
The other major component of the fleet is made up of drone command vessels, small gunship-like ships with strong armor, CIWS, electronic warfare suite and a crew of no more than a single pack. By internalizing their heat signature in their wing-like heat sinks, these ships can mask their presence from sensors long enough to fire their shots after which they will drop below the planetary horizon to dump heat.

They target the hardest foes in a hostile force, either the capital ship or the hardened bunkers and structures on the ground, unleashing a volley of shots from extreme range. They are operated by a skeleton crew, usually just a pilot and flight engineers. These ships are little more than a huge, high caliber spinal rail gun with gimballed engines and over-sized heat reservoirs. The backbone of the defense force is made up by its rail gun platforms. In Starbound, the player's default starting ship is a commonly-used multi-role dropship which is produced in both military and civilian models. Private/civil spacecraft have been known to be found under a separate "ACF" designation as well. These fleets are designated in Human language as follows: All three can be best described as "lithe", lacking giant capital ships and carriers, instead preferring to use smaller, highly specialized craft that are cheaper to build, quicker to escape, and harder to hit. The Avali have 3 major standing fleets: the exploratory fleet, defense forces, and merchant navy.
