The Big Ships

Copyright 1981© By Stefan Jones

The starship-design rules in Space Opera are a detailed, interesting way to "build" spaceships from tiny sloops to million-ton battlestations. A few examples of ship design are included, but they are of small size - not representative of the huge starships-of-the-line fielded by the major interstellar powers. The guidelines below should help star masters in designing the big ships.

The most important method of classifying ships is by their size. The chart below gives rough size-ranges of the various ship classes.

Size (tons)	Class
2,500-5,000	Corvettes
5,000-15,000	Frigates
10-20,000	Patrol Cruisers
20-50,000	Cruisers
50-125,000	Fleet Cruisers
125-500,000	Battle Cruisers
200,000+	Battlestarships
500,000+	Battlestars

In addition to size, the equipment and proportion of armor to size to weaponry is very important in determining a ship's class. There are four categories of ship "duty type":

Battlewagons are ships of the line, built for combat and little else. They have the maximum weaponry for their size and sacrifice speed for heavy armor protection. Most ship systems have backup equipment. Fleet cruisers, battlestarships, and some cruisers are "battlewagons."

Frontier and patrol ships include patrol cruisers, battle cruisers, and most frigate sized and smaller vessels. Their primary asset is speed; virtually no armor over the base armor-class is included. They have the maximum weaponry for their size and enough cargo space to carry the supplies needed for long missions away from supply bases. The scout, contact, and intelligence branches of a star-nation's service use these types of vessels.

Carriers sacrifice STL maneuverability for the ability to carry large complements of starfighters. The battlestar is the prime example of a carrier. Heavy weaponry is sometimes deleted from carrier designs to allow even more fighters to be carried.

Utility ships include hospital ships and fuel carriers. They lack heavy weaponry and armor, but are often very fast, to allow them to reach critical areas quickly. Most are under 10,000 tons. Troop transports are included in this category. The latter are either small, streamlined and agile frigates designed to drop PAPA-equipped marines in drop capsules, or giant bulkers that depend on shuttles to land their cargo of armsmen.

Special Rules

These additional rules should help make naval vessels more realistic.

Starfighters. Individual starfighter bays are large enough to carry the fighter, plus launch and repair facilities. When many bays are carried on a ship, some of the equipment may be combined, allowing more fighters to be carried. For every 10 bays carried by a ship, a single launch tube may be included to serve all 10 starfighters in those bays. This allows a 20% reduction in individual bay sizes. The tube costs as much as two of the bays it is serving. Note that the cost of the bays remains the same after the reduction; they merely take up less space. The tube itself takes up no additional space. Separate repair facilities may also be built, further reducing individual bay size by an additional 10%. Repair facilities mass and cost the same as one bay of the size required for the fighters being serviced. One separate repair facility may service as many fighters as are carried by a ship; however, repair time to fix damaged fighters is doubled when separate repair facilities are being used, as only one fighter at a time may be serviced. Separate repair facilities are therefore most effective in situations in which space is a more important consideration than repair time. When large numbers of starfighters are carried, it is recommended that several separate repair facilities be utilized in case one is knocked out in combat. For more information on starfighters, see FGU's Ground and Air Equipment.

Supplies. Most of the crew needs on a ship are met by on-board recycling equipment. Some items, however, must be carried. Approximately 2 kg of supplies are required per day by each crewman. Active combat troops require 5 kg a day, more for heavily armed troopers.

Shipboard troops are either naval crewmen trained in security, or marines. The former are armed with relatively light weapons and wear armored space suits. They are carried on ships on duty in civilized areas, on "utility" vessels, and when marine troops are needed for more pressing work. Marines are carried on almost all large ships (over 10,000 tons) and on smaller vessels traveling into the unknown. Marines have the best weapons and armor available, as well as superb training. Space requirements are as for regular crew in SO.

Organization of Squadrons. Ships of the line often travel in groups of up to ten ships, plus auxiliary craft. Frontier ships almost always travel alone, though battlecruisers sometimes have one or two frigate-sized courier vessels to "run errands" while the main ship is busy. During wartime, organisation is highly variable. Generally, strike forces of frontier ships make raids, while ships of the line slowly advance toward the action.