An absolutely massive asteroid mining vessel, the Continent-class Crawler lives up to its name. Blocky and clumsy looking, with clusters of large engines scattered over the stern, and bulky mining equipment blisters at the bow and along both port and starboard flanks, the ship is utilitarian in the extreme. The builders and operators of these giant vessels have little care about appearances though, as these ships are extremely efficient at what they are designed for, which is detecting valuable mineral deposits in asteroid fields and extracting those deposits as cost effectively and efficiently as possible. This is does by having a myriad of powerful drills, chain-excavators, suction hoses and other mining implements mounted on extendable arms housed in blisters all around the forward hull.

While the Continent-class Crawler is a civilian ship, it is also well armed, with numerous energy weapon emplacements located around the hull. These serve a dual purpose – to neutralize asteroids that pose a danger to the ship, as the vessel is much too large to maneuver to avoid getting hit by the floating rocks, as well as to discourage the numerous pirates and bandits that haunt asteroid fields throughout the galaxy. Continent-class Crawlers are tempting prizes for these villains, as they hold immense volumes of mineral wealth, which can be sold at good prices even on the black market. Life aboard these ships is cramped, hot and odorous, and mining companies usually have to pay a premium to engage mining engineers and pilots to work aboard these ships. Deckhands and crew working the processing lines inside the ship however are often either criminals undergoing sentences of hard labour, slaves or innocents who have been press-ganged to fill vacancies due to death or desertion.