cluster together, stay in formation with each other and attack in groups.

• Swarm: The ship will charge straight into point-blank range with its target, circle around it, and attack.
• Picket: The ship will move to close range (30) and attack from a position, attempting to intercept incoming enemy ships.
• Line: The ship will advance to medium range (50), assume formation and then attack everything within range.
• Artillery: The ship will stay at long range (80) and engage its target from far away. (Mostly applies against stationary targets, everything else is engaged as usual, i.e. the ship will attack it as soon as it gets within range)
• Carrier: The ship will stay at extreme range (150) and engage from long range.
• Defense Platforms will reposition themselves around the starbase if other platforms are destroyed, but mostly stay in place and attack everything that gets within their range, dealing as much damage as possible.

Level	Cost	Power	Effects
			Swarm	Picket	Line	Artillery	Carrier	Platform	Starbase
Basic	0	5	Default for corvette	Default for destroyer	Default for cruiser Default for battleship	Default for titan	Default for juggernaut	n/a	+5% Fire rate +10 Tracking
Specialized	5	10	+5% Fire rate +5% Evasion	+5% Fire rate +10 Tracking	+5% Fire rate +5% Ship accuracy	+5% Fire rate +5% Weapons range	+25% Engagement range	+5% Fire rate +5 Tracking	+10% Fire rate +20 Tracking
Advanced	10	15	+10% Fire rate +10% Evasion	+10% Fire rate +20 Tracking	+10% Fire rate +10% Ship accuracy	+10% Fire rate +10% Weapons range	+50% Engagement range	+10% Fire rate +10 Tracking	+15% Fire rate +30 Tracking
Sapient Autonomous	20	25	+15% Fire rate +25% Evasion	+15% Fire rate +10% Evasion +30 Tracking	+20% Fire rate +20% Ship accuracy	+20% Fire rate +20% Weapons range	+100% Engagement range	+15% Fire rate +15 Tracking +10% Ship accuracy	n/a
Precognitive	20	25	+15% Fire rate +15% Evasion +20% Sublight speed	+20% Fire rate +40 Tracking	+15% Fire rate +15% Ship accuracy +10 Tracking	+15% Fire rate +15% Weapons range +10 Tracking	+75% Engagement range 10 Tracking	+15% Fire rate +25 Tracking	n/a
Allowed ship types			Corvette	Corvette Destroyer Cruiser	Destroyer Cruiser Battleship	Destroyer Cruiser Battleship Titan Juggernaut	Cruiser Battleship Titan Juggernaut	Defense platform Ion Cannon	Starbase

Sublight thrusters

The sublight thrusters determine how fast the ship maneuvers within a star system and increase its Evasion.

Name	Cost					Power					Evasion					Sublight Speed	Description
	Corvette	Destroyer	Cruiser	Battleship	Titan	Corvette	Destroyer	Cruiser	Battleship	Titan	Corvette	Destroyer	Cruiser	Battleship	Titan
Chemical Thrusters	3	6	12	24	48	10	20	40	80	160							Simple yet moderately effective chemical thrusters that rely on combustible propellant to generate thrust.
Ion Thrusters	6	12	24	48	96	15	30	60	120	240	+5	+4	+3	+2	+1	+25%	These electric thrusters use beams of ions to generate thrust without the need for propellant.
Plasma Thrusters	9	18	36	72	144	20	40	80	160	320	+10	+8	+6	+4	+2	+50%	An advanced form of electric propulsion, plasma thrusters afford ships greater sublight speeds and maneuverability.
Impulse Thrusters	12	24	48	96	192	25	50	100	200	400	+15	+12	+9	+6	+3	+75%	These highly advanced fusion-powered thrusters provide ships with unmatched maneuverability and speed under sublight conditions.
Dark Matter Thrusters	12 1	24 2	48 4	96 8	192 16	30	60	120	240	480	+20	+16	+12	+8	+4	+125%	These ship thrusters utilize Dark Matter technology to generate propulsion in a manner that appears to defy numerous laws of physics.

Sensors

Sensors determine the ship's detection range on the galaxy map. They also increase tracking of all weapon systems, which is related to accuracy.

Name	Cost	Power	Tracking	Sensor Range	Description
Radar System	2	5		1	A planet-bound technology adapted for use in deep space, the radar system provides basic detection and tracking capability for interstellar vessels.
Gravitic Sensors	4	10	+5	2	These sensors have been tuned to look for any gravitational changes in space, such as those produced by the presence of a starship.
Subspace Sensors	6	15	+10	3	Sensors that detect subspace fluctuations left in the wake of traveling starships. Their sensitivity and range and greater than that of a gravitic sensor array.
Tachyon Sensors	8	20	+15	4	Advanced sensors that rely on rotating tachyon beams to detect ship movements even at extreme distances.

Aura

A Titan’s defensive aura gives a buff to allied ships in the same fleet, while an offensive aura applies a debuff to all enemy ships that are in battle with the Titan's fleet. In either case, the distance from the Titan does not matter.

Meanwhile, a Juggernaut’s aura is always effective system-wide, whether its a defensive or offensive one.

Multiple instances of same aura do not stack. While optional, they do not cost anything.

Aura	Ship	Target	Effects
Quantum Destabilizer	Titan	Enemy	-10% Fire Rate
Shield Dampener	Titan	Enemy	-20% Shield Hit Points
Subspace Snare	Titan	Enemy	+100% Emergency FTL Jump Cooldown -20% Combat Disengagement Chance
Inspiring Presence	Titan	Ally	+5% Fire Rate
Nanobot Cloud	Titan	Ally	+1 Daily Hull Regen +3 Daily Armor Regen
Targeting Grid	Titan	Ally	+10 Tracking
ECM Emitters	Juggernaut	Enemy	-30% Point Defense Damage -30% Point Defense Firing Rate
Munitions Plant	Juggernaut	Ally	+30% Orbital Bombardment Damage
Strike Command	Juggernaut	Ally	+20% Strike Craft Damage +20% Strike Craft Speed
Subspace Amplifier	Juggernaut	Ally	-40% Hyper Jump Charge Time -40% Hyper Jump Cooldown -40% Jump Drive Cooldown
Target Acquisition Array	Juggernaut	Ally	+40% Ship Weapons Range

References

Game concepts