Starships

Ships in the Alliance are classified by mass and to a lesser degree, volume. Depending on the mass, a ship will have a certain number of Hull Boxes ranging from 1 to however many you can afford. To the side of the ship classes you will find an example of that ship.

Default Hull Box Types

1 Scout

2-3 Frigate

4-6 Destroyer

4-6 light cloaker

7-9 Cruiser

10-17 Battle-cruiser

18-23 Battleship

18-23 heavy cloaker

18-23 aircraft Carrier

18-24 Dreadnought

25+ Titan

WORK IN PROGRESS

How the game works. Hull Boxes have exterior and interior space, each of which can be filled by a variety of ship functions with varying abilities that are determined by the technology and power consumption, ect. Defense, Engine Rating, Energy, and Batteries are balanced to start with but may be augmented or diminished by various Techs or other modifiers.

Gatekeepers and FTLs - Gatekeepers are a fleet's lifeline and transportation. Their construction is usually not large enough to serve any combat purpose due to the large power consumption and Gate Module. The smallest possible Gatekeeper is Destroyer sized, with a Power module and the Gate module being the majority of the Interior, however these Gatekeepers take a long time to charge up the required Energy to activate another Gate and make a jump. A Light Cruiser Class Gatekeeper can have many more power modules, making it faster to activate a Gate when in battle and therefore safer to escape with, however they are larger and slower in their normal motion and their lack of maneuverability or Defense can make them vulnerable to long range attacks. If a Fleet's Gatekeeper is destroyed and the enemy retreats, the remaining ships are unable to move again. If the said battle happens in deep space (a sector without any known systems) then the fleet is slowly picked off by Voiddwellers and deemed as scrap. Other FTLs that are installed on each individual ship will usually take much longer to charge up, but may be more strategically valuable because the whole fleet is not crippled when all Gatekeepers are lost, and because ships that need repair and have enough Energy can escape the sector individually.

Energy System - Standard Fusion power Cores normally supply 3 available "Energy Points" or usable actions per turn. Energy can be spent on Thrust, Cannons, Cloaking, FTLs, Repair, Shield recharge, ext. Cores, regardless of hull slot, cause the whole ship to be destroyed when they are compromised. If Energy is not spent, it is stockpiled up to 2 times as much as the Core can produce. The amount of Energy stored can be greatly increased with an Energy storage module of some kind (Lithium Ion batteries being the default). Torridium Energy modules can store very large amounts of energy, but are volatile to EMPs and are very expensive to manufacture.

Combat System - A ship's Defense is dependent upon three factors, maneuverability (engine to mass ratio), armor/hull integrity, and energy defense which includes all adaptive and energy consuming defenses. When fired upon, the defense number is compared to the total firepower points of the attacking batteries in that turn, and then once the ratio has determined the damage received, the ship's Energy Defense is subtracted as if it were Hull Boxes. Damage to the Hull Boxes are calculated with the offence to defense ratios (and said modifiers), and as Hull Boxes are destroyed the functionality of offensive batteries, point defense, and the Modules contained in the Interiors are subtracted. This lowers the total defense and makes the ship more vulnerable to losing functional Hull Boxes until the Energy Defense is regained. The ship is destroyed once all Hull Boxes are destroyed or if a volatile or otherwise vital Hull Box is destroyed. A ship's offence is dependent purely upon distance, accuracy, modifiers, and the firepower in use. Firing blocks of ships that are all in the same range category, and are in a formation, and are all firing with batteries of equal accuracy and effects will be allowed to simultaneously fire, "stacking" their firepower for a greater offence to defense ratio, and likely more damage to the target. Firing blocks are at a disadvantage when enemy ships flank the lines and scramble the range categories, causing only half of the block to fire at a time due to the varying range. Firing block formations can be broken by a variety of tactics or countering formations.

Stealth System - Stealth or Cloaking systems can be deployed for a variety of tactical and strategic purposes, but in Battle they cannot be targeted until detected by some form of sensor or other Tech. Detection is exponentially more likely as the Stealth ship approaches an enemy ship equipped with sensors able to detect the Stealth ship. Some Stealth systems are passive and require no Energy to run, however some do. Detection is very similar to the Offence to Defense ratio, however it is a Detection to Stealth ratio. As in the Defense-Offence system, the greater the distance, the less likely it is to detect. Stealth is immediately broken upon firing the ship's batteries.

Specials - Specials are the representative values for technologies that effect other ships. They may do splash damage, enhanced battery damage effect, EMP effect, or other effects that are decided by the technology incorporated into the special slot. Not to be confused with Abilities, which are all abilities that modify the ship's performance.

 Ship Descriptions 

Scout- The scout is a lightly armed, lightly armored, and very fast ship meant for well... Scouting. Scouts are often used for in-atmosphere ground support, searching for stranded ships or crew, scouting for enemy forces or harassing larger opponents with their guns and torpedoes. Scouts are the most varied of the ship classes; a scout can be in atmosphere only and meant for attacking troops and vehicles, for mechanical experimentation, as a mount for torpedoes and used to attack larger ships (enough scouts can bring down even a heavy carrier) or as fighters meant to attack other scouts or ships. Scouts can also be fitted with cloaking technology, which reduces their speed greatly and strips them of all armaments but the bare necessities, but allows for stealthy and effective strikes on enemy ships. Said stealth scouts are usually tasked with destroying merchant ships or carriers, both of which are vulnerable near their landing struts, storage elevators and engines.

Destroyer- The destroyer is a ship several times the size of a scout, with lesser but still high speed, reduced mobility and used for heavy duty ground support, escorting larger ships, repairing larger ships, and as chain-weapon platforms meant to protect fleets from scouts. They carry torpedoes, guns of small caliber but rapid fire rate, radar equipment, and often ferry troops and supplies. They are also often equipped with anti-stealth measures.

Cruiser-