Your ship is your world. It's how you get places, and where you keep all the cool stuff you find. It also shoots lasers. Your ship is cool!

All ships have certain inherent qualities that help define them:



All ships have a class that determines its basic purpose, and also what it looks like. This ship is a Light Explorer, basically a science ship with a large crew and minimal weapons, that has been christened "Narushima".

The blue bar represents you current shield strength, both in relative (bar) form, and an absolute number (7). If you don't have any blue bar, you don't have any shields! Maybe you need to let them recharge, or maybe your ship doesn't even come with shields! If not, go buy some immediately.

Below that is hull points in red. When this drops to zero, your ship explodes. You can imagine what happens to you, your officers, and crew. Hull can be repaired at space stations, or by certain skills and devices.

The yellowish greenish bar below that is supplies. This is an abstracted quantity and represents food, fuel, oxygen, and everything else you need to just keep going. It's always a good idea to keep this topped up, especially before warping to an uncharted sector!

The final bar represents how many crew your ship currently has. Total maximum crew can vary widely between ship classes, so this can be very important, depending on your intended play style. Crew are needed for away missions, and new crew can be hired at space stations.

"Components" refer to the major parts of your ship such as weapons, defenses, and propulsion units. The term is also used for the gear used to equip the landing party. While basic stats like hull points and number of crew can't be changed, your components are freely interchangeable.
Components fit in "slots": You have weapon slots and a shield slot, and one for a generator and a warp drive. Here's the load-out on a (not so) typical starting ship:




Here is a list of the major component types:


A ship may equip up to 3 weapons, according to the number of weapon slots it has (but this is determined by your reactor and not the ship itself, and is therefore upgradable like everything else!)

Small weapons go in slot 1, medium in slot 2, and large in the 3rd. No starting ship comes with 3 weapons, and many only start with one.



Weapons are rated for the following stats:
Damage(DM) : how much it hurts your enemies,
Range(RN) : how far it shoots,
Cooldown(CD) : how many turns it takes before you can shoot again,
Supplies(SU) : how many supplies it uses every time you fire, and
Slot(SL) : which weapon slot it goes in, 1,2, or 3.

Next up is Armor, which technically goes on the outside, but that's fine.


Armor is depleted by damage, but can also be repaired. It adds hull points. It does not reduce damage, just absorbs it. When an armor item is generated, its value is based on the hull points of your ship, meaning that a level one armor will be much better for an assault scout (high HP) than for a trader (low HP).

Armor (ARM) : how much damage it can take (current / maximum)
Speed Modifier (SPD) : whether this armor has any effect on your movement speed


These 2 very different components fit in the same slot, you can't have both... Shields help you fend off enemy attacks so you don't scratch your pretty hull's paint job. The cloaking device makes you invisible, until you interact with something. Being invisible also gives you a damage boost, but be aware, certain very large ships can see through your cloak!



Shields are rated for
Shield (SHE) : the amount of damage they can absorb,
Recharge amount(RCH) : how many points regenerate per turn,
Cooldown (CD) : how long after being hit before your shields start to come back up.


Cloaking devices have only 2 stats:
Supply use (SUP) : how many supplies it uses when you activate it
CoolDown (CD). : how many turns until you can activate it again


Sensors are how your ship sees the world. When you enter a new sector, the map is unexplored. Having a higher sensor range allows you to explore more quickly. Sometimes enemies can shoot you from beyond your sensor range. That's not good. Get better sensors!



Range (RNG) : many tiles in all directions you can see
Targeting (TGT) : a % bonus (or penalty) to your weapon's damage, based on the accuracy of your sensors.


Your engine is what moves you around the map, whether it's chemical rockets or a Higgs field distortion. If you ever find your engines in cooldown mode, you might want to think about panicking... Engines have the following stats:



Evasion (EV) : a % of damage reduction from incoming attacks, based on your ability to dodge.
Supply use (SUP) : how many supplies the engine uses every time you move. (Note that if you "wait" in space, the engine doesn't use supplies.) You want this number to be as low as possible.
Speed modifier (SPD) : This engine's affect on how fast you are in comparison to everyone else. Faster is better.


The warp drive is what Einstein is so angry about. It lets you travel faster than light. You just need a "warp point" to do it: a place where the fabric of space isn't quite right... Warp drives have these qualities:



Range (RNG) : This is how many sectors you can travel in a single jump. More is better.
Supply use (SUP) : How many supplies an FTL jump will cost you.
Cooldown (CD) : How many turns you have to wait before you can jump again.


This component is deceptively important. It's not just why you can read at night (it's always night in space!), but it's also what determines how many weapons and devices you can power at once. That does sound significant, doesn't it? This is the essence of the generator:

Weapon slots (WEP) : how many weapons you can equip, 1-3.
Device slots (DEV) : how many devices you can equip, 1-6.
Supplies used (SUP) : How many supplies you use every turn, whether you're moving or not.

Yep, that's a spaceship alright!

And here's a fully loaded ship with all the trimmings:

"Devices" refers to a wide range of optional equipment that your ship can be outfitted with. Some starting ships also come with built-in devices that don't take up any space.



This ship has 5 devices installed (nice reactor!) , and 2 "built-in" devices that came with the ship class.

You can read more about devices in this guide:
https://cs2bus.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2193735170

How do you want to play? That's the question you need to ask yourself here. The game comes with 4 starting ships, and they cover a range of uses. But they're not all there is. You can unlock 16 more ships to start with, from a Cruiser or Gruff Pugilist that are really built to fight, to the Tentaculon Observer and Monk Counselor, that are built for science or diplomacy, to the Eater ship, which you might be a little afraid to even get into.

The Assault Scout is a light combat ship with good weapons and a strong hull. It has little room for cargo or supplies, so needs constant refueling, but it can go a long way in ensuring your survival. It has no devices built in.


The Asteroid Miner is a working ship. You're going to get dirty in this one. (You won't realize it, because we don't bother with that stuff yet, but still, you can imagine it!) It is really good at squeezing raw ore out of space rocks. It also comes with a Rock Plow, so you can go right through those dense asteroid fields.


The Light Explorer is a science vessel. It has a large crew and powerful sensors, as well as advanced shielding. Its weapons are meant as a deterrent more than a real threat. It can have the most devices installed of any of these 4 ships, and it comes with a data-gathering device.


The Trader is overlooked by many, but those who know swear by it! It's not built for combat or exploration. The trader is good for hauling cargo. Buy low, sell high, the old merchants adage. It applies in this universe too. Watch the markets in different sectors, see what's up and what's down, and take advantage of the simulated market! Just try to avoid the pirates in this one...

By playing the game, trying things, and completing quests, you can unlock new ships to start your next game with.


You recognize the first 4 ships. The next one is the stealth runner. All you need to do is buy a cloaking device and turn it off and on, and this on unlocks. Next is the cruiser. To unlock it, you need to install 3 weapons and 6 devices on your current ship

After that, there are 12 ships, and at least some of them should look familiar in design. Each alien race can provide you with a type of starting ship. They come complete with some of that race's personality and preferences. Just get far enough in the desired race's quest line and they'll offer you a new ship.