User:Geoff the Medio/Ships

Ship Designs

When building ships, players pick from ship designs. The design of a ship design of a ship determines many of its properties, such as costs, speed, special effects, combat characteristics and appearance. The design of a ship cannot normally be altered after it is built (though exceptions may occur, through effects).

Basics of a Design

A ship design consists of a set of components, a hull size, and potentially a hull type.

Slot Type

The components that may be put into a design are determined by the "slots" of the hull.

The type of a slot largely determines the components may be put into that slot when making a ship design. Components are classified by the type of slot into which they may be put. Every ship design and hull has the same slots:

• Offensive - Battle weapons used to attack other ships, space monsters or to disable planetary defenses
• Defensive - Battle potection against battle weapons used by other ships, space monsters or planets
• Engine - Interstellar and in-battle propulsion
• Payload - Other ship components, such as command and control centres, cloaking devices, supply modules, ground troop transport modules, colonist modules, special-effect components, planetary bombardment weapons (distinct from offensive slot battle weapons), long-range or in-battle sensor packages

Slot Size

Slots and components also have sizes. The size of a slot determines the maximum size of component, or the number of smaller components that may be fit into the slot.

Slot and component size is a number, in arbitrary units. The sum of the sizes of the components in a slot must be less than or equal to the size of that slot.

If a component is half the size of, or smaller, than a slot, two (or more) of that component may be put into the slot, giving an appropriate benefit to the characteristics of a ship built to that design.

Offensive & Defensive Slot Limits

The Offensive and Defensive slots have an additional limitation on the components that may be put in them: only a single type of component for each slot. For example, as long as the combined sizes of the components are less than the sizes of their respective slots, a ship may have 6 Weapon X components, and 2 Defense Y components; however regardless of the total size of the components, a ship may not have 3 Weapon X components and 7 Weapon Z components. Only one type of component may be placed in a each of the Offensive and Defensive slots of a ship design.

The Engine and Payload slots are not limited in this way, however. A ship may have two different types of Engines (ie. one good for battle and one better for interstellar travel), and any number of different Payload components, as long as the total sizes of these components are less than or equal to the sizes of their respective slots.

Designs & Component Versions

Components in a ship design are specified only by their general class, not by a specific version of that component. For example, if the component "Weapon X" has several refinements available, such as Weapon X Mk. 1, Weapon X Mk. 2, ... , Weapon X Mk. 12, ship designs which use Weapon X only specify that the ship design has a certain number of Weapon X components, not the refinement version number of those components.

Components Versions & Upgrades

Individual ships do have a particular version number of their components. The version number that a particular ship has is independent of the ship's design. Two ships with the same design could have different refinement versions of their components.

When an individual ship is built, the most advanced refinement version for all of the components in the ship's design that can be made for that ship are used. (This could potentially not be the most advanced version known to the empire, if there are restrictions on what can be built where).

A ship upgrade consists of replacing its lower refinement version components with higher refinement version components. Upgrades can neither add additional components, nor change the class of components in a ship or design, or change the design of a particular ship.

Building Ships

Build Orders

Players order ships to be built by specifying a ship design, and a number of ships to build. A build project is then added to the build queue, and when the project is complete, all of the ships appear at their build location.

There is a distinction between ordering multiple ships in one build order, and ordering one ship multiple times. If multiple ships are in one build order, then none of the ships appear until the build order is completed, at which point all the ships appear simultaneously. If multiple build orders are made, each for one ship, then each ship appears as soon as its own build order is completed.

Building multiple ships in a single build order costs slightly less per turn than building the same number of ships in multiple orders for a single ship.

The total build time for an order of ships is independent of the number of ships being built.

Shipyards

Ships are built at shipyards. Shipyards are themselves complicated multipart objects, with various components that determine what sorts of ships designs (limited by the restrictions on their individual components) can be built, and how many ships can be worked on at the shipyard simultaneously (max PP spent per turn).

Combat Mechanics and Balancing

Offensive ship components have one or more damage types, and a delivery mechanism. Both of these give bonuses or penalties to to the weapon's damage and chance to hit against specific defense types. Each defensive ship component has one or more defense types.

Damage Types

An offensive component has one or more of these:

Kinetic

A solid object physically impacts or contacts the attacked object, causing localized damage by crushing, piercing, shattering, etc. May consist of projectiles, such as mass drivers, shrapnel or bullets, or involve direct contact such as jaw-like crushing or ramming.

Energy

Some form of energy is delivered to the attacked object, causing damage by heating, burning, melting, vapourization, etc. May involve a electromagnetic radiation (eg. a laser), highly energetic matter (plasma, particle beams) or other more exotic forms of energy.

Explosive

A shockwave of some sort meets the attacked object, causing damage by compression, shear, tearing, etc. Is distinguished from kinetic by continuously distributed damage over an area or volume. Could also involve manipulation of the shape of space in which the attacked object exists.

Reaction

A chemical or particle reacts with the chemicals or particles that compose the attacked object, degrading or destroying them. May involve corrosive chemicals or antimatter, which react with the matter of the attacked object once in contact with it.

Delivery Mechanisms

An offensive component has one of these:

Directed

A direct line from the attacking to the attacked objects. May involve a beam of energy or matter between the objects, or a line of sight transfer of some sort.

Missile

The attacking object releases self-propelled autonomous self-guided missiles which move towards the attacked object, and detonate in some way when within range. Missiles may be interceptable after they are launched, but before they detonate. Missiles are "dumb", and cannot be retargetted or controlled after they launch, or manoeuvre to avoid defenses.

Fighter

The attacking object launches self-propelled pilotted vehicles which move towards the attacked object, and then launch or fire some weapon at it from short-range. Fighters may be destroyed after being launched, before they fire their own weapons, but they may also repeatedly fire or be ordered to attack alternate targets or to avoid defenses after being launched.

Stationary

The attacking object releases something which sits in space immobile. In the event another object moves into or into range of the something, it either begins to do damage continuously until expended, or is detonated. Examples include clouds of gas, or proximity mines.

Omnidirectional

The attacking object emits a damaging wavefront with travels out in all directions around the object, like an expanding ring.

Defensive Types

A defensive component has one or more of these:

Energy

Some form of energy is delivered to, meets or diverts the attack. Examples might include energy shield bubbles, shaped plasma or energy armour, or directed energy defensive weapons.

Ablative

Some immobile passive defensive mechanism that is consumed or destroyed when used, and which flakes away or breaks off from the remainder, limiting total damage due to ongoing processes in the attack. Examples might include fibrous material that burns away when struck by a directed energy beam, or some sort of liquid plasma shell that absorbs impacts by spashing off some of itself.

Absorbtive

Some immobile passive defensive mechanism that absorbs damage that is designed to be as strong and resiliant as possible, in order to prevent or minimize any damage to itself or what it protects. Examples might include hardened metal armour that absorbs impacts and deflects explosive shockwaves, or the liquid plasma shell from ablative.

Point Defense

An active defensive system that tracks and attempts to intercept incoming projectiles by launching countermeasures. May involve firing a stream of defensive fire (bullets or lasers) at missiles or fighters, or perhaps telekinetic crewmembers who deflect incoming ordinance.