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Interstellar Travel
The categories of faster-than-light space-drives include:
Bio-Energetic
- The "personal energies" system used by Imperials, some superheroes and a few others. As fast as is paid for! Usually limited to "not in gravity wells" and "not in strong force fields", but can vary.
Overdrive or Hyperdrive
- The usual space drive seen around the Rim. Limitations include "must be far from gravity wells", "not in strong force fields", "piloting and astrogation skills required". Probably not common enough to be a true limitation on points, but these drives also have difficulty traversing star clusters and nebulae. There are four levels, each denoting an increase in speed and expense. Hyperdrive engines are much more compact and carefully-constructed, thus more expensive.
- Basic Overdrive: 5 to 40 light-years per day. Typical slow commercial vessels - asteroid miners, bulk freighters.
- Hyperdrive or Dual Overdrive: 40 to 160 light-years per day. Faster private vessels, standard Rim military vessels.
- Dual Hyperdrive or Triplex Overdrive: 160 to 640 light-years per day. Interceptors, some smugglers, small yachts, racing craft, expensive couriers.
- Triplex Hyperdrive or Quadric Overdrive: 640 to 1280 light-years per day. Triplex hyperdrives are seen only on experimental or prototypical ships in the Sirian Principality. Quadric overdrives take up most of the volume within a ship, leaving little space for cargo or weapons, and are mostly fitted on official courier vessels -- or a few specialized smugglers. Both of these drives also have the limitation "engineer skills required."
Phase drive or Vortex drive
- The Imperials, and some other supremely high-tech societies, use these; never for sale in the Sirian Principality. Power requirements are beyond anything the Sirian Principality can produce aboard a ship. Speeds of at least 1,000 light-years a day are achieved. Limitations include "astrogation skills required", "not in gravity wells", "not in very strong force fields", and "failed astrogation skill produces strange results".
Hypershunt
- Found on strange and ancient ships, or other very wierd situations -- definitely not "for sale" anywhere. Requires a Starcore crystal, and the pilot must have some sort of psychic (EGO-based) power to contact the Starcore (referee's call as to which powers will allow control; telepathy, at least). The pilot, and the Starcore, provide the power to propel the vessel. Limitations include "astrogation skill required", "not in gravity wells", "psychic currents and powers can affect flight", "psychic characters aboard vessel get headaches, negative mods to EGO-based rolls", "drains END from the pilot", and "referee can introduce inter-dimensional/time-travel wierdness if you mess up".
- When travelling by hypershunt, the Starcore focusses energies, and the drive propels the ship to the destination, via some other dimension. The distance travelled varies by the quality of the Starcore, and the bio-energetic strength of the pilot -- jumps of 5 to 1,000 light-years have been recorded. The time spent in the other dimension(s) is very short: seconds to hours. The nature of the other dimension(s) traversed during hypershunt travel isn't known to scientists in Rim societies. The Imperials know how to use this technology, but generally don't -- a disturbing fact.
Ship Types
Imperial/Galactic Core: many of the Imperials fly with bio-energetic powers; such ships as they do have appear as huge webs of glowing filaments, kilometers across, propelled by the combined efforts of the crew, or by vortex drives.
Sirian: business-like, can be sleek and streamlined or no-nonsense, grubby and boxy. Powered by some form of nuclear plant, fitted with hyperdrives or overdrives, and with reation drive thrusters.
- Yacht: 300 tons of comfort and speed. Dual overdrives, light armor, some weapons and 'cloaking' equipment. 6 to 12 crew, and up to 20 passengers. There are larger yachts than this in Principality, of course, and faster ones; but none of the larger ones are faster than this (except a couple of triplex-overdrive vessels operated by the Space Service for the royal family).
- Heavy Interceptor: 50 tons, dual hyperdrives, various weapons, 2 crew plus up to 2 passengers. In use by the Sirian Space Service for over a century, many variations exist.
- Spook: a heavily-modified version of the Heavy Interceptor, with a suspended animation chamber, and 'cloaking' equipment, only light weapons.
Bavany: rough-built, jury-rigged tramp freighters, and patched-up military vessels, fitted with salvaged equipment. Equipped similarly to Sirian vessels.
Vrogan: extremely varied, hard to give a common design. Their government ships tend to be somewhat fish-shaped, or (if not intended to land on planets) large dispersed structures. Propulsion, power, etc. similar to Sirian designs.
RimFed: again a variety of civil types. Military vessels are bulbous, globular silvery shapes. Systems again are mostly similar to Sirian types, although a few hypershunt vessels have been seen in that part of space.
Centrality: very strange, totally automated vessels. Some types transform or combine to alter themselves for the tactical situation. Equipped with at least dual overdrives, sometimes with strange power sources; and usually fitted with gravitic drives for operation on and around planets. They are meant to be controlled by Mech, who plug themselves into the machinery; thus there aren't a lot of displays, buttons, etc.
- Light Cruiser: a 1500 ton ship, fast and heavily armed, light armor, heavily automated - carries only 4 crew. Dual hyperdrives, gravitic drive for landing.
Glarrik: dark, organic shapes, with sweeping spikes or barbs pointing aft. Equipped with various overdrives. Glarrik ships are a bit slow to get started -- usually at least 10 minutes -- and their controls are very alien.
- Scout Cruiser: only 125 tons, with dual overdrives and light armament. Carries 4 to 8 Glarriks.
- Strike Cruiser: 1500 tons, with dual overdrives; crewed by 16 to 32 Glarriks.
- Intruder: 50 ton covert landing craft, fitted with an overdrive, no weapons, extensive sensors and 'cloaking' equipment. Crew 4 to 8 Glarriks.
Jackers: a variety of ships -- modified commerical vessels, custom-built corsairs, old military ships, strange alien craft.
- Buccaneer Mothership: 50,000 ton carrier, fitted with a hyperdrive, fuel and supplies for long voyages. Armor and force screens, lightly armed (for its size); carries six fighters. Crew 101.
- Buccaneer Fighter: 25 tons, propelled by dual hyperdrives. Light armor, carries 2 crew and 4-6 boarding party.