Spacecraft Design
Updated 03/04/2011

Spacecraft are designed inside a Design Studio. Each story of a Design Studio enables a separate studio for players to design spacecraft.

Players may work together in the same studio to develop a spacecraft design. In this case, the first player to enter the vacant studio is registered as the architect and owner of the design.

To enter a studio, display the Labor (F9) window and click on the "Enter" button of a studio. When a studio is "Vacant", you may leave the password box blank or you may enter a password of your choice. The password you enter establishes that studio's password until the studio becomes vacant. To join an "Occupied" design studio, you must enter the password that was established by the first person to enter the studio.

Once inside a studio, display the Spacecraft Design (F7) window. Each button has a tooltip to explain its purpose. Use the exit button to return to the game environment.

The active deck is selected by moving the design grid up and down using buttons at the upper-left corner of the design window. The design grid is composed of horizontal , vertical and diagonal lines. Combinations of design lines create shapes for drawing rooms.

Rooms
Rooms are painted into the grid cells like a paint program. Select a room type from the design window and then click/drag in the grid to fill cells. To make another room of the same type on the same deck, change the room tag number using buttons at the right side of the window.


 Barracks
 Quarters for troops. Armory provides personnel access to weapons, armor, and ammo.

Bridge
 Command and control center.

Brig
 Prisoner confinement facility.

Crew Cabin
 Quarters for crew.

Engine Room
 Location of power plant and drives. Fuel coupling provides personnel access to fuel.

Fuel Tank
 Fuel storage for power plant.

Galley
 Food preparation and consumption area. Pantry provides personnel access to grocery items. Required for first and second class passengers.

Gravity Well
 Vertical column with no gravity for movement between decks.

Hall
 Access between rooms.

Hold
 Cargo storage space. Cargo hold provides personnel access to all cargo except fuel.
Lounge Area for rest and relaxation of passengers and crew. Bar provides personnel access to cantina items. Required for first class passengers.

Officer Cabin
 Quarters for ship's officers.

Open to Deck Below
 Extends height of room below. Must be above an existing room.

Sensor Room
 Space for remote sensing equipment and controls.

Shield Room
 Space for energy shield equipment and controls.

Sick Bay
 Medical treatment facility. Pharmacy provides personnel access to medical items.

Stateroom
 Quarters for passengers and colonists.

Transporter Room
 Matter transmission facility.
Vehicle Bay Take-off, landing and parking area for vehicles and vessels that fit inside. One deck height needed for ground vehicles and fighters. Vehicle bay must be at least one deck higher than spacecraft that land inside.

Weapon Bay
 Integrated weapon system and fire control facility.

NOTE: The model of the hull must be contiguous. If the design creates a model with two or more separate pieces, it is considered DISJOINT and cannot be manufactured.

NOTE: A room must be at least 5x5 squares to fit a space fighter. The SUV needs at least 2x3 squares to fit. More squares are needed when filling diagonal grid squares because they are a little smaller. These sizes are bare minimums to fit the vehicle; additional space must be added to permit personnel movement around the vehicle.

Equipment
The structure type of a design is determined by the equipment placed within the hull. To make a certain structure of ship, your design must conform to one the criteria in this table.


 Invalid Design
 The design lacks essential equipment to be a spacecraft. Something is missing. There is no fuel, helm, life support, gravity drive, or power plant. A design with no hull doors or transporter is also invalid.

Spaceport Fuel, helm, life support, power plant. Only one gravity drive unit or acceleration less than 30.48m/sec. A spaceport cannot move on its own but it can be towed using a tractor beam.

Starport Fuel, helm, life support, power plant, wormhole drive. Only one gravity drive unit or acceleration less than 30.48m/sec. A starbase cannot move on its own but it can be towed through a wormhole using a tractor beam.

Spaceship Fuel, helm, life support, gravity drive, power plant.

Starship Fuel, helm, life support, gravity drive, power plant, wormhole drive.

Equipment is added to rooms by clicking on a location on the floor. To place a hatch in the ceiling of a deck, move the design grid to the deck above and place a hatch on the floor there, which is the ceiling of the deck below.

Equipment is picky about where it is placed. For example, doors must be placed on wall lines and sensor units must be placed in a sensor room. Some equipment, notably consoles and berths, require adequate space around them and will not allow placement too close to other equipment. Tooltips explain the placement requirements for each type of equipment.


Equipment
 Placement
 Tech Level
 Notes

Berth
 Barracks, Crew Cabin, Officer Cabin, or Stateroom. Arrow keys rotate when placing.
 1
 Personal respawn location for two people. Stateroom berths can accomodate two colonists instead of people.

Cargo Door
 Hull Wall
 1
 Large wall-length doorway through hull wall.

Crew Door
 Interior Wall
 1
 Doorway through interior wall. Can be locked to prevent use by non-crew member.

Crew Hatch
 Interior Floor or Ceiling
 1
 Doorway through interior floor. Includes a ladder. Can be locked to prevent use by non-crew member.

Door
 Interior Wall
 1
 Doorway through interior wall.

Engineer Station
 Bridge, Engine Room
 1
 Tunes gravity drive performance. Required to operate wormhole drive.

Fire Control Station
 Weapon Bay
 4
 Required in each weapon bay to operate the weapon. Only one permitted per bay.

Gravity Drive
 Engine Room
 1
 Provides thrust for maneuvering. Enables a station to hold its position. Provides artificial gravity inside spacecraft. Required for all spacecraft.

Hatch
 Interior Floor or Ceiling
 1
 Doorway through interior floor.

Helm
 Bridge
 1
 Controls attitude and velocity of ship. Required for all spacecraft. Only one permitted per bridge.

Hull Door
 Hull Wall
 1
 Doorway through hull wall. Can be locked to prevent use by non-crew member.

Hull Hatch
 Hull Floor or Ceiling
 1
 Doorway through hull floor. Includes a ladder. Can be locked to prevent use by non-crew member.

Hull Opening
 Hull Wall
 1
 Large wall-length opening through hull wall.

Large Door
 Interior Wall
 1
 Large wall-length door through interior wall.

Large Crew Door
 Interior Wall
 1
 Large wall-length door through interior wall. Can be locked to prevent use by non-crew member.

Life Support
 Engine Room
 1
 Maintain a habitable environment. Required for all spacecraft.

Medic Station
 Sick Bay
 3
 Required in each sickbay to operate surgery unit. Place only one in each sick bay.

Navigator Station
 Bridge
 1
 Displays solar system and wormhole information. Plots courses to travel among the stars. Only one permitted per bridge.

Power Plant
 Engine Room
 1
 Generates power for all ship systems and drives. Required for all spacecraft.

Power Relay Station
 Engine Room
 1
 Distributes power between ship systems. Displays status of ship systems.

Railing
 Interior Wall 1
 Changes an interior wall segment into a railing.

Sensor
 Sensor Room
 2
 Detects objects within range based on total sensor units aboard. Range adjectives refer to the following distances.
System Range
 Sensor range is more than 15 planetary orbits. 2,743,200m.
Planetary Range
 Sensor range is more than 1/2 planetary orbit. 91,449m.
Orbital Range
 Sensor range is more than one lunar orbit. 12,954m.
Short Range
 Sensor range is less than one lunar orbit. 12,954m.


Sensor Station
 Bridge, Sensor Room
 2
 Operates Sensors. Only one permitted per room.

Shield
 Shield Room
 4
 Defends against missile, energy weapon, tractor beam and transporter attacks based on total shield units aboard.

Shield Station
 Bridge, Shield Room
 4
 Operates energy shields. Only one permitted per room.

Space Fighter F1 Location
 Vehicle Bay
 1
 Space fighter parking location. Spacecraft automatically fetch friendly fighters from the solar system to refill empty space fighter parking locations. One fighter location is filled per minute until the total number of fighters aboard equals the number of fighter parking locations.

Surgery Unit
 Sick Bay
 3
 Performs complex anatomical operations. Place only one in each sick bay.

Transporter Pad
 Transporter Room
 7
 One pad is required per person transported simultaneously. Total pads in room determines maximum object size.

Transporter Station
 Transporter Room 7
 Operates matter transmission equipment. Place only one in each transporter room.

Turret (Side)
 Hull Wall
 1
 Provides a standard mount for various weapons on hull walls.

Turret (Top/Bottom)
 Hull Ceiling, Hull Floor
 1
 Provides a standard mount for various weapons on hull top and bottom surfaces.

Wall Opening
 Interior Wall 1
 Large wall-length opening through interior wall.

Weapon System
 Weapon Bay
 4
 Equipment for lockon-and-activate devices such as weapons and tractor beams. Each weapon bay is a different system; total units in bay determines system capability.

Wormhole Drive
 Engine Room
 1
 Enables interstellar travel through wormholes.

Some equipment is typically placed in multiples. These are Gravity Drive, Life Support, Power Plant, Sensor, Shield, Weapon, and Wormhole Drive units. Brush size assists in placing these units. Brush Size is increased and decreased using and buttons at the right side of the toolbar. Brush size allows more units to be placed in the room that is clicked. Units are not placed in neighboring rooms as a result of brush size.

Equipment can be erased one-by-one using the Erase Equipment button.

Multiple equipment units can be erased using the Erase Equipment in Area button. Brush size determines the area that equipment will be removed. Only equipment of the type that is clicked, and in the same room, will be deleted. Other kinds of equipment in the brush area are not deleted. In other words, if you click on a gravity drive unit, only gravity drive units inside the brush area are deleted; doors and hatches are not deleted.

Manufacture
A valid spacecraft design must define a Spaceport, Starbase, Spaceship, or Starship with one contiguous hull. When your design is complete and valid, do the following things.
  1. Press F7 to take the Design window away; this is important because the model behaves differently when the design window is visible.
  2. Walk through the design to be sure you have placed adequate doors and hatches to get into every room.
  3. Select a Blank Disk as your current item.
  4. Store the design onto the disk by pressing the button with a green triangle icon . If the button is not visible, verify the design is valid and try saving the design using the grey file cabinet button . The current working design must be valid, saved and unmodified before it can be stored onto a blank disk.
  5. Go to a spacecraft factory.
  6. Display the Labor (F9) window. Select the design to manufacture. This will cause the factory to mass produce spacecraft using the design.
  1. Alternatively, the Labor (F9) window enables you to purchase a design outright. When a ship is purchased this way, it is privately owned. The ship spawns immediately in orbit with you aboard standing near the helm. You will automatically be assigned the Captain's berth. The ship's capacitor will be full but the fuel tanks will be empty.
  2. The implications of private vs subsidized ownership are described on the Spacecraft page.
When you return to a design studio, the previous working design you were editing is usually present in the studio. This is true even if you did not save the design before exiting. This is a convenience; do not depend on it to preserve your working design every time. Sometimes the working design is lost. It is safest to save your working design before exiting a design studio.

Examples
Following are pictures of a typical starship design. The active deck is shown with brighter color than the others. The image on the right shows the 3D model created from the design.

The top deck is mostly made up of crew quarters, staterooms, galley and forward lounge, affording first-class passenger accomodations. The rest of the deck is fuel, wormhole drives and gravity drives. Aft is a lateral hallway revealing a grand view of space to the rear; the hall leads to a pair of aft turrets for fending off would-be pursuers.

Central to the design is the engineering deck, housing power plants, gravity drives, life support, sensors, shields, and a forward weapon bay. Turrets on the engine spars are positioned to defend ground-floor personnel hatches and vehicle bay doors.

This vessel can land on the ground so the bottom deck is geared toward quick entry and exit of people and vehicles. It contains the bridge, transporter room, sick bay, vehicle hold, and aft cargo hold large enough to fit a space fighter comfortably.

Dorsal and ventral turrets round out the defensive systems of this starship design, providing hemispherical coverage above and below the hull.

Spacecraft of very large size can be designed in the studio. The design of this medium-sized station boasts a landing bay and fighter launch facility.