Future Imperfect - Starships

Characters need to get places. The universe is vast, a cycle with a sidecar will only get you and your partner so far. When you absolutely, positively need to get from Terra to Deneb, starships are the way to make that happen.

Tech Level

As with most gear, the quality of starship components vary widely due to tech level. The differences are borne out via computer mark, drives (FTL and TISA) and secondary systems such as EW/ECM.

Types of Starships

The Starship is perhaps the most expensive equipment a PC will ever meet up with in his career. Values are typically stated in MegaCredits (MCR = 1,000,000 CR), vastly beyond the means of most characters. Yet a PC will have many opportunities for employment and adventure aboard naval or civilian Starships, whether or not he has the chance to purchase his own ship.

Commercial Starships

A commercial vessel is designed for transportation of passengers and cargo, It will possess defensive armaments, but NovaGun calibers will not exceed N175, StarTorpedoes will be ST*157s only, and heavy MegaBolt energy torpedo turrets will never be installed. Armor will not exceed +12/+10, and forcefield BattleScreens will not exceed +12. The stresses which the firing of heavy weapons produce are beyond the ability of a commercial hull to withstand. The defenses and armaments mentioned are sufficient to hold off a pirate or privateer; if the vessel is a naval cruiser, to seriously meet its challenge would require a warship, not a merchantman designed for profit instead of destructive capability.

Naval Starships

A naval vessel is designed for war and reflects the thinking of naval planners as to what the best “marriage” of speed, guns, and armor should be. While it has cargo stowage, its holds will be relatively small. The Starship Design statistics reflect civilian Starship speeds at the 10,000t displacement level and higher; all naval craft are capable of +10 LS speed and +5 acceleration above those standards. For instance, a commercial vessel is capable of 150 LS speed and +15 LS acceleration if it is of 75,000t displacement; a naval vessel of the same size will be able to attain 160 LS and +20 LS acceleration. That bonus is built into naval Starship engines and is obtained “free,” in addition to whatever levels are actually purchased. Naval hulls are designed to accept all ordinance given in the Starship Design statistics.

Q-Ships

The Navy and the IPA (Interstellar Police) use Q-Ships or heavily armed and armored merchantmen of cruiser capability to lure pirates to their doom. Outwardly, these vessels resemble lightly armed and armored merchantmen, but they contain concealed gun turrets, torpedo launchers, and armor of vastly higher quality. They also carry a complement of StarFighters for high-speed pursuit.

Starship Design and Construction

Should a person desire a Starship, he can engage a naval architect. At least one such firm will be located near the commercial shipyards found in all class A and B StarPorts. For a fee of about CR 25,000 plus CR 2,500 per 100t of displacement, the architect custom designs the Starship required in approximately 4 weeks. The time may be adjusted by the Master depending on circumstances and requested ship parameters. In gaming terms, this procedure represents determining just how much a specially designed vessel will cost to build, with the player going through the design section and working out the specifications desired. Half the fee must be paid in advance, with the balance due upon delivery of the plans.

Shipyards

Any class A or B StarPort wilt have multile shipyards capable of constructing the Starship a PC desires. A PC can go to each and obtain an “estimate” of the costs. Determining the cost offered by each shipyard is an extended merchant task, or minigame, as determined by the Master.

Construction Times

Upon payment of 10% down on the project, the shipyard will commence work on the Starship ordered. Class A shipyards require 10 days plus 1 day per 1000t of hull displacement to complete the project. Class B shipyards require an additional 10% + 1d10% to do the same work. The PC ordering the ship has that time period to arrange bank financing or a government subsidy to pay the balance on delivery. Most shipyards will insist upon the financing being arranged within the first 10 days of construction.

Standard Design Starships

A number of standard commercial Starships and private yachts and prospecting vessels are provided in these rules, representing commonly purchased vessels. These ships can be purchased quite readily at -10% reduction. Construction time is 90% of that required for custom vessels because of the familiarity of the shipyards with the design.

Starship Technology

What follows are the standard starship technologies in the universe provided for Future Imperfect. Your Master may have his own set of starship rules. If so, these section can be ignored.

Sub-Light Maneuver Drive

With the development of TISA or Trans-Gravitic lnterphased Sub- Light Anomaly maneuver drive, space travel entered a new era. Released from the constraints of inefficient, fuel-gobbling reaction motors, Newtonian laws of motion, and the physical limitations of personnel to withstand high acceleration for sustained periods, TISA powered spacecraft are capable of attaining speeds approaching that of light. “Phased out” of the normal universe by the TISA anomaly field, ships become almost “mini-universes” in their own right.

To the outside observer, a TISA powered ship appears to be an elongated teardrop of brilliant blue-white incandescence.

The event horizon of the anomaly marks a “connecting surface” which maintains a tenuous link between the ship and the external universe. A drag effect is exerted by the very fabric of normal space as it seeks to return the anomaly to the continuum. While it is theoretically possible for a ship to attain the speed of light under TISA, in practice the Torch drive encounters such tremendous resistance that velocities above 280 LS (light-seconds) have rarely been attained. Field strengths are so delicately balanced at high speeds that FTL hyperwarps are created when ships attempt to exceed design limits.

TISA (Torch) Drive Speed Rating: Maneuver drives are rated according to their maximum economical or “cruising” velocities, maximum velocity before FTL hyper-acceleration and insertion occurs, and acceleration/deceleration rates. These limits are all stated in LS or light-seconds of distance covered in a 5-minute period. For example, a ship rated at Cruise: 75 LS, Maximum: 150 LS, and Acceleration: 10 LS, can cruise at speeds up to 75 LS without using an appreciable amount of anti-matter fuel. If velocities exceed 75 LS, #1 or one unit of fuel will be expended each hour (or fraction thereof) per 1000 tons of ship’s displacement, and a maximum 150 LS can be attained. The acceleration rating of the engines allows the vessel to increase or decrease its speed up to 10 LS in a 5-minute period.

Deceleration can be rapid if one is prepared to place the drive units at risk. Velocity at sub-light speeds is maintained by the intensity of the anomaly field. The drag of normal space upon the field interface can be used to brake the ship. If deceleration is made at a rate faster than the acceleration rating, a 1% chance exists per 5 LS of deceleration that the drive units will shut down entirely. Warp stresses may cause a “Sub-Light Maneuver Drive Circuitry Overload” breakdown (consult the action card and the engineering minigame section).

If deceleration occurs, a ship must “work up” to desired velocities at the rated level of acceleration. Using the previous example, if a drive shutdown occurred, the ship could work up to the maximum speed of 150 LS for which it was rated at 10 LS increments per 5 minutes, attaining 150 LS velocity in 75 minutes or a little over an hour.

Naval vessels are designed for speed, not economy, and their engines will typically be capable of higher accelerations than those of civilian commercial and private craft. Some naval vessels are also capable of “emergency overboost” accelerations. Vessels with “overboost” expend the equivalent of 1 LY worth of fuel per 1,000t displacement for each 5 minutes that the acceleration is applied. Overboost permits triple the rated acceleration.

It should be noted that the acceleration formula (D = ‘1/2 at 2) is ignored in these rules. When a ship accelerates/decelerates, the velocity change is considered to be “instantaneous” to simplify game mechanics. This means that a ship rated at Acceleration: 10 LS will immediately increase/decrease its velocity by up to 10 LS/5 minutes at the beginning of the movement phase of the turn in which the acceleration/deceleration is ordered. If the ship were moving at 90 LS in the previous turn, and 8 LS deceleration is ordered for the current turn, the ship moves 90 - 8 = 82 LS in the current turn.

A TISA drive unit can propel a spacecraft in any direction quite independent of Newtonian laws of motion. Anomalies are separate from the normal universe and are not bound by the laws governing the motion of objects in standard space. Thus players do not have to plot vectors when making course changes. The ships merely move along their courses and, when required, turn on the proverbial “dime.”

Piloting a ship under TISA power is a standard task, or minigame, depending on the situation as determined by the Master.

FTL Warp Drives

The FTL Warp Drive is a faster-than-light propulsion system which uses anomaly drive to send a Starship past the speed of light (a shade over 300 LS), “translating” it into Tachyon hyperspaçe. Under Warp Drive, a Starship becomes totally isolated. There is no longer an interface (anomaly “event horizon”) linking the ship with the normal universe. For all intents and purposes, it ceases to exist. From the point of view of its crew, the entire universe ceases to exist as well. Thus Starships are undetectable under Warp Drive, but FTL combat is also impossible. Each ship, unless physically linked to another, is in its own separate universe.

In FTL mode, a Starship “moves” faster than light because it is not “in” the normal universe at all. However, the crew cannot “look out” of the FTL Warp; until the Starship drops back below light speed, the universe is simply not there to see!

Warp Factor: All FTL drive Units are rated according to a warp factor or the number of light years that the Starship can alter position in a 24-hour period.

Fuel Consumption: Starships consume an appreciable amount of fuel (nuclear or anti-matter) in FTL travel. All drive Units are rated for a Cruising Speed, and fuel consumption is based on the amount of fuel expended to cover 100 LY at cruising velocities or lower. If the Warp factor is increased over the rated Cruise levels, an additional 5% of fuel is expended per LY of increased Warp speed.

a ship is rated at maximum warp factor 20 LY, and a cruise speed of warp factor 60% or 12 LY. It consumes #250 in fuel per 100 LY covered. The Captain has to make a high-speed FTL passage of 74 LY, so he orders maximum Warp factor, which is 8 LY over the cruising rate. This results in 140% expenditure of fuel, for a total expenditures of 1.4 x 74/100 x #250 = #259 rather than a cruising fuel expenditure of 74/1 00 x #250 = 185.

Note: The symbol (#) is the universal symbol for 10 kg of nuclear or anti-matter fuel.

Planetary & Stellar Gravitic Disturbance Zones

Warp Drives will not function within the gravity fields of major planets and stars when the field strengths are too high.

Major Planet: Zone = 100 planetary diameters from the planet.
Main Sequence Star: Zone = 10000 LS from the star.
Sub-Giant: Zone = 20000 LS from the star.
Giant: Zone = 35000 LS from the star.
SuperGiant: Zone = 50000 LS from the star.

Using the Sol system as an example of your average main sequence star, the average distance of Uranus is 10,000 LS from the sun, while Neptune is 15,000. Earth is a mere 500 LS from the sun. If one were to travel at light speed (300 LS), it would take about 2 hours and 46 minutes to travel the 10,000 LS from the maximum FTL translation distance to the center of the solar system.

FTL Voyage Times

FTL jumps are in fractions or multiples of 24 hours. For example, a ship is rated at Warp factor 15. It will travel 15 LY in 24 hours. If making a short jump from Terra to Alpha Centauri, the 4.3 LY will be traversed in 4.3/15 x 24 = 6.88 hours.

There is sometimes a “time compression” phenomena experienced by Starship crews during an FTL hyperjump. In such instances, the apparent elapsed time in Warp is 1/288th of the normal period. For instance, on a 4.3 LY run as outlined above, a “temporal compression” would reduce the time to 1/288 x 6.88 = 0.0239 hours or 1.43 minutes! If it could carry the fuel, such a ship would cross the 100,000 LY of the First Galaxy in 18 years and 96.67 days of real time, but a temporal compression would give the crew an awareness of only 23 days and some 31/2 hours elapsing since the start of the voyage. Attempting temporal compression is a difficult task for a Starship Engineer.

Of course, these are times only for the FTL portion of the journey. Added to it will be the times required to run up to light-speed and the times to move through the stellar zone of gravitic disturbance at both the departure and arrival points.

FTL Astrogation

Success or failure of an FTL translation requires precise calculations, for the Astrogator will not be able to make star sightings to check the ship’s position once it enters hyperspace. It will be seen that not only the accuracy but also the distance of the course is determined by an Astrogator’s skill. The better the Astrogator, the longer the Hyperjump he can compute with accuracy. His total qualifications have a significant bearing on his skill. If the course is accurate, only the FTL Pilot’s skill in effecting a successful FTL Conversion will matter. But if there is a chance of a course error, this chance is added to the FTL Pilot’s chance of making an error in his FTL Conversion.

Time to Calculate Courses

See Starship Operations, below.

FTL Lost in Space

Danger, Antares Darkeye!

Whenever there is an error in Astrogation, a ship can arrive at a different set of coordinates from those anticipated. Similarly, whenever a Starship exceeds its design speed, an automatic FTL run up to light-speed and Hyperspace translation will commence. Unless the Astrogator can complete computations for an FTL jump before the ship attains 300 LS or light-speed, the ship’s destination will be totally random.

In the case of an inadvertent hyperwarp translation out of control, draw an action card to determine the direction and magnitude of the jump. Place the map of the current quadrant down with a mark denoting the current ship location. Determine direction with the clock face. Move the ship a number of light years equal to maximum warp times the step (1-5, if zero redraw). Next, place the ship on the z axis (coming toward or away from the reader) a number of light years equal to the impulse, move it up (in the plus direction on the star map) if the toggle is yes, down (the minus direction) if it is no. It should be noted that such an error can occur only when maneuvering outside of the gravitic- disturbance zone of a star and/or major planet.

Warp Emergence Detection

It is impossible to emerge from a hyperjump without the event becoming readily detectable by sensors or electromagnetic detectors within range of the point of emergence. The very fabric of Einsteinian space/time is momentarily rent by the translation from FTL to normal space.

A slight “curdling” of space occurs in the region of the emergence point for at least 5 minutes prior to the appearance of a warping vessel. This disturbance in the gravitic/electromagnetic balance of Einsteinian space/time is caused by the linking of the FTL warp of the Starship with its destination point. The time period is increased by a period of time relative to the length of the jump.

The spatial distortion often becomes the initial line of defense in space warfare. Patrol vessels picket the edge of the zone of gravitic disturbance around a star, scanning a large volume of space for any unscheduled warp emergence distortions, and especially for multiple distortions.

Detection is a TN 3 Systems Ops (sensors) task when physically patrolled by vessels, or passively patrolled by sensor buoys. Each range increment increases the difficulty one level.

Warp Course Prediction and Detection

While it is impossible to detect or to track a ship in hyperspace, the anomaly field frequency used by the target ship as it runs up to light-speed and FTL translation can be analyzed to deduce information about the ensuing jump. See the FTL Travel section for the procedure to successfully analyze the FTL field frequency. If the test is successful, the ship’s FTL Drive can possibly be engaged to follow the target vessel, with an accuracy such that the ship will emerge within a few hundred LS of the target’s emergence point. See the piloting and astrogation minigame for more information.

If the test is not successful, it is possible that they will detect the error and not initiate FTL pursuit (see the astrogation minigame). However, if the warp analysis error is undetected, a random (uncontrolled) hyperjump will occur. It should be noted that if the pursuing ship is capable of faster FTL travel than the target vessel, it will arrive at the destination first, possibly with enough time to locate the point of emergence and prepare a “warm reception” for the quarry.

Ejection Capsules

Every ship carries life capsules with an occupancy of 4 persons, with sufficient emergency capacity to take off the entire crew plus passengers. The capsules are mounted in the hull and are included in the basic price + accommodations installed. The capsule is capable of firing retro rockets to inject the capsule into a planetary atmosphere. The rockets will also automatically home the capsule in on any planet within 3 days’ range (about 5 LS or 1.5 million kilometers). A CR 1,000 Survival Kit is included, and may be stocked as desired.

Nova Guns

The Nova Gun is the ultimate in destructive energy weapons. This series of weapons was first developed from ForeRunner ordinance recovered by archaeologists of the Korelian Empire, and the weapons were immediately adopted by the StarFleets of every advanced culture.

Under maneuver drive, spacecraft attain such high velocities that ordinary Laser and Blaster fire is simply too slow to be effective. NovaFire is Tachyon-related, “phased” energy which arrives at a target’s predicted position within nanoseconds. It derives its energies from KTAM (Klysestron Anti-Matter) charges exploded in the VVR forcefield reinforced ignition chambers of the weapons under stellar core conditions. The resultant bolt of energy passes through hyperspace to emerge at the target position. If the KCX3 energy bolt is correctly “phased” to synchronise with the BattleScreens of the target, a powerful enough bolt will penetrate. Ranges are considerable; the heaviest armaments capable of projecting a pulsed beam to distances of about 1000 LS (some 300 million kilometers) before the sub-space anomaly field of the energy bolt itself dissipates.

The Nova energy bolt produces molecular and atomic disintegration in any matter struck by the charge. A target under NovaFire seems to have multiple nuclear fireballs flaring against its BattleScreens and hull, giving rise to many popular names: NovaGun, Sun Gun, Disintegrator, Needle Beam, and Phaser all being variously applied, depending on the locality.

The heavy naval rifles are mounted in automatic, armored turrets on the hull of the Starship. Only weapons of Nova calibers N*150 or less are crew-served. Heavier ordinance requires that the gun crews never enter the turrets when they are engaged and firing. No organism can survive the heat, hard radiation, and matter-distorting forcefields generated in the turret interiors. Heavy-duty servomechanisms perform all manual “crew” functions under the remote control of the turret commander and gun crew. Action stations for the gun crew are located in the turret command room and the magazines beneath the turret inside the armor belt of the hull. It is theoretically possible for the Chief Gunnery Officer to singlehandedly fight the ship. In practice, only the MekPurrs have achieved the degree of expertise with robotics to make this a combat efficient procedure. The heavy guns generally require the attention of a living gun crew to obtain maximum performance from the ordinance and the many other systems involved.

The turret “mass” noted in the Starship specifications refers only to the internal control systems and the magazines for the weapons. External mass is irrelevant for general design purposes.

The “ammunition” for all NovaGuns is in the form of anti-matter “rounds” which can be readily manufactured by the Engineer in the reactors of the Starship. The mass and fuel required to produce a “round” of ammunition for each calibre of NovaGun are given below, along with the cost of purchasing such rounds if there is no one qualified to make them in the ship’s reactors.

Creating Nova rounds is a standard test for a character with the Starship Engineering (power) skill. Rounds can be created at the rate of 1 +1/success and bump per combat round (5 minutes).

Some 75% of each weapon position’s tonnage rating can be used as a magazine; however, because of the density of the ammunition, only 25% of the volume is occupied by the magazines. If additional ammunition is desired, besides the rounds in the ready magazines, additional stowage is possible in the ship’s holds. However, it takes about an hour to replenish the magazine with 5,000 kg of ammunition, if manhandling the rounds, and 10,000 kg if using servos. That rate is per magazine, assuming 5 men working.

Megabolt Carronades

The Megabolt Torpedo is nothing mare than a very heavy NovaGun designed deliberately to overload and fire with extra intensity. The result is that each round loses nothing in penetration power over the full range of the weapon. The “Primaries” are mounted in a triple battery in the nose of the warship, covering a 180° arc of fire. Mass and cost of ammunition is triple that of a comparable Nova-Gun caliber because the refractory core of the weapon is consumed with each shot and has to be replaced with a new one. If the round penetrates the BattleScreens of a target, full damage is inflicted (the screens cannot handle the intensity of a penetrating MegaBolt and do not dissipate any of its power).

StarTorps

The StarTorpedo is a hypervelocity missile capable of attaining light-speed. StarTorpedoes have a sensor range of only 400 LS. Within that range, they can identify and lock onto a target. At greater ranges, however, they must be guided by the ship’s gunnery computer or by a trained Pilot until they reach lock-on ranges and can home in by themselves. Guided StarTorps can be jammed by the enemy with an ECM. Jamming can take place to the limit of sensor range, with one missile target possible per expertise level of the controller of the jamming unit. A Computer can guide missiles equal to 1/2 x its Mk. rating. Pilots can guide only one StarTorp missile at a time.

Counter-missile fire is possible with the secondary guns aboard the ship or any main guns as well, up to N125 caliber. In such instances, the StarTorp is considered a very small target. Multiple Targeting programs may be engaged to control the guns in the battery and obtain full Target Lock-On.

Missiles may be launched to attack incoming missiles—StarTorp vs StarTorp. StarFighters may also be used to attack StarTorps.

Future Imperfect - Starship Operations
Future Imperfect - Starship Engineering
Future Imperfect - Starship Software
Future Imperfect - Starship Creation