Ship Classes

Before anything else, the types of ships must be laid out in order to establish the baseline for ship production. Every ship will exist under a basic “class” despite any modifications that might be added on to it.

Strike Craft

Fighter

The Fighter is a versatile and maneuverable small spacecraft, incapable of long range travel. Fighters must be carried on other parent vessels. Fighters exist in squadrons that can be customized, of any chosen size. The fighter’s crew complement is two men, a pilot and a co-pilot. Fighters are armed with one small frontal gun.

Bomber

The Bomber is a more durable and larger fighter, similarly incapable of long range travel. Bombers must be carried into battle on parent vessels. Bombers exist in squadrons that can be customized, of any chosen size. The bomber’s crew complement is eight men, a pilot, co-pilot, spotter, commander, defense gunner, and ratings to load bombs. Bombers are armed with a point defense gun, as well as heavy bombs.

Gunship

The Gunship is a tough small spacecraft, specializing in fighting larger spacecraft with surgical precision. They are incapable of long range travel. Gunships must be carried into battle on parent vessels. Gunships exist in squadrons that can be customized, of any chosen size. The Gunships’ crew complement is sixteen men, a pilot, co-pilot, three gunners, and ratings to assist the main crew. The Gunship is armed with a strong small frontal cannon, and two point defense guns.

Mainlines

Corvette

The Corvette is the smallest spacecraft capable of long range warp travel. The Corvette specializes in screening larger vessels, and being excellent deterrents for strike craft. The Corvette exists as a singular ship able to be customized. The Corvette’s crew complement is fifty men. It is armed with two small broadside cannons, and a powerful point defense array.

Destroyer

The Destroyer is a powerful vessel, specializing in dealing heavy damage at some range in singular shots. The Destroyer exists as a singular ship, able to be customized. The Destroyer’s crew complement is three-hundred men. It is armed with a singular medium prow cannon, a medium broadside gun on each side of the vessel, and a basic point defense array.

Frigate

The Frigate is a vessel that could be best considered extremely well rounded. The Frigate lacks in no areas, however is not especially good in any area either. The Frigate exists as a singular ship, able to be customized. The Frigate’s crew complement is four hundred men. It is armed with four medium broadside guns on each side of the vessel, and a basic point defense array.

Cruiser

The Cruiser is the largest of the mainline ships. The Cruiser is a strong ship, specializing in swift movement and volume of fire. The Cruiser exists as a singular ship, able to be customized. The Cruiser’s crew complement is typically five hundred men. The Cruiser is armed with two medium gun turrets on its top, and a medium broadside cannon on each side, as well as a basic point defense array.

Ships of the Line

Battlefrigate

The Battlefrigate is an improved pattern of the standard Frigate, a force to be reckoned with on any space battlefield. The Battlefrigate is an incredibly durable vessel with powerful armaments. The Battlefrigate exists as a singular ship able to be customized. The Battlefrigate’s crew complement tends toward two thousand to three thousand men. The Battlefrigate is armed with a heavy gun turret at its top, four heavy broadside cannons on each of its sides, as well as a decent point defense array.

Battlecruiser

The Battlecruiser is an improved pattern of the standard Cruiser, a swift moving large line vessel, capable of dealing crippling damage from unexpected positions. The Battlecruiser exists as a singular ship able to be customized. The Battlecruiser’s crew complement tends toward four thousand men. The Battlecruiser is armed with two heavy gun turrets at its top, torpedo bays at its fore, two heavy broadside cannons on each of its sides, as well as a decent point defense array.

Heavy Frigate

The Heavy Frigate is the penultimate design of Frigate, the ironclad castle of any spacefaring navy with the means to produce one. It specializes in enduring even the most determined assaults by opposing ships. The Heavy Frigate exists as a singular ship able to be customized. The Heavy Frigate’s crew complement tends toward eight thousand men. The Heavy Frigate is armed with two heavy gun turrets, and six heavy broadside cannons on each of its flanks, and a strong point defense array.

Heavy Cruiser

The Heavy Cruiser is a variant of Cruiser that sacrifices some of the vessels’ characteristic speed in favor of higher durability and heavier weapons. The Heavy Cruiser exists as a singular ship able to be customized. The Heavy Cruisers’ crew complement tends toward six thousand men. The Heavy Cruiser is armed with four heavy gun turrets, and four heavy broadside cannons on each of its sides, as well as a strong point defense array.

Heavy Support

Carrier

The Carrier is a large class of vessel that specializes in carrying large amounts of strike-craft into battle, a sort of mothership from which squadrons deploy. The Carrier exists as a singular ship able to be customized. The Carrier’s crew complement tends toward ten thousand men. The Carrier is armed with two main launch bays (initially) able to carry fifty strike-craft each, and a strong point defense array.

Dreadnought

The Dreadnought is a truly awesome vessel that specializes in dealing devastating damage from afar from a singular incredibly powerful weapon. The Dreadnought exists as a singular ship able to be customized. The Dreadnought’s crew complement tends toward thirty thousand men. The Dreadnought is armed with a singular superheavy weapon, and a superior point defense array.

Battleships

Battleship

The Battleship is a true monster of interstellar warfare. The Battleship is the peak of human spacefaring weaponry, the mastery of devastation made manifest. The Battleship can wreak havoc on a fleet wide scale, however is rarely seen due to its immense cost to produce and the difficulty in supplying such a monolithic battlestation. The Battleship exists as a singular vessel and can be customized. The Battleship’s crew complement tends toward one-hundred thousand men. The Battleship is armed (basic loadout) with torpedo bays at its fore, twelve heavy broadside batteries on either side, four superheavy gun turrets, and a superior point defense array.

Heavy Battleship

Not since the days the great imperial fleets sailed the stars, has a heavy battleship been seen. The Heavy Battleship is merely a concept, a further improvement on the already terrifying Battleship. The Heavy Battleship exists as a singular vessel and can be customized. The Heavy Battleships’ crew complement would be estimated as three hundred thousand men. The Heavy Battleship would hypothetically be armed with two torpedo decks at its fore, sixteen superheavy broadside guns on either flank, six superheavy gun turrets, and a nigh impenetrable point defense grid.

Ship Statistics

Now that the types of ships are established, those vessels have values attached to them that are universal to every ship in a fleet, that vary by ship class. Each vessel type will have these values listed below in a table after the explanation of each value.

Hull Strength

The measure of the integrity of the vessel’s structure and armor. This is the equivalent of any “HP” mechanic in other games. Attacks reduce the hull strength of the vessel struck by them, and once the hull’s strength reaches 0, the ship is destroyed and the crew is killed.

Armor

Armor represents the defensive armor plating on any spacecraft worth its salt. Armor negates received damage up to its total value. For example, a cannon deals 20 damage to a ship, its armor value is 25. It takes no damage. If its armor value was 10, it would’ve taken 10 damage. Damage on one ship from multiple ships in one turn all stacks into one damage pool against a ship’s armor.

Shots

The shot value represents how many times a weapon can fire in a turn.

Accuracy

Accuracy is the number above which the ship must roll to hit a target with its chosen weapon. This value can vary depending on these factors: ship type, weapon type, crew experience, and commanding officer. For example, a turret on a Cruiser needs a 12+ to hit as a base. Crew modifiers can affect the roll.

Weapon Type

There are a myriad of munition types available for the naval vessel in the Armada universe. Each type of weapon can yield special benefits and debuffs.

Kinetic Weapons: The baseline. Kinetic weapons operate as an all-rounder weapon, using the traditional railgun rules in the document. Standard damage and average range.

Gauss Weapons: Magnetic pull attacks, directed from naval cannons. Gauss weapons tear vessels to pieces atom by atom. Half damage to shields, extremely long range, and permanently destroys 1 point of armor with each attack.

Laser Weapons: Hyperconcentrated rays of light energy, perfect for punching into enemy armor and melting away their hulls. Half damage to shields, long range, and ignores half of enemy armor.

Antimatter Weapons: Weapons firing shells containing antimatter particles, slowly eating the shell and whatever target it hits away into non-existence. Double damage to shields, damage from a shot can spill over from the shield, short range, and takes up half the customization modules on a ship; all modules for mainlines.

Arc Weapons: Fire concentrated bolts of lightning upon the enemy, shocking and damaging their electronics and crew alike. Useless against shields, can disable ships on a 19+, ignore armor entirely, average range.

Plasma Weapons: Fire bolts of superheated ionized energy, melting away enemy hulls with ease. Does 25% more damage against shields, ignores half of enemy armor, short range.

Weapon Damage

Weapon damage is the amount of, well, damage a weapon deals with its attack on a successful strike to an enemy vessel. This value varies wildly based on weapon. Every ship’s weapons will have a damage value.

Weapon Range

Weapon range is the representation of the distance at which any of a ship’s weapons can fire. This is divided into four distinct ranges, short range, mid-range, long range, and extreme range. Two ship weapons of equivalent range can fire at one another at the same time, depending on the speed of each ship, while a ship with a higher range may automatically fire first upon a ship without weapons that can match that range. Ships in different ranges can also fire on one another. Weapons with certain range values can hit other ships from different range areas on their side.

Extreme Range: can hit any ship in play

Long Range: can fire across 5 spaces on the navy position chart (long range to long range)

Mid-Range: can fire across 3 spaces (if it were moved to short range, it could target a ship at long range on the other side.)

Short Range: can only engage if an enemy ship is directly adjacent to them or in the same space.

Ship Ranges

Strikecraft: Same lane as enemy. Strikecraft move two lanes a turn.

Corvettes: Mid-Range

Frigates: Mid-Range Broadsides

Cruisers: Long Range Turrets, Mid-Range Broadsides

Destroyers: Long Range Gun

Battlecruisers: Long Range Turrets, Mid-Range Broadsides, Long Range Torpedoes

Battlefrigates: Long Range Turrets, Mid-Range Broadsides

Heavy Cruisers: Long Range Turrets, Mid-Range Broadsides

Heavy Frigates: Long Range Turrets, Mid-Range Broadsides

Carriers: Strikecraft, move to ranges

Dreadnought: Extreme Range Gun

Battleship: Long Range Turrets, Mid-Range Broadsides, Long Range Torpedoes

Heavy Battleship: Extreme Range Turrets, Long Range Broadsides, Long Range Torpedoes

Speed

Speed is the representation of the ability of a ship to move quickly around the field of battle. Every ship has a differing speed value. Speed is mainly used to determine both which ship will fire first in an engagement of equal range weapons, and if a ship is able to withdraw out of another’s range. A ship with a better speed value than another is able to flank that ship and gain bonuses as well as withdraw outside of its influence if it hasn’t fired during that current turn. (Cruisers are always able to flank regardless of speed stats, cannot be flanked)

Boarding Strength

Boarding Strength (BS) is a measurement of a ship’s complement of Marines and how strong they are. A ship with a strong BS can overwhelm a ship with a small Boarding Defense (BD) quite easily.

Boarding Defense

Boarding Defense (BD) is a measurement of a ship’s ability to resist being boarded by a hostile Marine force. A ship with a strong BD is likely to quickly dispatch smaller incursions into their vessel.

Customization Modules

The Customization Modules rating is essentially how many extra parts or modifications you can add onto a single ship’s hull. If a singular modification is too large for only one module, a GM will inform you. Each module costs 50M to fill. Some modifications will cost more than one module

Name	Description	Slots	Upkeep
Hanger	Houses 50 points of strike craft	2	2M
Extra Turret	Adds one shot for turret weapons	1	1M
Extra Gunnery Bays	Adds 2 shots for broadside weapons	1	1M
Additional Point Defense Turrets	Adds 4 shots to point defenses	1	1M
Enhanced Armor	Adds +10 armor	1	1M
Torpedo Tubes	Adds slots for 4 torpedoes	2	2M
Rocket Racks	Adds slots for 4 rockets	2	2M
Assault Marines	Adds 1d10 boarding strength	1	1M
Marine Garrison	Adds 1d10 boarding defense	1	1M
Long Range Sensors	Adds +1 patrol power	2	2M
Sensor Jammers	Jams Sensors, -2 for enemy ships to hit	1	2M
Comms Jammers	Immobilize a ship for a turn on a 12+ once a battle	2	4M
Warp Tracker	Track where enemy ships warp to	4	8M
Advanced Detection Array	Gives advantage on detecting cloaked vessels	2	2M
Stealth Core	Allows ships to hide	2	4M
Shield Core	Protects ships with an electromagnetic shield¹	2	2M
Light Siege Gun	Allows orbital bombardment, -1 supply generation²	1	1M
Medium Siege Gun	Allows orbital bombardment, -3 supply generation²	2	2M
Heavy Siege Gun	Allows orbital bombardment, -6 supply generation²	4	8M
Superheavy Siege Gun	Allows orbital bombardment, -10 supply generation	8	12M
Boosted Thrusters	Allows a ship to move two ranges instead of one in a turn	2	2M
Long Range Warp Drives	If every ship in the fleet has one, move 2 extra points per year	2	2M
Backup Systems	If marines damage a system, it can be replaced	1	1M
Dreadnought Autoloader	Dreadnoughts fire twice in a single turn	6	10M
Destroyer Autoloader	Destroyers fire twice in a single turn	2	4M
Expanded Warp Drive	Reinforces systems it can reach faster	2³	4M
Barracks-Bays	Adds 1 additional army able to be carried by the vessel	2	2M

¹Shield strength varies with ship class. Mainlines have 50, battle-types 100, heavy-types 200, heavy supports 250, battleships 300

²Guns have the following stats:

Class	Accuracy	Morale damage
Light	16+	1d10
Medium	14+	1d20
Heavy	12+	1d30
Superheavy	10+	1d40

³Requires 4 slots on ships heavier than a frigate.

Crew

Crew are not exactly a numerical value, however they affect many values on any given vessel. The crew of a ship can gain veterancy from fighting in battles, and veterancy can be lost from sustaining heavy losses or the ship being destroyed. There are five states of being for a ship’s crew. A crew which is conscripted costs less to man a ship with, however it will be marked with the “Conscripted Crew” rule which lowers stats. It can alternatively be crewed with a volunteer “Inexperienced Crew” for more credits. From there, a crew can become “Competent”, then “Experienced,” and finally “Veteran.” The benefits of the crew’s veterancy are laid out below.

Crew Type	Cost Modifier	Upkeep Modifier	Accuracy	Morale
Conscripted	-50%	-50%	-4	14+
Inexperienced	-25%	-25%	-2	12+
Competent	+0%	+0%	+0	10+
Experienced	N/A	+5M	+2	8+
Veteran	N/A	+10M	+4	6+

Index