The specifics of each vessel’s mission profile, the legacy of the events they have been party to, the refits and repairs they’ve undergone, and the requirements of the crews that have served aboard them make each starship a distinct entity in more than just name. Even two ships of the same class differ in meaningful ways, as the lessons learned in the construction and service of previous ships of that class shape the way their sister ships are assembled, and the needs of the service shape the way each individual vessel is outfitted and configured.
The players’ starship is as unique as their characters, having gone through a process of creation and refinement. If the players choose to command a Archigos class starship, theirs will not be a facsimile of the legendary LXS Archigos, but a distinct vessel with its own history, (and probably the infamous refit that removed what made the class so special).
Starship creation follows a specific process, as follows.
Collectively decide with your group on when the game will take place. This should be decided when everyone agrees to play, as the era in which the game is played will have an impact on which spaceframes are available for use.
The entire RFI Timeline can be used to determine when you would like to set your game, though there's roughly three eras that have been primarily explored:
The most fleshed out era is between Charlemagne and before The Fall, so this is considered the default era. You can play at any time period, but you will have to double check sources for dates to make sure certain things are available if you play outside of that. That being said, setting a game in a less-developed era allows greater freedom to play without being overshadowed by canonical names and events.
For the most part this choice doesn't change much; the technology (primarily weapons and propulsion technology) will be one of the biggest changes, as well the politics and major events. For the purposes of the game, however, there shouldn't be that much to change.
A vessel’s class (or spaceframe) is its basic superstructure, core systems, operational infrastructure, and all the other elements common to every vessel of the same class.
Choose a single class for your starship. This will provide a collection of abilities that serve as the baseline for the starship—the ship’s base scores for its systems, its Scale, modifiers towards its departments, and what weaponry it is equipped with. These may be modified by choices of mission profile, service record, and refits.
Each class also lists the year the class entered service and provides basic traits common to all ships of that class.
Some classes may also provide talents, denoting functions or special technologies that are built into ships of that class. These talents cannot be changed or swapped out at the start of the game.
The list of ship classes provided in this rulebook begins here. This is not a comprehensive list, initially, but should provide guides for converting the other ships listed on the main wiki classes page.
A ship’s mission profile is a key part of what distinguishes one ship of a class from her sister ships. It determines how the ship will be equipped, what facilities and personnel are assigned to it, and what kind of operations it will be expected to perform.
Choose a mission profile for your starship. This will provide the baseline ratings for each department, representing specialized equipment, crew assignments, and prioritization of resources. It will also provide at least one talent chosen from a short list designed to support the specific mission. The list of mission profiles can be found here.
Next, you may choose a single service record for the ship. This choice may be limited based on how long the ship has served.
Each service record provides an additional trait for the ship, reflecting alterations and modifications made during the ship’s service, as well as the effect of the ship’s reputation or status. These also provide an additional special rule that affects the ship in some small, thematic way. Service records are listed beginning here.
Most ships receive one or more refits based on the length of the ship’s service: on average, one minor refit for every 10 years of the ship’s service. These represent periodic upgrades and improvements the ship receives during its lifespan. These refits each add 1 to a single ship’s system. The specifics of these improvements are left vague, to fit with any point in the timeline and the evolving nature of technology. Refits are detailed here.
Example: The group decides to set their game in 2570 and selects a Triumph class. The Triumph entered service in 2449, a difference of 121 years, so the players assign 12 refits to their ship during ship creation. This may sound like a lot, but it isn't; when creating space frames the base system points are adjusted following this same rule so their over a century old Triumph simply doesn't have the same total points in it's systems as brand new ship would. Without the refits, they'd be at a serious disadvantage.
It should be noted that several classes (such as the [Archigos Class][archigos] and [Revelation Class][revelation]) have undergone refits much sooner than is typical, because of political pressure.
Other classes, like the Oslo StarDrives Glorious Class are decomissioned versions of military hulls, modified for civilian use.
All of these should be treated as seperate classes / spaceframes, often with the same name, but a 'Mark' designation, such as the "Archigos Mk. II".
Step One: Timeframe
Select the year the game is set. The year helps determine which ship classes are available in that era.
Step Two: Spaceframe
Select a ship class, for your starship.
Step Three: Mission Profile
Select a single mission profile for your starship.
Step Four: Service Record
You may choose a single service record reflecting the ship’s service record (or, if the ship is brand new, possibly a lack of history).
Step Five: Refits
Select or determine refits, if needed.
Once the game’s year, the starship’s class, mission profile, service record, and refit(s) have been chosen, it’s time to put all those things together:
A starship will have several traits determined during the creation process. One of these will indicate the culture or manufacturer that produced the ship (or denote the ship as being independent), as well as the broad classification of the ship's class while others may denote why the ship is notable or unusual. Another will come from the ship’s service record, if selected.
You may add any additional traits for the ship's backstory, or even pull something off the Idiosyncrasies list to add additional flavor to your ship. (Don't add too many, but feel free to be creative.)
A starship’s systems are determined by its class and then modified by mission profile, service record, and refits. No system rating may be increased beyond 12, though it may have a system with a base score above 12 if that score came from the spaceframe, before any modifications. If a ship has a system with a modified score above 12, reduce the score to 12 and assign those points to other systems.
A starship’s departments are determined by its class, mission profile, service record, and refits. No department rating may be above 5: if a ship has a department rating above 5, reduce it to 5, and assign those points to other departments.
A starship should have a number of talents equal to its Scale. Some of these may be determined by the ship’s spaceframe, and at least one should be determined by the ship’s mission profile. If, at this stage, the ship has fewer talents than its Scale, select additional talents until it has the required number. Talents can be found here. This limit only applies when the ship is first created—a ship which has been improved during play may obtain additional talents.
A starship’s Scale is determined by its class.
A starship’s Resistance is equal to half its Scale (round up), plus a bonus based on its Structure, as shown on the Structure and Resistance table here. Talents may modify Resistance further.
A starship has maximum defenses equal to its Structure plus its Scale and Security. Talents may modify this further.
A starship’s Crew Support is equal to its Scale. This may be modified further by character talents and/or ship talents.
A starship's Small Craft Readiness rating is equal to the ship’s Scale minus 1. his may be modified further by character talents and/or ship talents.
A starship’s weapons are determined by its spaceframe. The damage weapons inflict is increased based on the ship’s Weapons score, plus additional factors from the type of weapon. These variations are described in Starship Weapons.
The arrangement of the ship’s bridge—which stations are present, and which are grouped together for convenience—should be decided upon by the group. See here for information on bridge stations.
Once all the game mechanics are in place, the ship is ready, but for a couple of minor details.
First, every starship needs a name. The is no universal convention for naming ships, often naming them after locations, important historical persons, ancient ships, mythical figures, or even more abstract ideals, virtues, or concepts. Some classes have their own conventions, which will be noted on the ship class's details.
In most cases, a sharship will have a prefix. The table below lists the valid prefixes and which group uses them.
| Prefix | Faction | Service | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| CS | Independent | - | Civilian Ship, open to anyone, popular for decommissioned warships |
| EX | Independent, Terrans | - | Experimental Ship, indicates an experimental/hand-built ship, used by Terrans and Civilians |
| CDS | Freelancer | Navy | Confederacy Defense Ship, used by the few official Confederacy Navy vessels |
| CXS | Freelancer | Navy | Confederacy Experimental Ship, used by experimental Confederacy Navy vessels |
| FMS | Independent | - | Free Merchant Ship, typically used by privateers and merchant vessels |
| LSC | League | Civilian | League Ship (Civilian), used by all registered League civilian vessels |
| LSS | League | Navy | League Space Ship, used by all League Navy vessels |
| LXS | League | Navy | League Experimental Ship, used by experimental/prototype League Navy vessels |
| MV | Independent | - | Merchant Vessel, open to anyone, often used by large merchant fleets |
| TRS | Terran | Navy | Terran Republic Ship, used by all official Terran vessels |
Since Lyndri doin't have their own ships, they don't have their own prefixes, and NorAellians have never seen the point, though if they're operating civilian ships they will follow the 'customs' of the human races and use one of the civilian prefixes.
All ships operating in tha majority of space are required to have a registration number. Hulls are registered with the Interstellar Ship Authority, and as part of that registration, they are assigned a registry number, and are inspected to make sure they're in compliance with ISA regulations. That registry number can be used to look up the ship owner, history, and if the ship has been reported stolen.
Registry numbers are in the following format:
<Prefix: 2-5 letters> - <Identification: 1 to 9 numeric digits> <Differentiator: 1-3 letters (optional)>
Examples: AR-1, SD-13, XNIL-007, RVN-1849, NCC-1701 D
Typically, the letter designation is either a manufacturer code or model abbreviation, with the numbers working more like a serial number. Most owners don't bother getting a custom registry unless they want the vanity aspect of it.