The following sections deal with the shipbuilding formulas and overall system in depth. Tables 1-6 give details on the items discussed below.
Hull Points and DCR
A civilian ship's hull points and DCR (Damage Control Rating) are determined as per the Knight Hawks rule book - i.e., hull size X 5 = hull points; (hull size X 3) + 20 = DCR. Military and Star Law ships multiply hull size by 10 to determine hull points and by 9 to determine DCR. The greater values generated show the toughness and technical superiority of the secret military equipment, and result in fewer attacking ships being vaporized in the "Defensive Fire" phase of combat.
Weaponry and Defenses
All weapons and defenses on a ship are placed according to the amount of space they occupy in cubic meters, as per the statistics on page 61 of the Knight Hawks game rules, rather than using the MHS (Minimum Hull Size) method. The MHS is still used as a measure of how many weapons of one type may be mounted on a certain hull.
The maximum number of each type of weapon on a ship may not exceed the hull size rating divided by the MHS of that weapon system. However, any ship with the necessary space may mount any one weapon despite its MHS. (Yes, you can have an assault scout with a laser cannon!)
Defenses are also bought by the cubic meter, though no ship of less than hull size 5 can mount a powered defense screen because of the screen's heavy energy demands, which require the larger "B" engines.
The cubic meters of space for each hull size is determined by a decreasing percentage scale, with figures rounded to the nearest useful amount. This effectively reduces the free space on a battleship to about 1.6%, as compared to a fighter's 97%, which reflects the squeeze on space as life-support systems, crew quarters, storage areas, and so forth expand with ship size and potential patrol duration.
It should be noted that noncombat ships such as freighters, research vessels, liners, and the like have only 40% of the space listed, since their primary functions demand nearly all available space. This is not to say that there could not be small-capacity, heavily armed liners used to move VIPs; this simply means that such ships would not be self-sufficient and would thus be very rare.
Weapon Magazines
Rather than saying that a certain number of rounds can be kept in a launcher, the cubic-meters system is used to determine the number of rounds carried. Thus, ammunition for assault rockets, rocket-battery arrays, torpedo launchers, mine spreaders, seeker-missile racks, masking screen launchers, and ICM launchers are figured on a cubic-meters-per-shot basis, though one round (or one array, or 20 meters of mines) may be kept at no space cost in any launcher except a masking screen launcher. This is because a masking screen charge is larger than the launcher itself.
Space Stations
Space stations come in four main categories: fortresses, fortified stations, armed stations, and unarmed stations. The last title is something of a misnomer, as even the smallest freight station is likely to have a laser battery to discourage piracy.
Military stations fall in the fortress and fortified-station categories, while megacorporation have only a few fortified stations and many armed ones. "Free" stations not belonging to any one group or cartel are usually armed, though a few fortified and unarmed stations can be found. Small freight stations, scientific stations, and automated stations are usually unarmed.
Space-station weaponry and defenses are mounted in exactly the same way as they are on starships, with two differences: No forward-firing weaponry may be mounted, and MHS restrictions are ignored with respect to the maximum number of one weapon type mountable.
The statistics given in Table 6 refer to a single space-station hull of a given size. It should be remembered that more than one hull may be joined to create megastations, as per page 8 of the Knight Hawks rule book, though such huge stations are prohibitively expensive for all but the military and megacorporations of the largest size.
Miscellaneous Items
Players and GMs will undoubtedly find new things to put on ships. By carefully determining an item's size, it can easily be integrated into this system. Remember, though, that addition of any item beyond the listed maximums reduces the ADF or MR of the ship by one.
Table 1: Space Available by Hull Size
Hull Military Civilian size ships ships 1 30 20 2 50 30 3 75 40 4 100 50 5 175 90 6 250 125 7 300 150 8 350 175 9 400 200 10 450 225 11 500 250 12 550 275 13 600 300 14 700 350 15 800 400 16 900 450 17 1000 500 18 1100 550 19 1200 600 20 1300 650
Table 2: Weaponry and Space Needed
Cubic
Weapon meters MHS
Laser cannon 40 5
Laser battery 25 3
Proton-beam 30 10
battery
Elector-beam 30 6
battery
Disruptor cannon 60 12
Assault-rocket 10 1
launcher
Assault rocket * 10 -
Rocket-battery 40 5
array
Rocket-battery 10 -
salvo
Torpedo launcher 75 5
Torpedo 20 -
Mine spreader 60 7
Mines (5 fields) 20 -
Seeker-missile 40 7
rack
Seeker missile 40 -
Grapples 60 5
* Assault rockets for rearming fighters kept aboard an assault carrier are kept in cargo space. Up to 15 per cargo unit can be carried.
Table 3: Defenses and Space Needed
Defense Cubic meters
Reflective hull -
Masking-screen 10
launcher
Masking-screen 25
charge
Electron screen 10 x hull
size
Proton screen 12 x hull
size
Stasis screen 10 x hull
size
ICM launcher 10
ICM 5
Table 4: Optional Items Carried
Item Cubic
meters
Fighter 60
Assault-transport 35 *
dropship
Hull size 2 ship 120
Assault scout 850
* Dropships are mounted about 75% externally, thus taking up less space than the totally interior docking areas and repair facilities used by fighters.
Table 5: DCR and Hull Points
Ship DCR Hull type determination points Civilian (HS x 3) + 20 HS x 5 Military (HS x 9) + 20 HS x 10
Table 6: Space Stations
Station Hull Hull Space in
type size points DCR cubic
meters
Fortress 5 250 175 550
6 300 200 800
Fortifie 3 80 60 180
d
4 120 80 210
5 140 100 250
Armed 1 30 30 80
2 55 40 120
3 70 65 160
4 80 75 200
Unarmed 1 20 25 25
2 40 35 50
3 55 50 75
4 75 70 100