Toggle Theme

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Starfinder RPG Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition)

All Rules | Downtime Rules
Chapter 1: Building Starships

Supercolossal Starships

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 36
Although immense dreadnoughts represent the pinnacle of starship engineering in most starfarers’ minds, the rare Supercolossal spacecraft dwarf even those infamous ships. These titanic starships are of such extraordinary proportions that only the mightiest navies can afford to field one, and their hulls might represent the mineral wealth of entire moons. This section presents the new Supercolossal size category of starship and rules for creating and operating these leviathans.

Supercolossal starships have two typical forms: base ships and ultranoughts. Base ships are effectively floating cities, ideal for colonization or long-range exploration—some are even independent political entities in their own right. Ultranoughts are the most powerful vessels their respective militaries can field, designed to carry unprecedented firepower, armor, and durability while supported by cruisers, escorts, scouts, supply tenders, and other ships. Supercolossal vessels are over 6 miles long and take a –8 penalty to AC and TL. Except as detailed here, these starships use the normal rules presented in Chapter 9 of the Starfinder Core Rulebook.

Base Frame

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 36
Each base frame determines a starship’s size, maneuverability, hull strength, starting weapon mounts, number of expansion bays, and other capacities.

Base Ship

Size Supercolossal Maneuverability clumsy (–2 Piloting, turn 4)
HP 450 (increment 75); DT 15; CT 90
Mounts forward arc (4 heavy), port arc (4 heavy), starboard arc (4 heavy), turret (2 capital)
Expansion Bays unlimited
Minimum Crew 150; Maximum Crew 100,000
Cost 250

Ultranought

Size Supercolossal Maneuverability clumsy (–2 Piloting, turn 4)
HP 550 (increment 100); DT 20; CT 110
Mounts forward arc (2 capital, 2 heavy, 1 spinal mount), port arc (2 capital, 3 heavy), starboard arc (2 capital, 3 heavy), turret (1 capital, 2 heavy)
Expansion Bays unlimited
Minimum Crew 250; Maximum Crew 5,000
Cost 350

Systems

Source Starship Operations Manual pg. 36
Supercolossal ships follow special rules for starship systems.

Power Core: Supercolossal ships require massive power. A Supercolossal ship can mount one of the Supercolossal power cores shown in the following table. If a Supercolossal starship has a Supercolossal power core, the vessel can also have up to four backup cores; those cores must be designed for Huge or Gargantuan starships. If a Supercolossal starship doesn’t have a Supercolossal power core, the vessel can instead mount up to five power cores designed for Colossal ships.

CORESIZEPCUCOST (IN BP)
Titan LightSc70050
Titan HeavySc95060
Titan UltraSc1,20070


Thrusters: Supercolossal ships depend on enormous thrusters that focus on speed, since the maneuverability of ships of this size is hard to improve.

THRUSTERSIZESPEED (IN HEXES)PILOTING MODIFIERPCUCOST (IN BP)
Sc4 thrustersSc4+130016
Sc6 thrustersSc6+040020
Sc8 thrustersSc8–150024


Armor: A Supercolossal ship has a size multiplier of 8 for determining its armor’s Build Point cost.

Computers: A Supercolossal starship’s main computers and integrated control module (ICM) function in the same way as other starships’ computers do, with three exceptions. First, such an immense starship requires a mk 4 computer or better. Second, a Supercolossal starship can support a second computer system so long as the second system has a lower mark value than the primary system (e.g., a mk 4 trinode computer with a secondary mk 2 mononode computer, granting bonuses of +4/+4/+4/+2).

Third, a Supercolossal starship can augment its primary computer with network nodes—subordinate systems that increase the number of officers who can benefit from the ICM each round by one—so a mk 6 duonode computer with two mk 6 network nodes can grant a +6 circumstance bonus four times each round. A network node functions only if connected to a computer of an equal mark value. Network nodes could represent any number of means of supplementing a computer’s processing power and accessibility, such as a dedicated technological system, a hardwired cybernetic undead creature, a biotech calculating organism, a magitech information crystal, or any of myriad other devices.

NAMEBONUSNODE MAXIMUMPCUCOST (IN BP)
Mk 4 network node+4284
Mk 5 network node+52105
Mk 6 network node+63116
Mk 7 network node+73137
Mk 8 network node+84158
Mk 9 network node+94179
Mk 10 network node+1051910


Crew Quarters: On a Supercolossal ship with common crew quarters, the vessel’s size enables 10% of the crew to have good quarters and 1% to have luxurious quarters at no additional cost. On a Supercolossal ship with good quarters for the majority of the crew, 10% have luxurious quarters at no additional cost.

Drift Engine: A Supercolossal starship can mount only a Signal Basic Drift engine, at a cost of 16 BP.

Expansion Bays: A Supercolossal ship uses the same expansion bays as other starships do, but can hold an unlimited number of expansion bays. Any expansion bay in a Supercolossal ship represents numerous chambers grouped together over a wide area, augmented with reserve systems and retaskable configurations. For example, an arcane laboratory on a Supercolossal ship indicates not a single lab, but the facilities that allow the entire crew to perform tasks requiring an arcane lab. That said, some expansion bays work differently for Supercolossal ships.

Cargo Holds: Supercolossal ship frames have one cargo hold for every 10 BP of the frame’s cost. Additional holds cost 5 BP each.

Hangar Bay: A Supercolossal ship’s hangar bay can accommodate up to eight Medium ships, with two Small ships or four Tiny ships taking the same space as one Medium ship. Expanding an existing hangar bay to accommodate eight more Medium ships increases the hangar bay’s cost by only 1 BP.

Exclusive Expansion Bays: A few expansion bays are available only to Supercolossal ships.

EXPANSION BAYPCUCOST (IN BP)
Drift booster4020
Recycling system21


Drift Booster: A Drift booster is a rail for launching smaller ships into the Drift from within a Supercolossal vessel’s hangar bay. A smaller ship that launches from within the Supercolossal vessel’s hangar bay using the Drift booster can temporarily raise its Drift engine rating by 1. This increase lasts only as long as the smaller ship stays in the Drift and on the same course after launching using the Drift booster. If the boosted ship changes course or leaves the Drift, this temporary increase ends.

Recycling System: A recycling system enables a Supercolossal starship to be nearly self-sustaining, operating independently for decades or even centuries. A combination of smelters, biomass processors, manufacturing, and UPB converters enables the ship to convert almost all its waste into goods and materials.