How to build a Starship 2.0

[Ayden Cater]

This guide is archaic and has rules in it that are either outdated or no longer in use. This guide's rules are not to be adhered to unless posted under official Staff threads, ie the Starship Template. -Tef

Original guide created by @[member="Mia Monroe"]
Guide 2.0 created by @[member="Ayden Cater"]

Preface
Welcome to the new and improved Starship Guide 2.0 at SWRP: Chaos! Before posting any submissions, we ask that you read the document below in it’s entirety. This guide does a very good job at explaining what each field is and what some of the terminology means. A few things to say first before getting into the logistics:

• Old submissions will not be reassessed unless they are reported for power-gaming in roleplays.
• Submissions prior to this guide are not to be based as precedent for future submissions. That is, just because so-and-so got away with it in the past does not mean it will pass now.
• The tables below are a guideline for all ships from now on. You may pick a loadout (Balanced, Assault or Support) and select which guns and which ships you have in your hangar. Some allowances may be made, but they will be made at the ruling Factory Judge or RPJs discretion. If they say no, then the answer is no.
• No superweapons. When in doubt, ask first.
• The rules for who can have a vessel, and their sizes, are staying the same.
• Anything that falls under the list of limited items will require a thread showing technology acquirement and/or development that is sizable and of quality.
• If a Factory Judge, RPJ or Admin asks for changes, either do them or see your submission denied. This isn’t an exercise in haggling. We’re not asking you to edit to be cruel, we’re asking you to do it because it doesn’t fit the bill.

Please consult the Factory Policy thread from time to time to keep up to date on the latest changes to rules and policies.


Intent
Describe the plan for this technology. Technology created on a whim or for purposes to undermine the integrity of Star Wars will not be approved. This includes, but is not limited to, countering designs of another faction without any IC justification, making an unstoppable ship, or exploit a perceived loophole.

Images
Please provide a line of credit (Ex. Image By So & So) and link to the original artist if you are using an image to illustrate your submission. If you cannot find the original artist, then please provide a link to where you discovered the image. If necessary, use an image search service such as TinEye to find the image's original location.

Development Threads
Development threads can be any thread, be it a dominion, a private thread or a public thread, but it needs to be substantial and contribute in some way to the development/discovery of the ship. Two one-sentence posts are not substantial. We typically prefer at least ten quality posts to substantiate submission designs.

• Development threads are required for any Command ship or any unique/limited production ship, at the discretion of ruling Factory Judge or Roleplay Judge
• Stealth technology (including but not limited to cloaking technology) requires a dev thread.
• As with all development threads, focus on story and have fun. RPJs reserve the right to request a longer development thread if effort is not being shown.
• New Major Factions are allowed mass-produced ships up to 1,000 meters in length.
• A faction development thread of at least 60 quality posts will allow the Major Faction to build up to the present cap of 2,000 meters.
• All development threads must be completed prior to submission. This applies to any sub that requires a restricted material or as outlined above.

Manufacturers
Who’s gonna build your ship? Well, maybe your character is a pro-tier engineer and you can build it yourself. Good for you, but for those of you that aren’t engineers, this is a list for all canon ship manufacturers

However, if you're part of a faction, be sure to speak to other members of your group as you may find that there is a dedicated company for your faction that designs tech. Alternatively, look here for any ship building companies, though be sure to ask the owner before you slap their name on as the manufacturer.

Corporations have the following restrictions on production of starships. These restrictions are not retroactive.

• Tier 1: Minor production of sub-capital size (100 meters or less).
• Tier 2: Mass production up to cruiser (600 meters or less), minor production up to light star destroyer (1500 meters or less).
• Tier 3: Mass production up to light star destroyer, minor production up to command ship (2000 meters or less).
• Tier 4-6: Mass production up to star destroyer (1700 meters or less), minor production up to command ship.

Model
What is the technical name for the ship? The Millennium Falcon's model is a YT-1300 light freighter. The Star Destroyers we see in the Original Trilogy are a model called Imperial-class Star Destroyers. This is the ship's technical name, not the name the captain gives it.

Affiliation
This is the faction, or specific character, that makes use of the ship. For example, a TIE starfighter might belong to the Sith Empire, whereas a custom bounty-hunting freighter might belong to Emberli Garrett.

Ships in excess of 400 meters must be affiliated with a faction.

Modularity
Does the item have the capacity to be augmented, modified, customized or adapted from its original form? Be sure to detail the modular capabilities in the description below.

Production
How widely available is your ship? Mass Produced ships are readily available for use. Minor Production are more limited and won’t be found in even half as many numbers as mass produced ships. Limited Production ships are prototypes or ships that are being fielded in limited numbers for testing. They might have new or experimental technology onboard. Unique ships are just that; unique. Whether from cost, modification, or other limiting factors, there’s only one of this ship.

A few notes.

• No stealth technology will ever be placed on mass produced ships.
• Ships with rare, exotic, or expensive technology require a completed development thread prior to submission.
• Factions are urged to minimize the number of mass-produced submissions they make over 1,000 meters in length.

Material
What is it made out of? Certain materials are more resistant, or vulnerable, to certain weapons. See: Metals or Compounds for a list of materials. The most important materials are usually structural. For example, an average Star Destroyer will have durasteel for its hull and armor, and transparisteel for its viewports. Most ships are made from durasteel and transparisteel. Tougher materials are much heavier (such as turadium) or much more expensive (such as glasteel), and frequently both. Anything beyond this needs to have explanation and justification why its using such rare and unusual metals in large quantities.

Description
The meat and bones of your ship. A full paragraph is needed here, minimum. If you don’t have a picture, then two paragraphs are required, one detailing the general shape of the ship. Describe some of the history behind the submission. Give us some idea of how it might perform its function, what it excels against and what some limitations of it are. Also include any modularity details in here.

Classification
What is the classification of the ship? This is determined by two things; the longest dimension of the ship (see Dimensions below for more details) and the armament. All capital ships have three categories to choose from; Balanced, Assault, and Support. Ex: Balanced Frigate, Assault Cruiser, Support Star Destroyer.

Balanced ship types are the mainstay ships and most numerous of the three types. They’re a perfect blend of firepower and support. They’re not the strongest ships, and they might not be able to handle more specialized tasks, but they’re reliable and get the job done without a complaint.

When you just want to make the enemy ship go away in an expensive flash of pyrotechnics, Assault ships are the way to go. Boosting more weapons than their Balanced cousins, Assault ships hit hard and take hard hits. They sacrifice speed for this and, instead of starfighters, their hangers are filled with dropships and gunships for assaulting enemy fortifications. Nevertheless, the Assault ships are powerful warships that should never be underestimated.

Support ships describe the types of ships that do not excel primarily in direct combat, but rather take alternate roles in a fight. Carriers with their massive hangers, electronic warfare ships with their sophisticated sensors, or repair ships with hangers of repair droids; these are the ships that make it possible for Balanced and Assault ships to do their jobs. Because they lack the heavy weaponry that Balanced and Assault ships have, Support ships do enjoy an average increase in speed over the other ship classes.

Balanced ships have no Speed modifier. Assault ships are slower, so suffer a +1 to their speed (An Assault Corvette would be Speed 6 then, instead of 5. An Assault Star Destroyer would be 9 instead of 8). Support ships are faster and get a -1 to their Speed (A Support Star Destroyer has a Speed of 7.)

For starship variants with different classifications, such as a Balanced and an Assault model of the same ship, please use separate submissions.

Role
What is the ship designed for? This is tied in closely with its classification. Blockade runner, planetary assault, escort, electronic warfare, ship of the line, etc. A Star Destroyer packed with guns isn’t gonna be going on any science missions.

Dimensions
How long is the ship? How wide? How tall? Traditionally, the longest dimension is the length, followed by width, with height in last. If you’re unsure exactly how to break it down, a good ratio is 6-2-1. So a 1,600 meter long ship would have a width of about 500 meters and would be about 250 meters tall.

Corvettes 100 - 200m
Frigates 201 - 400m
Cruisers 401 - 600m
Heavy Cruisers 601 - 1,000m
Light Star Destroyer 1,001 - 1,500m
Star Destroyers 1,501m - 1,700m
Command Ship 1,701 - 2,000m

Note the following:

• An individual character may not own ship greater than 400 meters in length.
• Minor factions are permitted unique, player-captained ships up to a length of 1,000 meters.
• New Major Factions are allowed mass-produced ships up to 1,000 meters in length.
• A faction development thread of at least 60 quality posts will allow the Major Faction to build up to the present cap of 2,000 meters.
• No ship over 2 kilometers will be approved for any faction, with exception of special Staff-approved event technology.

Power Core Generator/Reactor
What fuels the ship? All capital ship reactors, whether antimatter, hypermatter, or solar ionization, produce roughly the same amount of power. Antimatter and hypermatter are slightly more powerful, but also more volatile and dangerous. Small craft generally use an ionization reactor, a cryogenic reactor, or standard fuel cells. All small craft generators produce roughly the same amount of power, except for standard fuel cells, which are cheap and stable but produce lower power yields.

Hyperdrive
The lower the number, the faster the hyperdrive. Standard civilian hyperdrives are Class 2.0 or Class 3.0, while military technology typically employs Class 1.0. Backup Hyperdrives are permitted on ships exceeding thirty (30) meters.

Minimum Crew
The minimal amount of individuals needed to operate the ship or station. While many large ships can be piloted alone in very simple ways, minimum crew reflects the amount of personnel needed for minimum effective combat operations. One person is not going to be able to pilot a ship while shooting while maintaining sensors and shields while ensuring power levels remain stable while - you get the point.

Optimal Crew
The ideal amount of individuals needed to operate the ship or station in the long term. This includes support personnel of many kinds, such as technicians, repair crew for support craft, gunners, security officers, doctors, etc. No capital ship can operate in the long term without these personnel.

Armaments
What is your ship armed with? The following table lists total armament numbers for each category of ship. Turbolasers, ion cannons, mass driver cannons, and other equivalent weapons (like Vong Yaret-Kor or Chiss Turbomasers) are all capital guns and are held to be roughly equal in power requirements and general firepower. Even hypervelocity guns, once relegated to planetary defense weapons, are being mounted on capital ships

Warhead launchers are the standard missiles fired by fighters and small capital ships. They can inflict serious damage against them, but against heavier targets they come up short. Heavy warheads are deadly anti-capital ship weapons that should make every commander wary. It doesn’t take but a handful of heavy warheads to reduce a capital ship to slag.

Quad laser cannons, flak cannons, and point defense systems are the go-to for defensive weapons as turbolasers can’t track fast moving targets adequately. Quad laser cannons are the general defense gun for ships. They have excellent tracking and pack a decent punch. Flak cannons have long range and create so-called 'kill zones' that deter enemy starfighters or missiles from approaching. However, they do have a minimum range, so any ships that does get through can't be targeted. For those, the point defense system is most effective. Capable of quickly handling enemy starfighters and missiles at very close ranges, the point defense system cannot adequately engage targets at ranges beyond a hundred meters or so.

For the purposes of counting guns, we primarily look at individual barrels. So a single turbolaser cannon is valued at 1. A quad turbolaser cannon then is valued the same as four individual turbolasers. Batteries are capital guns grouped into fours. Most often you see batteries on heavy cruisers and larger capital ships. So a single battery of quad turbolasers is equal to sixteen (16) single turbolasers.

There are other modifiers we look after as well. Heavy denotes an increase in power to a particular group of weapons and thus applies a x2 multiplier. Going back to the quad turbolaser example, a battery of heavy quad turbolasers is equal to a whopping thirty-two (32) single turbolaser cannons. Long Range combines the raw power of Heavy with additional power to extend the range of a weapon and is thus a x5 modifier. A theoretical long range battery of heavy quad turbolasers is equal to a staggering one hundred sixty (160) turbolasers!

Weapons and Modifiers

Spoiler

Capital Guns:
Hypervelocity Gun: 10 capital guns
---Restricted to Light Star Destroyer and larger.

Fast Mount: Single Barrel only
---Allows a ship to track faster moving targets, up to Class 4.

1 Capital Gun = 2 Defense Guns

Light: x0.5 (Sub-Capital Only)
Repeating: x2 (Sub-Capital Only)
Composite Beam: x2 (Sub-Capital Only)
Heavy: x2
Dual: x2
Quad: x4
Long-Range: x5 (Capital Ships only, Capital Guns Only)

Warheads:
Normal Warhead: 2 capital guns
Heavy Warhead: 8 capital guns

Homing: x2 (Sub-Capital Only)
Cluster: x4

This list covers the general and widely available weapons. This is not to say that ships can’t have weapons not mentioned above, but their value is up to the judging Starship Factory Judge or Roleplay Judge. You may choose to avoid weapons math for capital ships. If you choose this option, use phrases such as 'an average loadout for a Support Star Destroyer,' 'an average loadout for a Balanced Frigate, with an emphasis on proton torpedo launchers,' or perhaps 'an average number of guns for an Assault Light Star Destroyer, with only ion cannons for capital guns.' If you choose not to use gun math, please keep these descriptions clear, short, and reasonable. This option is primarily for capital ships with 'vanilla' weapons loadouts -- ships whose special qualities lie elsewhere in the submission. For more complex loadouts, or if you want to know exactly how many of each kind of guns are on your ship, please work from the table below.

Spoiler

Hangers
Not required for ships lacking a hangar. As with Armaments, you must choose either Balanced, Assault, or Support. This selection must correlate with your Armament choice, with the exceptions of Dropships and Heavy Dropships.

Spoiler

Non-Combat Systems
All capital ships have a number of systems that they’ll possess, regardless of size or classification. Things like communication arrays to communicate with other ships, Holonet transceivers to contact other systems, detention cells for the unruly. The follow is a list of systems every capital ship ought to have.

• Communications Array
• Encryption Network
• Escape Pods
• Holonet Transceiver
• Standard Deflector Shield Generator
• Standard Detention Cells
• Standard Life Support Systems
• Standard Navigational Systems
• Standard Sensor Array
• Standard Targeting Systems
• Tractor Beams

Assault ships tend to have redundant shield generators, reinforced hull plating, and back-up generators. These are their critical systems to fight with. They eschew more sophisticated and advanced systems, like cloaking devices or scanners, as they require delicate operation and are a large power drain towards a resource already stretched to the limit from the weapons.

Support ships have access to some wider variety of systems; advanced communication arrays, powerful tractor beams, sensitive sensors that can pick up even the faintest particles. Their job is to know when there is a fight, not actually fight.

In general, the higher level of production a ship has, the fewer number of advanced systems it can afford. The point of mass production is to churn out effective ships at low cost. It's counter intuitive then to put a lot of rare and expensive systems on it.

As a rule of thumb, a mass produced light capital ship (Corvette to Heavy Cruiser) can have one advanced system. Heavy capital ships (Light Star Destroyer and up) can have two. Things like redundant shield generators, heavy shield generators, or advanced automation all count as an advanced system when placed on ships they're not normally a part of. More advanced systems can be put on a ship, but will necessitate a decrease in production level. Certain advanced systems might also require a reduction in armament.

Passenger Capacity
How many non-crew members can the ship hold? This number comes from everyone who is not needed to run the ship, like foreign dignitaries, prisoners, or ground troops.

Cargo Capacity
How much a ship can carry, including but not limited to superfluous cargo, consumables, medical supplies, fuel, oxygen. If in doubt, or if you don't want to fiddle with numbers, put 'Appropriate for [whatever your Classification and Role are]'.

Consumables
The measure of how long a ship can operate away from a friendly base. Larger capital ships tend to be designed for extended operations, often two or three years at a time, though this time limit can be shortened due to extreme circumstances such as combat or sabotage. If you don't want to fiddle with numbers, put 'Appropriate for [whatever your Classification and Role are]' or another descriptor, such as 'Appropriate for a long military campaign' or 'Appropriate for long-term exploration.'

Speed
How fast and nimble can the ship move in realspace? This is measured from Class 1 to 10; Class 1 would be an Interceptor, like an A-Wing or TIE Interceptor. Class 2 would be general starfighters, like an X-Wing or TIE Fighter. Class 3 is for Bombers and Light Freighters. Class 4 is typically for Heavy Freighters and Dropships. Class 5 is for Corvettes and Frigates. Class 6 is for Cruisers and Heavy Cruisers. Class 7 is for Light Star Destroyers while Class 8 is standard for Star Destroyers and Command Ships. Class 9 is for ships over 2,000 meters in length while Class 10 is for the truly gargantuan, like the Death Star.

Balanced ships have no Speed modifier. Assault ships are slower, so suffer a +1 to their speed (An Assault Corvette would be Speed 6 then, instead of 5. An Assault Star Destroyer would be 9 instead of 8). Support ships are faster and get a -1 to their Speed (A Support Star Destroyer has a Speed of 7.)

It is acceptable to separate speed and maneuverability, but in nearly all cases the speed and maneuverability should be quite close to each other, and there should be a good reason for the split.

While it is tempting to apply approximate numbers and simplified physics calculations to justify very high speeds through constant acceleration, Star Wars canon has accepted several different interpretations of the scale of starship speed. As a result, the following table is used to demonstrate that an X-Wing will always be able to catch up to, or outpace, a Star Destroyer in the long run.

Spoiler

 

[Ayden Cater]

Drop Pods

Drop pods aren't a revolutionary design but are something that, until recently, were a rare sight in the galaxy. Designed to get boots on the ground as quickly as possible, drop pods forgo a lot of safety features and defenses of a true dropship. More often than not the drop pods are designed to fired and then forgotten, never to be recovered after launch. They're capable of only limited propulsion and tend to be exceptionally fragile. However, due to their relative size to a dropship, more of them can be stored on a ship than dropships.

Corvettes, Frigates, and Cruisers must convert their entire hanger space to drop pods in order to carry them, a reflection of the specialized equipment necessary to move, load, and store the pods for use and their comparatively smaller hanger space. Drop pods are worth one starfighter, or four for one gunship/dropship, or six for one heavy dropship. So a Balanced Command ship could store 260 drop pods, while an Assault could store 280 and a Support could store 360.

 

[Ayden Cater]

Stations

Space stations are often the heart of a system's trade and military power. They handle and coordinate traffic, reduce population strain on the planet, serve as orbital production, and especially help defend a planet from would-be-invaders.

Space stations are large structures, primarily designed to stay in orbit over a world. Some might come with maneuvering thrusters to make minor orbital corrections, but even the largest star ship can outpace a station. But stations don't rely on their speed in a fight. Instead, they rely on their size. Larger stations can support more and more guns, even more than a ship of comparable length. In general, there are two kinds of stations; military and civilian.

Military stations are designed primarily to defend a world and help keep it secure. In order to determine how many weapons a station of a particular size can handle, find what group the station would belong to (Corvette, Frigate, etc), and then apply a 50% bonus to the weapon pool. So a Balanced Station 400 meters long would have 45 capital guns, 15 missile launchers, and 18 defense guns, up from 30/10/12 respectively. This is a reflection of stations having a larger internal space and lacking a need to power engines. Military stations can select from any three classifications (Balanced, Assault, or Support).

Civilian stations are designed to support a world. They act as routing hubs for interstellar traffic, orbital offices for the luxurious, or perhaps homes for the destitute. Civilian stations can be twice as large as a military station (So the max size for a civilian station is 4,000 meters, not 2,000), however their non-military design means they only support half of the guns they would otherwise be afford (So a Balanced Civilian Station of 2 km, compared to a 1 km military station or ship, would only have 80 capital guns, 20 missile launchers, and 24 defense guns, as opposed to the 160/40/48 normally allotted to a military station before their bonus). Civilian stations also receive a 50% bonus to their weapon pool, but only after first halving their base numbers (So a Balanced Civilian Station of 2km would have 120/30/36 for weapons).

Civilian stations can only be of the Balanced or Support variety, and cannot field Long-Range capital guns or heavy warheads.

Stations are only entitled to the bonus to weapons if they do not possess a hyperdrive or have maneuverability less than 10.

All stations carry 50% more hanger space over their capital ship cousins.

 

[Ayden Cater]

Trade-Ins and Penalty Assessment
Some people want their ships to possess capabilities outside the presented guide, and are willing to trade one aspect for another. The following are the general guidelines that should be kept in mind.

• Missiles can be converted to capital guns or defensive guns, but only capital guns can be traded to get more missiles.
• Hanger space cannot be traded for more guns, nor can guns be traded for hanger space.
• Trading more than 50% of one kind of weapon for another will result in a 50% penalty in to the received gains. So if trading 5 heavy warhead launchers would get you 40 capital guns, after the penalty you end up with 20.

Why a Penalty?
The penalty for mass trade-ins is in place to discourage min-maxing, not creativity. We want the emphasis on a ship to be how it's used in a roleplay, not just how many of X guns it has on it. This is why the trade threshold is 50% of a weapon pool as opposed to a flat penalty. Minor trade-ins won't be penalized, and since it's a percentile, large ships have a larger threshold for trading in.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Understanding Stealth Technology

Star Wars has many varieties of stealth technology. Some, such as sensor masks, Nightshadow coating, photon absorbers, sensor negators, or special jamming, only reduce a starship's ability to be detected, rather than remove it entirely.

A cloaking device is, in many ways, superior to any of these. There are two kinds of cloaking device, based on the two rare minerals hibridium and stygium. A hibridium cloaking device is double-blind, meaning that you can't see out with eyes or sensors. If a hibridium cloaking device is active when its ship jumps to hyperspace, that ship is destroyed. Stygium cloaks allow you to see out, but power requirements prevent ships from entering and exiting hyperspace while cloaked.

There are only two ways to detect a cloaked ship. The first is to detect its exhaust, which is very imprecise and often impossible. To prevent this remote possibility, many stealth ships have thrust trace dampers. The second way to detect a cloaked ship is with a very rare, very expensive crystal gravfield trap (CGT). The only ways to avoid detection by CGT are to be well within a planet's gravity well, be in among many other ships, or have a rare, expensive gravitic modulator installed. In theory, the best stealth ship has a stygium cloak, enough non-cloak stealth to cover it in the seconds before and after it jumps to hyperspace, a gravitic modulator, and thrust trace dampers. Such a ship would require very, very serious work, not to mention rationale -- not every government on the board has access to a CGT or gravitic modulators. Please note that while some early prototype cloaking devices were vulnerable to detection through magnetometric sensors' detection of magnetic signatures, that is not a weakness of standard hibridium and stygium cloaking devices.

Which stealth-related starship technology requires a development thread? Cloaking devices. Gravitic modulators when used in conjunction with various non-cloak sensor stealth tech. For lesser varieties of stealth, a judge may require a development thread at his or her discretion, but a well-balanced submission which contains a minor stealth/jammer element would generally not require a development thread.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

Ships Over 2,000 Meters

Battlecruisers (2,001-2,500 meters) and Heavy Battlecruisers (2,501-3,000 meters) are special cases requiring significant effort. All such ships require multiple substantial development threads. They must be of Unique production and captained by player characters. They may only be constructed after a faction has completed the 60-post development thread permitting mass production of 2,000 meter ships.

• Balanced Battlecruisers may have a maximum of 275 capital gun batteries, 160 warhead launchers OR 40 heavy warhead launchers, and 180 defense guns. Their hangar capacity may be a maximum of 108 fighters/bombers, 20 gunships, and 34 dropships.
• Assault Battlecruisers may have a maximum of 350 capital gun batteries, 220 warhead launchers OR 55 heavy warhead launchers, and 160 defense guns. Their hangar capacity may be a maximum of 30 bombers, 40 gunships, 18 dropships, and 16 heavy dropships.
• Support Battlecruisers may have a maximum of 100 capital guns and 100 defense gun batteries. Their hangar capacity may be a maximum of 204 fighters/bombers, 25 gunships, and 34 dropships.
• Balanced Heavy Battlecruisers may have a maximum of 350 capital gun batteries, 220 warhead launchers OR 55 heavy warhead launchers, and 220 defense guns. Their hangar capacity may be a maximum of 144 fighters/bombers, 26 gunships, and 40 dropships.
• Assault Heavy Battlecruisers may have a maximum of 450 capital gun batteries, 260 warhead launchers OR 65 heavy warhead launchers, and 180 defense guns. Their hangar capacity may be a maximum of 36 bombers, 50 gunships, 28 dropships, and 24 heavy dropships.
• Support Heavy Battlecruisers may have a maximum of 140 capital guns and 120 defense gun batteries. Their hangar capacity may be a maximum of 240 fighters/bombers, 30 gunships, and 40 dropships.