Capital ships are large, powerful vessels and the cornerstones of any fleet; they can gain experience in combat and "level up" (to a maximum level of 10), thus unlocking new abilities. Each race has five different classes of capital ship (six in the "Rebellion" expansion), including battleships, support battlecruisers, colony ships, strike craft carriers and heavily armed dreadnoughts. A player's first capital ship is free, but subsequent capital ships cost large amounts of resources. In addition, each capital ship requires a large amount of Supply, and one Capital Ship Crew.