All Predator Ship Types Explained

The Yautja are an advanced spacefaring alien race who are able to travel to other planets and hunt such exotic species thanks to their fleets of interstellar spaceships; an important detail that despite featuring in every single Predator movie, isn’t something discussed very often. They can vary greatly in design, and incorporate advanced technology and weapons, many also feature their own trophy walls, representing the many lifeforms the Yautja have encountered across the galaxy. There are two main types, Scout-ships, and Motherships. The Scout Ships are small spacecraft used to transport and deploy either individual, or small numbers of hunters, and can carry around half a dozen crew. They are powered by external thrusters, and flown by a single pilot, they also have an auto-pilot feature, and can remain in a holding zone until the hunter is ready to be picked up again. Scout ships usually possess a Trophy Room, a tactical room equipped with holographic devices, a storage room for captive Facehuggers, and Drop-pods to deploy a hunter from orbit. Drop pods are sleek, elongated capsules used to insert individual Predators to the surface of a planet, allowing them to reach the surface quickly, often undetected, without the need for the whole ship to set down. Scoutships possess a relatively weak hull, as in AVPR, a single hit from a Plasmacaster from the inside was able to down the vessel, although, the exterior of the ships are more durable, as the same one seen remained mostly intact despite crashing to Earth and did not break apart. The Mother Ship is a massive, long-range mobile base for Yautja hunters, and can house an entire clan. These ships are made for long missions and are equipped with hypersleep chambers. They are totally independent craft where a number of Scout Ships can dock. And utilise cloaking technology that renders them both visually, and sensor-invisible, making them virtually impossible to find. Most Mother Ships also have a trophy case in which its clan’s trophies are put on display. Some MotherShips hold a captive Xenomorph Queen, which the Yautja warriors can release in an area for a Hunt. They are fully equipped with scout ships and insertion pods, and are also fitted with powerful weapons including a plasma beam, powerful enough to punch a hole from orbit down to the crust; and plasma-rockets that can down a Conestoga class starship in only a few hits. In Predator 1, the Jungle Hunter is dropped off by a Scoutship. This is our first ever look at a Predator ship, and the design has a rounded-shape with two engines mounted either side of the fuselage, a vertical stabiliser underneath, and two cannons on the front. It is a grey colour with bronze accents. The ship is equipped with drop-pods and is seen jettisoning one containing the Jungle Hunter. In Predator 2, the Lost Tribes ship was hidden inside a sewer drain that ran beneath an apartment block. It had a segmented, asymmetrical design much like other Yautja technology, and a dark colouration. Inside the ship, the walls were covered in runes and a trophy case was featured prominently, containing a Xenomorph skull. It can house at least ten Predators. In Alien vs Predator the isolated clan had giant motherships which are the largest seen so far on screen, and have been used for millennia. They are a metallic colour and have a long, streamlined shape. On each side, they have extendable sections for atmospheric flight, which will then retract for spaceflight. Despite their size, they are very stealthy with an invisibility cloak and near-silent running engines. They are equipped with a plasma beam and rockets. One each side, there are docking areas for Scoutships. An interesting detail is that in the movie, the docked ships are the same model as Predator 1. This type was seen deploying the three Youngbloods via drop-pod, and then when the Yautja retrieved Scar’s body. Was also seen in the Predator Concrete Jungle, and Aliens Vs Predator videogames. A scoutship that detatched from the mothership and crashed in AVP Requiem had three engines and a similar but different shape to the Predator 1 style Scoutship, and contained captive facehuggers. Wolf’s ship was a small, highspeed, single-occupant craft, and dropped the Elite to Earth inside a Drop-pod. In Predators, a ship was seen on the game preserve planet, this model had vertical thrusters and belonged to either the Crucified Predator, or the Super Predators. The Crucified Classic Predator set it to fly to Earth in exchange for Royce cutting him free, but he was killed by Berserker and the Super Predator leader set it to self-destruct. In Prey, the Feral Predator arrived via a Scoutship which dropped him off directly instead of by a Drop-pod. Possibly as this was the 18th century, they may not have been in use yet, or maybe this particular ship just didn’t have them. This Scoutship had rotating thrusters and was seen to cloak on its departure. #predator #prey