Countless traders, merchants, holiday makers and other civilians travel from world to world every day, and there is a huge market for civilian vessels to fill these roles. Civilian vessels are generally weaker for their size compared to military vessels, and tend to have little or no armaments. It is generally more productive for a trader to hire armed escort vessels if there is perceived danger, than it is to rely on second rate weapons and unskilled gunners to try and defend against pirates and privateers themselves.

It is assumed that PDS systems can fire on other ships without requiring a fire control system. This allows merchant shipping to have light weapons for defence without needing a full set of fire control systems (at which point they may as well use Class-1 beam batteries).

Free Traders are generally privately owned vessels of small size, which don't make scheduled runs but perform whatever work is available. They are the most likely to be armed.

Class: Free Trader (MF)
Mass: 30
Points: 65

The most common of the Free Traders, it mixes a good cargo hold with armaments and a fast drive.

Freighters are designed to carry large amounts of freight on regular runs. The following ship classes are commonly found in civilised space. They are little more than a hull wrapped around cargo containers, with a drive at one end and a crew section at the other.

Class: Light Freighter (ML)
Mass: 40
Points: 64

A small freighter.

Class: Medium Freighter (MM)
Mass: 80
Points: 128

A medium freighter.

Class: Medium Freighter (MM)
Mass: 120
Points: 201

The largest of the medium freighters, the Behemoth is capable of shipping 8,000 tonnes of cargo. For a freighter, it is reasonably tough, and as standard carries a PDS to provide minimal defence.

Class: Light Freighter (MM)
Mass: 40
Points: 72
The Olympus class Passenger Liner is a small, fast liner designed to cater to the upper class. It is comfortable on the inside, with spacious staterooms, along with the support infrastructure to keep such passengers happy.

Class: Light Freighter (MM)
Mass: 40
Points: 72
The Olympus class Passenger Liner is a small, fast liner designed to cater to the upper class. It is comfortable on the inside, with spacious staterooms, along with the support infrastructure to keep such passengers happy.