9.5.2 Ship Components

Ship components are the five essential pieces that a ship requires before it can launch. These are: engine, shield, capacitor, shipsim, and sensor.

   SHIP COMPONENTS        View components installed on your ship.
   SF COMPONENTS          View available components in the shipforge.

Selecting components requires balance and calculations so you do not overload the ship. Different models are available at different stations.

Engine
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The ship's engine produces power (halons), which the ship requires in order to move and operate its components.

Shield
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A ship's shield generator protects the hull from damage, but can be damaged itself. When damage is taken by the shield, it recharges (after a delay).

Capacitor
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The ship capacitor comes into use for storing up energy to use at times when a large amount is needed. This is primarily used for Tricks that you'll learn as your captaincy level increases.

Shipsim
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Shipsims regulate what modules can be operating on a ship. Their output is measured in cycles; most modules use cycles when activated.

Sensor
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The sensor suite controls how well you can detect other things. A more powerful sensor suite will improve the time it takes for your ship to lock on to another vessel, as well as improve the range at which you can detect incoming missiles.


Component damage
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In space combat, your starship's hull and components will suffer damage. There is no avoiding this! Below we will instruct you on how to handle this inevitable damage.

In the Starmourn sector, ship repair is handled by semi-autonomous astromechs. These astromechs will scurry to repair the damage to your ship's hull and components. They use repair kits as a resource. You will want to ensure that your ship has at least one astromech, and a decent number of repair kits for it to use. Both astromechs and repair kits can be picked up on the cargo market, or from most space stations.

SHIP DETAILS DAMAGE will show you the damage status of your ship, including any backfiring systems (see below).

When damage occurs, you can choose to manually direct your astromechs with SHIP REPAIR HULL|<component>, which will send them moving off to repair the damage.  You could also choose to have your shipsim manage this automatically with SHIP REPAIR AUTO (see HELP SHIP REPAIRS). One drawback with the automated repair service is that it will prioritize the most damaged component and move it to the top of the queue. As movement and prioritization takes time, this will result in sub-optimal repairs, especially when you have many damaged systems.

As components take damage, they have additional issues:
   Engine    - Diminished power output.
   Shield    - Diminished regeneration rate.
   Capacitor - Reduced charge up efficiency.
   Shipsim   - Increased ship targeting time.
   Sensors   - Scrambles the space map.

As damage accumulates, components will start backfiring, which will reduce their useable maximum health. A fully repaired engine with minor backfiring will operate as if it is at 90% health. The more backfiring there is, the lower the percentage.

Fixing backfiring requires restarting the component, which takes it offline for a short while. While offline, the component isn't usable, so you will want to make a strategic decision as to when you perform this. Use SHIP RESTART <component> to begin the restart procedure.