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:
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.
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.
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
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)
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
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
Standard: Quad array, particle impeder, combat laser, comm disruptor, shield projector
Similar: Twin array, quad particle array, medium laser, light laser, battle laser
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
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
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
Standard: Mega plasma, heavy plasma, medium plasma, light plasma, fuser, ranged fuser, plasma stream, dual plasma stream, plasma web
Similar: Mag gun, plasma accelerator
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
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).
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)