Section 10 - Spacecrafts

Spacecraft Statistics

Spacecraft detailed in the GURPS Spaceships line use a common format for statistics. The description begins with the ship’s name and TL. This is followed by a description of the spacecraft’s intended mission, how it may be used, the spacecraft’s hull type, systems, design features, crew, and statistics. Throughout these rules, the terms “spacecraft” and “vessel” are used interchangeably.

Scaling Statistics

ACC: The space Accuracy statistic combines the weapon’s Acc bonus, the range penalty for firing at typical
ranges, and a bonus for aimed fire over several turns with the aid of active targeting systems and targeting programs.

Acceleration: This is always measured in gravities, abbreviated G. To convert to a Move in yards per second per second, multiply it by 10.

Delta-V: This “top speed” is measured in miles per second, abbreviated mps. To convert to a Top Speed in yards per second, multiply by 1,800.

d-Damage: This is decade-scale damage, i.e., 1 point is 10 points of damage. For an explanation of decadescale see Scaling Damage (p. B470).

dDR: Space-scale DR is decade-scale damage resistance.

dST/HP: Spaceship ST/HP values are also decadescale.

Hull & Systems

Spacecraft hulls are rated in terms of their mass in short tons (2,000 lbs. per ton), their Size Modifier, and their longest dimension. A hull is further defined as either streamlined (an aerodynamic shape) or unstreamlined.

Spacecraft hulls are divided into three sections: the front hull, the central hull, and the rear hull. Each represents onethird of the spacecraft’s total mass (not volume). This need not be taken too literally: the actual shape may be more complex, e.g., “the front hull section” could include forward-facing parts of the vessel that are actually part of multiple different subhulls, pods, or wings.

The front, center, and rear hulls each contain six hull systems numbered [1] to [6]. In addition, two of the three hull sections contain deep-buried systems designated [core]. Each system is a major component. The numbers are used for hit location rolls (see p. 61), while the core systems are similar to the vitals location of a human. Each spacecraft has 20 systems, each 5% of the total mass.

System types are given in italics, e.g. fusion rocket [1], or a spread of numbers for identical systems, e.g., “three cargo holds [4-6].” Core systems are designated [core], e.g., “tactical bridge [core].”

Systems whose number or core designation are marked with an exclamation point are high-energy systems (p. 9) that must be allocated power (one Power Point per system) to operate, e.g., stardrive [1!]. If a spread is designated, e.g., stardrive engine [1-3!], each separate system requires a Power Point.

Individual system entries are followed by a statement of its capabilities, such as a rocket’s acceleration, a cargo hold’s capacity, or a habitat’s number and type of cabins, e.g., “fusion rocket [1] with 1G acceleration.” Refer to System Descriptions (p. 9) for detailed explanations of what each system does.

Most spacecraft also include a computer network rated for its Complexity (see p. B472). This is distributed throughout the vessel – see Computer Networks (p. 44).

Crew

Crews are suggestions only. They are listed below the spacecraft description. On large vessels, systems with workspaces containing technicians are noted with an asterisk.

Statistic Table

A spacecraft’s key performance statistics are summarized in standard GURPS vehicle format (p. B463) modified as detailed below:

dST/HP: The Strength/Hit Point statistic in decade scale.
Hnd/SR: The spacecraft’s Handling and Stability Rating.
HT: The spacecraft’s Health.

Move: These two numbers are acceleration in G (Earth gravities) followed by delta-V in miles per second (mps). A + sign is added if the vessel is an upper stage of a multi-stage vehicle. Delta-V (see p. B467) is the maximum change in velocity a spacecraft can perform without running out of reaction mass; each acceleration or deceleration “costs” a fraction of the delta-V reserve. Space sails and reactionless drive vessels replace delta-V with the notation “c” (an abbreviation for the speed of light) to indicate they can reach near-light velocity. Light or magnetic sails just list their acceleration in G.

LWt.: The typical loaded weight in tons under Earth gravity, i.e., loaded mass.

Load: This is the maximum load in tons the spacecraft carries, and is the sum of the rated capacities of all payload systems (cargo holds, hangar bay, etc.).

SM: This is the spacecraft’s Size Modifier.

Occ: The occupancy rating gives the number of people the spacecraft supports, derived from its chosen systems. For vessels with short-term accommodations (e.g., seats) occupancy is split into crew + passengers followed by the suffix “SV” to show they have limited life support (Sealed and Vacuum Support) for 24 hours. Vessels with long-term accommodations (e.g., cabins) just list the number of people they can provide ongoing full life support for, followed by the suffix “ASV.”

dDR: The decade-scale Damage Resistance of the front hull/central hull/rear hull armor. If identical, only one is listed.

Range: Used only for spacecraft with FTL drives: this is its FTL rating.

Cost: The dollar cost of a new spacecraft in millions ($M), billions ($B), or trillions ($T).

Footnotes cover exceptions (e.g., force screens that add to armor).


Design

These rules can be used to assign statistics to spacecraft that range from 30 tons to 3,000,000 tons mass and which are built at TL7 to TL12. Although in Stellar Winds space crafts TL10 and on are considered lost technology.

To create a spacecraft, first choose the TL, and consider the spacecraft’s mission. Who’s building it and why? Is it a station, an interplanetary ship, or a starship? A merchantman or a warship?

Decide how large the ship is by choosing a hull size modifier from SM+5 to SM+15, and whether the hull is streamlined or unstreamlined; see Spacecraft Hulls (p. 9).

A spacecraft hull has three hull sections – front, central, and rear – into which are placed 20 systems. Each system is a set of components representing 5% of the ship’s total loaded mass. Choose any combination of systems from those listed under System Descriptions (p. 9). A spacecraft can have multiple examples of the same system. The choices should fit the setting, which can determine which space drives are available and which superscience technologies exist.

The front, central, and rear hull sections must each contain six systems; number these systems [1] to [6]. Two additional systems, buried deep inside the spacecraft’s hull, are designated [core] and may be placed in any two different hull sections. Record system statistics, such as the tons of cargo in a hold or engine acceleration, as they are selected.

Spacecraft can have various optional design features (p. 29) and design switches (p. 31). These don’t count toward the 20 systems.

Refer to Finalizing the Spacecraft (p. 34) to determine how these choices affect the spacecraft’s statistics.

Example: We decide to create a TL10 armed merchant ship. We give it an SM+8 unstreamlined hull (so the ship masses 1,000 tons). We then select the six systems for each hull section and two core systems, placing one core system in the front and one in the rear, and making these choices:

The front hull will have steel armor [1] to protect the vessel. The crew and passengers live in two habitats [2-3] with six cabins each. There are three cargo holds [4-6] each with 50 tons capacity. The vessel is controlled from a control room [core] with four control stations and a Complexity 8 computer network.

The central hull will be devoted to six cargo holds [1-6] with 50 tons capacity each. (We decided not to bother with armor, to give an open “container ship” feel.)

The rear hull will have steel armor [1], another cargo hold [2] with 50 tons capacity, an engine room [3], a hangar bay [4] with 30 tons capacity, a hot reactionless drive [5!] with 2G acceleration, a stardrive engine [6!] with hyperdrive, and a fusion reactor [core] with two Power Points. Systems with an ! require power. We refer to the individual computer network and system descriptions to find out the total cost of the spacecraft. We then examine the design features and design switches section, and decide that the spacecraft has the artificial gravity (p. 29) feature.

Last of all we finalize the design, add up costs, and record the spacecraft’s statistics.


Spacecraft Hulls

A hull is rated for its Size Modifier (SM), which determines the spacecraft’s mass, dST/HP, dimensions, and the base Handling and Stability Rating.

A spacecraft hull must be streamlined or unstreamlined.

Unstreamlined: This is a spherical, cylindrical, cubical, or humanoid hull, or a complex collection of spheres, saucers, cylinders, booms, and pods. It is designed for space operations; it might be able to fly with enough thrust, but has poor aerodynamics.

Streamlined: A streamlined hull’s shape may be a wedge, lifting body, cone, disk, teardrop, bullet, or needle-like shape. It is optimized for high atmospheric speed. A streamlined spacecraft must have at least one Armor system for its front hull or central hull (if a multi-stage design, only the uppermost section need be armored). All of its armor will have lower DR than an unstreamlined hull, due to the greater surface area.

The hull’s SM determines its other characteristics:

Loaded Mass: The approximate loaded mass of the spacecraft in tons. To keep this system simple, mass values follow a 1-3-10 progression that conforms with SM.

Length: An average for a typical unstreamlined cylindrical spacecraft, or for many complex shapes like saucer-boom-andpod designs. Length is only an approximation; feel free to vary it. Streamlined vessels may be up to twice as long. Stubby cylinders, teardrops, saucers, and other more complex shapes average about 50%-75% of this length. A sphere will be less than half this length.

dST/HP: This is the spacecraft’s decade-scale ST and basic HP value.

Hnd/SR: The base Handling and Stability Rating of a spacecraft of that size.

A hull has no cost – that depends on the armor or other systems added to it.

Hull Size Table SM Loaded Mass Length dST/HP Hnd/SR
SM+5 30 tons 15 yards (45ft) 20 0/4
SM+6 100 tons 20 yards (60ft) 30 0/4
SM+7 300 tons 30 yards (90ft 50 - 1/5
SM+8 1,000 tons 50 yards (150ft) 70 -1/5
SM+9 3,000 tons 70 yards (200ft) 100 -1/5
SM+10 10,000 tons 100 yards (300ft) 150 -2/5
SM+11 30,000 tons 150 yard (450ft) 200 -2/5
SM+12 100,000 tons 200 yards (600ft) 300 -2/5
SM+13 300,000 tons 300 yards (900ft) 500 -3/5
SM+14 1 Million tons 500 yards (1500ft) 700 -3/5
SM+15 3 Million tons 700 yards (2000ft) 1000 -3/5

System Descriptions

Numerous systems may be built into spacecraft. The cost, and many other statistics, vary according to the spacecraft’s hull SM, as indicated in the tables in this section.

TL

The suggested TL the system is available at. Most spacecraft are built using systems from a variety of TLs. All superscience systems (TL^) are optional and their TL is only a suggestion. Some items are referred to as “limited superscience.” They don’t egregiously violate physical laws, but they do push past the edge of realistic engineering capabilities.

These rules offer a wide variety of superscience technologies, some of which can be overwhelming effective if not countered by other superscience! For example, take care to balance weapon damage with DR to avoid ships that are invulnerable or die instantly.

Location and Other Restrictions

Some systems can only go be placed in certain hull section locations.
[any] means the system can go anywhere.

[hull] means it can go in any of the 18 hull locations, but cannot be a core system.
[rear] means it can only go in the rear hull and may not be a core system.
[front] means it can only go in the front hull and may not be a core system.

Credit Cost and Other Statistics

Most systems have a specified cost that increases with Size Modifier, as shown in the system’s table. Many systems have other statistics, such as the capacity of a cargo hold or the acceleration of a maneuver drive. Where large numbers are used, the abbreviations K for thousand, M for million, B for billion, and T for trillion are used, e.g., a dollar cost of 30M is $30 million dollars.

High-Energy Systems and Power Points

Certain systems are “high-energy systems” that require a great deal of power. These are indicated with an exclamation
point next to their location, e.g., [!]. Each high-energy system operated simultaneously must be assigned one Power Point to power it. Power Points are produced by power systems, such as fission power plants. You can design the vessel with enough Power Points to operate every high-energy system that needs to run simultaneously, or install less power, which forces the crew to carefully decide what systems they want powered up at any given time. (Excess power is useful for redundancy in case of damage.)

Spacecraft without high-energy systems do not require Power Points. It’s assumed that built-in auxiliary power supplies or energy banks factored into the systems are sufficient.

Workspaces

Many systems (especially on larger spacecraft) have a specified number of “workspaces.” This determines how many technicians are required to man and maintain that system. Thus, if a system specifies three workspaces, it is normally manned by three crew, who are busy inside that system performing various routine duties, such as monitoring panels or performing maintenance. Workspaces include duty stations for the technicians and workshops that fulfill equipment requirements for these techs to maintain and repair that type of system (or all shipboard systems, for engine rooms). The Automation (p. 29) design feature can reduce or eliminate workspace requirements.

Repair Skill

Systems that can be disabled or destroyed list the skill required to repair them. This is also the skill that crew will need for routine maintenance. Mechanic (Vehicle Type) means the required specialization is the same as the Piloting skill.

Armor Systems

Armor systems are rated for the decade-scale DR (dDR) that they provide to the hull section they are installed in. Thus, armor on the front hull protects the front of the spacecraft, armor on the central hull protects the central hull (the sides), and armor on the rear hull protects the back. To fully armor a spacecraft, add armor systems to the front, central, and rear hull.

The dDR of armor systems also varies depending on whether the ship is streamlined or not: two values are listed for each armor system, US (unstreamlined) or SL (streamlined). The lower dDR for streamlined vessels represents the same mass of armor spread over a greater surface area.

A streamlined spacecraft must be given at least one armor system on its front or central hull.

Multiple armor systems (“layers”) can protect the same hull section; the dDR of all armor systems on a given hull section are cumulative. Where important (e.g., in the case of semiablative or hardened armor), armor layers from outer to innermost protect in the order they are numbered. Civilian craft built for deep space operations often omit armor on some sections to conserve mass. If a hull section is entirely unarmored, it is dDR 0.

When not using decade-scale damage, e.g., in personal combat, the thin non-structural walls of a dDR 0 unarmored hull section can be assumed to have DR 2 if streamlined or DR 3 if unstreamlined.)

Free Equipment:

Along with their 20 systems, all spacecraft get the following equipment.

Airlocks for entering the vessel. A spacecraft can be assumed to have (SM-4) airlocks, with each airlock capable of admitting (SM-4) persons per cycle.

Auxiliary Power systems that power all systems not requiring Power Points.
Landing Gear in the form of retractable runners or landing legs if the spacecraft is either streamlined or capable of 0.1G or greater acceleration, or retractable wheels if the spacecraft is winged.

Routine equipment for safety, e.g., lights, fire extinguishers, pressure doors, etc. If SM+7 or larger, numerous ducts, corridors, and passageways. If large enough (usually SM+9) elevators, turbo-lifts, or other internal rapid-transit systems connecting all crewed or inhabited systems and cargo or hangar areas.



Compartments


Design Features

This is a list of additional options that can be added to systems or vessels. They do not count as systems.


Design Switches

These are setting-specific design “switches” that can be added to any spacecraft to emulate various superscience or setting paradigms. Specific switches are often applied to all spacecraft in a setting.


Lost Technology

Is a term that refers to the Technology of the ancient elven empire of Asyuran. No one can quiet understand how technology of the elves works though it is clear that it is powered through magic. The technology of the elves typically incorporates power stones of all sizes to provide magical energy to power suits of armor to entire starships.

Any reactionless engines are designed to consume magical energy to generate population and Typically, their reactor fuel will incorporate Magical Stones and convert the power points from a one to one ratio.

High-energy systems that require Power Points are “magic point powered.” The main effect is on beam weapons and force screens:

Magic beam weapons get 1,000 times their output: Raise kJ to MJ, raise MJ to GJ, raise GJ to TJ, and raise TJ to PJ (petajoules), e.g., 300GJ becomes 300TJ, which increases damage (see Chapter 4). Cosmic electromagnetic or grav guns get 10¥ minimum velocity (see chapter 4) and their sAcc is also increased by +3.

Magic Force screens get 10x dDR.

In addition, the following superscience systems can be specified as requiring Magic Power Points to work at all: cloaking device, contragravity lifter, jump gate, reactionless drive, replicator, stardrive engine, stasis web.

Reactionless drives will usually use either super reactionless or subwarp variants.

If the Lost Technology Switch is used, assume spacecraft have enough auxiliary power to power any ordinary systems that use mere high-energy systems by adding extra power stones!

If using this switch, GMs may optionally make TL^ “magical armor” standard as well, at no extra cost for any armor type. Magic armor has 10xdDR (perhaps due to enhancing the nuclear forces binding matter together or a coating of low-cost hyperdense matter) made possible due the vast amount of extra power available to such a society.

FTL Comm/Sensor Arrays (TL^)

The active sensors and/or communicators in a comm/sensor array may optionally work at faster-than-light speeds.

FTL active sensors usually also have extended ranges, but in game terms mainly serve to justify safe navigation using warp drives. The GM may multiply active sensor ranges by 10, or vastly increase them (measured in AU, or even parsecs).

FTL comms allow communication over interstellar distances. GMs can assume FTL signals are instant and comm suite ranges in AU are now measured in parsecs, or give the signal a finite (but faster-than-light) speed. See GURPS Space for various options.

Multiscanner Array (TL^)

The active sensors in a science or multipurpose array may be optionally be designated as a superscience system that uses para-radar technology. Multiscanner arrays can use their active sensors to scan for life, chemical composition, energy readings, etc.

Pseudo-Velocity

Reactionless drives and stardrives may produce motion without accumulating momentum or kinetic energy. The drive does not produce acceleration effects on the ship or anything inside it (it’s in zero G unless given artificial or spin gravity; crew and vessel don’t experience acceleration.). If turned off or disabled, a vessel loses all speed gained as a result of acceleration while under pseudo-velocity. In the event of a collision involving the vessel, do not count velocity reached while under pseudo-velocity drive.

Starway Drive (Reactionless)

A starway drive with this option can function at sublight speeds exactly as if it were a reactionless drive. It also has the power and ability to invoke access the Starway a labyrinthine dimension constructed by the ancient ones to help guide ships across the astral plane. Ships traveling through the astral plane can travel 10x times the speed of light but travels the astral plane at their normal sublight speeds.


Crew

Suggested crew requirements are given below. Bridge crew, gunners, and administrators may be sapient computer programs; others must be live or robots. On vessels organized on hierarchical lines, 10% of the technicians and most of the bridge crew are usually officers, often provided with better quarters.

Control Room Crew

One per control station. If there’s only one or two control crew, they’re usually styled as a pilot and co-pilot. If more, generalize them as “control room crew” or specify various duties or combinations as desired: this can include commanding the spacecraft (“captain” and possibly also “executiveofficer”), maneuvering the vessel (“pilot”), plotting courses, especially for hyperdrive or jump drive (“navigator”), controlling drives and power plants (“chief engineer”), operating comm/sensor arrays (“communications officer,” “sensor operator,” “tactical officer,” or “science officer” depending on array type), and control of weapon batteries or missile batteries (“gunner”).

Turret Gunners

Weapons battery turrets can be controlled from the control room, but also include their own dedicated control station. They are often assigned one gunner per turret.

Technicians for Workspaces

Add up the number of workspaces on the vessel, modifying for automation (p. 29) to find the number of technicians required. Either list that total number of technicians, or for greater detail, specify them by job title based on the Repair skill required (e.g., armorers or life support mechanics) and/or system (“habitat techs”). Warships sometimes carry 2-3¥ that number of technicians, for extra damage control parties and to replace casualties.

Medics

If a spacecraft habitat has sickbay beds, it should have one medic per 10 (or fraction thereof) non-automed sickbay beds or 20 stretchers.

Passenger Care and Entertainment

Accommodations assigned to paying passengers usually have a passenger attendant for every two luxury-class, five first-class, or 20 economy-class passengers.

Small Craft

Spacecraft may have dedicated crews for any small craft they carry in hangars. Craft used only occasionally (e.g., lifeboats) may not have a dedicated crew; control crew or others will man them as needed. Craft are maintained by hangar workspace techs.

Specialists

Spacecraft whose habitats contain labs, establishments, offices, ops centers, etc. may need appropriate workers (entertainers, administrators, scientists, computer operators, etc.); see the Specialized Rooms for Habitats (p. 18) box.


Finalizing The Spacecraft

Determine and record the spaceship’s statistics based on the design decisions. If a spaceship lacks propulsion systems (a station), omit the Hnd/SR and Move statistics.

Cost

Total up the cost of all systems, design features, and switches to get the base cost of mass production. Limited production (e.g., a NASA spacecraft) is 100-1,000 times cost!

Buying Spacecraft

Characters with appropriate Rank and Duty may get spacecraft from the organization they work for (which can also take it away). Wealthy characters may buy spacecraft outright, or share the cost between PCs. Debt (p. B26) against Wealth, representing bank loans to buy the vessel, or Signature Gear (p. B85) are common alternatives. Complete details on spacecraft financing will appear in the next volume.

Basic Statistic Block

If it has a maneuver drive engine, determine the skill required to pilot it: Piloting (Lightsail) for vessels with lightsail propulsion, Piloting (Low-Performance Spacecraft) for other vessels with acceleration under 0.1G; Piloting (High- Performance Spacecraft) if 0.1G+. Vessels using warp drives for sublight travel use Piloting (Starship).

TL: Record the TL.

dST/HP: Record the value from the Hull Table (p. 9) that corresponds with the chosen SM. It’s also convenient to record a damage threshold equal to 10% of basic dHP. When using the space combat rules, each multiple of 10% of dHP that is lost due to penetrating damage causes the vessel to suffer one system damage roll.

HT: This starts at HT 13. Reduce HT by 1 for each the following: if the vessel has SM +5-9 with no engine room; if using high or total automation at TL7-9. Add +1 to HT if it has at least one robofac, nanofactory, fabricator, or replicator system aboard.

Hnd/SR: If the spacecraft has no maneuver drive, omit. Otherwise, record the Hnd/SR value from the Hull Table. Hnd/SR are both -1 at TL7-8. Adjust as follows:

Hnd Modifer

Acceleration Modifier
0.001G -3
0.01G -2
0.1 G -1
1G 0
10G +1
100G +2
1,000 G +3

If a value falls between, use the lower, e.g., 4G is a 0 modifier.

Move: If the spaceship uses a reactionless drive, record combined acceleration of its engines in G (gravities) followed by a slash, then the notation c (it can accelerate to nearlightspeed). If it uses a reaction drive, record the combined acceleration of these engines in G and then, as its top speed, the delta-V calculated under Fuel Tanks (p. 17). If fitted with more than one type of maneuver drive, it will have different performance statistics depending on which drive is in use; add explanatory notes as necessary.

SM: Record the spacecraft hull’s chosen SM.

LWt: Refer to the Hull Table (p. 9) and record the loaded weight that corresponds with the chosen hull mass and SM.

dDR: Add up the cumulative dDR from the spaceship’s armor systems protecting each hull section. Record front dDR, central dDR, and rear dDR, separated by slashes, in that order (or just one dDR if they’re identical).

Occ: Occupancy is simply a summary of the vessel’s personnel capacity. First, decide if the occupancy statistic will refer to accommodation or short-term occupancy. Usually accommodations are listed if they vessel has them; otherwise record short-term occupancy. If none, record 0.

Long-term accommodations provide full life support for an indefinite period. Occupancy is two per cabin or luxury cabin, four per bunkroom, cell, or cage. Record occupancy followed by the suffixes A (accommodations), S (sealed) and V (Vacuum support), e.g., 20ASV.

Short-term occupancy provides limited life support for one man-day times occupancy. It is split into crew + passenger occupancy. Crew occupancy is one person per control station, turret, or workspace, and two per lab, establishment, or office. The passenger occupancy is one per seat, stretcher, or sickbay bed, 10 per briefing room, 30 per establishment, 100 per open space. Usually this statistic is only recorded only if the vessel has no long-term occupancy. Record occupancy as “crew + passengers” followed by the suffixes SV (omitting A), e.g., 2+6AV.

Hibernation chambers are indicated in footnotes.

Load: This is the sum of the capacities, in tons, of all cargo hold, steerage cargo, and hangar bay systems, plus 0.1 ton per occupant.

Cost: Record the total cost of all systems.

Notes may be added for extra details, e.g., force screens, ground, or air performance.

Air Performance

This is the aerial performance in a “very thin” or denser atmosphere (see p. B429), i.e., not trace or vacuum conditions. A ship can fly in atmosphere if it is winged, or has an acceleration greater than local gravity, or is equipped with contragravity lifters. Use Piloting (Aerospace) or if flying with contragravity, Piloting (Contragravity).

Speed depends on acceleration of all drives used in atmosphere. The table below shows speeds in mph for streamlined craft with accelerations of 0.5G to 10G; divide by 10 for unstreamlined craft. For craft with different accelerations, find the square root of acceleration in G; then multiply by 2,500 if streamlined or 250 if unstreamlined. Round to the nearest 100 mph (nearest 1,000 if speed is 10,000 mph+).

Air Performance Table

G Speed G Speed
1G 2,500 mph 6G 6,100 mph
2G 3,500 mph 7G 6,600 mph
3G 4,300 mph 8G 7,100 mph
4G 5,000 mph 9G 7,500 mph
5G 5,600 mph 10G 7,900 mph

For half-G increments round up but multiply by 0.7, e.g., 0.5G is 1,750 mph.

Relevant air performance statistics to record are Move and Hnd/SR.

Move: As on p. B463, the first number for air Move is acceleration and the second is top speed in yards per second. For air acceleration, multiply acceleration in G of all drives used in atmosphere by 10. To get top speed, halve the calculated air speed in mph.

Hnd/SR: Use the spacecraft’s Hnd/SR but add +2 to Hnd if it has contragravity lifters and +4 to Hnd and +1 to SR if winged. Max Hnd. is +5 regardless of bonuses!


Space Travel

A space flight could be a journey of a few hundred miles up to low orbit, or an epic trek across the galaxy. This chapter presents basic rules for space travel, as well as common shipboard activities such as sensor scans, routine maintenance, and refueling. It also includes cost and mass statistics for consumables such as food and ordnance.


Consumables

Spacecraft may require various consumables: fuel, coolant, food, ammunition, and ordnance. This is not included in the spacecraft’s base cost.


Space Operations

These are common activities such as entering or leaving the vessel, sensor scans, routine maintenance, and refueling.

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