# Playtest Ship Modification Rules

One of the more frequent questions we receive is whether or not there will ever be rules to design ships from scratch. The answer is, we don?t know. Such a system will be incredibly complex, and will include formulas the average gamer would flee from in abject terror (and knowing some of the details some gamers go into, this really says something). A system to modify existing ships, thus producing custom variants, is a much more likely possibility. What follows is a first attempt to produce such a system.

WARNING! THE FOLLOWING RULES ARE COMPLETELY OPTIONAL AND ARE IN NO WAY OFFICIAL! THEY EXIST ONLY FOR YOU TO HAVE A LITTLE FUN TWEAKING SHIPS AND FLYING THEM AGAINST EACH OTHER! DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE MODIFIED SHIPS IN TOURNAMENTS, AND DO NOT EXPECT THE POINT COSTS TO RESULT FROM YOUR CONVERSIONS TO BE ANYWHERE CLOSE TO ACCURATE COMPARED TO STANDARD SHIPS! We do, however, expect that the point costs of an optimally modified ship should be approximately balanced against other optimized mods, so if you find that this is not the case, let us know. These rules may appear in a future product as an official rule, but will ALWAYS remain OPTIONAL!

This system operates using the following conventions:

1. You cannot modify variants, only base hulls. Exception: A common variant intended to represent a ship as it existed earlier in history (e.g., the Narn T?Narr) can be modified if it is to be used in a scenario set in the appropriate timeframe.
2. In general, you can take anything you want off a ship for free, but putting something on will always cost points.
3. If you improve something and that improvement is also represented in the game by an optional enhancement, you cannot later use that enhancement to further improve the results. For example, if you increase the armor of a weapon, you can?t later add hardened armor to that weapon.
4. You cannot use ship modifications to escape inherent racial penalties or restrictions. For example, the Pak?ma?ra cannot modify their ships to avoid the fleet initiative penalty (though they could increase the initiative on individual ships).
5. Foreign technology can be used, but at a premium price.
6. You can?t add abilities not quantified within these rules. For example, there is no modification presented herein to allow a ship to upgrade to Advanced Sensors or Advanced Armor.
7. These rules are not complete, but offer only a basic set of rules sufficient to modify the basic races of the game. You?ll see the finished modification rules in the Prototypes & Secret Designs product, presuming we go forward with plans to publish that book.

### Weapons Classifications

Every ship is fitted with weapons emplacements that we will refer to as ?hardpoints.? All hardpoints are of a specific size: Small, Medium, Large, or Gigantic. Hardpoints may not contain a weapon of a class larger than they are, but can hold a smaller one if desired. However, a hardpoint can hold at most one weapon, regardless of how big the hardpoint is or how small the weapon is. Some weapons are too integral to the ship to even be listed, e.g., a spinal laser or lightning cannon. These cannot be removed or added using these rules.

Gigantic Weapons: Mega plasma cannon, quad particle array, fuser, ranged fuser, mag gun, mass driver, gravitic lance, shield projector, antimatter shredder.

Large Weapons: Any weapon with the word ?heavy? in its name (heavy laser, heavy interceptor battery, heavy array, etc.), solar cannon, particle cannon, particle blaster, particle concentrator, neutron laser, battle laser, combat laser, plasma accelerator, dual plasma stream, molecular disruptor, railgun, grav net, graviton beam, gravitic shifter, antimatter converter, antimatter cannon, antiproton gun, class-B missile rack.

Medium Weapons: Any weapon with ?medium? in its name, particle repeater, particle cutter, quad array, scattergun, pulsar mine, particle impeder, laser/pulse array, molecular pulsar, plasma stream, burst beam, shock cannon, comm disruptor, matter cannon, tractor beam, grav cannon, ion torpedo, energy mine, graviton mine, any missile rack smaller than class-B, packet torpedo, antimatter torpedo, ballistic torpedo.

Light Weapons: Any weapon with ?light? in its name, standard particle beam, twin array, interceptor, guardian array, plasma web, fusion cannon, EP gun, gravitic bolt, graviton pulsar, antiproton defender.

### Changing Weapons

Any weapon can be removed from a ship and replaced by a different weapon. However, the new weapon must be of the same size or smaller than the one it replaces. No points are received for ?selling? or ?turning in? the old weapon, but a cost must be paid for the replacement. This cost is shown in the list below. If the weapon is of a type common to your race, there is no extra surcharge. If it is listed as ?similar? tech, your cost is increased by 50%. If it is normally not available to your race (i.e., not found on the tech lists), you must pay double the listed cost.

The weapon you place in the hardpoint will have the arc of the weapon that previously occupied that location. Exceptions: Heavy lasers are limited to no more than 120 degree arcs, and mass drivers are limited to only 60 degree arcs.

As you trade weapons, keep track of the difference between their power requirements. When all modifications are complete, divide the total power differential by 2, drop any fraction, and apply the result as a bonus or penalty to your ship?s power. For example, if you replace the four particle cannons (7 power each) on a Drazi Warbird with particle blasters (5 power each), the difference is 8. Divide this by 2, and apply the result (4) as extra power available to that ship, assuming you make no other changes to the reactor.

If a weapon has a ?+? followed by an added cost, apply this extra penalty for every weapon of the same type on the ship that shares an overlapping arc. For example, if you add an interceptor mark-I with a 360 degree arc to a ship with two interceptors already present, you pay the penalty twice. If you then added another interceptor, you?d pay it three times. Needless to say, this can get expensive.

Future revisions of this document will include rules allowing the addition of new weapons and the enlargement of weapon hardpoints. Of course, doing such things assumes that cost is no object, because they WILL be expensive.

#### Particle Weapons

- Heavy Pulse Cannon: 20
- Medium Pulse Cannon: 12
- Light Pulse Cannon: 6
- Particle Cannon: 10
- Particle Blaster: 12
- Particle Repeater: 16
- Particle Cutter: 14
- Solar Cannon: 18
- Standard Particle Beam: 4
- Particle Concentrator: 21 + 7
- Twin Array: 4
- Quad Array: 10
- Quad Particle Array (bases only): 16
- Heavy Array: 32
- Interceptor Mk-I: 8 + 4
- Interceptor Mk-II: 10 + 5
- Heavy Interceptor Battery (bases only): 12 + 6
- Guardian Array: 10 + 5
- Scattergun: 15 (18 for Markab)
- Pulsar Mine: 10 + 2
- Particle Impeder: 8

#### Laser Weapons

- Heavy Laser Cannon: 25
- Medium Laser Cannon: 15
- Light Laser Cannon: 7
- Laser/Pulse Array: 35
- Heavy Laser/Pulse Array: 50
- Neutron Laser: 30
- Improved Neutron Laser: 35
- Battle Laser: 25
- Combat Laser: 24

#### Plasma Weapons

- Mega Plasma Cannon: 36
- Heavy Plasma Cannon: 20
- Medium Plasma Cannon: 16
- Light Plasma Cannon: 6
- Fuser: 60
- Ranged Fuser (bases only): 60
- Plasma Accelerator: 20
- Mag Gun: 65
- Plasma Stream: 15
- Dual Plasma Stream: 25
- Plasma Web: 8

#### Molecular Weapons

- Molecular Pulsar: 28
- Molecular Disruptor: 20
- Fusion Cannon: 8

#### Electromagnetic Weapons

- EP Gun: 6
- Burst Beam: 7
- Shock Cannon: 10
- Comm Disruptor: 12

#### Matter Weapons

- Mass Driver: 75
- Matter Cannon: 15
- Railgun: 20

#### Gravitic Weapons

- Tractor Beam: 5 (requires gravitic drive)
- Gravity Net: 24
- Graviton Beam: 20
- Gravitic Lance: 40
- Grav Cannon: 8
- Graviton Pulsar: 14
- Gravitic Bolt: 4
- Gravitic Shifter: 24
- Graviton Mine: 12 + 6
- Shield Projector (bases only): 16

#### Antimatter Weapons

- Antimatter Converter: 24
- Antimatter Cannon: 20
- Antiproton Gun: 12
- Antiproton Defender: 6
- Antimatter Shredder: 36

#### Ballistic Weapons

- Class-S Rack: 12 + 2
- Class-R Rack: 24 + 4
- Class-A Rack: 12 + 2
- Class-B Rack: 36 + 6
- Reload Rack: 6
- Ion Torpedo: 16 + 4
- Ballistic Torpedo: 20 + 10
- Packet Torpedo: 16 + 4
- Antimatter Torpedo: 20 + 4
- Energy Mine: 16 + 4

#### Earth Alliance Weapons

Standard: Heavy pulse cannon, medium pulse cannon, light pulse cannon, standard particle beam, quad particle array, interceptor, heavy interceptor battery, heavy laser, medium laser, light laser, laser/pulse array, heavy laser/pulse array, medium plasma cannon, light plasma cannon, any missile rack

Similar: Particle cannon, particle blaster, twin array, guardian array, battle laser, combat laser, heavy plasma cannon, plasma accelerator, plasma stream, mass driver, matter cannon

#### Minbari Weapons

Standard: Neutron laser, improved neutron laser, molecular pulsar, molecular disruptor, fusion cannon, EP gun, shock cannon, gravity net

Similar: Any (the Minbari have probably captured and examined examples of every technology in the known galaxy)

#### Centauri Weapons

Standard: Twin array, heavy array, guardian array, battle laser, plasma accelerator, plasma stream, mass driver, matter cannon, ballistic torpedo, tractor beam

Similar: Quad array, quad particle array, interceptor, medium laser, light laser, combat laser, heavy plasma, medium plasma, light plasma, dual plasma stream, railgun, grav cannon, gravitic bolt, graviton pulsar

#### Narn Weapons

Standard: Medium pulse cannon, light pulse cannon, twin array, pulsar mine, heavy laser, medium laser, light laser, heavy plasma, medium plasma, light plasma, mag gun, burst beam, ion torpedo, energy mine

Similar: Heavy pulse cannon, heavy array, laser/pulse array, heavy laser/pulse array, EP gun, shock cannon, mass driver

#### Abbai Weapons

Standard: Quad array, particle impeder, combat laser, comm disruptor, shield projector

Similar: Twin array, quad particle array, medium laser, light laser, battle laser

#### Brakiri Weapons

Standard: Heavy laser, medium laser, graviton beam, gravitic lance, grav cannon, graviton pulsar, gravitic bolt, gravitic shifter, graviton mine

Similar: Light laser, battle laser, tractor beam

#### Drazi Weapons

Standard: Particle cannon, particle blaster, particle repeater, particle cutter, solar cannon, standard particle beam, twin array, class-S missile rack

Similar: Heavy pulse cannon, medium pulse cannon, light pulse cannon, particle concentrator, quad array, heavy array, scattergun, all other missile racks

#### Gaim Weapons

Standard: Particle cannon, standard particle beam, particle concentrator, scattergun

Similar: Medium pulse cannon, light pulse cannon, particle blaster, twin array, heavy plasma, medium plasma, light plasma, class-S missile rack, packet torpedo

#### Pak?ma?ra Weapons

Standard: Mega plasma, heavy plasma, medium plasma, light plasma, fuser, ranged fuser, plasma stream, dual plasma stream, plasma web

Similar: Mag gun, plasma accelerator

#### Vree Weapons

Standard: Tractor beam, antimatter converter, antimatter cannon, antiproton gun, antiproton defender, antimatter shredder, antimatter torpedo

Similar: Heavy plasma, medium plasma, light plasma, molecular disruptor, gravity net, grav cannon, gravitic bolt, graviton pulsar

### Special Notes

If you add an interceptor to a ship that does not already possess an energy web, you do not gain an energy web. The interceptor provides only its weapon-specific abilities. We have already established in the game that races like the Belt Alliance who use interceptors do not also possess the energy web, which is a separate item tied into the interceptor system somehow (insert technobabble here).

### Modifying Ship Systems

There are going to be rules for modifying systems like the reactor and C&C, but we will make those available for testing later. (Never Released)