starships

The Starship Construction Guide

Step 1: Hull Shape
The basic shape of what your ship will look like.
Open Frame	An open skeletal frame with no exterior covering.
Needle/Wedge	A long pointed exterior.
Cone	An oblong rounded exterior.
Cylinder	An oblong rounded exterior with square edged ends.
Box	A square edged exterior.
Sphere	A ball shaped exterior.
Dome/Disk	A half sphere or flattened sphere exterior.
Irregular	A modular exterior which isn't clearly definable as any one of the other possible configurations.
Planetoid	A metallic or hollowed out asteroid.

Step 2: Size
Length: This is the base minimum length in metres of the ship for that hull size. The bigger the size class the larger the size of the vessel. Hatches: Airlocks are pressured exits to and from the vessel, they equalize the pressure on either side and fill with oxygen before allowing entry into the vessel, most also decontaminate people passing through in order to prevent people from carrying any alien infections or contaminants onto the ship. Every ship has one airlock for every size class, airlocks can vary such as the canopied cockpit of an interceptor, or the rear hatch of a shuttle, the retractable cargo lifts and ramps of a freighter and so on. An airlock always takes three rounds to depressurise, re-pressurize and open. Also those with Decontamination capabilities as appropriate to the type of Airlock provide a single re-save if an individual is infected with a disease or similar, if the save succeeds then the disease is cleansed from the individual. Passengers: When designing a ship you must ensure that there is adequate life support to handle the number of passengers as well as crew. For every 10 x10 metres squared of space the ship can have 1 airlock and carry 1 passenger.
Hull Size	Length	Hull Size	Length	Hull Size	Length
1	10	21	1380	41	3820
2	20	22	1495	42	3925
3	35	23	1615	43	4035
4	55	24	1740	44	4150
5	80	25	1870	45	4270
6	110	26	2005	46	4395
7	145	27	2145	47	4525
8	185	28	2190	48	4660
9	230	29	2240	49	4800
10	280	30	2390	50	4945
11	335	31	2445	51	5095
12	395	32	2600	52	5250
13	460	33	2760	53	5410
14	730	34	2825	54	5575
15	805	35	2995	55	5745
16	885	36	3170	56	5920
17	970	37	3350	57	6100
18	1065	38	3535	58	6285
19	1165	39	3625	59	6475
20	1270	40	3720	60	6670

Step 3: Armour
Every ship has a hull covering, the layer which covers the frame into which all systems are built, this sealed layer also includes the armour of the ship being built. The type of material used can have an effect on mass, hardness, and cost, as well as possibly granting other special benefits like the ability to naturally heal for biological hulls or immunity to lasers.
Armour	Material	Hit Points
Soft Steel	A soft ferrous metal. Steel is the cheapest hull material available, more commonly found on older vessels. Steel is an alloy and as such quite strong and resilient but prone to rust, tending to mean the hull needs constant care and maintenance to maintain its integrity, it is however inevitable that Steel will eventually need patching or replacing.	1000 x Hull Size
Hard Steel	A harder ferrous alloy. This is the material that is now most commonly used to build ships. It is stronger and lighter than soft steel and it has the added benefit of never rusting.	2500 x Hull Size
Composite Alloy	A composite metal/ceramic alloy.	5000 x Hull Size
Crystallion	A special form of crystal molded as a framework. It is about the same in weight to hard steel and so does not alter a ships mass at all.	10,000 x Hull Size
Dwarf Matter	A hull whose molecular structure has been partially collapsed in a massive artificial gravity field (like a white dwarf star).	20,000 x Hull Size
Bonded Dwarf Matter	As above but with a small induced electronic current to strengthen the internal electron bonds.	40,000 x Hull Size
Coherent Dwarf Matter	As above but also dynamically manipulated to polarize the subatoms in the hull.	80,000 x Hull Size

Step 4: Engine
Perhaps the most important part of any ship is the power plant that provides all the energy that is required to power it and everything in it (doors, lights, lifts, shields, engines, weapons, life support, helm controls). Power plants are thusly of great importance to all vessels for without them a ship is lifeless in space, unable to move or function.
Engine	Power
Batteries	Used to supplement the normal power plant. This serves as an emergency back up.
Fuel Cell	Hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell. They produce pure water as a waste by-product.
Fusion	The most expensive yet the most efficient.
Internal Combustion	A hydrocarbon burning reciprocal engine.
Nuclear Fission	Uses radioactives as fuel such as Uranium and produces all sorts of nasty radioactive by-products, including Plutonium. Fission reactors can be dangerous.
Solar Cells	Photoelectric cells that produce electrical energy from light.
Turbine	A hydrocarbon burning rotary engine.

Step 5: Drive
The ship’s main engine is just that, the vast engine with which any vessel is provided forward or upward momentum. It is not however the means by which a starship is provided directional movement beyond this as it is the manoeuvring thrusters that do that not the main engines. Main engines also tend to require a lot of energy. Every craft needs a main engine with the sole exception of space stations, which as a general rule do not require the ability to move, and only need station-keeping manoeuvring thrusters.
Drive	Range
Manoeuvring Thrusters	100,000 kms	The main engines provide the forward and upward thrust but to turn or aid manoeuvres a ship needs manoeuvring thrusters. They are used to speed up, slow down, turn and almost any other manoeuvre that involves something other than going forward. They provide a speed of 100kph.
Chemical Drive	480,000 kms	A Chemical Rocket functions by igniting a substance and using the resulting explosion as a thrust. The type of fuel used by these rockets varies widely, but fuel requires a great deal of a ship's internal volume and needs to be replenished. Ships with rockets can only move in the direction that the rockets point in, although carefully placed manoeuvring rockets and mobile thrusters eliminates most of these problems.
Ion Protolight Drive	1 AU	Ion drives require little to no fuel, can generally produce high levels of acceleration, and with carefully placed units, can offer unmatched manoeuvrability.
Impulse Drive	1 light year	Impulse Drives are used to power the ship when speeds of less than the speed of light are required. They are also used to provide power to many ship systems even while under Warp. They employ advanced fusion-type reactors to provide energy and/or thrust as required. Impulse engines are used for planetary orbits, and for entering and exiting planetary systems. Standard full Impulse speed is one quarter light speed. Deuterium serves as the fuel source for Impulse engines. The Helium plasma produced by the fusion process is used for thrust. Tech level 8 only.
Antimatter/ Warp Drive	3500 light years	Warp reactors use small bits of anti-matter to annihilate matter, producing potentially hundreds of times the energy of the same weight of hydrogen fusion fuel. While it is the most expensive power source by far, it is also the most powerful for its mass. Vessels are propelled at such huge speeds that time outside the vessel actually slows down. This allows the vessel to travel great distance in much reduced times of only 1 day for each 100 light years being travelled. Tech level 9 only.
Intergalactic Jump Drive	1,680,000 light years	Jump Drives work by drawing a vast amount of energy and using it to literally pull a hole in space known as a "jump conduit" to a transitive plane called "jump space". In Jump space distance and time does not work the same way in as it does in real space. Thus by travelling through Jump space vast amounts of distance can be traversed in a far shorter time. Tech level 10 only.
Extragalactic Star Drive	Unlimited	The Star Drive is the pinnacle of space flight technology. It folds the distance between two distant points, thus bringing the source and destination points together. Travel in this fashion is instantaneous. Distances greater than 1000 parsecs require 1 hour. Tech level 11 only.

Travel Times
Below is a chart of space travel times as seen by an outside observer. The distances shown are for astronomical units (AU), light years (LY), and parsecs.
Mode	1 AU	1 LY	1 Parsec
Chemical Drive	5.78 days	1000 yrs	3270 yrs
Ion Protolight Drive	24.96 mins	6 yrs	17.30 yrs
Impulse Drive	16.64 mins	4 years	13.08 yrs
Antimatter/ Warp Drive	0.32 seconds	5.78 hrs	18.84 hrs
Intergalactic Jump Drive	0.001 seconds	0.06 seconds	1 second
Extragalactic Star Drive	0.00001 seconds	0.0001 seconds	0.001 seconds
Subspace Radio	0.05 seconds	52.60 mins	2.87 hrs

Step 6: Equipment
Equipment	Function
Advanced Controls	These are touch screen controls which can be added to any basic control type. Commands and related functions are also linked so that multiple commands can be achieved via a single command initiation.
Astrogation Computer	Used for plotting and navigating jumps and standard manoeuvres.
Atmoprobe	Missile type sensor probe which gradually descends through the atmosphere. It is equipped with a standard suite of instruments to detect and analyse all normal EM and subspace bands, organic and inorganic chemical compounds, atmospheric constituents, and mechanical force properties. It also includes varying degrees of telerobotic operation capabilities to permit real time control and piloting of the probe. This permits the investigation team to remain on board the starship while exploring what might otherwise be a dangerous hostile or otherwise inaccessible environment.
Atmospheric Shielding	Additional coating to the hull which enables a ship to enter an atmosphere at high speed.
Automatic Pilot	The robocruise automatic navigation system has the capability to plot and control travel to any destination within a system.
Automated Hull Sealing	All hulls have an automatic sealing system, fitted as standard. It is comprised of two separate layers of resin under high pressure in the hull. When the layers are breached the substances expand and mix to form a very durable foam-like patch. This prevents the whole hull being explosively decompressed from a single shot.
Auxiliary Controls	Many starships, but not all, contain auxiliary ship and mission control stations. These stations do not require constant attention and are only manned when necessary. Two science stations provide real time data to the command personnel and are used by mission specialists who have to coordinate activities with the bridge. The Mission Ops station provides support to the Ops officer and coordinates secondary objectives. The Environmental Systems station allows monitoring and control of the support systems aboard a starship and can serve as a deputy operations management station in a crisis. The Engineering systems' monitor duplicates the Chief Engineer's primary status displays from the Main Engineering section.
Basic Conn	The responsibility for actual piloting and navigation of a starship lies with the Flight Control Officer, or Conn. Receiving instructions directly from the commanding officer, the Conn's duties include: navigational references and course plotting, supervision of automatic flight operations, manual flight operations, positive verification, and acting as Bridge liaison to the engineering department. While these functions are heavily automated, their importance to the safety of the ship and the missions at hand demands that an officer be assigned to oversee the Conn at all times.
Basic Ops	The Operations Management Officer normally referred to as Ops, is responsible for the coordination and scheduling of resources and hardware to the various missions being performed aboard a starship. The Ops panel on the bridge displays a continually updated list of all current major shipboard activities. This information is used to evaluate the current state of the ship's activities, so priority decisions can be made. For example, if a science department is using a sensor array and an alert situation arises, the Ops will have to divert the science scan from the main sensor array to another available system.
Basic Tactical	Defensive Systems Control and starship internal security are the duties of the Tactical Station (Tactical for short) located near the rear of the bridge. This position gives the Senior Tactical Officer an unobstructed view of the main viewer and the command stations below. Tactical security coverage ranges from low-level crew safety to full counter-intelligence measures against sabotage or terrorism. External security systems (defensive shields and weapons) are generally controlled from the Tactical station, as well as sensor arrays, probes, buoys, and tractor beam systems.
Beamer Cooling Booster	Some find their normal laser cooling equipment inadequate. Since lasers cut out when they overheat, this device is a bonus.
Boarding Tube	A boarding tube is similar to a docking clamp, except that it is made lock onto any portion of a ship and create its own door. It uses a laser bore to accomplish this task, it can cut through the thickest armour in only a few seconds. The tube latches onto the hull of a ship with a powerful electromagnet and then proceeds to bore through it with the laser. While cutting the system requires 2 MW, afterwards only 0.5 MW are needed to charge the electromagnet. The boarding tube comes in only a retractable version and can be fitted to any of the standard airlocks, it can act like a regular docking clamp.
Bomb Dispenser	The Bomb Bays and dispenser system is designed for the purposes of dropping bombs from orbit to a planets surface. Such bombing runs can only be achieved from a relatively low orbit in order to guarantee any kind of accuracy. Bombs have no form of targeting or guidance, instead the computer aims from orbit and drops the bomb, all other bombs then scatter around the first. The smallest version holds 10 and it can be bought in increments of 10.
Cargo Bay Life Support	Superb environment control, including deodorizer and choice of four fresh air scents, Fomalhaut Harvest, Ma’s Cookies, Seashore and Solar Breeze. Needed for transportation of live animals and slaves.
Cloak	The Cloaking Device is something of a technological Wonder, through a process of a special device, which emits a light refracting field around the vessel, effectively bouncing photons away from the hull and making the space where the vessel occupied look empty. A lot of energy is required to use a cloaking device and it is quite a fragile piece of machinery, also while active all but the most crucial systems are run on minimal power. While cloaked a vessel can have no shields active and may not fire any weapons. The actual effect of a ship being cloaked is to provide it the benefit as if being 100% concealment, which means all attacks against it are at –2 to hit and any that would normally hit have a 50% chance of missing anyway.
Colony Module	A Colony module is designed so that it can be easily deployed from a ship, dropped from a hold into orbit where a chute deploys for safe landing, upon hitting ground the module activates and deploys. Alternatively a vessel with atmospheric capability can land and deploy the module that way. Simply put it is an automated, self sufficient habitation, designed to be modular and each capable of connecting to up to four other colony modules in order to create larger facilities and habitations. Each colony module deploys in first stages, the first stage or "module Stage" as it is known is how the module first appears a twenty foot cubed box, with an airlock on each side. Upon being deployed stage two is initiated, in this stage known as "Habitation stage" from each side of the cube an eighteen feet high, eighteen feet wide section extends outwards ten feet of each of the four sides, locking into place. At this point the final stage begins known as the "Activation" stage, from the top of the cube an eighteen feet wide and long section ten feet high extends upwards, and from that another eight feet by eight feet section ten feet high extends and also locks into place. From this third raised level a telescopic mast some thirty feet in height extends in three parts upwards locking into place, from the end of which a solar array splays out and locks into place like a Chinese fan. Finally from the central lower section a ten feet high radio antenna extends upwards. At this point the solar panels activate and begin powering the battery, and in turn activate the water purifier, lights, life support and so forth. A Colony module can house and work 10 people, and the module can provide adequate power and waste recycling to keep them alive indefinitely, the only thing it cannot do is provide a source of food, so if none is present where the module is deployed a source of food must be sought.
Computer Core	Probably the single most important operational element of a starship is it's main computer system, being responsible in some way for most every aspect of the ship's operation. The heart of the system is a set of three main processing cores, which incorporate a series of miniature subspace field generators to allow the processing of optical data at rates faster than the speed of light. The computer cores are redundant, so any one can handle the computing load of the entire ship should the need arise. An intricate optical data network connects the cores with virtually every component on board the ship, and a subspace link is maintained with hand-held or remote devices needing computer access.
Cryogenic Chamber	A Cryogenic Chamber is a special room filled with sophisticated machinery designed to monitor and sustain the cryo chamber contained within. Any who enter are frozen reducing bodily functions to a bare minimum. While in cryogenic stasis an individual only ages one day out of every year that passes.
Docking Clamp	A rigid housing that can lock onto the outside of another docking clamp or an ordinary airlock of the appropriate size. It holds pressure and allows occupants to travel between ships without a vacc suit. There are two types, fixed and retractable. The fixed type is mounted outside the ship and adds no volume. The retractable type telescopes out of the ships hull, so it takes up a small amount of volume. Each type is made to latch onto a certain size of airlock so it must be purchased in appropriate sizes. The retractable version is usually longer. They are pressurized upon docking, have artificial gravity but little armour (although it can be added).
Docking Hatch	A special airlock designed to connect with another of the same type (similar to the docking clamp but minus the tube).
Drive Cloud Analyser	Determines the destination and the exact time and date of arrival of ships by analysing the residual space time disturbance left behind after a jump. You will also be told the mass of the ship which has left or is about to arrive.
Drive Dampener	Inhibits the ability of any ship within 1000kms to use its warp or jump engines.
Drive Disruptor	Causes any ship with warp or jump engines within 500kms to misjump.
ECM	Short for Electronic Counter Measures. A clever device this, as it causes detonation of all activated Homing Missiles in range (including your own).
ECM Decoy Probe	This rare and sought after probe includes an array of transmitters including a Variable Transponder which are calibrated to broadcast an electromagnetic signature identical to that of the launching craft. This probe makes it appear as if two identical ships are in the area.
Electromagnetic Detection	One of the broadest passive sensors, the electromagnetic detection sensor can detect radar, laser, microwave, radio, and all other electromagnetic frequencies. The range of this sensor is two times that of the maximum range of the source, but the sensor must be in the path of emission for it to be detected if it is a directed emission, such as a laser. Of course, if the emission cannot travel through obstacles such as planets, then the sensor cannot detect an emission from the other side of the obstacle. The only way to hide from this type of sensor is to not generate any electromagnetic emissions, which may be difficult for some ships.
Elevators	Either passenger or cargo lifts.
Emergency Beacon	1 AU range lasting 1 year with an emergency SOS repeater.
Energy Booster Unit	Boosts the recharging rate of all Shield Generators fitted.
Escape Pod	1 person escape capsule for those sticky moments when a fast exit is prudent. Escape pods are capable of limited flight and have enough fuel and power for limited manoeuvring. All escape pods have food and water, power and air sufficient to last four weeks in space. Each escape pod also includes the following 2 Med kits, a water purifier, filter masks, survival kit, a 1 man Temporary shelter and 2 flare guns each with 5 flares. All Escape Pods also have an automatic Emergency Signal Transponder which transmits identity and location telemetry constantly so long as it’s solar battery can receive enough light to keep it activated. An Escape Pod is capable of independent movement and has a speed of 100kph, and it has enough fuel for 5 manoeuvres should they be necessary, if it does fall into a planetary orbit it does have integral heat shield and can deploy a chute to allow a safe descent.
Factory Module	A factory module endows a ship with the ability to turn raw materials into some finished product. Exactly what can be constructed depends on the type of factory as determined at the time of purchase, and by the size of the vessel, which should be given due consideration. But autofactories for armour, weapon, robot, vehicle, fighter, pharmaceuticals, or even shuttle construction are not unfeasible. Each autofactory requires raw materials in order to function, how much raw materials an autofactory needs in order to produce an item is based on the item itself, but usually unless the Gm specifies otherwise 25% of the market value of the item you seek to produce in raw materials is needed to produce one item of that type, which can then be sold on at market price. One other thing is needed in order to be able to produce an item and that is the Design Schematic, without this an autofactory simply does not know how to produce the desired item.
Galley	The standard galley is adequate for up to ten passengers and crew.
Grappler mags	Grappler mags attach to a starship in much the same way as any standard weapons system, but provide the ability to tow an object rather than do damage. Grappler mags feed fire control data to the main computer and get targeting data from the ship's sensors. The grappler mag is a large, metal disk, which magnetizes and demagnetises on command, attached to a length of heavy-duty tow cable. This disk is propelled out from the starship at great speed towards its target, magnetizing itself an instant before impact, and then firmly connects itself to the metal object which it is intended to tow. The line can be drawn in or let out as much as necessary (up to the line's maximum length of 150 meters), and the disk can depolarise upon command from the ship. Grappler mags are used in salvage operations, clearing debris from a battlefield, and can also be used to tow in a disabled starship if necessary. The advantages of a grappler mag over a tractor beam are many. Grappler mags require much less energy and can be placed on a starship as small as a starfighter. They produce no energy signature, and may not be detected by sensor sweeps when stealth is necessary.
Grav Plates	Internal artificial gravity. With the mastery of gravity manipulation technology, it is possible to build a system that can artificially generate gravity within a ship or station without the need to spin the ship. The most advanced systems of this type can generate gravity on the surface of the ship as well as inside the ship.
Hangar	A hangar provides docking space and maintenance facilities for any size 2 vessel. Part of the hangar includes hangar bay doors to the exterior of the vessel.
Hardened Circuits	The ship's electrical and computer circuits have been hardened to withstand the effects of EMPs.
Holding Cell	Standard holding cells are designed to incarcerate one prisoner (although they can be larger). The cells include security monitors and basic barred gates which have electronic locks. They have beds which retract/extend from the wall at the touch of a button and a small sink and toilet facility but little else.
Hull Autorepair System	A large piece of equipment which is generally only fitted to larger ships. Exactly how this works is a trade secret, but it does entail placing many microbots in the hull reinforcing channels.
Hydroponics	Hydroponics rooms can be anything from rooms which create recycled nutrients paste from human waste and other organic by products to ship board gardens, but whatever their form the intent remains the same. A Hydroponics bay is there to provide consumables enough to sustain a ships crew and passengers. Every ship of Size Class 4 or higher must have one Hydroponics bay for every full 50 passengers and crew or fraction thereof. This ensures adequate consumables are available at all times and also covers water recycling.
Inertial Compensators	Allows high G manoeuvres while negating the effects of inertia so the occupants have no sensation of motion. This system generates a controlled series of variable-symmetry forcefields that serve to absorb the inertial forces of space flight which would otherwise cause fatal injury to the crew.
Interior Lighting	Includes normal lighting, infrared lighting (for during combat) and emergency (dimmer) lighting.
Internal Security Systems	Internal security systems are there for those ships which expect trouble and may face the possibility of being boarded, they are also there for vessels like prison ships, diplomatic transports and so forth where onboard security is a definite issue. There are a number of Internal security packages all of which offer different options as follows: Basic Security; this provides numerous onboard cameras, and the ability to channel an electrical charge into the floor of the ships airlocks which causes D10 electrical damage each round unless the target has some form of protection or insulation. Intermediate Security; this provides all of the above, plus microphones. In addition the vessel is compartmentalized with heavy duty blast door at major intersections of the vessel. These doors are 200 HPs, allowing each compartmentalized section to also be air tight and thus in the case of explosive decompression only lose access to that breached compartment. This also means that via the environmental control a ships captain can also drain the air out of a specific section of the vessel. Advanced Security; this provides all of the above in addition to this the vessel now has at least one of the following mounted in each corridor - Electrified floor (does D10 electrical damage) Retractable laser Rifle mounts in the walls (3D10 damage). Sleep Gas dispensers (fall asleep for 30 minutes) Force Fields (These cannot be crossed unless disabled first).
Laboratory	For analysing biological, atmospheric and geological samples. Laboratories are almost always catered towards one of the sciences (biology, physics, chemistry, anthropology, astrophysics, psychology and so on). They are most commonly found on science vessels or vessels which are commonly out in unexplored territory or exposed to new things. A laboratory is for study, analysis and cataloguing as pertinent to the relevant science covered by it.
Landing Drone	Larger version of atmoprobe which also tests soil and collects cultures.
Landing Gear	Landing Gear is rather self explanatory, and is installed within a vehicle so that it can be extended or retracted as needed should a vessel be about to land.
Life Boat	10 person escape capsule with supplies for 1 month.
Life Support	Provides all the elements necessary to keep the ship’s inhabitants alive including food storage and preparation, water, waste processing and disposal. Also creates a breathable and suitable atmosphere anywhere within the ship which can be reconfigured.
Magnetic Shield	Prevents effects of radiation, vacuum, micro debris, etc from entering or affecting the ship.
Medlab	Fully equipped medical facilities for treating 1 person per ranking of lab.
Military ECM	This higher specification system can also destroy the Smart Missile. Only obtainable at larger Shipyards.
Mine Dispenser	This is designed to drop mines throughout space at predetermined intervals. It is designed along a rack dispenser arrangement where the mines are moved up to the hatch dispensed and the next one moves up into place. The smallest version holds 10 and it can be bought in increments of 10. Any vessel with a mine Deployer can drop one mine per round with a distance between them equal to the distance covered by the vessel based on its speed. Typically vessels dropping mines slow right down in order to cover as much of the area with mines as they can, minimising the distance between them. In this way if a mine explodes and another mine is within the blast radius that mine too explodes and as a result the damage is increased for every mine exploded in addition to the original.
Mining	This heavy duty robot prospects, mines and refines minerals for you.
Naval Shields	This is a precautionary device used by starships entering combat, asteroid belts, gas clouds, and uncharted regions. Basically it insulates the ship from contact with minor asteroids, meteorites, crashing ships, and other forms of space debris that might collide with the ship.
Passenger Cabin	Suitable for one person. It comes with life support, food dispenser and holovid screen. An extra facility is the automatic decor control which changes in order to compliment the mood of the occupants. It is activated by sensors of heat and pheromones. Two or more can be bought and connected to make a larger room to contain more people. A first class cabin must be at least 6 meters square. A journey class cabin must be at least 4 meters square.
Radar	Radar systems use both radio waves and laser light to send emissions out from the ship where they will bounce off of targets. The bounced waves become signals that the sensor can track with a high degree of precision. Unfortunately radar systems travel at the speed of light, so at long ranges the information returned to a ship can be quite old after the time it took the emissions to travel to the target and then back again. Also like radio communications, the radio waves used by the a radar system can be easily blocked, although while the laser light system is much harder to block in this method it can be blocked as well.
Radar Mapper	Scans for information on a targeted ship.
Radio, Subspace	A subspace radio is used for sending messages between distant planets and star systems. Subspace communicators send coded tachyon beams that must be broadcast from very carefully aimed dish antenna to hit their target planet or system. A subspace message crosses 1 light year per hour. However, subspace radios mounted on ships use the ship's power supply and do not need their own battery.
Radio, Videocom	This communication device broadcasts a combined picture and voice message that travels at the speed of light. It is useful over relatively short distances in space, and when communicating between points on a planet or from an orbiting vessel or station to the planet. A videocom message takes one second to travel 300,000 kilometres.
Ramscoop	These devices act as magnets for hydrogen. When combined with a fusion engine, ramscoops allow a ship to refuel itself. A ship can gain one day of fuel per day of travel when moving between planets. Higher speeds mean faster refuelling, at the GM’s discretion.
Reflective Hull	Reduce damage from energy weapons by 10%, it is simply coated over any normal hull.
Remote Handling Arms	These advanced lifting mechanisms are usually fitted to the outside of a craft and when unfolded from their protective cowling are used to manipulate salvage, clamp onto neighbouring ships, etc. The cost of each pair of arms includes an external camera which shows the operator what the arms are doing.
Repair Drone	Repair Drones are small robots that automatically move about the vessel interior of any ship Size class 3 or larger, fixing and maintaining the vessel.
Running Lights	These serve to both illuminate the outside of the ship when its dark and highlight its name, registration, etc.
Self Destruct System	A Self Destruct System is a means by which a vessel can be destroyed by an explosion automatically. This is most often installed in vessels where the owner does not wish their identity to be discovered in the event of capture, or for certain suicidal organizations who ram a vessel and self destruct at the last instant ensuring that they take the enemy with them. It is also installed in vessels that are one of a kind in order to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. A Self Destruct almost always requires two verbal command codes, one from the captain and one from the executive officer. Some larger vessels choose to increase the number of codes necessary to activate a self destruct, but once activated the ships captain then determines a countdown until the destruction this can be anywhere from zero rounds (instant) to 24 hours. The Self Destruct works by causing the power plant of a vessel to feedback upon itself until it explodes. It can be deactivated once set but once again requires verbal codes from the main officers onboard. It can also be overridden be a skilled computer operator with access to the ships computer. Damage varies according to the size of the vessel and what it had on board.
Slave Circuits	Slave Circuits are a mean by which a vessel can be installed with the relevant machinery to operate it remotely, in much the same way as a Remote operations unit allows a Robot to be operated remotely. In such circumstances a controlling unit or vessel requires a Remote Operation workstation, or if multiple vessels are being operated it is even feasible to have each controlled by an individual remote operator.
Solar Shields	Protects the ship and all within from the effects of high radiation planets or nuclear areas.
Stairway/ Ladder	For standard use or in emergencies when elevators are not functioning.
Tachyon Radar	2000km radius, able to track up to 500 targets.
Tractor beam	This is a powerfully energized electromagnetic beam which draws objects toward it. The object is held just within the beam's range and can be drawn in at a rate of 2kms per second. The beaming ship must cut its speed to zero before it can draw in the tractored object. Spaceships can use this device on any ship eight hull sizes less than the beaming ship's own hull size.
Translator	Translate known languages instantly, unknown languages require 1 day of continuous input (-1hr per successful roll of translator).
Transponder	These are designed to carry information on the Charioteer registry codes, owning faction and home port of the ship, thus allowing the rapid return of salvaged vessels. Any ship which does not return a transponder request can be assumed to be a pirate vessel and may be attacked with no legal consequences.
Transponder, Variable	A variable transponder is a highly illegal item which can be configured to transmit a false ID code. This piece of equipment is invaluable to smugglers, pirates and other spaceship owners with extra-legal activities as it transmits a false, usually squeaky-clean, identification signal.
Transporter (Personal) Orbit to Surface	Transporters are matter-energy conversion devices that take an object or being and transform it into a pattern of phased energy that can be transmitted as a complex trans-barrier signal through the first level of subspace (or hyperspace) domain to a set of desired coordinates. At the desired coordinates, it is reintegrated into its original structure. Normal range is 40,000 km. The range for emergency or shuttle based Transporters is 15,000 km.
Transporter (Cargo) Orbit to Surface	This teleportation device works like a personal teleporter except it is designed for Cargo or large numbers of people. Cargo Pad’s are almost always installed into the cargo holds of a vessel. Each Cargo Teleporter can teleport up or down up to 5 tons or 100 people in close proximity in any one use.
Water Flotation System	Although starships are designed to work in non-atmospheric environments very few are designed to resist the pressures imposed on their hulls by immersion in deep water. This system of air-filled cushions allows the ship deploying them to maintain a neutral buoyancy if it is forced to land in water. The cushions are filled either from compressed air bottles (in emergencies), or using the ship's atmospheric hydrolysis life-support system to provide the air (for routine use).
Winch/Crane	This is exactly what it says, a winching mechanism fitted either inside a ship's cargo hold or externally and designed to lift or haul loads. The purchaser can choose how the crane is controlled, whether by directly supervised operation, or from the Engineering Section or Bridge of the ship.
Workpod	One person space going toolbox that enables a person to make repairs or perform construction work. It has 100 HPs, 4 mechanical arms, a welder, a riveter and any other modular tools as needed.
Workshop	Workshops are the repair bays aboard ship. If something needs fixing or replacing it is usually here that it is done. Basic machinery is present like drills, lathes, saws, raw materials, spare parts and so forth. Workshops however are not factories. Big constructions cannot be produced in them like vehicles and so forth. However tools could be made, weapons, armour or robots etc can be constructed providing the relevant parts or materials were available, but not in great numbers or speedily. Every ship of Size Class 4 or higher must have one Workshop for every full 50 passengers and crew or fraction thereof. This ensures things are able to stay in good repair. Workshops can be combined together to create larger repair bays, if four are combined then vehicles can be repaired or modified within them.

Step 7: Screens

Screens afford additional shielding to the normal damage resistance of a hull. More than one can be fitted at once and the effect is cumulative. They recharge from the ship’s power system, and each shield takes a fixed amount of time to do so. For example a large ship with ten screen generators will take the same time to recharge as a ship with one screen. The ship with ten however, will achieve the same defence as the ship with one screen in a tenth of the time because of the additive effect of Screen Generators.
Screens can be used to counter Beam, Disruptor, Electron, Fission, Ion, Meson, Particle, Plasma and Proton energy weapons. There is a separate screen type for each different type of energy weapon. Energy Screens do not so much deflect attacks as absorb them, activating a field that neutralizes destructive energy entering it. However, the field itself is neutralized when it absorbs the barrage. In this way, the screen overloads and becomes useless after so many attacks.

The screen must tap energy directly from the ship's generator in order to function. The total amount of damage that can be absorbed by a screen is 50 points per available Screen Generator.

Step 8: Weapons
Weapon Type	Damage	Range in atmosphere	Notes
Accelerator	x10	-25%	Increases the damage of any energy based weapon by a factor of 10.
Beam Cannon	D10 x100	800 metres	Fires an intense, concentrated beam of light.
Disruptor Battery	2D6 x100	2 kms	Fires an intense beam of alternating protons and electrons.
Electron Battery	8D6 x20	1500 metres	Fires an electrical beam of negatively charged particles.
Fission Cannon	D12 x100	1500 metres	Disrupts the molecular attraction that holds matter together causing said molecules to fly apart.
ICMs	D10 x10	100 metres	Interceptor Missiles are small missiles which can be fired at incoming projectiles including other missiles, holding 15 each.
Ion Cannon	D8 x100	1 km	Fires an intense beam of ionised particles.
Mass Driver	D100 x1000	100 kms	Fires projectiles with the damage of a nuke but minus the radiation.
Meson Battery	D20 x100	2300 metres	Create a point of decay at the target causing a high energy explosion.
Mine	D100 x100	N/a	Explodes over a 100 metre radius.
Particle Cannon	10D10 x14	1700 metres	Fires charged nuclei at target.
Plasma Cannon	10D10 x15	2 kms	Fires highly energised beam of ionised gas at target.
Point Defence	D10 x20	50 metres	Identical to ICMs but use a cluster of 15 mini rail guns instead.
Proton Battery	9D6 x20	1700 metres	Fires an electrical beam of positively charged particles.
Rail Gun I	3D6 x20	1400 metres	Ship mounted gauss weapon.
Rail Gun II	4D6 x20	1500 metres
Rail Gun III	5D6 x20	1600 metres
Rail Gun IV	6D6 x20	1700 metres
Rail Gun V	7D6 x20	1800 metres
Rocket Battery	2D6 x100	10 kms	Cluster of missile launchers, holding 5 each.
Sandcaster	N/a	10 metre radius	Projects a granular agent which obstructs light and interferes with beam weapons reducing damage by 25%.

Weapon Mounts
Bay	Large weapon mount able to move to point at the target.
Gun	Small mount able to move to point at the target.
Retractable	Any mounts smaller than very large.
Spinal	A fixed large mount which the entire ship is built around.
Turret	Moderate mount able to move to point at the target.

Ship Type	Description
Agriculture Starship	Hull Size 8-20. These are among the most expensive ships to build and move because of the large amount of mass (such as water) that they must carry. Food is grown hydroponically to produce as much as possible in the shortest time. They use solar energy from the stars but also have auxiliary power sources to provide the light and heat needed by the growing plants. An Agriculture ship can support a number of people equal to its Hull Size x 200. The cost of outfitting an agriculture spaceship is determined by multiplying the base cost of the materials needed to grow and tend the crops by the ship's hull size. The hull, drives, life support and other required systems must be purchased normally. The ships require 4 crew +1 per 5 Hull Size (most of the work being done by robots).
Assault Carrier	Hull Size 14-17. Assault carriers serve as mobile bases for fighter squadrons. A carrier transports fighters to the scene of a battle, launches them, and recovers and re-arms fighters that survive the battle. Because of the large amount of maintenance required by fighters, an assault carrier carries 300 to 400 crew members. Most carriers have a complement of 5 to 8 fighters, but some of the largest can carry 12 or more.
Assault Transport	Hull Size 8-10. Assault transports carry very few weapons relying heavily on other ships for protection. A transport can carry from 600 to 1,000 troopers, however. The ship's cargo hold carries one shuttle for every 100 soldiers.
Battleship	Hull Size 19-40. These are the mightiest warships and carry about 400 crew members. A battleship has excellent manoeuvrability and acceleration, and can absorb considerable damage. The biggest disadvantage of the battleship is its extreme cost.
Destroyer	Hull Size 6. Destroyers carry 40 to 50 crew members. They are very similar to frigates, being only slightly larger and a bit less manoeuvrable but with greater firepower.
Exploration Ship	Hull Size 3-20. Exploration ships are civilian versions of scouts. They have the same performance capabilities but are usually unarmed. Instead of weapons they carry sophisticated computers and mapping devices for exploring the unknown reaches of the galaxy. As travelling in unmapped regions is a very risky business (10 to 20% of all exploratory missions are never heard from again), exploration ship crews are kept as small as possible. A wide variety of miscellaneous equipment can be carried by an exploration ship. Occasionally a large research starship will be outfitted and manned for an exploratory mission. This generally occurs when a standard exploration ship would be too small for the expedition's needs.
Fighter	Hull Size 1. Fighters are small, single seat spaceships. They are fast and manoeuvrable but easy to destroy.
Freighter	Hull Size 5-30. Freighters can be built in a wide variety of sizes, and most have much longer ranges than shuttles. These vessels can be used for many jobs. They are used to transport minerals from mining centres on asteroids or uninhabited planets to large processing centres. In star systems where several planets are inhabited, they may carry passengers between those planets.
Frigate	Hull Size 4-5. The frigate is the smallest of the warships. Carrying 25 to 30 crew members, frigates can make high speed patrols and serve as escorts.
Heavy Cruiser	Hull Size 15-18. Heavy cruisers are among the slowest and least manoeuvrable starships. Heavy cruisers are being phased out by some races in favour of modern battleships.
Light Cruiser	Hull Size 11-14. Light cruisers carry 70 to 100 crew members. These ships tend to be fast and well-armed, but cannot absorb as much damage as a heavy cruiser or battleship.
Minelayer	Hull Size 7. Minelayers carry 30 to 40 crew members. Although larger than a destroyer, a minelayer has a smaller area devoted to living quarters for the crew since most of the ship is used to store mines and missiles.
Mining Ship	Hull Size 8-20. Mining ships are used to remove valuable ores, minerals, metals and other resources from asteroids and planets. The ship's processing facilities remove valuable materials from the rock or dirt being mined and jettison the tailings. When a planet is mined, the mining ship sends several shuttles (carried in the miner's cargo hold) down to the surface, where the digging and processing takes place. Only the valuable materials are brought back to the ship. When an asteroid is mined, the processing takes place in the mining ship. Digger robots are used to bore into the asteroid and carry the raw ore back to the mining ship .
Scientific Research Ship	Hull Size 3-7. Research ships are basically self propelled laboratories. They are used to explore, map and analyse the planets, asteroids, moons and stars of a given star system as well as deep space phenomena.
Scout	Hull Size 3. Less firepower than a fighter but with the ability to make interstellar trips. They also serve as rescue ships and combat vessels.
Shuttle	Hull Size 2. Shuttles are small ships that can land on the surface of a planet and take off again. They can fly into orbit around planets, fly between planets and in some cases between stars. Shuttles are the least expensive spaceships to build. Shuttles are used to transport passengers and supplies from starships or space stations to a planet's surface, and from planets to ships in orbit.
Spaceliner	Hull Size 6-15. Passenger transports come in a wide variety of sizes and are fast, capable of providing the wealthy with any conceivable luxury.
Space Station	Hull Size 20-60. These are large outposts that orbit planets and serve as a base of operations for other ships. They have no means of propulsion aside from station keeping thrusters. They are constructed in orbit around a planet and stay there through their entire service. Space stations vary widely in size and cost. Most spin so that centrifugal force will simulate gravity around the station's outer rim. It is not uncommon for a station to have a population of several thousand more or less permanent residents. Space station hulls are ring-shaped, with a dock for space ships at the centre of the ring. Any type of ship may dock with a station depending on its size and may use its weapons to help defend the station. Starships and large system ships cannot land on planets, so they transfer cargo and passengers while docked at space stations. Shuttles are used to transport goods and passengers between the station and the planet's surface. Larger stations carry large quantities of supplies that are loaded onto ships as they are needed. Space stations usually serve as bases for spaceship operations and as links for space-planetary communications and travel. At major starship air docks and military bases, as many as six or eight Type 25 stations may be linked in a line, but these orbiting giants are rare. The types of ships that can be docked at various stations are listed below. Not all space stations fit the descriptions above. Such stations are designed and built to serve a specific purpose, and are not equipped to serve as bases for spaceships. Space stations can be used for agriculture, scientific research and planetary defence. Stations designed for planetary defence are designated fortresses and can serve as bases for military ships. A fortress may even have a small complement of fighters that can be launched and re-armed there. Spaceships can be built only at Spacestation Factories. Every construction centre is rated as a Class I, Class II or Class III centre. All centres consist of at least one Type 20 space station. The docking bays of these Spaceship Construction Centres are large, open areas. Often specific docks in the bay may be enclosed to contain air pressure, so workers do not need to wear spacesuits; these are called airdocks. Class I Centres can construct any type of military or civilian ship. Class II Centres can construct any Military hulls of type 6 or smaller and hulls for civilian purposes of type 14 or less. Class III Centres are used only for the construction of system ships, since installing and adjusting jump engines requires equipment that is not available at these smaller centres. Any size civilian system ship can be built at a Class III centre, but these centres will never be used for the construction of military vessels.

Faster than Light Travel Drives

There are various different ways for a ship to travel faster than light;
1) Making space into waves, and skipping between the crests (Jump Drive).
2) Bringing points in space closer together (Fold Drive).
3) Changing the speed of light around the ship (Warp Drive).
4) Reducing the ship's mass is reduced to 0, and it can go any speed (Contra Gravity or Anti Gravity).
5) Leaving our universe and going through a parallel dimension (Hyperspace Drive).
6) Entering subspace and taking a bubble of real space with you (Warp Drive).
7) Compressing space around the ship to make the distance shorter (Warp Drive).
8) Converting the ship to a type of energy when it leaves and reconverts to matter at it's end destination (Transmat Drive).

Accretion Drive

Also known as the "rubber band" principle. You have a rubber band looped around your right index finger, then you take your left index finger and stretch the rubber band. Then let go of the rubber band with your right index finger. The rubber band hasn't actually moved (in the normal sense), but now it's on your other hand. Apply this principle to a spaceship moving through space.

Astral Drive

A form of dimensional travel within the same universe. Since the Astral plane is connected to every part of the universe, any point in real space can be reached almost instantaneously by a brief trip through Astral space.

Fold Drive

The following scenarios present themselves as space folding methods;
1. The vessel creates a wormhole and travels through it to another location.
2. The vessel instantly swaps places with another object at a distant location, it must be exactly same mass for it to work.
3. The vessel brings two points in space together, co-existing in both locations for a brief moment.

By AJ Pickett and Joshua Bell

Hyperspace Drive

This involves the ship entering a parallel universe where there is a higher speed of light. When the journey is complete the ship returns to real space.

Jump Drive

Another spacial distortion effect causing the sheet of space/time to ripple, creating peaks and troughs that the ship can skip across, kind of a skipping stone on the pond of space. The range and propagation rate of this effect determines how long it takes before the Jump drive can move. The enormous energy charge takes a while to generate and very tricky navigation requires a big computer to work out, but travel between two locations can happen very quickly. With the ship appearing and vanishing in a stuttered fashion across space, the crew seeing the universe in a series of flashing teleports, speeding along from point to point and ignoring the areas in between.

Normally local curvature of space caused by massive objects and gravity effects can prevent the safe use of a jump drive, but they are great across the void between stars. Some Jump drives are capable of dropping in and out of intersecting subspace wormholes, navigating the contorted space using pure mathematics, because the reality outside the ship is beyond the ability of the senses to understand. One miscalculation and the ship drops into a black hole or becomes trapped in a recursive time loop.

By AJ Pickett and Joshua Bell

Parallax Drive

The ship doesn't actually go anywhere, it just shifts over to a universe where you're already at your destination. From there you can then shift back into your own universe. Of course some universes are more dangerous than others.

Quantum Drive

This involves the ship travelling backward in time to a point where the universe is sufficiently small that your starting and destination points are close to each other. You then move to your destination point and return to your original time zone. The problem is that you have to get your position in the small universe exactly right, or you might be two or three galaxies away from where you want to be. Then of course there's the various temporal hazards.

Subspace Drive

The best explanation is that subspace is the substrate within which our universe exists. A subspace field is either a forced or natural intrusion of this domain into our own space, altering the behaviour of things within our space-time. The subspace barrier is the albeit flimsy dividing line between the two continuums.

Manifold is a term used to describe the form our own universe takes when viewed from a higher (theoretical) dimension. This is also called a deeper level of subspace; another universe which is connected to ours by subspace.

Whenever our space-time is distorted or torn, or large amounts of energy released (explosions) there are subspace effects; wormholes and Transwarp Conduits are good examples where subspace plays a part in the effect.

Subspace fields (the kind that move starships around) are intentional manifestations of subspace in our space-time, caused by the controlled release of energy in a warp field coil. These fields have many effects, often depending on the intensity.

* They leave subspace distortions behind even when they're gone.
* An object placed in a subspace field has a reduced inertial mass relative to things outside the field.
* A symmetrical field ("Warp bubble") with enough power can create an entirely new universe, but it may not be stable.
* An asymmetrical field can propel the generating ship at the speed of light; nested fields propel the ship at the speed of light relative to the field beyond.
* A subspace Soliton wave can carry a ship at the propagation speed of the wave.
* A field can be embedded in an object.
* Overlapping static warp shells can create an artificial subspace barrier in a localized region of space-time.

You can think of subspace as being the "medium" in which our space-time exists. The nearest parts (nearest being measured by the energy it takes to access them) are tightly coupled to our own universe, and can be thought of as being mapped to our space-time. This is what sensors generally read, and what the subspace fields of warp drive are interacting with. Slightly deeper parts can connect points in our universe to others. Wormholes and Transwarp Conduits are this sort of thing. Deeper still are the "untamed wilds", and, even further down are entirely separate universes, all held together by subspace.

Subspace is not in an alternate reality, or "place", or space-time where things go or at least, they don't go in the world of Star Trek. It is not entered by a starship at warp. A ship creates a subspace field which acts like another universe very tightly coupled to our own. If I was inside such a field and you were outside, we could conduct a conversation, shake hands, etc. But when the field is powerful enough and asymmetric, it is propulsive.

Nested decoupling fields magnify the effect considerably. But the ship still interacts with everything in our universe, and vice versa, as the level of subspace in which the field exists is so tightly coupled to our own that it appears no "fancier" than say a magnetic field if you're looking closely at it.
The weakest subspace fields do appear very similar to traditional fields, like magnetic fields.
They have associated particles Tetryons and Verterons which are only of importance when dealing with subspace.. basically Verterons mess up an equipment trying to create or manipulate subspace, and Tetryons are only stable within subspace but highly unstable in normal space.

To keep Special Relativity happy subspace doesn't need to follow the rules of relativity. Subspace might have a unique reference frame and everything enclosed in a subspace field has the reference frame of subspace.

By AJ Pickett and Joshua Bell

Transmat Drive

Simply matter/energy/matter conversion. The object/ship/person is converted into pure energy, zips across space faster than light and is received and converted back, or converts itself back (ships drive) into matter again. The idea is teleportation and believe it or not it's not that improbable, just very hard to get right.

By AJ Pickett and Joshua Bell

Warp Drive

Warp: In the world as we know it, nothing but sub-atomic particles have been found to travel faster than light, so to move ships the warp drive creates a warp field, a subspace "bubble" that changes the nature of time, movement and gravity around the ship. Using warp coils very large amounts of energy and very careful engineering, the ship can attain speeds many times that of light.

A powerful, asymmetric subspace field is established around the ship by the warp nacelles. The field is composed of nested layers each pushing against the one beyond it. This drives the ship forward at a super-luminal velocity. The nacelles are powered by a tuned plasma stream from the warp core Matter/Antimatter Reactor (M/AMR). Injectors feed the plasma into warp field coil segments at specific times, causing pulses to run the length of the nacelle, front to back. This peristaltic flow causes the push of the nested warp fields, and moves the ship forward.

The warp field wraps around the ship in a two-lobed bubble, with the locus at Main Engineering (by design). Meanwhile the subspace field reduces the inertial mass of the ship aiding in manoeuvring. In fact a small subspace field is kept around the ship at Impulse speeds, so the Impulse drives have less mass to push around. However this is only a side effect and is NOT the mechanism used to allow FTL travel.

By AJ Pickett and Joshua Bell

Index	The Alien Legion Netbook	Allies	Attributes
Basilica City	Campaigns	Classes	Cosmic Creation Netbook
Dimensions	Enemies	GM's Guide	The Grimmoire
History of the Heroes World	The Intelligence Agencies Guide	Links	The Micronauts Netbook
Organisation Creation Guide	Our Universe	The Post Apocalypse Era	Powers
The Pulp Era	The Roman Era	Skills	The Starship Construction Guide
The Strikeforce Morituri Netbook	Third Parties	The Totems Sourcebook	The Underworld and Terrorist Guide