Step 6: Support Systems and Crew Quarters

The whole purpose of a starship is to transport humans across the interstellar void. In the early days of space travel, nine out of ten systems in a spaceship are there for the explicit purpose of protecting the crew from the incredibly hostile environment of open space. With the advance of technology into the Fusion Age and Gravity Age, life support systems become smaller, more reliable, and less of a constraint to the shipbuilder.

If you don’t want to figure out your ship’s manpower requirements quite yet, use the crew figures on TABLE 5–1 as a good estimate for how many accommodations you should buy. Your crew may be significantly higher or lower than this if you take the time to figure out your manning requirements in detail, but this is a reasonable estimate. Figure on spending between 10 and 15 percent of your ship’s hull points on crew accommodations, and you’ll be in good shape.

Life Support

To support human life in space, a ship must maintain an atmosphere and temperature similar to the human norm. Furthermore, the ship must have some way to provide its crew with water and deal with their organic waste. One life support system is capable of supporting up to twenty humans indefinitely (provided food and water is available, of course).

Most ships carry at least twice as much life support capacity as they need to accommodate passengers and survive damage. Ships with no life support systems must be crewed by robots or characters in spacesuits. At PL 7 and 8, more efficient and advanced life support systems become available. Refer to the table below.

Berthing

Any ship designed for a voyage of more than two days should provide bunks for its crew. The standard berthing arrangement provides ten very small, cramped rooms with two bunks apiece, plus a very modest common area and sanitary facilities. It supports 20 crewmembers. Alternately, a ship designed for extremely long tours (such as a deep-space explorer) might use the 2-man berthing layout, which is much more spacious and comfortable. The 6-man berthing layout is a good compromise for ships like cruisers and battleships that stay out for long periods of time but require a large number of crewmembers. A ship with no berthing installed offers almost no degree of privacy and only a modicum of comfort—the crew essentially sleeps at its stations or strings hammocks in the passageways.

Passenger Seating

Airliners and excursion ships are frequently fitted with passenger seating. One passenger seating system accommodates 20 passengers in relative comfort, much like the first-class compartment of an airliner. Naturally, there are no sleeping accommodations. The standard berthing systems are frequently used for sleeper-passengers; use the 2-man berthing layout for first-class passengers and the standard layout for steerage-class passengers.

Staterooms

While most starship crews find themselves crammed into bunks with very little privacy, high-ranking officers and VIP passengers enjoy the luxury of a private stateroom. A stateroom features a single bed (or a double bed, for couples), a small private bath, and a comfortable desk or easy chair.

Stores

In addition to oxygen, the crew requires food and water. This is represented by stores. Simply put, a single person consumes 1 day of stores each day. A crew of twenty consumes 20 days of stores each day. Standard berthing includes a small amount of stores—500 days per system installed. Note that water recycling systems are generally included in the life support system of the ship, but some stores must still be allocated to replace unrecoverable water.

Stores must be replenished from time to time. The ship’s total stores divided by the total number of people on board dictates how long the ship can voyage without replenishing its stores. In emergencies, stores can be tightly rationed, effectively doubling the life of the ship’s stores, but the crew will slowly weaken during this time.

Table 5-6: Support Systems

Hull: The number of hull points used by this system. Some systems require a percentage of the hull. Power: The amount of power required for a system of this type. Some systems require the listed power for each hull point assigned to the system, while other systems are simply bought and installed as separate units. Cost: The system cost, or the cost per hull point for a system requiring some percentage of the hull.

Galley

Any ship with more than 50 crewmen should be equipped with a galley. The galley makes it possible to prepare meals of decent quality; without one, the crew is forced to eat field rations or pre-packaged meals. It doesn’t take long for the lack of a galley to start affecting morale. One galley is sufficient to prepare meals for up to 50 crewmen.

Medical Bay

While the basic first-aid kit is available on virtually any ship, an extended voyage requires better medical facilities. The medical bay supports the ship’s doctor (even if the doctor is an AI or an automated system) and offers an excellent chance for severely injured characters to recover. It can accommodate 10 patients at a time.

The medical bay includes an isolation ward, a surgery, and a small biological sciences lab. At PL 7 and 8, the medical bay incorporates increasingly sophisticated automated systems, including autodocs and stasis beds. The cost, power, and hull requirements don’t change.

Hydroponics Bay

Long-term space voyages often use botanical gardens or hydroponics bays to supplement the ship’s life support systems. The hydroponics bay is a self-contained ecosystem that breaks down carbon dioxide to create oxygen and provides a small amount of consumable food as well. A ship equipped with a hydroponics bay reduces its stores consumption by 20 days per day. For example, a ship of sixty crewmen normally consumes 60 days of stores per day; if it is equipped with a hydroponics bay (which counts as 20 crewmembers), 20 of these crewmember count as only 2, so the total stores consumption drops from 60 days to 42 days of stores per day. Hydroponics bays are very popular for ships designed to spend extremely long periods of time in deep space.

Recycler Unit (PL 6)

Designed to recapture every gram of biomass produced by the ship’s crew, the recycler unit drastically extends the life of the ship’s stores. A ship equipped with a recycler unit consumes stores at ten percent the normal rate. This is cumulative with the effects of any hydroponics bays installed. For example, a ship with a crew of sixty and six hydroponics bays only consumes stores at the rate of 6 days of stores per day; if the ship was also equipped with a recycler, this would drop to 6 days of stores per ten days. Each recycler unit reduces the stores consumption of twenty crewmembers or passengers. It’s possible for some crewmembers to be covered by a recycler while others aren’t, as long as you don’t mind some needless math.