Except where
noted, all statistics are
pulled directly from the .shp ship description files for
each vessel from the homeworld.big archive that contains the
game’s resources. A few are pulled from the manuals or
official website. The stats are current as of game version
1.05.
Class:
this is the behavior class specified in the .shp file that
determines to a large extent how the vessel behaves.
Build
Cost:
the amount in Resource Units (RU's) expended to construct the
vessel. Note that these values only have meaning for those
ships that can be built by the player, but I included the
values for the NPC ships also, just for fun.
Build
Time:
delay (in seconds) required for a ship to be built.
Maneuverability:
this is an abstract value, taken from the manual and game
fiction.
Acceleration:
a more concrete value than maneuverability, this describes
the ship’s forward acceleration in meters per second
squared. For example, the Mothership has an acceleration of
10 and a max velocity of 50; it takes 5 seconds for the
Mothership to get up to full speed.
Max
Velocity:
maximum ship speed in meters per second.
Hit
Points:
also referred to as “Armor” in the game literature; the
number of damage points a ship can sustain before being
destroyed. Until the moment it is destroyed, the ship and
all its weapons are fully functional.
Repair
Rate:
for those capital ships with self-repair ability, the amount
of damage that can be healed for a given amount of time. For
example, the Mothership, with a repair rating of 600/5, can
heal 600 points every 5 seconds. Note that repair rates are
different (usually lower) when a ship is under fire.
Fuel
Capacity:
for strike craft, the amount of fuel carried. Fuel burn rate
vary from ship to ship and based on the tactical situation.
Firepower:
this is a fictional value taken from the manuals and
official fiction. The value that is displayed in the Build
Manager is a calculated value that is misleading.
Coverage:
another fictional value, taken from manuals and fiction. It
meant to represent the percentage of the radius around the
ship that can be covered by the ship's turreted weapons.
Mass:
while the .shp file does include a mass value (which is
displayed in the Build Manager), this is an abstract game
value that doesn’t translate directly into tonnage. I have
used the values from the manual and fiction instead, because
they are more realistic (a frigate should weigh 15,000 tons,
not 400) and consistent.
Salvage
No.:
the number of Salvage Corvettes that must successfully lock
on before a ship can be salvaged.
Nav
Lights:
the number of blinking red navigational lights on the ship.
(This is a completely spurious statistic, included for fun.)
Docking
Lights:
the number of large blinking white docking lights on the
ship. (Also spurious.)
Dock
Points:
for those that have them, the number of points at which
other vessels (usually strike craft) can attach themselves.
Special
Abilites:
a list of special capabilities (usually associated with the
‘Z’ key) that a ship might have.
Required
Tech:
a list of technologies that much be researched in order for
the ship to be constructed.
Weapon
List:
a summary of the weapons on the ship, taken from the .shp
file, grouped by type. When the weapons are grouped in
turrets, the number of turrets is shown with the number of
weapons in each turret in parentheses. So, a cruiser has six
gun turrets with one gun each: 6(1), and also two ion cannon
turrets with two weapons each: 2(2), for a total of 10
weapons. Weapons are assumed to be able to swivel at least a
little, unless they are marked as "Fixed."
Damage:
the range (min to max) of damage points dealt by EACH weapon
in the group. Note that for projectile weapons this is a
one-time value, but for beam weapons, it is continuous
damage done for as long as the beam strikes the enemy ship.
Range: the distance a bullet or beam will travel before
disappearing. For most capital ships, this value is adjusted for the
size of the firing ship (since it appears to be measured in distance
from the ship’s center point).
Fire
Time:
the time that elapses between shots of the weapon. For beam
weapons, the beam may be active during part of this time. In
the case of burst fire weapons, there is an additional wait
period at the end of the burst.
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