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*************************** Chapter 2 - Starships ***************************
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This is the most important chapter! It contains the details and workings 
of your starship.

Ship Structure

Hulls form the superstructure of starships. Each starship has three
sections:

Command Section - Composed of COMMAND HULLS. This is the bridge of your
ship. Functional items include CREW, LIFE SUPPORTS, SENSORS, JAMMERS,
BATTLE COMPUTERS AND SHIELDS.

Main Section - Composed of MAIN HULLS.  This is the general purpose area
of your ship. It contains your weapons, troops, and general purpose
equipment. Cargo are all items in your ship that are not installed.  Your
Cargo Hold consists of the space not currently occupied by functioning
items. Functional items include SYSTEM PROBES, PLANET PROBES, space
weaponry, GPI's, SHIELDS, BIOLABS, PHYSICS LABS and more. All troop types
go in your Cargo Hold.

Engine Section - Composed of ENGINE HULLS. This is your engine room.
Functional items include JUMP ENGINES, THRUST ENGINES and SHIELDS.

Each hull, regardless of type, holds 20 MU's of items. Don't even 
think of overloading a ship. It isn't physically possible.

Various numbers of each of the hull types are assembled together to 
form different classes of ships. Beginning players are offered a choice 
of Surveyor, Fast Freighter, or Corvette.  Surveyors are small exploration 
ships. Fast Freighters are small freighters, and Corvettes are small 
warships.  Starships are all-purpose spacecraft.  For example, you can
perform freighter operations using a Corvette. The ship classes are
usually based on the usefullness of certain hull configurations 
for a specific mission.

Each type of hull is composed of a certain number of MU's. The MU's of
a hull can become damaged. Since hulls maintain the structural integrity
of a ship it is important they not be severely damaged.  A ship is
destroyed when all the MU's of hulls have been damaged in any one
section. For example, COMMAND HULLS have a mass of 80 MU's. If your
ship has 4 COMMAND HULLS and it receives 320 MU's of hull damage,
*KABOOM*, your ship is destroyed.

It is very important to repair hull damage as soon as possible; each
week any existing hull damage is increased by 10%. Damage to hulls does
not reduce a section's MU capacity.

Repairing Damage

An item may be damaged up to its individual number of MU's, upon which 
it is destroyed. The only exception is ship hulls which accrue damage 
up to their total MU's and then all are destroyed, blowing up the
entire ship. Damaged items do not function and cannot be moved, 
but can be jettisoned.

For example, you could have THRUST ENGINES, a 10 MU item, damaged 
up to 9 MU's. If they received 1 MU of additional damage then 1 THRUST 
ENGINE would be destroyed and the remaining THRUST ENGINES would have 
zero damage.

It is possible to repair damage in two ways. First, you can visit 
a colony starport and purchase repair from a REPAIR COMPLEX. This 
is highly efficient in TU's but costs stellars.

The second way is to use your own resources to perform the repair. 
CREW and REPAIRBOTS are used to perform repair. Each CREW member repairs 
1 MU and each REPAIRBOT repairs 3 MU's per 10 TU's spent on repairs. 
Using this repair method you may only perform repair on your own position. 
If you wish to assist in repairing another position you must transfer 
CREW or REPAIRBOTS directly to the other position.

Ship Maintenance

Ships are highly self-sufficient. Their LIFE SUPPORTS provide food
and a breatheable atmosphere for the lifeforms on board.

However, every 20 to 40 weeks a ship must visit a colony starport 
which contains a MAINTENANCE complex and perform Ship Maintenance. 
This costs 5 stellars per hull and an additional 5 stellars pay for 
each living thing aboard. The number of TU's to perform Ship Maintenance
is based upon the quantity of MAINTENANCE complexes located at the
starport. Also, Ship Maintenance does not repair existing damage.
It only prevents future problems. Keeping track of your ship's fuel
is not necessary in BSE as this is generalized 
in Ship Maintenance.  

  # of      TU      Weeks of

Complexes   Cost    Duration

    1       50      20

    2       40      25

    3       30      30

    4       30      35

    5       20      40

The week your Ship Maintenance is due is shown on your results printout. 
If you continue to operate your ship beyond your maintenance week your
crew morale will decline drastically.

Crew Morale

It is important to keep your crew morale high. A morale of 20 or below 
can result in a mutiny.  The lower your morale falls below 20, the 
greater the chance of mutiny.  When it reaches zero your ship (or 
ground party) will automatically mutiny whether you submit a turn 
or not.  The mutinied position will be disposed of at the discretion 
of the Gamemaster.  It may be disbanded or given to a rival affiliation.

Morale is measured on a scale of 1-100 with 100 being the highest 
morale possible. Each week your crew's morale will slowly decline. 
Giving them Shore Leave at a colony's RECREATION complex will greatly
improve their morale. It is also possible to give your crew R&R aboard
your ship to improve their morale. Allocating R&R in this way is far
more productive in blocks of 10 TU's or more.  However, neither is as
effective as Shore Leave at a RECREATION complex.

Another factor affecting morale is LIFE SUPPORTS. Each LIFE SUPPORT
in your command secton can adequately support 10 life forms on your
ship. They provide the breatheable air, proper temperature, and food
to sustain life. If you have an unexpected shortage of LIFE SUPPORTS
your morale will decrease considerably. You may not lift off from a
planet if your LIFE SUPPORT capacity is exceeded.

Ship Movement

Moving to another star system is called jump movement and requires a
JUMP ENGINE. Moving within a star system is called thrust movement
and requires THRUST ENGINES.

20 TU's you can jump a distance no greater than the number of JUMP 
ENGINES in your Engine Section (or 8 systems, whichever is less). 
For example, if you have 3 JUMP ENGINES it will take you 20 TU's to 
jump up to 3 systems away. In such a jump you never appear in the intervening 
systems. You may perform a jump from any location in space, including 
the space square where a planet is located. You may NOT jump while 
you are orbiting a planet. When you perform a jump you will appear 
in the ending system in the same space square where you were located 
in your starting system. If you attempt to jump into a space square 
that is not allowed (such as the square occupied by a sun) your jump 
will be aborted. Some systems (especially in the Transhole Region) 
vary in size. If you attempt to jump to another system and the square 
where you are located does not exist in the destination system, the 
jump is aborted.

Space movement is the process of using your THRUST ENGINES to move
from one space square to another within the same star system. Moving
either horizontally or vertically into another space square costs you
TU's amounting to 1 times your ship's Base Speed. Moving diagonally
costs you 1.5 times your ships's base speed. To perform space movement
you simply specify your destination square. The computer will move
you diagonally as far as possible toward your destination. It will
then move you along a horizontal or vertical row of squares until the
destination is reached.  Your Base Speed is calculated as follows:

   Base Speed = (Total  Hulls  X  0.7)  /  #  of THRUST ENGINES

The lower your Base Speed, the faster your ship moves. The reason 
for this is that Base Speed is measured in TU's. The lower your Base 
Speed, the fewer TU's you will use for each type of movement.  Using 
space movement you may not move off the edge of a system map, nor 
into a space square having a sun. A sun  square is defined as any 
space square containing any part of a sun.

Once you are in a space square containing a planet where you wish 
to land you must first enter orbit. To orbit a planet costs 1 times
your Base Speed. 

If you wish to land on a planet from orbit or to take-off from a planet 
and assume orbit it costs 5 times your Base Speed.

Gravity Rating

The gravity of a world is compared to your ship's Gravity Rating to 
determine if you can land safely. If the world's gravity is higher 
than your ship's gravity rating, the computer will automatically void 
any landing attempt and you will remain in orbit.

	5 / Base Speed = Your Ship's Gravity Rating

Blackhole Transition

Several systems contain blackholes. Performing a blackhole transition 
(BHT) is a very dangerous operation. All the PULAC CRYSTALS and any
items composed of PULAC CRYSTALS (e.g. PULSAR BEAMS & JUMP ENGINES)
blow up and are destroyed during the transition. Moving through a
blackhole costs 20 TU's and you end up at a blackhole exit point in
a random blackhole system. If you want to navigate through a blackhole
in a way that permits you to choose your final location you must
acquire a TNU (Transhole Navigation Unit).

Scanning

The SENSORS in your Command Section are your ship's "eyes."  They 
permit you to see other ships as you move and to scan for additional 
information. 

Your sensors on Scan will detect all other positions located there 
each time you enter a new location. For instance, if you enter orbit 
you will learn all the ships in orbit and any colonies on the planet 
below. You will not be told ships in the space square where the planet 
is located. In a space square you will learn only the ships at that 
location. If you land you will be told all the positions in the same 
SECTOR where you are located.

As you move, scanning will be done automatically at no additional 
cost in TU's.

When you scan another ship you will always be told its name, number, 
affiliation and class. This is called a Brief Scan. In addition, you 
may obtain a Detailed Scan which gives you the player's name & address 
(if not playing anonymously) and something about the contents of his 
ship. The more sensors you have, the greater the chance of gaining 
this information. 

The quantity of Detailed Scans you may obtain on a single turn is 
equal to the number of SENSORS you have placed on scan. You will only 
perform a scan of a ship once per turn, even if you move through the 
same location more than once. Detailed Scans are given of the first 
ships  you encounter. You may not save them until later in the turn.

Whenever you enter orbit of a planet you receive a Brief Scan of any 
colonies located there. To obtain a Detailed Scan of a colony from 
orbit you must expend 20 TU's. This gives you the colony's market 
report, market message, and number of starport complexes as well as 
the possibility of information on the colony's contents. Also, if 
you end your turn landed at a colony you will be given the colony's 
market report and market message for no cost in TU's. Performing a 
colony scan does not lower the number of Detailed Scans you receive.

JAMMERS are used to prevent ships and colonies from obtaining 
a detailed scan of the inside of your ship or colony.

The quality of a Detailed Scan depends upon your quantity of SENSORS, 
the other ships's or colony's quantity of JAMMERS, and the size of 
the items inside the ship or colony. The greater the total MU's he 
owns of a particular item, the greater chance you have of detecting 
it.

When your ship orbits a world you can scan the starport of any colony
on the world below for a cost of 10 TU's. You will obtain a Brief Scan
of the positions located in this starport.

One final ability of SENSORS is that they will report to you any ships 
which scanned you between turns.

Korondite

KORONDITE is a special mineral found in rare mineral deposits on certain 
worlds. It obscures the ability of SENSORS to operate - this is termed 
Cloaking a Ship.

When a ship uses KORONDITE it appears to other positions as simply 
*CLOAKED SHIP*. It is impossible to learn more about a cloaked ship.
Cloaked ships may not scan other positions, may not engage in battle,
and will not receive reports of other ships that attempt to scan them
between turns. In other words, a cloaked ship may not operate its
sensors as they too are affected by the KORONDITE.

There are two ways to use KORONDITE. Both methods take 10 TU's to 
apply.  The first method uses .5 MU's of KORONDITE per ship hull and 
it conceals your movement during your turn. The duration of this cloaking 
is 1 TU. Therefore you may need to use more KORONDITE to conceal a 
movement that requires more than 1 TU (like sneaking through a hostile 
orbit).

The second method is to use KORONDITE to cloak your ship between turns. 
This uses 3 MU's of KORONDITE per hull and is done as your last order 
in space or orbit for the turn. You remain cloaked until either your 
next turn is processed or until the end of the following game week 
- whichever comes first.

Acquiring Sector Maps

To obtain a map of a Sector of a world that you are orbiting you must 
expend 8 TU's. If you are landed outside of a starport, you can also 
expend 8 TU's to get that Sector map. You will also obtain information 
on any other positions located in that Sector (but not any positions 
within colony starports).

GPIing for Mineral Deposits

A GPI (Geologic Probability Indicator) permits you to analyze a world 
from orbit to learn the chances of finding a mineral deposit there.

To GPI a world from orbit costs 5 TU's. The result of a GPI scan tells 
you the percentage of land Sectors on the world below which contain 
a mineral deposit. This is called GPI'ing the entire world.

Once you have learned there is ore on a world you can then use your 
GPI on a particular Sector. This costs 14 TU's per Sector and tells 
you if an ore deposit is located in the Sector you have chosen. If 
you perform this from orbit you may select any Sector. If you perform 
it while landed you are limited to the Sector where you are located.

To actually locate the mineral deposit within the Sector you must 
use a ground party or ship to prospect for the deposit. The procedure 
for this is given in Chapter 4 - Ground Parties.

Transferring Items

Transferring is the process of moving any quantity of a single item 
(or stellars) to another position. To perform a transfer both positions 
must be at the same location and 4 TU's must be spent by the transferring 
position. Example: If POSITION A wishes to transfer 2 PLANET PROBES 
to POSITION Z he first moves to the location occupied by POSITION 
Z. He then expends 4 TU's and issues the transfer order. POSITION 
Z receives the 2 PLANET PROBES and has them available to use on his 
next turn.

There may be a time when you wish to transfer items around within 
your own ship. For instance, you loaded BATTLE COMPUTERS into Cargo 
when you purchased them but now you want them to become functional 
in case you get into battle. To do this you must transfer them into 
the Command Section. Remember, your orders are processed in the sequence 
you write them. If you need to move other items out of your Command 
Section to make room for the BATTLE COMPUTERS you should do it first 
or there will be no room for them and the transfer will fail. Each 
transfer within your ship costs 4 TU's.

A special type of transfer within your ship is the JUMP/THRUST ENGINE
swap. The entire swap costs 4 TU's (not 8 as you would expect). This
permits you to swap JUMP or THRUST ENGINES from Cargo into your Engine
Section very quickly. The swap is done simultaneously so you don't have
to transfer one of them out of a section to make room for the other.
You specify the number of JUMP ENGINES to remove from either Cargo or
Engine and the computer removes twice as many THRUST ENGINES from the
other section and performs the swap.

When you read Chapter 12 - Training, you will learn that you can improve 
the training of any troops in your possession. It is possible to transfer 
such training to any other position THAT YOU CONTROL provided you are
at the same location. This action costs 20 TU's and transfers all levels
of training that are higher than those currently owned by the receiving
position. 

SPECIAL TRANSFER RULE #1: Items received by a ship or ground party 
in one week cannot be transferred to another position in the same 
week. This is also true in the event a position receives an item from 
another position in a Sequenced Turn situation 
(see Appendix H).

SPECIAL TRANSFER RULE #2: Whenever SHIELDS are moved into or out of 
a colony, they always come/go to the Non-military Ring. 

HIPORT RULE: If you attempt to transact with a colony Hiport 
and no Hiport exists, the GM will land you at the colony's starport.  
The extra TU's this takes may not allow you to accomplish some of 
the actions at the end of your turn.

Buys & Sells

When you land at a colony you have the opportunity to purchase or 
sell items specified in the colony's market report. Buying or selling 
each item costs 4 TU's regardless of the quantity. 

At the time of purchase you must specify if the item you are buying 
is to be installed in a specific section of your ship or to be placed 
into your Cargo Hold. 

Thorlium Coating

PROCESSED THORLIUM is used to coat your ship's hulls; it has the ability 
to absorb damage that your ship would normally receive in space battle.

To coat your ship you must first acquire the PROCESSED THORLIUM. Then, 
at a colony, apply it. It takes 1 MU of PROCESSED THORLIUM to coat 
each hull. The PROCESSED THORLIUM must be located in your cargo section 
at this time. You must coat an entire section of your ship at once. 
For example, you would need 15 MU's of PROCESSED THORLIUM to coat 
the Main Section of a Fast Freighter.

No more than 3 coats of PROCESSED THORLIUM may be applied to your 
ship. To apply one coat costs 50 TU's regardless of the number of 
ship sections you wish to coat. Coated hulls reduce the damage taken 
in space battle by 15% per coat.

Enemy List

Each position has three lists of standing orders that determine if 
you'll enter battle. Every time you move to a new location, the Enemy 
List (only) is checked for your position and all other positions at 
this location. Your movement stops at this location. At the end of 
the current game week ALL of your lists are checked (Enemy, Defend, 
and Support) to determine if a battle condition still exists.  Regardless 
of whether a battle occurs or not, your movement will continue at 
this time (if possible).

Enemy List - A list of the positions you will attack if encountered.

Defend List - A list of the positions you will defend if they are
attacked at your location.

Support List - A list of the positions you will support if they either
perform an attack themselves or are attacked by someone else at your
location.

Each of these lists may contain a maximum of 15 entries.

Indicate an entire affiliation by adding 7000 to the number of the 
affiliation. You can find affiliation numbers in Appendix D. To indicate 
a posted list of an affiliation add 8000 to the number of the appropriate 
affiliation. For example, to place all GTT posted ships on your enemy 
list you would place the number 8007 on your Enemy List.

Individual position numbers and all affiliation numbers (7000) may 
be placed on all the lists. Affiliation posted numbers (8000) may 
only be placed on your Enemy List. 

Please note that you cannot single out any individual Imperial Service 
on your lists.  Any reference to an entire single Imperial Affiliation 
is treated as a reference to them all.

Keep in mind that your position's Enemy list is very different from 
your Affiliation's Posted List. An affiliation's posted list may only 
contain individual positions. 

Starcaptain Ranks

The term for the character in charge of a starship is Starcaptain. 
This does not stand for any particular rank.  When you begin the game
your character has the rank of Ensign (En). As you gain experience you
will be promoted upward into higher ranks. The sequence of ranks is
Lieutenant, Lt. Commander, Commander, Captain, Commodore, Rear Admiral,
Vice Admiral, Admiral, and Star Admiral.

Periodically your actions will be reviewed by your affiliation's Coordinators 
and the computer. If you have been operating in the best interests 
of your affiliation you may be eligible for promotion. If you have 
been doing less than what is expected of you then you will be passed 
over. If you have been downright negligent in your duties you may 
be placed on probation.  Probation means you are on the verge of
being kicked out of the affiliation and temporarily have lost the
special abilities of your affiliation. On your first turn you are given
information pertaining to your affiliation's special abilities. If
a starcaptain under probation is asked to return his ship to his
affiliation and fails to do so he will become posted.

When you begin playing BSE your affiliation gives you a starting ship. 
A ship debt is levied against this ship by your affiliation.  Your
affiliation actually owns the ship until you pay off the debt.  Each
starting ship has a debt of 30,000 Stellars. 

Coordinators recommend promotions, ship ownerships and probations for
final approval by the Periphery Director.
