Spacecraft

A spacecraft is any intellegently controlled vehicle outside the atmosphere of a planet or moon. Spacecraft range in size from two man spacefighters only a few meters long to goliath merchant vessels measuring four or more kilometers.

=Ship Design=

The spacecraft of each different manufacturing company are unique. Each company in turn falls into a design philosophy.

Human Design Philosophy
Ships made by the two biggest manufacturers, Webster Shipyards and the UNCA both use very modular designs. The external hardware of these craft can move into various positions and fold in or out for use. This system of control requires a special computer that can be damaged. The advantage lies in how much more efficiently the shipboard AI can use its resources. This also means that human ships can be quickly switched in and out of roles when acting in a fleet or industrial operation and a ship engineered for one purpose can be adapted easily to others.

Human warships typically follow the same philosophy but tend to be more compact than say industrial ships. Cruiser and larger size human warships often mount short range plasma discharge cannons, making them eastily the most deadly ships in close combat if used right. Not to be out done at range though all human warships mount a shiplong railgun of varying length. One or more runways are typically present on human warships. These fighters are mostly used in favor of point defenses. Weapons onboard UNCA warships are all linked to their own AI.

Kial Sale design Philosophy
=Classes= Ships are grouped into size and role classes, only certain sizes and roles are produced by races and typically a corperation will specialize in just a few classes.

Standard Craft
These are the smaller ships, many of them can make planetfall and some can be stored within larger craft.

Drones
Drones are tiny automated units controlled by the ship's AI or someone on board.

Light Combat Drones 5-10m 1-5 tons. These drones equip a single integrated weapon and have no room for customization. Heavy Combat Drones 10-18m 20-50 tons. These drones are simply automated mechs that can be comanded by an AI or AI substitute. They are all as customizable as standard mecha. Lights Mining Drones 5-10m 1-5 tons. These drones are directed by a mining protocol and cannot process asteroids. Processing Mining Drones 30-50m 200-800 tons These massive drones can extract and process a full chunk of an asteroid and with a silo in toe it will be able to mine and process ore independently of human intervention. Light Sentry Drones 5-10m 1-5 tons. These drones are unarmed and simply patrole an area to provide line of sight. Static Sentry Drones 10-50m 20-500 tons. These drones set up and unfold in an area to provide deffense and can opperate as long as their solar panels hold out.

Fighters
Fighters are fast, light ships that only travel forward, they all can use runways for an initial speed boost.Fighters can also make planetfall and operate inside stations.

Superiority Fighter These fighters have enhanced speed and manuverablility and can carry guns and homing missiles.

Fighter-Bomber these fighters forgoe speed for firepower carrying both missiles and bombs.

Bomber Heavy ships that carry loads of unguided munitions to break open tough armor.

Drop Ships
Drop ships use thickened undersides to make planet fall from a larger ships and drop of people or equipment.

Lifeboat Small, cramped escape vehicles standared on all large ships, can be mounted with their ejection unit anywhere on the ship.

Light Dropship Ship able to ferry several people or a vehicle comfortably to the ground.

Heavy Dropship Able to transport much larger loads including base components.

Grappler Ships
These craft are somewhere between mech and ship, generally with small crews but highly flexible weapon loadouts.

Light Grappler

Heavy Grappler

Capital Ships
These are enormous craft fitted with jumpdrives and room for hundreds of crew. They are the mainstay of millitary forces since they are able to able to subjugate entire planets with just a few ships. Huge mass haulers used by merchants are also in this class, they are very slow and lumbering however, meaning they need support when recharging for another jump if they come under attack.

Carriers
The largest and most complex type of ship available, often several kilometers long and loaded with fighters and support systems for fleets.

Force Transport Small carriers normally acompanied with dropships to assist in panetary invasions. Heavy focus on bays instead of runways has given the class attention in the private sector as a remote mining behemoth and EdmondWinslow Industrial is working on a model for construction by Webster Shipyards.

Escort Carrier Small Carriers made as protection for larger carriers or mass haulers. It has enhanced sensors to pick-up and comand the fighters of another carrier should their mothership be destoryed.

Carrier Midsize Carriers used as the backup and command for fleets. It has superior communications to facilitate tactical control over battles as well as an enormous fighter bay and four runways. Unfortunately all these communications and magnetic runways give off an enormous energy feild around the ship that can be detected throught the system making them difficult to use stealthily.

Fleet Base Goliath sized carriers able to internally repair fighters and standard ships and externally repair capital ships. They have massive sheild pad arrays as well more than enough power to maintain them. Tehy also often have static weapon mounts of enormous planetary defense cannons for use against targets in space or on a planet.