Starships & Travel #
Ships may be purchased at any Tech 5 or 6 spaceport. After a down payment of 10% of the ship’s cost, the remainder of the cost can be defrayed through debt, usually to the Trade Consortium, though even more predatory options exist.
Standard repayment terms are 0.5% of the full ship cost, paid every month over 240 months.
A ship capable of interstellar travel is called a Starship. Starships are equipped with Gate Cores that enable them to punch a hole from realspace into gatespace, travel vast distances in weeks, and come back out again.
A ship can only enter or leave gatespace a significant distance (0.5 light seconds) from worlds or other large bodies.
Ship Components #
- Sensors: The range and power of the ship’s sensors.
- Thrusters: Speed and maneuverability granted by the vessel’s realspace drive and thrusters.
- Guns: The number and power of the ship’s laser cannon turrets.
- Hold: The number of standard 20-ton cargo containers that fit into the ship’s hold.
- Staterooms: The number of staterooms on board. Luxury passengers and officers will expect a private room. Crew on military vessels sleep four to a room.
| Ship | Sensors | Thrusters | Guns | Hold | Staterooms | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shuttle* | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5,000cc |
| Patrol Cutter* | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 10,000cc |
| Gunboat | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 15,000cc |
| Trade Cog | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 20,000cc |
| Blockade Runner | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 30,000cc |
| Cruiser | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 30,000cc |
| Frigate | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 50,000cc |
| Passenger Barge | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 20 | 50,000cc |
| Mass Hauler | 1 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 1 | 100,000cc |
| *No Gate Core, incapable of interstellar travel |
Interstellar Travel #
One hex on the cluster map represents one parsec. A trip through Gatespace takes one week to move one parsec, with a ship entering Gatespace in a charted star system and exiting in an adjacent charted system. Ships cannot travel through empty hexes or remain in Gatespace to skip over systems and encounter rolls.
PCs with less than maximum Endurance heal 1d6 Endurance per week while traveling.
Starship Encounters #
Each time a ship carrying PCs enters a system, including leaving port to travel to another system, they have a 3-in-6 chance of encountering another ship. Roll a starship encounter.
Booking Passage #
PCs without their own ship may book passage between star systems. Throw 2d6 + the population of an adjacent destination system. On a 10+, a ship is heading that way this week and accepting passengers. Find the type of ship based on the result below. The players may select any result lower than the number rolled.
Available Ships: 10: Blockade Runner 11-12: Trade Cog 13+: Passenger Barge
Blockade runner: 10cc per passenger, no questions asked. Double the cost if expected to evade local authorities.
Trade Cog: 5cc per passenger, rudimentary patdown, weapons stored in ship’s locker. 8 Passengers max. Will not risk the ship for you or knowingly engage in illegal activities.
Passenger Barge: 1cc per passenger, security scanned, pistols and melee weapons stored in the ship’s locker. Other weapons are not allowed on board. Owned by a corporation that will check your identity against a database.