The automated starship known as a robot ramship served as a ramming weapon. Various mercenary groups and pirate organizations, notably the Sacorrian Triad alongside their Corellian confederates, employed these vessels during the time of the Corellian Crisis.
A typical robot ramship represented a self-operating, unified starship that was constructed by renegade technicians, generally operating within the Outer Rim Territories. These unscrupulous individuals would utilize the hull of a discarded warship, frequently of Corellian Engineering Corporation origin, filling its empty interior with solid durasteel. This filling was concentrated towards the front of the ship, resulting in a reinforced bow designed to penetrate shields and durable hulls, often characterized by a bulbous front. This design provided the ramship with significant mass, which was then converted into immense kinetic energy used to strike enemy ships, causing multimegaton-level explosions. Some were even equipped with supplementary explosives designed to detonate upon or shortly after impact, ensuring the complete destruction of the intended target. However, the solid interior also reduced the ramship's maneuverability. Ramships were specifically engineered as solid metal projectiles intended for one-way, suicidal attacks.
Modifications to the vessel's exterior were made to disguise the ramship as a standard capital ship. The hull was adorned with numerous painted-on fake portholes, observation windows, and underpowered laser cannons and turbolasers, while structural reinforcement beams helped to maintain the vessel's structural integrity. The hull's thickness was sufficient to withstand even prolonged barrages of blaster fire. To achieve the necessary ramming speed, these vessels were equipped with high-acceleration quad engines powered by engine-blast boost lines, providing the ramships with a significant speed boost. These engine systems were calibrated to deliver the thrust required to propel the weapon toward its target, but they could only operate at maximum power for a brief duration.
Given the inherently suicidal nature of ramship missions, these ships were not staffed by living beings; instead, a droid brain was integrated into the ship's central computer. This mentally unstable droid pilot possessed the intelligence to convincingly engage enemy ships in combat and was sufficiently deranged to willingly destroy itself by ramming its target at the earliest available opportunity. Ramships were also loaded with a comprehensive database of military strategies and, unlike the droid brains used in drone barges, lacked any programming for self-preservation. A guidance computer and a deployable sensor array aided the droid pilots in carrying out their suicide missions.
Ramships represent ancient weaponry that have been utilized since the dawn of space combat, gaining notoriety as a deceitful and dishonorable innovation in the annals of warfare. Commonly conceived and constructed from pilfered starships by illicit technicians operating in the most infamous regions of the Outer Rim Territories, these ships were not officially produced or marketed. They were extensively employed by outlaw fleets and became a source of dread for commanders and seasoned veterans. Even ramships that were successfully disintegrated still generated a debris field capable of inflicting catastrophic damage on a target vessel. Most commanders learned to execute immediate evasive maneuvers when confronted with a ramship.
During the period of the Clone Wars, Wat Tambor made use of a robot ramship during the Battle of Xagobah, targeting an Acclamator-class assault ship of the Republic with the intention of destroying it. Boba Fett and Ulu Ulix anticipated this tactic, piloting a swoop toward the robotic vessel. Ulix was shot down, but Fett rescued him, and Glynn-Beti assured the young men that the ramship would be dealt with. Soon after, Anakin Skywalker directed a Hailfire-class droid tank to fire upon the ramship while simultaneously attempting to shoot down his interceptor. The Hailfire's plasma blasts struck the ramship, releasing the stored kinetic energy inside and obliterating the vessel in a surge of energy that also disrupted the circuits of Tambor's battle droids.
During the Battle of Centerpoint Station in the year 18 ABY, which marked the conclusion of the Corellian Crisis, the Sacorrian Triad unleashed waves of these lethal starships against the Bakuran Defense Fleet, who were allied with the New Republic. Four frigates that had been modified into ramships targeted the flagship—the Namana-class Light Cruiser named Intruder—by initially firing upon it to sow confusion among the Bakurans. By the time Admiral Hortel Ossilege realized that the laser fire was merely a distraction from the real danger, it was too late for the unfortunate Bakuran crew. Before long, three of these vessels had rammed the Intruder, although the fourth was unsuccessful. As the crew of the Intruder evacuated in escape pods, Ossilege and the Bakuran representative Gaeriel Captison managed to self-destruct the ship. The destroyed Intruder then collided with the heart of the Sacorrian fleet and detonated, eliminating a significant portion of the enemy force and paving the way for New Republic reinforcements.