Thus, the ships of the opponents from the first game make a return appearance, but they now have new abilities and are controlled by a malevolent new intelligence. The power and danger of Beast fleets is demonstrated by the fact that the majority of players in network and Internet play are running them. Ships deploy and fight on different levels and at different angles. All the ships have various capabilities. Leeches are spy craft that can either broadcast an enemy ship's position or quietly destroy it by slowly stripping it of its resources.
Mimics use holographic technology to appear to be different ships entirely.
Mimics can also dock with one another and use their combined generators to appear to be a larger ship. In an interesting twist, the Beast can't develop its own technologies. It can only steal those possessed by ships it assimilates. Yet another reason for players not to let the Beast fleet capture their ships. Manipulating the view and the ships is extremely easy, particularly if using a wheel mouse.