See Also: | Ships • | Systems • | Weapons • | Drones • | Augmentations • | Events • | Sectors • | Resources |
The universe of FTL is inhabited by friendly and enemy ships. These ships come in a variety of layouts, and can be equipped with various systems and subsystems, weapons, drones, and augmentations.
Each player ship can carry a maximum of eight crew members of various races, with an initial crew of between one and four members. Each ship starts with varying systems, weapons, power levels, missile ammunition, and drone parts.
Playable Ships[]
There are ten ship classes available in FTL:
The Kestrel Cruiser | The Engi Cruiser | The Federation Cruiser | The Zoltan Cruiser | The Lanius Cruiser |
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The Stealth Cruiser | The Rock Cruiser | The Slug Cruiser | The Mantis Cruiser | The Crystal Cruiser |
Enemy ships[]
Main article: Enemy Ships
Some enemy ships can have up to 10 levels in weapons or shields, whereas the player limit is 8.
Pirate ships have a purple pirate emblem painted on the hull. They all have different layouts, except for Federation ships. They may have different Systems installed, notably some Rock and Slug ships. Pirate crews are randomly chosen from the races that can be encountered in that sector.
Enemy ships usually have about 10 Missiles and 4 Drones stocked, but this can vary.
- Rebel Ships
- Federation Ships
- AI-Controlled Rebel Ships
- Engi Ships
- Mantis Ships
- Zoltan Ships
- Rock Ships
- Slug Ships
- Lanius Ships
- Crystal Ships
- The Rebel Flagship
Reactor[]
Each ship powers its systems, weapons, and drones using energy from the ship's reactor. Enemy ships always have exactly enough reactor power to fully power their ship, except in ion storms where this power is halved.
Player ships start with varying amounts of reactor power. Scrap can be used to upgrade the reactor to a maximum of 25 power bars. Each Zoltan crew provides one additional power bar to the room they occupy, and the Backup battery can provide an additional 4 bars of power for 30 seconds (when upgraded). This allows the player to have a maximum of 37 power available.
Layouts[]
Each ship unlocks with only its Layout A available. You need to complete predefined objectives to unlock additional layouts:

Layout of the PC Ship list/Unlock Progress.
- Layout A - You start with Kestrel Cruiser Layout A. Other Layout A's (Other Ships) can be earned via beating the game on any difficulty with the previous ship. The order in which you unlock is identified by an arrow with a V. See screenshot for example. You can also earn other ships by completing their respective quest.
- Layout B - earn 2 of the 3 ship related Achievements to unlock
- Layout C - reach sector 8 with Layout B and Advanced Mode enabled to unlock
The Lanius and Crystal cruiser do not have a 'C' layout.
Ship strategies[]
Each of these guides is written by a skilled player with a high win rate on Hard difficulty. Each has its own style and areas of focus.
Crowrevell's ships guide distills each ship to a brief summary, presenting strategy in the context of the ship's weaknesses and strengths. This guide is approachable and concise, with ship strategy center-stage.
Holoshideim's guide covers many different aspects of the game, including a section giving tips for beginners. Ship strategies are broken down into general guides for gunships and boarding ships, as well as specific guides for each ship. There's significant detail here, organized into short bullet points.
Mike Hopley's ships guide covers ship-specific strategies and early-game tactics, including an introduction that discusses overall early strategy. This guide is the most "technical", with tips ranging from basic to extremely advanced.
Ship comparisons[]
The player ships offer a wide range of starting conditions and challenges. Some ships are objectively much weaker than others, and some benefit from specific skills such as boarding.
A ship's difficulty depends on the player's skill with that ship. Difficulty also varies greatly between runs, due to the random elements in the game. Here are ship rankings by top-level players:
- Crowrevell's ship tier list (video with detailed discussion)
- Neozar's ship tier list (Reddit post)
It's possible to calculate the total scrap value of a ship's starting equipment, although this has little practical use.
Comparison tool[]
Click on the buttons below to reveal ship data. Click different ships to compare between them.
- Layout A - The Kestrel |
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Artemis, Burst Laser II |
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- Layout A - The Torus |
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Ion Blast II |
Combat I |
- Layout C - Tetragon |
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Dual Lasers |
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Cruiser - Layout A - The Osprey |
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Burst Laser II |
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Cruiser - Layout B - Nisos |
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Dual Lasers, Leto |
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Cruiser - Layout C - The Fregatidae |
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- Layout A - The Adjudicator |
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Halberd Beam, Leto |
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Ion Blast, Ion Blast Pike Beam |
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- Layout C - Cerenkov |
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Ion Charge |
Beam I |
- Layout A - The Gila Monster |
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Small Bomb, Basic Laser |
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- Layout B - The Basilisk |
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Lockdown Bomb, Stun Bomb |
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- Layout A - Man of War |
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Anti-Bio Beam, Breach Bomb I Dual Lasers |
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- Layout B - The Stormwalker |
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Healing Burst, Artemis |
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Chain Laser |
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Artemis, Hull Missile |
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Heavy Pierce I, Fire Bomb |
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- Layout C - Tektite |
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Swarm, Crystal Heavy I |
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- Layout A - The Nesasio |
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Mini Beam, Dual Lasers |
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- Layout B - DA-SR 12 |
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Glaive Beam |
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- Layout C - Simo-H |
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Charge Laser+, Mini Beam |
Shield+, Anti-Drone |
- Layout A - Kruos |
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Chain Laser, Ion Stunner |
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- Layout B - The Shrike |
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Advanced Flak |
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- Layout A - Bravais |
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Crystal Burst I, Heavy Crystal I |
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- Layout B - Carnelian |
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