CAMPAIGNS		SCENARIOS

SHIP CONSTRUCTION RULES

The fighters and patrol class ships described in this game are typical of the vast variety of small craft operating in TOG and non-TOG space. If players wish to design their own ships, the following rules will enable them to do so. INTERCEPTOR designs are defined by tonnage ranges long established by all sides for ease of logistic calculations. The movement characteristics, number and power of weapons, armour and shielding of a ship are tied directly to mass/power relationships. Additionally, the configuration and intended mission of a ship can produce radical differences in the fighting power of ships theoretically within the same class. The construction system is also used for designing orbital installations; see below for exceptions to the standard procedure. Unless specifically noted otherwise, "ship" can refer equally to ships and orbital installations. The procedure for creating a ship is as follows:

STEP 1: CHOOSE SHIP CLASS, TONNAGE, AND NATIONALITY

SHIP CLASS

A ship's class is determined by its actual tonnage and what its designer chooses to call it. All ships must fit into one of the following ranges:

150 tons or less
200 tons or less
300 tons or less
500 tons or less
500 tons or more
1000 tons or more
2500 tons or more
5000 tons or less
5000 to 10,000 tons

Light Fighter 
Medium Fighter
Heavy Fighter 
Superheavy Fighter 
Demi-Corvette
Small Corvette
Corvette
Medium Corvette
Large Corvette

These designations are not exclusive, and are strictly for the convenience of the ship's owners. Generally, they should reflect a ship's intended mission (i.e., a 1000-ton ship which carries many more weapons than fighter bays would typically be called a corvette rather than a fighter carrier, and vice versa, although "hybrids" are possible).

TONNAGE

Once a ship's class has been determined, the designer must choose the ship's tonnage within the class limit. In general, the bigger the ship, the more powerful it will be; however, it will probably also be more expensive and possibly more difficult to maintain and repair in a campaign situation. Note that there is some overlap between classes.

NATIONALITY

Even though the level of aerospace technology in use by all the opposing factions is nearly equal, there are some significant differences between them. The social, political and military organization of each side can have an impact as well. In general, TOG ships are the "baseline" for both crew quality and technology, while TOG designers will have the most money to spend in campaign situations due to TOG's greater size. Ships of the Commonwealth and the Renegade Legions have the advantage of slightly higher technology and crew quality, but considerably fewer resources. KessRith ships are the least advanced, but their crews are physically tougher and will fight fanatically in all circumstances. Other groups can be modeled as needed, but are usually derivatives of one of the three main groups mentioned. Specific differences are mentioned below as needed, and in the CAMPAIGNS section.

To provide an example of ship construction, we will design a well-known fighter, the famous FLUTTERING PETAL, used by all of the anti-TOG forces. The original nationality of this design was KessRith, but the example ship will be a Human-crewed PETAL belonging to the Renegade Legions. The PETAL masses 245 tons, and is classed as a heavy fighter.

STEP 2: DETERMINE DESIRED THRUST RATING

The thrust rating of a ship has nothing to do with its class, but is a factor of its engine power divided by its tonnage. The only real limits on a ship's thrust rating are tonnage and cost; however, few ships will have a thrust higher than 15. Tactical considerations also play a role; for example, it probably won't make sense to design an interceptor that can't catch the ships it was built to guard against, or an assault fighter with such large engines that its armour and weapons are much inferior to its competition. Orbital installations, being stationary, do not have a thrust rating.

The FLUTTERING PETAL is intended to have a thrust rating of 5, which is slightly low for a heavy fighter. However, the ship's designers intend for its firepower and survivability to make up for lack of speed, and its thrust is not decisively lower than that of its TOG counterpart, the GLADIUS.

STEP 3: ADD ENGINES AND DIRECTIONAL CONTROL SYSTEM

Once a desired thrust rating has been determined, multiply this number by the tonnage of the ship and round up to the next increment of 50. The resulting number is the total amount of power that must be provided by the Ippolito- Kuldonov sublight drive engine(s). The maximum number of engines that can be fitted is three.

If multiple engines are fitted, a set of linkage controls is required to connect each engine in the system together (i.e., a twin-engined ship requires one set of linkage controls, and a triple-engined ship requires two sets of controls). Each set of linkage controls weighs 5% of the total engine tonnage (rounding up, with a minimum of 1/2 ton), requires one Energy Point (EP) from the ship's powerplant per ton (rounding up for each linkage), and costs 100,000 talents per ton (minimum cost of 100,000 talents per linkage).

A ship must carry Directional Control Systems (also known as vector thrusters) in order to change direction and orientation. DCS weighs 1/2 ton per 1000 points of engine power (rounding up to the next ton, with a minimum of 1 ton), requires EPs equal to (Ship's tonnage / 10, rounding up) from the ship's powerplant, and costs 200,000 talents per ton (minimum cost of 200,000 talents). More than one set of DCS may be carried as insurance against damage, or to improve a ship's maneuverability -- see MOVEMENT and DAMAGE for details.

Orbital installations do not have engines and do not require DCS.

The FLUTTERING PETAL's engines must provide a total power of 1250 -- 245 tons times desired thrust 5 = 1225, which rounds up to 1250. This requirement is fulfilled by two 400-point engines and a 450-point engine. Each 400-point engine weighs 1 ton and costs 400,000 talents; the 450-point engine also weighs 1 ton and costs 450,000 talents. Two sets of linkage controls weigh a total of 1 ton ( 3 tons of engine x .05 = .15 ton per linkage, rounding up to the 1/2-ton minimum for each), use two EPs and cost a total of 200,000 talents. By comparison, a single 1250-point engine would have cost 400,000 talents less and not required any EPs for linkages, but would have weighed 13 tons more. A single set of DCS is installed, which weighs 1 ton, requires 25 EPs, and costs 200,000 talents. Totals so far: Cost = 1,650,000 talents; Tons remaining = 240.

STEP 4: ADD ACCELERATION COMPENSATOR

Depending on how high its thrust rating is, a ship may require an acceleration compensator to counteract the forces acting on its crew. The point at which a compensator needs to be mounted depends on their race, as follows:

Vauvusar: Compensator required at Thrust 3 or more
 Baufrin: Compensator required at Thrust 4 or more
   Human: Compensator required at Thrust 5 or more
   Naram: Compensator required at Thrust 5 or more
   Ssora: Compensator required at Thrust 5 or more
KessRith: Compensator required at Thrust 6 or more

Compensators are rated by the maximum thrust that they can counteract. One compensator must be mounted per 1000 tons, rounding up. Compensators may be fitted even if not required, or one may be fitted that counteracts a higher thrust than the ship is normally capable of. This is usually done to make the ship operable by a variety of races (see STEP 10, below), to allow higher acceleration rates if the optional variable mass thrust rule is used (see MOVEMENT, above), or to easily allow for a High-Thrust modification (see STEP 15, below).

3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16+

2
3
3
4
4
5
6
6
7
8
8
11
12
15

2
3
3
4
4
5
6
6
7
8
8
11
12
15

3,000 
4,000 
5,000 
6,000 
7,000 
8,000 
9,000 
10,000 
11,000 
12,000 
13,000 
14,000 
15,000 
20,000 

Were our example PETAL an original KessRith-operated model, it would not necessarily require an acceleration compensator since the K-Rs are physically tough enough to withstand a thrust of 6 -- but, since it is crewed by Human Renegade Legionnaires, it must carry one Thrust 5 compensator requiring 3 tons, 3 EPs, and 5,000 talents. Totals so far: Cost = 1,655,000 talents; Tons remaining = 237.

STEP 5: ADD WEAPONS (FIXED AND/OR TURRETED)

A ship may carry as many fixed weapons as desired within the limits of tonnage, energy requirements and cost. Keep in mind, however, that a single crewman can fire no more than five weapons per turn unless TOT equipment is fitted (see STEP 9). The arcs of fire for fixed weapons are diagramed in COMBAT, above; also see STEP 15 for restrictions on their placement.

Turrets

If desired and possible, weapons may be mounted in fully-rotating turrets. A ship may carry 1 turret per thousand tons of total weight (rounding down, with a minimum of 1). No more than 5 weapons may be mounted per turret.

Weapons

Select the weapons to be placed in the ship, using the data tables below.

Lasers

Particle/Plasma Cannons

Mass Driver Cannons

Hard Points & Loads

Defensive Systems

The FLUTTERING PETAL carries a powerful selection of weaponry, as follows:

Fixed Forward: 2 MDC 8 (each 24 tons, 6 EPs, 168,000 talents), 2 7.5/5 Laser (each 20 tons, 20 EPs, 240,000 talents), 1 Hardpoint (3 tons, 0 EP, 10,000 talents)

Turreted (TRT 1): 2 5/5 Laser (each 17 tons, 17 EPs, 204,000 talents) 2 5/4 Laser (each 14 tons, 14 EPs, 168,000 talents) 1 Hardpoint (3 tons, 0 EP, 10,000 talents)

The specific arrangement of the fixed forward weapons is discussed further in STEP 15. The turret requires 7 EPs -- (65 tons of weapons + 4 tons for the turret itself) divided by 10, rounding up -- in addition to the EPs for its lasers; its weight is 4 tons and its cost is 40,000 talents. Totals so far: Cost = 3,275,000 talents; Tons remaining = 77.

STEP 6: ADD SHIELDING

If a ship is to carry flicker shields, it must provide one shield generator for each of its six hull sides. These generators may either be fixed-rate (with a constant power requirement) or variable-rate (which can have different amounts of energy allocated each turn). A ship may only carry one or the other type of generators, not a combination. See below for price, weight and power details.

10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
180
190
200
Variable

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2

1
2
4
6
12
24
40
70
125
550
385
675
1180
2065
3615
6325
11068
19369
33895
95316
-VAR-

5 000 
10 000 
15 000 
20 000 
25 000 
30 000 
35 000 
40 000 
45 000 
50 000 
55 000 
60 000 
65 000 
70 000 
75 000 
80 000 
85 000 
90 000 
95 000 
100 000 
100 000 

To save tonnage and expense, the PETAL mounts fixed-rate shields with the following values: Forward 80, all other facings 60. The generators require 190 EPs, weigh 6 tons and cost 190,000 talents. Totals so far: Cost = 3,465,000 talents; Tons remaining = 71.

STEP 7: ADD FTL DRIVE, STREAMLINING AND/OR ANTI-GRAV LIFTERS

FASTER-THAN-LIGHT DRIVE
This system is only required for interstellar travel. Tonnage: equal to 10 percent of the total tonnage of the ship (rounding up to next ton), with a minimum weight of 50 tons. EPs Required: 1 per ton. Cost: 20,000 talents per ton.

Ships may be equipped with either or both of the following methods of flying in an atmosphere:

STREAMLINING
Ships may be streamlined for atmospheric entry and maneuver. This modification requires 5 percent of the tonnage of the ship, rounding up to the next ton (representing wasted interior space to get sensitive components inboard as well as general structural strengthening), at a cost of 1,000 talents per ton. A streamlined ship must also carry Atmospheric Control Systems in order to change direction and orientation. ACS weighs 1 ton per 1000 points of engine power (rounding up to the next full ton, with a minimum of 1 ton), requires 1 EP per ton from the ship's powerplant, and costs 50,000 talents per ton. The effects of streamlining are discussed in MOVEMENT. Unlike DCS (see STEP 3), only 1 set of ACS may be fitted.

ANTI-GRAV LIFTERS
Ships may also be fitted with anti-gravity generators to allow atmospheric entry and maneuver. Lifters require 1 percent of the tonnage of the ship (rounding up to the next ton) and EPs equal to 5 percent of the ship's total tonnage (rounding up to the next ton). The cost is 5,000 talents per ton of lifters. The effects of anti-gravs are discussed in MOVEMENT.

Note: Orbital installations may not be streamlined, nor may they mount FTL drive or anti-gravs.

The FLUTTERING PETAL does not have FTL drive, as it relies on a carrier or the like to travel from star to star. It is not streamlined, instead using anti-gravs for atmospheric operations; they weigh 3 tons (.01 x 245 = 2.45, rounded up to 3), require 13 EPs (.05 x 245 = 12.25, rounded up to 13) and cost 15,000 talents. Totals so far: Cost = 3,480,000 talents; Tons remaining = 68.

STEP 8: ADD ARMOUR

The larger a ship is, the more armour tonnage is required to get the same level of protection, since this same thickness is spread over a wider area. There is no restriction on the amount of armour that can be purchased other than cost and other design requirements. How the armour is arranged on a ship is also important -- see STEP 15 for details.

If a ship is armoured at all, it must buy at least 10 armour boxes for each of its six sides and each turret, if any are carried; anything beyond that is at the designer's discretion. Armour must always be purchased in increments of 10 boxes.

KessRith ships (only) may carry Firewall "reactive armour" (see DEFENSIVE SYSTEMS for details). This system must be purchased as a single increment of 10 boxes for each of a ship's six sides and each turret, if any are carried. No more than 1 layer of Firewall can be installed. Firewall cannot be installed on a ship that is otherwise unarmoured, as it requires a "baseplate" to be effective without damaging the carrying ship. Firewall also precludes installing External Hardpoints or an External Recovery Compartment, as these would be destroyed by the action of the system.

The PETAL carries 100 points of armour on each of its hull sides and on its turret, for a total of 700 armour boxes. Each increment of 10 boxes weighs (.0025 x 245 tons), or .6125 tons, rounding down to .5 tons. The total weight of armour is thus 35 tons, and the cost is 1,750 talents. Totals so far: Cost = 3,481,750 talents; Tons remaining = 33.

STEP 9: ADD ACCESSORIES

Many of these systems are rarely seen in standard INTERCEPTOR games, but can have an effect in a campaign.

TIME-ON-TARGET (TOT) WEAPONS FIRE SYNCHRONIZER
This system allows all weapons of a given type to be fired at the same time and same target, regardless of the number of such weapons; this is the key component of the weapon bays seen in LEVIATHAN. All weapons linked together by TOT must make a single roll to hit, and all either hit or miss; all are restricted to the maximum range and modifiers of the shortest-ranged weapon linked into the TOT array. Design data: 1 ton, 1 EP, 250,000 talents.

HANGAR BAYS
These bays are used to house, repair and maintain any fighters, corvettes or other small vessels of this sort attached to a larger ship or orbital installation, and open directly into space. For structural strength, external bay openings must be kept relatively small -- thus, a small craft bay may only launch or recover 1 small craft per turn; it may not do both. In many cases, this means that each small craft has its own bay -- however, if tonnage is more critical to the carrying ship than speed of launch and recovery, a single large bay with a single opening is the usual solution.

REPAIR FACILITIES
This system represents front-line major rebuild facilities, specialized mechanical and electronic repair shops, and the like. The effects of having Repair Facilities are described in CAMPAIGNS. A ship may have more than one Repair Facility, but no more than one can work on a given ship at a time.

TOWING ATTACHMENTS
These allow a ship to lock onto a disabled ship and move it using the towing ship's STL engines, or to allow the use of FTL Drive Jumpers (see below). Locking on for towing takes 30 turns; the two vessels must be in the same map hex and match direction, heading and velocity for the entire lock-on period. Unlocking takes 5 turns. Neither ship may use its shields while locking on or unlocking, but may use them while towing or being towed. For movement purposes, the two are considered to be a single ship and are moved first in a turn, regardless of the size of either. The available thrust for the combination is determined by adding the total tonnage of both ships together, then comparing this with the towing ship's current engine power rating. Available thrust is calculated after power is allocated. NOTE: an enemy ship may not be towed until or unless it has surrendered or been abandoned.

FTL DRIVE JUMPERS
Jumpers allow a ship to use its FTL Drive to move a ship whose own FTL Drive is disabled, or one that has no FTL Drive at all, by extending its own drive field to cover the drive less ship. This can only be used in conjunction with Towing Attachments. A ship with jumpers must already have locked onto a disabled ship with its Towing Attachments (procedure as above) before it can attach the jumpers, which takes 60 turns. Once the jumpers are attached, transition to T-Space is possible, with both ships moving as a single unit. Detaching jumpers takes 10 turns. Neither ship may use its shields while attaching or detaching jumpers, but may use shields while they are attached.

HOSPITAL BAYS
This system represents front-line intensive care facilities. In a campaign situation, a ship with a Hospital Bay will increase the chance that wounded crewman will survive if recovered, and indirectly speed their return to action. Hospital Bays are purchased in blocks of 100 beds. Each block requires 200 tons (500 tons if purchased for a KessRith ship), costs 500,000 talents, and needs a support staff of 20 crew.

RESCUE COMPARTMENT
RCs are small pockets within a ship's hull generally used to pick up ejected crewmen, but which can be used for passenger transport in an emergency. There are two types of Rescue Compartments -- Internal and External. Both types can hold up to 2 crewman of any race. An RC's occupants must be wearing spacesuits (they are assumed to receive only air from the ship's life support system), and are covered by the ship's acceleration compensator. Internal RCs are located on a ship's Internal Component Block, while External RCs are located on the surface of one of the ship's armour blocks. KessRith ships may not install Rescue Compartments of either type.

INTERNAL ELECTRONIC COUNTERMEASURES GEAR
Internal ECM gear performs in the same manner as an ECM Pod, except that it requires a crewman to operate it and is placed on the ship's Internal Component Block rather than on a hardpoint.

No accessories are needed on the PETAL (but see STEP 14 below).

The number of crewmen required by a ship is calculated as follows:

In general, ships that carry other ships (such as a corvette carrying a squadron of fighters) are FTL-equipped and are intended to operate for at least a week; thus, they are required to have space for passengers and support crews, as described below. Ships that are not intended to operate for more than 24 hours but that still carry other ships (such as a high-speed in system defense ship) do not have support crew; the crews of their carried ships simply sit in their own ships' cockpits awaiting launch, and thus do not require additional space.

A cockpit must be provided for each crewman and passenger on a ship intended to operate for 24 hours or less. These come in several varieties, as follows:

Vauvusar
"
Baufrin
"
Human/Naram/SSora
" " "
CW/RL Kessrith
Kessrith Empire
Multiracial
"

Y
N
Y
N
Y
N
Y
N
Y
N

1
1/2
1
1/2
1
1/2
3
2
3
2

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

10 000
 5 000
10 000
 5 000
10 000
 5 000
15 000
 7 500
25 000 + module cost
25 000 + module cost

Crewmen may not use cockpits not designed for their race under any circumstances. The Multiracial cockpit is a modular design allowing installation of the appropriate cockpit for a crewman; this requires 1 hour's work by a support crewman and availability of the correct cockpit module. It does not allow different races to use the same cockpit without this installation procedure. Each cockpit module costs the same as a normal cockpit for the race in question.

On ships equipped with FTL drive and/or intended to operate for more than 24 hours, all controls (including those for turrets, if desired) are centralized on a Bridge. Ejectors cannot be installed for quick escape; instead, carried ships must be used as lifecraft. Since a Bridge is not so cramped as a cockpit, different races may man any of its positions without difficulty. Round Bridge weight up when calculating using the table below:

In addition, ships intended to operate for more than 24 hours must install quarters. Each person's quarters require 5 tons and cost 10,000 talents. These should be designated as necessary to show a person's combat station for casualty purposes (i.e., while in battle a ship's pilot will be on the Bridge -- or he ought to be there, at any rate! -- even though he has quarters, whereas a passenger will be in his quarters at all times. See DAMAGE for further details).

Orbital installations never have pilots or navigators. They must always install Bridges, although they may still provide separate cockpits for gunners, and must always install quarters for their crew and passengers. All ships and orbital installations receive the various avionic systems as part of their command facilities, although they are not designed in detail -- see COMBAT and DAMAGE for details.

The FLUTTERING PETAL requires a crew of 2 -- 1 pilot and 1 gunner to man its turreted weapons. Since the ship is not equipped for FTL travel and is not intended to fly for more than 24 hours at a time, two cockpits are provided for the crew. These cockpits are Human/Naram/Ssora types, as the Renegade Legions' pilots are largely Human and Naram. They are equipped with ejectors, to give the crew a chance if the PETAL is badly damaged. If this were a KessRith Empire PETAL, ejectors would not be available at all because of the KessRith death-in-battle tradition. The total weight for control facilities is thus 2 tons, 2 EPs are required, and the cost is 20,000 talents. Totals so far: Cost = 3,501,750 talents; Tons remaining = 31.

STEP 11: ADD LIFE SUPPORT FACILITIES

Ships intended to operate for 24 hours or less require basic life support equipment with the values indicated below.

Ships intended to operate for more than 24 hours and all orbital installations require long-duration life support facilities, allowing the crew to work under "shirt-sleeve" conditions (including passageways, recreation areas, and so on). These facilities allow a ship to operate for at least one month, and theoretically indefinitely depending on fuel and supplies (see below). Each crewman and passenger requires life support equipment with the following values, listed in the table:

The PETAL installs basic life support equipment for its crew, with a total requirement of 2 tons, 2 EPs and 20,000 talents. Totals so far: Cost = 3,521,750 talents; Tons remaining = 29.

STEP 12: CALCULATE REQUIRED ENERGY; INSTALL POWERPLANT

At this point, all energy-consuming systems have been installed on a ship. The size of powerplant that must be installed to power them depends on whether the ship can switch power from one system to another. This can be done if the ship has variable-rate shields and a Flight Engineer to operate them, a Flight Engineer to allocate energy from the powerplant, or both. Typically, these combinations are only seen on orbital installations or larger ships, although some fighters also carry Flight Engineers. Beyond the restrictions of money and tonnage, however, the extra crewmen are usually hard to obtain or justify for fighters -- see CAMPAIGNS for further details.

The powerplant of a ship that cannot switch power must provide enough EPs to run all EP-consuming systems at all times. The powerplant of a ship that can switch power must provide EPs equal to the largest of the following:

Any EPs in excess of the minimum can be provided at the designer's option. Keep a ship's intended role in mind when determining what size of powerplant will be fitted; a ship with only the minimum EP level will be severely restricted in its abilities, while "overpowering" a ship is often unnecessary. Note that a ship can only carry a single powerplant, unlike engines; for various reasons, the "power station" principle isn't practical for ships smaller than a LPCS.

Since our FLUTTERING PETAL doesn't carry variable-rate shields or a Flight Engineer to shunt power, it must power all systems at all times. It requires a total of 1608 EPs, broken down as follows:

     Engines                       1250
     Engine Linkages                  2
     Directional Control System      25
     Acceleration Compensator         3
     Turret                           7
     Weapons                        114
     Fixed-Rate Shields             190 
     Anti-Grav Lifters               13
     Cockpit Controls                 2
     Life Support                     2

This means that a 1650 point powerplant must be installed -- which requires 22 tons and 2,475,000 talents. Totals so far: Cost = 5,996,750 talents; Tons remaining = 7.

STEP 13: ADD FUEL TANKAGE AND CARGO

All ships are required to have fuel tanks; cargo bays may be required, depending on circumstances. Details follow:

FUEL TANKS
Both the Ippolito-Kuldonov (I-K) slower-than-light engines and fusion powerplants of a ship require hydrogen fuel; the I-K drive uses it as reaction mass, while the powerplant uses deuterium extracted from the raw hydrogen to power the engines and FTL Drive as well as other energy-consuming systems. Fuel is normally provided by tankers or orbital installations; however, in an emergency, hydrogen can be separated from water, albeit with much greater delays and inconvenience (see CAMPAIGNS for further remarks). Ships with short-duration life support systems (i.e., fighters) have a much higher fuel consumption than OIs or ships with long-duration systems and/or FTL Drive; the rationale here is that fighters are usually in use for short periods, but are at full power throughout, while a long-duration ship or OI runs its powerplant and drives at an economical consumption rate at most times, only stepping it up when in combat.

Orbital installations, ships with FTL drive and/or long-duration life support facilities usually have at least 30 days' (1 month) worth of fuel tankage; those that carry other ships usually have 24 hours' worth of fuel for the carried ships, although this is not required (and should be marked separately on the ICB). Tankage cost per ton: 10,000 talents.

CARGO BAYS
Orbital installations and ships with FTL drive and/or long-duration life support facilities are required to carry General Supplies in their cargo bays in order to operate away from their bases for any extended time. They may also carry reloads for missile launchers, spare small craft, or unassigned cargo. Details follow:

Cargo tonnage carried within a bay and the tonnage of the bay itself are not added together; again, we are finessing the difference between mass and volume for simplicity. Cargo bay tonnage costs 250 talents per ton.

The PETAL requires a total of 6 tons of fuel tankage -- ( [ .01 x 245 ] x 5 ) / 30 = .408 tons, rounding up to .5 ton for the engines, and (1650 / 300 ) = 5.5 tons for the powerplant -- at a cost of 60,000 talents. Totals so far: Cost = 6,056,750 talents; Tons remaining = 1.

STEP 14: RECALCULATE AS NEEDED

In most cases, players will find that their designs are too slow for their taste. The easiest way to increase a ship's speed is to switch tonnage to engines. The easiest places to find that tonnage are in the weaponry and the armour. Experienced designers will quickly learn what is easiest to change and to take full advantage of the system.

At the end of the FLUTTERING PETAL's design process, we still have 1 ton left over. Since there is little else that we can usefully install, we return to STEP 9 for an accessory. The last ton is used for an External Rescue Compartment costing 20,000 talents. The PETAL's final cost is 6,076,750 talents, exclusive of any missiles or pods.

STEP 15: FILL OUT SHIP RECORD SHEET

The final step in the ship construction procedure is to fill out a record sheet for the newly designed ship. There are three main tasks:

Arrange the ship's weapons;

Arrange the ship's armour;

Arrange the ship's Internal Component Block.

The PETAL carries its weapons in the following layout:

Fixed Forward: 2 MDC 8
               2 7.5/5 Laser 
               1 Hardpoint 

Turreted (TRT 1): 2 5/5 Laser 
                  2 5/4 Laser    
                  1 Hardpoint

Since there are no side-mounted weapons, the ship is in balance.

The PETAL carries 100 points of armour on each of its hull sides and on its turret, for a total of 700 armour boxes. Since it has an equal amount on all of its sides, it is already in balance and nothing more need be done.

A turret ICB is always 10 boxes wide; its number of boxes is equal to the total tonnage of all its components (including the turret structure itself), rounding up to the next increment of 10.

When placing system boxes on an ICB, the following caveats should be kept in mind:

Beyond these restrictions, the designer is free to arrange the ship's internal components at will. There is no "best" way to do this; only experience will show which layouts are better than others, and why.

SCALING FOR SHIP SIZE
Since ships in INTERCEPTOR can range from less than 100 up to 10,000 tons, larger ships' ICBs have to be proportionately scaled to make it possible to handle them easily. When determining the number of boxes on an ICB, take the result of:

The result returns the actual number of boxes used in the ICB (1/1 scale, 2/1 scale, etc to 5/1 scale). The boxes for Ship Size, Avionics, and Ship Destroyed are then added to this to get the total, rounding up to the next increment of 10 as usual. The same scaling procedure is used for any turret ICBs. The scale factor should be marked on the ship data sheet as a reminder when applying damage.

When resolving damage to a ship whose scale is larger than 1/1, place the templates on the ICB as usual, but a box is only destroyed when it takes a number of hits equal to its scale factor. This is indicated by the number of slashes in the box, as follows:

***** Insert diagram showing system for slashes *****

Note that this means that a given damage template may have to be applied to an area several times before the armour is worn away; as long as an ICB box has not received a number of slashes equal to its scale factor, it is not destroyed.

HELL missile and laser damage can be handled more simply, as they do their damage in straight lines. Damage done by these weapons doesn't go on to the next box across a row (for HELLs) or down a column (for lasers) until the previous box is completely destroyed.

Regardless of a ship's tonnage, each of the Avionics systems is always represented by a single box that is disabled with a single hit. Likewise, Cockpits are never scaled, although Bridges are. Ship Destroyed boxes are scaled to represent the greater structural strength of larger ships; any effects or morale rolls based on Ship Destroyed hits only take place once a box is completely destroyed.

Armour boxes are never scaled; unlike the ICB, armour boxes represent a thickness of armour rather than an area of a ship's interior. External systems on an armour block's surface are scaled, however, and follow the same procedure as with internal damage. Note that it is possible for a weapon damage template to widow the armour from under an external system that has not itself been destroyed because of its scale; as always, this widowing will destroy the external system.

In campaigns, repair times for each internal box (other than Avionics or Cockpits) are multiplied by the ship's scale factor.

ALLOCATABLE POWER -- CLARIFICATION

When working out allocatable EPs for a ship able to shunt power, remember that this is not the same as the minimum that must be designed in, but only the EP value of the powerplant minus "unavoidable" EPs -- those that must be permanently used for control systems, life support, turret structures, and the like.

HIGH THRUST VARIANTS

An HT model of a ship is one in which a standard model has had some or all of its EP-using weapons removed and permanently replaced with hardpoints, or simply left as unused space to save weight. This is usually done as a recognized variant by the ship's manufacturer, but can be done at a Repair Facility in the field if a campaign's background allows for this.

To create an HT model, take a standard design, remove whichever weapons are not needed, and replace them with either hardpoints, heavy hardpoints, or nothing. Recalculate the ship's thrust based on its new weight; make sure that its Acceleration Compensator can deal with the new thrust -- if not, it must also be replaced and upgraded. No armour or other systems can be added. The cost of these procedures is equal to 1.5 times the total cost of the systems being removed and/or added. As can be seen, is generally easier and cheaper to let the factory do the work!

If the ship has a Flight Engineer and variable shields, more power will be freed by the HT modification; if not, there will be no effective difference since the excess power cannot be shunted anyway. The ship's ICB must be changed; place any new hardpoint boxes within the area vacated by the previous weapon, with the remainder of the boxes (or all of them, if no new weapons are being fitted) becoming free hits.

CAMPAIGNS		SCENARIOS