Modifying a Starship
When ships are produced, they are left with extra space, superstructure, and power production to facilitate the addition of new system modifications and suites. In addition to the costs associated with acquiring raw materials, components, and installation, each modification consumes one of a ship's modifi-cation slots. This section details all of the system mod-ifications available to a ship. There are five categories of modifications, discussed later in this chapter.
When players acquire a new ship, it typically comes with minimal modifications already installed. Players then choose the modifications they want installed on their ship. Like construction and upgrading, installing new systems and modifying old ones takes materials, time, and a substantial workforce. Even with the requisite components, the GM may decide that a modification is inaccessible; it might only be obtainable if the heroes get hold of it directly, by recovering it from a supply depot, trading it off of a collector, or stealing it from the manufacturer.
The cost of a modification depends on its category, as shown below in the Modification Category Cost table. These costs reflect the material and personnel costs of assembling and installing a modification, and would be directly reflected in the increased cost of a ship bought with these modifications pre-installed. However, if PCs can provide the workforce to install the modification and invest their time, the final costs incurred to add a modification are only half that shown (just the material cost of an assembled modification). Moreover, one or more PCs can assemble a modifi-cation without the ship's presence being required by spending an amount of time assembling based on the material cost of the assembled modification (half the total installed cost) and by using raw materials equal to half the material cost of the installed modification (one-quarter the total installed cost).
For example, a crew could acquire raw materials equal to 1000cr and assemble a Universal modification for a small ship (having a total installed cost of 4000cr). The material cost of the modification would then be 2000cr. Then, the crew could install that modification in a small ship for a final installed cost for the Universal modification of 4000cr. Alternatively, the crew may have found this assembled modification as loot worth 2000cr and could hire a shipyard to install the modifi-cation by paying just the installation portion (2000cr) of the total installed cost (4000cr). Any combination of this process is feasible.
Modification Category Base Cost
| Modification Category | Base Cost |
|---|---|
| Engineering | 3,500 cr |
| Operation | 3,500 cr |
| Suite | 5,000 cr |
| Universal | 4,000 cr |
| Weapon | 3,000 cr |
Size Modifiers
In the same way it costs more to upgrade a capital ship than a starfighter, it costs more to modify it as well. Each starship has a cost modifier depending on the ship's size, as shown in the Starship Size Modification Cost table below:
Starship Size Modification Cost
| Starship Size | Cost Modifier |
|---|---|
| Tiny | x 0.5 |
| Small | x 1 |
| Medium | x 2 |
| Large | x 5 |
| Huge | x 50 |
| Gargantuan | x 500 |
For instance, to purchase and install a Hardpoint in a Small ship, it costs 3,000 credits. To purchase and install one on a Huge ship, however, it costs 150,000 (3,000 x 50).
For a Small ship, two people can do everything necessary (though additional staff will reduce the time taken), while Medium or larger ships require a more extensive workforce, as shown below in the Starship Size Modification Workforce table.
Starship Size Modification Workforce
| Starship Size | Minimum Workforce |
|---|---|
| Tiny | 1 |
| Small | 2 |
| Medium | 4 |
| Large | 10 |
| Huge | 100 |
| Gargantuan | 1,000 |
Modification Slots
The number of modifications that a ship can easily accommodate is based on the ship's size, as shown below in the Modification Capacity by Ship Size table.
Modification Capacity by Ship Size
| Starship Size | Modification Slots |
|---|---|
| Tiny | 10 |
| Small | 20 |
| Medium | 30 |
| Large | 50 |
| Huge | 60 |
| Gargantuan | 70 |
However, if you lack sufficient modification slots to support a modification, you can still add it, if you are willing to spend more time and credits for installing all the space and subsystems required to support the modification. For every modification slot you manually add to your ship, add 50% to the Modification Category Base Cost. Additionally, for every modification you install over your modification capacity, add a cumulative 2 to the installation DC for a tiny to medium ship, and a cumulative 1 to the installation DC for a large to gargantuan ship.
Modification Time
With sufficient workforce, a snubfighter can be modified in no more than a week's time. However, a new modification layout in a freighter can take up to a month, and an overhaul of a large ship such as a cruiser might take a year. It isn't practical for a smaller workforce to make changes to such big ships, regardless of how much time the workers have.
Because workers generally craft at a rate of 250cr/day, the base time needed to modify a starship is calculated as follows:
time (in days) = ("Modification Category Base Cost" x "Starship Size Modification Cost") / (250 x "size of workforce")
For instance, to install a Hardpoint in a Small ship, with a workforce of two, it takes six days. To install one on a Huge ship, with a workforce of 100, however, it also takes six days.
It is assumed that each member of the workforce works 8 hours per day.
Modification Grade And Ship Tier
Finally, modifications have a grade (0 if not listed). High-grade modifications are more costly, using scarce materials to construct and install. When purchasing and installing a modification with a listed grade, multiply the final cost of the modification by the modification’s grade, if Grade 1 or higher. As an example, a Grade 2 modification would have two times the final cost of a Grade 0 or 1 modification.
Additionally, these modifications require more precise skill to install, as shown below in the Modification Grade Installation by Ship Tier table. However, ships of higher quality (high tier) make it easier to install these high-quality (high grade) modifications.
Modification Installation Check
When making a modification, the foremost mechanic must make an Intelligence (Mechanic’s Kit) check to correctly install modifications. A GM may decide to assume that this check is automatically passed when a party contracts out the instalation of a modification to a shipyard adequately equipped to routinely handle such an installation. The DC for the check varies based on the grade of the modification and the tier of the ship, as shown below in the Modification Grade Installation by Ship Tier table below.
Modification Grade Installation by Ship Tier
|Modification Grade|Tier 0|Tier 1|Tier 2|Tier 3|Tier 4|Tier 5| |:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:|:--:| |Grade 0| 10| 9| 8| 7| 6| 5| |Grade 1| 17| 12| 11| 10| 9| 8| |Grade 2| 24| 19| 14| 13| 12| 11| |Grade 3| 31| 26| 21| 16| 15| 14| |Grade 4| 38| 33| 28| 23| 18| 17| |Grade 5| 45| 40| 35| 30| 25| 20|
On a failure, half the requisite time and cost is incurred, but the modification is not installed.
Prerequisites
Some modifications have prerequisites that must be met before they can be installed.
If at any time you lose access to a modification's prerequisite, such as removal or ship damage, you can't use that modification again until you regain access to the prerequisite.
Ability Score Maximums
If a tier feature or modification would increase an ability score above its maximum without also increasing that maximum, you can instead allocate that additional ability score increase to another ability score.
Changing Saving Throw Proficiency
When a starship is created, a saving throw proficiency may be chosen from a list available to the starship. Later on, however, players may want to change their starship's saving throw proficiency to another of the available options. Changing a saving throw proficiency requires time and credits as if installing a new universal modification.
Removing Modifications
Sometimes, characters might decide they want to remove a modification in favor of a new one. Removing a modification requires half the cost it takes to install the modification originally, and takes half the time.
Removing Tiers
Sometimes, characters might decide they want to change a selection made for a starship tier feature. To do so, they must remove the tier from the ship, reducing the ship's tier by one. Doing so removes all features from the ship earned at the new tier, including Ability Score Improvements, additional Hull and Shield Dice, and additional modifications.
Removing a starship tier requires half the cost it takes to upgrade to that tier, and takes half the time.
If upgrading the ship to the tier again at the same time as removal, the additional time to remove is incurred, but the cost to remove is not required.
Starship Tier Features
If a modification is granted to your starship by a starship tier feature, such as the Role Specialization feature, that modification does not require an Intelligence (Mechanic's Kit) check, comes at no additional cost, does not take a modification slot or count against your ship's maximum suites--unless otherwise stated-- and you can't voluntarily remove it. If your starship already has that modification, you may install an additional modification that is available to you and of equal or lesser grade instead.
Stock Modifications
Also at tier 0, each ship comes with a number of modifications, at no additional cost, depending on its size, as shown in chapter 3. These modifications do take up modification slots.