A battlestation, or battle station, was a term used for any space station armed for combat.
A battle station was often defined as a combat spacecraft that used its primary power generation facilities for combat purposes rather than propulsion. The station could be either orbital or self-propelled like a starship. Large capital ships were usually regarded as a type of battle station. An alternative term for the largest battlestations was battle planetoid.
Battle stations were designed for various purposes, including defensive and offensive combat. Defensive battle stations bulked up on shield generators, sensor systems, defensive fighters and evacuation transports. Offensive battlestations were fitted with offensive weapons-batteries, starfighter and bomber squadrons as well as anti-ship defenses such as point-defense cannons. The battle station hangars were often large enough to handle smaller capital ships in addition to the fighters and transports. Combat stations were known to keep a larger-than-average amount of combat troops onboard, and were often utilitarian in design.
Different types of battle stations were often separated by their mobility. Mobile battlestations, such as large capital ships, could traverse interstellar space and attack distant targets. Immobile stations were usually situated in orbit of a world and used for planetary defense or logistical support. Terrestrial stations were built on or around asteroids and planetary objects and usually required less volatile reactor cores than space-faring battle stations.
The largest battle stations were often designed with city-like structures on their surfaces. These structures mimicked terrestrial cities in order to make life more comfortable for the crew. Restaurants, shops and apartment buildings could be utilized even on the most militaristic of stations. The station commanders and high-ranking officers often had their own stylish dwellings and there was usually space for visiting diplomats.
- Alliance Space Station
- Armored defense platform
- Bavos-I heavy-duty military space platform
- Bavos-II heavy-duty military space platform
- Cardan-class space station
- Consortium space station
- Death Star
- Derilyn Space Defense Platform
- Expeditionary Battle Planetoid
- FireStar-class orbital defense station
- Galaxy Gun
- Golan space defense platform
- Grade III battle station
- Military Command Station
- Shadow Academy