¶ Spaceframe Details
Not only is every starship in a class unique, but each spaceframe is a creation of thousands of engineers, scientists, dockyard workers, and automated drones. Every spaceframe built represents the overall philosophy its culture has for the class’s place in the Galaxy, what it wishes the class to accomplish, and how it feels about its spacefaring personnel.
¶ Each Spaceframe Includes the Following Information:
- Launch Year: The year the spaceframe entered service.
- Overview: Information about the spaceframe’s design history and purpose.
- Capabilities: Details about the spaceframe’s capabilities.
- Refits and Variants: Any information regarding upgrades the spaceframe received over time or specific variants of the spaceframe in service.
- Suggested Mission Profiles: Suggestions on which mission profiles are commonly used with the spaceframe.
- Naming Conventions: Details on naming conventions for the spaceframe, if any.
- Notable Examples: The names of notable vessels of this class.
- Traits: Traits related to the spaceframe.
- Systems: The base ratings of the spaceframe’s systems.
- Departments: Modifiers to the ratings of the spaceframe’s departments (which are determined by the mission profile selected for the ship).
- Scale: The Scale of the spaceframe.
- Weapons: Any weaponry installed on the spaceframe.
- Talents: Any talents built into the spaceframe.
- Special Rules: Any additional rules or other details relevant to ships using this spaceframe.
¶ Spaceframe Creation Notes
Creating a spaceframe is an interesting set of balancing concerns and making them match the 'spirit' of the vessels these rules are trying to represent. What follows is some notes and guidelines for making a spaceframe.
¶ System Points
The standard number of system points for a 'modern' (2690) spaceframe is 57. For every decade prior, subtract one system point. For every year newer, add one. (When calculating how many points to subtract rounding, always round down.)
Note: This method is designed to be complimented by the refit rule that adds a system point for every decade of service. So while a ship designed in the 2400s is nothing compared to a ship from today, if she's been serving that long, it's reasonable to assume her systems are comperable to 'modern' ships, or at least have been modified, overclocked or upgraded to not be so far behind she doesn't stand a chance.
¶ Department Points
Generally, each spaceframe has three Department Points to allocate across the six departments. (This can be reduced to two if the ship has a special rule that allows it to be reconfigured on a per mission basis.)
If a ship is highly specialized, it can have two of it's three department points in a single department, but never all three.
¶ Ship Talents
Each spaceframe is able to have a number of talents equal to its Scale. Some of these talents are inherent to the spaceframe, and regardless of Mission Profile, each vessel in the class has them.
When creating a spaceframe, a number of talents are chosen for the vessel that is less than the total number that can be taken, as there always must be at least one talent left free for the Mission Profile of the vessel to contribute. If a vessel is Scale 6, then up to five may be chosen. Vessels with a low number of base talents are highly modular or built by numerous shipyards that have different priorities for vessels. Ships with high numbers of base talents have tightly integrated systems or are already specialized for a specific duty.
¶ Ship Class Special Rules
Some spaceframes have special rules representing specifics of their construction and configuration. These are permanent parts of how the ship is designed to function. They are separate from ship talents in that they cannot be removed and do not count towards the ship’s total number of talents.
¶ Abundant Personnel
The ship’s Crew Support is doubled, after any other modifiers, and any effects or abilities that would increase Crew Support have twice the normal effect aboard a ship with this special rule. Further, when you introduce a supporting character, you may use one additional Crew Support to grant them an improvement immediately.
¶ Compact Vessel
This spaceframe has a Scale of 2, but it does not count as a small craft. It has no small craft capability of its own and cannot launch or receive fighters, shuttlecraft, or any comparable craft.
¶ Fighter Bay
- Requirements: Scale of 2+, not a small craft.
This ship is equiped with one or more fighterbays and all the specialized support equipment for launching, supporting and recovering them. The ship gains the Fighters X trait, specifying how many fighters they may operate at any given time. Fighters ignore the small craft readiness rules.
Increase the complication range of landing a fighter by 1 if the landing area is improvised, or involves re-docking with a launch cradle.
¶ Landing Gear
The vessel is equipped to land safely on a planetary surface or in a large enough docking bay and can return to space afterward.
To land, the helm must attempt a Agility + Piloting task with a Difficulty equal to the ship’s Scale, assisted by the ship’s Structure + Conn. This can Succeed at Cost.
Taking off requires the same task, but the Difficulty is reduced by 2.
¶ Matryoshka Ship Design
The ship can separate into multiple distinct ships (usually just two). The players may choose to make each have it's own distinct ship sheet. The original "main" ship's Scale is reduced by 1, while the others are undocked.
For a more simplified version, each section has the same systems, talents, and weapons and has a Scale 1 lower than the original.
Breaches prior to separation apply equally to both sections. Separating requires a Agility + Piloting task (Difficulty 3), assisted by the ship’s Structure + Engineering. Reconnection requires no task unless being attempted under combat conditions. (If attempting, it with be another Agility + Piloting task, with the Difficulty decided based on the current situation.)
¶ Minimal Sensor Profile
Through a combination of advanced alloys, EM shielding, and other design choices, the starship is difficult to detect via electromagnetic radiation and subspace sensors. While not as effective as true stealth systems, these vessels can sneak into star systems entirely undetected. All tasks to detect the stealthy starship have their Difficulty increased by 1.
¶ Organic Hull
- Requirement: Sooni, Grey, or Gamemaster approval
The ship's hull is a regenerative organic hull, capable of resisting many major forms of incoming damage and repairing itself. The ship's maximum Defenses are increased by 5, and Resistance increased by 2. However, if the incoming damage is plasma based, the ship's Resistance is instead reduced by 2, as organic technology is susceptible to plasma damage.
¶ Point Defense System
The ship is designed with a system of small energy weapon turrets that operates independently from the main weapons systems. When a projectile or small craft targets the ship, these weapons start firing in the direction the missile is traveling from, potentially destroying it before it impacts the ship’s hull.
The ship is considered to have Cover against missiles/torpedo attacks, increasing the Difficulty of the attack by 1. This rule stops functioning if the ship has suffered two or more breaches to the Weapons system.
Note: This special rule exists for spaceframes that are designed with this functionality. For one retrofit, use the Point Defense System Talent.
¶ Reinforced Organic Hull
- Requirement: Gamemaster approval
Based on Sooni and Grey technology, this hull retains a lot of the protection of the previous version, however it is no longer vulnerable to plasma based weapons. The ship's maximum Defenses are increased by 3 and Resistance increased by 2.
¶ Civilian Ship Classes
¶ Glorious Class
- Launch Year: 2685
- Overview: Due to the sheer number of Triumph hulls available, Oslo StarDrives decided to not just decomission hulls, but over conversions built to customer specifications. Any existing Triumph hull can be brought to Oslo and they will follow the legal requirements for decommissioning it, and then build it back up into an Armed Merchant Cruiser.
- Capabilities: The Glorious class was billed as an Armed Merchant Cruiser, and served very well as one. They were excellent patrol ships, even with the removed weapons and armor, which ended up just making the ship more agile.
- Refits and Variants: None (based off the start Triumph hull)
- Suggested Mission Profiles: Merchant Escort Multirole, Patrol
- Naming Conventions: Customer Choice
- Notable Examples: FMS Raven
¶ Starship
- Traits: Decomissioned Military Vessel, LCS, Glorious Class
- Scale: 2
¶ Systems
When making a ship, if you would like to start with an existing Triumph hull, then pick the System stats that match the refit of the hull you'd like, and then remove points until Weapons and Structure are 8 or below. Then add/remove points to systems until it adds to 54. Weapons and Structure cannot be increased over 8 while building the space frame.
If, instead, you don't care, you may use the following stat block:
- Comms: 9
- Computers: 9
- Engines: 11
- Sensors: 11
- Structure: 7
- Weapons: 7
¶ Departments
- Command: -
- Conn: +1
- Engineering: -
- Security: +1
- Medicine: -
- Science: +1
¶ Weapons
- Missile Tubes
- Light Grazer Turrets
¶ Talents
¶ Special Rules
One of the special modification Oslo StarDrives offers is the ability to support up to two fighters in specialized fighter bays, at the cost of reduced missile capacity. You may choose to take the following special rule. If you do, also take the trait 'Reduced Missile Capacity'.
¶ League Ship Classes
¶ Archigos Class (Mk. I)
- Launch Year: 2666
- Overview: The Archigos class originated from the testbed of the The Archigos Experiment. Designed by Alastair McKenzie, she was proposed as an advanced destroyer design, capable of radically altering the current battle doctrine of the time. She was designed, he claimed, to be sturdy enough to absorb large amounts of damage, while getting into point blank range and delivering unparalleled destructive power with her gravitic lance. She could, it was claimed, easily take out a dreadnaught in a straight up fight.
Unfortunately, the Archigos class was a design for a war that never came. Her critics pointed out that the proposed Ares class could accomplish the same goals without the confusing design decisions of the Archigos. While true, the Ares class was more traditional, using standard grazers and missiles, instead of the Archigos's gravitic plasma lance.McKenzie pushed forward, determined to prove the value of the ship class himself. While several became well known, with the Archigos herself being one of the most decorated destroyers in League history, the class, by and large, has been seen as a failure with a manditory refit to the Mk. II for almost all ships. - Capabilities: The Archigos class is designed entirely around being able to survive long enough for a single knock-out punch. From it's massively overpowered subspace engines, to it's ridiculously oversized, dual fusion reactors, it has the strongest gravitic defenses of any ship that came before it. Even it's overly armored hull and the fact that everything that can has a mechanical override. It's all designed to make it as tough as possible.
The knock-out punch comes from the gravitic plasma lance (or the less impressive grazer lance of the refit). It can switch from putting all of it's energy into blocking your shot to hitting you with the power of something five times it's size.
One of the engineers working on certifying the class called the ship a "symphony of excess", and that's very true. If it was worth engineering on the Archigos, it was worth over-engineering. - Refits and Variants: The whole class was ordered to be refit to the Mk. II variant, with very few being allowed to avoid the refit. However, several were mothballed or removed from active service (or damaged/destroyed before the refit) and have been allowed to remain unused but also unconverted.
- Suggested Mission Profiles: Merchant Escort, Multirole, Patrol, Warship
- Naming Conventions: Greek Heros, Gorgons, Sirens
- Notable Examples:
¶ Starship
- Traits: League Starship, Destroyer, Archigos Class (Mk. I)
- Scale: 5
¶ Systems
- Comms: 8
- Computers: 8
- Engines: 11
- Sensors: 8
- Structure: 10
- Weapons: 10
¶ Departments
- Command: +1
- Conn: +1
- Engineering: +1
- Security: -
- Medicine: -
- Science: -
¶ Weapons
- Missile Tubes
- Plasma Turrets
- Plasma Cannon Turrets
- Spinal Gravitic Plasma Lance
¶ Talents
¶ Special Rules
¶ Terran Ship Classes
¶ Triumph Class
- Launch Year: 2449
- Overview: The Triumph class was created in response to the absolute trouncing the Terran Navy got during The Third Interstellar War. She was the first of the "solid hull" style designs the Terran Fleet adopted in response to the League's adoption of them in IW III.
The Triumph was very much a design of it's time, small and able to run down other ships in normal space, with little consideration outside of that. She was designed to fight not against the League, but the civilian ships of the Confederacy. Smaller, faster ships were needed for the new war, and the Triumph excelled at her task.
Because she was so cheap of an design and filled a really useful niche of a patrol boat and general purposed armed craft, that thousands were made. They were so cheap and plentiful recent Terran designs now use them with a mothership, greatly increasing their utility without increasing the overall cost that much more.
This has lead to the interesting fact that the Triumph might be the single most plentiful hull in human history. She's been updated, modified, refit and redesigned to fit new roles, both military and civilian. - Capabilities: The Triumph was originally designed to fight against (relatively) fast civilian craft in normal space, breaking up the swarm tactics the Confederacy was using in the Fourth Interstellar War. She excelled at that role, but after a few incidents, it was determined that a small squadron of Triumphs were shockingly effective against small to medium sized capital ships, including a few hard-won victories against Light Cruisers.
After Refit II, the swarm tactics were retroactively embraced and now it's rare for a single Triumph class to be assigned anything. Triumph Captains work very closely with each other and squadrons of Triumphs tend to be very tight knit, very well trained, and experts in using their small ships to punch well above their weight class. - Refits and Variants: The Triumph has a very long service history as a class. Because of that, it has had a lot of major refits over the years, however, it would be excessive to list each out as it's own spaceframe. Instead, decide which Refit your Triumph is, and use the listed systems under the 'Systems' section.
- Refit I (2495): Primarily a complete system overhaul with lessons learned from both the class and the new Fleet Doctrines in general.
- Refit II (2539): Focused on an extensive engine overhaul, still in use to this day.
- Refit III (2602): This refit was primarily weapon systems, reactor and CIC overhaul. She was made more power efficient, with better tracking, and better support for more modern missiles. This particular refit is considered the more desirable for people looking to refit a Triumph, as it doesn't have any of the post Charlemagne"nerfing" done in the name of safety.
- Refit IV (2658): This refit was focused on fleet-wide changes after the Charlemagne Disaster. The main focuses were reactor safety systems and subspace detection systems. It was deployed to all currently commissioned Triumphs, but no real effort was made to refit any decommissioned or mothballed hulls, unlike Refit II.
- Refit V (2693): The primary focus of this refit is to allow Triumph class ships to better dock and interface with motherships. This new refit is primarily seen in newly manufactured ships and hasn't been widely deployed among the fleet yet.
- Suggested Mission Profiles: Fleet Support / Reserve, Multirole, Patrol,
- Naming Conventions: Mountain Ranges
- Notable Examples: TRS Andes, TRS Rocky, TRS Cascade, TRS Ural, TRS Carpathian, TRS Appalachian
¶ Starship
- Traits: People's Republic Starship, LCS, Triumph Class
- Scale: 3
In addition, add the refit of the spaceframe as a trait. If it's Refit III or older, also add the trait Lack of Safeties.
¶ Systems
- Original (2449)
- Comms: 5, Computers: 5, Engines: 6, Sensors: 7, Structure: 5, Weapons: 5
- Refit I (2495)
- Comms: 6, Computers: 6, Engines: 7, Sensors: 7, Structure: 6, Weapons: 6
- Refit II (2539)
- Comms: 6, Computers: 6, Engines: 10, Sensors: 7, Structure: 7, Weapons: 6
- Refit III (2602)
- Comms: 7, Computers: 7, Engines: 10, Sensors: 9, Structure: 8, Weapons: 8
- Refit IV (2658)
- Comms: 9, Computers: 9, Engines: 9, Sensors: 10, Structure: 9, Weapons: 8
- Refit V (2693)
- Comms: 10, Computers: 10, Engines: 9, Sensors: 11, Structure: 9, Weapons: 8
¶ Departments
- Command: -
- Conn: +1
- Engineering: -
- Security: +1
- Medicine: -
- Science: +1
¶ Weapons
- Missile Tubes
- Light Grazer Turrets
- Heavy Railgun Cannon