Spaceships

Ah, what would we do without the pleasures of modern faster than light spaceships? They ferry us to the stars in their protective shells and make modern interstellar civilization possible. To a Captain a ship is like a sweet nectar of life. They cannot go without, lest they perish in the dark cold night of space.

Spaceship Stats

Spaceships have a number of stats that signify their abilities. While the concept of "larger number equals better ship" holds true for Prospector ships, it is still useful to know what those numbers actually do. Remember, the stats you see for the hulls in the shop are maximums, to utilise your ship's potential you have to buy the nessecary upgrades.

Hull Points

Also known as HP, Hull Points reflect the structural integrity and hardiness of a ship, if it reaches zero the ship goes boom and everybody in it dies. Every hull has a maximum number of hull points and every ship has a current number of hull points, which reflect the status of the hull at the time. Hull points can be replenished by repairing your ship at a spacestation, which costs 100Cr per HP. When you buy a new hull, hull points do not fill up to the new maximum by themselves, so remember to leave some credits over for repairs when you upgrade.

Shields

Shields are like a regenerating protective skin for your ship. It protects your HP allowing you to take more punishment and even shrug off weak attacks. Shield slowly regenerate 1 point every combat turn and instantly come back to full strength after combat. Its possible to augment the rate shields regenerate by installing a auxillary shield generator in a turret module. Be warned however, shields don't always hold water, from time to time enemy attacks will prenetate your shields and directly damage the hull.

Engine

The engine is what makes the ship move from point A to B. The more powerful the engine the faster the ship in combat and the easier it is for the pilot to maneuver the ship without damaging it. Engines can be damaged in combat and thus permanently downgraded, so keep tabs if you've been in combat.

Sensors

Sensors, a science officers can use them to scan planets, asteroids and gas giants. In combat they determine the extent of your line of sight. With a Ship detection system, they determine the range at which you can see other ships, fleets and derelicts on the main map. They also help the gunner in aiming your ship to ship weapons. Sensors can be damaged in combat and thus permanently downgraded, so keep tabs if you've been in combat.

Crew

Crew space sets the number of people that can travel with the ship, this includes you and your crew plus security.

Cargobays

Number of cargobay is the number of tons of cargo your ships can carry.

Weapon turrets

This tells you how many weapons your dreadnaught can fit. Every weapon takes up one turret. In addition, you can convert turrets into more space for cargo, crew or fuel and you can also install special devices in them instead of weapons. Anything mounted on a turret can be destroyed in combat.

Fuelcapacity

The size of your gas tank. Since all ships require the same amount of fuel in prospector, probably because Mister Newton fell asleep, the fuelcapacity of your ship determines how far you can go before you're stranded in space with no hope for rescue.

Spaceship Hulls

Hulls are the carcass that ships are built around. They create potential for the ship to become what they need to become. Hulls can generaly be divided into four tiers of progressing potential and price.

1st Tier

The hulls in the first tier are of the most basic kind. They're cheap, but offer very little room for upgrades and have the lowest HP.

Light Scout

A light, feather light, hull for novice would-be explorers that are just at the begging of their journey. It's a jack-of-all-trades, but don't believe the commercials. It really doesn't tolerate high-end equipment and its more cramped than the spacestation toilets. Hull: 5 Shield: 1 Engine: 2 Sensors: 2 Crew: 10 Cargo bays: 1 Weapon turrets: 1 Fuel capacity: 100 Cost: 2000Cr

LS deckplan

Long Range Fighter

A modified fighter made capable of independant space travel for the low-end market of military nerds. It can cause some trouble for an unsuspecting opponent, but I wouldn't like to be caught piloting one of these in a real fight. Hull: 10 Shield: 2 Engine: 2 Sensors: 1 Crew: 10 Cargo bays: 0 Weapon turrets: 2 Fuel capacity: 80 Cost : 2000Cr

LRF deckplan

Light Transport

Initially meant for planet to moon transport, until someone at SHI figured they can make a killing selling this design to the creditless masses eager to make a quick profit at the frontier. Now its the snack of choice for Spacepirates in between meals and raids. Hull: 5 Shield: 1 Engine: 2 Sensors: 2 Crew: 5 Cargo bays: 2 Weapon turrets: 1 Fuel capacity: 90 Cost : 2000Cr

LT deckplan

Troop Transport

If you enjoy sweaty mornings with your security team, this is the hull design for you. If you value your life, you'll never fire up the engines and stay as far away from the frontier as you can. Hull: 5 Shield: 2 Engine: 2 Sensors: 1 Crew: 15 Cargo bays: 0 Weapon turrents: 1 Fuel capacity: 80 Cost : 2000Cr

TT deckplan

2nd Tier

These ships are made for the small wallet, and captains who think spending more than 10K on a hull is a waste.

Heavy Scout

Take a normal scout, stretch the hull and add a laboratory and crew living space, and you got the heavy scout. With bunks for 15 crewmen, 2 weapons turrets and 115 tons of Fuel space, its survivability rate is about 63% improved compared to the regular scout. Its 4 airlocks allow for a fast exit onto unknown planets surface, and a quick boarding once you found out what was actually on that planet. Hull: 10 Shield: 2 Engine: 3 Sensors: 3 Crew: 15 Cargo bays: 2 Weapon turrets: 2 Fuel capacity: 115 Cost: 6000 Cr

Heavy Scout deckplan

Cruiser

Small governments and corporations rely on this versatile design to enforce their policies in space. As with all military ships the bridge and battle sensors are well protected, center hull, beneath tons of ablative hull armor. Generally considered the biggest design flaw, is the 3rd weapons turret, directly opposite a main entrance airlock. If the main weapon of the ship is installed there, it is very easy for boarders to gain control over it. Hull: 15 Shield: 3 Engine: 3 Sensors: 2 Crew: 10 Cargo bays: 0 Weapon turrets: 3 Fuel capacity: 85 Cost: 8000 Cr

Cruiser deckplan

Heavy Transport

Freelance traders love the heavy transport. It's cheap, capable of transporting 3 standard containers, and hull, engine, shield and twin weapon turrets provide protection against the ever present space pirate. Space pirates love it too: 3 cargo bays aren't too shabby as booty, as long as they aren't filled with grain, and it's teeth are considerably less then the MMs or AMs. It's nothing for breakfast, but a nice satisfying lunch. Hull: 10 Shield: 2 Engine: 2 Sensors: 2 Crew: 10 Cargo bays: 3 Weapon turrets: 2 Fuel capacity: 100 Cost: 7500 Cr

Heavy Transport deckplan

Dropship

Invading planets is always a costly operation. The goal for developing the standard dropship was to have a cheap ship, that could pass planetary defenses. In your average invasion scenario the dropship has a 30% casualty rate. A lot better than the 80% troop transports usually suffer. The development of the heavy dropship has convinced some generals to sell their dropships for the superior successor. Independent explorers have found an interesting ship in the resulting cheap sale of dropships. Usually fitted with an auxillary fuel tank it has endurance, and it can put quite a few people on an unknown planets surface, increasing their survival chance. Drawback is the lack of privacy for the officers: they have to bunk with the grunts in one of the 2 big multi purpose halls. Hull: 8 Shield: 3 Engine: 2 Sensors: 2 Crew: 25 Cargo bays: 0 Weapon turrets: 2 Fuel capacity: 85 Cost: 5000 Cr

Dropship deckplan

3rd Tier

The biggest ships availiable at spacestations. For even bigger vessels you need a planetside shipyard. (There are rumors that there is a privately operated shipyard out there, who doesn't care about the credentials of their customers)

Explorer

Hull: 15 Shield: 3 Engine: 3 Sensors: 4 Cargo: 2 Crew : 20 Weapon Turrets: 3 Fuel Capacity: 130 Price: 15.000 Cr

Explorer Deckplan

Destroyer

The slender, needlelike destroyer is a sight to behold. It's design is no less intimidating than its capabilities: A thick hull covers a segmented interior. This way even major damage to the exterior will only expose limited sections to the vacuum of space. Triax traders uses this ship to guard their convoys. It is the biggest military ship availiable for the private customer. Hull: 35 Shield: 4 Engine: 4 Sensors: 3 Cargo: 1 Crew: 15 Weapon turrets: 4 Fuel capacity: 90 Price: 20.000 Cr.

Destroyer Deckplan

Merchantman

Hull: 15 Shield: 3 Engine: 3 Sensors: 3 Cargo: 4 Crew: 10 Weapon Turrets: 3 Fuel Capacity: 110 Price: 14.000

Merchantman Deckplan

Troop Carrier

Considerably larger, this ship retains the 2 main combinded sleeping quaters and staging area arangement of it's smaller counterpart. But it affords its Captain with some additional comfort: A hatch on the bridge opens to the captains cabin (For cabin read cupboard). It's rather thin hull is supplemented with a strong shield, and 100 tons of fuel make it certain that it reaches its target. Hull: 10 Shield: 4 Engine: 3 Sensors: 3 Cargo: 0 Crew: 35 Weapon Turrets: 3 Fuel Capacity: 100 Price: 10.000 Cr

Troop Carrier Deckplan

4th Tier and beyond

Since 4th tier ships are not availiable at spacestations they are presented on a seperate page