The Colonials used a lot of ships other than warships, they are/were a space faring people, and with each of the twelve colonies on separate planets, they had to if they were to trade.
Besides, when the Galactica leads the ragtag fleet in it is quest, the 220 ships it escorts are civilian ships of different types.
The ships listed below, while called freighters, should be considered to be a much broader class of ships than just that. They are liners, freighters, agriculture ships, forge ships, prison barges, supply ships, sanitation ships and every other type of ship that can be used to support and promote trade and supply between the twelve colonies and their outposts.
The ships are listed in two main categories - unarmed and armed ships.
All the ships listed below use the normal SSD's from the basic set and various modules, however the following modifications should be applied immediately to all vessels:
Remove all shields, impulse, transporters, tractors probes, and (in the case of the unarmed ships) all weapons. Armed ships will keep their weapons unless noted. For all small ships, add 1 shuttle, and capital ships should add 2.
Unlike Cylon tankers, Colonial civilian ships hardly ever carried fighters as standard, although some Vipers could be crammed into the shuttle bay if needed.
It should be noted that all shuttle bays may be use double occupancy if needed - even civilian ships had large shuttle bays!
It is also possible for civilian ships to modify themselves slightly. Any cargo box can be converted into a passenger box. These are hit as cargo, but can hold ten passengers. Mark the box with a P to signify this.
Civilian ships are considered capital ships, and thus will not be HET'ing any time soon.
Near enough all Colonial civilian traffic is unarmed. It appears that either Navy does not like civilians arming their vessels (possibly in case it gives them the wrong ideas with regards to turning pirate or to smuggling). In any case, 90% of all ships are unarmed.
The following can be used as unarmed ships:
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While around the Colonies an unarmed ship would be within defending distance should the need arise, around the outposts this is not always the case. Ships suddenly become prey to pirates and undesirables, and the Cylons themselves, with their desire to exterminate humanity, will not not attack a freighter just because it is unarmed.
The Colonial fleet itself, already spread thin, can not be everywhere at once to defend all civilian traffic, and thus for situations that could warrant it (and they must be a legitimate reason), unarmed vessels may be armed, and armed freighters can be seen around the edges of Colonial space.
However it should be remembered that armed civilian traffic will only account for 10 percent of all commerce vessels.
The following can be used as armed ships:
Civilian craft may only mount phaser 3's, the Colonial Navy will not tolerate heavier weapons on these craft, and indeed, heavier weapons are generally regarded as the first sign that the ship is a pirate vessel, so take care!
As well as freighters, civilians use some other vessels, mainly shuttles, but also some other craft. Yachts are chief amongst these other craft.
With regards to shuttles, the following are used:
A much larger shuttle (double sized infact) which is used to ferry large amounts of cargo or passengers from one ship to another or to a destination on a planet.
The Colonial Fleet also uses some of these for ground assaults or cargo transfer.
Transport shuttles can carry 2 crew units, 4 boarding parties or 1 ground vehicle.
While the Colonial Fleet does not use armed shuttles at all (preferring to give them instead a fighter escort), the commercial fleet sometimes uses armed shuttles on the rim, or in known pirate areas, although the navy does not like to see them near more civilised places.
However, the main users of armed shuttles are with pirates and other undesirables, and they are the only users of the Attack Shuttle.
Attack shuttles are not factory built things, but instead custom modified shuttles, outfitted with bigger engines, more weapons and armour. They can only carry 1 boarding party, but they have the equivalent of 2 points of armour which must be destroyed before the shuttle itself starts to take damage.
Attack shuttles and their option mounts are more fully described in the pirate section.
