Authors's Note: These rules are not based upon modification rules found in Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters as they were created before I had a chance to examine those rules. Since my completion of these rules I have had a chance to observe the ship modifications rules from Tramp Freighters and have added additional information to these rules to better integrate the two together, namely using weight to determine modification-capacity. Other than these slight alterations these rules are entirely new and any similarities with those in Tramp Freighters is merely coincidental.
Customizing and improving equipment takes time, credits, and know-how. One must keep in mind though when improving equipment that the Star Wars galaxy is highly advanced and specialized. Small improvements are possible with almost any piece of equipment, but large improvements are pushing the limits of the equipments capabilities. Large improvements represents revolutionary rather than evolutionary technologies. These revolutionary improvements can't be expected to occur using any repair skill. Rather, gross improvements require completely overhauling the item and rebuilding it using new more advanced technology. This is more the realm of the engineering skill and rules governing equipment construction will be covered in future articles. Here, evolutionary develepments are covered, involving tweaking your equipment, upgrading with add-ons that push your equipment to its limits, or installing new equipment pieces. The difficulty of improving equipment is based on the type of equipment and the size. As it would be far to difficult to give specific guidelines for every piece of equipment utilizing different technologies, here are presented only general guidelines for the main types of equipment in the Star Wars galaxy.
Upgrade vs. Installation
There are two ways to improve your equipment: upgrading
it by adding onto or tweaking up an existing component of the item to push
it beyond its original limits or installing a completely new and
better component. Upgrading is usually less costly than installing a new
component, however, it has its limitations in that an existing component
can only be upgraded so much. This is when istalling new components becomes
necessary. For example your ships maneuverability can only be improved
by 1D+1. To improve it beyond this all-new lateral thrusters must be purchased
an installed replacing the old ones. This will be discussed in more detail
in each section.
UPGRADING
When upgrading a component a character needs to pay the required upgrade cost before rolling the difficulty. If she fails the difficulty role she fails in upgrading the piece of equipment and has wasted the money and the time necessary to upgrade. She May attempt to upgrade the item again but she must pay 1/2 the upgrade cost in advance and devote herself to the full upgrade time. If she fails this time she can only try once again following the same guidlines as the second attempt. If she fails this attempt she must wait until she increases her respective repair skill before attempting it again.
Example: It takes Jed 2 days and 1000 credits to upgrade a particular item. If Jed fails on the first attempt he may try again. This time it will cost Jed an additional 500 credits and another 2 days of devoted upgrade time. If he fails this attempt he may try once again expending another 500 credits and 2 days of time. If he fails this attempt he may not try to upgrade that particular item until he increases his repair skill. If Jed fails these 3 attempts he would have expended 2000 credits and 6 days of time for nothing.
Time of Upgrade
The time it takes to upgrade a piece of equipment is dependent
upon its size and type. Table 1 gives times for improvement of
TABLE 1 |
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Scale | Shields | Sensor | Hull | Maneuverability | Fire Control | Damage | Engines | Hyperdrives |
Speeder | 1 Day | 1 Day | 2 Days | 1 Day | 1 Day | 1.5 Days | 1 Days | 3 Days |
Walker | 2 Days | 2 Days | 1 Week | 2 Days | 1.5 Days | 2 Days | 2 Days | 4 Days |
Starship | 2 Days | 2 Days | 1.5 Weeks | 3 Days | 1.5 Days | 2 Days | 3 Days | 1 Week |
Capital* | 1 Week | 1 Week | 1 Month | 1 Week | 3 Days † | 4 days † | 2 Weeks | 2 Weeks |
Death Star** | 2 Weeks | 2 Weeks | 2 Months | 2 Weeks | 2 Weeks | 2 Weeks | 3 Weeks | 3 Weeks |
the types of equipment that will be covered in this article. More types may be added as the need arises. Shield generators typically increase with the increasing size of the vessel, however, there size increase isn't as dramatic as the size increase associated with the hull of the ship Therefore, times of improvement do not increase as dramatically as compared to Hull time of improvement. In regards to Table 1 it must be noted as follows:
Table 1 only covers times of improvement for scales greater than character scale. Since character equipment contains different statistics than vehicles character scale times of improvement are given in Table 2. As with Table 1 these values are
TABLE 2 TIME FOR CHARACTER EQUIPMENT IMPROVEMENT PER PIP |
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WEAPONS | ARMOR | ||||
Fire Control | Damage | Range | Ammo | Protection | Protection + Dexterity Enhancements |
|
Time | 8 hours | 1 Day | 1 Day | 1 Day | 1.5 Days | 2 Days |
benchmarks to help guide the GM to determine a time for character equipment improvement. Specific types of equipment will have varying upgrade times based upon the advancement of the technology used to construct the weapon. The weapon values are for a typical blaster pistol and the armor values are for generic bounty hunter armor.
Character Equipment
Characters will try to improve anything given the chance
to. However, here is discussed the most popular items to improve, namely
weapons and armor. In later sections vehicular upgrade will be discussed.
Weapons
Weapons come in all different forms and types. There are blasters,
firearms, melee weapons, and missile weapons. There are blaster pistols,
blaster rifles, and repeating blasters. However, even with all these types
weapons they share a common thread in that they have common statistics.
Weapons can be improved and modified to cause more damage, for longer ranges,
or for increased ammo capacity. The difficulty to increase damage is based
upon how much additional damage is going to be provided. Weapon damages
cannot be increased beyond 1D+2 greater than their original values. Again,
large improvements represent revolutionary rather than evolutionary design
technologies. In essence there is a limit to which an existing piece of
equipment can be improved before the technology used in its design (and
in many cases the design itself) becomes the limitation of the device.
This goes for any weapon; 1D+2 greater than the original value is the highest
a weapon's damage can be increased before complete re-engineering of the
device becomes necessary to improve it (This will be covered in later
TABLE 3 |
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DAMAGE (from original value) |
RANGE (% increase from original value) |
FIRE CONTROL (from original value) |
AMMO (% increase from original value) |
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Difficulty | Pip Increase | Cost* | Range Increase | Cost* | Pip Increase | Cost* | Capacity Increase | Cost* |
Easy | +1 | 15% | 10% | 10% | +1 | 10% | 25% | 5% |
Moderate | +2 | 25% | 20% | 15% | +2 | 15% | 35% | 7% |
Difficult | +1D | 30% | 30% | 20% | +1D | 20% | 50% | 10% |
Very Difficult | +1D+1 | 35% | 40% | 25% | +1D+1 | 25% | 75% | 15% |
Heroic | +1D+2 | 50% | 50% | 30% | +1D+2 | 30% | 100% | 20% |
articles). In general there are limitations to increasing any of a device's characteristics. In similar stride a weapon's fire control and range are limited in how much they can be improved; Table 3 details these limitations as well as difficulties in improving character-scale weapons. The range and ammo capacity are % increases from the original vlaue. When determining costs of improvement all costs are additive. In addition one does not necessarily have to improve a weapon pip by pip instead one can invest into improving a weapon by +1D or +1D+2 even. However, the difficulty should be increased to the maximum value for the given range (e.g. for a difficult task the difficulty number should be 20). This shows that it is slightly easier to improve step-by-step instead of all at once.
Example: Jed [blaster repair: 7D] wishes to increase his blaster rifle's range by 30% (making it 3-39/ 130/ 390). This is a Difficult roll, with a mandatory difficulty number of 20 because the increase is all at once (i.e. he didn't increase the weapon's range by 10% and then 20% before improving it to 30%). Before the roll is made Jed must purchase the necessary items to improve the weapon. Since cost is additive Jed must pay 45% (20% + 15% + 10% = 45%) of the rifle's original cost (1,000 credits) which comes out to be 450 credits. Additionally, it will take Jed 4.5 days (1.5 days per "step" increase from Table 2 for 3 steps of improvement.) After paying this Jed rolls his 7D and gets a 23, succeeding in the upgrade. So after 450 credits and 4.5 days of concentrated effort in disassembling his rifle, adding-on to and tweaking-up the design, and reassembling his rifle Jed has a rifle with a new range of: 3-39/ 130/ 390; and no reduction in damage. Pretty impressive for ol' Jed there.
Armor
When increasing an armor's protection every pip of increase decreases
Dexterity by the same amount. If armor has been improved by 1D then
the wearer suffers an additional 1D decrease in Dexterity along
with the original Dexterity penalty for
TABLE 4 CHARACTER ARMOR IMPROVEMENT |
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Pip Increase | Difficulty* | Cost* |
+1 | Very Easy (Easy) | 15% (25%) |
+2 | Easy (Moderate) | 25% (40%) |
+1D | Moderate (Difficult) | 30% (55%) |
+1D+1 | Difficult (Very Difficult) | 35% (70%) |
+1D+2 | Very Difficult (Heroic) | 50% (85%) |
+2D | Heroic (Heroic +5) | 65% (100%) |
the armor. However, armor may be purchased with dexterity enhancements to overcome this penalty. When improving an armor's protection, protection is increased by that amount for all forms of attacks. If a character increases bounty hunter armor by +1D the improved armor will bestow + 2D protection against energy attacks and +3D against physical attacks. Dexterity enhancements may not be purchased other than to overcome the Dexterity penalty in this fashion. Nevertheless, deleting an armor's inherent Dexterity modifiers (i.e. the starting Dexterity penalty) requires reconstruction of the armor itself which requires the engineering skill . This will be covered in later articles. Improving an armor's protection with dexterity enhancements increases the difficulty level by one and dramatically increases the cost (see Table 4).
Example: Jed owns bounty hunter armor (+1D protection from energy, +2D to physical attacks, and -1D to Dexterity). Jed improves his armors protection from by +2 pips and erases the Dexterity penalty through enhancements. If Jed succeeds his armor stats will be as follows: +1D+2 to energy, +2D+2 to physical, and still a -1D to Dexterity. If Jed wants to delete the inherent Dexterity modifier he is better off purchasing a more advanced suit of armor that has no initial dexterity modifiers (e.g. The Correlian 611 combat armor).
With regards to Table 2 the time for improvement is in reference to a full suit of armor. Individual pieces of armor should take relatively shorter times to improve (GM is to arbitrate exact time using values in Table 2 as a benchmark). If a suit of armor has weapons that the wearer wishes to upgrade then consult the section above on improving weapons as they also apply to armor weapons. Installation, of new weapons into a suit of armor will be covered below under Installation.
Example: Jed (armor repair: 8D) decides to increase his bounty hunter armor to the limit. In the previious example he raised it +2 pips. Now he wants to raise it the rest of the way to its full +2D over its original proteciton value. Before Jed rolls he has to pay for the parts and such. Having already paid for the upgrade by +2 pips (see previous example) Jed now only has to pay 370% (100% + 85% + 70% + 55% = 370%) of the armor's original cost of 2,500 credits. This comes out to be 7,750 credits. Jed being the wealthy smuggler/ Jack-of-all trades that he is has that kind of money. Now, Jed's difficulty is Heroic +5; and since Jed is raising it straight to +2D without the step-by-step improvement the GM gives him a difficulty of 35 and then adds the additional 5 to get a difficulty number of 40. Jed decides to use 2 character points for the attempt raising his skill to 10D. He rolls and gets a 43: Success!. Now, Jed's armor provides +3D protection against energy attacks, +4D protection against physical attacks, but still has that inherent -1D Dexterity penalty, although the dexterity enhancements negated the -2D penalty he would have normaly incurred with the upgrade had he not added dexterity enhancements. Jed might want to think about purchasing an armor suit without such inherent Dexterity penalties.
Vehicles and Greater-than-Character-Scale
Equipment
Probably the most modified piece
of equipment is a character's ship. In the Star Wars universe there is
no such thing as a stock light frieghter; at least not in the hands of
a true smuggler. A starship has many attributes that until now were unable
to be improved upon. Players could dream of constructing the Millenium
Falcon from a stock light freighter, but could not accomplish this
because no rules dealt with it (or those that did have been inadequate
in realistically upgrading your ship). Here are presented rules to accomplish
just that and more. Not only will these rules cover upgrading freighters
but also starfighters, cruisers, star destroyers, and even the Death Star
(just for the sake completeness). Again, just as above, cost given for
upgrading vehicles are additive. Tables 5 and 6 give difficulties and typical
costs for typical pieces of equipment. The difficulty applies regardless
of the scale of the equipment. Scale differences only add to the time (and
the cost by virtue of percentage) of upgrade.
Weapons
Weapons upgrade for vehicles is very similar to upgrade for character-scale
weaons; the real difference lies in the time and cost involved in upgrading
the weapon. Table 5A gives a listing of the cost and difficulties in upgrading
weapons (as well as sensors). Other than this the same rules apply as for
character-scale weapons.
TABLE 5A VEHICLE IMPROVEMENT (Weapons and Sensors) |
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WEAPONS | SENSORS | ||||||||
DAMAGE (from original value) |
RANGE (% increase from original value) |
FIRE CONTROL (from original value) |
SENSORS DICE (from original value) |
RANGE (% increase from original value) |
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Difficulty | Pip Increase | Cost* | Range Increase | Cost* | Pip Increase | Cost* | Pip Increase | Cost* | Range Increase | Cost* |
Easy | +1 | 15% | 10% | 10% | +1 | 10% | - | - | 10% | 10% |
Modierate | +2 | 25% | 20% | 15% | +2 | 15% | +1 | 10% | 20% | 15% |
Difficult | +1D | 30% | 30% | 20% | +1D | 20% | +2 | 15% | 30% | 20% |
Very Difficult | +1D+1 | 35% | 40% | 25% | +1D+1 | 25% | +1D | 25% | 40% | 25% |
Heroic | +1D+2 | 50% | 50% | 30% | +1D+2 | 30% | +1D+1 | 35% | 50% | 30% |
Lateral Thrusters / Mechanical Air Flaps
Maneuverability is upgraded by improving the lateral thrusters. Numerous
add-ons are available to increase power output of the lateral thrusters.
Furthermore, there various methods to increase the responsiveness of the
thrusters. One or both of these performance-boosting techniques can be
utilized to increase a ships maneuverability. Maneuverability is more difficult
to increase because it depends on other factors, not just the performance
of the lateral thrusters. A vehicles mass and shape as well as placement
of thrusters have an effect on the maneuverability of a ship. For simplicities
sake we assume that imporvement of lateral thrusters sufficiently imporves
the maneuverability of the ship. Cost is % of original thruster cost. For
stock thrusters use typical cost from Table 8, or look up a thruster that
best resembles the current model in the appendix.
Sublight Engines / Ion Drives
Improving the engines increases a ships Space or Move
attribute. Upgrades to engines are usually accomplished through add-ons
or by tweaking-up a its power output. This can be accomplished in various
ways including improving the ion filter or modifying the stabilizer (a
common method for increasing engine power output among smugglers). Use
Table 6 to determine improvement difficulty. Increase is from the original
space code. Cost is % of original engines cost. For stock engines use typical
cost from Table 8, or look up an Engine that best resembles the current
model in the appendix.
Hyperdrives
Hyperdrive upgrading is a little more touchy than upgrading sublight
engines. The science behind the technology is esoteric and remains to be
understood by only a few highly-trained hyperspace technicians. However,
this hasn't stopped the ambitious smuggler from fiddling around with the
hyperdrives to push her ship to even faster speeds. There exist enough
common procedures to upgrading hyperdrives that it is now conventional
within the smuggling community. However, there still are screw-ups. There's
a story still told by smugglers of a pirate who when improving his hyperdrives
on his ship incorrectly reconnected the hyperdrive motivator. Once he entered
hyperspace he couldn't intiate a response from the hyperdrive motivator
to bring him back into realspace. He ended up colliding with a supernova
in the Sensis system, so the story goes. Hyperdrive upgrade occurs in "steps".
That is improving from x4 to x3 hyperdrive multiplier is considered
a step. Use the following to determine the number of steps of increase
from the original value: x4, x3,
x2, x1.5, x1, x3/4, x1/2, x1/3*, x1/4*. Cost
is % of original hyperdrive cost. For stock hyperdrives use typical cost
from Table 8, or look up a hyperdrive that best resembles the current model
in the appendix.
* These values cannot be obtained without GM permission.
Sensor Array
Sensor arrays are usually upgraded by upgrading the Sensor Computer
used to analyze the data recieved by the sensors. However, a real technician
can fine tune the full-spectrum tranciever and the energy receptors to
provide a more accurate read-out with increased range. Sensors, due to
their advanced electronic nature, are usually more difficult to upgrade
than other ship components. A larger listing of Sensor systems is given
in the appendix.
Shield Generators
In some ships there are designated shield generators that are self-sustaining
regardless of any damage to the sublight engines. These generators can
be upgraded by improving their power output, which is done in similar ways
as is upgrading Sublight Engines. However, many ships exist, including
most older starfighters, whose shields run off the sublight engines. Here
what needs to be done is to improve the power output of the sublight engines
as described above, in addition the deflector ducts must be modified to
feed more power to the shields. Another method is to add-on an in-line
power generator that in addition to the sublight drives provides additional
power output to the shields generators. Again more shield generator types
are listed in the appendix.
Hull
Increasing a ships hull requires re-plating the vessel. This takes
considerable time especially for transports. Most often the ship is plated
with new more durable materials. This requires considerable time as the
old plating must be stripped off. However, the limit for imporving a vessel's
hull code in this fashion is +1D+1 above the original hull code. However,
greater hull codes can be obtained by plating more layers on the ships
hull. However, this adds considerable weight to the ship. Reduce the cargo
capacity (not the volume just the weight) of the ship by 15% for each pip
beyond 1D+1 up to +2D. A ships hull code cannot be increased by more than
+2D in this fashion.
TABLE 5B VEHICLE IMPROVEMENT (Shields, Hull, and Maneuverability) |
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Pip Increase | DIFFICULTY | COST† | ||||
Shields | Hull | Man. | Shields | Hull | Man. | |
+1 | Moderate | Very Easy | Moderate | 10% | 5% | 15% |
+2 | Difficult | Easy | Difficult | 15% | 7% | 25% |
+1D | Very Difficult | Moderate | Very Difficult | 25% | 10% | 35% |
+1D+1 | Heroic | Difficult | Heroic | 35% | 15% | 50% |
+1D+2 | N/A ‡ | Very Difficult* | N/A ‡ | N/A ‡ | 20% | N/A ‡ |
+2D | N/A ‡ | Heroic** | N/A ‡ | N/A ‡ | 25% | N/A ‡ |
+2D+1 | N/A ‡ | N/A ‡ | N/A ‡ | N/A ‡ | N/A ‡ | N/A ‡ |
Example: Jed (Space Transport Repair 7D+2; Command 6D) wants to increase his YT-1300's Hull code from 4D to 4D+2. Looking at Table 1 we see that it will take 3 weeks to complete the upgrade (1.5 weeks/pip). Jed isn't about to spend the next 15 days working on the hull of his ships so he decides to get his old buddy John (Space Transport Repair 6D) to help him out. Since 2 people are working on the upgrade the time of upgrade is reduced in half. So now they will only have to expend 7.5 days doing the upgrade. Since Jed and John are combining actions those rules now also come into play. Since Jed is resolving 2 actions simultaneously (commanding and upgrading) his skill codes are reduced by 1D (Space Transport Repair 6D+2; Command 5D). Between Jed and John their average Repair skill is 6D (See page 69 of 2nd edition rulebook). Jed is commanding 2 people (himself and John) with an average skill of 6D and so requires a Very Easy (Difficulty # = 3) command roll. With 5D command this is no problem. The cost for the upgrade is 25% (10% +15%) of the original cost of the ship which for a YT-1300 is 100,000 credits. So 25% of this is 25,000 credits which is the cost of the upgrade. With 2 people being coordinated Jed and John get a +1D bonus to their average skill code (6D) for a total skill of 7D. Improving the hull code by +2 pips from the original value requires an easy difficulty roll. Since they are not increasing the ship step-by-step (that is they didn't increase the code to 4D+1 before increasing to 4D+2) the GM gives them the maximum difficulty for the Easy range (10). Thus, they need to roll above a 10 with 7 dice. No problem; they roll a 21. They spend the next 7.5 days re-plating the hull of their ship and after that the upgrade is complete. Their ship now has a hull code of 4D+2.
TABLE 6 SUBLIGHT AND HYPERDRIVE IMPROVEMENT |
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ION DRIVES | HYPERDRIVES | ||
Space Code Increase |
Cost | Multiplier Increase |
Cost | |
Moderate | +1 | 30% | 1st step | 30% |
Difficult | +2 | 50% | 2nd step | 50% |
Very Difficult | +3 | 75% | 3rd step | 75% |
Heroic | +4 | 100% | 4th step | 100% |
When installing a new component a character needs to pay the required installation cost before rolling the difficulty. If she fails the difficulty role she fails in installing the piece of equipment and has wasted the money and the time necessary to upgrade. She May attempt to upgrade the item again but she must pay 1/2 the installation cost in advance and devote herself to the full installation time. If she fails this time she can only try once again following the same guidlines as the second attempt. If she fails this attempt she must wait until she increases her respective repair skill before attempting it again.
Example: It takes Jed 2 days and 1000 credits to install a particular item. If Jed fails on the first attempt he may try again. This time it will cost Jed an additional 500 credits and another 2 days of devoted installation time. If he fails this attempt he may try once again expending another 500 credits and 2 days of time. If he fails this attempt he may not try to upgrade that particular item until he increases his repair skill. If Jed fails these 3 attempts he would have expended 2000 credits and 6 days of time for nothing.
Time of Installation
As with time of upgrade installation time is primarily determined
by the size and type of component being installed. Some components are
more time consuming to install then others. However, even within the same
type of components installation time will vary. Unless time of installation
is given in the component's description assume average time of installation
for that item listed in Table 6. Installation rules are broken up into
character-scale equipment and vehicles.
Character Equipment
Here is covered the installation
of weapons and other devices into armor. Boba Fett sets the standard by
which most characters follow. A true bounty hunter will not rest until
her armor contains gadgets comparable in number to those in Batman's utility
belt. Table 7 lists the difficulty in installing several common and uncommon
devices into a character's armor as well as the cost and time of installation.
Use these values unless specifically listed for an item. In the appendix
of this article are various costs of specific types of devices, including
sensors and weapons.
TABLE 7 COMPONENT INSTALLATION FOR ARMOR |
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Item* | Difficulty | Time | Cost |
Blaster/Laser | Easy | 1/2 Days | 750 |
Rocket/Grenade Launcher |
Moderate | 1 Day | 2,200/ 2,500 |
Grappling Hook | Moderate | 1/2 Day | 400 |
Flame Projector | Moderate | 1 Day | 3,000 |
Jet/Rocket Pack | Difficult | 2 Days | 400 |
Sensor Array | Difficult | 1.5 Days | 1,000 |
Macrobinoculars | Easy | 4 Hours | 100 |
Comlink | Easy | 4 Hours | 100 |
Antena | Easy | 4 Hours | 500 |
Enviro Filter | Very Difficult | 3 Days | 4,500 |
Descriptions
Blasters/Lasers: Armor Blasters (or Lasers) are usually
mounted on the wrists for greatest accuracy. There are shoulder mounted
blasters, but these are more expensive as they require their own automation
for targetting (see Appendix II). Standard wrist
lasers have the following statistics: Damage: 4D, Skill:
Armor Weapons Ammo: 50, Range: 3-6/ 20/ 40
Rocket/Grenade Launchers: Rocket Launchers and grenade launchers
can be mounted on the back of Armor. It is difficult to mount them on the
wrists as they are inherently bulky and heavy. Grenade Launchers have the
following statistics: Damage: 6D/ 4D+2/ 3D+1/ 2D, Blast Radius:
0-3/ 5/ 7/ 12, Skill: Missile Weapons, Range: 1-250/ 350/
500, Ammo: 20.
Projectile Grappling Hook: 20 meters of syntherope, Skill:
Missile Weapons, Range: 0-3/10/20; Uses a magnetic grappling "hook".
Flame Projector: Mounted on the wrists. Fuel usually contained
in pack on back. Damage: 5D, Skill: Armor weapons; creates
a cone 1 meter wide, variable from 1-5 meters long.
Jet/Rocket Pack: The Merr-Son Leaper slightly modified to
attach to the armor. Charges: 10, Vertical: 30m, Horizontal:
100m, Cargo: Pilot + 25 kg.
Sensor Array: Standard sensor array contained within a pod
installed somewhere on the armor. Grants +1D to search. Range:
1-100 meters
Macrobinoculars: Standard macrobinoculars installed into
the helmet. Provides +1D to Perception or search for objects
100-200 meters away.
Comlink: Standard comlink set into the helmet. May be adjusted
to various frequencies.
Antenna: Adjusted to intercept and decode most standard frequencies
Enviro-Filter: Blocks most harmful molecules in the atmosphere,
or seal with 30 minutes air.
Obviously more accessories exist which can be installed into armor but again use this table as a benchmark for the difficulties in installing those components. Appendix II lists various accessories which characters may want to install into their armor.
Component Installation in Vehicles
I - (Speeder to Starfighter Scale)
As with armor players, especially smugglers, will modify
their vehicles untill they run out of credits. Installing new equipment
takes a large role in modifying vehicles. Rarely do vehicles come stock
with the all the accessories a character would like, instead they install
and overhaul their vehicles post-purchase. As with armor installation,
isntallation for vehicles follows the same general rules. When installing
a new component usually the older component is removed, unless of course
you are adding additional weaponry. When replacing old components the new
rating for the item is equivalent to the new item's statistics.
Example: If Jed replaces his x2 hyperdrive by installing a new x1 hyperdrive the ship would now have a hyperdrive multiplier of x1.
The difficulty and time of installation are dependent upon the the size of the component and the type of component being installed. Tables 8 and 9 list the common upgradeable items for vehicles and their average times of installation as well as their difficulties of installation for the different scales. Typical prices for typical components are also listed in these tables.
One must keep in mind that even whithin the same scale there exists many different types of vehicles which use different types of components. A sail barge uses different repulsorlift engine types than does an airspeeder or a cloudcar. When purchasing a component type one must purchase one of the same type as the vehicle. Appendix I lists many different types of components for many different types of vehicles. The "Type" attribute of a component lists the vehicle type which it can be installed into.
Additionally, many factors must be taken into consideration when installing new components. Dimensions, weight, and the arrangements of all relavent wires, vlaves, power lines, etc. ... must be taken into consideration. When purchasing components it is assumed that the character buys those components most compatible with his vehicle. However, when purchasing an item it then becomes specific for your ship as it is assumed that you purchased that component must compatible (specific) with you vehicle.
Example: Jed wishes to buy the Sienar Fleet Systems X-5 Fussion Drive for his X-wing. The type listed for the Sienar Fleet Systems X-5 Fussion Drive is "starfighter sublight engines". When jed purchases this model of sublight engine it is assumed he purchases that type most compatable with his X-wing. Again this assumes that the manufacturer produces that model for most types of starfighters. This is not an unreasonable assumption, yet the GM has final determination if that model is available for your starfighter type. John could purchase the same model for his B-wing yet the type would be one that is most compatable with his starfighter. Again this assumes that the manufacturer produces that model for most types of starfighters. However, if Jed was to steal John's sublight engines it is up to the GM to determine if the drives can be modified to fit into Jed's X-wing even though they are the same general model type. In this case I would say no because of the size and configuration of the B-wings engines (unless Jed wants to completely reconfigure his X-wing). However, Components of the engine may be salvagable and used to repair a damaged component on Jed's X-wing.
Thus, when it comes to salvaging components from a wreckage the GM must determine if components from one ship can be installed into another ship.
When replacing components it is assumed that the space consumed is approximately the same for the new and old piece of equipment. When installing components into a vehicle both volume and weight are determinants on the number and size of the component(s) being installed. Since volume varies greatly from ship to ship depending upon its configuration, weight is used here to determine installation capacity; that is the number of components and the size of the comonent being installed. However, this is only a crude method and the GM has final say when a component can be realistically installed into a particular vehicle. Ion cannons weigh about 2 tons, but just because jed has 100 metric tons of cargo space doesn't mean he can fit 50 ion cannons into his ship. Furthermore, it is not a correct assumption that when installing a weapon that it necessarily takes up 2 tons of "space" in the ship. Some weapons can be almost completely installed outside of the ship (mostly turreted weapons) this would free up space, but not wieght, in the ship. So again the GM must dictate if there is enough room to install a new component. It helps to have a general layout of the vehicle that is going to be modified. Because, of this starfighters, swoops, and speeder-bikes cannot be too heavily modified with new components since there is little room to mount them. The most common option is to mount new components externally (especially weapons). For those who wish to add a bit more realism can use the optional over-capacity rules for installing new components above and beyond a ship's weight-capacity.
TABLE 8 |
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Item | Difficulty | SPEEDER SCALE | WALKER SCALE | STARFIGHTER SCALE | ||||
Time | Cost* | Time | Cost* | Time | Cost* | |||
W E A P O N S |
Ion Cannons | Moderate | 2 Days | 7,000 | 3 Days | 5,000 | 1 Week | 5,000 |
Blaster Cannons | Easy | 1 Day | 1,000 | 2 Days | 2,000 | 3 Days | 2,000 | |
Laser Cannons | Easy | 1.5 Days | 1,800 | 2 Days | 3,500 | 3 Days | 3,500 | |
Missile Launcher | Moderate | 1.5 Days | 7,000 | 2.5 Days | 7,000 | 4 Days | 9,000 | |
Torpedo Tube | Moderate | 1.5 days | 6,000 | 2.5 Days | 5,500 | 4 Days | 6,500 | |
Turbolasers | Difficult | N/A | N/A | 3 Days | 30,000 | 1 Week | 25,000 | |
Tractor Beam | Difficult | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 6 Days | 35,000 | |
Lateral Thrusters/ Mechanical Control Flaps |
Difficult | 2.5 Days | 2,000 | 4 Days | 7,000 | 1 Week | 10,000 | |
Engines | Difficult | 3 Days | 5,000 | 4 Days | 15,000 | 2 Weeks | 15,000 | |
Shield Generators | Moderate | N/A | N/A | 3 Days | 4,000 | 3 Days | 6,000 | |
Weapon Power Plants | Easy | 4 Hours | 1,000 | 8 Hours | 5,000 | 8 Hours | 5,000 | |
Hyperdrives | Difficult | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | 1.5 Weeks | 20,000 | |
Sensor Arrays | Moderate | 1 Day | 500 | 2 Days | 3,000 | 3 Days | 5,000 |
Component Installation in Vehicles
II - (Capital to Death Star Scale)
Capital ships are much larger and
more complex ships than starfighters. Upgrading and modifying a capital
scale ship requires the labor of hundreds of technicians. Death Star Scale
ships represent the largest and most powerful that currently exist. Modification
of such monstrous vessels requires the labor of thousands of technicians.
Modifications of these vessels of these scales are not done in some unfurbished
spaceport but rather in in fully stocked starports where many workers can
coordinate their endeavors to modify such massive starfaring ships. Should
your players manage to get their hands on a capital scale ship (most likely
a correlian corvette or other such vehicle) they will not be able to realistically
modify the ship on their own. Rather often times when characters are fortunate
enough to own such a vessel they pay to have the ship modified by professional
technicians who have the facilities and the work force to tackle such a
task.
As with other vehicles some components are largely specific to particular vehicles. Mainly just the engines. The size and compartmentalization of capital ships allows most other comonents to be easily installed in most capital scale ships, however, there will be exceptions. For example the shield gerators for a System Patrol Craft (Imperial Sourcebook pg. 51) will not work to adequately shield a Star Destroyer. Again the GM has to arbitrate in such circumstances. One general rule of thumb is that if the ship from which the parts were taken is more than Twice as large or Twice as small as the ship into which the parts will be installed then the salvaged components will not work in the vessel. However, this does not pose a problem when characters purchase the components themselves. When purchasing components the characters are assumed to purchase the specific model most compatible with their ship. The appendix lists many components for installation in capital ships as well as Death Star scale components. The appendix lists the type and model of the components. The model is the general model of that component, so that both a System Patrol Craft could feasibly purchase the same general model of engine but their specific models would be different. However, the GM should reduce the price accordingly as, remember, the equipment listed for the capital ships are those typical for a Mon Calamari MC-80 cruiser.
As with most components the difficulty of installation is dependent the type of component being installed. Size of a component does not play all to much into a the difficulty of installation rather it just takes more time to install. Table 9 details the difficulty in installing various components into capital and death star scale ships.
TABLE 9 |
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Item | Difficulty | CAPITAL SCALE | DEATH STAR SCALE | |||
Time** | Cost* | Time*** | Cost* | |||
W E A P O N S |
Ion Cannons | Moderate | 2 Weeks | 50,000 | 2Month | 4,000,000 |
Blaster Cannons | Easy | 1 Week | 20,000 | 1 Month | 1,600,000 | |
Laser Cannons | Easy | 1Week | 35,000 | 1 Month | 2,800,000 | |
Missile Launcher | Moderate | 8 Days | 65,000 | 1.5 Months | 5,200,000 | |
Turbolasers | Difficult | 2 Weeks | 250,000 | 2 Months | 20,000,000 | |
Tractor Beam | Difficult | 2.5 Weeks | 350,000 | 2.5 Months | 28,000,000 | |
Super Lasers | Very Difficult | N/A | N/A | 3 Months | 30,000,000,000 | |
Lateral Thrusters | Difficult | 2.5 Days | 36,000 | 1 Month | 210,000,000 | |
Engines | Difficult | 1 Month | 75,000 | 6 Months | 450,000,000 | |
Shield Generators | Moderate | 1 Week | 30,000 | 1 Month | 180,000,000 | |
Weapon Power Plants | Easy | 1 Day | 20,000 | 1 Week | 1,500,000 | |
Hyperdrives | Difficult | 3 Weeks | 100,000 | 3 Months | 600,000,000 |
The Difficulty listings in Table 9 are for 50 and 10,000 technicians working on Capital and Death Star scale ships respectively. Each reduction in the number of technicians working on a project by 1/2 doubles the time of installation. Thus, if only 5,000 technicians were working on installing new Death Star hyperdrives the time of installation would be 6 months.
Speed
Code Diminishment With Over-Capacity Loads (Optional)
A vehicle can load components until it has expended its
full cargo capacity of weight. A vehicle can continue to install (or load
cargo for that matter) beyond its cargo capacity at the cost of speed and
maneuverability. Maneuverability cannot be reduced below 0. When a ships
speed code reduces to 0 the ship cannot move. The loss of speed
code and maneuverability with a given increase in weight is dependent on
the ships scale and is given as followes:
TABLE 10 SPEED CODE DIMINISHMENT WITH OVER-CAPACITY LOADS |
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Scale | Types | Weight at which vehicle Move or Space code is lowered by 1 level. |
Weight at which vehicle Maneuverability code is lowered by 1 pip. |
Speeder | Airspeeders, Cloud Cars, Barges, and skiffs |
(Vehicle's Move/100) x Cargo Capacity | (Vehicle's Move/200) x Cargo Capacity |
Swoops, Speeder bikes, and Land speeders |
(Vehicle's Move/10) x Cargo Capacity | (Vehicle's Move/20) x Cargo Capacity | |
Walker | All walker types | (Walker's Move/20) x Cargo Capacity | (Walker's Move/40) x Cargo Capacity |
Starfighter | Starfighters | (Space Code) x Cargo Capacity* | (Space Code/2) x Cargo Capacity* |
Transports and Freighters |
(Space Code/50) x Cargo Capacity | (Space Code/100) x Cargo Capacity |
Example: Jed has a modified YT-1300 freighter (Space: 6) which has spent all of its cargo capacity (100 metric tons) yet he still wants to install a turbolaser battery (5 tons). Using the formula in table 10, (6/50 x 100 tons = 12 tons), for every 12 tons beyond the cargo capacity the ship, the space code is reduced by 1. Therefore, installing a 5 ton turbolaser battery reduces the speed code by 1. If jed were to install a tractor beam (15 tons) the ship's speed code would be reduced by 2.
Over-Working
and Fatigue (Optional)
When it comes to modifying ships characters can become
a little overzealous and want to complete the work overnight. So what usually
happens is that they sacrafice sleep to accomplish the modification faster.
A character can work 16 hours in a day without requiring a stamina check.
However, for every 8 hours beyond this that a character wishes to continue
without sleep, she must make an stamina check. The roll is Easy
for the 1st 8 hours and increases one difficulty level for each successive
8 hours. For each failed check the character operates at -1D to all her
skills. If a character fails 3 checks then she must sleep for 12 hours.
This sleep is mandatory, and means the character fell asleep in the middle
of doing whatever she was doing when the 3rd check was failed.
With such varying vehicular equipment the list below could be much more extensive, however instead of listing every possible specific models of ship systems below are listed the general models for the listed type of equipment. For example one could by the Incom Scortcher 250 engine for their airspeeder. However, since their are so many different types of airspeeders instead of listing every specific model of Incom's Scortcher engine's it is assumed that the character purchases that model most compatible with her speeder. Thus just because you have purchased a Scortcher 250 engine for your airspeeder doesn't mean it is interchangable with a Scortcher 250 in another speeder. This is up to the GM to determine dependent upon the similarities between the airspeeders.
Weight differences between thruster/control flaps is negligible. Thus, when replacing lateral thrusters for new ones it is assumed that the weight addition is negligible as well.
Model: Sienar Fleet Systems Jump-60 Thrusters Type: Transport Lateral Thrusters Installation: Difficult Cost: 14,000 Maneuverability: 1D+2 Sienar's powerful lateral thrusters from its popular Jump series thrusters. Model: Sienar Fleet Systems Jump-90 Thrusters Model: Sienar Fleet Systems Jump-150 Thrusters Model: Correllian Stardirve's CS-99 Model: Telgorn TL-025 Model: Telgorn TL-010 Thrusters |
Model: Sienar Fleet Systems
Boost-25 Thrusters Type: Starfighter Lateral Thrusters Installation: Difficult Cost: 7,000 Maneuverability: 1D Sienar's first model Boost Thruster. Inexpensive and powerful, a combination most Bush pilots won't pass up. Model: Sienar Fleet Systems Boost-250 Thrusters Model: Incom I-90 Thrusters Model: Incom I-45 Thrusters Model: Slayn And Korpil SK-30 Thrusters Model: Ilayn And Korpil SK-40 Thrusters |
Model: Aratech A-4 Flaps Type: Airspeeder Mechanical Control Flaps Installation: Difficult Cost: 2,000 Maneuverability: 1D the first in Aratechs A series control Flaps. Model: Aratech A-3 Flaps Model: Aratech A-2 Flaps Model: Aratech A-1 Flaps Model: Aratech A-0 Flaps |
Model: Skybird S-II Type: Swoop Mechanical Control Flaps Installation: Difficult Cost: 5,000 Maneuverability: 5D An upgrade to the S-I, for those racers willing to push their swoops to the edge. Model: Skybird S-I Model: Ikas Adno IACF-950 Model: Ikas Adno IACF-1050 Model: Ubrikkian USK-5 |
The following hyperdrives are listed under two seperate types: Transport and Starfighter hyperdrives. One isn't exchangeable with the other. Starfighter hyperdrives tend to be cheaper as starfighters are usually less massive than transports and thus the hyperdrives need not be as powerful to propel the ship through hyperspace.
Model: Correlian Stardrives
CSHD-54 Type: Transport Hyperdrives Installation: Difficult Weight: 8 tons Cost: 5,000 Hyperdrive Multiplier: x5 Correllian Stardrives antiquated hyperdrives seen in many older transports. Model: Correlian Stardrives CSHD-554 Model: Koensayr Model: Slayn & Korpil Indigo-3 |
Model: Telgorn Corporation's
Caviar-052 Type: Transport Hyperdrives Installation: Difficult Weight: 10 tons Cost: 7,500 Hyperdrive Multiplier: x4 Telgorn's economical hyperdrive Model: Telgorn Corporation's Caviar-152 Model: KDY's Impulse-1 Model: KDY's Impulse-2 |
Model: Incom Graff-1 Hyperdrives Type: Starfighter Hyperdrives Installation: Difficult Weight: 5 tons Cost: 6,000 Hyperdrive Multiplier: x4 An old Incom hyperdrive that is suprisingly still in production. Made initially for the Z-95, but never made it into the later production models before the popularization of the X-wing. Model: Incom Graff-4 Hyperdrives Model: Sienar Fleet System's T-1000 |
Model: Slayn & Korpil
Pro-II Type: Starfighter Hyperdrives Installation: Difficult Weight: 7.5 tons Cost: 15,000 Hyperdrive Multiplier: x2 This model is featured in S&K's popular B-wing fighter. Model: Slayn & Korpil Pro-I Model: Sienar Fleet System's T-100 |
Here are listed a variety of weapons which characters can arm their starships with. As a comprehensive list would consume volumes of space. Instead only the most popular weapons are listed below.
Listed here are armor add-ons which characters can install into their armor. This is by no means a comprehensive list of additional armor equipment but serves as a starting point to characters producing truly exotic and unique suits of armor.
Model: Corellidyne Holographic
Projector Type: Human-Sized 3-D Imaging System Installation: Heroic Cost: 30,000 Effect: Creates a lifelike image of the wearer in any direction within a radius of 10 meters. Model: Comonar Defense System TAS-40 Model: Cocris Syndicates Assault Enhancers Model: Imperial Munitions Storm-R Model: Krail Armory E-6 Force Blade Model: Correllian Technologies Scan 300 Model: Imperial Munitions SM-2000 |
Model: Corellian Technologies
E3AA Personal Defense Module Type: Personal Defense System Installation: Easy Cost: 6,000 Effect: Releases an energy beam dispersing cloud which reduces the damage of laser bolts by -2D Model: Comonar Defense Systems Protection
Glove Model: Imperial Munitions UV-3 Model: Krail Armory LS-5 Model: Imperial Munitions SB-1 Model: Correllidyne I-Red 1 Model: Correllian Technologies Scan 3000 |
When dealing with such varying sizes as is dealt with in capital ships equipment pricing is going to very greatly. The fact that few characters, if any, will ever get a chance to actually upgrade a capital ship,much less a Death Star very few pieces of equipment have been listed here. Most are here to offer GM's a benchmark with which to determine the pricing and values of other capital ship pieces of equipment. |
|
Model: Correllian Engineering
CC-150 Ion Drive Type: Correllian Corvette Sublight Engine Installation: Very Difficult Cost: 18,000,000 Weight: 650 metric tons Space: 8 An upgrade for the Correllian Corvette's stock CC-100 Ion Drive. Increased power offers incredible sublight speed for a Capital Ship Model: Kuat Drive Yard's Slider 99 |
Model: Kuat Drive Yard's Protector
1000 Type: Capital Ship Shield Generators Installation: Difficult Cost: 120,000,000 Weight: 25,000 metric tons Shields: 10D Kuat Drive Yard's most powerful shield generators featured in thier powerful SuperStar destroyer. Model: Kuat Drive Yard's Super 2 |