Starship Construction

This section lists technology that is used in starship construction.

Jump Drive

In the Empire of the Thirteen universe, all FTL-capable ships include a Jump drive; that's the only known form of an FTL engine.

A Jump drive must have the following rules:

Terran engines cannot exceed 250 times the speed of light.
Terran engines must buy the limitation "maximum distance (in light years) cannot exceed 1/2 of the INT of the ship's computer [-1/2]"
Imperial engines must buy the limitation "maximum distance (in light years) cannot exceed the INT of the ship's computer [-1/4]"
All FTL travel must be linked to Extra-Dimensional Travel
Extra-Dimensional Travel must buy the limitation "activation roll required in a gravity field [-1/2]".
Extra-Dimensional Travel must buy the Charges limitation.

Standard Terran Jump⁷ Drive

Cost	Powers	END
22	Standard Terran Jump⁷ Drive:	0
	Extra-Dimensional Travel to Jump Space (20), 2 charges [-1 1/2], Linked to Faster-than-Light travel [-1/2], activation roll required in a gravity field [-1/2].
	Faster-than-Light Travel, 128 times the speed of light. (24), maximum distance (in light years) limited to 1/2 of the INT of the ship's computer [-1/2].

Description: The standard Jump drive configuration involves a liminalium grid on the outside of a starship. This grid is charged by a high-energy fusion plant, which opens a liminal field through which the ship travels into Jump space (Extra-dimensional Movement). It is extremely difficult to raise a liminal field in a gravity well. Within 100 diameters of a planet, an 11- roll is required, while an 8- roll is required within 10 planetary diameters.

Most Jump-capable ships find it impractical to carry enough hydrogen fuel for more than 1 successful jump (one charge in to Jump space, and one charge out). Recharging the Jump drive requires picking up a large quantity of hydrogen gas, either directly from a star port, from a gas giant or from a body of water.

Travel through Jump Space is extremely complicated. The ship's computer is required to perform extremely complicated mathematical equations to calculate the ship's position. These equations become exponentially more complicated the longer a ship is in Jump space; as a result, the maximum range of a Jump is limited by the computing capacity of the ship's navigational computer.

Standard Terran Jump⁸ Drive

Cost	Powers	END
23	Standard Terran Jump⁸ Drive:	0
	Extra-Dimensional Travel to Jump Space (20), 2 charges [-1 1/2], Linked to Faster-than-Light travel [-1/2], activation roll required in a gravity field [-1/2].
	Faster-than-Light Travel, 250 times the speed of light. (26), maximum distance limited to 1/2 of the INT of the ship's computer [-1/2].

Description: Same as the Jump⁷ drive.

Standard Imperial Jump⁸ Drive

Cost	Powers	END
27	Standard Imperial Jump⁸ Drive:	0
	Extra-Dimensional Travel to Jump Space (20), 2 charges [-1 1/2], Linked to Faster-than-Light travel [-1/2], activation roll required in a gravity field [-1/2].
	Faster-than-Light Travel, 250 times the speed of light. (26), maximum distance limited to the INT of the ship's computer [-1/4].

Description: Similar to the Terran Jump⁸ drive.

Computers

Most starships will have more than one computer.

Universal Products' Basic Computer

Value	Char	Cost	Notes
8	INT	-2	Can run 2 programs
10	DEX	0
1	SPD	-10	Phases: 12

Cost	Skills	Roll
	Autopilot Skills
3	Combat Piloting	11-
2	KS: Flight Protocols	11-
3	Navigation	10-
3	Sensor Operation	10-
	Entertainment Skills
1	KS: Popular Movies	8-
1	KS: Popular Music	8-
1	KS: Video Games	8-
	Languages
1	English

Cost	Programs
1	Pilot Starship from point A to point B (A and B must be on the navigational maps)
1	Show entertainment

Description: The basic computer is an extremely low-end computer for use in short-range shuttles and work vessels, or as a low-cost back-up computer.

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