Battle Zone Starships: Overview

SPACECRAFT HYPERSPACE RATINGS

All ships capable of traveling in hyperspace will have a rating. This rating will help to determine how quickly the ship reaches its destination. This system will be very simple.

Hyperspace Ratings will essentially be a multiplication factor for the ship. The player must check the astrogation charts to see how long the trip will take, then multiply that time by their ships Hyperspace Rating to determine their actual trip length.
For example: Hawk Castle is taking his ship, the Lumchugger, from Corellia to Gamorr (a trip which has a duration of 10 days and 14 hours). The Lumchugger has a Hyperspace Rating of .75, so the trip is only 7 days and 19 hours.

SPACECRAFT MANEUVERABILITY RATINGS

All ships will have at least one maneuverability rating, or two ratings if it can enter atmosphere.  For example; 20/55 - top rating for space and the bottom rating for atmosphere.  Sometimes both ratings will be the same, depending on how spiffy the ship is.  The lower the rating, the better the ship maneuvers.
A pilot's "piloting" skill directly influences the Maneuverability rating:  Subtract the pilot's skill rank from the ships maneuverability rating (it's okay to go negative with your result, in fact negative would be good in this instance).  This number is the number you would compare if you were in a battle with another ship and were trying to get an advageous position over them.  Compare your modified maneuvering rank (ships maneuver rating subtracted by your piloting skill rank) with the opponent's modified rank to see who maneuvers best.

Han Solo's run through the Hoth asteroid belt would be a teensy bit more subjective.  I'll run through it and hope that through my example you'll understand how to write it out on the BZ:  Han's piloting skill with the Millennium Falcon (as of The Empire Strikes Back) was right around 115, and the Falcon's Maneuverability rating was 20.  This gives us a modified rank of -95, which allows for Han to perform some fairly amazing stunts.  We see this evidenced in the movie.  The TIE pilots are not so accomplished.  Their average skill rank is 50... heck, they were part of Darth Vader's personal fleet, so we'll give them a generous rank of 65.  The TIE/In's they were flying have a maneuver rating of 20, which gives us a modified rank of -45.  This is an incredible amount of skill, but with Han Solo weaving through a virtual "walnut crusher" like the Hoth asteroids, it's no wonder two TIE fighters get splattered almost immediately.

If there are any questions about the Maneuverability ratings, do not hesitate to ask me.

SHIP PURCHASES

Players with Task Forces or Battle Groups may want to alter them from time to time. To add ships to such a group, there are two methods: a.) buying a new ship flat out and b.) trading in other ships.

The first method of altering a Task Force size is very simple. To get the new ship, spend the required amount of points for it as described in the ship file. This also applies to characters without groups of ships who want to own ships.
The other method is a little more tricky. When a ship is traded in, a player recieves an amount of General points equal to 75% of the old ship's point value. These points can then be used to purchase other ships, modify starfighter squadrons, or what have you.

Example: Admiral Delsin finds that he needs an Imperial-Class Star Destroyer Mark II for an upcoming battle. He has two Carrack Cruisers that he wants to get rid of, so he trades them in. The Carrack Cruiser has a point cost of 320, so its' trade in value (75% of the original) is 240 points. Two Carrack Cruisers would be worth 480 points in trade in. The Imperial Star Destroyer Mark II costs 500 points, so Delsin would then need to spend 20 more points to buy the ship!

And, Finally...

When you purchase a ship that has hangar space, you undoubtedly will want the starfighters that fit into the hangar.  Unless otherwise stated, the ship always comes with the standard starfighter of the particular faction your character belongs to (Imperial=TIE/In, Rebel=X-Wing, Neutral=Fighter subject to player & administrator discretion).  If you want a beefier fighter, take it up with Domino (bribery will get you everywhere).  You may have UP TO one half of the ships hangar capacity with the purchase of the ship.

Despite several efforts to standardize technology among the various races, there are many important groups of technology out there that are incoporated into the starships of today:

• Imperial: The ships owned and operated by the Imperial Navy or one of it's associates.
• Rebel: Rebel starships that travel the spacelanes! Mon Calamarian technology is heavily used in these!
• Hapan: There are approximately 64 worlds in the Hapes Cluster and this shows in Hapan designs! Hapes was introduced in the Star Wars novel The Courtship of Princess Leia.
• Ssi-Ruuvi: These reptilian invaders use technology unique and incompatible with almost everything else that exists. The Ssi-Ruuvi first appeared in the novel Truce at Bakura.
• Yevethan: A dangerous alien race. The Yevetha are shown in the books of the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy.
• Other: This category covers all the ships not included under any other heading, yet merit special mention anyway for whatever reason.

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