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.
Contents
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.
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.
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
Need to consult with Bruce. The book has time periods that are hella long.
FTL Lost in Space
Danger, Antares Darkeye!
Whenever there is an error in Astrogation, a ship can arrive at a different set of co-ordinates 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.
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.
Starship Combat
All standard combat will occur below the speed of light (300 LS per 5 minutes). The rules assume that a starship will literally “cease to exist” the moment it begins to touch the speed of light, the vessel being “translated” to FTL hyperspace.
