Excel Ship Designer v2025.07.22

[MasterGwydion]

The problem I run into is the fanatical devotion of more than a few to the annual maintenance rules. This was the *only* even close to the rules option I have seen allowing something like long distance exploration without being tied to a class A starport of the appropriate tech level. Mind you, I am playing solo, and can rule whatever I like, but I prefer to stay as close to RAW as I can. I have strong opinions on the situation but I will not voice them here. Frustration level is running redline on the reactor though.

Oh, and I agree about the silliness rating on the "cranes in space" deal. Uh, yeah.

According to the SOM, shipyards are no longer required for maintenance, so this whole thing about being away from shipyards doesn't matter as far as the maintenance is concerned.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Imagine having a ship with a Construction Deck and your Referee still requiring you to go to a shipyard eventhough you are literally carrying a shipyard around with you.

 

[Spartan159]

Imagine having a ship with a Construction Deck and your Referee still requiring you to go to a shipyard eventhough you are literally carrying a shipyard around with you.

Funny enough, the one I am redesigning with the updated designer does.

By chance, could you please point me to the relevant section of SOM?

 

[MasterGwydion]

Funny enough, the one I am redesigning with the updated designer does.

By chance, could you please point me to the relevant section of SOM?

page 124 in the Section entitled "Maintenance and Repair" First page, left side.

It actually says that if you have a Workshop, that you do not need a starport for maintenance.

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

Imagine having a ship with a Construction Deck and your Referee still requiring you to go to a shipyard eventhough you are literally carrying a shipyard around with you.

If I were GM until such time as you can put your ship inside that "shipyard" you wouldn't get anywhere near full benefit from having it.

 

[MasterGwydion]

If I were GM until such time as you can put your ship inside that "shipyard" you wouldn't get anywhere near full benefit from having it.

Why? How were ships built before shipyards existed? How do you build a shipyard in a highport? Or do you think that they build shipyards double the tonnage of the highport just so they can build a highport? How big is the shipyard that they used to build the Mora Highport? You can also build any parts you need inside of that shipyard and then have the repair drones install them. Where would your penalty come from?

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

Building is different from repairing. How do you shut down your power plant to do the over haul on it? You are now in free fall and all your powered equipment is off line (no lights, no gravity, no air etc). They would be fully capable of creating a smaller spacecraft in that construction bay but not of using it for over hauling the ship the bay was part of without a lot of limitations.

Lets assume for a minute that it is a bay that can build 100 ton craft and the ship is 10,000 tons. Even with no limitations on the overhaul efficiency due to being outside the bay it could only do 100 tons at a time so it would take 100 times as long as to overhaul the smaller craft. By the time it was done it might be time for another overhaul.

Look at how SpaceX is building their Starship rocket. Lots of buildings and test stands and so forth and that is on a planet with a breathable atmosphere. They are building a spacecraft Shipyard even if that isn't what they are calling it. It is a lot more than 2 tons of yard / ton of spacecraft.

If they were later to build one in orbit they'd be limited by the size/mass of the items they could lift in one payload.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Building is different from repairing. How do you shut down your power plant to do the over haul on it? You are now in free fall and all your powered equipment is off line (no lights, no gravity, no air etc). They would be fully capable of creating a smaller spacecraft in that construction bay but not of using it for over hauling the ship the bay was part of without a lot of limitations.

How bold of you to assume that the power plant on ships are made up of only one reactor!

Lets assume for a minute that it is a bay that can build 100 ton craft and the ship is 10,000 tons. Even with no limitations on the overhaul efficiency due to being outside the bay it could only do 100 tons at a time so it would take 100 times as long as to overhaul the smaller craft. By the time it was done it might be time for another overhaul.

To fully build a ship, you'd be right. It would take a longer time. Making parts for your ship though and then installing them, is not the same thing.

Look at how SpaceX is building their Starship rocket. Lots of buildings and test stands and so forth and that is on a planet with a breathable atmosphere. They are building a spacecraft Shipyard even if that isn't what they are calling it. It is a lot more than 2 tons of yard / ton of spacecraft.

If they were later to build one in orbit they'd be limited by the size/mass of the items they could lift in one payload.

Yes. Good point. No technological changes have occurred in how ships are constructed over 5+ TLs. We must still build ships the same way we did in the 1600s.

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

So tell me how you build your first shipyard in space without first building ships on a planet?

So your ship has how many power plants? How well does it operate when the largest one is shut down for days or or weeks (and the construction bay is power hungry) or even just hours. How do you handle emergencies while it is down?

 

[MasterGwydion]

So tell me how you build your first shipyard in space without first building ships on a planet?

Shipyards in space are built using the shipbuilding rules. So, how do you build a shipyard in space if you don't already have a shipyard in space large enough to construct the space station? You have to assume that it is possible or the whole game doesn't work.

So your ship has how many power plants? How well does it operate when the largest one is shut down for days or or weeks (and the construction bay is power hungry) or even just hours. How do you handle emergencies while it is down?

Look at the Critical Hit rules. How do you reduce a power plant's efficiency by doing damage to it if it is a single unit? It has to be more than one unit or this mechanic would not function as written.

 

[Fluffy Bunny Feet]

Look at the Critical Hit rules. How do you reduce a power plant's efficiency by doing damage to it if it is a single unit? It has to be more than one unit or this mechanic would not function as written.

Knock out 1 or more of the various lines that take power to different sections. A power plant that powers your whole city takes damage but it need not totally stop generating power but some areas of the city still go black.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Knock out 1 or more of the various lines that take power to different sections. A power plant that powers your whole city takes damage but it need not totally stop generating power but some areas of the city still go black.

That won't reduce the amount of power being generated. It doesn't say, available power reduced, it says power reduced. Also notice that no matter how severe your critical hit, you can never destroy the power plant? That also tells me that the power generation is too distributed to be able to be destroyed without destroying the hull points of the entire ship.

You can run it how you want at your table, obviously, but My way of doing seems to fit the available facts better than yours.