Welcome, future starship owners, to part 1 of the Starship Owner’s Manual brought to you by Galactic Starship Mortgages, Ltd. and Tachyon Industries!
This informative guide contains all the basics you need to know about how to create a Cosmic Renegade starship.
Let’s dive in!
What is a Medium Starship?
Your Home in the Stars
With the rise of affordable interstellar travel, the Galactic Communication Net, and increasing economic opportunities in space, many are opting for the spacefarer’s lifestyle.
Medium starships are today’s modern home in the stars, and are by and large the most common starship type you’ll encounter in the galaxy.
Many medium starships are often geared towards more than one economic activity: cargo and passenger transport services, mobile living and working spaces, and even bounty hunting and privateering endeavors.
The possibilities for your vessel are endless!
Nova Manifest Destiny
Your starship offers a higher quality of life outside of the overcrowded core planets or the hazards of colonial life on the frontier. Thus many planetary governments incentivize their citizens to live among the stars.
A boom of enterprising individuals like yourself maximize their chances for a better life through a Galactic Starship Mortgage™ to profit from their interstellar abodes.
However, this boom of economic activity has given rise to rampant piracy. That’s why we encourage many spacefarers to invest heavily in their starship’s defenses through our business partner, Tachyon Industries and their affiliates.
Starship Layout
Every starship has rooms, subsystems, stations, and crewmates.
Rooms
Starships have 4 main rooms: the Bridge, the Engine Room, the Living Quarters, and the Cargo Hold. Crewmates will often move between Rooms and Stations to perform certain Actions, repair Damage, or fix Screw Ups on the ship.
The first is the Bridge, where several of the starship control stations are located such as the Helm, the Captain’s Chair, and the Weapons Terminal. Crewmate officers that operate starship-wide systems like the Pilot, the Captain, and the Gunner are often situated here.
Next is the Engine Room. This is the beating heart of your ship, and contains several stations that are crucial to your starship’s operation such as the Reactor, the Thruster Drives, the ThermoStation, and a Mainframe Access Terminal are found here. Crewmates with a background in Mechanics are usually positioned in this suite.
The Living Quarters are where you, your crew, and other passengers you may have aboard live. Most of the stations here are not combat-related, and are often reserved for private, recreational, or commercial use. For example, a starship can have anywhere from a modest kitchen and a couple of tables to a full-on bed and breakfast diner and inn within the Living Quarters.
Finally, the Cargo Hold is where supplies, cargo for trade, crafting materials, fuel, smaller vehicles, and any other miscellaneous items are stored.
Subsystems
Starships have 6 subsystems:
- The Engines subsystem is responsible for providing Speed for the ship to move.
- The Control subsystem is responsible for the ship’s steering and its ability to maneuver during flight.
- The Sensors subsystem is responsible for detection and targeting.
- The Comms subsystem is responsible for internal and external communications.
- The Life Support subsystem is responsible for maintaining a livable environment, artificial gravity, and of course thermal regulation of the starship.
- Finally, the Weapons subsystem is responsible for the dispensing of self-defense.
Note that subsystems are not confined to a single room, but are often composed of several stations spanning across a starship.
Stations
Stations allow crewmates to perform certain starship actions if they are at that location. They are physically located in one of the 4 starship rooms, and belong to specific subsystems. For example, the Helm – which is used to control the ship’s movement – is located on the Bridge and belongs to the Control subsystem.
Your starship comes with a deck of Station Cards that describe starship actions available at each station. If these were not made available to you with your starship purchase, please contact customer service representatives through Discord or leave a comment on this article!
Although starships can have any number of non-standard stations depending on its configuration and modifications, here is a table of some of the common ones below:
| Station | Subsystem | Room | Description |
| Helm | Control | Bridge | Controls the flight of the starship |
| Command Chair | Comms | Bridge | Internal and external communication |
| Tactical Seat | Sensors | Bridge | Used for target locks, hacking and counter hacking |
| Weapons Terminal | Weapons | Bridge | Access point for all weapons |
| Reactor | Engines | Engine Room | Controls power production |
| Thruster Drive | Engines | Engine Room | Controls starship speed |
| ThermoStation | Life Support | Engine Room | Regulates and flushes heat |
| Mainframe Access | Life Support | Engine Room | Used to repair disabled subsystems |
| Weapon Mount | N/A | N/A | Fires the single mounted weapon |
Crewmates
Finally, you and your crewmates operate your starship. This is done by interacting with various stations across the starship.
Crewmates generally fall into 4 main categories:
- The Captain motivates the crew and makes executive decisions on behalf of the starship.
- The Pilot manages the Helm, maneuvers the ship, and is responsible for charting star routes towards the starship’s destination.
- The Mechanic is a master of all stations in the Engine Room such as the ThermoStation, the Reactor, and the Thruster Drive. They are responsible for the well-being of the starship.
- The Gunner is a master of arms, able to operate targeting systems or weaponry from the Weapons Terminal on the Bridge or directly from a Weapon Mount.
Some crewmates will have years of experience, expertise or natural talent well-suited towards specific stations. Others will act more as generalists with competency in just about anything. Yet still others will require more hands-on training.
“The captain makes the crew, and the crew makes the captain.”
– Dread Pirate Roberts
Additionally, it is important for the captain to invest quality time with their crew, especially on long voyages between planetary hubs.
Starship Attributes and Modifiers
Attribute scores provide bonuses called modifiers which are added to dice rolls for certain areas of starship performance, and affect certain stats such as hull points, speed, AC, power, heat, and damage reduction.
| Power (POWR) This affects your starship’s power capacity and recharge, starship speed, and bonus heat dealt by energy weapons. | Hull (HULL) This represents how sturdy your starship is. This affects your starship’s damage reduction from armor, and resistance to most effects. |
| Maneuver (MANV) This represents your starship’s nimbleness. This affects armor class (AC), your starship’s ability to move relative to opponents during combat, and several saving throws. | Heat (HEAT) This represents how much heat your starship can absorb safely before taking damage. This affects heat capacity and heat resistance from shields. |
| Sensors (SENS) This represents how accurate your starship’s computer is at detection, scanning, and targeting. This affects your to-hit bonus to attack rolls and ability checks. | Swagger (SWAG) This represents how iconic your starship is and the respect that is tied to its name. This affects the chances to gain Action Points (AP) during combat and comms ability checks. |
Attribute 20-Point Buy
Every starship starts with base stats of 10 in each of the 6 attributes. Then, 20 attribute points are distributed with the maximum for any attribute being 20. Attribute point cost remains the same (does not increase) for higher attributes. For instance, increasing an attribute from 11 to 12 costs 1 point, which is the same as going from 19 to 20.
Modifier Calculation
Calculating the modifier of an attribute score is the same as D&D. Subtract the attribute score by 10 and divide that total by 2 rounded down to calculate the modifier. For example, a Power score of 15 yields a modifier of +2. (15 – 10) / 2 rounded down = 2.
Below is an example of a possible attribute distribution using 20-point buy.
| Attribute | Abbreviation | Base | Points Spent | Score | Modifier |
| Power | POWR | 10 | 2 | 12 | +1 |
| Maneuver | MANV | 10 | 4 | 14 | +2 |
| Hull | HULL | 10 | 8 | 18 | +4 |
| Heat | HEAT | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
| Sensor | SENS | 10 | 6 | 16 | +3 |
| Swagger | SWAG | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 |
Starship Stats
Starship stats include hull points (HP), armor class (AC), damage reduction (DR), power capacity, heat capacity, and speed.
Below is a table of base stats for medium starships:
| HP 20 / 20 | AC 10 | DR 0A / 0S |
| Power 0 / 6 | Heat 0 / 6 | Speed 2 |
These stats will be affected by your starship’s attribute modifiers and starship modifications.
Hull Points
Hull points (HP) represent how much damage your starship can take before it is destroyed. If your starship reaches 0 hull points, your starship is incapacitated and there will be limited time for you and your crewmates to safely escape before your starship is fully destroyed.
To calculate hull points, add 20 plus your starship’s HULL modifier times 2. For example, a starship with a HULL modifier of +2 will have 24 hull points.
Armor Class
Armor Class (AC) represents how difficult it is to target your starship.
To calculate armor class, add 10 plus half of your MANV modifier. For example, a starship with +2 Maneuver MANV has an armor class (AC) of 11, before any starship modifications.
Damage Reduction
Damage Reduction (DR) has two types: armor and shields. Armor reduces kinetic damage dealt to your ship whereas shields reduce energy damage. For example, if your starship has 2 armor (2A) and is hit for 10 kinetic damage, it only takes 8 damage. If your starship has 2 shields (2S) and is hit for 10 heat, it only takes 8 heat.
To calculate armor damage reduction, divide your starship’s HULL modifier by 2, rounded down. For example, a starship with +3 HULL has 1 armor (1A). To calculate shield damage reduction, divide your starship’s HEAT modifier by 2, rounded down. For example, a starship with +3 HEAT has 1 shield (1S).
Power Capacity
Power is used for firing energy weapons and for flushing heat, and must be recharged by a crewmate after being drained.
To calculate power, add 6 plus half your starship’s POWR modifier, rounded down. For instance, a starship with +3 POWR has 7 power before any starship modifications.
Heat Capacity
Heat capacity represents how much excess heat your starship can take on safely without damaging the vessel. In combat, any excess heat beyond your starship’s heat capacity converts to damage at the end of the round.
To calculate heat capacity, add 6 plus half your starship’s HEAT modifier, rounded down. For instance, a starship with +3 HEAT has 7 heat capacity before any starship modifications.
Speed
Speed represents how fast your starship can move relative to other starships. This stat is added to opposed Maneuver (MANV) checks against your target when moving to closer or further Engagement Ranges.
To calculate speed, add 2 plus half your starship’s POWR modifier, rounded down. For example, a starship with +3 POWR has 3 speed.
Starship Weaponry
Starships often come equipped with a variety of weaponry that falls into 3 major categories.
Energy Weapons
Energy weapons only require Power to fire. On a hit, they increase a target’s Heat. Most are effective at Medium Range. Energy weapons are the most common you will encounter.
Kinetic Weapons
Kinetic weapons do not require Power, but instead require Ammo to fire which takes up some space in the Cargo Hold. On a hit, they deal direct damage. Most are effective at Long Range.
Missiles
Missiles take up a lot of space and require a Target Lock in order to fire. On a hit, they deal a devastating amount of both direct and heat damage. Most are effective at Long Range.
Common Weapon Configurations
Medium starships can have at most 3 weapons. Newly manufactured starships often come equipped with at least 2 weapons pre-installed: one energy and one kinetic. However, many starship owners elect to purchase a 3rd weapon for the extra security it offers.
For example, a common StarTruck Freighter often comes equipped with a standard laser (energy) and a scattergun (kinetic) with limited ammo to reserve as much cargo hold space as they can for valuable goods.
For your convenience, we’ve compiled a list of standard commercial weapons you’ll come across in the galaxy.
Starship Modifications (WIP)
[Internal Note]
We have spent countless hours, and have fired several interns trying to write this section of the Starship Manual. I am one of those interns.
HELP ME.
If anyone out there is reading this, please for the LOVE OF GOD, HELP ME.
Upper management is stuck in a vicious cycle of sunk cost fallacy, while salesmen from my floor are constantly DECEIVING shareholders and customers left and right, putting entire planets’ worth of people in DEBT.
They keep overpromising that interest rates on our mortgages will go down, but that’s a LIE and everyone here knows it. They have NO CLUE what they’re doing, so they’re trying to FATTEN up this ship and SELL IT OFF before it sinks. I want to do what’s right and speak up, but I NEED THIS JOB.
If you never hear from me again, it means that either they’ve found me… or I’ve become the very thing I swore to DESTROY. In either case, it’s too late for me – SAVE YOURSELF!
– Unnamed Intern
[End Internal Note]
Starship Character Sheet
A starship character sheet is available here for download.
Please leave a like and comment on this post with your thoughts and feedback so that we can continue to improve our system and your gaming experience!
This concludes part 1 of the Starship Owner’s Manual brought to you by Galactic Starship Mortgage, Ltd. and Tachyon Industries.
Safe travels, spacefarer!
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