Your ship

Flight

The ship flies where its nose points, at the speed the throttle sets, easing into turns and banking as it goes. It doesn’t drift, and asteroid fields don’t carry it along. The standard engines reach 100 m/s, from a standstill in about 4 seconds. Thalorite in the hold slows it down (see Mining and Thalorite). Morgons are faster than you (140 m/s), so you can’t outrun them on impulse. The asteroid fields are where you win.

Energy

Every system runs on energy, held in the fuel cell: 1,000 to start, recharging 1 a second while there’s any left. The engines draw by throttle, the shields while they’re up and as they recharge, the tracking computer a little, every photon 1, and every hyperwarp jump a lot.

So half throttle about breaks even, and firing drains fast. Better engines and shields draw more, and a better fuel cell recharges faster.

Out of energy, the ship shuts down. ENERGY EXHAUSTED, RECHARGING… shows, and you can’t steer, fire, shield or warp. The ship drifts on as it was going, the throttle drops to nothing, and the shields collapse. Once the cell has recharged 50 (about 50 seconds, 25 with a better cell), the systems restart: raise the throttle again. If you drift within 400 m in front of a station’s bay meanwhile, its tractor beam draws you in. With the fuel cell destroyed, nothing recharges, and only a station’s tractor beam can save you. If your drift won’t carry you to one, the run is lost (SHIP STRANDED).

Docking at any station fills the cell, for free.

Collisions

Momentum is real. Hit a rock and you bounce off it, trading momentum by your masses: you barely move a big rock, but knock a small one away, and a hard hit breaks it. Your own speed drops to nothing, giving you a moment to steer clear. The screen edges flash, cyan when the shields took most of the hit and red otherwise.

A collision costs hull by how much it changes your velocity, so what you hit matters as much as how fast. A glancing blow costs less than a head-on one, and a gentle bump nothing.

At full speed you can ram through rocks up to about size 2.6, at half speed about size 2. Ships bounce off each other as off a rock, so ramming a Morgon hurts you both, and one you ram turns on you.

Shields

The shields are automatic. They hold a strength, 100 for the standard shields, shown as SHIELDS %. What a hit lets through follows the strength left: nothing at full, everything at none, 40% at 60%. What they take drains them: a Morgon’s photon ball by as much as it took, a bomb’s blast by half again as much, and a collision by twice as much. So a lone shot costs no hull, but hits close together get through more and more, and a big crash still gets through full shields.

They regenerate 5 points a second below full, at 1.5 energy a point, so energy is shared: a long jump leaves you weaker in a fight, and a fight can leave too little energy to jump home. Out of energy they collapse. Docking fills them.

Hull

The ship has 100 hull points (150 or 200 with a better hull). Hull doesn’t come back by itself: stations repair it. At zero, the ship is destroyed. Morgons’ photon balls cost 15 before the shields, and a bomb’s blast up to 40 at its center.

Guns

The guns are on the wingtips. Each fires a photon, and the pair close in from the sides of the view to meet at the crosshair, 625 m out, where they burn out. Held, they fire a pair every 0.3 seconds. Your photons also shoot down enemy fire: a photon that touches a Morgon’s photon ball destroys it, and one that touches a bomb sets it off where it is, so don’t shoot one that’s too close.

A Morgon takes four standard photons, three Mk II or two Mk III.

Tracking computer

The tracking computer follows one Morgon for the HUD, keeping it until it’s destroyed, and switching when you point your nose at another. It’s also the aim assist: while its target is near the nose and in photon range, it aims your guns at it, leading it, and the HUD shows LOCK. Its aim isn’t perfect: each aimed photon has a chance of a direct hit, and otherwise passes just wide.

The standard computer helps a shot that was nearly on, but doesn’t do the aiming. It also runs the collision warnings (see The HUD).

Damage

The ship has eight components: photons, engines, shields, tracking computer, cargo hold, hyperdrive, sector map and fuel cell. Each has a health from 100% to 0%, shown on the damage control line. Whatever gets through the shields costs that much hull, and wears the same off a component picked at random. Each loses what it can do in proportion to its health:

The components have less to lose than the hull, so they’re all destroyed before the hull runs out: the last of a ship’s hull is flown with nothing working. A better hull makes the components last longer too. Nothing strands you completely: destroyed engines still crawl, so a station is always within reach. Every station repairs everything (see Stations).

Upgrades

Shipyards sell a Mk II and a Mk III of every component, and of the hull. Most draw more energy for what they give. See Stations for what each does and costs.