What are your guy’s opinions on the Quasar-Fire class compared to the Gladiator, Secutor, and Venator carriers? I personally believe the Quasar-Fire is a cheap replacement to the bigger ships that can still carry a decent amount of ships. The gladiator is still cheap compared to the Venator and Secutor, but the Quasar-Fire is still cheaper and still carries more starfighters according to official numbers.
Last edited 7 months ago by Fractal-fan
Fractal-fan
10 months ago
What is this masterpiece’s carrying capacity. 24 fighters just doesn’t seem like an accurate number. This thing is mainly a carrier (some other roles) so wouldn’t it carry more fighters?
Fractal’s Customs Corvette is tiny compared to the Gladiator, but they still carry the same amount of fighters, which doesn’t make much sense to be.
DarthCatius
1 year ago
Every time I see this ship, I pine for Droids… ☹😂
Alec Polatis
1 year ago
How powerful would this baby be compared to an ISD?
DarthCatius
2 years ago
I’m really loving this ship! It’s joining the Bellator and Intersector as my favourite SW/Fractal ships. (Btw, I previously posted as Darth Nick, but decided on a cooler name for Fractal’s discord, just so you know I’m the same dude) 😀
Joe King
2 years ago
would the center hanger be one large hanger or two hangers stacked for more storage of fighters?
got it, was just wondering if the new republic got some of these how their A and X wings would use the hanger space, I have not seen racks for them but i suppose you could make room for several of them.
Darth Nick
2 years ago
I just zoomed in on the command tower, and I can see what look like control panel lights and figures through the windows! Like, wow, what stunning detail! Is that Darth Vader’s silhouette standing on left (my perspective) of the flight-control deck? Or am I just dreaming..? 😆
TheMightOfZeon
2 years ago
Hm. What do you know? We haven’t seen the last of Kybo Ren.
I was wondering about how powerful the Gladiator is compared to the Vindicator. Most stats I’ve seen like to portray the Vindicator as better armed, but that never made much sense to me, especially with these comparison shots. The Gladiator simply has more volume, more weapons, and a bigger reactor here.
Jean-Luc Martel
3 years ago
loving the huge doors on the front hangar! makes perfect sense not to leave that huge opening unprotected.
Chujoy
3 years ago
I don’t know why, but when I saw this gladiator, I thought “Fat boye”.
Ryan
3 years ago
Very cool render, I’ve always had a bit of a soft-spot for the Gladiator. Just to clarify, I spotted two sets of bridge windows; I’m assuming one is the flight-control center for the embarked squadrons?
Also, as an aside, I was wondering if you had any plans to do more KotOR-era ships like the Hammerhead, Centurion, or Interdictor-classes? I really liked the Inexpugnable and the Kandosii models you made (your Kandosii in particular is a favorite of mine), and there seems to be a very distinct lack of quality renders out there for other Old Republic era ships. If anyone could do those ships justice, I think it would be you.
Mario
3 years ago
I love your Gladiator, do you have a link where I can download the model?
Yep, and that special place is called Marvel Comics.
Joe
3 years ago
I am wondering why is the hanger moved back and leaving space between the two side arms? the venator and acclamator didnt do that but i know the Arquitens-class command cruiser did.
I always had a sweet spot for these unconventional looking ships, I love pocket warships like this. Have you ever considered doing any First Order designs? I’d drool over your rendition of a Resurgent Star Destroyer.
Without the overexposed bridge hangers engine reactor sensor and com systems, and over a design was the top and bottom halves of the ship have minored missile and torpedo systems interdiction gravity well longer-ranged turbolaser and ion cannon and longer-ranged missile and torpedo systems would be nice
Atomic Hobo
3 years ago
Wow, this looks amazing. Then again, all of your work does. But still, I’m so happy to see this! I always thought that the Gladiator was vastly under-represented, especially for such a versatile ship! The Empire was never particularly smart about deploying smaller more flexible ships as escorts for ISDs. Had they been more tactically and strategically flexible, maybe they would’ve stood a chance against the Rebels.
I love it. Thank you for making one of my favorite Star Wars ships. It looks great. I can only imagine what you might do for the redux if you do decide to do one.
Kal Skirata
3 years ago
I love your work, Fractal! This is a great design. I am familiar with the Gladiator-class Star Destroyer, is this it or is this just based off of the Gladiator SD? Also, is this intended as a long-range scout/patrol craft or does it have more of a dedicated fleet role (like starfighter screening or fast attack)? Thanks for the great designs and keep up the good work!
It’s the same ship, he just classed it as a frigate in keeping with his normal classification. And rightly so, since it’s always been described as a 600m ship and that’s way too small to be a Star Destroyer.
If I recall correctly this was an escort/carrier designed to allow the late Clone War fleets of Victory-class ships (which they were designed to complement) to retain fighter capability, since the Venetors were supposed to be phased out in favor of more dedicated fighting ships such as the Victory (and later the Imperator). The Clone Wars ended before they could really get rolling out of the shipyards.
Thanks for the answer. The reason for my question was that I knew the Gladiator was 600m, but to me that seems a little large to be classified as a frigate. I thought the same thing about the Proclamator (beautiful ship, by the way). I know Star Destroyer scaling starts at 1,000m, but I thought ships around 600-800m were classified as conventional destroyers. I could be wrong though. Still not completely clear on how SW capital ship scaling works.
The Gladiator and Proclamator are more specifically classified as Heavy Frigates. The latter of which would be classified as a Star destroyer (Although a Light Star Destroyer) in the Republic Navy before being reclassified as a Heavy Frigate in the Imperial Navy.
Our host here uses, as far as I can tell, a sort of Imperialized version of the Anaxes War College System, one modified to reflect the state of ships by the time of the Empire. Prior to the Clone Wars a 600m ship was a capable main-line combat ship in many navies, but the war pretty much ended that and made the Star Destroyer as we know it, starting around 1km in length, the basic fighting ships of the major powers. This results in a lot of previously large ships (like the Dreadnought Cruiser, or the Gladiator SD) getting reclassified to reflect their new role in the New Order’s naval doctrine.
Official Star Wars ship classifications are a mess of conflicting and co-existing systems. Only the Anexes System comes close to being decently standardized. It’s the one Fractal usually seems to follow, with allowances for ships whose size doesn’t reflect combat ability like the Secutor being classified as a Star Destroyer despite being over the 2km limit of the Anaxes system for such.
It should also be noted that in the Anaxes system there are sort of two categories, ships with “Star” before the type and ones without. The Star classes tend to be able to fight as significant combatants as part of major fleet actions, while the non-“star” classes are minor support/patrol/escort ships. That’s why the Proclamator and Gladiator are “Star” Frigates (cruisers or heavy cruisers under Anaxes and likely considered Star Destroyers under the Republic), and likely why Fractal often re-classifies lots of things below a Star Destroyer in size as a “frigate” to reflect how it fits with Imperial doctrine.
Of course this is all just my assumptions from things I’ve gathered while following Fractal’s work for a few years, and some could certainly be wrong. The mega thread over at http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=124353 goes over the detail of his work, though it’s a lot of posts. These days he seems to mostly post in his Discord. I prefer the easy navigation of past posts in his forum thread, but the Discord is fun for anything besides finding old posts (unless I’m missing some perma-link/search functionality, which is not unlikely).
Yeah I dislike the Anaxes system for several reasons, mainly because of its fixation on ship length rather than any meaningful metric to classify warships. Perhaps I will make a design note post about this at some point.
You can search discord (at least in the app client) at the top right. You can copy direct links to any message in the pop-up for any given post.
In my head cannon their are many competing systems of capital ship classification systems. I propose that the Anaxes system is a simplified compromise between the KDY system and the Rusaan Reformation system.
Thank you to everyone who responded to my comment. It helped clarify some things on ship classification. A was a little surprised to see that on the Anaxes system, cruisers are classified below star destroyers in length (400-1000m). That doesn’t make too much sense to me, I always saw cruisers and star destroyers with overlapping classifications. I guess I feel there’s more to SD classification than just length, like dagger shape for instance, although that wouldn’t apply to some ships classified as star destroyers. Anyway, Fractal classifies cruisers on the Anaxes system as frigates in his own system, which would rearrange the role of cruiser. So I was wondering how Fractal classifies cruisers in his own system?
There are Cruisers (smaller than an SD in Anaxes) and “Star” Cruisers/Battlecruisers (bigger than an SD in Anaxes). Fractal has used Star Cruiser and Star Battlecruiser (the Compellor and Bellator are examples of those, respectively).
It can be seen as an artifact of the fact that before the Clone Wars the cruiser-sized ships under Anaxes were treated as cruisers in naval doctrine, ie as the largest non-capitol ships. This is the real-life use of the word capitol ship, for which Wikipedia gives a decent definition: “These characteristics define a capital ship: if the capital ships are beaten, the navy is beaten. But if the rest of the navy is beaten, the capital ships can still operate. Another characteristic that defines capital ships is that their main opponent is each other.”
But after the clone wars the major ship sizes jumped so much that what had been considered capitol ships needed to be further classified. The Star “Destroyer” became the baseline capitol ship, Star Cruisers/Battlecruisers were the heavy-hitting ships of major fleet actions, and the new class of Star Dreadnoughts were created to cover the truly fleet-anchoring (or fleet-breaking) ships of titanic size that were now the arbitrators of naval combat on the rare occasions they were called into action. This last category were so rare and few in number pre-Clone Wars that they didn’t need their own classification, but under the Empire this changed and a new category was required.
I’m not sure if this will embed, but this shows the size jump. It’s not my image but used Fractal ships. I would love if he did an ortho like this but until then this shows the size jump. The biggest pre-Empire capitol ship that was made in any numbers was the Praetor, and the Procurator. The only bigger ship I know of was the Mandator, but they made less then a dozen of them pre-War.
As I understand it (please correct me if I’m wrong, Fractal) Fractal’s system translates real world wet navy classifications as closely as possible with the Star Destroyer representing the tactical/strategic role played by destroyers IRL.
So:
Corvettes are the smallest, most lightly armed warships, generally used for escort and lone patrol.
Frigates are larger and more heavily armed, but usually fulfil a similar role.
Destroyers are larger still.
Cruisers are larger and more powerful than Destroyers, and will often lead forces of Destroyers, Frigates, and Corvettes.
Battlecruisers are the next step up.
Dreadnoughts top the table, being the pinnacles of firepower, toughness, and prestige. They are also extremely expensive and fairly rare, like real world heavy- and super-battleships were.
Carrier classifications have their own hierarchy, which I don’t know as well.
Ok, thanks. That’s how I originally thought it worked because,
like you said, it’s based off of real world wet navies. I think I just got confused, mostly by the emphasis on star destroyers–which seem to encroach on the role of cruisers–and the fact no one seems to use traditional destroyers as a classification. So, to rationalize the classification structure in my mind, I’ll list my interpretation below. The roles will be pretty much the same as you have above–that’s pretty much how I thought the roles went anyway. Note–I will be using a combination of roles and length. I know that Fractal doesn’t like to use length as primary classification just because it’s not always a good representation of a ship’s role and capabilities (and I agree) but I will list it here for reference. Just know that it will be flexible and the role will be the main defining characteristic of the ship class, not necessarily length. Ok, here we go.
Corvette- ~100-300m; Corvettes are the smallest, most lightly armed, and usually the fastest ships in a fleet. Primarily used for scouting, escort, patrol, and screening.
Frigate- ~300-600m; Frigates are similar in role to corvettes, but larger and more well armed. Very versatile and can take on a variety of roles. Usually serves as the primary escort ships in a fleet.
Destroyer- ~600-1,000m; Destroyers are the linking point between support ships and heavier capital ships. Another flexible ship class that usually operates in support, escort, and fast attack. Provides most of the firepower in smaller task forces.
Cruiser/Star Destroyer- `1,000-2,000m; Cruisers are some of the more powerful capital ships available to a navy. As such, they have an emphasis on firepower, shielding, and going head-to-head with other capital ships, but they are still versatile and well-rounded. In fleets, they typically provide offensive firepower and support battlecruisers, while they can also serve as command ships for smaller task forces. Star Destroyers are also in this category, I see them as being more offensively minded and making up the bulk of the firepower in a fleet. A good comparison is the MC80 Victory-class versus the Home One-class. The Victory is more focused on firepower while the Home One is more focused on command and starfighter complement.
Battlecruiser- ~2,000-5,000m; Battlecruisers are the most powerful ships available to the smallest navies and are still some of the most powerful ships in the largest. Like the smaller Star Destroyers, they are most focused on offensive armament, shielding, and combating other capital ships. They will lead smaller fleets and serve as offensive juggernauts in the largest.
Dreadnought- 5,000m+; Dreadnoughts are the most powerful ships in a navy. They are very well shielded, bristling with weapons batteries, with large complements of starfighters and ground troops, and enough firepower to take on entire enemy fleets. They serve as command ships in the largest fleets while some also operate independently to pick off lone enemy ships, convoys, or even smaller enemy fleets. They are, however, very expensive and difficult to build, meaning they are only used in small numbers even in the largest navies, while smaller navies can’t even afford them at all.
Carriers- Carriers are defined solely by role and are intended for one purpose only–to transport starfighters into battle. The smallest are the escort carriers which serve as carriers in smaller task forces and supplement the complements of larger fleets. Fleet carriers are the standard carriers used in most fleets, while supercarriers are the largest and intended to carry thousands of starfighters into battle. Assault ships also fit into this category and are intended to transport large amounts of troops and their vehicles and equipment for land battles.
Larger fleets would also include miscellaneous transports and tankers for carrying supplies and fuel.
That’s how I see capital ship classes working in Star Wars. If anyone has anything to add, please do.
One thing I forgot to mention is the prefix ‘star’. It can be added to any of the ship classes (except carrier) which changes the role of the ship slightly. A ship with the prefix ‘star’ before its class name shows that it’s a more substantial ship intended more for engagements with ships of a similar size or larger. Those without the prefix ‘star’ are generally the standard of that class and oriented in more of an escort or support role.
Interesting take on it. For my head-canon, I’ve just been using the Anaxes classification system explanation given in the Essential Guide to Warfare: mostly size-based (though with some exceptions as a concession to certain vessels’ role in fleet doctrine), with “Star Destroyer” and “Star Dreadnought” being KDY corporate designations that were in such widespread colloquial use in the Navy that they were adopted by the Anaxes War College despite the way they clash with the classification system in traditional (wet) Navies.
By their argument, the inconsistencies that crop up in having things like Mon Cal “Star Cruisers” that are smaller and often less individually capable than “Star Destroyers” are a result of clashing classification systems, since many local and regional powers in the galaxy used homegrown systems and doctrine, rather than adopting the Imperial standard.
I beg to differ, as Geoffrey Mandel’s 1978 C-15 Imperator-class (486.5 meters) is damn cool and i embraced it in my head-canon. So i have no problem with the Gladiator-class Star Destroyer at 600 meters.
They are the lightweights in the SD family, but they outclass the heavy cruisers which are of similar size.
They are both damn cool and part of the SD lit in my OB.
Basic Armament:
[142] 38 cm Heavy Laser Batteries
[26] 19 cm Light Laser Batteries
[32] 60 mm Laser Cannons
[6] forward mounted Missile Silos launching [20] ten megaton and [100] five megaton Space to Ground Missiles
[8] rear mounted Minelayers deploying [40] two megaton Proximity Mines
Standard Armor Plating- 75 cm
Performance:
Cruising Velocity- .4 Light
Max Velocity- .65 Light
Endurance at Max Velocity- 480 Hours
Max Hyperspace Jump- 250 Parsecs
Number of Antimatter Engines- 3
Number of Hyperdrive Engines- 4
Serbob
3 years ago
this is a gorgeous model, though it does feel a bit crowded.
Is there a reason why the gun above the fore hangar doors isn’t mirrored on the ship? it makes it feel a bit lopsided.
Alex
3 years ago
it is really beautiful ship, but it looks a littlebit overgunned compared to ISD or Proclamator. It have so many guns and big hangars at the same for such low hull volume
Daniel Shenise
3 years ago
On the lower “bridge” position, is that like hangar approach control or something along those lines? Or were you kinda filling a space.
And I’m really appreciating all the comparative size shots with other vessels. That’s a very welcome addition to your rendering sets. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Especially the Kontos, that’s my fav small Capital ship.
Mine too, and it pairs really well with the Velox.
CFletch
3 years ago
I love this thing. A nice escort/patrol ship for when a full destroyer would be overkill. I especially like the Victory/Gladiator/Proclamator group shot showing a Clone Wars task force lineup.
I really like the new trend to group shots in general with your newer stuff. It really helps put things in perspective.
How would this line up in terms of acceleration?
Aaron Johnson
3 years ago
I would also love to see you come up with “canon” New Republic warship and starfighter concepts. The movies gave us so little to go on (which was a tragedy creatively) – even the Raddus was supposed to be an outdated warship. I guess we also have the Starhawk, but that seems like a war-time stopgap measure.
However with the lack of much official content, I could see that leaving you a lot of room to create creative capital ship ideas and a new design language, and I think your take would be fascinating. Questions that I wonder:
– Would the New Republic Navy be dominated by MonCal design principles, or would Corellian, Bothan, or other design influences meld or predominate?
– Would the navy lean toward smaller capital ships, as it did in Legends, or towards battlecruisers or dreadnoughts to overmatch ISD’s?
– What are the frontline, state of the art starfighters, interceptors, and bombers for the New Republic?
Aaron Johnson
3 years ago
Just curious, why don’t you do more MonCal ships? Its always been kind of frustrating to me how its really hard to pick out weapons placements on most illustrations of ships like Home One, Liberty Class, and later models like MC85 or MC90. It would be really interesting to see your modified spin on ships like this.
Chris
3 years ago
LOVE IT!!!! Love these smaller ships. Is there a chance to get an open hangar shot with a shuttle with TIE escort launching?
Jannika
3 years ago
This might just be my new favorite of your work, it feels so damn practical and compact
It’s coming close to joining the Bellator as one of my favourites too! Ever since I saw the Demolisher in Droids, especially when it went into hyperspace like it was made of rubber! 🤣
InSanic
3 years ago
I’m surprised you didn’t include an open-hangar shot, but I’m just glad you made this. By the way, does it have any torpedo or concussion missile tubes on it? I know the official stats listed some of those, but I don’t know if you found actual room for them, and I don’t see any in these images.
Road Warrior
3 years ago
Fantastic! My favorite small destroyer! Great job Ansel.
In my opinion, my favourite Star Wars ship.
What are your guy’s opinions on the Quasar-Fire class compared to the Gladiator, Secutor, and Venator carriers? I personally believe the Quasar-Fire is a cheap replacement to the bigger ships that can still carry a decent amount of ships. The gladiator is still cheap compared to the Venator and Secutor, but the Quasar-Fire is still cheaper and still carries more starfighters according to official numbers.
What is this masterpiece’s carrying capacity. 24 fighters just doesn’t seem like an accurate number. This thing is mainly a carrier (some other roles) so wouldn’t it carry more fighters?
Lore wise it was originally designed to be a escort cruiser during the clone wars for victories.
Fractal’s Customs Corvette is tiny compared to the Gladiator, but they still carry the same amount of fighters, which doesn’t make much sense to be.
Every time I see this ship, I pine for Droids… ☹😂
How powerful would this baby be compared to an ISD?
I’m really loving this ship! It’s joining the Bellator and Intersector as my favourite SW/Fractal ships. (Btw, I previously posted as Darth Nick, but decided on a cooler name for Fractal’s discord, just so you know I’m the same dude) 😀
would the center hanger be one large hanger or two hangers stacked for more storage of fighters?
Large hangar with different stacked rack systems as needed for different layouts.
got it, was just wondering if the new republic got some of these how their A and X wings would use the hanger space, I have not seen racks for them but i suppose you could make room for several of them.
I just zoomed in on the command tower, and I can see what look like control panel lights and figures through the windows! Like, wow, what stunning detail! Is that Darth Vader’s silhouette standing on left (my perspective) of the flight-control deck? Or am I just dreaming..? 😆
Hm. What do you know? We haven’t seen the last of Kybo Ren.
I was wondering about how powerful the Gladiator is compared to the Vindicator. Most stats I’ve seen like to portray the Vindicator as better armed, but that never made much sense to me, especially with these comparison shots. The Gladiator simply has more volume, more weapons, and a bigger reactor here.
loving the huge doors on the front hangar! makes perfect sense not to leave that huge opening unprotected.
I don’t know why, but when I saw this gladiator, I thought “Fat boye”.
Very cool render, I’ve always had a bit of a soft-spot for the Gladiator. Just to clarify, I spotted two sets of bridge windows; I’m assuming one is the flight-control center for the embarked squadrons?
Also, as an aside, I was wondering if you had any plans to do more KotOR-era ships like the Hammerhead, Centurion, or Interdictor-classes? I really liked the Inexpugnable and the Kandosii models you made (your Kandosii in particular is a favorite of mine), and there seems to be a very distinct lack of quality renders out there for other Old Republic era ships. If anyone could do those ships justice, I think it would be you.
I love your Gladiator, do you have a link where I can download the model?
IIRC he doesn’t give out the models anymore, as people used to steal them.
What a shame.
There is a special place in Hell for them.
Yep, and that special place is called Marvel Comics.
I am wondering why is the hanger moved back and leaving space between the two side arms? the venator and acclamator didnt do that but i know the Arquitens-class command cruiser did.
I’d say more protection for starters. Probably also tractor beams on turrets that would have better maneuvering ability on the arms to pull things in.
the space there is less than what the canon arts depicted for it, so it’s much better.
I love the design! Would it be a front line ship?
Most likely an escort ship for larger destroyers, with the capability of acting independently for smaller missions
.
I know Wookiepedia lists this as 600 meters long, but i can find nothing on other dimensions. What scale did you use?
126 meters tall and 329 meters wide
I always had a sweet spot for these unconventional looking ships, I love pocket warships like this. Have you ever considered doing any First Order designs? I’d drool over your rendition of a Resurgent Star Destroyer.
Without the overexposed bridge hangers engine reactor sensor and com systems, and over a design was the top and bottom halves of the ship have minored missile and torpedo systems interdiction gravity well longer-ranged turbolaser and ion cannon and longer-ranged missile and torpedo systems would be nice
Wow, this looks amazing. Then again, all of your work does. But still, I’m so happy to see this! I always thought that the Gladiator was vastly under-represented, especially for such a versatile ship! The Empire was never particularly smart about deploying smaller more flexible ships as escorts for ISDs. Had they been more tactically and strategically flexible, maybe they would’ve stood a chance against the Rebels.
I loved that thing in Droids!!!
I love it. Thank you for making one of my favorite Star Wars ships. It looks great. I can only imagine what you might do for the redux if you do decide to do one.
I love your work, Fractal! This is a great design. I am familiar with the Gladiator-class Star Destroyer, is this it or is this just based off of the Gladiator SD? Also, is this intended as a long-range scout/patrol craft or does it have more of a dedicated fleet role (like starfighter screening or fast attack)? Thanks for the great designs and keep up the good work!
It’s the same ship, he just classed it as a frigate in keeping with his normal classification. And rightly so, since it’s always been described as a 600m ship and that’s way too small to be a Star Destroyer.
If I recall correctly this was an escort/carrier designed to allow the late Clone War fleets of Victory-class ships (which they were designed to complement) to retain fighter capability, since the Venetors were supposed to be phased out in favor of more dedicated fighting ships such as the Victory (and later the Imperator). The Clone Wars ended before they could really get rolling out of the shipyards.
Thanks for the answer. The reason for my question was that I knew the Gladiator was 600m, but to me that seems a little large to be classified as a frigate. I thought the same thing about the Proclamator (beautiful ship, by the way). I know Star Destroyer scaling starts at 1,000m, but I thought ships around 600-800m were classified as conventional destroyers. I could be wrong though. Still not completely clear on how SW capital ship scaling works.
The Gladiator and Proclamator are more specifically classified as Heavy Frigates. The latter of which would be classified as a Star destroyer (Although a Light Star Destroyer) in the Republic Navy before being reclassified as a Heavy Frigate in the Imperial Navy.
Exactly.
Our host here uses, as far as I can tell, a sort of Imperialized version of the Anaxes War College System, one modified to reflect the state of ships by the time of the Empire. Prior to the Clone Wars a 600m ship was a capable main-line combat ship in many navies, but the war pretty much ended that and made the Star Destroyer as we know it, starting around 1km in length, the basic fighting ships of the major powers. This results in a lot of previously large ships (like the Dreadnought Cruiser, or the Gladiator SD) getting reclassified to reflect their new role in the New Order’s naval doctrine.
Official Star Wars ship classifications are a mess of conflicting and co-existing systems. Only the Anexes System comes close to being decently standardized. It’s the one Fractal usually seems to follow, with allowances for ships whose size doesn’t reflect combat ability like the Secutor being classified as a Star Destroyer despite being over the 2km limit of the Anaxes system for such.
It should also be noted that in the Anaxes system there are sort of two categories, ships with “Star” before the type and ones without. The Star classes tend to be able to fight as significant combatants as part of major fleet actions, while the non-“star” classes are minor support/patrol/escort ships. That’s why the Proclamator and Gladiator are “Star” Frigates (cruisers or heavy cruisers under Anaxes and likely considered Star Destroyers under the Republic), and likely why Fractal often re-classifies lots of things below a Star Destroyer in size as a “frigate” to reflect how it fits with Imperial doctrine.
Of course this is all just my assumptions from things I’ve gathered while following Fractal’s work for a few years, and some could certainly be wrong. The mega thread over at http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=124353 goes over the detail of his work, though it’s a lot of posts. These days he seems to mostly post in his Discord. I prefer the easy navigation of past posts in his forum thread, but the Discord is fun for anything besides finding old posts (unless I’m missing some perma-link/search functionality, which is not unlikely).
Yeah I dislike the Anaxes system for several reasons, mainly because of its fixation on ship length rather than any meaningful metric to classify warships. Perhaps I will make a design note post about this at some point.
You can search discord (at least in the app client) at the top right. You can copy direct links to any message in the pop-up for any given post.
In my head cannon their are many competing systems of capital ship classification systems. I propose that the Anaxes system is a simplified compromise between the KDY system and the Rusaan Reformation system.
Thank you to everyone who responded to my comment. It helped clarify some things on ship classification. A was a little surprised to see that on the Anaxes system, cruisers are classified below star destroyers in length (400-1000m). That doesn’t make too much sense to me, I always saw cruisers and star destroyers with overlapping classifications. I guess I feel there’s more to SD classification than just length, like dagger shape for instance, although that wouldn’t apply to some ships classified as star destroyers. Anyway, Fractal classifies cruisers on the Anaxes system as frigates in his own system, which would rearrange the role of cruiser. So I was wondering how Fractal classifies cruisers in his own system?
There are Cruisers (smaller than an SD in Anaxes) and “Star” Cruisers/Battlecruisers (bigger than an SD in Anaxes). Fractal has used Star Cruiser and Star Battlecruiser (the Compellor and Bellator are examples of those, respectively).
It can be seen as an artifact of the fact that before the Clone Wars the cruiser-sized ships under Anaxes were treated as cruisers in naval doctrine, ie as the largest non-capitol ships. This is the real-life use of the word capitol ship, for which Wikipedia gives a decent definition: “These characteristics define a capital ship: if the capital ships are beaten, the navy is beaten. But if the rest of the navy is beaten, the capital ships can still operate. Another characteristic that defines capital ships is that their main opponent is each other.”
But after the clone wars the major ship sizes jumped so much that what had been considered capitol ships needed to be further classified. The Star “Destroyer” became the baseline capitol ship, Star Cruisers/Battlecruisers were the heavy-hitting ships of major fleet actions, and the new class of Star Dreadnoughts were created to cover the truly fleet-anchoring (or fleet-breaking) ships of titanic size that were now the arbitrators of naval combat on the rare occasions they were called into action. This last category were so rare and few in number pre-Clone Wars that they didn’t need their own classification, but under the Empire this changed and a new category was required.
I’m not sure if this will embed, but this shows the size jump. It’s not my image but used Fractal ships. I would love if he did an ortho like this but until then this shows the size jump. The biggest pre-Empire capitol ship that was made in any numbers was the Praetor, and the Procurator. The only bigger ship I know of was the Mandator, but they made less then a dozen of them pre-War.

As I understand it (please correct me if I’m wrong, Fractal) Fractal’s system translates real world wet navy classifications as closely as possible with the Star Destroyer representing the tactical/strategic role played by destroyers IRL.
So:
Corvettes are the smallest, most lightly armed warships, generally used for escort and lone patrol.
Frigates are larger and more heavily armed, but usually fulfil a similar role.
Destroyers are larger still.
Cruisers are larger and more powerful than Destroyers, and will often lead forces of Destroyers, Frigates, and Corvettes.
Battlecruisers are the next step up.
Dreadnoughts top the table, being the pinnacles of firepower, toughness, and prestige. They are also extremely expensive and fairly rare, like real world heavy- and super-battleships were.
Carrier classifications have their own hierarchy, which I don’t know as well.
I hope that helps, and is accurate.
Ok, thanks. That’s how I originally thought it worked because,
like you said, it’s based off of real world wet navies. I think I just got confused, mostly by the emphasis on star destroyers–which seem to encroach on the role of cruisers–and the fact no one seems to use traditional destroyers as a classification. So, to rationalize the classification structure in my mind, I’ll list my interpretation below. The roles will be pretty much the same as you have above–that’s pretty much how I thought the roles went anyway. Note–I will be using a combination of roles and length. I know that Fractal doesn’t like to use length as primary classification just because it’s not always a good representation of a ship’s role and capabilities (and I agree) but I will list it here for reference. Just know that it will be flexible and the role will be the main defining characteristic of the ship class, not necessarily length. Ok, here we go.
Corvette- ~100-300m; Corvettes are the smallest, most lightly armed, and usually the fastest ships in a fleet. Primarily used for scouting, escort, patrol, and screening.
Frigate- ~300-600m; Frigates are similar in role to corvettes, but larger and more well armed. Very versatile and can take on a variety of roles. Usually serves as the primary escort ships in a fleet.
Destroyer- ~600-1,000m; Destroyers are the linking point between support ships and heavier capital ships. Another flexible ship class that usually operates in support, escort, and fast attack. Provides most of the firepower in smaller task forces.
Cruiser/Star Destroyer- `1,000-2,000m; Cruisers are some of the more powerful capital ships available to a navy. As such, they have an emphasis on firepower, shielding, and going head-to-head with other capital ships, but they are still versatile and well-rounded. In fleets, they typically provide offensive firepower and support battlecruisers, while they can also serve as command ships for smaller task forces. Star Destroyers are also in this category, I see them as being more offensively minded and making up the bulk of the firepower in a fleet. A good comparison is the MC80 Victory-class versus the Home One-class. The Victory is more focused on firepower while the Home One is more focused on command and starfighter complement.
Battlecruiser- ~2,000-5,000m; Battlecruisers are the most powerful ships available to the smallest navies and are still some of the most powerful ships in the largest. Like the smaller Star Destroyers, they are most focused on offensive armament, shielding, and combating other capital ships. They will lead smaller fleets and serve as offensive juggernauts in the largest.
Dreadnought- 5,000m+; Dreadnoughts are the most powerful ships in a navy. They are very well shielded, bristling with weapons batteries, with large complements of starfighters and ground troops, and enough firepower to take on entire enemy fleets. They serve as command ships in the largest fleets while some also operate independently to pick off lone enemy ships, convoys, or even smaller enemy fleets. They are, however, very expensive and difficult to build, meaning they are only used in small numbers even in the largest navies, while smaller navies can’t even afford them at all.
Carriers- Carriers are defined solely by role and are intended for one purpose only–to transport starfighters into battle. The smallest are the escort carriers which serve as carriers in smaller task forces and supplement the complements of larger fleets. Fleet carriers are the standard carriers used in most fleets, while supercarriers are the largest and intended to carry thousands of starfighters into battle. Assault ships also fit into this category and are intended to transport large amounts of troops and their vehicles and equipment for land battles.
Larger fleets would also include miscellaneous transports and tankers for carrying supplies and fuel.
That’s how I see capital ship classes working in Star Wars. If anyone has anything to add, please do.
One thing I forgot to mention is the prefix ‘star’. It can be added to any of the ship classes (except carrier) which changes the role of the ship slightly. A ship with the prefix ‘star’ before its class name shows that it’s a more substantial ship intended more for engagements with ships of a similar size or larger. Those without the prefix ‘star’ are generally the standard of that class and oriented in more of an escort or support role.
Interesting take on it. For my head-canon, I’ve just been using the Anaxes classification system explanation given in the Essential Guide to Warfare: mostly size-based (though with some exceptions as a concession to certain vessels’ role in fleet doctrine), with “Star Destroyer” and “Star Dreadnought” being KDY corporate designations that were in such widespread colloquial use in the Navy that they were adopted by the Anaxes War College despite the way they clash with the classification system in traditional (wet) Navies.
By their argument, the inconsistencies that crop up in having things like Mon Cal “Star Cruisers” that are smaller and often less individually capable than “Star Destroyers” are a result of clashing classification systems, since many local and regional powers in the galaxy used homegrown systems and doctrine, rather than adopting the Imperial standard.
I beg to differ, as Geoffrey Mandel’s 1978 C-15 Imperator-class (486.5 meters) is damn cool and i embraced it in my head-canon. So i have no problem with the Gladiator-class Star Destroyer at 600 meters.
They are the lightweights in the SD family, but they outclass the heavy cruisers which are of similar size.
They are both damn cool and part of the SD lit in my OB.
Dimensions:
Length Overall- 486.5 meters
Width Overall- 297.5 meters
Height Overall- 147.5 meters
Main Hull Height Overall- 70.7 meters
Standard Ceiling Height- 3.05 meters
Basic Armament:
[142] 38 cm Heavy Laser Batteries
[26] 19 cm Light Laser Batteries
[32] 60 mm Laser Cannons
[6] forward mounted Missile Silos launching [20] ten megaton and [100] five megaton Space to Ground Missiles
[8] rear mounted Minelayers deploying [40] two megaton Proximity Mines
Standard Armor Plating- 75 cm
Performance:
Cruising Velocity- .4 Light
Max Velocity- .65 Light
Endurance at Max Velocity- 480 Hours
Max Hyperspace Jump- 250 Parsecs
Number of Antimatter Engines- 3
Number of Hyperdrive Engines- 4
this is a gorgeous model, though it does feel a bit crowded.
Is there a reason why the gun above the fore hangar doors isn’t mirrored on the ship? it makes it feel a bit lopsided.
it is really beautiful ship, but it looks a littlebit overgunned compared to ISD or Proclamator. It have so many guns and big hangars at the same for such low hull volume
On the lower “bridge” position, is that like hangar approach control or something along those lines? Or were you kinda filling a space.
And I’m really appreciating all the comparative size shots with other vessels. That’s a very welcome addition to your rendering sets. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Especially the Kontos, that’s my fav small Capital ship.
Mine too, and it pairs really well with the Velox.
I love this thing. A nice escort/patrol ship for when a full destroyer would be overkill. I especially like the Victory/Gladiator/Proclamator group shot showing a Clone Wars task force lineup.
I really like the new trend to group shots in general with your newer stuff. It really helps put things in perspective.
How would this line up in terms of acceleration?
I would also love to see you come up with “canon” New Republic warship and starfighter concepts. The movies gave us so little to go on (which was a tragedy creatively) – even the Raddus was supposed to be an outdated warship. I guess we also have the Starhawk, but that seems like a war-time stopgap measure.
However with the lack of much official content, I could see that leaving you a lot of room to create creative capital ship ideas and a new design language, and I think your take would be fascinating. Questions that I wonder:
– Would the New Republic Navy be dominated by MonCal design principles, or would Corellian, Bothan, or other design influences meld or predominate?
– Would the navy lean toward smaller capital ships, as it did in Legends, or towards battlecruisers or dreadnoughts to overmatch ISD’s?
– What are the frontline, state of the art starfighters, interceptors, and bombers for the New Republic?
Just curious, why don’t you do more MonCal ships? Its always been kind of frustrating to me how its really hard to pick out weapons placements on most illustrations of ships like Home One, Liberty Class, and later models like MC85 or MC90. It would be really interesting to see your modified spin on ships like this.
LOVE IT!!!! Love these smaller ships. Is there a chance to get an open hangar shot with a shuttle with TIE escort launching?
This might just be my new favorite of your work, it feels so damn practical and compact
It’s coming close to joining the Bellator as one of my favourites too! Ever since I saw the Demolisher in Droids, especially when it went into hyperspace like it was made of rubber! 🤣
I’m surprised you didn’t include an open-hangar shot, but I’m just glad you made this. By the way, does it have any torpedo or concussion missile tubes on it? I know the official stats listed some of those, but I don’t know if you found actual room for them, and I don’t see any in these images.
Fantastic! My favorite small destroyer! Great job Ansel.