Universal Century EX features more standardized spaceships than the random craft offered in UC3K, taken form the Jovian Chronicles Mekton RPG from DreamPod 9. These vessels come with Exo-Armor compatible statistics for dramatic space-battles against Mechs.
Space ships of the twenty-second century are very different from the practical designs used in the early age of space exploration. Instead of just being a support frame for habitat modules, fuel tanks and engines, modern vessels sport a thick ablative skin and a massive architecture designed to stand erosion and lengthy acceleration.
Each ship relies on powerful fusion thrusters (called plasma drives) to accelerate at a rate of 1 gee (the normal acceleration at the surface of the Earth) for half the voyage, then turn around and decelerate at the same rate for the rest of the trip. Except for a short weightlessness period midway through the trip, the passengers feel a normal gravity during the transfer much to the relief of some weak-stomached travelers. When the ship is in acceleration, "up" is toward the nose and "down" toward the engines. The internal organization of a ship is thus very similar to a skyscraper, with decks stacked on top of each other instead of following the length of the hull like a plane or a boat. Because of the occasional periods of zero-gee, the furniture has small Velcro straps to tie down free-floating objects.
Ships are generally not equipped to descend on the surface of a planet. Aside from being non-aerodynamic, they are much too heavy to land on anything bigger than an asteroid. The exceptions to this is the Moon, were small ships routinely land to transport cargo. To boost them back in orbit, a special system called Laser Lifter uses a high intensity laser beam to heat special solid boosters mounted under the ship and thus propel it back into orbit.
Screens
Early space vessels relied on sensors and heavily shielded "storm room" to protect the crew against solar flares and other cosmic radiations. The problem became more acute while setting up the mining colonies in Jupiter's orbit: the radiation belts forced the construction of specially armored stations, very costly and not all that safe.
With the space emigration boom, a solution was found: why not equip each station and vessel with a magnetic shield generator similar in effect to the field surrounding Earth? Power was plentiful, and the new equipment stopped almost all harmful radiations. It even had two side bonuses; it stopped the smallest space debris (which could damage a spaceship) and, more importantly, it reduced the effectiveness of the weapons used against the vessel.
( The screens do not affect the game. They exist solely to explain why humans can live near a dangerous radiation belt and not start glowing after a few minutes. They also help explaining why a multi-megawatt laser or a hyper-velocity slug does not vaporize an exo-armor on the spot. )
Staged penetration reduces the available SP by 1 for each hit, just like regular Mekton armor. Alpha-grade armor is available at 1.5x the usual price. (You would thus add 100 CPs per original point of armor along with 300 CPs for each extra point.)
Main weapon mounts can be exchanged for Battery mounts at the rate of 2 batteries for 1 main weapon. The reverse is not possible, however.
A mecha bay can be converted to two battery hardpoints. The reverse is not possible, however.
It is possible to equip a ship with a catapult to launch exo-armors and other vehicles. Such a catapult takes the place of one weapon battery, and cost 1 I CPs. The catapult takes no interior space (being mounted on the outside of the ship) and confers a free movement of 12 MA to a Catapulted unit on the turn in which it is launched. It is accessible via a mecha bay airlock.
Once a ship is reduced to 75% of its original damage capacity, it runs the risk of losing structural integrity and disintegrate on a roll of 1 on a d10. At half damage, the risk goes up to 1-3 on a d10. At 25% of its original damage capacity, the risk goes up to 1-6 on a d10. Once all the Kills are gone, the ship is transformed into a lifeless hulk automatically.
Space ships of the twenty-second century are very different from the practical designs used in the early age of space exploration. Instead of just being a support frame for habitat modules, fuel tanks and engines, modern vessels sport a thick ablative skin and a massive architecture designed to stand erosion and lengthy acceleration.
Each ship relies on powerful fusion thrusters (called plasma drives) to accelerate at a rate of 1 gee (the normal acceleration at the surface of the Earth) for half the voyage, then turn around and decelerate at the same rate for the rest of the trip. Except for a short weightlessness period midway through the trip, the passengers feel a normal gravity during the transfer much to the relief of some weak-stomached travelers. When the ship is in acceleration, "up" is toward the nose and "down" toward the engines. The internal organization of a ship is thus very similar to a skyscraper, with decks stacked on top of each other instead of following the length of the hull like a plane or a boat. Because of the occasional periods of zero-gee, the furniture has small Velcro straps to tie down free-floating objects.
Ships are generally not equipped to descend on the surface of a planet. Aside from being non-aerodynamic, they are much too heavy to land on anything bigger than an asteroid. The exceptions to this is the Moon, were small ships routinely land to transport cargo. To boost them back in orbit, a special system called Laser Lifter uses a high intensity laser beam to heat special solid boosters mounted under the ship and thus propel it back into orbit.
Screens
Early space vessels relied on sensors and heavily shielded "storm room" to protect the crew against solar flares and other cosmic radiations. The problem became more acute while setting up the mining colonies in Jupiter's orbit: the radiation belts forced the construction of specially armored stations, very costly and not all that safe.
With the space emigration boom, a solution was found: why not equip each station and vessel with a magnetic shield generator similar in effect to the field surrounding Earth? Power was plentiful, and the new equipment stopped almost all harmful radiations. It even had two side bonuses; it stopped the smallest space debris (which could damage a spaceship) and, more importantly, it reduced the effectiveness of the weapons used against the vessel.
( The screens do not affect the game. They exist solely to explain why humans can live near a dangerous radiation belt and not start glowing after a few minutes. They also help explaining why a multi-megawatt laser or a hyper-velocity slug does not vaporize an exo-armor on the spot. )
Staged penetration reduces the available SP by 1 for each hit, just like regular Mekton armor. Alpha-grade armor is available at 1.5x the usual price. (You would thus add 100 CPs per original point of armor along with 300 CPs for each extra point.)
Main weapon mounts can be exchanged for Battery mounts at the rate of 2 batteries for 1 main weapon. The reverse is not possible, however.
A mecha bay can be converted to two battery hardpoints. The reverse is not possible, however.
It is possible to equip a ship with a catapult to launch exo-armors and other vehicles. Such a catapult takes the place of one weapon battery, and cost 1 I CPs. The catapult takes no interior space (being mounted on the outside of the ship) and confers a free movement of 12 MA to a Catapulted unit on the turn in which it is launched. It is accessible via a mecha bay airlock.
Once a ship is reduced to 75% of its original damage capacity, it runs the risk of losing structural integrity and disintegrate on a roll of 1 on a d10. At half damage, the risk goes up to 1-3 on a d10. At 25% of its original damage capacity, the risk goes up to 1-6 on a d10. Once all the Kills are gone, the ship is transformed into a lifeless hulk automatically.
