In the Star Frontiers Setting, many different designs of ships reflect vastly different needs and design origins. Despite these differences, the relative levels of technology represented are much the same, due to extensive inter-world communication and commerce. There are many "production" models of the various utility vessels, as well as modified and custom vessels. Modern shipbuilding is a refined art, and custom vessels cost little more than those mass produced.

A ship may be designed using a Ship Design Sheet which can be found at the back of the book. The steps involved in designing a ship correlate to the order things are discussed in the ship design rules. After a ship has been designed, it is easy to refine the design to stay within a budget or to improve operating characteristics.

To start with, a designer must define the ships function, and determine the construction and operating budget. Next, they must choose the equipment that the ship will use to complete it's mission.

SHIP TYPES and FUNCTIONS

The following ship types are not important from a rules standpoint, but they may help you define a ships role more accurately.

PASSENGER VESSELS

Passenger vessels, yachts, military and exploratory vessels are usually integral hull vessels. These vessels usually have a doubled main pressure hull, with multiple pressure compartments. On small non-military vessels this usually means that the decks separate the compartments. Larger and military vessels are further divided up with pressure bulkheads between areas of the same deck.

SYSTEM TUGS

These are sturdy vessels that are intended accelerate and decelerate cargo containers in-system. They might (rarely) have Jump field projectors, but the projectors will only cover the ship itself, not any cargo. These vessels are small (HS 2-4) but often have powerful ZENI engines. These vessels push the cargo on it's way for in-system transfer, but rarely travel with the cargo containers except to rush delivery. If the security of a cargo is a concern, they will either make a high speed delivery, or send a manned escort vessel to accompany a large shipment. System tugs may accelerate any given mass. The more mass, the more slowly they accelerate / decelerate or maneuver the cargo.

FREIGHTERS

These vessels may be of any size. They are commonly composed of heavy structural trusses, and have container attachment hard points along their length. They have large field projectors, and must have engines capable of accelerating their cargo at at least 1 ADF (this is the minimum energy output for sustaining the jump field) They are purchased on the basis of the volume of cargo they can transport, rather than the internal volume of the hull. These ships are often quite fast when unladen, and sometimes detach their cargo and run when threatened.

AEROSPACE SHIPS

Aerospace vessels are ships that are equipped to operate in atmospheres. They usually have P-Jet engines, some sort of airframe or aeroshell, and will have landing gear or skids. Other than that, as a type they range widely. Some are designed to operate in atmospheres that have no oxidizers in the atmosphere. Some are designed to re-enter and aerobrake at high speed, others are designed to decelerate from orbit and drop straight down. Some are equipped to handle liquid surfaces or ultradense atmospheres. They are more complex to design than normal spacecraft. The most common spacecraft of this type is the orbital shuttle. The Assault Scout class is also an Aerospace Ship.

Avionics

Avionics consist of many instruments, such as short-range communications equipment, short range radar and laser range finders, gravitometers, gyroscopes, accelerometers, atmospheric composition indicators, telescopes (Doppler and others), altimeters, air-speed indicators, magnetometers, radiation detectors, electronic landing and navigation equipment, astrogation computers, as well as controls, displays, and minor equipment of all types. Most of the devices send the information to MFD's or Multi-Function Displays. Engineering equipment (such as the engines) also send information to the MFD's concerning the operating parameters of the engines and the ship in general. While crew can often access ship data through multitudes of integrated and personal displays, the primitive looking MFD's are the easiest and most complete sources of information. They are also the most secure. MFD's are radiation hardened. The CPU, controls, and display are all chemical/fiber-optic, and have independent power sources.

The two basic avionics packages are Atmospheric and Landing (15,000 cr), and Trans orbital (25,000 cr). A combination package for vessels operating in both modes, or for spacecraft controlling remote landers, probes, or shuttles costs 30,000cr. An avionics pack only masses 50kg, does not have a significant power requirement, and only takes up two square meters in volume.

Long Range Radar is simply an enhanced version of the small radar included in avionics packages. The basic avionics package radar can detect a hull size one (HS 1) ship at 10,000 km. Upgraded radar is in addition to this radar unit, and costs 2000 cr. for every 10,000 km range. Each increment adds .5 M3 volume and 50kg mass, as the antenna area and magnetron mass increases greatly with more power and range. Antennae may be rotary, but is usually a 3d panel type phased array.

Long Range Energy Detectors are passive devices that analyze radiated energy to determine it's source. These devices can detect other ships general locations by sensing emitted radio waves, engine thrust, light, heat, and even electromagnetic pulse coming from a ships wiring at short ranges. The purchase price of these detector suites is twice the cost of an LRR for the same range, and takes the same mass and volume.

More sensitive scanners and imaging systems are available, but those devices are often only on pure research vessels, and prospecting vessels. The planetary mapping system, the geodetic scanner, and the solar system analysis suite are the three most commonly found.

Planetary Mapper. This device will map a planetary surface in great detail (.1 meter resolution), and has search algorithms to scan the data it has for certain features. Five orbits of the planet are required for full resolution, with most planets requiring an orbital change each pass to provide the proper angle to see all details. One orbit provides a wealth of data, and the next four merely fill in the gray areas. This device consists of various optics, a high resolution mapping radar, and more sensitive versions of some of the devices in the avionics packages. This device costs 250,000 credits and takes 15 sq meters of volume. It adds 1500 kg to the weight of the vessel it is on, and must be mounted near the hull of the vessel. The device opens a small section of the hull and extends it's data gathering equipment when in operation.

Geodetic Scanner. This device is a deep-scanning version of the planetary mapper, with ground penetrating radar and even more sensitive devices. The optical package is the same, but the device analyzes the geological make-up of a planet in great detail, and can pinpoint locations for mineral concentrations, as well as identify geological activity. This device costs 1,000,000 credits and takes 20 square meters of hull volume. It adds 2500 kg to the weight of a vessel.

Solar System Analysis Suite. This is a system consisting of computer programs, a huge gravitometer, sensitive energy detectors, radar, and a very high resolution telescope. This sensor suite has the ability to chart the general contents of a solar system. The average system requires one day to identify all major objects, and ten or more days to plot the position of objects less than 100 km in diameter. The longer the system is in operation, the more data it can gather. The device can also resolve major objects in solar systems 10 light years and less away. It takes ten days on average to find all the terrestrial planet-sized objects in a remote system. More refined analysis of a system must be conducted in the solar system itself. This sensor suite costs 15,000,000 cr , has 30 tons of mass, and takes 1000 sq meters of volume. The device requires either control over the position of the ship, or sensor installations on two sides of the vessel. Custom modular installations cost 500,000 cr extra. The system requires a minimum of one trained crew to operate.

TRANSIT FIELD

The Transit, or "Jump" field as it is sometimes known, is a device that uses quantum forces to permutate the laws of the physical world. When used in the medical field, it is known as a "stasis" field, as a body in the area the field generator projects is preserved. This is due to the fact that time does not work the same way inside the field. When the field generator is in it's own area-of-effect, and in a ship traveling at a speed near 1% of the speed of light, an additional phenomenon occurs. The ship in this field "Jumps" from one place in space-time to another, allowing vast distances to be covered. In this way, the four major races have conquered the stars. This also happens to be the way the Humans came to be in the "Frontier". Many years ago, a huge colony ship attempted to transit the gulf between stars by placing passengers in stasis and rotating crew to watch systems. When the right relative speed was reached, and the last stasis field onboard was activated, the ship “jumped” through space-time, thus discovering the Transit Field at the same time as losing Earth forever.

A transit field requires a minimum power output to transit any given size ship equal to the reactor output of ADF 1 for that ship. To say it simply, if your ship can do ADF1, it can Jump. A Transit field generator costs 10000cr X the cube root of the ships total volume (including engines). Transit field generator transmitters take many forms, but are usually the visible components are parabolic dishes attached to the front ends of ZENI engine pods. The devices themselves are contained in the ZENI engine housings. They add no significant mass, as most of the components are redundant with the Zebulon field generators.

Design Notes: The final cost of the Transit Field is determined after the ship's total volume is known. Include Transit Field on the equipment list of your design sheet, but leave the cost blank until you know the ship's total volume. This cost is applied before System Armor costs.

Optional rule: If a completed design of the ship is available, grid out the cross section. For each engine the ship has, one circle or oval shaped area of the cross section may be covered, indicating a Z-field projection. The area covered by these shapes must cover the entire cross section. When done, the area covered by the circles in square meters is multiplied by 10,000 to get the cost of the ship's transit field.

LIFE SUPPORT

To provide a breathing environment and all the things a crew need to survive, a life support system is required. Closed system recycling is almost perfected, and with some restrictions on lifestyle, a person can live in a closed environment indefinitely, with only energy added to the system. This requires a 5 ton, 20 sq m life support system. Just one ton less, and the system will fail in 6 months, 3 tons gives 4 months, 2 tons gives 2 months, 1 ton gives 30 days. Please note that these numbers are based on basic life support only, and while the nutrition is sufficient, diet variety is nil and living on basic life support is very bad for morale. In general, this system only includes a nutrient recyclers at the 5 ton\person level. While starships carry such systems for emergencies, paying passengers are most often served by proper galleys, and most other ships carry additional atmospheric and entertainment equipment.

Life support systems cost 5000cr per ton, and require a power source to operate. Each ton takes 4 sq meters area for equipment space.

Design Notes: Crew Requirements- Almost any ship in the Frontier can be operated by one person for a limited amount of time, however, without a full crew performing maintenance in an on-going manner, the ship will suffer breakdowns eventually. For simple ships such as freighters, one crewperson or two autonomous maintenance robots are required per Hull Size . Military ships require twice that many. An additional Crewman is required for every 100 tons of weaponry, fighters, or other special equipment.

COMMUNICATIONS

Short range laser communication equipment (1 A.U. distance) and short range radio equipment (5 A.U. distance) is included in the avionics packages. Longer range communications are possible with this standard equipment, but are best for for ship to planet communications, as one of the stations will require a higher gain antenna and a more powerful transmitter to maintain quality of signal. Naturally, the information travels only at the speed of light, so there can be a significant time delay (1 second for every 300,000 km. each way).

Ship interior communications are included in the price of a hull and may be as extensive or simple as one may desire. The circuitry is literally part of the hull and internal structure, without even video displays requiring obvious components.

Subspace Communicators.

Two variants: (Optional campaign device) These devices emit and receive signals by use of tachyons, which are particles of strange matter that travel far faster than light. As tachyons travel over 10 light-years a second, normal conversations can be held between remote solar systems. Needless to say, that while the transmitters do not have to be very powerful, the signal must be very carefully directed. Linking two subspace communicators (also called "subspace radios" though they aren't really radios) takes time, and this problem increases the farther away they are. This being the case, most inhabited solar systems have subspace relay stations far out in deep space near their solar systems, which have very large parabolic receivers listening for calls. The locations of these relays are stable and are programmed into the communicators, enabling small communicators on ships to contact others. Note that use of these devices enables the receiving station or relay the ability to pinpoint the sender's location and heading exactly. A Subspace Comm Set costs 3,500,000 cr and weights 9000 kg. It requires 8 cubic meters of volume. Smaller portable (not "mobile") versions exist, but they are not as reliable, and take far longer to link with.

Special Equipment

Laboratory Equipment. Most lab equipment does not carry any significant mass penalty, but depending on what kind of work is going on in it can have much bearing on how much room a lab requires, as well as how many experiments may be run at any one time. In general, a small amount of equipment for an exploratory survey ship to receive and analyze biological samples will cost 10,000 cr. A true research ship will probably have 1,000,000 cr or more in equipment for various types of sampling, testing and analyzing. This is in addition to things such as long range scanners and probes.

Design Notes: Be sure to include appropriate crew manning for the laboratory.

Mining Equipment. Mining ships are most often modified freighters that carry Orbital Processing Labs and other equipment to collect the ore to be processed. On low mass bodies, the OPL is placed on direct contact with the asteroid or comet to be mined, and robotic miners as well as miners in workpods tunnel into the body and place it into the OPL, where it is brought to a semi-refined state. The material is then loaded into shipping containers. When all the containers are full, the ship leaves the OPL behind and takes the material to a resource center for sale. The ships' job is to keep running the cargo until the mine plays out. The ship may then re-locate the OPL, unless the processor is worn out, in which case it is abandoned or returned with the last load to be re-cycled.

There are many methods of asteroid mining. The above method is a more common legal one, in which the mine tailings are solidified (usually frozen) together, and marked and charted as a hazard to navigation. Other methods used in lawless regions involve such tactics as "ejecta mining" in which masses are slammed together, with the lighter pieces shattering and speeding off, and the heavy metals either leaving the collision more slowly, or otherwise identifying themselves in a violent version of fractional distillation. The ejecta possessing the desired property is then captured and processed. This method is quicker, and results in ore two to ten times higher in quality, but makes for a lot of small dangerous space junk.

OPLs cost 1,000,000 credits, and will process 250,000 tons of ore before becoming unmaintainably worn out. An OPL masses about 150 tons and has a volume of 1500 sq meters. OPL's are purchased for a specific type of material and are limited to that type of material. Two Crew are required and at least one dedicated maintenance bot in addition to any miners that are actually transporting ore to the unit.

Surface mining operations are far different. On bodies and planets with more than .1 gravity, a more conventional refinery must be set up. The higher the gravity, the more equipment is required, and the less profitable the mine will be. On large terrestrial planets, the ore concentration must be high indeed if a small operation is to land mining equipment, do some surface mining and leave. Usually only large permanent operations do this sort of mining.

Seeker Missiles (SM)

The Seeker Missile is an AI controlled homing proximity detonating nuclear missile. It uses a small, one-use ZENI engine to give it 30 ADF points. It may use up to 10 ADF points per turn. The missile has hardened defenses, and many have super-conductive coatings. A seeker acts like a small spacecraft, maneuvering and dodging, until it can detonate near the target. A seeker explosion causes 10d10 against any spacecraft in the same hex. The detonation will blanket radio communications for the next turn. A seeker's AI may be told to imitate a small spacecraft, lie in wait, hide among debris, or perform any type of activity imaginable. A seeker has 3 hull points and may be targeted by beam weapons, ICM's, Mass Drivers, and other SM's

SM's are military hardware and cost around 1,500,000 cr on the black market. Versions with advanced defenses cost upwards of 3,500,000 each. The UPF Navy is also rumored to have "anti-seeker" SM's that are faster with a smaller warhead. These weapons are rapidly replacing the roll of the short range ICM. A seeker is rectangular in cross-section, and measures 1m x 2m x 10m. With a launching hardpoint, they take up 30 m³, and mass 30 tons.

A Seeker has a base 95% chance of detonating close enough to damage it's target. Subtract 10 for every ADF point the target used that turn. Unless the firer rolls a 96-00, the seeker may continue to maneuver for another try. The seeker must pass through the targets' hex for a roll to be made. The seeker may be targeted by defensive fire.

Torpedoes (TT)

Torpedoes are sub-munition (MERV) warhead homing nuclear missiles. They are used against capital ships and groups of fighters that are foolish enough to be caught together. They are not as maneuverable as seekers, but are far more deadly. Each weapon contains enough warheads to blanket a 3 hex radius in nuclear blasts. Treat it as a seeker with a Max ADF per turn of 8. It only has to maneuver within 3 hexes of the target to damage a target. The detonation can be modified to effect only one hex (30d10), one hex radius (10d10), two hex radius (5d10), or three hex radius (1d10).

A Torpedo has a base 95% chance to hit a ship in it's area of effect. A ship may only provide defensive fire for vessels in it's own hex. A Z-Gun gives a -50% defense, and every other beam weapon fired defensively against sub munitions gives a -10% defense. A roll of 01-05 by the firer will always hit. The weapon deploys into sub-munition mode four hexes away from it's center target hex, so the whole torpedo cannot be targeted any closer than that. Torpedoes have 5 hull points.

Torpedos are 25 meters long, 4 meters in diameter, and mass 300 tons. They are not available except to large organizations and governments.

Mass Drivers (MD)

Also called the Zebulon Effect Rail Gun, or Z-Gun for short, these weapons are really just high-powered magnetic rail guns that have a Zebulon field projector effecting the projectile as it leaves the weapon. The projectiles are tiny .05 caliber rounds of depleted federanium. The projectiles are accelerated by a long magnetic rail "barrel" which telescopes out to a length of 20 meters from the turret when in use. The projectiles are high speed, but still would not be as effective in penetrating duralloy and plasteel hulls if not for the Z-field increasing their mass after they leave the barrel. As many as 10,000 rounds might be fired in a 1 second burst. Z-guns require capacitors in much the same way as beam weapons. A Mass Driver only has a range of 1 hex, but is very effective at destroying incoming Seekers, Torpedoes ( torpedo sub-munitions), and fighters that get too up-close and personal.

Mass drivers are turreted weapons only produced by one manufacturer in the frontier (Wartec). It is installed on UPF ships of Destroyer class or above in place of the older interceptor missile systems. It takes 200 cubic meters of space and weighs 50 tons. It carries 20 bursts of ammunition in the standard magazine. It's capacitor bank(10PF) is integral to the turret, but may be powered by other capacitor banks. It does 1d10+3 damage and almost always hits even high-speed targets. Non-maneuvering targets may be targeted at any range, but the weapon then only does 1d5 damage due to the projectiles losing the Zebulon effect outside a range of 1. The projectiles are not fast enough to be effective against maneuvering targets past a range of 1. Z-Guns cost 5,500,000cr installed and fully loaded.

Mass drivers hit on a base chance of 80%. Subtract -5 for every ADF used by the target that turn.