The Privateers prefer light and fast ships with a long range, since their main goal is to rob and steal other races’ ships instead of fighting them directly. They can do that by using their unique ship mission ‘Rob Ship’ that takes fuel and cargo from enemy ships that are at the same spot as the robbinf vessel. Once a ship is ‘robbed dry’ (no fuel on board anymore) this ship can be towed away by the Privateers and be automatically taken over during that process. Since robbing is cumulative, the Privateers prefer using so-called ‘Wolfpacks’ of ships that simultaneously rob and set a tow-lock to steal the entire ship or fleet. The most used ship for this special attack are the Meteor Class Blockade Runner and the BR4 and BR5 Class Boats which can not only cloak, but travel double the normal distance per turn by using the ships’ unique ‘Gravitronic Acceleration’ technologies. The other ships in the Privateers’ shiplist excel with long ranges, large fuel tanks, some of them can cloak and have a light mass in average, which makes them specifically vulnerable for Deep Space Mines. For direct ship-to-ship battles the Privateers often tend to capture enemy ships in order to use them against their opponents, what makes their fleet composition unpredictable and versatile in the late game. Privateer owned cloakers can be detected by the Loki Class Destroyer and Glory Device Ships, all their ships’ beam weapons have 3x the Crew Kill Rate of other races in order to capture small ships via a direct attack. To boost their economy they have the Lady Royale Class Gambling Ship at hand to produce extra money.
| Hull Design | Engines | Beams | Launchers | Note |
| Outrider Class Scout | 1 | 1 | 0 | Long Range |
| Small Deep Space Freighter | 1 | 0 | 0 | 70kt cargo |
| BR4 Class Gunship | 2 | 5 | 0 | Gravitronic, CLoak |
| D7a Painmaker Class Cruiser | 2 | 4 | 0 | |
| Little Pest Class Escort | 2 | 6 | 0 | |
| Neutronic Fuel Carrier | 2 | 0 | 0 | Fuel Transprter |
| Medium Deep Space Freighter | 1 | 0 | 0 | 200kt cargo |
| Dwarfstar Class Transport | 2 | 6 | 0 | Cloak |
| Br5 Kaye Class Torpedo Boat | 2 | 4 | 1 | Gravitronic, Cloak |
| Small Transport | 1 | 2 | 0 | 50kt cargo |
| D3 Thorn Class Destroyer | 2 | 2 | 4 | Cloak |
| Lady Royale Class Cruiser | 2 | 4 | 1 | Makes Money |
| Meteor Class Blockade Runner | 2 | 4 | 4 | Gravitronic, Cloak |
| Skyfire Class Cruiser | 2 | 4 | 2 | Long range |
| Large Deep Space Freighter | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1200kt cargo |
| Red Wind Class Carrier | 2 | 2 | 2 bays | Cloak |
| Neutronic Refinery Ship | 10 | 6 | 0 | Makes fuel |
| Super Transport Freighter | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2400kt cargo |
| Bloodfang Class Carrier | 2 | 7 | 4 | Combo with Glories |
| Merlin Class Alchemy Ship | 10 | 8 | 0 | Makes minerals |
| Campaign Specials | Engines | Beams | Launchers | Note |
| Outrider Class Transport | 1 | 1 | 0 | Extra cargo |
| Little Pest Light Escort | 1 | 6 | 0 | One engine |
| Dwarfstar II Class Transport | 2 | 6 | 0 | Cloak |
| Medium Transport | 1 | 2 | 0 | 180kt cargo |
| Skyfire Class Heavy Cruiser | 2 | 4 | 4 | |
| D3 Thorn Class Cruiser | 2 | 3 | 5 | Cloak |
| Red Wind Storm-Carrier | 2 | 7 | 0 | Cl Fighter Bays |
In campaign games the Privateer Bands can choose between upgrades of their regular ships or more economic downgrades like the Little Pest Light Escort. Especially the Drwarfstar II and Medium Transports get better in their cargo sizes, while the Skyfire Class Heavy Cruiser transforms from a pure minelayer to a strong all-purpose ship in the middle range. The often underestimated D3 Thorn Class Destroyer receives several enhancements with its sibling, the Cruiser, making it a very respectable mid-size ship and Loki Class hunter. With the Red Wind Storm-Carrier the Privateers receive the ability to enhance the firepower of stolen carriers and might be tempted to use their home-made Bloodfang Class in the future.
Planets Magazine 